'First Christmas Card Of The Year!'

Can you believe it! Yesterday I received my first Christmas card for this year. I have to say that I have not been able to interact with as many of the people I usually see regularly at this time of year due to my efforts in helping my friend to move but even so to only have one Christmas card on the mantlepiece by Dec 12th is quite a shock!

This said, I have not written a single card myself yet either! I am SO behind with my Christmas preparations this year and have had to realistically give up on sending my usual card & letter to most of my overseas friends as there is no way now that my cards will reach them in time for the big day...

I think this time around I shall have to do a lot of letter writing and card sending to my overseas friends and family in the New Year - kind of make it a 'hope you had a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year' kind of letter.

I have to say though that i am thrilled with the card I have received! (Pictured here) It is from one of my local Councillors, Phil Scott.
Phil has been very supportive of my work as 'The Clean Up Man' in my local community and has ALWAYS done his best to help whenever I have passed on a complaint or informed him of something which needs urgent attention in my area. I am not a fan of the party Phil stands for but have no problem voting for him as a good man is a valuable asset to any area and whether we agree on a lot of issues or not I trust Phil to at least do what HE truly believes is for the best. Now, how many politicians can you say that about, eh?

The videos Phil is thanking me for are ( I presume) some of the 'Clean Up Man' related ones I have made for my Maybrick44 Youtube Channel. Being in effect a 'down and out' in society these days my words and actions can often 'carry a bit of weight' and grab people's attention simply because if an unemployed bloke of 50 on benefits is clearing the streets of rubbish in his local area for nothing AND is talking about how we could all DO MORE to create a better, more caring and sharing society it must be obvious to all that he has no other 'agenda' for making such a video or doing what he does. However well-intentioned any Politician or Councillor may be the fact that that person is in a well paid job and 'doing alright' for themselves (in the eyes of others, at least) makes it harder for them to get people to listen and think of them as genuine.

I doubt I would agree with all of the things Phil would advocate to achieve a more caring and sharing community (I certainly don't with the party he represents) but having made numerous trips to the tip lately I wish people would TALK TO THEIR NEIGHBOURS MORE before deciding to throw perfectly good things away. The amount of stuff that could easily be of great help to someone else that gets thrown away is staggering! I know it is a difficult subject and WAY less simple than I am making it sound here but we should ALL be trying to do more to help each other - especially the way the world is today. Time, awkward job hours and moving deadlines etc are all reasons why stuff does not get shared about but its a crazy way of going on when if we all shared more we would all have more money to spend on other things!!!

Anyway, I wanted to make this blog post to THANK Phil for his card ( he sent me one last year as well) and wish him and all who act in a genuine way in public service a HAPPY CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR!

To finish off here is one of my 'Clean Up Man' videos to give you some idea of what I am talking about if you are not aware already...