Karma'a a funny thing

So one of my new things is to give money charities or homeless people that cross my path. Now I won’t bother to explain to you why because it’s boring and I suspect may come across a bit preachy but in a nutshell it involves karma.

Jamie is very angry about my new resolution. He thinks that they spend the money or heroin or a bottle of meths (the homeless people obviously not the charities) I think he mostly gets annoyed because I never carry cash and are therefore always asking him for his money to give to disabled homeless people. Not sure who’s Karma this is helping but let’s go for a 50/50 spilt.

So with Karma and compassion in mind I ask you to analyse this story. The other day I was walking down the road with a £2 coin in my wallet and I walked past a homeless person and I thought, I’m hot, I need a drink I can’t give him my whole £2, I need some money because I am thirsty. I’ll buy a drink and give him money on the way back. But as fate would have it I didn’t walk back past him, (this was because someone was giving me directions not because I was avoiding him)

Anyway so I felt bad but bought myself a drink anyway, so obviously not that bad. Then as luck would have it I walked past another homeless person, that’s right I live in London there are lots of homeless people. And I thought, great1 a chance to put it right. And here’s where your maths will come into play. My drink was 70p so I had £1.30 change and I gave him £1.20. It would have been £1, but I felt bad about walking past the other guy so I upped it. Jesus this story is long and I suspect a bit boring but I’m more than half way through now so bear with me.

So after giving homeless man number 2 £1.20 I strolled on with 10p in my wallet. And then I went to pick up my sunglasses which a screw had fallen out of and the optometrist had fixed for me. And I said ‘How much?’ and she said 'just put a pound in our charity box.' But you guessed it I only had 10p in my wallet and when I put it in the box it made a light tinkling noise instead of a healthy clunk. And she totally knew that I had put less than a pound in but I made a quick exit. And to think if I had given that first homeless pounds £2 none of this charity/karma confusion would have happened. Or if I had given the second guy only 20p I would have had enough money to pay £1 for my sunglasses? What if my drink had been £1.50 and I only got 50p change. You see there are many variables.

So that’s the story, what was karma and the universe trying to teach me?
I am open to any suggestions and comments below.
I suspect it was trying to tell me that karma is a complicated thing which should not be undertaken lightly. Or it could be that I should just always carry more cash on me, I think Jamie would agree with the universe on that.

xxxx

One day ...

When I was little I wanted to work for a magazine when I grew up. I thought it was glamorous and I love magazines. I love the way a magazine cracks when it's new and full of gloss and promise, I love reading an article that surprises me, I love looking at the fashion pages and loving a dress, ripping out the page knowing I will never buy it let alone look as good in it as the six foot, size zero model.

So when I got my job at a magazine I was thrilled, I thought it was part of a whole new life for me and the beginning of something exciting. And it was, I saw and did loads of things that I loved but let’s be honest, the job wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, I felt stifled and to say it wasn’t challenging was an understatement. And I had wanted to move on for a while but still I was shocked when I was made redundant yesterday. And I can’t lie, there were tears. And I didn’t leave on my terms which was frustrating.

Anyway so I had my last day of work yesterday and to think when I woke up in the morning I didn’t know it was my last day. If I did I would have been in a much better mood.

And redundancy is not the worst thing in the world that can happen to you. In fact I feel really lucky, I am a wife, a daughter, a sister and a friend and really that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Xxxxx

Ps Redundancy does have its upside apart from all the free time, I am milking it with Jamie I told him that he has to be nice to me the whole weekend. Like it’s my birthday and it’s a long weekend as well so extra niceness. Bring it on.

P.p.s now I don’t work on YOU magazine anymore oh the stories I can tell without getting in trouble. You are in for a treat.