Storms. Standing for parliament. On being too early.

It seems that there is storm going on - Storm Ingrid, so named by the Portuguese national weather service.

“Downpours and high winds are likely to continue after Storm Ingrid wreaked havoc in the south-west and washed away part of a historic pier in Devon, the Met Office said on Saturday.

It has been a wet weekend for many, with yellow weather warnings for heavy rain in place across parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and south-west England and Wales.”

Well, the God of Weather must have decided that Greater Manchester already has a reputation for being damp and dull (weather-wise, that is, as other sources say it is a bright and lively place) and have decided that this storm should just ignore us. Instead, we in Delph just have rather damp and gloomy weather. For a brief moment after I came back from my morning run the sun did try to emerge but the clouds defeated it. Such is life!

Greater Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burham, is applying to stand for parliament but Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has blocked his request to seek selection for the Gorton and Denton by-election, setting off an immediate and furious row within the party. Oh dear! 

If he does successfully become an MP again, will he try to oust Kier Starmer as leader of the Labour Party? And who will be Greater  Manchester’s mayor? 

Would a replacement mayor honour the promise to give bus pass holders the right to free travel at all hours of the day? At the moment the bus pass can only be used after 9.30 am, giving rise to people being referred to a Twirlies (too early). (This nickname has always amused me as there was a group of people in the more traditional academic side of the college where I worked who referred to Performing Arts students as “Twirlies”, because of all the song and dance stuff!) From March it has been decided we shall be Twirlies no more! 

I came across a new profession for the modern age: a Sleep Coach. People are making money advising others on how to have a good night’s sleep. One, known as the Sleep Fixer, said: “Sleep coaches look at client’s whole 24 hours – habits, mindsets, daily stressors.” So, a kind of therapist then. She also says that she encourages clients to “step away” not just from online advice but also to strip off the “wearables”. “Sleep trackers often increase anxiety, which only makes things worse,” she said. (I confess to going through a time of checking on my Fitbit to see how it assessed my night’s sleep, usually contradicting my gut feeling about how rested I felt. Not much point, really!)

There’s a company the “Good Sleep Method” whose Amy Cheseldine said that personal coaches succeed because they hold clients to account. “People often understand what to do but fail to apply it consistently – or they do loads of things but miss the one small thing that will really help,” she said. One of the people interviewed said his “one small thing” was realising he was his bedtime. “It took just one session with a coach to realise I was simply going to bed too early,” he said. “I now understand that I only need seven hours of sleep a night, so if I go to bed at 10pm, I’m going to have a disturbed night or I’m going to wake up in the early hours. I needed a later bedtime. It really was that simple.”

There you go! If only all life’s problems had such easy solutions!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!