Tag: clean

Pick Up Thy Bed and Walk!

UK: Homeless Carpenter Moves “Mysteriously” Around South London! (2.8.2025)

A new study by homelessness charity Crisis found that among older low-income earners, one in five feared homelessness in their retirement, and many say they cannot afford to stop working.

“A generation once thought to be safe from our housing crisis is now increasingly being swept up in it and at real risk of homelessness,” it concludes.

Francesca Albanese, executive director of policy and social change at Crisis, told Sky News: “Most people are thinking they will go into later life with savings and security, and actually the cost of housing alongside lower wages is meaning that for lots more people that just isn’t an option.”

‘You don’t change the person you are’

Daniel has a bag system. A carrier for dirty laundry, a rucksack for clean, and a small essentials bag on top.

We pass Croydon College, where he obtained his City & Guilds carpentry qualifications, and go to the public library where Daniel charges his phone and uses computers to apply for work.

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Sutton Cemetery - Qingming 2025!

UK: Qingming (清明) [2025] – “Sweeping & Cleaning the Grave” of the Chinese Ancestors! (5.4.2025)

At both times of the year the graves are repaired and made new – whilst one or two of the favourite things are provided – such as a glass of brandy and a cigarette. Some Chinese families – although not ours – make paper clothing which is burnt at the graveside in Autumn – alongside “Spirit Money” – or pretend banknotes, etc. Others take real food which is placed on a table in hygienic containers – offered as an oblation – and consumed later. Our two daughters used clothes and cleaning sprays to remove the dirt and shine the stone exterior of the graves. The bright flowers are then cut to fit into the holders. We often bring a flag of China and Buddhist pictures and statues. Today, I also carried a Ch’an Dao Martial Arts Association badge and a pair of Nunchaku. We lit six incense-sticks – three for each grave – and bowed-down three-tips (clapping the hands three-times). We have been performing these rituals since the early 1990s in the UK.

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Kim Jong Un & Daughter - 2024

DPRK: Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un [and Daughter] Inspects Major TEL Production Factory! (6.1.2024)

He expressed great satisfaction at the fact that the factory has inspired great enthusiasm for struggle by briskly conducting dynamic mass movements including technological innovation movement and effectively organizing Socialist emulations among workshops, work-teams and operators, giving priority to ideological education, and that the employees are keeping their workplaces clean and tidy with warm love for their factory and creating a highly cultured labour and production environment.

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Mooncakes Are in Town! (22.9.2023)

In 2023 this will fall on Friday September 29th! This coincides with what is termed the ‘Chung Yeung’ Festival – where the graves of the ancestors are cleaned and tidied! In Putonghua this is pronounced as ‘Chong Yang’ (重陽) and refers to the ‘Double Nine’ attribute common in the Book of Changes (essentially a ‘double-yang’ line in a hexagram implying incredible good luck – doubled). What all this means – and there are many more stories – is that we eat Mooncakes and pay respect to our deceased ancestors – either at their graves or at a shrine – where incense-sticks are lit. Meanwhile, there is a beautiful woman, a Jade Rabbit and even a Master-Archer – who is able to shoot-down false ‘Moons’! Like most cultural aspects in traditional China – there is a complexity of integration, contradiction, paradox and reconciliation! The main point is to wish everybody Good Luck for the future!

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