By Kate Hodges
09th November 2022
EVENT AND DO TREAT PEOPLE WITH KINDNESS
Sunday is World Kindness Day, a time to celebrate generosity of spirit in society and everyday life. Why not take the opportunity to spread the love with random acts of kindness? Find our ideas here. This year, official suggestions include sending a thoughtful text to someone you know, saying good morning to everyone on your way into work or school, eating lunch with someone new, buying a homeless person a hot drink or leaving money in a parking meter or vending machine for the next person.
However, perhaps we should strive to make kindness the norm, rather than the exception. Find out about starting your own kindness project here. Longer term ideas might be volunteering at a soup kitchen, undertaking litter picks or spending time getting to know your neighbours. Including intentional moments of kindness, laughter and delight in your day, and taking time to enjoy them is life-affirming and benefits everyone. Read more about ways to raise compassionate children here.
EVENT OH THE HUMANITIES
The riotously diverse Being Human Festival is an enormous, country-wide series of online and real-world events across the UK with major hubs in Aberdeen, Bangor, Bradford, Dundee, Newcastle and Wolverhamptom. It explores the way the humanities can inspire, and help us understand ourselves and our relationship with a changing world. This year’s festival launches at the Museum of the Home tonight. Explore the enormous programme to find an event near you or online. You might learn about Victorian street songs, rebuild Hadrian’s Wall with Lego, explore the caves underneath Batman’s house, try queer badge-badge-making, or find out about science fiction by women. Find the full programme here , online events here, or pick by themes including health and wellbeing and politics and protest here.
LEARN AND DO FOREVER AUTUMN
Gardening as the weather becomes more blustery and wet, and the garden browner can seem like a chore. But now’s the time that your work will make a difference to wildlife. The Soil Association has put together a Nature-Friendly Gardening Guide to help gardeners encourage and support wildlife in whatever outside space they have, be it a window box, garden or allotment. Find out what to plant, how to keep trees healthy, how to help birds and beasts, and discover the no-dig method. Find out more here.
EVENT CITY SHOW
Saturday’s free Lord Mayor’s Show might seem a quaint tradition; the great and ‘good’ of the city garlanding themselves in their finest jewellery and parading through the streets. But there’s a lot more going on than stuffy old dudes in tricorn hats sitting in gold-encrusted carriages. The giant basket-woven figures of Gog and Magog, the guardians of the city, lend a Summerisle-style pagan feel to the procession, parading alongside full-size model elephants, Japanese drummers, a horse-drawn bus and the tallest fire engine in Europe. Find out more about the event’s rowdy history here. After the parade, why not take one of the free guided walks of the stranger corners of the city? Download a map of the day’s events here.
EVENT SAX EDUCATION
The London Jazz festival gets into full swing this week, but unless your kids are deeply into hard bop or funk fusion, they probably won’t appreciate being strapped into a seat and subjected to full-on noodling sax solos. However, they will enjoy the festival’s annual Tots Tunes, Groove Baby workshops and dance workshops. The events take place at venues across the capital including the South Bank Centre and The Barbican. Jazz sounds like a sophisticated concept for little musicians, but improvisation is what little kids do all the time; pretending a cushion is a hat, making up silly lyrics to songs they know well, and inventing new dances. Find the family friendly – many of them free – events here.
WHAT WE’RE READING COP27: six reasons to be optimistic about the climate summit: Expectations are not particularly high going into the latest UN climate conference, but there are reasons for optimism in a few key areas. Find more here
WHAT WE’RE EATING Teff Porridge with Chia Jam Megan Hallett and Nicole Jardim share their favourite hormone-balancing breakfast ideas. First up teff porridge. Made from an Ethiopian grain, which should be a staple in any hormone-healthy diet its subtle, delicate flavour makes it super versatile to cook with. Get the recipe here
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