Come Play... with moving as far away from Rusholme as possible.

It's that time of year when your tenancy ends and the place that you've called home for the past 12 months becomes history. You take the lessons learned from living in a certain area/with certain people/paying a certain amount to live there and reflect on your experiences and lessons from being there.

Well I learnt that Rusholme is a less than desirable place to live in, that you cannot wander the streets past the watershed in a dress/skirt and not be propositioned by the local community for a bit of the old fellatio.

That each day cycling on the curry mile is a gamble with young men speeding down the street chasing after you like a bowling pin.

That it is perfectly acceptable to break into someone's house and have absolutely no potential to ever get caught due to the police giving absolutely zero fucks for the residents wellbeing and are too busy avoiding/ignoring the very blatant local drug dealers.

That each morning the streets reek of rotten meat and vomit and that the stench only gets worse throughout the day.

That absolutely nobody cares about one another, that the young and illiterate are left to run riot and prey on the meek and the old... and the politically correct.

This is not a multicultural place, it's a series of ghettos and dives where no one takes pride in where they live. The only place where there is a rat and pigeon obesity epidemic and where people are too scared to talk to one another for fear of being stabbed, shot or having acid thrown in their face.

What's sad is anyone who moves there never stays for very long, because it's easier to move somewhere better than to recognise and fix the deep, damaging and depressing issues that are associated with living in such a tiny area of the country. And those unable to leave will produce offspring that will either leave as soon as possible, or contribute in continuing the cycle.

I guess you can't help those who don't want to help themselves, and I don't ever want to be scared to be in my own home alone again.

So here's to moving, it can't get any worse surely?

Come Play... With what matters.

Sometimes you find yourself feeling bogged down with your daily commitments. Your job, your bills and rent, possibly your dependants, or lack thereof.

And that's okay. We all feel this way from time to time; living each day just working to survive, and becoming lost.

Feeling sorry for yourself due to your shit job, lack of progression, in work and in life.

For losing people who you were once close with. For having the carpet swept from under your feet and having your world constantly change around you. For losing touch with your close ones. For losing touch with yourself.

The only thing you can do is breathe and take in the world around you. Cherish a beautiful day, or a song you find yourself obsessed with. Lose yourself in your passions and the people you love.

When times get hard, don't give up. Stay true to yourself and what you believe to be right. And stop trying to please everyone, there will be people that you won't see eye to eye with, or people who you drift away from. And that's okay too, because that's life.

The day you stop trying to please everyone around you, is the day you'll find peace. And stay in touch with your family, they're the only people in your life that you don't choose to be around, and the only constant forces in your life.

I hate that I find it so hard to keep in touch, life happens and before you know it your best childhood friend becomes a stranger. Social networking sites are good to let you know that they're doing well, but bad as they stop you from having a reason to ask how they are, what they've been up to?

I spend 40 hours a week in an office doing a job I have grown to dislike, not for the job itself but for the politics involved.  As a part timer I was often forgotten about and just left to do the job. Things were better then.

Everyone tells me to stop worrying, at least when I leave the office. I'm gone.

I am trying so hard to stop being so emotionally-involved in a job which provides little substantial growth and is run by people who don't care about the welfare of their staff.

What should be important to you is the remaining 7 hours of consciousness in your day. To make time for those who care about you. There may come a time when they're no longer in your life, for many reasons, so treasure the moment.

While you still can.