the kindness of strangers

10/1/2012

It is no exaggeration to say that I have been completely, utterly, blown away by the response to my first post.

I should probably provide a little context here. I first registered the domain name of this site over two years ago, flush with the enthusiasm prompted by getting a new, permanent place to live. But because of indisposition, sloth and the strength of will of a bowl of custard, it's taken this long to actually get it going. So clicking on the 'Publish Live' button on Saturday morning was a massive step for me.

Quite often, for extended periods, I have been incapable of functioning at even the most basic level. For the past several years, I have lived as a virtual recluse, with hardly any social contact with anyone who wasn't paid to talk to me. So to bask in the warm glow occasioned by your kind comments was a rare joy.

If you were to ask, I'd say that the three most important things in life are laughter, kindness and curiosity. Well, you've made me laugh (and cry), you've shown me great kindness and you've made me curious about the future (which I haven't been for some considerable time).

In October of 2010, I began volunteering with the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. I was doing work related to their commitment to the concept of Recovery. That all went tits up in March of last year when I took another swan dive off the precipice. Yesterday, I re-established contact with the team and, for some strange and wonderful reason, they have asked me to come back and work with them again. I start next week. That is largely down to you lot. (If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Recovery, do have a look at this lovely short film.)

So, to all those of you who have left comments here, or emailed me, or tweeted me, or posted links to this site, I just want to say one thing:

YOU GUYS FUCKING ROCK.

The Skintster xxx

29 Comments

Lisa link

10/1/2012 01:04:02

Good luck for next week! If you ever feel up to it, and can spare the time - and face people - I would love to take you to lunch or dinner one day. It's a Thing I do. :D Or at the very least give you a box of cookies. That is also a thing I do.

Having had Brain Rubbish myself, I can only empathise and wish you all the good things in the world.

Kavey link

10/1/2012 01:58:51

And if three's not a crowd, I'd love to do that too.

Even when I go through short term blips where my confidence and attitude and ability to sail through life is dented, and I'm feeling miserable and unable to motivate myself and feeling sorry for myself, I am always aware of how lucky I am that I've never fallen over that precipice or down that deep dark well, and that I'm lucky, because I know it must be really really hard.

Wishing you bestest, and looking forward to future posts.
Kavey

Miss Whiplash link

10/1/2012 01:31:04

Congratulations on the work - how exciting!
I commented previously, without having browsed the whole site - its just amazing - so comprehensive!

Sam

10/1/2012 03:15:54

Phenomenal site and fbook page - loving your work, I am so glad this project is giving you the courage to feel positive about life and the future. You are inspirational.

Sheddles

10/1/2012 03:22:14

Corrrrr, you don't do things by halves do you? If you put as much effort into being crackers as you have done this site, it's a wonderous thing that you're getting back on your feet :-)

Well done, good luck for next week.

xxx

p.s. for any future moments of need, I heartily recommend Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 3 in E-Flat minor from start to finish (on t'Spotify).

xmassteps

10/1/2012 04:22:54

Fantastic blog, wonderful idea.

I haven't been bothered to do anything similar and I have nothing to deal with like you. Just a general miserable ness. This site should be held up to be an example for all those that take "a swan dive".

Good luck and keep on keeping on.

Jamie P

10/1/2012 05:25:15

This blog is going to be amazing! I read your piece in Fire and Knives a few months ago and it really stuck with me. Your writing is humbling and practical. I quite often suffer from poor mental health myself, and I think you're really brave to create something wonderful out of it and put yourself out there. Perhaps you could set up some sort of PO Box where people could send you fancy schmancy ingredients as a gift? Good luck, though I don't think you'll need it.

Misthawk link

10/1/2012 05:32:41

You are one amazing, amazing human being. And I never say that lightly.

We've been where you've been, and some ways are still. It's a dark, difficult, and dirty world out there...and it can really crush you. But sometimes......sometimes you find something beautiful, that speaks to you and reminds you what's good. And you hold on to that for all it's worth.

Finding it is a blessing. Sharing it is a gift.

Keep shining....we'll be watching. x

Dominic Stevenson link

10/1/2012 07:39:14

You're very much an inspiration and I reiterate the above offer to take you to lunch one day. I am delighted you’re going back to volunteer at the trust and I hope all goes well on your first day.

Charles W (@CFWilco) link

10/1/2012 09:06:23

Mate,

I can only imagine the challanges that you have gone/are going through and it humbles me and makes me re-consider the somewhat small challanges in comparisson that I face.

It is in an odd way timley that I also created a foodie blog literally in the past week or so (for the far more mundane reason that I wanted to learn how this web malarky works) and I fear that you already outshine me.

What I can say is that if this blog is a contributer to your recovery then I look forward to reading further installments on yyour blog and sharing Skint Foodie Recipies - let this be the food revolution we have all been looking for - Bring it on!

10/1/2012 10:09:26

Just dropped by to say WOW and good luck.... It's 5 years now since I hit the floor and lost the lot..... so I have every sympathy for you... I've been incredibly lucky and got a chance to start afresh again too - different route to yourself.

I still get phases of total blackness....but I recognise them now - as it looks like you do too - and am starting to build a network of helping hands - I hope this builds up yours too..

Good luck with going back to the work, and love the blog and the recipes!

Victoria

10/1/2012 10:34:56

Wow! Keep going xx

Uncle Ji link

10/1/2012 11:40:34

Just to reiterate everything everyone else has already said really - you are an inspiration and this site is amazing. Also, I LOVE the idea of setting up a PO BOX where people can send you ingredients to cook with - kind of like a weekly 'Ready Steady Cook' where you show us what to do with various things. They don't have to be fancy ingredients.

Anyway, I sense this is the beginning of something big!

xx

Jacqui link

10/1/2012 12:02:55

How could people not like this blog? You clearly know what good food is really about and its not necessarily the price! Well done.

Love the pages on the shopping, It a while since I have been to Peckham shopping although I live close by, but with your notes will be taking a trip that way again soon

Well done look forward to hearing more

Jane link

10/1/2012 12:50:26

I'm blown away by everything you are doing. The blog is amazing and I am looking forward to spending time with your recipes. Good luck.

Trudie

10/1/2012 14:24:14

Ditto to everything everyone else has said before me. I'm really enjoying reading your blog and your posts on FB. You are an inspiration. I love the idea of a PO BOX as kind of 'Ready Steady Cook by blog'! I
Keep moving forward and good luck next week. Let us know how you get on, we're with you all the way! xx

cara

10/1/2012 16:46:53

Well done! Your site and blog are wonderful. I look forward to trying your recipes and reading your sparky and original writing in equal measure from across the pond in Oire-land. Go n-éiridh an bóthar leat...may the road rise with you.

Rooloo

10/1/2012 19:48:32

Dear Skintster,
Writing to you from the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia. My partner and I are massive food blog readers, but your recipe blog is the only one we have wanted to reply to. Thank you for your fabulous recipes and ideas, your inspirational positivity and your witty and charming way with words. We are hooked and will be eagerly awaiting future instalments.

Happy cooking and eating!

Heeln

11/1/2012 05:08:55

YOU ROCK! Your writing makes me want to shop, cook and eat and I can't wait to read more.... All good luck to you. x

Matthew link

11/1/2012 07:33:47

Your work on this is really provocative. Learned about you through a repost from SaltyPlums.co.uk

I'll keep an eye on your work.
Thanks for blogging.
Matthew

Parsley

11/1/2012 07:37:40

Amazing blog. And here's a suggestion already: Could you put the source of the food in the recipes? (The shopping page is great, but the info would be useful on the recipe page). Because cooking well on a budget is always a trade-off of money and time, i.e. it does take time to find good, cheap ingredients.
But, to quote my predecessor-poster: You do indeed, dear sir/madam, rock.

nancyblackett link

11/1/2012 12:51:57

Just found you via india knight's retweet. Anyone who quote PG Wodehouse has my vote. Love your writing and your resilience. Thank you.

The Skint Foodie

12/1/2012 17:42:08

Dear Everyone

I am not being disingenuous in the slightest when I say that I really, really don't deserve such fulsome praise. But I'll take it. Thanks!

Sheddles - I'll have you know that I put an enormous amount of effort into achieving my spectacular level of bonkersdom. You don't get to be as much of a fuckup as me without a singular dedication to the task.

Bless you all.

Sarah Sellman link

13/1/2012 06:09:56

Such a fan of kindness from strangers! I think it can change the world!

Rachel

1/3/2012 04:00:29

Stumbling upon the link to your blog has made my day! I've suffered from depression too and it takes major balls to claw yourself back out of its clutches like you're doing. You have lots to offer - keep up the good work! Thanks for giving me inspiration and some great recipes to try this weekend.

R x

1/3/2012 13:22:02

Thanks Rachel!

Diane

2/3/2012 12:49:38

Love your approach to food! .. it doesn't have to cost a fortune and I like the way you are inventive with what you have in the cupboard and careful about what you buy .. keep it up :)

Kevin Udy link

10/3/2012 03:12:53

You deserve several medals for this website, and that’s no exaggeration either. I have a terribly sporadic and neglected Blog which I intended to post to waaaaay more often than I do. It was (and certainly still is) a kinda first experimental step into the blogging world and to get my lifelong background ambition to get ‘writing’ regularly.
Depression has also been hobbling me for some years now; not bad enough to have free-fallen completely off my perch as you have done old son, but certainly bad enough that I have folded and thrown in my job of some thirty-eight years, thanks to a complete bitch screwing me in my tender little bottom when I was three years off retirement. It’s also bad enough that it robs me if the initiative to get Out There and develop a social life, maintain friendships, look after the house and garden, clean, dust and hoover the place and keep it tidy or generally ‘maintain my life’ beyond the very basics. Hard to, even superficially, indulge in my many ‘hobbies’, including the lifelong passion of my mo’sickles.

You get the picture. Just bad enough to screw things up and destroy the fun that life should also contain, but luckily not bad enough to tuck up and roll off the edge into a bottomless freefall that serious depression often demands of it’s victims. I know things could be soooo much worse, so very much worse, and so I have been tremendously impressed by your website here. To start it is one thing, but to actually fill it with so much excellent content is quite another when you’ve obviously done it from where you found yourself is Heroic.

Only those who have at least danced with the blackness of depression can know what it takes, and so I salute you, Sir. I find it hard to write to my ramble-of-a-blog more than once every few months after a flurry of enthusiasm when I started it.

Keep going, and may God (whatever that is) grant you an ever easier climb back to Life.
Kevin {:o)
P.S.
Will send your website link on to all, and post on facebook....
K. {:o)