Signpost 36 (4 Jan)

Good afternoon,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021!

We hope you had a joyful Christmas and New Year. We are all wishing for a much more peaceful year than 2020! This weeks’ Signpost provides some interesting tips and ideas on how you can make the most of 2021. We will continue to provide you with information, links and videos that we hope will interest and educate you.

During this week in history 88 years ago work started on The Golden Gate Bridge across the San Francisco Bay, 75 years ago the first general assembly of the United Nations convened in London, 35 years ago, the Sinclair C5 electric tricycle went on sale and 11 years ago the worlds tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, opened in Dubai.

REFLECT

What are your reflections on 2020? After such a unique year as 2020, Tsh Oxenreider has put together 20 questions that allow us to take some time to review, contemplate and meditate on how it went. The article helps us to find some good in the year and to think about how we grew emotionally and spiritually.

CONNECT

As we begin a (hopefully) positive and promising new year, this is the time to set some New Year’s resolutions and make the most of 2021! This article by Marelisa Fabrega gives you 20 ideas for resolutions to improve your life. These range from spending more time in nature, exercising or even increasing your charisma!

LEARN

Why were medieval knights always fighting snails? Apparently, it's common to find sketches and notes in the pages of medieval manuscripts and one common image is that of knights in shining armour fighting with snails of all sizes. This is an unsolved mystery that still piques the interest of academics across the world. The Smithsonian Magazine has a good overview of it here, and the British Library has produced an article with a variety of knight versus snail images that you can enjoy here.

It’s all fake news. Although the term ‘fake news’ has been popularised by Donald Trump in recent years, there are examples of it throughout the centuries. The BBC bitesize website gives a fascinating history of fake news here.

If your New Years’ resolution is to get fitter, then here are some useful exercises to get you started. Healthline is an American website that offers a number of exercises suitable for older people, including exercises to improve strength and balancing as well as showing the benefits of stretching.

FUN

After a thoroughly eventful year, Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra reunited to joyfully ring in 2021 with his annual Hootenanny. If you didn’t stay up to watch this on 31st December, you can catch up here.

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Don't forget that our online services of worship and contributions from the Pastoral Care Team can be found at https://vimeo.com/stmonicatrust.