Mercer Cares Shop

Yummy, reading intensely at and rewarding myself with drink treats from time to time. Looking at and at the moment, as background to my Independent Research Project.

Autism Moments:
I went to the lovely Mughal Empire in Shepton Mallet to put in a takeaway order for my family as a treat. I chose to walk there rather than phoning, as phoning is problematic and stressful for me. I have been trying out my new today. They have been brilliant but Elijah tells me my voice is like a whisper when I speak with them (probably because they make my own voice sound louder). So, having decided to avoid the stress of ordering by phone, I walk in with my ear plugs in. The music is soft, the restaurant was quiet. I decided to confidently take my ear plugs out, as I didn't want to be whispering the order and I wanted to understand what was being said. As soon as they were out, the phone rung extremely loudly as if it were a solo guitar in a concert and I was standing next to the speaker, I jumped out of my skin (meaning I literally jumped but I didn't escape my skin, I still remain inside my skin!). As one of the gentleman reached for the ringing phone a glass smashed to the floor, the sharp high sound felt like it was tearing my ears, slicing through my ear drums. I covered my ears, took some deep breaths, composed myself and put my Loops back in again, as quickly as I could. Now I have a bubble around me. I don't care if my voice sounds like a whisper! (She shouted!).

So glad I found these. I tried the Quiet ones to work last week but hearing peoplw apeak to me was ultra difficult, especially as it's hard to process the spoken word but they definitely made the environment a gentler one for me, taking the edge off fans, phones ringing, doors, vacuuming, heaters, fridges and all sorts. Thanks Loops.


Autism is my identity, it's not just a diagnosis.

Gently easing myself back into studying for my about and ***de, after coming down with Covid this past week. On the mend now though. I have returned to the recorded discussions I had with my Tutor and made simple notes to try to clarify the process that I am undertaking. From about one hour and 45 minutes of discussion spanning two separate meetings I have managed to make 5 sheets of notes like this. They've really helped me to clarify my thoughts and understanding. Tomorrow, I will focus on what books and resources I need and what artists I will look to for inspiration and comparison. Taking one step at a time, trying not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of this thing I will create.
My aim is to make a healing piece that reaches out to families left behind by su***de and perhaps helping anyone feeling suicidal to make a different decision. I am not experienced yet in the language to use in communicating about this. So please forgive me if I have said something wrong so far.
P. S. My cat is not involved in any way at the moment, apart from grounding me with her oxytocin filled purrs.

Daisy in the garden. I am considering whether to include her influence in my performance art research project. I am feeling a bit lost at the moment with my project, I am not even on the cusp of tying up my final proposal! Time to contact my study skills mentor me thinks. And get help to set targets and break it into tiny baby steps for myself. Do you ever get that thing where you know you'll enjoy something once you get started but getting started is scary? My stomach is full of butterflies. I have everything to say and yet nothing at the same time.

Remind me, what year are we in! How can a club be only for men in this day and age where we are embracing gender fluidity? Why is this marginalisation of females still going on even now? According to the rules it can take 2 to 5 years for a new member to be voted in but other rules say the council are allowed to take a discretionary vote on up to 4 members, so that's what they have done to fast track these two. That would be fine if the rest of the membership consisted of 2 men, that would be balanced. The rest of the membership = 1500 men! What a weird world we live in.

Adorable Daisy with her new wicker and catnip ball to play with. Couldn't wish for a cuter cat. So chillaxed. 😻 Daisy has been with us for 2 whole weeks now. 💖💞💖💞💖 Adopted from 💘

Awwww, Daisy has been with us for nearly 2 weeks now. We all love her so much. We think she is pawsome! Each of us have our special moments with her each day and we make sure she has her miaow me time too for herself. On Monday of this week she met my Mum who gave her cuddles and met my sister too. On Tuesday she had her second injection. I can't believe how beautifully she has slotted into our family. We got her from they are brilliant. The facility is very clean and organised. They really know their stuff and they made a purrrrfect match for us!

Happiness is finding your place.
Bliss in the sunshine.
Human and Feline.
Snuggled together.
The start of a new day.
Daisy's Day.

Daisy has been with us one full week now! Well 1 week and 1 day! She is an absolute natural at posing for the camera and every position she puts herself in is so cute! She is the gentlest, sweetest, most good natured cat I have ever met. We are all very in love with her. 💞😻💞😻💞

A great at Haynes today! My 15 year old Elijah was particularly thrilled as he is creating a pilot show for and cars are his focus. I was a bit cheeky and asked one of 's team if he could say a short ident for Elijah' s show into his phone for him. The lovely lady said she would try to fit it in but Richard was really busy today. I thought to myself, "Of course he is." I said I'd drop them an email and ask instead. But I thought this would be a better way! Frome Fm is a community based radio station available online and also locally on radio in the Frome area. They are being extremely supportive in helping Elijah to produce a pilot show. It would be even better if Elijah could interview Richard for his specialist show. In the meantime, here's a picture of me pretending to have met Richard Hammond and pretending to have done a piece for youtube.

Oh wow! Loving ! Beautiful cars everywhere.

Welcome to our new family member, Daisy. Elijah has wanted a cat for several years and now we have been matched purrfectly to this wonderful cat! She is so chilled and relaxed, loves being stroked but is also independent. She is an absolute darling. We were expecting to bring her home later this month but she was feeling a bit down after her operation and Compassion for Cats felt she would do better coming home early with us and they have lots more cats coming in so they needed her pen. Now our family is complete.

He's just making sure I parked straight!

Vegan delights at while I try to finish my essay and Gunter has his eyes checked at Yeovil Hospital.

Ahhh, now the New Year has begun in my favourite all establishment. Feeling not so blue as yesterday now, although my essay is still incomplete.

A massive thanks to for coming yesterday and today to unblock the drain that had leaked water into our flat. We mopped up buckets and buckets of the stuff, our landlord even helped with the mopping and they were the ones who called Wessex Water out. Thank you so much for helping. 💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️

Who says women don't use ai? I have used a mixture of ai, canva and a few different photo apps to create the picture I had in my head of a baby swaddled in a brocade coat with a globe of earth as a head, as my symbolic Brechtian baby in The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

There's a lot going on in my life at the moment! I want to share some good things. I have received my formative assessment marks for the two modules I am studying for Theatre Studies and they are good and excellent! So I am very pleased. 😊 I have had an excellent response to something I did at my support work where I took photos and made them into films. The response has lifted my heart. ♥️ I have at least one person on social media who has commented and said they need to make an order from MCS! That has also made my day! 🤗 I will be putting in an order this weekend, so please let me know what you would like before 6pm Saturday. Thank you. # # # 💖💕💖

Hello, thought I should let you know that I have updated the message on our MCS website to this. I am still quite exhausted but circumstances dictate that I must get back to work at MCS and try to make it work. I am trying to balance financial needs against physical/emotional/mental health needs and I have discovered at this point that stopping MCS is good for my life/work balance but to be frank not for my bank balance and that makes me worried and then everything else slips away. I suppose I am trying to balance my needs and energy with trying to be absolutely stable for my family and it is very, very difficult. Everything is not the same as when Gunter and I first started this 14 years ago. I will be trying to tweak things behind the scenes. I will be tweaking the website so that only the items my suppliers sell individually will be available individually, otherwise they will be available in the packets of 6, 8, 12, or whatever amounts they sell them in. This means I can reach the minimum orders for my suppliers and won't have items left over. Orders will be on a monthly basis. I will also have to have minimum order amounts, I haven't sorted those out yet but because the orders will be monthly, that should be ok for you. I do understand that you might have done all you can to try and support us and the viability of our business over all these years and that is why I completely understand if you no longer feel able to continue with us on this journey but this update is here and you can keep getting yummy and ethical items from us if you wish. I am sorry for this chopping and changing, I hope you understand that I am trying to find a way that works for us and for Shepton. 💕💖💕

On the road back to home again.

Yum, yum, at thank you!

Journey to London in the early morning light.

Hello, I have an announcement to make...

I thought I could run Mercer Cares Shop at the same time as doing my new support worker job for two days of the week, studying at Rose Bruford and balancing my family comittments but I was wrong. I am taking a break from this Wednesday October 11th for the forseeable future, until I decide to start again, or not, depending on life circumstances. (It took ages to build that website and I might be happy to start up again in the future!).
I consider myself very lucky to have come this far and be able to stop and count the treasures of the absolutely unique and wonderful friendships I have made through this shop...I am keeping you. ❤️❤️❤️
If you have ever given us any support of any kind either through buying something, leaving a great review, saying something lovely to us or about us, reading a social media post, giving us a heart, then thank you so very, very much. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity and to have the insight to see that something has to give.

I will bury myself into my books, my family and my newish job.

Thank you so much once again, for everything. X # # #

Thankful to literally stick my nose into my book on Brecht and just read and learn and mark the pages with a pencil. I'm trying to go into hyerfocus mode but I keep having to do things like make dinner, eat, drink, wee, family things. But I need to speed like a demon to get through all these tasks ahead of me on these modules!

Elijah managed to crack a smile unlike the two on his t-shirt, probably because they live on the they might look serious but are actually hysterically funny! Thanks Elijah loves his shirt! X # # #

Overjoyed to see my brother! One half of and my new t-shirt designed by my bro, Dunk Love! 😍😍😍😍😍

Had a picnic on Portishead beach with my boys on the weekend, watching the sun go down.

Visiting family in London. Trent Park.