Monthly Archives: November 2018

Inspiration

Heavily stamped envelope

This is my version of the Random Idea Generator. I just stick a load of stamps on and take a picture to remind myself later.

Spanish Armada, Fishermen, Sign Language, Tropical Fish, Horse Chestnut, The Mallard, Landscape, Flowers, Gramophone, Postal Union, Fire Engine, Radio Broadcasting, Inigo Jones building, Inigo Jones masque costumes.

That’s just a taster. Many of them lead on to other thoughts.

Here are a few others.

More Stampish Inspiration

Roald Dahl, Cats, Morgan Le Fey, Merlin, Christmas, Cricket, Edward Lear, Pathe News, National Trust Cliff, Bittern, a couple I’m not sure about (including a French Horn), Rugby League, Golf, Football, something to do with Springtime and Queen Elizabeth II.

I really must read them more thoroughly next time and remember what they are.

I’m not sure they will convert to haiku very easily, but they should work for haibun and other forms. The prompts will be incorporated into my writing challenges. (Because they aren’t already hard enough…)

A Tale of Texting

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I’ve had a shortage of texts in the last few weeks. People I have texted haven’t even been answering me, which must surely be a sign of something.

It all came to an end this week. First I had a text to tell me the surgery had tried to call but had been unable to get through. This wasn’t quite true – they had got through but had put the phone down as I picked up. However, by doing that and texting they made me pay for the call.

Then I had one from the bank telling me that internet banking was going to be down at the weekend. As I don’t use internet banking this really doesn’t bother me. I reckon that if I don’t use it I will be harder to hack.

Finally I had one from my dentist to say they had to cancel my appointment. I’ve been waiting five and a half months for that appointment and was looking forward to having my crown refixed.

I rang to rearrange the appointment and now have two. One, next week, will fix my crown and the other, in a month, will be my six-monthly check up. I suspect this means that I will have to pay twice, but I can’t keep going for another month with a loose chunk of gold running amok in my mouth. Regular readers may recall me mentioning that I had a similar problem a few years back and ended up swallowing it. At the current price of gold I don’t want a repeat of that.

Actually, it wasn’t final, I’ve just had one to tell me that I’m having a parcel delivered tomorrow. I’m not sure I needed to know that as I’d have guessed when I got home and found a parcel.

Texting used to be useful, now it seems on the verge of becoming another branch of junk mail.

Of Scones and Mills and Shopping Malls and Burgers, Chips and Things…

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We went to Hobbycraft after I posted this morning. Julia went to do whatever she does in there and I sat in the car, thinking and photographing and making notes. Green’s Windmill was working so I took a few photos, then decided to take a video. At that point they stopped the mill. Typical.

There was a lot of clutter in the photo so I’ve decided to say that it is meant to represent the Mill in its modern urban setting. What it actually represents is my reluctance to get out of the car and walk around the car park to find a place where I could get a clear shot.

Julia emerged from the shop with bulging bags and we went for an early lunch at Burger King. It was quite pleasant, though I did cough a bit when they asked me an extra 20 pence for barbecue sauce. We won’t be going to Burger King again for a while.

This is probably a good thing, because we shouldn’t be eating junk food.

I won’t complain but I am going to make a note in my diary to write to them in six months and tell them how much money they lost for the sake of 20 pence.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We then went to the shopping outlet just off the M1 in Derbyshire. It’s gradually declined over the years. If you want cheap young person fashions, expensive coffee, shiny kitchen ware or an overpriced watch this is the place for you. Most of the decent shops have closed (including Thorntons) and the bookshop is very boring. This is modern shopping – a soulless process involving shuffling round like a zombie and dying a little bit in every boring, over-priced shop.

Julia bought a diary for next year, and that was that. Even without the poor pickings at the shops it wasn’t a great trip, as the rain was cold and the sky was difficult to differentiate from the dark grey of the roof slates.

From there we slipped down to Denby Pottery. Julia had seen some in the shop at the outlet and mentioned we ought to look in at the factory shop one day. It’s not far away and I can take a hint. It is her birthday soon and she’s being no help at all in helping me select a present.

It didn’t help once we got to the factory – the gift shop has been dumbed down since we last went and is hard to tell from the average garden centre hell hole gift shop.

However, we did have a very good scone with butter and jam. It was sweet, light and still slightly warm. You’d have enjoyed it if you’d been there. Top marks for that.

After that we went home. I had a snooze in front of the TV then had a bowl of soup before posting. Once I’ve posted I will take Number Two Son to work.

My life is a real roller coaster ride of fun and frolics.

A Lack of Ideas and a Tour of the Internet

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I tried another writing prompt – “Write about your day so far”. I’ve only been up an hour and I haven’t actually set foot outside the house. It could be tricky.

So I tried again – “Write about something you got for free”. After much thought I remembered that I had a free blood test and, because everything went well, my car parking was also free. I think I covered that in several previous posts.

At least I’ve started writing. For a few minutes at the start I just sat and stared at the screen. I’ve been doing that for the last few days. It’s not that I’m lacking inspiration, it’s just that there’s so much of it that I don’t seem to be able to get any work done.

I’ve just been watching a TV programme where Tanni Grey Thompson has been looking into her grandfather’s service as an air raid warden in WW2. I learnt a lot I hadn’t known before, and was very impressed with some of the things I hadn’t realised.

This set me off on a tour of Wikipedia as it’s a subject close to my heart. I recently read a piece that referred to people who didn’t serve in the forces as “shirkers”, which didn’t strike me as fair or accurate.

Seven thousand Civil Defence workers were killed in the UK during the war – something I hadn’t realised before. One of my grandfathers was in a reserved occupation during the war. He volunteered for the RAF twice and his employers applied to have him back twice. He served as fireman in his spare time and found himself called out during the air raids on Liverpool and Manchester.

His brother, a railwayman, was also in a reserved occupation. He was in the Special Constabulary when he wasn’t working.

Strikes me that it was hard work being a shirker.

If you came into a large amount of money, what would you do with it?

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I came up empty for inspiration so I turned to a random subject generator.

When you look at the prompt you have to wonder if the effort was worth it.

I would buy a Ford Mustang. Probably a red one but maybe yellow or gunmetal. Then I’d plant a forest to allow for the emissions. After that I suppose I’d better buy an electric car and show some maturity.

Then I’d buy a house near the coast.Or build one. Building one might be better as I could have all the bits and pieces I’d always wanted – a secure hobby room, a fridge with locks on, a bike shed (I’ll be needing some exercise) and servants’ quarters. Well, I’m not going to be doing my own housework if I’ve got money, am I?

Perhaps I would donate some money to charity. It will make me seem less shallow and more compassionate.

I’d also like to go deep sea fishing off Florida. I saw a programme about that once and it looked fun.

That’s about it. I’m currently shallow and boring. With money I’ll be shallow and boring and rich. It hardly seems worth the bother.

The Trend Continues

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I forgot to tell you that another of my shirts disintegrated yesterday, I was tucking it in when I felt it give. That’s what happens when you have cotton shirts and a disinclination to spend money. It’s always a bit of a downer when an old favourite disintegrates, though not so much of a downer as when trousers disintegrate, I admit.

After posting I took Number Two son to work and dropped him off for an 11pm start. About 1 am I had a text.

“Are you awake?”

I was naturally inclined to answer “No.” but decided I’d better admit that I was still up.

“Can you leave the chain off. I’ve been throwing up and I’m coming home.”

Oh, the language of Shakespeare…

So, to cut a tedious story short, I went to pick him up. If I’m going to get him to leave home he needs to save his money, not squander it on taxis. We nearly reached home before he decided to throw up again. Fortunately he managed to get out of the car before it happened.

I think it’s true to say that he has the same gastric bug as Julia, He just doesn’t handle it with the same panache.

We returned home around 2.30 am, which left plenty of time to write my haiku quota and get to the hospital for a 7am blood test. This was handled so efficiently that I was back at the car and out of the car park before my free half hour was over.

I had the results by 11.20. I passed, though they have adjusted the dose and I have to go back in two weeks.

I wonder if this is a sign that things may be looking up.

Haiku Challenge – Day 27 – Ups and Downs

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I was going to post a couple of days ago when it was day 25. This would have been quarter of the way through, but I was diverted and didn’t get on with it.

However, if I had updated at that time I wouldn’t have been able to include details of my latest rejection, as mentioned yesterday. Nor would I have been able to contrast reality with my comment in the previous report. I said:

“However, I’m not going to make any boastful claims just now. I’m going to send some of the new haiku off over the next few weeks and see if any editors like them.”

It’s fortunate that I didn’t make any boastful claims, as I did send some off to an editor, and the editor returned them. It’s difficult to tell, but I suspect this indicates my haiku writing hasn’t improved as much as I thought.

Set against that, there is the Autumn edition of Wales Haiku Journal. Near the bottom of the page is my first published haiku. It’s under the name of Simon Wilson rather than Quercus, but it is me. If I was going to lie about it I’d have chosen a better one…

The Downward Trend Continues

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Since I last wrote of my dull day things have showed little improvement. Nothing interesting has sold, nothing interesting has been loaded on eBay and nothing interesting has happened.

I say “nothing interesting” but had better qualify that. Nothing good and interesting has happened. I removed one of my dental crowns whilst chewing a caramel, which was interesting, particularly as I have a history of swallowing them.

I’ve wedged it back in for the moment as my six-monthly check up is due in a couple of weeks and I’m hoping to avoid a special trip to the dentist. It’s only come out twice since then, one of them being when I flicked it out with a toothpick.

Then there was the car insurance – it’s gone up by 15% so far and we haven’t even discussed my unfortunate brush with the speed camera. Someone is taking the mickey.

This morning I woke and as I sat on the edge of the bed I noticed blood dripping onto my legs. It was a bit of a surprise at the time but I have a history of nosebleeds so I’m not unduly worried. The main problem is getting the blood out of the pillowcase. (You may want to bookmark this page under “Famous Last Words” in case I’m wrong).

Minutes later things took a turn for the worse when I was informed that Julia was ill. She did this by groaning dramatically, making a sweeping arm gesture and croaking “I’m ill.”

She slept all day and has consistently refused food so it’s quite serious. I hope she gets well soon because I had to make my own sandwiches this morning.

Finally, I had a rejection on my last haiku submission. That was depressing for about twenty minutes, but after that I had plenty to do and forgot about it until now. I’m having a think now, not sure whether it’s part of the downward trend or something I should zone out.

According to my current thought process every rejection brings an acceptance one step nearer, so a rejection is actually a good thing.

Fallen at the 26th Hurdle

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Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…

Twenty six days into my hundred day blogging challenge and I fell asleep in front of the TV. That’s not unsual. Unfortunately Julia had gone to bed after a hard day in the Mencap Garden and I slept, undisturbed for several hours.

That took me through until the early hours on Saturday morning, missing my midnight deadline.

Ah well, it’s annoying but it’s a target rather than a deadline. Nothing bad will happen as a result of missing it and I will just potter on. The new target is to do 100 posts in 100 non-consecutive days. I’m on 32 posts in 25 days so far.

The challenge was about self-discipline and regularity and 25 consecutive days isn’t bad compared to the erratic posting I was managing. It may be a failure in terms of falling short of the target by 75 days, but it shows what can be done and, like all failures, is best seen as a foundation for future success.

This is a huge subject. I’ve seen adults paralysed by the idea of failure. I’m sure it prevents many people being happy and successful. All I do is smile sweetly, apologise and move on to Plan B.

As I may have said, the challenge doesn’t help with the quality of writing. It may help fluency and speed but I’m not sure it helps anything else. I really want to be a writer of posts on important, serious and thought-provoking issues. Instead I’m not sure what I really am, though current possibilities for subjects include waking up with a nosebleed, the poetry of Les Barker and curry for breakfast.

Which reminds me, I’m peckish and there’s a large pot of curry on the stove top.

Time to move on and read a very fine comic poem.

Dull Day, Declining…

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The morning was grey and the journey to work was uneventful. There were just three parcels to pack, and I had them done before the others turned up. One modern silver coin, one 1990’s proof set and one modern medallion – hardly the stuff that gets my pulse racing.

Related image

Then I started sorting brass threepenny bits from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The oldest ones (1953) are only a few years older than I am and the newest (1967) are considerably younger. To make things worse, the dates aren’t very easy to read. We currently have 87 complete year sets and a sorting tray full of coins – apart from 1958. We’re short of them. When making up year sets there’s always at least one year that slows things down.

After that I had a few coins and medallions to list on eBay and that was that.

You know when you have a day that makes your heart sing and makes the whole world look brighter? This was the opposite.

Fortunately it means that tomorrow is likely to be an improvement.

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Life after the Care Farm