Monthly Archives: January 2024

Organising My Writing

11 Replies

I need 27 tanka and 13 Haibun/Tanka Prose to send off before the end of the month. It seems like a lot, but to be honest, I have a few tanka done and even if I didn’t I can easily knock two dozen off in a couple of days. They won’t be my best work but if I’m honest, I could spend a lifetime writing 24 poems and still not feel they were good enough. Do them, move on, learn, improve.

The Haibun and Tanka Prose, look like more of a problem, though I do actually have about 23 that are complete or nearly complete when I count them up. Again, it’s that old story – I can mess with them for years without them seeming good enough, so I may as well just send them as soon as they seem acceptable. I hope that if I keep writing I will eventually learn to write better.

Next month I need 3 Haibun and 3 Tanka Prose. That will be easy as most editors ask for up to three then return two. I can almost guarantee that if I send the rejects out some will be accepted.

Talking of working on Haibun for years, there are several that have been knocking about for a couple of years now, including some that I’ve never sent out. The truth is that no matter how much you improve the writing, some of the subjects are so dull or so convoluted that they just don’t work.  I will have  Spring Clean next month and send them into storage.

There is a variety in this lot – ducks (one of my favourite subjects), insomnia, age, family stories, religion, funerals, pigs, wheelbarrows, prostate problems . . .

My life is a rich seam of inspiration, though it’s fair to say that my mind does not inhabit the higher planes of human existence.

As for the rest of the day, I slept badly and woke up feeling tired. However, it is Sunday, so I turned over, ignored Julia’s suggestion that I might like to get up and make her breakfast, and woke two hours later with a bad back.

Yes, I too believe that sleep was cursed by my cavalier disregard for my wife’s feelings regarding breakfast.

Unfortunately, one thing goes wrong and everything else follows. I dressed slowly, got my feet stuck in my trousers and struggled to get my slipper socks on. If you put them on before your trousers they get caught, if you put them on after it can be tricky bending your knees enough to reach. And if you don’t put them on, your feet get cold.

It’s not been too bad since then, though the decision to watch Supervized proved to be a bad one. It’s a film with a good central concept, a generally mediocre cast (though I always like to see Clive Russell, and a poor script.

We are having pork and roast veg for tea, and Julia has just walked past with it, so if you will excuse me, I need to go . . .

(It was very good, so good that I ate, watched the Pottery Throw-Down and forgot to post this until I woke, still asleep in my chair.)

Orange Parker Pen

 

15 More Saturdays

11 Replies

I think I now have 15 more Saturdays left to work. It’s not many. However, where I was dreading the countdown a few weeks ago, it now can’t come fast enough.

I’m probably a bit of a letdown to my family with this, because one of my grandfathers worked on after retirement, as did my father.  My father carried on full time until he was 67 and then started his own business, which he ran until he was well into his 70s. He did this because he had no hobbies (apart from working), which is something I always said I would not allow to happen.

One of the things I am aware of is that my other grandfather had to retire early with Parkinson’s Disease, and my mother started with it in her early 70s. There is little point saving enjoyment for some future time if I may become too ill to enjoy it. My mother got very cross with me once when I said I ws going to wait until I retired before doing something. I can’t remember what it was, and I still haven’t done it, but I am aware of the general principle.

I’m not thinking of getting Parkinson’s, just using it as an example. My cousin, a GP, tells me that as far as they know, it isn’t hereditary, it’s just quite common. I don’t really need Parkinson’s as I have enough to be going on with as it is. I’m still coming to terms with arthritis, which was a bit of a surprise when it happened.

I had a letter yesterday inviting me to apply for my State Pension. I may have mentioned it. I forget things these days. Things are getting closer.

Tomorrow I am going to make a list of everything I need to do to move house. It is going to be a lot longer than I think. These things always are.

I have subscriptions to half a dozen poetry magazines, so that’s six addresses I will have to change. I’m in three poetry societies. RSPB, Wildlife Trust . . .

That’s a lot of letters. That’s why I used the P id for Postbox 10p coin as a header picture. I used the sunrise for the end picture as I like it.

And yes, it’s likely that next week’s post will be 14 More Saturdays. Once you find a winning formula you may as well stick with it.

 

 

Technology Troubles

19 Replies

Two in one day – I am spoiling you.

I see there’s a button on the bar above my writing which promises “Distraction-free Writing Mode”. I just pressed it but the kids next door are still shouting so it is obviously another WP lie. I was hoping for a flash of lightning followed by silence.

Looking at the row of buttons, I’ve just realised I don’t know what most of them do. Even worse, from the point of view of the perpetually curious child that used to live in my head, I don’t care. I have more technology than I need. This is a sad day for me.

However, having realised this, I think I may stop writing and do some cookery. Pasta bake beckons. It’s nutritious, easy, cheap and can contain both salmon (which I have) and cheese (which I like). Actually, I will reheat the salmon fillet and let Julia have it all. I will stick to pasta bake without salmon. it’s not unselfish of me, I just don’t like salmon that much and would rather have vegetables. On the other hand, it’s been there a few days now and if it poisons her I will look bad. I might have to share it just to give myself an alibi. Life is full of difficult choices.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

I’ve actually been looking at the idea of taking Omega 3 pills. It’s the option for  man who wants Omega 3 but doesn’t really like fish. But, I ask myself, do I want Omega 3 so much that I’m willing to buy pills. Probably not.

Anyway, I have enough pill problems at the moment. My INR shot up according to my latest result and I’ve been told to miss a day before starting Warfarin again. This will be the effect of the steroid I have been taking, which is very annoying. Having to make a choice between breathing or bleeding is very difficult.

My phone just stopped working. It happened yesterday but I didn’t realise, just switched to using the shop landline and assumed it was a temporary glitch. Today it still wouldn’t connect, and we now have no landline.Yes, it was time for our old friend “switch it off then switch it back on again”. I never had to do that with my old Nokia. Bloody technology!

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Just Another Friday

11 Replies

The first of at least two posts.I am feeling productive.

I was so tempted to apply alliteration to the title, but I’m better than that.

Went to work, packed parcels, was rude to an Australian, was nice to some customers, went home. It’s Friday and it’s our new half-day.

Some of the customers were lucky they had rung ahead because I was able to tell them that coming at 2am would be a waste of time. I still cannot believe we are just shutting shop and going home with no notice to the customers. A very successful shopkeeper once told me that you can run a specialist shop for three hours a week if you want to, and people will come. But you have to be open when you say you are.

The Australian? Well, if you ask stupid questions it’s always going to be borderline what sort of answer you get. If you ask two stupid questions in the same email the odds increase, and if you then start telling me what to charge you for postage . . .

The definition of stupid question is not, in this case, based on ignorance, it’s based on making me waste time answering a question when all the answers are actually already in the listing. Why do I have to waste time on something that is perfectly obvious to anyone who  can be bothered to look? Ignorance is unavoidable and excusable in a specialist world – laziness is avoidable and there is no excuse.

Postage is expensive. It’s not my fault. We send our parcels in a way that is dictated by the value of the parcel rather than the parsimony of the customer.  In the old days we used to tell them we would send them unsigned and uninsured but it was the customer’s responsibility. You can’t do that now. For eBay purposes the customer is never responsible and they will always find against us.

Strangely, I bought in a Sacriston Peace Medal today – the first time I’ve bought a peace medal across the counter in the six years I’ve been there. As you may recall, I already have that one. Why couldn’t it have been a Gateshead or a Little Slaughter?

Sacriston Peace Medal (Obverse)

Sacriston Peace Medal (Reverse)

 

 

Oh Dear, Posted and Forgot the Title

8 Replies

Squirrel on bird table (and fly on squirrel)

I just fell asleep during Forged in Fire and woke up to someone talking about a disaster. Fortunately I had been sleeping with the fire on and a hot water bottle tucked in the blankets I had on my lap so I was quite flexible. I woke, made sandwiches and sat to check the comments on my blog.

I really ought to go to bed, but can never resist the temptation to look at the blog after making sandwiches.

Tonight, after my last blog post, I dozed and ate fish fingers with peas and potato wedges. It’s not a life of great style and elegance, but it needs living and I am probably the best person for it.

Then I did the shopping order for next week and dozed again whilst watching TV.

Tomorrow is only  half day so I don’t really need sandwiches, but Julia does. All I need to do is last until lunch and them I can come home and do things. Or, I can come home and doze in front of the fire.

Squirrel in a bin – Clitheroe Castle

There really is very little difference between my winter routine and hibernation. Once I retire I must think this through. In many ways it would be simpler just to give in and hibernate. However, I suppose that I will end up imitating the grey squirrel. They don’t hibernate, but they do sleep a lot. So I will sleep a lot and send in food orders via the internet that consist mainly of nuts. When relatives, concerned by getting no answer from me, eventually contact the emergency services they will find me nestled in a bed filled with dried leaves and with a spare room filled with packets of nuts.

That reminds me, I promised two cousins that I would do things this year. One is connected to family history and one to current family members. I have done neither, on a account of me being ill for the last three months. And being lazy and forgetful. I had better write to them to remind them I am alive and , belatedly, doing things. Strangely, they are both doctors, so |I will probably be bombarded with advice about health. I may leave the letters until next week. There’s only so much health advice a man needs and I am getting enough from my own doctors at the moment. It’s strange. You don’t see a doctor for years, then then, as so0on as you get something interesting, a group of them comes along at the same time . . .

Squirrel stealing bird food

This is either Part 2 of yesterday, or Part 1 of today. Not sure which.

 

Good News

12 Replies

 

Inside the car, looking out.

The owner of the shop worked at the desk next to me today. Under the new reduced hours there are only two of us in the shop at any time. He mentioned it was cold.

“Yes,” I said from inside my cocoon of fleece jacket, pullover, shirt, thermal vest and vest. “It is isn’t it.”

“That,” he said, “will be because we only have heaters in the other two rooms.”

“Yes,” I said, pulling my woolly hat further down on my head. “That would be correct.”

We have heaters in the front room and the back room – the two he tends to work in. The middle room can be a bit parky, as my grandparents used to say. By the time it is time for home I often feel drained of heat, and sometimes I never warm up again in the evening. Not that I’m one to complain . . .

Sometimes the light comes straight down the road, but we are a few weeks past that time. 

The truth is that much as I like the company and the money I’m not going to miss work as much as I feared I might. Next year when I’m sat in  nice warm bungalow writing poetry and planning my assault on the world of literature, I’m not going to miss work at all. I will have enough money to live on and enough is all you need. Too much just brings problems. I will also have all the human contact I need as Julia and my sister combine to boss me about and criticise my diet, dress sense and lack of activity.

One thing I definitely won’t miss is sitting in that middle room watching frost form on my thermals.

Photos are from Julia. She took them while we were on our way to work.

I like the explosion of gold but she thinks it is too much of a good thing.

The Unripe Avocado

18 Replies

Wonders will never cease. This is probably the first time I’ve got round to using an avocado before it was slightly on the turn. Normally I forget them and remember just in time. Or cut the brown bits out. This one, however, was not ripe, and I could tell as I cut it. Eventually, having chopped it small, I did render it edible, but we put the second one out in the fruit bowl to ripen.

I always feel slightly guilty when eating avocadoes. I know I need variety in my diet and I know they have many useful vitamins. But I also know that, like many things, they have a carbon footprint and a problematic production history. However, they are good for me and they taste nice.

This morning I had a blood test, went to the jeweller (watch battery and new strap), called at a charity shop for Julia to buy jigsaws for her MENCAP group and came home for the avocado.

That’s it. Not a very adventurous day, but more adventurous than I have been for ages. I was tempted by fast food while we were out but my resolve held firm and we are fitter and healthier as a result and will, eventually, be thinner. As I told myself, it is only one small fall from grace to eat a burger, but each small fall adds up to me putting weight on again.

Each small success adds up.

It’s just like blogging. Each unlikely event, no matter how small, becomes something to write about. Even an avocado that isn’t ripe.

There is no photo, I ate the evidence and the remaining one, until I cut it, is just an avocado. Not ripe, not unripe . . .

Or is it?

The picture is from earlier times.

KFC Mapperley Nottingham – my enemy

Dreaming of Spring

13 Replies

 

Backlit Sumac Tree in the MENCAP garden

It’s cold. Apart from that everything is fine and t6he nights are definitely lighter. Tomorrow I will be having a blood test. It’s all very dull and wintery.

We both fell asleep in front of the TV tonight, which was a bit too much like hypothermia, despite the fire being on. Fortunately we only have one more winter here. Our next winter, I hope, will be better heated and easier to endure.

A house on  hill is great if you want to avoid flooding, and so far that part of the plan has worked. However, it is draughty, it does tend to catch the full blast of the north wind and, due to various factors, the heating is not good. However, meteorological winter ends in six weeks, and proper winter ends in ten weeks or thereabouts. Not long now.

Fungus at Mencap gardens

Tomorrow I will start with the list of jobs I need to do to enable us to move. It is likely to run to several pages and to prove completely insufficient for our needs. We are going to need a books to make this move a reality. Fortunately we are in a position where we are able to compete the move without everything being perfectly aligned.

This is good because we want to be moved in to the new place for Christmas, which is a terrible time to move out of a place and sell the house. However, looking on the bright side, give it a few months after Christmas and things should look up for spring. It’s all Julia’s fault. If she had been born six months earlier it would make everything so much easier.

Common Newt – Mencap Garden

Today, we set off fifteen minutes earlier to ensure we arrived on time to meet workmen who had come to fix the new summerhouse in the MENCAP garden. It didn’t quite work out. They rang to say they were going to make the garden their second call, the traffic was heavy and we were only just on time, and by the time I got to work I was there at my normal time. Why, I asked myself, do I bother to plan thiongs when life conspires against me? I suppose I’m just an optimist.

Pictures are the MENCAP garden in various seasons.

Poppy – Mencap Garden

An Unimpressive Monday

12 Replies

Well, I can’t say I’ve covered myself in glory from a work point of view. It’s past 3pm and I’ve only just remembered to draw the living room curtains (it was still dark when Julia left this morning). I have tinkered with a  few poems, completed two (I think) and checked up the recipe for tonight’s meal. Not that it’s much of  recipe, I was just checking I had all the bits.

I’m now going to do the washing up to make it look like I’ve done something useful. When I finish I  . . .

Oh dear, Julia just came back and I haven’t even washed up. I’d better go and be attentive.

Fortunately she’s in a forgiving mood, so I will make tea and toast some crumpets and be an all round good husband.

Later . . .

The tea and crumpets worked. I then made the baked salmon with rice and vegetables which turned out to be quite pleasant (even though I’m not keen on salmon) and the evening went well.

Overall, the day was not a great success as I didn’t really get enough done. I will do the washing up sooner next week and make a more impressive evening meal – perhaps something with Hasselback potatoes, though they aren’t so impressive now that they are advertising frozen ones on TV.

The trick, if you feel like making them, is to lay the potato between the handles of two wooden spoons so that when you cut down the knife cannot go all the way through.

Not sure what we are having tomorrow, though Julia did suggest that standard vegetable stew would be fine. That’s good, because it’s very simple. I am, in case you are wondering, doing most of the cooking at the moment as Julia had three weeks of it over Christmas because of my incapacity. It’s payback time.

Vegetables – Carsington Water

A Month of Illness

15 Replies

It very quickly became apparent that Plan A (the active one involving doing lots of stuff) was not going to happen. It’s too cold and my back feels stiff.

Plan B (the one that involves salmon for tea and some moderate tidying) looks like the one to aim for.

I have others, going right down to Plan F – watch TV, think of a good excuse for when Julia comes home. Even I wouldn’t sink that low after she’s been working all day and I’ve been at home. Not until next week after the novelty of Mondays off has sunk in.

Yesterday was a notable day. My bowels returned to proper function. They have not distinguished themselves during my recent illness and I have been concerned. However, it’s not necessarily a subject for in depth conversation so I will leave it there.

It was also the first night when I have felt comfortable sleeping on my back. I had a much better sleep than usual, slept in too long and, as a consequence have the stiff back I already mentioned. It was good to get back to normal.

The first cough I recall was on the tram as I travelled to my knee X-Ray appointment. That was 14th December or thereabouts. It’s 15th January today, so that’s a full month from one end to the other of the illness.  It’s been a long time, but having lost weight nd had some decent rest I have to admit I feel better than I did a month ago when I thought I was well. Strange how you need to become ill to get better.

Looks like a bishop in a cage – Crowland Abbey