Monthly Archives: November 2025

Julia’s New Hobby – Possibly

4 Replies

Owl carving – Sherwood Forest

Got up at 7am. It’s not a big deal, I sometimes get up earlier. Old habits and insomnia both die hard. What was a big deal is that now I’m retired I usually leave my waking time to chance. Today was a day for setting the alarm. I made breakfast, of fruit and cereal and then, to be on the safe side made a breakfast cob using black pudding and bacon. It’s a bit like asking Dr Jekyll Chef Hyde to make breakfast – the two sides of healthy.

Julia, in case you are wondering where my soulmate and partner in crime is in all this, got herself dressed for a hard morning’s wood turning before eating both breakfasts. When you aren’t sure what the day is going to bring, it is best to be prepared.

I dropped her off at Railworld a little before 8.30. I don’t really understand it, it’s part railway museum and part wildlife haven, and to get to it you drive through what used to be the fairground/car park and underneath the railway arches. In all the time I lived in Peterborough previously (about 15 years) I only remember going through the arches once or twice. In those days all that was there was additional parking and wasteland.  Today, as I left, a kite wheeled over the haven. This is twice I’ve seen kites over the city and I’ve only been there half a dozen times during daylight.

Sherwood Forest – carving

I expect she will come back either enthusiastic for more woodturning or despondent over some aspect of it. She doesn’t tend to do middle ground.

Meanwhile, I had a rather crowded and fume-filled journey home. It’s a small city, and the traffic is not heavy. It’s just that at 8.30 my route home is a bit of a nightmare. I could possibly make it quicker by finding a way round, but I’m still a bit shaky at navigating round Peterborough because many of the roads didn’t exist when I last lived here. There is plenty of margin for me to get lost.

The post arrived, bringing a cheap medallion with it. It’s an aluminium medallion depicting a smelting plant in Bahrain. Aluminium is a fascinating and widely used metal. It’s only about 150 years ago it was considered to be more exclusive than gold. Now we use it for wrapping food and making window frames. I have about fifteen aluminium medallions depicting aspects of the aluminium industry in my collection. I have a list of others I am looking for, and a handful of aluminium coins and medallions as examples of what has made from aluminium over the years. One day I will do a presentation on aluminium for the Numismatic Society.

But for today I must write a couple of paragraphs for a friend who is writing a book on Nottinghamshire Numismatics, send something off for the society Facebook page and then, probably, get to work on my next presentation – The Dark Side of the Medal – which is due in may next year. May is not a long way off as I need to test it in April to avoid a repetition of the debacle last time I did a talk.

Acorn Sculpture – Sherwood Forest

Meanwhile, I’m working on a scheme regarding a soundtrack, dry ice and (possibly) a cape.

Focus

5 Replies

A Lord Byron medallion

It is 8.46. I have done all the important stuff that needs doing  and am now waiting for Julia to emerge, fragrant and lovely, from the shower. We will then discuss breakfast and have a leisurely start to the day. It is Sunday. She will work this afternoon and I will write.

Meanwhile, I have a choice of activities. I could read more of the book about the Lusitania, I could start the poems I made notes about last night, or I could . . .

And there’s the problem, so many choices, and not one of them offering much in the way of excitement.

As it turned out, I went and had breakfast instead. Wheat biscuits, milk, blueberries, banana. From some points of view, a great breakfast, with fibre and antioxidants, and from others, a bit heavy on the sugar and air miles.

I haven’t read enough of the Lusitania book to comment yet, though it is an easy read. I’m not feeling poetic either.  It’s a typical morning – so much potential and so little activity. This observation is made much sharper by the events of Friday night. A friend of mine, a few years older than me, but seemingly healthier, died. As far as they can tell, he was sitting watching TV when his heart stopped. It is both a good and a bad way to go. Good because it was quick and painless, bad because it was at least ten years too soon and it must have been a dreadful shock for his wife. The lesson I draw from it is that I have to stop putting things off. It’s all very well saying I will do things tomorrow, but one day there will be no tomorrow.

So if you’ll excuse me, I am going to get on with some poetry.

And the reverse of the medallion, with a message. Part of the message is that one great line doesn’t make a poem. You will see what I mean if you Google the line.