Julia by the Canal

It has been a long time since I had an electric shaver, but the special head shaving shaver Julia bought me for Christmas has been excellent. I cut my hair a few weeks before Christmas (she let me have it early) and after initially taking my hair back to the scalp with my normal trimmer I have been able to render myself bald and tidy without a problem ever since.

It is so much easier than finding all my shaving gear, lathering up my head, contorting my arms to reach the tricky bits and, once in a wile, having to saunch the bleeding. Modern wet razors are very good and I am a a careful man so blood is not obligatory, but it always a fear. That is why I tend to be an enthusiastic shaver for a few weeks then let it grow for a year or so after that, until it becomes long, straggly and slightly sinister.

I tend not to take selfies at that point as I look like the school janitor in so many horror movies, or the barber in the Westerns who betrays the marshal to the gunman.

I have been wondering, since staring to use it, where all the hair goes, as not much seems to come out when I brush it.  I thought it might be like cutting a lawn. If you give grass two light cuts a week you don’t need to clear it up and it does not build up thatch. However, it seemed unlikely as hair clippings aren’t going to mulch down. So I had a good root about with the brush and a toothpick. It seems the clippings pack down really small, and there are, once you get going, more places to hide than you think there are.

Julia, Sutton-on-Sea

That’s not all I have done, to be fair. I have finished off twenty poems that form this months submissions. I planned my time better this month and had a few things ready weeks in advance, though some needed fine tuning today. This is still 24 hours better than usual, so I am feeling more relaxed, and quietly pleased with myself.

I am now gathering my resources for a week of writing about numismatics before getting back to poetry.

There was an interesting programme on about Geoff Capes tonight. He was, amongst other things, World’s Strongest Man twice, an Olympic athlete and an internationally known breeder of budgies. He was also a local man and I remember seeing him when he was a policeman in Peterborough. We ate a takeaway curry as we watched. The curry was delivered from a kitchen based in a pub where I used to drink nearly 50 years ago. At that time we had chip shops and a couple of Chinese takeaways in town. It never occurred to me that we would end up with dozens of restaurants operating a delivery service. Times change.

Julia on the patio

As the year draws to a close, it is good to count your blessings, which is the reason for the photos.