Tag Archives: getting out more

A Bad Start to the Day

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Farmer Ted lectures on sheep

I just did 550 words on a lead medallion I have in my collection. I did a write up for the Numismatic Society Facebook page a while ago and thought I’d expand it a bit for the blog. As usual, I thought this was simpler than starting from scratch, and as usual, I was wrong. When I finished and went to the folder for my photos, I found I didn’t have any. Not sure what I’ve done with them. As usual, I have also put the medallion in a box, and it will take me ages to find. Not all is lost though, my brain  has had some exercise.

The dream is that one day I will be able to go straight to the appropriate box and find the medallion in minutes. Reality is still a little way off that ideal.

Narcissi, but I expect you knew that

I’ve been told off (gently) by Julia for becoming a recluse and sitting in my office/study/den/man cave all day. It’s quite an indeterminate room at the moment – not really productive or organised for an office, not studious enough for a study and not personal or decorated enough for either of the other two. Another that comes to mind is writing space, you often see that. But mostly I spend the time sighing and staring into space, so there’s not a lot of writing going on. It’s not the spare bedroom, because we already have one of those, so it must be the box room. Small pokey and full of boxes – yes, that sounds right. Life was so much simpler when I had no choices and worked in the dining room.

Primroses at Wilford, Notts

I’ve just been charging batteries, ready for a trip out. There was a moment of panic when I couldn’t get any of them to fit back in the camera, but that turned out to be a problem with my brain rather than the batteries. I convinced myself they fitted one way, when they actually fit the other way round. Senior moment or the beginning of a terminal decline? At one point I worried I had broken something in the battery bay. We did that with an expensive camera once and ended up having to replace it. Fortunately this is not the case here.

We are off out soon, as part of my non-recluse policy. It could be a great adventure. Or it could be an anti-climax.

This is the bookshop at Brierlow Bar before they finally ruined it

Photos are a random springtime selection.

Back to Work and a New Book

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After the unexpected Saturday, the Bank Holiday Monday and the Crafty Tuesday (which linked the Monday to my normal Wednesday off, I have just managed a short holiday. It was OK, but I didn’t actually do anything apart from fill the car (which ws cheaper than last time – a welcome development) and have a blood test.  That, as I have said before, is part of the lasting damage done by Covid and Lockdown – I still haven’t got back in the swing of going out, though the recent cost of fuel also contributed to this.

Julia has suggested that I need to get out more as she thinks I need exercise and sunlight. Since yesterday, she also thinks I need to get out and see things to recharge my desire to write.She is probably right. She normally is.

Work was much the same as usual – people wanting to sell us junk, a nuisance caller wanting to offer us a good price on block-paving our driveway (which, being a shop, we don’t have) and a handful of parcels to send in the post. It wasn’t interesting or profitable, but it wan’t stressful or hard either, so I have no complaints.

A book arrived in the post – it’s about the parish of Slaidburn and the Great War.  My Uncle tom provided them with some photos and details and I was pleased to learn something new as they have a picture of my grandfather’s Agricultural Exemption Certificate – after volunteering in 1914 when he was under age he was held on the farm for a few years before being released in November 1916.

I’ve ben through it looking at the bits that relate to the Wilsons – tomorrow I will read it properly.

The header picture is the Slaidburn War memorial as it was when we last visited. I’m sure the scaffolding will be gone by now. The lower picture is the war memorial in Clitheroe, a few miles away. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that they are identical statues. The bases differ, but Clitheroe had a lot more men to commemorate. It’s strange to know I have relatives remembered on both memorials.

War Memorial – Cliheroe Castle

Day 81

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Today I sorted a collection of tickets. Some of them are bus tickets and some relate to things like toll bridges and ferries, but many of them are considerably less interesting than that. Fortunately I have the day off tomorrow and will do some exercises to raise my enthusiasm levels.

Some of them have adverts on the back, and at least one of the adverts refers to rationing, so I’m guessing they go back to the 1940s in some cases.

After looking at all the pictures from previous years, I am starting to feel restless and would like to get out more. All I need to do is find a place that is crammed with interest, devoid of people, and accessible to a man with bad knees and a stick. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

I’m hoping to get an early start tomorrow and get a parking space close to phlebotomy for my overdue blood tests. After that I have a couple of errands to do and plan on spending the rest of the day getting to grips with some writing.

It’s all about practice. The more you write, the better you get. When I decided to start writing poetry again, about the time I started writing this blog, it must have taken a good two years before I started writing to an acceptable level.

This time, six months after being ill, I am struggling again. The quality is OK now, but the quantity isn’t there yet and I’m looking at four deadlines at the end of the week and only enough material for one submission.

That’s why I need a major effort tomorrow – lots of editing to do.