Tag Archives: good intentions

One Day – Two Failures

My bread plaiting days . . .

Having resolved to blog daily, I had visitors, snacked, watched TV, dozed and, finally, realised that the day had gone. So here I am, hacking away at a keyboard in the early hours.

Daily blog – missed. Good sleep habits – missed.

I’m now moving the goalposts to 365 posts in the year. I am sure I can hit that, even if it isn’t exactly daily. Experience shows that if I can get the habit back, it will take over and I will, once again, begin to feel uncomfortable if I miss a day.

I’m going to alter good sleep habits to better sleep habits. Better sleep habits are a slightly easier target as I can claim to be better whilst still being bad at things. “Better”, after all, just means “less bad”.

We watched quite a lot of Pride and Prejudice this afternoon, the 1995 TV version with Colin Firth as Darcy. I also quite like the 1980 version the BBC did, which was what converted me to romantic comedy. I say this because something did and Pride and Prejudice, whilst not being exactly “comedy”, comes nearest to fitting the description. I’ve never really settled to the books and apart from Sense and Sensibility I’ve never really enjoyed other film versions. I’m at an age now where I either have to knuckle down and tackle them seriously or confess my shortcomings as a reader and use the time for something I enjoy.

Badger-faced Welsh cross-breed

The 1980 version only comes in at Number 9 on the list of the 10 best, and the 1990 strikes me as being very accurate in costume and detail. Yes, the 2005 Kiera Knightley version has its charms, but it’s just not quite as good. As for the rest, I have only seen Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and I wasn’t impressed. It could have been great, but it was a bit flat and I really don’t know how the list compiler can put it in at Number 3. Anyway, that’s just my opinion, maybe a true Austen devotee can tell me why this version is so good. Then you can tell me why the Bollywood version and the multiple American versions are so good.

I’m off to bed now and will check this in the morning before posting. While I’m asleep I will try to dream a screenplay for Pride and Prejudice – Old Age and Treachery, where Darcy and Bingley get into all sorts of unsuitable scrapes as the Bennet girls try to make them grow up and attempt to prevent an unfortunate happening for Mr Collins in the rivalry over gardens. I can see a garden shed, a still and a home-built steam engine cropping up, not to mention a sequence involving dandy horses and a long hill . . .

Edit: I tightened things up a bit and added to my outline for Pride and Prejudice – Old Age and Treachery by adding dandy horses. This, in turn, means it would be advantageous to locate it around Pemberley and would leave Mr Collins, having inherited Longbourn, out of the picture. For a look at the real life Longbourn follow this link. It also contains a link to a better list of recent versions of Austen’s work.

A Bear impersonating a 19th Century farmworker.

Photos are a selection from January 2016.

Another Day

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I’m off work today because I worked yesterday. It doesn’t, as I said at work, when being asked to swap, make any difference to me. Instead of bouncing round an empty house on Monday while Julia is at work, I will bounce around an empty house on Tuesday.

And that’s how it is. I have surfed the web, wasted my time and considered what to hve for lunch. It is now nearly 3pm and I have still had no lunch or done any proper work.

I haven’t written anything for ages, due to various illnesses and I really should get on with it. Same for decluttering. That never really got going, and then it stopped. In addition to that, I need to get some cooking done to ease Julia’s burden, as she’s been doing everything in the house for a month now.

Part of the problem is that I had a bad night last night. I meant to get a good night’s sleep, but ended up waking four times. I will be glad to get to Urology and get this sorted out again.

Meanwhile, I can remember one of my dreams from last night, something I don’t often do. Julia was on a voyage of Antarctic Exploration, and ended up forming a friendship with George Orwell. He hadn’t been in my mind when I went to sleep, and nor had the Antarctic, so I’m not sure where all this came from. As for the second, I remember having it but I can remember nothing about it.

I’d better do some work now, having enthused myself by blogging.

We have a lot of veg at the moment because we didn’t do a lot of cooking last week and I’m not good at cutting my orders down.

New 10p coins – typical British subjects?

Good Intentions and Old Photos

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As usual, my attempts at industry were not successful. The dining room is too cold for creativity and I decided to bide my time and let a creative maelstrom brew as I waited. It didn’t happen.

I watched two episodes of Murder She Wrote which I don’t seem to have seen before, which is remarkable when you think of the number I have watched, then watched a film on Amazon. It’s called “Belonging” and it features Brenda Blethyn, Kevin Whately, Peter Sallis and Anna Massey. It’s a good cast, it lasts 90 minutes, and not much happens. Despite the lack of action it’s a pleasant enough way to waste an hour and a half.

Trinity Bridge, Crowland

We finished off then banana bread and Christmas cake as we watched.

I can smell potato wedges cooking as I write this, and I will shortly be doing the rest of the meal, which is going to be meatballs in tomato sauce. It’s not an ambitious meal, but it will fit in with the rest of the day. I was originally going to do mashed vegetables with it, including mashed potatoes with herbs. As darkness fell, I felt my ambitions subside too.

Tomorrow is going to be the first day of the new working hours where I have Monday off. Not sure what I am going to do, as Julia will be at work. I may well go to the park and visit the duck pond. While I’m there I may have a coffee and take some photos as I gather creativity to process into poetry. Or I may stay at home and potter around, pretending to be active.

I have sorted a few books out, with the intention of giving some away, but have merely redistributed most of them. There are about 50 piled up in the living room and ten in a bag to go. When I started I had hoped it would be the other way round. I have set myself a target of getting rid of around 50 items a week as part of the moving process. I am going to have to up my game. I am not paying to move thousands of things to a new location so they can clutter up my life again.

Trinity Bridge, Crowland. The streams have dried up but the bridge still stands.

Photos are from Crowland. We haven’t visited for a while.

Excuses and Plans

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I could tell you that I have been so busy writing poetry that I haven’t had time to blog. This would be plausible, but, as regular readers will know, unlikely. Gaps in my blogging are normally caused by laziness or napping in front of TV. Or both. The recent gap has been no exception – laziness and napping both come into play.

It’s a case of swings and roundabouts, or possibly actions and reactions. I just looked up Newton, as I seemed to recall he had something to do with it, but it turns out that although he did mention actions and reactions, he left out any mention of elderly men falling asleep.

I’m left with a distinct feeling of unease, and am now worried about the rotation of the earth slowing down. At that point I suppose there would be no gravity and we would all drift off into space. At that point the financial acumen of the British Government, the world domination plans of the Russians and the moral concerns about eating meat and using fossil fuels would all seem less important. However, the main conclusion to draw from this is that I shouldn’t think too much. I’m going to be burnt to a crisp by global warming long before I drift off into space. And, realistically, I’m going to die of something weight-related before global warming gets me..

My Law of Ageing, which I really must get round to writing down, is that for every effort, life pushes back back by demanding an equivalent amount of nap time to rebalance the energy levels. So if you write over 40 poems in a day and then spend hours driving to a funeral you are going to have to pay back by sleeping when you should be blogging. You may think you are 19, you may think you have got away without extra sleep, but in the end, even if it is days later, there is a debt to be paid.

Anyway, I hope it’s all sorted now and I can get back t normal. I made six submissions last month. I’ve already made seven so far this month. I want to do at least five more so I need to get a move on. I’d better finish this, get to bed and wake up with a positive mental attitude ready for an industrious Wednesday. Julia is going to work tomorrow, despite it being our day off and I have a blood test. Apart from that I have an empty day of possibilities lying ahead of me.

Welsh Poppy

Early(ish) one morning

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Last night I went to bed a t a reasonable time, slept reasonably well and, around 5.30 found myself lying in bed ordering if it was time to get up. It wasn’t, I decided. It was cold, dark and definitely time to go back to sleep. I did this for a while, then decided to get up anyway. It’s now 8.05 and I have already answered my comments and eaten a large plate of scrambled eggs. The egg shortage seems to be over for now and they are a great source of protein and other good stuff.

I note that Derrick Knight is also up and about because he answered my answers to his comments.

I thought I’d knock out a blog post before setting off for work so I don’t need to worry about doing one tonight. I’ve been getting steadily worse at blogging reliably, which is one of the reasons I decided that writing before breakfast might be a good idea.

The new issue of Drifting Sands Haibun (or dsh as it is generally styled) is out now. I am, of course, telling you this, because I have a piece in there and, as it’s an on-line journal, I can provide a link.

I’ve done that dreadful writer thing. Last night I remembered to check if it was on-line, went straight to my own piece. Read it. Read the editor’s comments and started doing something else. Today I read one poem and posted the link on my blog. I think this is one of the reasons I am not writing so freely at the moment – not enough reading. Unfortunately with Christmas and various other things (my talk on medallions is only two months away and I haven’t really got much shape in it yet) my reading time seems limited. I must do something about that.

However, my life is full of good intentions and rather short of actual results.

And on that note, I will potter off to work and pack some parcels.

A Day of Good Intentions

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I’m going to have to abandon the ideal of daily posting for a while, as I seem to consistently be a day out. So from now on I will post when I can, allowing for my hibernation schedule.

This morning we have a day off and I am making cauliflower soup. Julia found a big back of frozen cauliflower florets in the freezer when she tidied at the weekend. It is bet before 2023 but it is full of ice, so I decided to use it for soup as I can’t see it looking too good as a vegetable. I suspect that the ice will melt and make it soggy. I’m roasting it for added flavour at the moment and will make it into soup in my standard way before dropping in the dregs of the Stilton from the fridge. It’s about time to make a trip to Long Clawson to buy a Christmas Stilton. We haven’t done that for a few years, as Covid dimmed my enthusiasm for shopping.

It’s probably time for some Christmas plans now. This include buying more ASDA Sloe Gin Mince Pies. Of all the ones we have “tested” so far they are by far the best and, being on special offer, the best value. They are currently £3.50 for two packs, which is reasonable value, and better than noted on that ebsite.

I am also making vegetable stew for tomorrow and preparing the vegetables to roast with tonight’s meal. I’m not quite sure what it is going to be, but it will have roasted vegetables with it.

I find that if I get right into it, I can get stuff done, but if I have a leisurely start the day quickly stalls and i get nothing done.

So, with the smell of warm cauliflower drifting from the kitchen I am going to rough out three poems that are in my head and then get on with more cooking. With luck I will post again tonight so I can morally claim to be up to date.

Starts with Poetry and ends up with Wallpaper Paste

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As with Newton’s Laws there is always a price to be paid for success and that has cut in today. I looked at some of my successes yesterday and decided they could have been written a lot better. This morning I woke up with the thought that if I’m going to justify my place in magazines I have to back it up with another selection of successful submissions, then another . . .

The road to Hell may be paved with good intentions, but somebody has to provide the wallpaper and that is a task that may well fall to me. I can see it now, hundreds of yards of wasted drafts and rejected versions.

The vision in my mind is not, believe it or not, the flames or damnation, but wallpaper paste. It’s what we used to use in school handicraft classes for doing papier-mâché work. That was our limit at school. We did art and we did “handicrafts”, which was sewing for girls and papier-mâché for boys. Yes, I grew up in a patriarchal society, but look at it this way – sewing is much more useful than the ability to make badly proportioned models from newspaper and glue.

At home, during wet school holidays we would sometimes do it, but using flour and water to make the paste. That skill later came in useful when we produced a Greek style helmet for one of the kids when he had to do a history project. We cheated and kept it for a couple of years before resubmitting it for the next child. We used diluted PVA glue for it, so it didn’t suffer from storage.

It’s very simple and works for a number of things. Select an ion from history that is roughly balloon-shaped, cover it in glue and then cut holes/paint as necessary.

Strange what you think of when you blog.

Now I need to find a photograph. It has nothing to do with anything in the blog. The header is a frangipane tart made with our Cape Gooseberry harvest. We have just eaten the last ones out of the garden. Unfortunately they die in winter if you grow them outside, so we will have to try again next year. There are no pictures of one that was actually baked as they tended to get eaten fairly quickly.

Day 197

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I switched on the computer after watching the World Athletics Championships. It brought back a lot of old coaching tips and I was brimming with good intentions and sports-based motivation. This survived until I went to look at my emails and found I had one from eBay. It was a reminder that I was watching something. I clicked on it and spent the next eight minutes glued to the screen, eventually adding another unusual brooch to my collection of sweethearts. Or another piece of junk that Julia will have to sort out when I die (according to her jaundiced view). Though the way she moans about my collections I might not be the first one to die. Just saying . . .

So, Computer 1 Good Intentions 0.

Cambridgeshire Regiment Sweetheart

Yorkshire Light Infantry Sweetheart

This was a pattern that continued as I stuck a couple more bids into my sniper programme and then browsed 300 more brooches. Most of them were common, over-priced, damaged, or a combination of those three. One is described by the vendor as “good condition” when it clearly isn’t, even from the (deliberately?) blurred photographs he has used. I’ve been caught that way once already in the last few weeks – it seems to be becoming a common sales technique. Not quite a lie but far from accurate.

Some are beautiful but outside my price range – these, when you read contemporary newspaper accounts were often wedding gifts of well-off grooms to their wives, and not necessarily hasty purchases before being sent overseas.

Scots Guards Sweetheart 1914-18

If I won the Lottery (which we all know I won’t, it’s just a convenient figure of speech) I would collect them. However, despite the cost and precious metals I wouldn’t necessarily value them more than the shilling and half-crown brooches that Private Smith bought for his girlfriend or his Mum before going overseas.

Apart from every story being unique, it’s a reminder that although rich people leave better stuff behind, and more written sources, theirs isn’t the real story of history.

Sweetheart Brooch – 10th Royal Hussars

Day 181

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It’s late and I’m struggling for inspiration. In a day that started with so many good intentions, and ended with none of them implemented, this one will hardly be noticed. I meant to write the post as soon as I got home but didn’t, and I meant to avoid eBay, but I didn’t. The two things may be linked.

The programme for the Numismatic Society is out and I am down for a talk next spring – it seems I’ll be interpreting the 20th Century through medallions. That wasn’t the title I had in mind, and seems rather a grand claim. I am going to have to start preparing now, as the standard keeps getting higher every year.

Last month was poor for poetry submissions – just one submission in the end. I lost momentum and slacked off a bit too much. In July I have a chance of 14 submissions. I won’t be able to manage all 14, but I’m hoping to have a far better go than I managed this month. I did look at some other poetry magazines, with the intention of submitting but in the end did nothing about that either. The plan is still to submit the best work I can to the best magazines.

When I first started writing poetry I selected magazines at the bottom of the pile. It secured me some confidence and some publication, but it doesn’t feel as good as getting in decent magazines.

Now I just need ten words to push me over the line. Done it!

Day 137

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Arrived home at 4.30, crammed with good intentions. It is 8.44 now and the intentions, though still there, are starting to leak out slowly as I subside, like one of those faulty Christmas Santa decorations people have on their lawns at Christmas. All I’ve done is eat leftovers and buy something on eBay. Eating leftovers is good, buying stuff on eBay is not quite so good. I am not short of stuff.

I was going to get some submissions sorted tonight and look up some recipes. So far I have watched several actors reciting poetry on You Tube. And this. OK, I’ve looked at a couple of on-line auction catalogues too. As I work in antiques and collectables this counts as Continuing Professional Development rather than wasting my life and filling the house with junk.

We had an interesting customer on eBay. He emailed us this morning. The gold medallion he ordered a couple of days ago ahs arrived and he is unhappy that it is so small. Our details included the information that it weighed half a gram, was 11mm in diameter and, as if that wasn’t enough, included a picture of it next to a ruler. There is a market for these tiny gold coins and medallions, though I’m puzzled why anyone would want one.

We don’t want him to be disappointed, so told him he was welcome to return it, though we did point out that we had been accurate in our listing.

So he decided to start an argument.

Time is money and we don’t get paid for spending time winning arguments, so we just ignored him. That seemed to annoy him even more so he launched another rant.

I really don’t know what makes some people tick.

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Life after the Care Farm