Tag Archives: obituaries

Scattered Thoughts

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During the course of the day I think of so much stuff that I could, if I made notes, probably write 5,000 words on my day and my thoughts. Obviously I won’t, as I’m disorganised and lazy.

As a result of yesterday’s planning I am gathering material for submissions. My normal practice over the last few months has been to get to the end of the month then decide only to submit a selection. Now I’m planning and have numbers to think about, I am looking at sending stuff to all the possible outlets and have even started writing haiku again. I’m a poor writer of haiku but I ned to improve as they are an important part of writing Haibun. I had stopped writing so many Haibun and transferred to writing tank prose because the tanka is much easier to write. Now, again as a reaction to the numbers, I find myself needing to improve my haiku to improve my Haibun.

I may have talked about my looming retirement a bit too much lately. I may also have touched on the idea that one of my new projects is making sure I live long enough to reach retirement. I note today that two well known personalities, George Alagiah (well known British news reader) and Trevor Francis (famous footballer) have both died. Alagiah was 67 and Francis was 69. They both seem to have been decent blokes over the years and it’s a shame to lose them.  It’s also a bit too close to my age for me to feel comfortable. I am about the age my Mum was when we had to stop her reading out the ages of people in the newspaper obituaries.

There is an article on the internet about writing. The title is “Surprising hobby could help older people stave off dementia – new study findings”. It suggests that writing letters, keeping a diary or using a computer could help reduce your chance of Alzheimer’s by 11%. Another story says “literary activities”. This is good news for anyone on WordPress.

However, why is it surprising?

Apart from the Alzheimer’s benefits I’m sure that regular writing keeps my mood up. I also know that blogging, and the people I “talked” to during lockdown, helped keep me stable in an uncertain time.

It’s no surprise to me tat writing is good for you. What do you think?

Orange Parker Pen

Fig Roll Day

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I was up early and hit my peak about ten minutes later. Since then, nothing much has happened. It would be nice to think that my day has been devoted to fermenting ideas, ready for an outpouring of creativity, but all that has happened is that I have built up enough creativity to write a blog post which starts “I was up early and hit my peak about ten minutes later.”

We have had fig rolls this afternoon, so at least I have one thing to identify the day with. Without this, it would merely be another disappointing grey day in our worryingly cold and miserable spring.

It has been a bad time for men who make a living by dressing as women. Paul O’Grady, also known as Lily Savage, died a couple of weeks ago, and Barry Humphries, the man behind Dame Edna Everage, died a couple of days ago. I’m always surprised when I read bout people after they die, as there is so much we don’t really know about people.It’s a strange facet of modern life – we are on first name terms with people and we see them in our homes, almost as if they are friends. But we don’t actually know them.

I’m told, from my reading of self-help books, that people have difficulty separating truth from fiction, which is why the death of a soap star (in the soap rather than in real life) can produce so much genuine grief over a fictional event.

That’s why they recommend visualising yourself as a success, because it will trick the brain into thinking you are a success with all the trappings of success.

It’s an interesting thought. Sitting here in a cold semi-detached house with a battered Volkswagen parked outside, it’s a little difficult to see that this says success. However, I must go now. My trophy wife has just called through from the front room to tell me to put the kettle on. She has obviously been unable to visualise a Butler.

I’m not sure that self help book (purchased from the Exchange and Mart in the days when it was still printed on paper) was entirely accurate. Though my £1.75 (plus P&P) probably did help the author to a better life.

The header picture is biscuits, but not fig rolls. It’s close enough.

 

Not Quite What I Expected

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It’s a good thing I took the frost photos yesterday because there was no frost today. We had a few drops of frozen rain, but so far no snow. I’m happy with that. Winter is dragging a bit, even if the weather has been unusually good this time.

There’s still time for snow – it’s not unusual in March and April – but I don’t mind it when things are warmer.

Nothing else of any importance occurred in my life. I’ve been lucky, other people haven’t been as fortunate.

In other news, the M3 motorway is closed by snow and Basingstoke is cut off. I hope all my blogging friends are safe and warm.

At the roundabout at the bottom of our road a car missed the curve and went through the fence, ending up in the High School Playing Fields. It could have been a lot worse.

Jeremy Hardy, a well-known comedian, died from cancer today. He was three years younger than me. Clive Swift also died. He was famous for playing a hen-pecked husband – you can see why I identify with him. He was the father of Joe Swift, the garden designer on Gardeners’ World. I didn’t know that, but it’s easy to see the resemblance once you know.

Time, I think, for a nice cup of tea, some warmth and some sandwich making. I have pickled shallots for tomorrow – they are likely to be the best bit of the day.