Tag Archives: pessimism

Pessimism, Problems and Poetry

I’m on a 100 day activity streak, but there were no fireworks or streamers, so it is pretty much like Day 99, or probably Day 101. To be honest, next month will mark the 12th anniversary of my time here and 100 days isn’t really worth getting worked up about. However, it does give me something to write about.

The office light turned into an even bigger nuisance when we found the bathroom light had also given up (it has been flickering intermittently for a while). However, when we found the bedroom light had gone it all became plain. Modern houses use circuit breakers instead of fuses and these can  function when a bulb blows. many of them, for some reason have been fitted in garages, instead of being easily accessible in the house. It turned out that all the lights were working once we reset the circuit breaker. It must have disliked the way I switched the light on.

This, it seems, is an “improvement” on old-fashioned fuses which only blew when there was a fault.

The pen repair I performed, doesn’t seem to have worked. I now have inky fingers again.

However, my phone is now working better. I took out the SIM card and wiped it down. Had to use a safety pin to extract it as I can’t remember what I did with the extractor tool and wiped with a tissue instead of an eraser as I couldn’t find one. Phone now seems to be working and I booked an MOT slot.

Meanwhile, I had an editor email to accept two poems, and a  second to accept another. I’m ending the day with a smile, though I’m expecting to find a disaster lurking round the corner. That’s not pessimism talking, in case you are wondering, it’s experience.

One thing that has been driven home to me is that without a landline (they are being phased out in favour of a new and improved system) and without a decent mobile signal, it is hard to function in these modern times.

Pictures are just a selection from the week.

Parenting, Porridge and Pessimism

We had a lie in until just after eight and got ready without having to rush to a deadline, then, in case the luxury of the moment should spoil us, we had porridge. Without sugar.

If porridge had a family tree it wouldn’t be far from wallpaper paste on the chart, probably a second cousin, but it’s good for me. It’s full of dietary fibre, it’s economical and it helps build stoicism.

I will spare you the next few lines, but let’s say that they weren’t cheerful and the spirit of optimism has taken a holiday too. All I have left to look forward to is five and a half years of work before I retire and embark on life with some very poor pension arrangements. Stoicism is going to come in very useful.

I know I’m getting old as I’m entering the penultimate stage of parenthood. I’ve pushed them around in a pram, worried about their health, maturity, education and careers. I’m now worrying that I won’t be able to leave them anything when I die. That only leaves the final stage, where they have to worry about my health and push me around in a wheelchair. I only hope my brain lives long enough for me to appreciate the irony.

Julia has gone to town to renew her bus card. I have sorted out my car insurance details, moved stuff round to give access to the electricians, and taken waste paper out. With all the pizza menus, seed catalogues and generally useless waste I reckon I’ve just dumped a good couple of pounds of waste paper in the recycling bin.

According to the 2011 census figures there are 126,131 households in Nottingham so that’s over 252,262 pounds of waste, and that’s accumulated in just a couple of months so the annual figure will be 1,513,572 lbs of waste paper. That’s 686 metric tonnes of paper that need never have been produced.

I just looked Nottingham City Council up to see if they had figures that I could compare and they don’t. They do, however, tell me that they give out 160,000 single-use recycling bags last year. They are for people in flats. They are taking steps to end this, but it seems that it’s taken a long time to get round to it.

Apart from seeing the seals, as mentioned yesterday, I don’t have many plans for the next week. I’d better think of something fast, as worrying about death, children and recycling isn’t what I had in mind when I booked a week off.

I may give some thought to feeding ducks. What people don’t realise when they talk about “feeding ducks” is that there are people out there who will quite happily tip out a pack of white bread and then, after five minutes of laughter, will walk off leaving bread floating on the water and cluttering up the shore. The result – apart from a nutritionally dodgy meal for ducks – rats and festering bread.