Tag Archives: self-improvement

The Worm in the Apple

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Arnot Hill

It’s a very pleasant day today. The sun is shining, birds are feeding and the house is quiet. At a time like this I should be able to write tremendous things.

However, there’s always a worm in the apple and, as usual, I am failing to capitalise on my good fortune. I’m worrying about all sorts of things. They are all minor and they will all be resolved in time, but they seem to take the edge off things. On top of that, I don’t really have a plan, just a huge disorganised pile of things in my head with an imaginary notice that says “To Do”. It’s not much help.

Arnot Hill Park, Arnold, Nottingham

Then, of course, there is the feeling that I should just sit down and sort myself out. I’m in the same position as the hypothetical coach who offers his team the advice “score more goals” from the sidelines. It’s right, I do need (metaphorically speaking) score more goals, but I actually need help with the nuts and bolts rather than the grand picture.

You can’t just shout “score more tries” from the sidelines (note I’m reverting to rugby as it is a more comfortable place for me than football. It’s about the 101 ways a team does all the small things better – I once read an interesting piece about the effects of simply trying to gain a yard in every tackle, not just stopping the opposition but gaining a little ground each time.

Tufted Duck – Arnot Hill Park

There are around 700 tackles in the average Rugby League match. Assuming even distribution that means one team, if it can make an extra yard per tackle , can gain 350 yards per match. That’s 3.5 lengths of the pitch, giving you more chances to score, and keeping the opposition further out.

Same goes for Rugby Union. They make around 170 tackles per team per match, which is still nearly two pitch lengths, and it’s still an advantage worth having.  They do, of course, have other areas of the game missing from Rugby League, where they can employ similar small improvements.

The Heron is back again. Arnot Hill Park

So, my new list, which I am going to start working on as soon as I post this, will be about the nuts and bolts of writing. Picking the high value targets and cutting out distractions (like computer games and losing my notes).

However, by the time I have posted this, Julia will be home from her stint in the tearoom, and I will be distracted by making her lunch. Some things just can’t be avoided. Happy wife, happy life.

Greylag Goose Arnot Hill Park Arnold

By a great feat of organisation (I sometimes get it right) I have found the picture I need to match the title. The rest of the pictures are others from Arnot Hill Park which don’t show worms in apples.

Arnot Hill Park, Arnold, Nottingham

Note that the worm/apple, being an older sculpture, is treated with preservative. The newer ones are left to decay naturally. This old man/tree spirit sculpture shown below no longer exists, nature having taken its course.

Arnot Hill Park, Arnold, Nottingham

 

 

 

A Treat from the Back of the Cupboard

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Yesterday, as part of my efforts at self-improvement, I researched ways of improving my writing. I will, as a result, not be using the phrase “doom and gloom” but will say that the morning is gloomy, and so is my mood.

Still no car. Still no news of the car. No news of my prescription either. This is a worry as I have run out of some things. The new system means that I don’t have a clue if my prescription has been processed. The screen says it is in progress but it is a day late already and that is not a good sign. Fortunately I am not short of anything essential. Apart from good humour, I am running short of good humour because the system takes several days longer and seems to produce more errors.

It seems to be a common feature of these “new and improved” systems that they are actually just “new”. The “improved” part involves cost-cutting and is no improvement to me at all. I am worried that this may be the case with my writing too – it may produce a crisper and more concise style, but is that going to be an improvement. I am a poet and raconteur rather than a business consultant or a copywriter.

Things will get better, as I always tell myself. I told myself that when boundary and building issues threatened to bury me six months ago. They didn’t really get better, they just faded. The main one was sorted out but we are waiting for a second planning application from the neighbours on the right and the builder still hasn’t come to repair the chimney stack. problems do that – what seems the end of the world at one point is almost forgotten six months later.

I just looked up and noticed that the drizzle has increased in intensity and has lumps in it. It is now a wintry shower.

I just checked that up.

Wintry is the preferred form and is used approximately 20 times to every one use of wintery. However, as the article points out, many people pronounce wintry as wintery. I do, and I feel wintery is a more logical development from the word winter. On the other hand, this is English, so logic has little to do with it.

Time for Late Breakfast now, one of my favourites among my recent new words. I like stewp too, but it excludes bacon sandwiches, which late Breakfast does not. I will be having chilli jam with my bacon. I found it in the back of a cupboard recently. We bought it when we went to The Lakes for our 25th wedding anniversary (yes, six years ago) and the Best Before Date is in 2016, but it was unopened and it still tastes good.

That is the problem with Best Before dates – people mistake them for Use By dates.  Best Before dates can safely be ignored (according to me, though not to Julia). Use By dates indicate that the product can kill you if you leave it too long.

The picture is a Late Breakfast from happier days.