What advice would you give to your teenage self?

I have given today’s prompt so much thought. Two dog walks later and I ‘m still unsure which way to go with this.

There is so much in my head that I’d like to get written down.

Guidance for myself would have been a wonderful thing, a mentor would have been a gift.

I can see I will need to think on and hopefully come back soon to this space and fill it out with thought.

In the meantime I will finish with this, a cliche you might want to say…Not really, I’d say.

Mostly attributed to Plato but in fact said by Ian McLaren – the pen name of a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, way back when.

Today we hear a long the lines of….

‘ Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about’.

The minister who’s name was John Watson 1850-1907 said

‘ Be pitiful for every man is fighting a hard battle’.

What bores you?

My knee-jerk reaction to today’s prompt was to think ‘ I don’t get bored’. It’s true but it hasn’t always been the case.

A job, situation, a person in the past has made me yawn inside. It happens to the best of us, but now I feel very fortunate that it doesn’t happen.

I have absolute freedom now, but it has been a long time coming. Like for many folk a cash injection would not go a miss, enabling me to be luxuriously not bored….but in the meantime I will give thanks. Gratitude and forgiveness are powerful tools and using them brings rewards.

What is your favorite drink?

In England I’ll mostly drink decaffeinated tea and coffee( believing it is better for me and won’t disturb my sleep).

One of the best drinks in the world has to be Turkish Coffee ( and definitely a sleep disturber). I would alarm work mates overseas by drinking big cups of it, whilst theirs were tiny. To be fair it did make me a tad jittery. But so lovely!

Mint Tea is another drink I adore. The Daily Prompt was probably asking for one, I have three.

And last but not least Masala Chai. Heavenly.

Strangely I don’t add anything sweet to my drinks here at home, but those favourites of mine are absolutely laden with sugar 😂

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

This question stopped me in my tracks for a moment.

As I stared at the empty page wondering where to begin, it became clear. There, the very ability to look at the space, waiting for me to collect my thoughts. Sight

One of the best gifts I was given at birth was the ability to see.The best gift I can give someone else is to be on the NHS national data base for all organ donations.

Write about your approach to budgeting.

George Washington, born 22 February 1732 and first president of the United States had the right idea. ‘ We must consult our means rather than our wishes.’

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

Once upon time patriotism must have been wonderfully positive and emotive. Today, in my minds eye I see the emotion, but it being a negative. That it now smacks of extremesism and not in a good way?

I ike being English, a Brit. Our young royals are doing a sterling job, all things considered. I’ve never considered myself a royalist, far from it, but Dianna Princess of Wales was something else. A very special lady. It was tragic she lost her life just as she was gaining control of it.

The world has become a terrifying place ( yes, I understand we are now more able to see what’s going on everywhere, more than ever before)..It feels uneasy…but I digress. Am I a patriot? Not per se, it’s more to do with gratitude. I can think of many places worldwide I wouldn’t have liked/survived being born and growing up in. So, England I thank you and I’m happy to be here.

This morning on LBC Radio they spoke about Trump and his latest moves, keeping Europe out of discussions regarding Ukraine and from that moment on I began to have feelings of Patriotism for Europe. I voted to remain during Brexit and we lost that. Is that flame now going to be rekindled? I hope so.

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

I think today’s lesson was two fold…The Prompt; the lesson in writing and Lesson Two being the reminder that I’m an idiot and I’m sharing that fact with you. More than an idiot, really. Absolute irresponsible, just about sums it up.

What did I do?

If I had been caught, maybe had a car accident because of it, I could have been fined £5000, an appearance in court and my insurance company very unhappy with me. Worse still someone could have got hurt and more.

Getting ready to come back from the park my dog’s raincoat was wet and muddy, so I took it off so he could get warm. I got in the front and drove the few miles home.

Only when I got here did I realise I hadn’t secured his harness. He’d been unrestrained. If I’d had an accident and stopped suddenly he could have been hurt. If he had distracted me and I’d collided with another vehicle…we’ll, I don’t want to think about that.

What I will think about is being more careful in future. He will be secured at all times.