Category: Uncategorised

Finding home…

Joey Jones19 Comments

What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?

You will be forgiven for glazing over today.  Mostly, I like to keep my posts bite-sized  but sometimes it’s impossible. It may be one of those days…

It’s interesting to read the replies to the DP’s. All our thoughts and memories in a big melting pot called living. How will my fellow bloggers define ‘ the hardest personal goal’ ?

Amongst them will be the souls who are just grateful to have survived this far. This I understand.

A few days back, we were asked how we would cope if we lost everything. I failed to mention the time I had walked away from home and a relationship with just the clothes on my back…Tough? Yes..

After a while, struggling to keep my head and dignity above water, I went overseas. I was away for years. When I did come back to the UK, I had a pup and an adult dog in tow. Street dogs I had bonded with and was not going to leave behind. ( Animals, I understand. Humans not so much.)

Luckily, I had managed to accumulate savings, but the flights for Tony and Joe from India. ( BA Cargo were stars) and six months in quarantine ( I believe things have changed since then) didn’t come cheap.

Having been a nanny at the top of my game and the mother of all references under my belt. I was sure it would help. And I had six months to find somewhere for us all to go. Right? I stayed in a small hotel in central London as I believed then it would be easier to go to and from interviews. I’d never be able to take a nanny role again with two dogs, but there were other jobs with tied accommodation I could do.

( I had to stay with my dad and his fourth wife at one point for a while = nightmare and another story which will remain buried.  It was soul-destroying. Totally)

Despite being signed up to some fabulous and not so fabulous agencies ( another story or six) It took a year and the last of my savings to secure something for the dogs and me.

And so it went on forever, it seemed. I could have tugged my forelock and kept my head down and stayed in some jobs longer, but you know how it is.

To be fair, there was one lovely job with an elderly chap. I was gutted when he passed away. But I did get to keep his dog.

The jobs came and went, and I was with a  difficult employer on a farming estate. All the other staff were obedient and had been there years. I simply couldn’t hack it. 

And then it happened a complete fluke combined with stars aligned, and I finally managed to retire with the keys to a lovely rental, in the middle of dog walking nivarna and a  landlady sent from the heavens.

A front door of our own, such a long time coming. Sure, I’ve had to tighten my belt, but things that make me happy cost nothing… Walks in the deepest of nature, birds bathing in the fresh and slightly warmed water I put out for them. Amazing skies, the sunset and sunrises, trees,  smiles, and a few passing words with people on the street. All the dogs in the hood whose names I learn before their  guardians. The changing seasons. Growing things, pottering around.  Writing.  Gratitude.

And then I have Patch. His Nibs 🐾🐾 who lives here rent free, because he can.

Shoot for the moon…Confused? You will be

Joey Jones4 Comments

Tonight October 7th is the first of three consecutive supermoons. This lunar occurrence is rare. It happens when the full moon coincides with a moon being in the  closest proximity to Earth.

The Corn, Barley and/or Harvest moon can sometimes be the same thing. Depending where you go for info.

Traditionally , the Harvest Moon is the one closest to the Autumn equinox around Sept 22nd. Which make it in September or October. October sounds late for harvesting, doesn’t it? That’s all been done and dusted for a while now.

The Hunters Moon, which October usually brings sounds more apt- the gathering of meat to store for the colder months. It’s easily done when the fields have been pretty much razed to the ground, and wildlife has nowhere to hide..no way of getting from A-B safely.

Tonight, it will be billed as The Harvest Supermoon…but it won’t stop hunters from going out, though, will it? 😭

#leagueagainstcruelsports

Let me go

Joey Jones1 Comment

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little, but not for long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that once we shared
Miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the master plan
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go to the friends we know.
Laugh at all the things we used to do
Miss me, but let me go.

Christina Rossetti

Errr…. writing

Joey Jones10 Comments

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Without one shadow of a doubt, writing is the answer to todays DP. Having said that, Emily Dickinson will take the stage with one of her beautiful poems.

Hope is the thing with Feathers

Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.


Losing it ( for sure, a post for DP in the wrong place. Duh)

Joey Jones2 Comments

It’s so easy to become possessed by our possessions. ‘ Stuff’ just accumulates. It happens. But the older I get, the more miminalism appeals to me.

Two years back, when I was due to move home ( again) I had the luxury of the space, time, and the wherewithal to finally gather all my belongings together. ( Some had been in store for a long time)

There was an area in the garden used for composting and a fire pit. I went through old paperwork/admin with a fine toothcomb and burnt a pile. Old diaries, notebooks, negatives. So much hard copy.

William Morris once suggested that to have nothing in your home that is not beautiful or useful ( or words to that effect). I took that on board in a big way, and over a month or so gave at over half of my possessions to the Air Ambulance charity. Unwanted furniture and white goods collected by the British Heart Foundation. ( Yes, it does bother me the BHF suits take home fat pay checks – but it worked for me at the time). I gave boxes of lovely clothes to a young woman who I believed would appreciate them for her shop or sell online,help her family to pay some bills… ( After prompting from outside, she thanked me but never replied to a follow-up text( another story) Nice.

So, with less of everything, I moved to where I am now. I have gifted items, a few precious old photographs, a couple of pictures I love, and now just a tiny collection of books.

A ring left to me by my mom. 💜

There are a few pieces of clothes I like, and my multi- weather dog walking kit is invaluable. I have my birkies and odds and sods useful for my everyday existence.

I wear a piece of cremation jewellery. A small silver vial holding the ashes of a beautiful dog Tony, who once upon a time shared and shaped my life.

The rest you can have. Except Patch that is …and my tablet….or my wheels.

(George) Bernard Shaw

Joey Jones10 Comments

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

‘ Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything’.

~ Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

Bernard Shaw, Irish Playwright and Critic

When I first read the DP, I wasn’t quite sure what to say ( yeah, I know, that’s a first, lol) because I change my mind…or at least rearrange and alter my thoughts a lot. Especially now that I actually have the time to be still and see the big picture.

And what I see is quite staggering. A short while ago, the DP was about stuff we wish we had learnt earlier in life. My response then was that I wish I had known all those years ago that things are not always as they seem. The time and emotions I’ve wasted is quite something. Best not to dwell on it, really.

I love the expression ‘every day is a school day’ because I  want to keep moving forward, updating myself, growing, living, learning, and changing my mind.

As writers, we are lucky to be able to put our thoughts down in black and white and then ponder them….

…it’s not yet 5am and I’ve already changed my mind several times this morning about whether should I get up now or not..and if so what to have for breakfast.

Bernard Shaw was asked towards the end of his life..
… “What would you do if you could live your life over again?” Shaw replied with a deep sigh : “I’d like to be the person I could have been but never was.”

And now I shall lay in the dark. Listen to the howling wind out there and feel the cool breeze on my face…..The birds will be hungry once the storm subsides.

Not going to happen

Joey JonesLeave a comment

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

WP, I am going to take it to mean any device with Internet access?

A ‘ computer’ to me is a desktop. In fact the word itself sounds a bit dated since ‘ device’ stepped into the ring.

The first known use of the word was in 1613 by English writer and poet Richard Braithwaite ( 1588-1672) in his book The Young Mans Gleanings. ( A collection of religious essays) At this point in history, computers were people who carried out calculations by hand. So it’s quite valid to think the word sounds a tad dusty.

To today, listen up WP. I have spent most quite a chunk of my life without the Internet, so don’t think for one minute I am about to give it up… It’s way too precious.

I’ve stepped back from scrolling and the Socials. If I want to hang out, I’ll come here to DP@WP. If I want to be creative and write, check out a weather forecast, how to get from A-B, have some screen time, find out how best to cook something, touch base with peeps in the UK and overseas, book myself in for a restyle, a how-to on YouTube, Shazam part of a soundtrack, listen to music, test my grey matter, look up doggie issues, support charities, ask when something opens or closes, the definition of this or that etc, etc, etc…… You get my drift? It’s all there.

You ask how our lives would be without computers? ( Which has just made me think of a medical professional I’m getting to know here….His work life is tough enough. Without Internet access, it would be unbelievably compromised.)

So thank you. I am sure it would all be very Zen for a second or two, but I’m too curious about life and the natural world to let it go now. It’s where I get some light.

Of course, like anything, there is the other side of the coin, and I get to see and read about all the darkness, too. Those swinging dicks I sometimes write about. The megalomaniacs daily destroying everyone and everything in their wake for power and with greed, regardless of the consequences.These individuals fire up the rage my heart and soul at the injustice. That they, just a handful of absolute A Holes, can ruin the lives of so many, whilst making themselves rich…and being able to sleep at night!

Just do it

Joey Jones3 Comments

What skill would you like to learn?

There’s quite a list of skills it would be great to master…and it’s fun to dream for a moment I’d achieve any of them.

To be fluent in Tamil and Arabic/Egyptian so I could converse with my buddies overseas when I’m there. To be able to totally understand what’s going on around me when I’m out and about in the street would be useful. At present, I just have the lad at the petrol station to practice what little Tamil I remember.

To be totally tech savvy would be very cool. To know my way around Computer Science, the whole shebang.

To naturally have the writing skills of AI..Boy do they have a way with words.Not sure they will get to grips with deep emotion, though.

It would be quite impressive to be able to do this.

The last for today would be able to play the piano in secret…Then at some soirée/ when the time was right pull out that stool, sit down and perform to the absolute shock of those around me. So funny!

Making sense of it all

Joey Jones11 Comments

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

Being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is a trait, superpower and recognised as a neurobiological difference….and like everything else in life there is light and shade.

Sensory Processing Sensitivity ( SPS) it is specifically called in the science world. It is complex and impossible to put into a bite-sized piece for my blog post this morning.

I will endeavour to put some facts and figures about it for a post later if you are interested. Oh, here’s one statistic …20% of the population is hsp/sps.

Do you think that may include you? Lots of Creatives are.