Oh dear, it seems I have so much to learn, but hey, I’ve got the time, right?
I’d like to think I have all the time in the world. A silly thought indeed. They say there are only two sure things in life: death and taxes. Great. So very encouraging!
At my stage of life it’s not so easy to a) understand content and b) digest and remember it.
I guess the key is to have daily bites at the info and see what I can do with it. I know I’ll get there, because it interests me, my passion for writing has been relit and I’m excited by the prospect of getting my thoughts dow
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
It’s now Feb 2026. This post has come to light as it was a response to last year’s DP….
A sharp intake of breathe would probably be an instinctively first reaction to recieving the best news ever. Swiftly followed by gratitude to the powers that be.
If I had been standing I’d probably quickly sit, or stand if id been seated. I would need to gather my thoughts and a walk with my dog would be the fastest way to calm a jittery heart a nervous system thrown into chaos.
Good news could come in many forms and would that be for me personally or for someone I care about? Either way it would be a wonderful moment everyone should get to experience at some stage.
Relief may be a major player in this event. Did someone survive against all the odds? Has a healthy baby been born or conceived? Has an effort been recognised or a due reward given? A new journey begun or one completed safely? Has there been an encouraging medical diagnosis? Has Lady Luck played me a divine hand? If we think on and on there are endless reasons what the positive news may be. I have mentioned but a few, in no particular order.
Yes, a long, quiet and peaceful walk with my dog would be the first thing I would need to do should my stars align.
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
I wasn’t read to as a child..boo hoo! And I didn’t grow up with my mom, double boo hoo…but I did inherit her love of reading. Especially as I got older we both shared a love of auto/biographies. She was so easy to buy for on special occasions, I would simply visit the book shop and see what was new.
Weekly comics; The Beezer and Sparky were bought for me by a lovely elderly lady who looked after me on a regular basis, and the Famous Five books really captured my Imagination.
The comics were replaced by magazines for teenagers like Jackie and I loved the little booklets that were readily available which had the lyrics of all the latest pops songs in.
Then came the glossies; Cosmopolitan,She, Marie Claire, Red, Elle, I loved them! Eventually they became really quite expensive and worse was the increasing amount of ads. Full pages and lots of them.
I then got into novels, especially historical ones, where I could learn something. There is an author Annie Murray who writes about stories around Birmingham, like the Cadbury’s factory and the Jewellery Quarter. Fabulous.
And then the World Wide Web was launched..and it changed everything, and books were laid aside.
I mourned the loss of interest in books. I would pick them up and try, but I simply couldn’t get into them…..and this went on for years, too many years.
Then recently out of the blue a book in Waterstone’s caught my eye. I was in there buying Christmas presents for other people. That day I left with a book for myself and so my love of reading rekindled.
How I wish when we write in this space it is ‘saved’. I was just rambling on about ‘ back in the day sweet shops, got up for something, went back to my tablet, touched it and lost all the text. Not the first time I’ve done that either.
Anyways, I digress…Where was I? Candy, to me suggests an Americanism. Kids today probably identify with the word, but things change. We all know that.
My brother, RIP, used to call them rocks. ‘ Got any rocks?’ He’d say.
I choose not to eat sweet stuff these days ..we all know that cakes, chocolate, biscuits and pastries have. voice. You take them home, put them in a cupboard and shut the door, but you can still hear them ‘ we’re here’ and ‘eat me’.
We’ve all learnt how bad sugar is for us and these days I just walk past those sugary aisles…But I haven’t forgotten how magical sweet shops were when I was once a small person. Rows of tall large glass jars full of the most wonderful things lining the shelves of the little local shop. Pineapple chunks, firemen’s hoses, chocolate limes, white mice, lemon sherbets with a liquorice stick attached, rainbow sprinkled chocolate drops…Bliss
WordPress have reminded me to the empty space I have in my profile About.
From looking at other blogs I can see that writing something madly exciting ,may be the way to go- to hook people in so they want to read what I write about. Well, that’s not going to happen.
I gave it some thought and decided I could write that my dog loves me..but at this moment in time he’s sitting in the car refusing to get out and when I give him a little tug he growls and I know he is threatening to take my face off, so I’m not quite sure what’s going on and why right now he doesn’t love me.
My blog initially is about being a retalively new retiree and how shocked I was and still am, that once I stood still my past life, the years and those experiences seem to be racing up behind me at full force. I am relishing this new world of absolute freedom, but the baggage is there…and it needs to be collected, stored and unwrapped. ( which I’m pretty sure I’ve already mentioned)
So, what goes into the About post? Simply I’m a Babyboomer and disgruntled WASPI….that will surely grab the readers? No, it needs more thought. I will go out again now and see if the pooch is willing to get out of the car, come indoors and chill, so I can relax and get beck on an even keel and think about things. Failing that an early G&T may be in order?
LBC radio reported this morning they had obtained figures to show that 2790 women were caught carrying knives in 2023/24, up from fewer than 900 in 2014. It shows the figure has trebled in a decade. Statistics show that carrying a knife/blade increases the risk of injury to the holder and those around them.
I imagine they are relatively easy to get hold of.
Once upon a time, moons ago carrying a small penknife on the person was common. I can clearly picture an elderly man sharpening a pencil with his, an elderly lady peeling an apple with hers. Little lads would have them in their pockets with the inevitable marble and bit of string. I don’t know who’s it was, but someone in my life at some stage had a pretty mother of pearl handled penknife.
There is a superstition that giving someone a knife or scissors as a gift is considered bad luck because the blade represents severing ties with that person. To counteract the negativity the recipient hands the gift giver a coin, thus paying for the knife and maintaining their positive relationship.
in the mid to late 60’s when I was at Primary School in Birmingham, we had one TV in the building. It was kept in the Visual Aids Room and wheeled into our classroom on a tall trolley. I only remember one programme, it was about the mail train, how our post got from A-B. Kudos to the filmmakers for the impact it had on me.
i can also remember watching one episode of Mystery and Imagination, at home. Some poor soul had been buried alive and when the coffin was finally exhumed it had deep scratches on the inside of the lid.
Another time watching a Western I saw the Indians/Injuns were circling a wagon train and decided in that situation I would play dead. How old was I? 8? I don’t know.
But I digress..Each morning I shall now visit WordPress School and see how much I can digest in one sitting. All was going well for some time before I glazed over and realised I had reached a point where I would need to start that particular section again, refreshed.
When I was sorting through material things I found it relatively easy to do. I could feel and see what exactly what it is I wanted to take forward to the next phase of my life. Luckily back then I had the time and the space I needed. I got it done and felt happy that The Air Ambulance charity would benefit from my ruthlessness…
However what I hadn’t bargained for when I retired and savouring the new found stillness of my life, hurtling behind me came the baggage, all of it. With such a force it It stunned me somewhat. It’s still coming but I am managing to put it all in store and there will come a time, hopefully sooner rather than later, it can be sorted and I will decide what comes with me and what will be rightly trashed forever.
And that is why I think I’m here with my new blog..to unwrap it, make sense and peace with it and move on…or at least sit still with ease.
WordPress offer tips, tutorials really, for newbies like me to understand how to get the best from their platform, so over the next few days I’m going to concentrate on those guidelines and see where it leads me. I want to write daily, but maybe those posts will be a tad random until I’ve consumed all the knowledge WordPress has to offer me…or what I can take in and utilise.
We start off in life looking up and out and forward. Then comes a time with some living done we get to look both ways, back and forward with memories and what might be’s in equal measure. The ideal business end would be to have the ability to hopefully have a long, happy and healthy life to look back on, with a few chances of special moments to come.
But an ideal life and an ideal end rarely exist.
Currently I’m towards the late Autumn of my life, we could say.
And I know how I look back and forward is crucial choice to make and adhere to.
‘ I don’t know how I found the time to work’. Many of us have probably heard that somewhere along the line. But I found it to be the truth, for me anyway.
The dog in his wisdom chose to wake me at a few minutes past 5 this morning. It’s a thing with him..always a few minutes past 5,6 or 7am. I get up make coffee and then depending on the hour turn off the light and try to snuggle back down, but it it rarely happens that I go back to sleep. Once those cogs get in motion it’s game on.
We go for an early walk, at the moment it’s just getting light when we head off. Firstly to a very close by Green Space ( they call them now) and then into the car for a short drive up the hill to another green space, but called a park.
Here he gets to run loose. On a lead through the small flock of aging sheep ( although to my absolute amazement he walked straight past them whilst accidentally unleased, a while back. My boy has come a long way)
Being a mixed breed I don’t really know which dog I’m talking to as he legs it, following his nose. I can smell fox, so only he knows what else is in the mix. The huge space is enclosed and not another dog in sight, so I don’t worry. He’s having fun. When that novelty has worn off he brings me his ball to throw. Luckily it’s one of those on a string, so it can go quite far. And then it’s home for breakfast, serving his Lordship first.
With the lovely Nick Ferrari on LBC Radio keeping me in the picture I prepare something to eat. With that done the sink cleared of dishes and my surrounding area looking vaguely ‘ guest ready’ I sit down for a while. On my tablet I’ll do a quick check of my socials and then an an hour or so of various and varied puzzle games, in a vain attempt to exercise and hold on to some grey matter.
Meanwhile His Nibs who woke me just after 5am is stretched out on 7/8ths of the sofa, fast asleep without a care in the world…
IN THE BOOMER PIGEON HOLE? 
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