Ummm…

Joey Jones18 Comments

What are your favorite websites?

Oh, WordPress! Really? Today’s DP was such a simple one. Not so long ago, I’d answered something similar and thought it would all be plain sailing, tell you the few sites I visit, and then get on with my day.

Naturally, I  was interested in where fellow bloggers spend some of their time and quickly became engrossed in their replies. I began taking notes as I was intrigued by their lists. And now I have this long list of my own that I so want to work through…

It’s much calmer outdoors this morning after a few stormy days, but the carpet of wet leaves really does need tidying up. I am a huge believer in the #leavetheleaves campaign. But they can’t be left sprawled out all over the shop. That was the first thing I had set my heart on doing after dropping into WP for a few minutes. Now, over an hour later, I’m just itching to look at some of these websites I’ve heard about for the first time today.

Through the French windows, the leaves look back at me, suggesting they’re not going to tidy themselves up.

Through another window, I eye the car. It has the same attitude as the leaves. Living rural-side with a dog in Autumn, well my wheels are not going to stay pristine for long, are they? That needs doing inside out, and this is exactly the mild and dry Sunday morning to do it.

And yet here I am. . We spoke of procrastination versus laziness not so long ago ..Oh dear. What to do? Perhaps another cup of coffee and an early snack would be a start?

Monday November 1st 2014

Joey Jones14 Comments

Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?

Adyar. Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

21 years ago today

I saw him from the window of the car I was travelling in. Pink like a newly hatched bird. Scuff marks and cuts across his body, exhausted. At this very moment the course and shape of my life would change considerably.

It was during a tight work schedule, so I was unable to ask the driver to stop. Reaching my destination I was able to call the Blue Cross of India and speak to a contact I had made months before. They agreed to collect the street dog and take him into their care.

The day Tony came to live with me

The dog wasn’t doing well in the confines of the charity’s compound ( which reminded me of the times I had worked for the charity Crisis at their Christmas shelter and some of the men still went outside to sleep, despite adequate space indoors for them to do so) but I got permission for Tony to come and live where I was staying. ( I was so grateful for that) He wasn’t allowed indoors but as luck would have it there was a small new-build in a fenced off area attached to my place of residence. It was perfect.

And this is the beginning of our story. That amazing first year together. Before I took him and a pup to the UK with me.

All change….

Joey Jones4 Comments

What historical event fascinates you the most?

Most days, I’ll glance at the DP and then take the Patches out for a long walk. He sniffs every blade of grass, and I have a think about the blog. On returning home, I can pretty much write off the top of my head… but occasionally, I need to scribble down my thoughts/ideas/facts to get them in order.

Today is one of those days…and some. I’m struggling to answer the DP in a bite-sized piece. How on this Earth do I tell you why the Industrial Revolution fascinates me the most?

I guess it’s the social history that has interested me for the longest time. How rural cottage industries using animal power, wind, and water as energy sources in 16th century Great Britain was left behind as steam-powered factories took over production.

The Industrial Revolution was not a sudden rupture but an evolution of the availability of land, labour, capital, scale, and control.

Massive social change.

and they cost nothing…

Joey Jones1 Comment

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

Manners Maketh Man, the motto of Winchester College stands true today as it ever did.

Something which costs nothing changes everything.

The other day, a tiny tot waved a thank you at me as I stopped the car to let the group she was with cross the road. It warmed my heart and made me think that she was in good hands, to be taught a politeness like that. It’s amazing how many  ‘ grown-ups’ in the same situation will ignore you completely.

Ugly table manners don’t go unnoticed when it matters. A simple please or thank you speaks volumes. 

Common Courtesy is something everyone could consider…

Child’s play…

Joey Jones9 Comments

What does it mean to be a kid at heart?

There must be millions of people who had their childhoods snatched away one way or another and never got to experience being a child. My heart goes out to them.

Many of us maybe think the kids are growing up too fast these days. But ask a little one how old they are, and they’ll hit you with something like ‘ seven and a half’  to let you know they’re on the way to being eight. They really want you to know that.

Then there is the thing of becoming a teenager, sixteen or twenty-one. So, youngsters are all looking forward, they are wanting to grow up, cruising through the years until suddenly big birthdays are not quite as exciting.

This is where you really do want to recognise that you have regained some childlike ( as opposed to childish) qualities. To enjoy having fun, being a bit silly sometimes, loving to laugh, to not taking oneself too seriously, with a light heartedness that is to feel an easy joy.. and yes, to remain curious… To leave the light on…

I dream of Jinni

Joey Jones6 Comments

You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?

A genie, maybe that conjours up an image from a Disney movie. We see Aladdin and his magic lamp? But this tale comes from  a living archive of Middle Eastern Folktales.

There are 27 known editions, countless translations, and adaptations crossing centuries. The collection continues to grow.

In 1948 in Syria the first few pages were discovered of  a work titled Kitab Hadith Alf Layla ( a book of the tales of a thousand nights). It is said to date back to the 9th century.

The first English edition is  from the early 16th century.

A Thousand and One Nights is probably more broadly recognised as Arabian Nights. Aladdin and his lamp don’t appear in early editions. But The Fisherman and the Jini do.

Despite all the variations, the core story remains the same King Sharyar betrayed by his queen vows to marry and execute a new wife every day… until along comes Schehrazade, who begins but doesn’t finish a new story each evening..thus delaying her execution.

Justice, cunning,love, betrayal, and fate. Wisdom, resilience, and the power of storytelling. It’s all there.

A wish for me? That everyone has the life they deserve.

A few words from Robert Frost

Joey Jones2 Comments

(A hijacking of today’s DP)

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

By Robert Frost 1874~1963

He takes the lead

Joey Jones11 Comments

What is your favorite form of physical exercise?

Walking with Patch at my side is the best! Perhaps I should rephrase that…following behind my beloved companion as he decides exactly which path we will take is the best.

Three times a day, I open that front door stand to one side and let His Nibs through. From this point, he will either stop at the car, turn left or right. And that’s just the way I like it. Leaves me to blog-think-mode and him to be in charge of his own destiny for a while. Win win.

Without Patch, I fear I would not get much exercise at all. Which is a tad worrying. When the time comes, I will clearly need a chat with myself about remaining fit… but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

In the meantime, we will be out there together every day come rain or shine… and at the moment, autumn in England is spectacular.

Never to have an earthly chance….

Joey Jones4 Comments

How much would you pay to go to the moon?

WP. Thanks bit no thanks. I wouldn’t go for free.

Instead, let me turn the attention to Laika, the first living creature to orbit Earth on soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2, on Sunday November 3rd 1957.

Taken from the streets of Moscow and chosen for her small size and temperament, this poor dog, part samoyed or husky/ terrier, was never intended to remain alive.

Laika was given one meal and seven days’ worth of oxygen.

Soviet officials claimed she survived for several days, but decades later, it was revealed she died within hours of stress and overheating….

DNA

Joey Jones3 Comments

What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?

Out of three siblings who had uninvolved parenting, one took his own life, one went to a dark place-and then there’s me.

I have often thought about how different life may have been for us all.

Which brings me to today’s DP. …A career in forensic sciences, I think, would have been an interesting path to go down.