(George) Bernard Shaw

4th Oct 20254th Oct 2025 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.

Sanctuary

3rd Oct 20253rd Oct 2025 Joey Jones7 Comments

A hijacked Daily Prompt page…with thanks to WP

When some one has slipped you the dirk in the dark,
When eyes that are loving are lies,
When some one you trusted has made you a mark,
And somehow the heart in you dies,
There’s dirt for you, hurt for you, trouble enough
To shatter the faith of a man;
But don’t ever think there is trouble so tough
That you can’t overcome it—you can.

When living is losing its flavor to you,
When worry is making you old;
When there is no joy in the thing that you do
Nor truth in the thing you are told,
There’s balm for you, calm for you, out in the wild,
There’s hope for you up on the hill.
Get up in the timber and play like a child;
You can overcome it—you will.

Get up in the timber; the trail and the trees
Will make you a man in a day.
The smell of the soil and the breath of the breeze
Will blow all your troubles away.

There’s pine for you, wine for you, hope for you there—

The sun and the moon and the star—

If the ways of the city are not on the square,
Get up in the woods—where they are.

By Douglas Malloch ( 1877-1938)

Not going to happen

2nd Oct 20252nd Oct 2025 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

1st Oct 20251st Oct 2025 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!

Moss, Minutiae & Me

30th Sep 202530th Sep 2025 Joey Jones7 Comments

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

A child looks up out and forwards. An adult pushing middle age gets to look back to the experiences and memories made there and forward with hopes and dreams for a life yet unlived. Then comes a time when the looking back to the road taken is a long one and head a single track to wander slowly and with care.

This is where I am. After a transient life, I have been able to pull into a safe harbour for a while, drop anchor and breathe.

Like moss I have no roots and take in much through osmosis.

Looking out into the world completely freaks me out as I see Planet Earth absolutely out of control. No one at the helm who wishes to keep the passengers safe and cared for. I can’t turn a blind eye to the absolute carnage going on in the world. That’s not my nature, and it pains me. Deeply.

To answer today’s DP the details of my life I need to pay more attention to are the details within the details. The minutiae…In the life and living I have for this last stretch.

I’m already at one with nature, practice mindfulness, and am totally self aware..but now I wish to take it deeper.

Time is of the essence, and I intend to give thanks and use each minute wisely and gratefully and positively as I can.

My ambition to make a difference remains.

And round the corner..

29th Sep 202529th Sep 2025 Joey Jones2 Comments

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

Oh WP! You are soo funny. Another trick DP. Tomorrow never comes does it? So what now?

OK, I’ll play along.

To stay breathing, that’s the priority, surely?

For Patches n me to not be in be involved in any dangerous incidents or accidents. Or become unwell.

I feel like writing lots today WP, but there are things I need to do first off.

Look, put it this way. If the worst thing that happens to me tomorrow…or any day is that I get soaking wet walking with the hound, then I’ve got off lightly.

Life can change in a second.

Best not to forget that.

Edit. There is something I will be doing today, and that is removing any gremlins from my subscribers list. I am so very grateful, humbled by your interest in anything I may have to write about….however when multiple ‘ subscribers’ arrive at once, then I know something is off. Also…There is now a propaganda person (?) who I will not tolerate turning up as soon as they can after I have deleted them. Thanks again to you all, once again, for sharing my trip on WP and especially our DP fun and games….but to the rest? Nah, not having it!

When you can’t think of a title for your blog post

28th Sep 20251st Oct 2025 Joey Jones10 Comments

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

From the Cambridge dictionary.. fulfilled – feeling happy because you are getting everything you want from life. Yikes! I’d better go see what Oxford says…OK, so you had to pay for that privilege. Moving on to Oxford learners..fulfilled-feeling happy and satisfied you are doing something useful with your life.

Oh dear. Do we get the idea that AI @WP has struggled a bit here?

Admittedly, some of you clever bloggers have managed to answer the DP with ease..but I don’t get it.

See, today, if procrastination would just step aside for an hour or so, I need to clean my car inside and out. Himself sheds his fur at all times and doesn’t wipe his feet when stepping into said motor. Pollution and heavens only knows what drops from the sky on a regular basis makes a mess. As for the spider, who lives there rent free…well you know, cobwebs..daily.