Tag: dailyprompt

Certainty !


List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

Here is my list of things I know to be absolutely certain.

    • Death – The one inevitable thing that none of us can avoid. The ultimate destination
    • Taxes – Only the very wealthy come close to avoiding personal taxation. The wealthy or crime-lords.
    • Utility Bills – Gas, Electric, Water, Sewage, Refuse Collection …. etc … etc. Unless you live totally off the grid you have to pay to maintain your living standards.
    • Hunger – We all have to eat. Hunger pains are our body’s way of reminding us to eat.
    • Thirst – We all need to drink to survive. Whilst we can survive quite a long time without food, we really can’t survive without water. Personally, I prefer to dilute my water with alcohol in the form of beer or wine.
    • Dust – If we do no cleaning, our homes fade away under a pile of dust. It’s in the air we breathe and settles everywhere. I read somewhere that if you leave dust alone for seven years, it doesn’t get any deeper. Good enough reason not to clean. Just don’t move the ornaments.
    • Politicians Only Lie – How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. When has any government ever fulfilled their election promises ?
    • Old Age – Like death, old age is inevitable. Old age come with lots of baggage. Just when you have time on your hands, you don’t. Your body becomes like that old rusty bicycle in the shed. It still works but reluctantly whilst noisily complaining via creaking and squeaking and groaning.
    • Weeds Always Win – No matter how hard you try, you can never totally eradicate them. Just you pull out that bothersome bramble. But leave one single smidgen off root in the soil, and it is guaranteed to return. Grass grows out of every little crevice from seeds delivered by birds and the wind. Remember, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.
    • Music Solves Everything – Good music makes you happy, can calm you down when you are angry. It makes you feel like dancing, alone or, better, with other people. Music can transport you to far off places without the bother of packing a suitcase or the tedious queues at airports. For example, close your eyes whilst listening to Echoes by Pink Floyd and you can be standing on a clifftop looking out over a vast landscape with nothing but the sound of the wind and the cawing of the crows.

    Adventure ✔️


    Are you seeking security or adventure?

    I think that I have reached the point where visiting a new restaurant is an adventure.

    So I look forward to more adventures.

    Dinner Party


    If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

    On first read of this question my mind went straight to the typical historic and celebrity figures.

    Most of my historic choices like, Ghandi, JFK, Churchill etc. are dead. So that would be a very macabre setting indeed. But I’m guessing the food and drinks bill would be cheap. Given the journey they themselves took through some of the most turbulent times in our history. I wonder what they would make of the world that we now live in.

    As for the celebrity option, I would lean towards those of a musical bent. No deep philosophical thinking is required. Dinner with the likes of David Bowie, Jeff Beck, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Manitas de Plata, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and the list goes on, and on, and on. What tales they could tell. What a dinner party that would be. No after dinner speeches, just a huge musical jam. What a blast that would be.

    But, descending rapidly back to planet earth and reality. When all is said and done, I would truly only want to invite my friends and family. Historic and celebrity figures don’t know me, they would only be there because I asked. Friends and family would be there because they want to be there. They are the people who I feel most comfortable with. The ones who know my back story, who truly know me. The ones who will come back time and again.

    Maturing ?


    What do you think gets better with age?

    Aside from beef, cheese, and wine ? Why, me, of course.

    Who doesn’t prefer a 25 – 35 day aged steak. So tender and full of flavour.

    Or, how about a mature, vintage cheddar, complimented with a nice wine.

    And then on to me. As I have aged, my palate has improved, allowing me to appreciate the aforementioned beef, cheese, and wine.

    But, as I have aged and my palate improved, so my confidence has also grown. In part, this is down to my own life experiences but also my years at IBM, where they nurtured and encouraged me to be more self reliant.

    Ageing has, in turn, led to my growing intolerance, of idiots, and of loud, rude people with an enlarged sense of self-importance. I’m not sure if this is actually a positive result of ageing, but I have convinced myself that it is.

    Night Owl ?


    What time do you go to bed and wake up currently?

    What time do I go to bed ? Easy answer, around 02:00, sometimes earlier but very rarely before midnight. Why so late ? I’m usually watching movies, reading or listening to music.

    What time do I wake up ? The answer to this is a bit more complicated. I know that I wake around 05:00 every morning for a pee. Just in time to view the sunrise from the bathroom window. Then I go back to bed and sleep for another couple of hours. However, according to my Fitbit, I have multiple wakeful periods throughout the night that I have no memory of.

    This chart shows my sleep stats for last night. It shows that I was awake for 53 minutes. Well, I know what I was doing for a couple of those minutes ! What the hell was I doing for the rest of the time ?

    I think, they say, you need less sleep as you get older. Not sure who “they” are. My dad used to get by on around 4 hours a night.

    So, typically I get up at about 09:00 ish. So I’m getting about 7 hours shut-eye minus the mystery 50 minutes ….

    A Most Memorable Vacation


    Describe your most memorable vacation.

    This really is a hard task to fulfil.  Over the years there have been many vacations, as a child / teenager with my parents and sisters. Then, as a family with my wife and daughters. Finally, there are those adventures with just my wife and occasionally with friends.

    Each trip has featured predominantly high points and, occasionally, some low points.

    So, I choose to tell you about an ill-fated camping holiday which turned out OK, more than OK, in the end.

    The holiday was to be a camping trip down to the West Country, i.e. Devon and Cornwall. The plan was that Gerry and I would drive down to our friends’ home in Limpley Stoke, just outside of Bath. We would be taking the camping gear. This would be after Gerry finished work. Then, the following day,  we we would head west.

    However, our car, an aged Ford Consul Mk II, had other ideas.  When I was ready to leave work, I went to start the car. The engine turned briefly, but not enough to start. My friend and I fairly quickly determined that the starter ring had spun off the flywheel. Well, we bump started the car, and I drove us home, taking care not to stall en route.

    Things were not looking good for our camping trip.

    I rang Gerry at work to give her the bad news. She hung up on me !!!

    I then rang Jane and John, our friends. They decided to drive up to ours to discuss what to do. They arrived before Gerry got home from work.

    Gerry arrived home in a less than happy state, slammed the front door, and headed straight to the bedroom. As she passed the door to the lounge, she took a double take as she spotted Jane and John sitting on the couch .

    Her anger deflated by their presence, we settled down to discuss a new plan for our vacation.

    The net result was that we would all travel down to Limpley Stoke and use their house as a base for our holiday, taking day trips out.

    I feel I should explain that their house, a cottage that used to be the chapel for Limpley Stoke Manor House, the garden of which was subdivided by the local railway line. The lower garden, accessed via a private crossing, ran down to the River Avon. Jane and John had been given permission to make use of this lower garden area. This was going to become core to our vacation.

    And use it we did. On numerous occasions. A lovely grassy embankment open to the sunshine but with overhanging trees to provide some shade. It was an idyllic quintessential English countryside setting where we would picnic on the river bank, chill our bottles of cider and/or wine in the cool water. John and I swam in those chilly waters, down to the weir and back upstream, much to the chagrin of the occasional angler.

    As I said, Limpley Stoke is near the city of Bath. So on a number of occasions, when not enjoying the delights of the riverbank, we visited Bath, where we explored the town and its historic architecture. No visit to Bath would be complete without a tour of the Roman Baths. The city of Bath became a spa c.60AD. It had the Latin name Aquae Sulis. The Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Unfortunately, when we visited, there were restrictions regarding the hot springs, if my memory serves, something nasty in the waters.

    One day, we decided that a trip to the seaside was required. Weston-super-Mare was our chosen destination. So early in the morning, we pitched up and staked our claim to a patch of sand at the waters edge. Due to our early start, we all lay down to doze in the sun, but when we awoke, the sea had disappeared. John and I thought we would walk out to find the sea for a swim, but the numbers of people coming back, covered in mud, put us off.

    The problem with Weston-super-Mare is that it is situated on the Bristol Channel, which has a huge tidal range. The low tide mark in Weston Bay is about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the seafront. The beach is sandy, but low tide reveals areas of thick mud, which are dangerous to walk on.

    Needless to say, we didn’t get our swim. I have no idea where all those muddy people went to get cleaned up. We never saw the sea return.

    Although we should have been camping, the time we spent based at the cottage in Limpley Stoke was, to put it simply, gorgeous. Camping would not have been as relaxing or allowed us to chill out in the way that we did. Would we have found as nice a place as we had down on the river bank. I doubt it.

    Sometimes, the unplanned, the spontaneous events turn out to be the best of times.

    Me ? Not An Authority On Anything


    On what subject(s) are you an authority?

    Having been retired for just on eight years, I have realised that I am not an authority on anything.

    Least ways not anymore. While still working, I might have been an authority on in house processes and product safety standards. But what use is that now. It’s just a rapidly fading memory.

    Now I am the very epitome of that age old saying….

    Jack of all trades. Master of none.

    Thank You !


    How do you express your gratitude?

    How to express gratitude ?

    A simple question, but requiring varying degrees of response and application.

    If someone holds a door open for you, or steps aside to let you pass, then a simple “Thanks” or “Thank You” is enough.

    I’m of a generation that was taught to be polite. So much so, that if I am not extended the same degree of politeness in return it makes me angry.

    If I hold a door or step aside for someone and they don’t acknowledge the act, I will say “Thank You” for them. Loudly !!

    For larger acts of kindness or helpfulness I will show my gratitude by sending flowers and / or gifts.

    And finally, where gifts or flowers don’t seem appropriate then I resort to my standby, a good meal at a nice restaurant.

    Worries For The Future ?


    What are you most worried about for the future?

    My life pendulum has swung well past the midpoint of my life. So, most of my worries are for my kids and grandkids.

    What does the future hold for them ?

    The biggest concerns are the lunatics that have taken charge of their personal asylums.

    First and foremost, there is Russia with Putin at the controls. He has to be insane. His actions and his total lack of humanity surely indicate insanity. I mean, does he ever hear the words coming out of his mouth, stop and think, “That doesn’t sound right, doesn’t make sense”. Single handedly he has put us right back to the days of the “cold war”.

    Next, there is China with Xi Jinping at the controls. Did China protest with the rest of the world when Putin started his war with the Ukraine. No, they stood on the sidelines waiting to see how it would all pan out. Also, I believe, waiting to see what the worlds reaction would be. China has it’s own “Ukraine” in the shape of Taiwan.

    So that’s two major powers who would push us to the brink of a 3rd world war.

    And then we have North Korea, under the control of another lunatic, Kim Jong Un. He heads a country, home to some of the most oppressed people in the world. His posturing presents a real threat to world peace. And, for just a moment, the US installed their own lunatic, Donald Trump, in the White House. The world was forced to stand by while those two loose cannons traded tit for tat, insults like children in the school yard.

    In my view, the world has never been a more dangerous place. There are so many smaller countries that could be the fuse for a bigger conflict.

    And then there is Gaia, Mother Earth, our home world. The home that we have systematically trashed. Slowly, we are waking up to the enormity of what we have done. Global Warming, plastics in our oceans, toxic waste in our rivers.

    Is it too late to fix our planet ? I don’t know.

    What I do know is that our legacy for our children and grandchildren is a monumental challenge of global proportions.

    And that is what worries me about the future. I won’t be here to see it, but I hope our offspring are successful.

    Daily Habits ?


    What are your daily habits?

    It didn’t take me long to identify my daily habits.

    I have found that I eat every day. Not just once but multiple times per day.

    Is this a habit or an addiction ?

    Sometimes, depending how busy I am, I’ll eat just the once, usually in the evening. Habit ?

    But, often, I will eat two and three times per day. Sometimes, while preparing dinner, I will make a sandwich, even though dinner will be ready in 30 minutes or so. Addiction ?