Tag: dailyprompt

Already Doing It


If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

Simple answer, I’m already doing it.

Either, jeans or dark shorts and a polo shirt.

These are the clothes I feel most comfortable in. It has been many years since I felt the need to wear anything more formal.

When I first started work, it was in a small (8 people) engineering works and then, later with the MOD as a Fitter/Turner apprentice. During my apprenticeship and later, on my tools, I typically wore jeans and a t-shirt under my overalls. A few years later, still in the MOD, I became a Ratefixer / Planner. Here, the expectation was that you dressed like a “professional.” If not wearing a suit, certainly smart trousers, jacket, collar and tie.

I left the MOD to join IBM where I stayed for 38 years. In the beginning the dress code was quite formal. But over the years, in line with the real world, the requirements were relaxed. As long as you weren’t customer facing. And I definitely wasn’t. So, over the years, I ditched the jackets, tossed the ties and reverted to my natural slob.

And so here I am, back where I started, wearing the same outfit, day after day ….. my retirees uniform.

Jeans / shorts and polo shirt / t-shirt

Boiled Eggs


Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

Believe it or not, the humble boiled egg, is the one food that truly transports me back.

When we were kids, there were chickens and geese in our backyard. My dad used to feed them on commercially available feeds, but Mum used to give them all the veggie scraps from the kitchen. Stuff like potato and carrot peelings, trimmings from home grown leeks and the leaves from cabbages and cauliflower.

It’s hard to describe the flavour. The yolk always had a rich taste. Something that your typical supermarket factory produced eggs fails to match. As soon as you crack the shell, lift the lid. You can tell the egg is not going to meet expectations. The colour of the yolk is a dead give away. My childhood eggs all had a rich golden yolk. Today’s supermarket offering tends to be a pale yellow.

Obviously, the birds diet has a lot to do with how the eggs look and taste.

When was the last time that childhood memory was triggered ?

We were on our way down to Central France and had stopped at a B&B. They had chooks roaming around their orchard. The eggs served for breakfast, supplied by those hens, were simply delicious.

Time Spent, Not Wasted


How do you waste the most time every day?

My wife and I have a daily routine. Every morning, we “Wordle” while having our first cuppa of the day, accompanied by toasted tea cakes or toasted muffins.

We are a little competitive, each of us gloating over who has the longest winning streak.

Once we have finished wordling, my wife will move on to reading her latest Kindle based book. I, in contrast, will complete my daily Soduku, Codeword, and Crossword puzzles. Just recently, I have also added Quordle to my daily routine.

Only once I have completed my word puzzles do I join my wife and immerse myself in my latest fiction choice.

Of course, this all gets booted into touch by the demands of family and friends.

Somewhere in there, we manage to find time to garden, travel and socialise.

But here’s the conundrum, being retired means that we have plenty of spare time. At the same time, due to our advanced age, we have less and less time left.

So, we get to choose how we spend our time. None of it is wasted, just spent. Wisely, or otherwise.