Month: Apr 2022

#182 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Holidays, Home3 Comments

A mobile phone and notebook made me unusually productive yesterday. Not exactly as busy as a bee but close. Apart from the times when I was walking the dogs I was hanging onto a phone line for the passport office. The notebook had significant dates in, that I knew I would need to quote and the phone was on loudspeaker so everyone in hearing distance was subjected to the truly terrible ‘on-hold’ music and the constant message about busy operators and suggestions that I use the on line system.

I will spare you my rage in full, a synopsis is the kinder option.

I have spent almost ten hours in the last two weeks on the phone to the passport office. Most of it listening to their dreadful music, not dreadful because the composer had a bad day but dreadful because the recording is reproduced so badly. The music is constantly interrupted by an announcer who speaks so gently and patronisingly that I wished harm on her.

Nearly two and a half hours on hold, in total, yesterday got most of the days dull jobs done.

Plenty of yardening which is where the illustrations come from.

All the washing done, no need for you to be bored by that. I even managed a small water colour doodle for my art course.

The thing I didn’t achieve was a resolution to the Passport situation. I still dont have one and it seems not even to be on the horizon. The Passport Office, in line with our Conservative Government Guidelines, lie. It seems that after surviving the aural hell that is their phone line queueing system, their overworked operators will tell you any old, plausible guff to get you off the line so they can lie to next person and achieve their lie goals for the day.

I have now entered the complaint system, lets see where that takes me.

Not abroad, that much is certain.

#181 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Friends and FamilyLeave a comment

And then the sun came out properly! After 4 days of mist with just an occasional sunny break through, Monday, finally, delivered on some good weather. Our morning walk took us to Mount Wise overlooking Plymouth Sound and the Stonehouse Peninsular. Looking back towards our home and regular swimming, bobbing, location.

We have been home birds for the whole of Easter and we have had many adventures but all the photographs look like this.

This was the view from our Sunday lunch destination, booked for the combination of extensive, breathtaking views and good food. The food did not disappoint. Below is a link to how the view should be.

Fog or mist included we had a great weekend of socialising with family and friends. By Monday evening it was time to get back to normal and an evening ‘bob’ was called. 10 bobbers gathered in the evening sun with tales of Easters elsewhere, and photographs to make us jealous.

Pembrokeshire © Nichola Bobber
Mid-Wales © Gill/Marianne Bobber
East Wittering ©Gilly Bobber

Not that Tranquility Bay put on a bad show last night itself.

Tranquility Bay, though, was in a tricksy mood and had some nasty currents which exhausted one of the bobbers. Last night was a fine lesson in why we are Bobbers who Bob together. Towards the end of our time in the water two bobbers were a little late returning to the chattering zone. After some robust shouting our two strongest swimmers realised there was a problem and took off back to the buoy. Coach Andy has his finger poised to call the emergency services, but the tired and emotional bobber was dragged back to the safe area and we all left the sea, happy that we have each other and that some of the bobbers are good enough swimmers to keep us safe. Easter eggs and hot drinks returned everyone to their normal settings and Coach Andy’s Emergency Finger was returned to his coat pocket until it is next called into action. And with that Easter 2022 was concluded.

#180 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn EasterLeave a comment

What is Easter for those of us without a faith? 4 glorious days to do faith based things with friends and family. Where would the hot cross bun be without a crucifixion? Would we have Chocolate eggs without the Pagans? More relaxed than Christmas and with better weather. We ticked all those boxes this weekend. Persistent Sea Mist even gave us an egg shaped sun while it slightly compromised the better weather aspect of our outings.

Goodness we had some glorious meals and some fabulous walks and conversations. Extra time to read weekend newspapers and books. The sun even broke through a few times for some brief basking in the back yard.

After all the feasting what better way to end the day than with left overs and a chip butty.

#179 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Travels1 Comment

This blog had a theme in the planning stage but an early morning message from a school friend, who lives in Australia slightly changed the narrative journey.

There is an inevitability about being a woman and revealing the county of your birth if that county happens to be Essex.

But life is a path travelled, and for now my path has taken me to Devon, and currently not too much further. I am 14 weeks into a wait for a new passport which has transitioned from being a holiday busting pain in the arse, to a smug sense of relaxation as the news media constantly broadcasts travel doom. Showing over- busy airports struggling to move a whole Easterworth of happy travellers for the first time in two years.

For now, this Essex Woman is going nowhere, and yes I have been many of the things Sarah Perry observed, so maybe not imposing myself on the wider world for a few months is a kindness imposed by the United Kingdom Passport service.

#178 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn BobbingLeave a comment

We have some friends who live in Down Thomas, a village opposite our swimming beach, not on the island but on the cliffs that are hidden behind the sea fog that was sweeping in yesterday afternoon. I sent them this picture with the question ” Where are you?”

Our late afternoon bob was chilly and bright and looked, but did not feel, Mediterranean.

When we got out I had received a photo back, from our friend, with the same question.

” Where are you?”

#177 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, blogging, Serendipity1 Comment

I have a little store of pre-prepared pages that I can take out with me when I know I am going out for a natter and some creativity. Sometimes, like this, one just an outline of some shapes. The destination of these watercolour doodles is never certain. I had a vague theme in mind but doodles like daily blogs tend to have a mind of their own. I suppose in art I am the opposite of a perfectionist, this may also be my my life planning style too. I like to allow enough space in life and in my creations for serendipity, for happy accidents, for the joy of whimsy. In common with perfectionists and every other living thing I also suffer from the bad things life can throw at an individual. I have found, however, serendipity, happy accidents , whimsy, and the love and friendship of some wonderful people and animals pulls me out of the mire of life in the most beautiful ways. Enjoy your long weekend wherever you are.

#176 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn The BoxLeave a comment

School Holidays in a museum have an energy and a sense of jeopardy that term times do not have. Children are always present but in term times they are mostly there in large groups with professional child wranglers, their teachers. School holidays brings smaller bespoke groups headed up by adults who are also in the museum to have a good time. The pictures above and below are of exquisite Korean Quilts.

As adults we dont even need to know what these panels are to appreciate them, but to three small boys, not as supervised as they should have been, they were bright bold targets that needed to be kicked as they drove imaginary footballs into the back of an equally imaginary goal. To the artist, Zadie Xa these panels represent trees.  Which is as good a way as I can think to demonstrate that art, once out in the public domain is open to interpretation.

This exhibition is titled ‘ Long ago when tigers smoked’ again not something that leaps to mind just looking at these quilts.

https://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/friday-dispatch-news/zadie-xa-long-ago-when-tigers-smoked/

https://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/friday-dispatch-news/zadie-xa-long-ago-when-tigers-smoked/

The links above take you to articles about the exhibition. I am charmed by the expression ‘ Long ago when tigers smoked’ is the Korean way of saying ‘ Once upon a time’ or ‘Back in the day”

Researching the saying suggests there are a few explanations for this saying , some mythical and some  historical. My take,for what it is worth is this. In Korean Folklore there was a time when animals and humans had equal status in the  world. Tobacco was introduced into Korea in the 17th century, at the time it was so cheap absolutely anyone could afford to smoke. By mixing these two schools of thought it makes it possible to consider that in long ago times when egalitarianism also include the animal kingdom, it would be entirely conceivable that Tigers would have been able to smoke. Turning the phrase ‘Long ago when Tigers smoked’ into a lovely way to suggest a historical perspective.

©Benito Major Vallejo. The Box Plymouth

From naughty boys to smoking tigers in one blog. A classic ponder.

#175 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, YardeningLeave a comment

This is the most common view for writing a blog. Out of screen are a cup of tea, a notebook, a pile of clean washing, a Filofax ( oh yes I said Filofax ) and a lap top. All fairly normal dining room table flotsam and jetsam in a world that features working from home, Zoom meetings and family that live thousands of miles away. We are in mid April now and ten months into living in a house with a yard and not a garden. Container gardening is our new way of creating a green space. In the dark months of winter the plants in this view are decorated with fairy lights in an attempt to bring light into our lives through the french windows. Container growing has been largely a success, one moving casualty and one new plant that didnt make it through the winter. This morning I was struck by the random colour pairings that container planting creates. I had a bit of a spring move around earlier in the week. We have been much more succesful growing tulips in containers. Purple Sage and fancy tulips are not something we would have planned, but this pairing is lovely.

I can only assume that our yard has less wildlife than our country garden. One of our autumn pumpkins has just about survived the winter, in our garden pumpkins were devoured before firework night most years. A beautiful, almost black tulip bent forward after heavy rain causing this wonderful colour combination. Yardening is going to suit us very well.

#174 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn A303Leave a comment

Our hearts and minds bend towards supporting independent businesses wherever possible, even on long car journeys. Our bladders however have no idea about sticking to independent trading. All was well initially, yesterday, and we made it to Teals Farm, a fabulous independent stop on a busy road, the A303. Bladders, heads and hearts all  satisfied with the destination.

Home

Our breakfast needy stomachs were not so satisfied, we arrived just 4 minutes after breakfasts stopped being served. So we had to be happy with take out, and looking at the farm shop goodies. I picked out the eponymous teal coloured items for the pictures above. We were only, actually, prompted to spend money on blood oranges, which were delicious and colourful, better for us than the delicious and colourful chocolate that we managed to swerve.

The trouble is that one stop inevitably leads to another and when the coffee had worked its magic on our bladders there was no independent company on the A303 horizon. Starbucks could, however, confirm to the slight colour theme of this blog.

Bladders happy, if not our moral compass we set off for the shortish journey home. Two huge cups of tea in hand. All well and good you might think but fate had other ideas. Two badly behaved dogs had escaped onto the A38 causing traffic to stop for a very long time. Tea like coffee has only one place to go eventually, causing another big chain business stop, once we were eventually on the move again.

The moral of this blog is that we might like to think we choose to use independent companies whenever possible but it is our bladders that call the shots and they have no qualms about using big business.  What is a body to do?

#173 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Good Fortune, Memorial Benches3 Comments

Still following a pair of brown and white bottoms but considerably larger than the brown and white bottoms of Hugo and Lola. Who, this morning, were taking sleep very seriously.

Unlike yesterday all our adventures are rural, traipsing the Commons and sampling the pubs of Wimbledon and Putney. This Mandarin duck was an early highlight.

We also took some time out to explore Putney Vale Cemetery. One of London’s ‘ great’ cemeteries. This time the highlight was not the great, gothic, architecture but actually the current burial grounds. The last resting place of multicultural Londoners, has a joyous mix of the ways people of different ethnicities, religions or heritages mark the passing of loved ones. Out of respect I took no photos but if you are ever in London the huge 19 th Century cemeteries are strangely life affirming, and the twenty first century areas are every bit as interesting as the old bits. So much love shared in a public space

There was a small drama to our day, a lost pair of reading glasses. With diligence and back tracking they were found at the very beginning of the days adventure. Wimbledon Windmill.