Day: Mar 25, 2026

#1373 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn history, Holidays1 Comment
S.S. Great Britain

83 days ago we were in Melbourne, Australia. Yesterday we were in Bristol Historic Docks, gazing at the S.S Great Britain.

This is a tiny snippet of a blog built on  a coincidence. Had we travelled on the inaugural S.S Great Britain trip to Melbourne we would have only just arrived. The journey was scheduled to take 60 days which would not have worked for our coincidence. 60 days non-stop became 83 days because there had been a miscalculation in the amount of coal required for the steam engine. So an unplanned visit to Cape Town, South Africa, occurred and many of the passengers took the opportunity of climbing Table Mountain.

Our flight arrived about ten minutes ahead of schedule, no mountains involved and we were fragrant enough to hug our friends on arrival. I suspect the greeting would have been more at arms length, or further, if we had been travelling 83 days and thrown in a casual mountain climb in a hot climate.

#1372 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

I am not someone who habitually says ‘no’ to things that interfere with my goals.

Primarily because I am not hugely rewarded by goals being achieved in a pure and prescribed way.

Of course, goals, targets or intentions need to be achieved most days, But I am a lover of the serendipitous outcome generally being better than a perfectly planned one.

I like to allow chance a chance to improve calculated outcomes. The word ‘no’ may well be useful to hit goals reliably . Predictability is, for many people more than enough. But predictability with the embellishment of just a little jeopardy can bring the most astonishing and interesting results. Always have an open mind.

Getting from A to B with even a tiny detour is so much more interesting. Sometimes a moved goal, caused by serendipity turns out to be a much better goal in the long run. And a missed one can be much the best outcome.