Author: theoldmortuary.design

theoldmortuary has been a blog for about five years. It has evolved into an almost daily event. Pondering on the things that are inspired by my daily life. Often mundane, sometimes repetitive I swerve from hyperlocal activity to big and small thoughts without blinking an eye. I am an artist and writer. My hometown is Plymouth in South West England, part of me will always be connected to London and another part loves to travel.

#673 theoldmortuary ponders.

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Here I am on my regular, dog grooming day, spot. Wembley Beach on a day with sunshine, the first day of good weather for weeks. To celebrate I bought an unusual but gorgeous snack to accompany my habitual cup of tea.

This product is an unctuous flavour bomb. I may start making them at home. It went down very well with a cup of tea.

The tide was out so rock pooling was the activity of choice. The trouble with rock pooling is that discovering creatures hidden under rocks is not the most photographic experience, as any right-minded sea creature quickly shuttles under a different rock very quickly. Sunbeams, however, can easily be trapped for photography.

Photography was on other peoples minds too, as a wedding party arrived to take some memorable images on this beautiful stretch of coast.

But first a more pressing problem, where could the bride and bridesmaids have a wee? The public toilets were a quagmire of sand and other detritus from a busy beach day.

Plans were made, there was a significant delay and then photographs were posed.

And finally a lovely long distance shot that looks like a figurative abstract.

Not a single page of my book was read.

#672 theoldmortuary ponders

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What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

My parents were young people with a small child in the sixties. Traditions were thrown out of their lives with the same enthusiasm as many of their generation. Christmas was perhaps their most ‘traditional’ time

One tradition was my dads desire to gift both business and personal diaries to family members on Boxing Day. In the United Kingdom that is the day after Christmas day. Whatever would people think in 2023 if I kept that tradition going.  Diary and calendar use has truly fallen off a cliff with most people keeping an electronic diary. The Filofax was the first death blow to traditional diaries and that was quickly passed over for electronic memory jogging.

For some years I managed with an electronic diary but once I returned to doing complex shifts and on-calls I really needed a paper record, the chance of running out of a phone battery at the point someone wanted to swap a complex set of shifts was more common than you might think. At that point I returned to the flexibility of a filofax and have stuck with it. No risk of battery failure but a big risk of being not to hand at the exact moment I need it.

There is a poignancy to diaries and my dad. He died unexpectedly and suddenly from bowel cancer in the middle of treatment. His treatment plan carefully plotted two months beyond his life. I still have that diary. I now know that it was his decision to stop treatment when the odds of it giving him a good quality of life were slipping away.

On a lighter note, as you see from the only photo my filofax is not a thing of tidyness or order.

#671 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing1 Comment

Was today typical?

If today was yesterday, it was not completely typical. The long distance swimmers,who are also bobbers, took off from our usual bobbing location, but for a longer distance swim with very little chatting. What was not so typical was that a bright red Royal Navy ship sailed past the bobbing zone making the whole thing more colourful.

Normally bobbers are tiny orange dots swimming in the sea with military grey ships sailing past. Not so yesterday. HMS Protector sailed past as they were swimming out. Link below for information.

news/navy/onboard-hms-protector-royal-navys-ice-patrol-ship

If we think our waters can be chilly at times, this ship spends most of its working life in the Antarctic. It has just been in Plymouth for a bit of a spruce up and training. The bobbers were not the only bright things in the sea yesterday.

#670 theoldmortuary ponders

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And just like that the rain has stopped. Juggling grandchildren and rain is one of the great unknowns of a British Summer. This slightly explains the erratic nature of blogging over July and August.

Not that rain is completely a bad thing, every morning a small bowl of garden strawberries is served to a happy 4 year old. This lunchtime the first red tomato was cut in half and shared as a snack.

The tomatoes in hanging baskets are behind in the colour stakes but ahead in fecundity.

Other jobs like recycling and rubbish removal into the outside world are infinitely more pleasant without rain.

But what has caused this sudden break in some truly shocking weather? Almost certainly the delivery of a really long Dryrobe for a small person apparently it will fit her from age 5 to 9. That is a really long dry spell if this coat really is the weather charm we hope for.

#659 theoldmortuary ponders

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This is a sign of a good Saturday. The Saturday newspaper is still virtually unread on Sunday morning.  My only print copy of the week when it remains unread until Sunday. If, by chance, it has been read fully on Saturday then a Sunday paper is purchased. I probably am a typical Guardian reader and am as comfortable with that as any other stereotype. Sometimes people I know personally are written about or contribute to the Guardian. In recent months two colleagues have been featured. One was Maggie Jenkin who does invaluable work solving human mysteries.

ttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/27/the-wembley-point-mystery-who-was-the-woman-who-jumped-to-her-death

Today another colleague is in the spot light. Naming herself as Dr Biscuit.

I have had long letters to the letters page and had them published and art exhibitions reviewed in the pages of The Guardian.

The guardian also has an alternative Obituary service called Other Lives.

The obituaries are of notable but normal people. The Obituaries are written by friends, colleagues and family members. Far from sadness these essays on a life are life affirming. The power of being under the radar of celebrity and yet contributing massively to the positive aspects of society and culture.

I can’t link directly but should the lives of normal people inspire you just google – Other Lives The Guardian.

Let me be honest, the Sports pages get recycled with the pages unmoved in this house but Feast often feeds us for a week.

Other newspapers get read occasionally. Last week the Guardian was sold out so I slipped to the Dark- side and read a Rupert Murdoch product. The Times, it is no bad thing to sometimes go for change but the behaviour of News International Journalists and management makes the Times only a real emergency read. Not because it isn’t good because it is but my moral compass spins uncomfortably as I read it. Also the quality of their paper for their cooking pages is glossy and fragile, barely surviving one cooking moment in my kitchen. Feast goes on for years.

As could I on a Sunday…

#658 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn history, SerendipityLeave a comment

Just a little Saturday extra. I always treat myself to a print copy of a Saturday newspaper, The Guardian. My most regular shop is a Co-op in Devonport. I am blown away that humans have crossed this threshold for the last 233 years. Originally it was a Unitarian Chapel and the fashion for men and women of the time was as below.

My clothing today, while collecting the newspaper, more closely resembles the male style of dress, a pair of exercise leggings, a tight fitting under vest and a loose swinging top.

By 1801 the Chapel had fallen out of use, mostly because Unitarianism was considered disloyal in a town that was primarily a military and thus Royalist town. Unitarians were enthusiastic supporters of the French Revolution. In a Spiritual switch around the Chapel became a Wine Merchants and may possibly have been a short-lived pub called The George.

The building was previously considered to be in  George Street Devonport. And now it is a convenience store without actually moving an inch,in Duke street which conveniently sells newspapers on a Saturday. One other shop related ponder. I bought a sequin top to make a mermaid outfit from a charity shop. The young, male, shop assistant looked at my purchase and said. ” We should all try to sparkle every day”

Bonus ponders…

#657 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Colour, pondering1 Comment

There is nothing set to excite the bobbers than a colour chart and samples of Hoodies for the winter bobbing season. Even in a very dull patch of an English summer the thought of snuggly jumpers in January fires the imagination.

Tranquility Bay was anything but tranquil as we made decisions about the sartorial style of Winter 23/24. We don’t even have to agree on a colour as the only common denominator is the word ‘Bobbers’ on the back. But 74 colours, 2 styles and 15 humans is a heady mix of indecision. Particularly when the endorphins and positive ions of a good cold water dip make us all a bit giddy at the best of times.

This morning there are 40 WhatsApp messages….

#656 theoldmortuary ponders

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An early morning gem on a rainy day.

The day turned out to have two longer than planned walks and one of the scheduled activities fell off the days achievement list. This lovely feather greeted me after I had had a hair cut. Despite the drizzle we walked a local circuit  and were rewarded with the beautiful scent of woodsmoke held close to the ground by morning mist.

Then after the second primping session of the day, a manicure,there were no busses to take me back into the City so I walked in and found some locally themed Street Art.

I had planned to meet some family members in The Box Gallery and Museum but the closest I got was to see The Box depicted in the Street Art.

I missed all the fun of the gallery.

But we met up just in time to explore Sainsbury with all the excitement of a four year old. Not a moment of the day wasted.

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With the return of sharp summer sunshine my morning dog walks are illuminated by sharp shadows. Scaffolding is set up against many of the local houses. Casting abstract shapes on old walls. The air is full of the metallic sound of bolts being tightened by electric spanners and ratchets mixed with music from high up radios, the age and ethnicity of the builder/painter/roofer identified by their choice of music. Sometimes the men working highest up play the oldest music. Surely a reflection of skilled, artisanal roofers being nearer to their pensions than their youth. Even the local church has a mantle of boards and scaffolding poles. The accoustics of the bell tower reverberating with heavy metal and dance tracks. Possibly the most fun the tower has had in a long time as I have never heard a peep from a bell or anything else in the tower since moving here two years ago.

But back to the sharp shadows of early morning and an agapathas against a grey wall.  Just fabulous.

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Four days of campervan camping in the rain is not what we planned,  but Weather Forecasts certainly prepared our pragmatic selves for such an event. We were not even an hour from home so the ultimate sanction on the weather was to return to Stonehouse. Living in a confined space in bad weather is not as bad as it could be. Two weekend newspapers and a book read is a huge bonus. We also think about refinements to the van and life in general.

Now we are home the sun is out. We have been the busiest of bees drying out our awning and getting the campervan ready for the next adventure.