Category: Serendipity

#1411 theoldmortuary ponders.

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Cobbles in St Ives.

We missed celebrating the Winter Solstice on the 21st of December in Penzance due to grief for our dog and a friend’s chest infection. But we are gathered here together in St Ives for the weekend of Inbolc.

The world does feel as if something is shifting.

The views from our roof terrace were full of early morning promises.

Just like last night we wandered streets and alleyways with no particular purpose or plans. A ‘good’ coffee was an essential but as a target for a day that was it.

A coffee with the best view in the house was a bonus. Double bonus and a gold star when achieved twice.

On a meandering cliff walk I found the perfect name for a character for a novel. (As yet unwritten).

Rusty Lovelocks

Who is Rusty Lovelocks? What genre?

Romance

Erotic literature

Adventure

Historic fantasy

Crime

Psychological thriller

For some time I have wanted to rehabilitate the name Beryl. Of all the lovely gemstone names, Beryl seems not to have floated back into fashion. And yet I have never met a bad Beryl.

How better to do that than write a novel featuring Rusty Lovelocks and Beryl Heliodor.

Beryl Heliodor brings gravitas and a touch of Skandi Noir. A strong woman.

Rusty Lovelocks, sexually ambiguous, softer maybe but with a fierce loyalty and intelligence.

Whatever sort of novel might I write. But  I digress.

Today is about the reality of sunshine. And Imbolc. Things to look forward to.

#1407 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Stonehouse Lawn Tennis Club, StormsLeave a comment

It has been a tough week at the office. Three large storms have taken one tree down and two huge boughs off others. Storm Chandra the last of 3 arrived yesterday and took down another already damaged bough.

On a positive note this morning, no rain, just wind, a lot of wind and some sunshine.

Tranquility Bay was looking and feeling fairly untranquil.

A day that required a dry robe and wellies.

The dry robe had a bittersweet moment for me in one of its huge pockets . On the day our dog Hugo died we went walking on the beach and I found a rock that looked like a cracked heart.

#1366 theoldmortuary ponders

I had tucked it in my pocket and forgotten about it. Until this morning.

So while I was busying about photographing damaged trees for Tree Surgeon quotes the heart shaped  pebble found its way into my hand. I immediately realised what it was. A comforting sensation rather than completely sad. I might keep it in my pocket.

#1406 theoldmortuary ponders

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The last week of January, not that I am counting!

One whole month since Christmas and only a small piece of Christmas Cake left, 4 mince pies and a late arrival Christmas Pudding.

The date on the box says 1849, so that is quite a late arrival.

Last night our evening dog walk took us past one defiantly gorgeous Christmas tree alight in a warm and cozy 6th floor sitting room. Credit to the home owners for keeping the festive faith for so long. We still have ‘Winter Lights’ in the yard.

This scrag end of January is stormy and grey. Not much to recommend it in the outside world except the Aurora Borealis on clear nights last week.

©Aaron Jenkin

We didn’t get quite the same glorious show on our little peninsular but pictures like this,dropping into my Social Media, have made some lovely memories.

©Stephen Thompson

I believe my efforts to take a more positive attitude to Winter, and in particular January, are paying off but it occurred to me last night,that in all hierarchical lists something has to come bottom no matter how much embellishment is applied.

This week will be the long farewell to my least favourite, but more bearable  with a positive attitude  month. 

#1400 theoldmortuary ponders.

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The old mortuary ponders. I am one of life’s great ponderers. Not a Great ponderer. A ponderer who does a lot of pondering.

1400 ponders is a moment. Before this collection of ponders there were the Pandemic Ponderings, when the world skipped a beat and my daily ponderings started.

#1399 theoldmortuary ponders.

Yesterday’s ponder was about 2016. A year when a Global Pandemic was a historic fact. In 1918 a third of the world was infected with The Great Influenza ( Spanish Flu). Maybe as many as 100 million people died.

Global pandemics were things of the past or theoretical predictions. We were blissfully unaware in 2016 quite what was just over the horizon. In 2026 we are all too well aware that enormous scientific and medical progress did not protect us from another one.

I wonder if I would have started a daily diary about mundane and ordinary life in 1916, inspired by that earlier pandemic.

I think I would have considered it and maybe even started one. But writing a daily diary has never worked for me until blogging came along. Inexplicably a daily writing habit is now second nature. I love it. But I doubt I would have gained the habit without those long pandemic days when life took on a whole new level of mundanity.

Always one for irrelevant details, blogging has only increased my thirst for the minutiae of daily life and a bit of positivity. I suspect every aspect of my life has altered for the better.

#1401 and beyond . More sunflowers and more Silver linings.

#1399 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends and Family, SerendipityLeave a comment
New Year Fireworks 2016. It all started so well.

There is a current trend of looking back to 2016 as some sort of benchmark year.

Was 2016 a genuine wrinkle in time. I do not look back on it with any great fondness. I had an iphone and took some great photos.

But 2016 was a hard year with tough decisions, sadness, badness and unkindness.

Seria Ludo by Mat Collishaw

For large parts of 2016 I felt like I was hanging on to normal life while it swung me round and round on a crazy carousel.

In 2016 I discovered the Japanese word Setsunasa which means,

A tight feeling in the chest. Longing, love, sadness, nostalgia, all compressed into one sharp pain.

So when I think about 2016 that is my overwhelming recollection. But it was such a busy year and there were many positives. Looking through my 2016 photographs I have made myself aware that 2016 was far from all bad.

Time to reshape my recollections a little. Another useful Japanese word.

Wabi-Sabi.

The acceptance that nothing is permanent, and nothing is perfect, nothing is ever complete and yet finding quiet beauty in that reality rather than fighting it.

#1398 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, Serendipity1 Comment

My post-Christmas tidy up brought me some joy with the rediscovery of my old portable typewriter’s history.

My Olympus SM was manufactured in Germany in 1939 and sold to its first owner W.H Butterworth while he lived at 28, Chiltern Drive, Braddell Heights, Singapore. The original sales document is still in the ginger coloured carrying case, resting on my sofa.

I was in Singapore in November, had I remembered this fact I would almost certainly have taken myself off on a wild goose chase to see my typewriters first home.

Somewhere in this photo from the Marina Bay swimming pool is Braddell Heights. Very far distant but there nevertheless.

Why such a wild goose chase?

I quite like a wild goose chase. Sometimes a seemingly pointless task brings unexpected experiences. So I regret not chasing that particular goose but Singapore had other wildlife.

But we did not meet Otters in the Botanic Gardens, which was a dissapointment

So perhaps we should have chased the odd wild goose.

Or maybe we did.

#1397 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, WinterLeave a comment
Sunshine in a preserving pan.

I always think winter is best endured if observed and endured in bite sized chunks. Getting to mid-January there is always a natural high point when a friend makes marmalade. Something I very much enjoy on a bite sized chunk of bread. A glowing pot of freshly created 2026 marmalade is lurking in my cupboard from today. The pot arrived on the same day as another sign that Winter is loosening her cold boney fingers from our vital parts. My first bunch of Daffodils. Really my favourite flower of all time. Just dont tell the Sunflowers, Roses or Tulips. Dahlias, peonies or Leucospermum.

Winter may have loosened her fingers a bit but there is at least another 6 weeks of mood boosting required . Marmalade , Daffodils and December Leucospermum. Are todays little sunshine coloured pick-me-ups.

December Leucospermum, Mornington Peninsular

Never forgetting another December treat.

Hong Kong Fruit stall. December.

Seeing so much sunshine and vivid colour in December has propelled me through the first half of winter . Marmalade and Daffodils will carry on the good work. I have been so lucky.

#1389 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment
Central Park

This photo landed in my lap yesterday. It was a freezing cold day and cloudless, until it wasn’t. Out of nowhere, two black labradors, brushed past me, off their leads and owners nowhere to be seen. In that moment the clouds gathered around the sun and all colour drained from the scene.  Smaller dogs and their owners scattered, alarmed and protective. Moments later the dogs were gone and the bright day was back. As if the two things were linked.

And as if I had imagined the whole thing. Spooky things don’t generally happen in broad daylight. Digitally I popped a full moon behind the trees. It creates a haunting image much more in keeping with the sensation of the day.

Is an ownerless dog as other worldly than a riderless horse?

The dogs were like creatures from another realm. Fast and fleeting.  Bearing down on me, lLola and other wary smaller dogs. Black Labs overbearing one minute and gone the next.

Their owners insouciance irritating. Their languid body language, indifferent to the unfolding chaos. 

When the sun came out again the men and their dogs were nowhere to be seen. As if the clouds, men and dogs had been a wrinkle in reality, ghost dogs and their masters from a different realm.

Just as I reread this blog before posting I noticed the silhouette of a ghost dog on his hind legs in the first picture. I knew there was something strange going on!

#1388 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn history, Holidays, Serendipity, TravelsLeave a comment
7th December 2025, 22 degrees. Mount Eliza

Yesterday was a day of really bright sunlight and  a temperature of about 2 degrees Centigrade.

It was a day of dog walking, admin and another painting of Coogee Beach, more sunshine.

Coogee Beach, 27 degrees.

Beyond my day’s domestic plans, there was also some Tennis Club admin that needed to be done with a friend.

Beyond Tennis chat, we talked about Christmas, Grief, an erotic novel, kitchen plans, and our holidays. Mine in the past and hers upcoming. She is heading to Bergen and beyond in Norway. She is expecting to experience sunshine and temperatures of about -30.

The whole conversation blew my mind a little bit. Mostly because travel blows my mind a lot. The ease with which we discuss such things as women in the 21st Century is a delight unknown to most women in the past.

The kitchen that we sat in, nattering away, was built about 175 years ago. A home suitable for professional men and their families . The men would have worked either in a nearby Military base or Dockyard or been involved in the Maritime or Fishing industries. Plymouth was linked to London by train in 1848, making Plymouth an International Travel hub.  Travel would not have been an unfamiliar subject even when my kitchen was new.

Travel would have been much more complex. Timescales would be significantly different. Climate adjustment slower and riskier

Sailing to Australia would have taken three to four months, one way. Sailing to Bergen took about two weeks.

Luggage of only 23 kg is more than adequate for either of us to have the right clothing for hugely different climates.

I cannot imagine how much luggage we would have needed to make such journeys 150 years ago. English women of all classes were wearing Bustles.

Just one dress would weigh more than 23kg!

Very few women travelled for pleasure or exploration in 1850. For the most part British women were shipped around the world to service the sexual and dynastic needs of British men abroad who were busy doing British things like Colonisation.

British men being the powerful people. Taking political, economic, and cultural control over other territories and populations. Exploiting resources, labour, people and land for the benefit of Britain.

How lucky are we in 2026 to be able to travel quickly to anywhere in the world and to any temperature with just 23k of luggage. Know with almost 100% certainty that we will return, to natter, at the kitchen table after our travels. Safe in the knowledge that travel will expand our minds and not require us to search for a husband or create children.

Big changes at the kitchen table.