#1352 theoldmortuary ponders

On Jul 25, 2026Jul 25, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment

What’s a promise you made to yourself that you’ve actually kept?

8 summery bobbers met yesterday for our regular weekly swim. About half of the number of registered bobbers who turn out at Firestone Bay in all weathers to swim, chat and eat cake.

If there was anything positive to come out of the Covid era this group of acquired aquatic friends is my favourite thing.

There is nothing good about my swimming. I am not fast, strong or stylish. But during the Covid years I learnt that being in the sea, bobbing about was something that I loved doing.

Before the Covid era I was not someone who made promises to myself. I was fortunate, a boomer, a post-war child born into an optimistic era. Too young to understand the threats of the Cold war. Covid was the first time I felt threatened in a way that was beyond the control of myself, society or the world. I promised myself I would keep swimming with the bobbers and keep writing a daily blog.

Faced with a Global Pandemic those were the only two intentions I had to battle an invisible enemy. Written down that looks quite pathetic. Also as promises go they are hardly earth shattering.

But history will probably call us the Covid Generation. The big stuff will be researched and discussed at conferences and academic institutions. But the little stuff is what we all had to do to get through.I do little stuff.

5 years ago we were just emerging from Covid restrictions. We attended a wedding. The blog I wrote on that day is below.

Pandemic Pondering #487

My promises to myself may well be a bit inconsequential but so far I have stuck with them and that is good enough for now.

Reflecting on this I realise there were two pivotal moments that made both blogging and swimming both possible and promisable.

In early Covid I was recalled back to work in London. At the time I was living in Cornwall. Even in normal times that would be a near impossible commute. Had that happened there would be no sea swimming.

In early 2020 I had been accepted to train as a theatre critic, barely had the email landed when Covid arrived stamping its big gnarly foot on training or aspiration of any sort. Had the Theatre Critic thing happened there would be no blogging.

My tiny promises were created by a massive global crisis.

#1349 theoldmortuary ponders.

On Jul 22, 2026Jul 22, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, StonehouseLeave a comment

What’s the funniest misunderstanding you’ve ever been part of?

On reflection and with the clarity of distance one of the funniest misunderstandings was one of my last work place appraisals. It was also one of those excruciating appraisals where I was told why I had missed out on a recent promotion.

I had missed out because I was over 50, had not been given a list of the interview questions by the lead interviewer ( the favoured and ultimately successful candidate got that ) and did not partake of some of the party activities my younger colleagues enjoyed.

I had mellowed enough from my initial furious mindset to enjoy the utter tripe that was coming from my line managers mouth. Then he served me a golden ticket of a comment.

“I think” he said,

“You use kindness to manipulate people”

Now at that point my thought bubble was an expletive filled explosion of great unkindness to him and his successful candidate.

After that I have no recollection of how we passed the time appraising me for the next year of my career.

I remained fairly incandescent for some time. We never crossed intellects at an appraisal again. Curiously for reasons not unassociated with that meeting I chose to resign and move on without his weasel ways impacting me or my career.

I still don’t believe that kindness is a tool for manipulation. I just feel it is a better default than unkindness. But is kindness a bit of a super-power? If people believe it has the power to manipulate in a good way then perhaps it is. It is certainly way more useful than unkindness.

I find my recollection of that appraisal just hugely amusing.

The other gem that my appraiser chucked out, that day ,was that he wanted to rekindle our previously good relationship.

” How do we polish a turd” he asked.

” By being kind ” I might have said and really wished I had. Of course that comment came to me moments after the appraisal finished. I wasn’t on any stairs, but I might as well have been.

#1346 theoldmortuary ponders.

On Jul 19, 2026Jul 19, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photography, art, Footling About, Hybrid Printmaking, learning, Meddled Photography X Watercolour, Medical imaging, Serendipity1 Comment

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?

As a lifelong image maker the outdated technology I miss the most is the magic and alchemy of a photographic or radiographic darkroom. The basic skills of wet processing and later automated processing, that are enhanced by the knowledge and experience of knowing how to manipulate negative and positive images to create the best possible outcome.

So many mental filing cabinets of know how have been stored in my brain gathering dust since the dawn of digital imaging. Until a February in Penzance when I had a lightbulb moment and decided to start using some of my old analogue knowledge alongside the digital knowledge of contemporary image making.

I am a time-hopping digital immigrant. Using skills taught to me by people called Sheila and Ron in the 70’s ,an era when a dark room technician could turn a disaster into an acceptable picture by clever thinking and the use of tricks and accuracy to make an image better.

This is the first successfully manipulated image created by overlaying three separate digital photographs to create one picture.

The feet below are my most recent meddled image.

The others are just some of the picture journey. The acceptable part of the journey. Not the many many images that have ended up in the digital bin

#1345 theoldmortuary ponders

On Jul 18, 2026Jul 18, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

She Sells Selsey Seashells is the latest acquisition for the little known but hugely influential Fridge Gallery. As the curator I gave it a bit of a tidy up yesterday. I am an appalling curator of the Fridge Gallery. I have given it very little thought.

She Sells Selsey Seashells from Novium Museum Chichester, where there is a David McKee exhibition.

The Novium Home Page – The Novium Museum https://share.google/CtzQuzz1S1pVpQeol

David McKee was a local chap , growing up in Tavistock and attending Arts University Plymouth.

I am a little old to have enjoyed his books as a child but my mum used to make Elmeresque Elephants as gifts for friends’ children out of the scraps of gorgeous fabrics she had from her hobby of making theatrical and dance costumes.

I was not the recipient of an Elmer because I had moved on to Trolls at that point, but my trolls were exceedingly well dressed. My favourite troll ever was a Viking.

This plain blue tabard was recreated many times in gorgeous fabrics. The same patchwork skills she used for her Elmer creations. Although I always thought my troll was a femail Viking . Would Drag Queen Vikings have been a thing in the 60’s and early 70’s?

I had completely forgotten this detail of my 8 year old self until now. Which is why I should pay more attention to the Fridge Gallery!

Oh how I love that cute little troll face. Now to hunt for that exact troll …

#1344 theoldmortuary ponders

On Jul 16, 2026Jul 17, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Stonehouse Lawn Tennis ClubLeave a comment

Thursday night shenanigans at a tennis club.

The Marquee needed to be up and many hands and many bystanders made light work.

First event in the Marquee was the July committee meeting.

Who could possibly have guessed that we had put the table on an ant nest.

The ants took a very dim view of being forced to attend a committee meeting. Smiles turned to squeals as the ants voted with their feet . Finding all the nooks and crannies of light summer clothing . The quickest committee meeting ever.

#1342 theoldmortuary ponders.

On Jul 15, 2026Jul 15, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, StonehouseLeave a comment

Wednesday is hump day. I have the hump, or the grumps with a side order of entitlement. This week has not been kind. What I needed was an early morning walk with Lola and a swim at high tide from any one of the three beaches near my home. Tough weeks require some head clearance and swimming is my place to do that. That is my entitlement in a nutshell.

All three beaches had large black dogs off their leads with no direct supervision from their swimming owners. Not to my taste or Lola’s. Both Lola and Hugo were attacked by the same large black dog on two different occasions. Lola has a long but not specific memory. She takes a very dim view of all large black dogs, on her behalf I exercise caution around large black dogs off leads. To find one on each of the swimming areas was dispiriting to say the least.

I settled into the arches above the middle swimming spot and tried to enjoy a three day old Pain au Chocolat from Lidl. While they are delightful fresh from the Lidl oven they are like old boots 3 days later. The hump/grumps were not resolved.

Even worse the two women using the middle swim spot took forever to get in the water and their dog was all over the place. There is only a narrow entry way to the sea.

Me in happier, more privileged swim times

So I took my humpy grumpy self off to Tranquilty bay where the large, free- running dog had disappeared. I had a fabulous swim and Lola basked in the sun on my towel. Afterwards, as I walked past the middle swim zone the two women and their dog were just climbing the steps to leave. Without a backward glance Lola and I were down the steps and swim/ basking #2 happened.

Can you believe this? The last beach, as I walked past was completely empty. #3 swim/ bask occured.

The hump/grumps are not completely rinsed out of my system and nothing can rejuvenate a three day old Lidl Pain au Chocolat.

But with patience the black dogs will leave the area both metaphorically and in real life. I just have to give these things some time.

The black dogs were real. It is only as I wrote this that I realised that sadness can also be described as ‘ the black dog’

#1340 theoldmortuary ponders.

On Jul 12, 2026Jul 13, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Firestone Bay was popping this weekend. Early dog walks to avoid the heat. High tide swims to mitigate the heat. Evening dog walks to avoid the heat again. + A piece of outstanding good luck.

On one of our walks we found this mirror in a yard give away. It was very hot to carry such a heavy thing home so we hid it in a bobbing friends garden and drove around to collect it in the cool of the early morning. It is going to live on a wall in our yard.

For now it is propped at ground level but it will be mounted so that it reflects the Olive Tree.

The Olive tree is also planted in a pot that a neighbour gave away. Serendipitous finds.

Alongside the heat of the day a feisty wind sprung up this afternoon . My afternoon swim or dip was spent in a large rockpool. I only ever bother with it in the winter months usually . But today with the heat and waves pouring on it was like a salty jacuzzi.

#1339 theoldmortuary ponders

On Jul 11, 2026Jul 12, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity2 Comments

Pondering long into the night.This is what retirement looks like. Sometimes

What’s one habit that has improved your life the most?

I pondered this one a bit, and initially discarded it. But in the spirit of ‘ my blog my rules’ I will have 3 habits that have improved my life.

In no particular order. Retirement. Bobbing. Blogging. Although without retirement the other two would be less possible. Blogging existed in a much lesser way before retirement. Other Bobbers manage to bob without being retired.

All three feed my creativity and nourish my soul. I was creative on the side before I retired. Now I have more time, more thinking time and more down time. Creativity is no longer a side issue. It sits at the centre with voluntary admin and domestic admin taking up the side bars.

Retirement took me away from an amazing group of friends and colleagues. There were some rogue* colleagues of course, people best left behind when you close your work locker for the last time. I have done that a few times!

Bobbing gives me silly , lovely friends to swim in the sea with and made me move into a community that can use my transferable skills and also gives me amazing friends, no rogues at bobbing, maybe some in the community. For the most part avoidable.

Blogging brings everything together old friends , new friends, local friends and some, all around the world that I may never meet. Casting words out into the world, with no knowledge of where they land is very therapeutic.

My blog, my rules, 3 habits to improve my life, and it was already pretty good anyway.

Rogue is a polite term for Arrogant, Ego driven, duplicitous, lazy, scheming, total arseholes. There maybe other categories I have forgotten. But we have all worked with them.

#1337 theoldmortuary ponders

On Jul 10, 2026Jul 11, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years” — and what got you through it?

The hardest of ‘hard years’ were the years when my children were very small and both my parents were terminally ill and we lived 300 miles apart. The support of my husband and friends helped me get through it, but in truth, as an only child with no substantial extended family, what got me through it was me. I emerged from that period changed and damaged forever. The damage buried deep beneath many layers of a woman who was coping with whatever life was throwing at her.

Hard years just like good years are the foundations that the years yet to come are built on. The cracks and fault lines caused by the hard years are just that. Cracks and fault lines, good years build strength and stability around them. I know where the cracks are and they can largely be avoided. Sometimes one trips me up when I least expect it. Flying over Australia recently, opened up a crack I didn’t even know was there. Suddenly I was grieving for all the stuff I didn’t do while I was busy coping with all the serious stuff that hard years generate.

Thank goodness we are not required to mourn missing out on serious stuff when life is all tickety boo. That would be a counterproductive cycle of thinking.

Although in fairness there are quite a lot of people who love a good wallow in their own and other peoples misfortune. Soul Suckers.

If your glass is half empty, top it up a bit.

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
Song by Ella Fitzgerald and The Ink Spots

Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But someday the sun will shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
When I think of you another shower starts
Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each life some rain’s got to fall
Too much, too much, too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But someday the sun will shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
But when I think of you, pretty baby
That’s when another shower starts
Into each life some rain’s got to fall
Too much, too much, too much is falling in mine, oh yeah
Into each and every life some rain is bound to fall
But too much of that stuff is falling in mine
And into each heart some tears must fall
But I know, baby, that someday that old sun is bound to shine
Some folks can lose the blues in their hearts
But when I think of you, pretty baby
That’s when another shower starts
Into each life some rain’s got to fall

These lyrics are about a failed romantic relationship . But I have always hung on to the notion that eventually, after the hard bits of life the sun will eventually shine again. It always does.

For this reason I like in particular these 4 lines from the song.

Into each life some rain must fall
But too much is falling in mine
Into each heart some tears must fall
But someday the sun will shine

#1336 theoldmortuary ponders.

On Jul 9, 2026Jul 9, 2026 By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

What goes into this file ? Anything that I believe deserves the title. What went into todays picture? The answers might surprise you. One of them surprised me!

Two photographs. A standard tidal pool shot and my feet in a paddling pool.

I like my shots of the tidal pool uncluttered by other humans. One on the beach and two swimming is the perfect number. My feet are in a paddling pool, as we are doing more granddaughter care currently because my daughter broke and dislocated her shoulder. We bought a pool to entertain the small person in a heatwave, in the evenings the pool is the perfect place for feet.

I used an app called PortraitArt to turn my feet into a portrait. A paid for App.

Source: PortraitArt https://share.google/wZ1ZXELS2mzac69r0

Then using Snapseed. A free App, I stuck the untouched pool photo and the foot portrait together using ‘double exposure’. Manipulating them to get a pleasing image that matched my imagined image of sitting comfortably with my feet overlooking the pool. The reality is neither comfortable or possible. The angles are all wrong and the rocks not particularly comfy.

Then back to the PortraitArt app for a poster style.

Then some touching up using the magic eraser in Google Photos and I have the image I imagined.

Then, and only then do I use Photoshop, just to save my image at a high resolution for future use.

I have been image manipulating for more than 45 years. Early on, in a wet processing dark room for both photography and radiography. Complicatedly, doing specific and very accurate radiography to produce subtraction or multilayered images to aid medical diagnosis. Then digital radiography became a thing and latterly AI assisted imaging. These things save lives.

Curiously as an artist I often use nearly all those skills to create my Hybrid Prints. These things create Art.

So when a ‘proper’ artist or photographer looks at my Hybrid work and says,

” Oh Photoshop, anybody can do anything with photoshop”

or,

“It’s just AI, no skill in that”

I smile and say,

“Really”

My thought bubble is a little more dynamic.

But here is the surprise to me. A couple of weeks ago I framed a Christmas gift, a print created by a fellow artist called Ian Purvis. I have yet to hang it but in the evenings when I watch Scandi-Noir dramas on Netflix, the framed print looks at me, desperate to be hung.

My colour choices for my image couldn’t be more similar if I tried.

Detail from Cakstock Viaduct by Ian Purvis

Which all goes to show that there are lots of things that go into an original image, however it is created. It all comes together in my head, a cluttered and very busy space. I hope that this is my last gentle rant about ‘real’ artists or photographers. Somehow I doubt it.

I am unable to provide a link to Ian Purvis website currently. This will be updated as soon as I can.

Below is an image of him with one of his prints. The same one that gave me my subliminal colour choices.

When I look at the Firestone Feet there are so many influences, accidents, concatenations and serendipity that have been incorporated in this image, alongside skills old and new. I think that just thought bubbling ‘Crack On’ is pretty mild really.

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