Category: Serendipity

#647 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Street Art1 Comment

I was in a very normal park today. Imaginatively called Peacock Meadow but squeezed between large industrial estates and some housing. The rain took me by surprise and I took refuge in this bandstand style shelter. It featured entirely teenage style graffiti and some of the comments and images were both timeless and entirely up to date. There was a good selection of cartoon penises and some statements that made me laugh out loud. I was a bit surprised by the amount of homophobia and racism expressed. I would have hoped younger people had greater tolerance and more open minds. But street art wherever I find it fascinates me.

The colours were fabulous, even if the opinions expressed lacked imagination or ambition beyond having sex with other peoples mothers, putting phone numbers out in the public domain, or commenting on school friends erogenous zones. All the same old stuff I experienced in the bus station of the town where I went to school. But one statement was so of it’s time no one would have understood it 20 years ago.

There was also a good bit of peeling paint.

I think I have managed to avoid the more controversial or unpleasant elements. Unfortunately the examples of clever wit that made me laugh came into that category but here are some of the colours and patterns.

I realised that my little village of Gosfield in North East Essex must have been very well behaved. There were loads of teenagers kicking around with not too much to do. I can’t think of anywhere that was given the Graffiti treatment. The only exception was the pews in the church. The back ones were habitually used by boys from a fairly low-grade Independent school, there were a lot of penises and expletives in that church. The funny thing is that history gives graffiti gravitas. If those words and illustrations, either in the church of my home village or the fake bandstand yesterday had been carved by medieval youth the etchings and carvings would be preserved as a tourist hot spot. The subject matter would be virtually the same.

And why the name Peacock Meadow. Google is a wonderful thing.

In 1719 Sidney Strode produced an “Account of the Strode Family” in which he makes reference to duel fought between Richard Strode and Sir Philip Courteney of Loughtor. The duel was fought on the green at the lower end of what was marshmeadow, Colebrook. And what were they fighting over, a family feud, an issue of honour, or a young lady? No, they were arguing over a peacock killed by a servant.

#646 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, Serendipity1 Comment

Waking up on a sunny morning in a blue bedroom is always a bit ‘other-worldly’. Soon enough the sun will cast fish shadows all over the floor. This blog was always going to be about blue because I discovered yesterday that Blue Monday by New Order was first released 40 years ago. Ever an optimist my Monday’s have never been particularly ‘blue’. My job was a seven day a week habit so the dreaded returning to work feeling could hit on any day.

In keeping with my usual lyric remembering failure I only ever remember the first two lines.

How does it feel, to treat me how you do?

I’ve worked with a few people where that has been a great puzzlement. People who clearly get up every morning determined to make other people’s lives a misery by their words or actions.

Anyway those sort of people are not welcome in this blog, which is really about where on earth those 40 years went…

Two lovely blue pictures from yesterday to accompany the blog. We sat under the Flagpole in our local dockyard to watch the Wimbledon Tennis Final on a big outdoor screen. I took this multi exposure shot to capture the flag in the breeze.

And as we left the Agapanthas were showing off a bit.

Have a positively Blue Monday with a catchy earworm…

And then, just like that, the blog was written and finished.But Facebook time- hop had other plans and I needed to extend the blog.Time-Hop showed me three paintings, all sea related. They are long gone to their forever homes but were painted at this time of year. I must have a thing about blue in mid- July.

#645 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, SwimmingLeave a comment
Chestnut Swim 2023

For the past 3 years Hannah and her friend Emily have taken part in a charity swim to raise money for the Chestnut Appeal.

Although anatomically completely incorrect, Prostate health is close to the heart.

This year was made a little bit special by two grandchildren, there to support their Nona in her swimming adventure.

Cousins meet for the first time.

All the more special as the cousins live half a world apart.

Nona gets a first hug from a little person who lives a long way away.

Family reunions apart, a big swim was the main event.

Less than an hour after they set off. They were back.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/hannah-cornell-1689512599868?checkoutMode=Headless&reference=whatsap

#644 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, SwimmingLeave a comment
English Summer observed through a pub window.

Saturday evening,Hannah and her friend Emily have arrived in Kingsand ready for their sea swim to raise money for the Chestnut Appeal.

They have done this for the last three years. This year they are doing the Cawsand Swim.

An early evening gathering in a pub was required to check out the course.

Not particularly obvious but there are buoys out there marking the course which is horizontal to the beaches of Kingsand and Cawsand.

It is all looking pretty good after a stormy few days.

Tomorrow’s blog will be all about the beach action but this evening our biggest concern was how to get our dogs across the carpark without burning a single kilojoule of energy.

#643 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

I have an outfit that goes everywhere with me. Under any unusual or unplanned circumstances I can appear perfectly prepared. My failsafe garment is a long, black,  linen dress. At more than ten years old it is a little grey with wear but it still fits the category of little black dress. It can easily be dyed, again, to be a Bible-black dress worthy of her original beauty . Most importantly the dress has two side pockets. I will never again buy a dress without side pockets. Whenever I travel it travels with me. Even on the most minuscule of trips.

Last week it went to Wales with me. On its own it could have been a beach dress but blinged up with some massive beads it could easily have taken me to a posh restaurant or an evening of live music.

The beads come from an old broken necklace and some beaded curtain tie backs from the eighties. The beads travel with the dress. They are the basic kit, but if packing space allows two other items squeeze in next to the little black dress.

A pair of Moccasin mules from Canada and a long length silk coat in the style of a Gentlemans Smoking Jacket from Hong Kong.

While we were in Abersoch I admired the hat our host Tricia was wearing. Then randomly in my favourite Charity shop I found one with a very similar vibe.

With just this one additional item my go anywhere kit could go anywhere. The hat is by an internationally renowned Milliner Sandra Phillips. Posh Wedding, The Royal Enclosure or a Buckingham Palace Garden Party. I have the full kit and caboodle.

The beauty of this capsule, get me looking fab outfit is the cost.

Dress £100 Flax from Dulwich Trader 10 years ago.

Beads approx £5 made from a broken necklace and curtain tiebacks from a Charity shop. Recreated 5 years ago.

Moccasin mules, £20 Zara Sale, Toronto. Last year

Silk Smoking Jacket, £20, Zara Ultra reduced Sale, Hong Kong Airport. 7 years ago.

Silk and straw hat. £10. Sandra Phillips at the local Hospice Charity Shop today.

£135 spent over the past 10 years on this capsule wardrobe. The dress may well have been worn 500 times, could easily be more.

Money well spent, Lola loves to rest on silk so even more useful.

Nothing phases this ensemble. I have even slept in the dress and babies love the beads, they are indestructible.

#641 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging, pondering, Serendipity1 Comment
Dandelion at dawn

What do you think gets better with age?

Before deciding to use this prompt I read a few other blogs that had also chosen to go with this particular flow. Wisdom, Sex, God(s) and Acceptance all get a good going over by bloggers with mixed results, in my opinion.

I have no such certainty, in the few hours I have pondered this thought I have been going round in so many ponderous mental circles that I feel even more uncertain as to my definitive answer.

Dandelion at noon

Right now at 08:13 I have settled on being both less conscious and more conscious of being my genuine self. Society moulds us in many ways. Always an introvert I have moved through life being self-effacing* hiding behind so many self-created masks.

* Someone who’s self-effacing is shy and likes to stay out of the spotlight, shunning attention and praise. To efface something is to erase it, so to be self-effacing is to try to remove yourself from various situations, especially ones that draw attention.

David Bowie with his multiple stage personnas or Drag Queens seem to me to have the perfect way of being.

Dandelion at night.

A lovely, big, public personality that can take praise and adoration easily and humbly. A personality that can be slipped off at the end of the show, leaving the real person to slip out of the stage door anonymously without the need for dark glasses and an upturned collar.

Much as I would have liked to go through life in the style of Ziggy Stardust or Lily Savage that was never appropriate. So my characters looked exactly like me but with more Chutzpah*

*The positive aspect of chutzpah, which is more likely to lead to positive outcomes, revolves primarily around being confident, daring, and brazen.

I realise now, with age that self-effacing is a fairly daft way to go about life. But even as I write this I realise that being a brash ‘ out-there’ person was an impossible lifestyle choice for me. I so dislike the aura around Alpha Humans.

What has got better with age is knowing my own worth and finding somewhere in the middle ground. Not so self-effacing, more sequins and twinkle.

Less Dandelion; more Firework, occasionally!

#640 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Friends, SerendipityLeave a comment

I am always drawn to the potential of an empty bench or a couple of empty chairs placed together. The art of fine conversation settles and thrives in this sort of location. We have spent the last few days engaged in fabulous conversations with friends old and new in Abersoch in North Wales.

Chatting is just the most enjoyable thing when it has no agenda or expectation. Sometimes so many conversations are had that the context or content get confused, but the important thing is that we had them.

#639 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Van Life2 Comments
Mango Ice Cream in Abersoch

A strange thing happened in Abersoch. In the middle of a night- time storm a tiny buzzing creature sought refuge in my ear. At first I thought a stray curl had dipped into my ear but buzzing in my head is not the normal response to a curl finding a resting place deep inside my ear. Then the tiny creature started tap dancing on my eardrum. Soon enough he encountered some ear wax and his footsteps turned to squelches.

He was completely invisible to the naked eye and the sounds of him tap dancing and squelching was imperceptible to anyone but me. Everything he did was out of proportion to the real world. The clarity of the tap dancing was like having a private dance from an accomplished soloist in a huge auditorium with only me as an audience member. The squelching was moist and resonant like pulling a boot out of the deepest of mud.

In the outside world, none of this was taken particularly seriously. Meanwhile, the tiny dancer was tiring, the buzzing had stopped. I was encouraged to go back to sleep, if indeed I had ever been awake and this whole episode has been just a dream. Some moments later there was a flourish of sensation, a little more precise percussion on my eardrum and a piercing buzz. I shouted out in astonishment and there was silence. In my hypnagogic state, I was convinced the poor creature had shouted out in pain before his tiny legs had buckled beneath him. I imagined him laying lifeless on my eardrum. Anxious not to bring any more drama to the nights sleeping I promised that I would retrieve his fragile body in the morning.

The morning, as it so often does, brought clarity. The buzz had been his triumphant flight out of my ear once he had regained strength and cleaned the ear detritus off his feet.

I was spared a body retrieval and life had returned to normal. I am left with the memory of a very curious incident of a tap dancer on my eardrum.

#657 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Van Life1 Comment

Early morning pondering in a camper van with a coffee ready to start the day. I started the actual day somewhat lost in a sand dune. I found this dark feather and had a strange thought. Some people see the arrival of a white feather as a sign that the soul or spirit of a deceased loved one has returned to the earthly realm to reassure or comfort those who mourn them. What does a dark feather mean in this world of reassurance from elsewhere?

I always think of a quill when a dark feather appears. Secretly a quill and an ink well would suit me very well. I already paint trees and plants with bits of trees and plants. Why not write some text with a feather? A friend of mine in London was gifted one of Charles Dickens’s ink wells. The provenance was indisputable, apparently Dickens often gave an ink well as gratitude to his many hosts. Time, I think to Google how to prepare a quill. In complete contrast I recently bought myself some fancy tiny tipped pens. I love them but where is the romance in engineered plastic?

Beyond Quills my dune meanderings also gave me other nice thoughts and images. Sometimes being a little bit lost is the best place to be.

#656 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Van LifeLeave a comment

I was not expecting this! Our adventures in North Wales were always going to have an element of surprise but an outdoor shower overlooked by the mountains of the Snowdonia National Park was a very special treat. As it turns out I was not the only one to get that sort of surprise. The Dwyryd Estuary at low tide was a canine idea of a great evening out.

The soft sands and clear waters of low tide were just too tempting for any pretence of good behaviour.

Which would be fine under normal circumstances but we would be sharing a campervan bed with these two all night. They were threatened with a cold hosepipe.

But unknown to us the campsite facilities were exceptional for dogs as well as humans. A hot water shower with a soft grass platform to sit on and beautiful smelling products.

This is all a stroke of extremely good luck, we needed to be in striking distance of Abersoch and this was the only campsite that would have us. Booked out of necessity it turns out to be the most fabulous of campsites. With extraordinary views. If I only mentioned the showering facilities I would be like the sort of person who visits great museums or art galleries and only mentions the cafe.*

So here are the views looking west.

And the view across the estuary to Portmeirion.

Now early morning blogging, which this is. Is usually a solitary activity but this morning Hugo needed to be up and out at 6am. Whatever he imagined was going to happen didn’t. Instead of larking about in mud we did some rock clambering and visited a couple of memorial benches.

Treasured memories of all those who loved this special place. And still a garden by the water lies. **

We sat a while with Mrs Jones and her anonymous companion and enjoyed their red roses, almost more beautiful now they are past their best.

I discovered that slate here is many wonderful shades of rust.

And that East is not quite where I expected it to be.

* The cafe, should you be interested was, of course our in-van catering. Top marks for that too.

** The quote on the bench may be personal. My memory of a similar quote comes from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Our lovely campsite details :-