Tag: dailyprompt

#1370 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Procrastination, Serendipity1 Comment

What do you wish you could do more every day?

I like being a busy woman but I am a great procrastinator. I choose to be busy to keep procratinarion at bay.  At least I always thought I was a procrastinator until I looked the word up for this blog.

Absolutely none of the given reasons are the causes of what I consider my procrastination habit.

I delay tasks because experience has taught me that doing a task too early or at an inopportune time often results in a re-do  or a less good result.

Procrastination suited me because it is just one word. Now I am left with a great word salad. Thinking, Planning, inspiration, mulling. Timeliness

I prefer to do things/stuff when all my ducks are in a row.

Many ducks, many rows.

Sometimes all my deliberate delaying tactics are waiting for just a few things. Sponteneity, Serendipity and inspiration.

Picking the word procrastination apart I realise that I necessarily delay or postpone  some tasks because I know that doing something too soon can result in a less good outcome.

I love ticking off lists of things achieved but feel really disappointed in myself if I do something sub- optimally because it was rushed or completed just for the sake of  a tick on a life list.

So what do I wish I could do more every day?

Just a little more thinking and a little less doing.  It is a discipline thing because I have more time than I ever have ever had. But thinking time is undervalued as an achievement.

What will I be doing now I know that I am not a procrastinator but something else entirely that currently has no name. And if it has no name how can I possibly do it?

#1367 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn blogging2 Comments

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

The prompts that sometimes fuel these blogs are set by my blog host and are generated for International bloggers.

I am British and have lived almost exclusively in London and the Southern parts of England. A cross-country trip in the  South of England has an enormous geographic problem . Every place in the South has roads that have prioritised getting to London. Public Transport follows that model. The only comfortable way to laterally cross-country would be in a camper van. Walking would also be possible using a combination of minor roads and footpaths. Walking would not be a safe prospect.

But what would motivate me to do such a journey? I suppose it would be the ability to visit towns and villages whose names are familiar because I drive past signposts that their names are on or stations that fast trains speed me through. 

To get the longest possible lateral journey I would need to drive north to Bideford on the North Coast of Devon and then proceed eastwards to Margate.

I think I could get the line straighter by avoiding Motorways and A roads. It is not quite the longest lateral journey available in Britain but it is the longest involving one country.

Two facts that I was oblivious to until I wrote this blog.

Neither journey is ever likely to be made by me but I have pondered what would motivate me to do such a thing.

* Late Spring/ Early Summer.

* Independent Coffee Shops and Farm shops with Cafes in beautiful locations.

*If money were no object then the ability to book the most luxurious Air Bnb’s along the route to spend a little longer exploring areas I have never visited before.

The thought intrigues me, no such thing really exits. The only Lateral path that exists is the Coast to Coast path established in the North of England.

Blogging…

It makes me think!

#1363 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Daft Questions, Serendipity3 Comments

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

This prompt has had me stumped for a few days. The obvious answer is Nourishment, Shelter and Oxygen. None of which are likely to abandon me anytime soon. Because I am fortunate.

So to rewrite the question . What are the three objects I would rather not live without.

In the scrag end of winter, where we are now, I always like Daffodils in the house. If I could only have one variety of cut flowers throughout the year it would be Daffodils, heralds of Spring. Evidence that there is life after Winter.

Books, my life would be a much less vivid experience if I had to give up books.

The sea, it just makes everything in life, good or bad, take a step back.

Looking at these three frivolous choices is a privilege that comes because I am Nourished, I do have shelter and as long as I choose to breathe Oxygen will be available. 

I could live in a shepherds hut on a Cornish cliff and read books for days on end in February. My 3 essentials easily to hand but then there would be more lists of 3.

  • My car.
  • A Waitrose delivery every two days
  • Jolly coast path walkers to chat to. Unless the coast path walker was Raynor Winn. Her books are also excluded from any lists. Unless of course I had a solid fuel heater in my Shepherds Hut and Waitrose failed to deliver  any charcoal. Her books could be rolled and burned as paper logs.

Then there would be another list of 3

Radio to listen to the Shipping Forecast

Raincoat for walking on the Daffodil strewn cliff edge.

Chocolate for the pocket of the raincoat.

This list malarky just goes on and on . Better just to stop with the Oxygen, Shelter and nourishment because after that I just get shallow and vengeful and eat chocolate. Alrhough it could be argued that chocolate is nourishment.

Honestly just a daft bloody question

I think 300 would be a better number. Does wanting more make me shallower or does it show hidden depths?

#1361 tholdmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Are you superstitious?

I don’t believe I am in the traditional sense. But just to be on the safe side I Googled ‘Superstitious’. Which of course suggests that I might be.

I like to stick to plans and behaviours that I know work in certain scenarios.

But contrarily I absolutely encourage and rely on happenstance and serendipity to often take me in the right direction.

I would say my next two weeks will be fairly Admin and paperwork* heavy as an organisation that I do some work for heads towards an  AGM.

*

  • Why do we even call it paperwork when for the most part no paper is involved in 2026.
  • Today I will be delving into actual paper files, how very retro is that.

Meetings,Exams,Presentations all require more or less the same procedure. Ongoing work, preparation, planning and voila! The Culmination. Whatever it is.

I always throw in something extra, without it the whole process becomes way too droll. Yesterday I threw in a visit to an art exhibition and today a little bit of gardening. Without my ‘something extras’ I always believe the more serious stuff of life is more likely to fail.  So in that one paragraph I have demonstrated that I am indeed superstitious.

Not based on fear, ignorance or a reliance on luck, black magic or faith. Based on experience.

For this blog the ‘ something extras’ are often the joyful nugget or maybe the happy ending.

This blog gets both.

The joyful nugget of the paperwork was writing a report to our local council, sharing all the good works and events that our little club has done for the benefit and wellness of our local community.

The happy ending was a visit to an exhibition of Tapestry. Honestly I know nothing about weaving and tapestry. I set myself a target of three images to enjoy and natter about.

Dhoon Bay Wrack by Jane Riley

I love this, I cannot imagine the hours  of work that have gone into this. Hanging on this gorgeous brick wall just adds to the impact. Which leads me on to the next two images.

Shai Quila ( Royal Fort) by Ayesha Barlas

The heat was palpable and vivid from this beautiful tapestry.  Like finding a warm fire in a cold castle.

Then image three caught my eye, an actual fireplace almost camouflaged in a wall that was almost like a tapestry itself.

And so with my admin head reset I will traverse a paper mountain of cardboard files, actual paper and ‘Old School’ archiving. Will I be charmed or frustrated. To be continued.

Today I visited ,

Source: British Tapestry Group https://share.google/X8AvMkgY0rxw60PDC

Here are their set up pictures from their Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/britishtapestrygroup?igsh=c3ZuZHlxd2pzZGxt

Below a link to a video of the show.

#1351 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity2 Comments
Life as we might wish.

What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

I would swap out the word helped with forced.

Early on in my journey as the parent of two young children both of my parents died.

There is a saying that no-one cares for a new mother who does not have her own mother. So true. X 2 without a father too.

There was minimal support from other relatives. I survived and ultimately thrived with the support of friends and strangers, some of whom became friends.

So many tough life experiences to encounter in a six year period.

Survival and the drive to be a good enough parent pushed, pulled and cajoled me though. Eventually when the mists of grief and responsibility cleared enough to take stock I realised that I had learned to live life as it was, and not how I wished or imagined it should be.

A valuable lesson I would rather not have been forced to learn. But one that is useful even when life feels awkward or uncomfortable.

Thank goodness I am not a virtuous type. I do grumpy, sad and disappointed with what life delivers at times. But adversity early on has given me all the tools to give myself a good talking to and a good kick up the bum when needed.

And here is the ponder, how on earth does anyone give themselves a kick up the backside. Physically impossible I would say.

Life as it is.

#1329 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn artLeave a comment
Gertrude’s Shoes Beryl Cook @ The Box

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

Shoes are like children, there are no favourites. Each pair has distinctive and separate identities. Loved for being themselves. That sums up the top tier of my shoe hierachy of needs.

Second and subsequent tiers of shoes are like work colleagues or less close relations. They may ascend to the top tier, but on the whole if they slipped into a bag destined for a Charity Shop  I would not miss them.

The picture above is of the feet of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Tolkas. Painted, as everything is this week, by Beryl Cook. My Grandmother and her sister and friends were just a little younger than Gertrude and Alice.

It could easily be the feet of my Paternal Grandmother and her sister Alice. Between the ages of 2 and 4, I was always puzzled that only my grandmother and her sister or friends wore the same shoes as me.

I have no idea what sort of shoes anyone else wore in the early sixties.

I had a close relationship with my grandmothers shoes because I spent the majority of my time with her under the dining table. She had brought up two children in the second World War, when the safest place for children, during air raids was under the table. She did not update her views on childcare in line with peacetime. Children should be seen but not heard, was elevated to children should not be seen or heard. So under the table I went with a book while she played Scrabble overhead. This was not an unhappy experience at all. But I realise now that it is not ideal.

My grandmother described me as a precocious child when my dad collected me after his work. Because I would read or look at the illustrations of any book on their shelves.

There was nothing else to do..

There may have been an incident when I was slightly older of chewing my grandfathers Old Holborn Tobacco while reading Treasure Island. It could have been worse, there was almost certainly medicinal brandy somewhere in the house.

All rather a thought or two away from favourite shoes but  shoes like these old style Mary Janes accompanied me on my first adventures into a love of reading books. And that has taken me to all sorts of places

#1419 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

I think there are many activities and hobbies that have, quite correctly, lost interest in me. The big one would be Radioligy/Radiography. There was a brief flutter of renewed interest in me during Covid but now we are in agreement that making pictures with  X-Rays is in my past. Retirement from a scintillating career. The Physics definition.

On a good day I can be quite the scintillating conversationslist too. She said modestly.

I have kept my transferable skills and transferred them to other things.

Team games were never my thing until I discovered rowing. It was probably the only team sport I had an aptitude for. But we have had an amicable parting of the ways for some time now.

Drawing. Painting. Sketching. Printing. All things that have not given up on me. I was still at school when I realised that sketching a quick cartoon of a teacher was a pathway out of nerdiness and into ‘almost’ cool.

A skill that stayed with me during a long career in the N.H.S. A quick cartoon of an arrogant doctor or an ineffectual colleague handed over at the same time as a handover sheet was better than a hundred tactful words and lightened the mood considerably. I was never caught.

Everyone has worked or studied with a dick or two.

Acting gave me up.

Serious singing and dancing the same,  but lower down on that particular spectrum and I am quite the unqualified success! Art however, we are together for ever.

P S sometimes in the NHS other departments had the same problems with the same characters. There may have been cartoon requests to lift the moods of other beleaguered colleagues.