Tag: dailyprompt

#701 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Stonehouse2 Comments

Tonight’s early evening dog walk will be a precious thing. The last one before the clocks go forward and  early evenings get dark. Too dark to sensibly walk beside the sea where there are no street lamps. Last nights walk was enlivened by a particularly high tide. The bay felt full and the song of the sea, as it hit the cliffs was much more powerful than usual. Ordinarily we might have arranged an early evening swim with the bobbers on a high tide. But for some reason we didn’t and that was a good thing, there was nothing safe about the water conditions last night. We all love a bit of bubbling choppy water but the fun needs to be safe. I was anxious to take some photos to share with the bobbers so we could all feel wise and sensible about  not being cold and wet on a Friday evening.

This was the wave that made me cold and wet on a Friday evening. Rather than stop at the pink step as all the recent ones had. This one got an additional power surge and crashed into the stone steps, sending a spray of water 8 feet into the air. What goes up came down and I was drenched from head to foot.  It was unexpected and exhilarating and just made me laugh as I retreated to safety. Now I am a fairly risk averse person but in that moment the unexpected joy of being powerfully splashed reminded me of being a child squealing at the beach. Which brings me neatly to the prompt that my blog hosts offered today.

How much would you pay to go to the moon?

Honestly I have no desire to go to the moon, so there would never be any spending by me to take a trip there. But if I could safely be tossed around in a clear plastic ball/bubble on and in a rough sea just for twenty minutes  I might consider investing a small amount. It would have to be as safe as the wildest ride at a water park and I would like to be plunged down the huge underwater cliff that is just a few metres from our swimming zone to meet the deep sea creatures that are invisible to me on my daily visits. I have always felt this way. 54 years ago the first man on the moon failed to excite me, but give me a library book filled with deep sea creatures and I was lost for hours . Jacques Cousteau a diver and television documentary maker was a far more romantic and heroic figure than Neil Armstrong could ever be.

The sea, for me, is the Final Frontier. Space is for other people.

P S the eagle eyed noticed an error, the clocks go back. Dark evening panic over for a few weeks.

#700 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Almost every day I ponder on an alternative career choice. Not because I am hugely unhappy in the choices I made but because I am aware that the choices I made at 18 also shaped the person I am now. Insular, bookish me would have chosen to be a librarian at 18 if I had realised that it could be such a rich and varied career path. Arty me really wanted to be arty, but science me, the least authentic of my personas somehow took charge and the rest is history.

What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?

Has choosing the least exciting path, for me,been a bad thing. I really have no idea. But that path got me to where I am now with my great loves, books and art still exciting and nourishing my soul on a daily basis.

Because I didn’t much like science but was competent enough at it, the path I chose made me work harder to get the results required. I wish I had taken a little time out to learn the skill of teaching. Not because I have ever wanted to teach exactly but because in all jobs there is an element of teaching required, as there is in life generally. I would love to be able to feel confident that I pass on my skills, knowledge and nonsense effectively.

So in answer to the question. What alternative career paths have I considered or am interested in.

Just about every career path I ever meet on a daily basis. I think I am inherently nosy. Doing something I have no idea about intrigues me.

Of course I would be useless at so much. But maybe somewhere out there my, as yet undiscovered, hidden talent is out there waiting for me. Wondering why it took me quite so long to find it.

Yesterday I made Quince Jelly for the first time in my life. The success or not of my endeavours have not yet been tasted, but my early reaction is to suggest that being the Queen of Quinces is a career path that will be short and forgettable.

#698 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn history2 Comments

Everyone reading this blog has lived through the same historical event.

What major historical events do you remember?

The Covid-19 Pandemic is unforgettable for every single one of us. Millions and millions of unique recollections of a global event stored in our memory banks. I have never been one to wish for advanced old age or immortality. Covid-19 gave me an intellectual and low grade fascination with how the pandemic will be viewed through the lens of passing time. I am fascinated by the changes, big and small that already affect our day to day lives. Covid-19 made me want to live to be a sparky 100 year old who can sagely point a finger and flash a twinkling eye before delivering a witty, eloquent and fascinating monologue on the day to day life changes caused by the pandemic. As expressed by a sweet old lady who has become, if not a ‘National Treasure’, then at the very least a ‘ National Trinket’. I already own the hat for my promo portrait. Just a few more years to live…

#695 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Hugo and LolaLeave a comment

It has been a whirlwind of family interactions in the last few days. Some planned and some serendipitous. Our dogs love having an increased pack. Yesterday Hugo took a little time out and perched on a small dining chair as if it was the only place he could find a space for a five minute gap.

By coincidence the two British locations our family occupies are represented by these little books in the prayer book shelves.

What have you been working on?

In answer to the above question I imagine Hugo could be wondering where the Little Book of Hong Kong was for him to do research Then he would then fully be able to fall asleep surrounded by books that represent his entire human family.

#694 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walks, ponderingLeave a comment
Incoming tide lapping at a back gate.

My dad was occasionally moved to say  ” I can read you like an open book, and some of the pages don’t read too well”  In life he was far from my harshest critic, and I think that statement could be  about right.

The question below was posed by the hosts of this blog. I really have a love hate relationship with these daily prompts and probably respond to one a week. This however is right up my pondering street because I can rant against it .

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

How can I possibly know what most people don’t know about me.

Is there anything to be gained by releasing my unknown nuggets of information to the world. At my level almost certainly not.

Thank goddess, I have largely moved on from the world of formal interviews and these sorts of daft bloody questions.

Where would you like to be in five years time?

Tell us about a difficult situation you handled well?

What is your worst characteristic?

Does anyone ever answer these questions honestly. Imagine a world in which such futile questions were answered honestly by people more significant than me.

And so Mr/ Madam World Leader. What is your worst characteristic? Where would you like to be in five years time? Tell us about a difficult situation you handled well? What’s something most people don’t know about you?

Suddenly with the addition of absolute truth futile questions could become the secret to world peace and effective life management.

As luck would have it my dog walking gives me an actual answer to present. It’s not going to affect world peace

My favourite book is Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. Most people don’t know that. For the last two years my daily dog wanderings have taken me past an insignificant looking coastal cottage called Toad Hall. It is a daily little heart warming moment. Yesterday my heart got a lot warmer. Look what a talented Street Artist has done.

©@streetsaint

Happy Saturday blog friends

#693 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Plymouth, Stonehouse1 Comment

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

Another prompt from Jetpack that fires enthusiasm into my soul. Lazy days are the opposite of unproductive and being lazy is one of the most deliberate experiences to allow myself. I find lazy days to be some of the most productive, in terms of creative and useful thinking.

I probably had a lazy day yesterday, no actual commitments but a mental list of tasks that could be achieved with ease and some firm future plans put in place.

There is a car park right in the centre of the city which has broken payment machines. Two hours of free parking at least was the chance to walk the dogs somewhere different. They would be exhausted if I walked them there. Then demand a coffee break. I can’t imagine where they learned that habit. By driving them I could avoid coffee, which might still provoke a whimsical digestive system. I could window shop and visit a market while they were enthusiastically sniffing the urban realm. Everyone was happy.

Lazy days make little things really significant. I popped in to see a friend and her fruit bowl looked simply gorgeous with a cute little gourd posing on some plums.

On a busy day I might not have noticed.

Then a long, lazy walk as the moon popped up, no shops this time just the bay and the squeals of after-work swimmers.

The exact opposite of unproductive.

#686 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn pondering, SerendipityLeave a comment

What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

An interesting prompt from my blog hosts. One that is easy to answer as my definition of failure is a wonderfully flexible beast. I would buy a lottery ticket for the Euromillions. Knowing that winning any amount of money from the top life altering prize of many millions to the lowest £10 pay out is technically a success.

A £10 win would definitely be the easier of the prizes to receive. No moral conundrum with that amount of money. £10 would very nicely provide post bobbing chocolate for our swimming friends on Friday morning. Bigger sums would give more options and the biggest prize, whatever unthinkable amount of money it was, would give so much scope for thought, philanthropy and fun.

I am not someone that believes money guarantees happiness but it undoubtedly increases the chances of creating happiness and the power to make changes that allow happiness to be an option.

Money, wisely used makes the wheel of life run a little smoother.

#683 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Rust, Van Life1 Comment

When the tourist season releases its grip on the towns and villages of the west country we take off in the van, park up somewhere as pretty as possible and enjoy exploring in the less busy months. Dartmouth was our destination of choice this past weekend.

We arrived by ferry when the sun was low in the sky.

And parked up next  to the river.

A domestic admin failure had given us  some free hours in the day which gave us the chance to get to Dartmouth with enough daylight to find a sleepy spot for the night and explore the town on foot. We managed more than 10,000 steps in a couple of hours in quiet streets. I have worked in Dartmouth a lot more than twenty years ago and know that that sort of foot work would be impossible when the town is buzzing with happy visitors.

We made it to Bayards Cove Fort. Vital in the defence of the town since Tudor times.

Above: No further than 200m away, wooden ships would have been easy targets. A simple wrought-iron gun, fired a solid round shot weighing about 1.5kg. It could hole a ship at the waterline and create havoc amongst its crew.

The fort wall has II arched openings, or embrasures, each for a heavy gun. Looking through these, you can see that they are angled carefully to cover a particular area of water. The guns would have been fired in turn as a ship moved into the field of view.

The only wooden boat on the water when we were there was little Sparky.  We didn’t have the firepower or inclination to blow him out of the water.

Sparky with Kingswear in the background

There was some fabulous rust in the fort. It would have been uncharacteristic if I had not grabbed a  photo of it. It is certainly not part of the original structure and was probably put up to keep tourists like me from plunging into the river while taking photos.

Our evening meanderings took us on lovely historic streets that meandered from the banks of the river up the hill towards the top of the valley. We enjoyed the architecture and the dogs enjoyed the smells. To add some authenticity to an ancient port we came across some career drinkers in a piss soaked alleyway. They optimistically offered us the sorts of historic pleasures that it was easy to decline.

https://www.dartmouthfishingfestival.com/

The towns pubs buzzed as dusk and then darkness arrived. We were in the town, unintentionally,, during the 62nd Dartmouth Fishing Festival. Saturday was only day 1 with two more days to go, so no celebrating to speak of but tactics and  with fisherfolk, the inevitable tales of the ones that got away. The towns bandstand , near our parked van, had been the hub of the day-one close of play meeting. Having only just arrived  we couldn’t fathom what we were listening to. As we wandered the streets later we had a bit more understanding, but only a bit. The only fish we saw were in an art gallery.

5 Spratts- Giles Ward. The Rose Gallery, Dartmouth

My weekend blogs were a little sombre but blogging/pondering is only ever a snapshot of a moment. So while the sombre thoughts got a little blogspace the fun stuff was happening . It might take me all week to write about that.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Just let me think…

#678 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, SerendipityLeave a comment

What skill would you like to learn?

My daytime yesterday was a series of jobs. Intrinsically with not a jot of anything worth blogging about. Apart from the evening which was fab. But sometimes the prompts that my blogging platform puts out each morning hit a nerve. This morning was such a moment. Yesterday I ran out of sticky tape to wrap a parcel. I had also run out of a specialist tape used for framing pictures. It made logistical sense to buy both from a specialist art shop. But as you can see there are four items in the above picture. Nowhere on my mental shopping list did a rose gold highlighter or an off-white marker feature. My exact thought as I walked out of the shop was .Why can I never just buy the two really dull items? Why does every trip to an art shop tempt me to buy more materials?

So with the two additional items in hand I then ponder where the fault lies. The culprit I decide is the specialist framing tape. I could have popped in anywhere and picked up parcel tape and just picked up parcel tape. But Loxley Gumstick Handy Artist Gummed Tape is a very dull looking product. I had to search it down . Past every known and unknown art product.

Then my pondering attention turned to the parcel tape. Had I not needed it to wrap a birthday gift, I would not have needed to be anywhere near the art shop because the framing tape was not a super urgent need.

Is not buying unplanned items a skill?

Is it even possible in an art shop ?

Two questions worthy of a ponder…

Maybe the blame lies with the birthday girl whose parcel needed wrapping.

Maybe I should just accept that for a trip to an art shop, only two unplanned items was not such a bad result and that the fault is all mine.

#676 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

Rather a lovely but not interesting answer. My Grand daughters first Birthday. However if we roll back a year my response would be different. The tomorrow of exactly one year ago was my daughters first day of her maternity leave. She was in London and I was as far west as it is possible to be in Devon. My priority for that day was to pack my Nana bag.  A bag that would be grabbed some time in the next month or so when I would be needed as number 2 birthing partner.

There was a mental list , thank goodness, because at 2a.m my granddaughter decided to start her arrival. Some of the mental list made it into an actual bag and I made it into London in time for her grand entrance. Despite the A303 doing the overnight closure thing and the London rush hour doing its daytime thing.

So if I am ever asked on the second of October what my priority for tomorrow will be. The answer is likely to always be the same.