Tag: dailyprompt

#1307 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

Interview someone — a friend, another blogger, your mother, the mailman — and write a post based on their responses.

Good Morning Basking Shark, of all the creatures I might have imagined eating breakfast with you were not on my list. As the second largest shark in the world I was completely unaware that my chosen breakfast spot, Trevone Bay was also yours. 

For me a bacon bap.

For you the attraction is Shrimp, Lavae, Zooplancton, Copepods and fish eggs.

For two hours we watched as you basked in the bay. We watched as families belly-boarded, oblivious to you just 100 yards from  their happy squeals.

Follow the boys head up to see the sharks dorsal fin.

What a privilege. The shark however was unavailable for comment. Not wishing to speak with his mouth full.

#1301 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

What’s your favorite recipe?

Not exactly my favourite recipe but definitely the favourite of the week.

Our weekend newspaper has a pull out cooking segment. Most weeks we find something new to cook.

Koftas are a favourite meal and this recipe was so simple and pretty to make, it will definitely become a regular.

The most favourite of these weekend magazine dishes is a chicken and Chorizo dish which also features oranges. We have been making it for years. We no longer refer to the tatty scrap of torn out page that first inspired us. Who even knows if we are adhering to the actual recipe. Do we care?

Not a bit, it whatever form it takes, is a classic family meal.

That is my answer for today but as yet I have not read the recipes in this weeks  ‘Feast’. There could be a whole new favourite on the blog tomorrow.

#1279 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

1. Certainty is, in many ways a good thing.

2. Certainty slightly frightens me as a certainty.

3.I am a lover of serendipity and certainty is the enemy of serendipity.

4. I know that certainty is desirable, in many respects, for a   dull,smooth, uninteresting and predictable life. We all need a bit of this.

5. Certainty is also the enemy of creativity for me.

6.Certainty is the opposite of happenstance. I love happenstance.

7. How dissappointing is a certainty that fails to thrive?

8 Remember how joyful it is to clutch success from certain failure.

9.Adaptable is a great resource when certainty fails.

10. Death is the only true certainty and that is to be avoided for as long as possible.

Minds are like parachutes, they work better when open. A Certainty.

#1278 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Scrag End of Summer1 Comment

How would you design the city of the future?

I am no town or indeed city planner so this is entirely a personal fantasy. My city would be a port with a large deep river flowing into the sea.

The river would have islands.

And bridges.

The central area  would be traffic-free and would have independent retail outlets and restaurants, parks, libraries and cultural destinations. Book shops and cafes would edge  the canal banks while other retailers would cling to the river banks. Low rise mixed use accomodation for holiday makers and long term renters would  create calm and shaded squares and back streets. Most importantly the streets would be paved and cobbled with trees providing shade. The real world would be held at bay by the river and canals so the central space could be a kind and comfortable beating heart of the bigger city. A place to connect with people, or not, and to expand thinking and life experience before returning to the real world via water based public transport.

In this fantasy I am simply a city centre kind of designer. The money making, practical and essential suburbs are someone elses responsibility.

#1277 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment
Pondering

If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

We have been hosting meals for the last 19 days, everyone always  attended. Two different groups of  relatives. 7 in each group. It would have been lovely if we had a home big enough to host them all at once and that their schedules permitted that. 5 of the 14 live locally the other 9 travelled from London, Hong Kong and Canada.

I realise this prompt wants me to  mix an erudite or entertaining group of famous people. But really how awkward and uncomfortable might that be. Far better to go for people I actually know and whose qualities I value. I have chosen my family in this first instance but equally I could throw 14 friends together around a dinner table and be confident of a good time. In either case their names would mean nothing in this  context and that is exactly what would make the experience enjoyable.

Pondering a Prompt.

#1367 theoldmortuary ponders.

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What profession do you admire most and why?

Could ‘Great Thinkers’ be considered a profession?

I am at my most creative when I indulge in disordered thinking. I am more than capable of productive and ordered thinking. To do so, I always have to translate my disordered thinking into ordered thinking. Sometimes I have to allow my ordered thinking to have a little freedom to wander into the realm of creativity.

I admire the undesirable qualities of great thinkers. Selfishness, reliance on others, assuredness, arrogance, certainty, single-mindedness. Knowing, that in my hands those same qualities would not lead to great thoughts but to an insufferable person. The world does need more great thinkers but it does not need any more insufferable people.

I suppose I admire great thinkers in the same way that I admire great sports people. Knowing that something that is a great achievement would not be in my  best interests or within my skillset.

My balance, or imbalance as a thinker is 60/40 or 40/60. Constantly switching from one foot to the other to find my own equilibrium. I admire Great Thinkers, I just don’t have it in me to be one.

#1363 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Food ( but this is not a food blog)1 Comment

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

I have no idea what the most expensive meal that I have ever had cost me. I have been lucky enough to eat in some very swanky places and don’t recall ever feeling cheated or disappointed.

I have also eaten all sorts of meals in ‘ cheap as chips ‘ places and been absolutely thrilled with the quality and value of my meal.

I find that disappointment is more likely to occur in the middle ground. Chains or places that believe they are fancier than they are. Establishments that are themed or over-decorated to attract Instagram moments are often very much styled over substance, with £££ spent and charged on decor ingredients and skilful chefs who are well-paid.

If the meal on my plate is not worthy of the cost. No one can force me to go back,but if everything about the experience is wonderful I will always return if I can.

Plastic flowers and grotty loos  might make me feel cheated even if the food was fab. Obsequiousness from the front-of-house staff makes me lose my appetite for a big bill. Micro-herbs and foam, also unlikely to thrill me to empty my purse.

All reasons to question the value at the bottom of the bill.

#1362 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Words1 Comment

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

Headlines always fascinate me. I know that they are written to grab attention and are largely forgotten once readers take a deep dive into the nitty gritty of the story.

What is a week’s worth of honey?

And to whom is it a weeks worth.

The answers are endless.

What does a week’s worth of Honey look like to you?

A jar lasts me about 6 months so my answer would be, about a teaspoon.

That would never satisfy two bears. But it might easily be a full weeks production for a busy bee.

#1358 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity3 Comments

What’s your go-to comfort food?

Comfort and reliable. Two answers in one. Neither are Fine Dining or by any stretch of anyone’s imagination interesting.

Comfort food=Marmite toast or any spread on top of toast with butter on it. My top 3

Marmite

Marmalade

Ground Black Pepper

In all iterations the butter must be real and salty.

Reliable food has evolved in my life. Good quality shop-bought lasagne if I am feeling reliably fancy. 35 years with a home in the far west of England has taught me that the humble Cornish Pasty made well is a lifesaver.

The Pasty Gold Standard.

Not all pasties are made equal and at their worst they are a pappy meat and potato pie with a faint aroma of human body odour. At their best they are a peppery blend of beef and onions combined with swede/turnip and potato wrapped in perfect golden pasty.

Yesterday was a spreadsheet kind of day. If everything went well there was a twenty minute gap in which to eat a pasty before an art exhibition, Private View and a trip to the Theatre to see Hamilton. The spreadsheet day and the pasty.

As a tick box exercise the spreadsheet day went well. With. 95% success rate. We dropped 5% because the Artist at the Private View made a speech at the beginning. So fine words were heard but not a single brushstroke of paint passed before our eyes.

Hamilton was fabulous and the pasty fed us both before our evening started (warm) and at 11pm (cold) . That is a reliable, even comforting comestible.