Passionate hobbyist, restoring the past, one old camera at a time. iPhone14 Max Pro - Sony A7II and about 80 others from the days of silver halide 📸 Main aim in life - Retirement
Not sure what’s exactly meant by celebrating holidays but I’ll have a crack at it. Working the hours I do pretty much every day I get off is celebrated just like a holiday because those days are few and far between. They are very much days that are treasured and always spent with my wife and family.
If you mean public holidays such as “Bank Holidays” they are nothing special and to be honest I pretty much work every single one of them so no celebration there.
If you mean annual holidays then I still don’t quite get what is meant by celebrating them? Do you imagine that everyone is a crackpot dancing a jig and running around like a banshee just because they are on holiday.
I imagine just like me, most people celebrate in silence, just happy that they’ve made it to a holiday and to be in the company of those they love. And no more work for that period of time.
Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.
I think I’ve stated in an earlier post that i believe myself to be a pretty good judge of character. This happens in my case fairly quickly, and though sometimes people say it’s wrong to judge someone that quickly it has saved me from some pain and discomfort in the past. That all comes down to one word.
Trust.
And in many cases lack of it. People go on about being disrespected, it’s thrown about today as if it’s a badge out of a jamboree bag, a god given gift to be demanded, whereas as a child I was told respect needed to be earned before it was given and I’ve always stuck to that what I have been taught. Trust ties in perfectly with this and again needs to be earned before it is handed out.
I’ve been stung a number of times when I’ve dropped my standards occasionally in the past regarding these words, it won’t happen again.
Yes it might make me appear a miserable old git, but at least I’m a protective miserable old git that’s no longer going to be taken for a ride.
Probably one of my biggest downfalls is in the calories I eat. I’m known throughout the family as “Swill bin” due to when we are a restaurant I always end up with stuff the family don’t like, being piled on my plate. It’s not that I ask for it it’s because they don’t like to waste food so I guess it gives them comfort to shove it in my direction, and if I try to refuse I get asked if I’m unwell? I can’t really win so I don’t normally complain.
There’s not much food I don’t like, and I am a staunch believer that if you visit a foreign country that you show them respect by indulging in the local cuisine. I love this about foreign travel and it’s one of the things I enjoy most about being on holiday.
When we visit Cyprus we go to all the really out of the way eateries in the local communities and I have to say my favourite is the beef stew meal called “Stifado”. It’s amazing how the taste changes as you go through different towns, all eateries use different recipes passed down through the ages and all have different additions and spices. I love it.
I also love a lamb dish called “Kleftiko” that is cooked for many hours in an oven, absolutely gorgeous.
And the Mediterranean fruit and veg is on a different level. Tomatoes and cucumbers have a devine taste and are not the tasteless water parcels we get here in the Uk. They are gorgeous.
At home I like spicy foods, living in the East Midlands means I have a penchant for curries, and again I’m lucky to have neighbours who will knock to give me something to try that they have just prepared and would like an opinion of. I’m lucky here.
Yes I like a whole multitude of food but for me the eastern Mediterranean gets my vote every time.
It’s late in the day, only a couple of hours of it left now so I thought I’d answer this one before I hunker down to try and get some kip.
I do a lot of walking, my job involves a lot of it depending on what incidents are cracking off at the time so walking is a big part of my day… running however? Read on.
I used to love my running, my last real run of any noticeable distance was in April 2002, the Flora London Marathon.
London Marathon 2002
That race ended my running career if it could be called that. I did most of my training runs on roads, hard surfaces, and my right knee got the right hump about that and I developed tendon and knee cap issues that culminated in an operation. That was it. Game over.
I have looked at reviving a light run at times and even explored the route of Couch to 5K and park runs, however other medical conditions have played their part to ensure that it becomes a non starter.
I miss running, the training was right boring but to run in a mass participation event was always exhilarating and exciting.
Don’t be like me, try the softer ground options to preserve your joints later in life.
So Walking plays a major role in what’s left of my fitness, I walk miles, I enjoy it and I’m grateful that I can still do it.
No. I’ve done it and put my spin on it in the distant past, but I didn’t enjoy it. I believe I was good at it as I do care about others and their welfare, but I think you can concentrate on that aspect at the detriment of getting a task done.
In general the Definition of a good leader is someone to coach, guide and inspire others.
Someone needs to tell the company I work for about that as to be honest, if you’ve spent your entire working history doing university degrees and have had very little social contact in the workplace then you’re the one. It’s not just the graduates, it’s those who seem to get the jobs who just don’t know how to work with people. They seem to think because they are a leader they have somehow increased their status in society despite not having a Scooby doo about what they are doing.
I can honestly say I have not met what I would class as a good leader in my entire working life.
The last good leader I met was a fantastic man who was my year four teacher in primary school back in the late 70s. God he was good, and has inspired me to this day.
Considering this, I believe I was below average as a leader as were all the others I have met along the way.
A true leader is a special person. If you are very lucky you might meet one genuine one in your life. The rest are probably just bullied and harassed worker ants who selfishly believe they are good.
It probably sounds corny, and to be honest it is quite difficult to sideline a single word that is a favourite of all those that are used on a daily basis.
But for me it would be the word “Quiet”
It’s the one thing I like the most, it’s the one thing I seek the most and at the same time it’s the one thing that seems to be most difficult for me to find. It’s a strange all encompassing word.
My wife is a polar opposite, she loves hustle and bustle and finds “Quiet” difficult to handle but we do find a happy medium.
Yes, I’m the guy that would love that house in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours or main roads for miles.
Silence is golden they say, for me it’s an achievement to find it, keep it and treasure it.
It’s a lovely word “Quiet”
Peace to you all and please try to have a happy stress free day.
Taken whilst attending a wedding in Darwen Lancashire.
Sunnyhurst brook has some lovely weirs on the stretch near the olde kiosk. However like many rivers in the Uk its water is brown and lifeless. A shame as it is a beautiful feature and would look glorious if it had a restored habitat.
To be honest I’m not really sure. I suspect as I have work tomorrow it will be shower, and to bed. I’m currently reading some Charles Dickens book that I should have read years ago, so I suppose I will do that until I feel tired and then drift into a lovely deep sleep.
Now that’s not going to happen is it? My brain will wake up when I go horizontal and throw silly questions into the night such as, “Why do penguins live in the cold?” And “Why are there so many stars in the sky?” And lots of other irrelevant observations. So I’m probably planning an interrupted nights sleep and I’m going to wake in the morning miserable as sin and like Alf Garnet on acid (he’s a miserable sod from the 70s who was a tv character)
Whilst I understand fully why people don’t like tattoos, I personally love them. Yes there are some awful ones out there however many are works of art and those that dispense them are artists.
For me they represent something I love, a time or a place that brings great comfort or memories flooding back to me, representing something deeply personal and special that has featured prominently in my life.
Alfs paw print from the vet
And this one is for my best mate, Alf who sadly left us on the 16th August this year.
Before and during the inking
When Alf passed away the first thing the vet did was take a paw print off of him that was put into a card, I said to my wife at this point that I’d have a word with my tattooist, Pablo, and see if he could do something with it. Today I have met with Pablo and the tattoo is being done.
Cling filmed for a couple of hours prior to washing
Alf was known throughout the family as “Alfie Moon” and I asked for this to be incorporated into the finished tattoo, and after about an hour the job is done and though a bit sore im really pleased with the outcome.
It won’t be in its full glory until the healing has finished in a week or two, for now it’s all about keeping it clean and protected and moisturised until that time.
Finished just needs to heal
It’s my way of remembering a faithful friend and companion that I now know will be forever with me, in my memory and now etched on to me. When people ask I can tell them the many stories of “Alfie Moon” – A very good boy.
Tattoos, taboo in many peoples eyes, but try to see the world through the eyes of others, it is an art form and art is a form of expression. If it helps, it cannot be a bad thing. And in my case my tattoos tell my life story and those special people, animals and places that have touched it.
I’m a walking art gallery, to some.
But probably not to others, the choice is yours, and yours alone.
What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?
There are a few traits in people that get me thinking and questioning them but I guess the one that really does it for me is over familiarity.
People work hard to develop relationships, and I like to think I’m one of those people that is quite a good judge of character when it comes to meeting people. I personally have a trait that I know others will not like and that is that I am quick to judge people. I think it’s a defensive mechanism that has stood me in good stead, in my personal opinion. To be honest I think it ties in perfectly with what I have stated as being the trait that raises the red flag with me.
I find it a lot at work, new managers and fellow staff who seem to want to hop that period of building work relationships and go straight to the “I know more than you” category. Especially those who know very little and have been sitting in a classroom for the last four years sucking money out of the bank of mum and dad.
These actions normally activate my “judgement“ trait pretty quickly and all interest drains from me from that moment on.
In life, building bridges and foundations is a major part of moving around work society. You wouldn’t build a premises without foundations so why would you attempt to do the same with relationships?
Foxes Den 
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