Category: Thoughts

Thoughts 17/4/24

Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.

In the past I’ve struggled with anger at times, not a very nice trait I inherited from my father, not a very nice person I must admit. I’ve tried hard all my life to not be like him and 90% of the time I am successful, but just once every now and then I let myself down and I instantly regret it.

The good thing is that when my anger surfaces it does not get taken out on anyone, I haven’t hit anyone in anger since my school years, it’s usually inanimate objects such as walls and this is where I have learnt one of my most valuable lessons.

I was fixing a heavy wood cabinet at home, I’d been working nights and I was tired, in theory I should have gone straight to bed and rested. Instead I decided to continue, managed to hit my thumb with a hammer, used some ripe old language and then decided to land a right hander square on a solid wood door.

It transpires that after suffering quite a bit of discomfort in my hand I had broken the knuckle on my little finger, also known as a boxers fracture.

Busted

What lesson have I learned I hear you ask? Well to be honest when I feel any anger coming on now I just think of my hand and the anger subsides.

Anger is not worth it and is a waste of energy, it causes pain and upset and no one deserves to witness that.

I was a fool, probably still am but I’m now an educated fool.

Happy day to you all.

Thoughts 16/4/24

What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?

Well this is another one that’s not going to be hard to answer. I have a friend who lives in the Melbourne area of Australia and thanks to him and the regular pictures he sends me I shall not be visiting that country anytime soon.

Now I don’t know if he’s doing this deliberately to keep me away, if that is the case he has succeeded.

Australia looks a beautiful place and I’m sure it is. However I am an arachnophobe to the point of absolute terror not just being scared. You should see me going into my garden shed here in the Uk, my wife says I look like the Pope giving a blessing as I have a large stick and I’m waving it about so I don’t get caught in any web.

Massive Spider – Australia style

It all goes back to when I was younger and my parents would force my elder brother to take me out to play with him and his mates. They of course used to use and abuse me as youngsters do, and one of the things they loved doing was stuffing all kinds of creatures down my neck and watching me scream and run around, I really was a bag of nerves back then. I’m not much better now especially in the presence of spiders.

To be honest it seems everything in Australia wants to kill you. If it isn’t many varieties of spiders, it’s the snakes. If not the snakes it’s the waterborne animals such as Crocs. Even the bloody Kangaroos want you to fight you!

And then there’s the heat. If the local wildlife doesn’t get you, then the heat does. I like a little warmth just like the next guy, but being a well done piece of meat doesn’t appeal to me.

Nope, I’ll be giving Australia a miss for the rest of my life if that’s ok.

Happy day to everyone 👍

Thoughts 15/4/24

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.

Morning all.

When reading these prompts that pop up on a daily basis I can pretty much always relate these questions to the lady lying by my side. It is patently obvious that if she had not intervened earlier in my life I quite simply would not be here today. She is my life and I owe her all of my life.

However that would be too simple. I try to look at other aspects of my life and individuals in my family and I then realise that truthfully not one of them has done anything positive for me. I guess I’ve not done much for them either as we are quite a fragmented family not living in each other’s pockets as such. My wife’s family are different though, they are so close knit it’s unbelievable. I look at them like a family of Meerkats, always together and looking out for each other.

Meerkats – picture courtesy of Unsplash

I have a great relationship with my Brother in law and he’s always there for guidance, he’s also got a fantastic range of tools and he’s my go to when I need something specific to complete a job, and 99% of the time he has the right tool. He’s also my drinking buddy who I chew the fat with so I guess he fits the bill, as I need talking to occasionally and he’s the positive one in that case.

I hope you are all planning to have a wonderful day. Try and do something positive for a family member today. I have some tools to return to my Brother in law 😂

Be happy.

Thoughts 14/4/24

What is your favorite restaurant?

I love these easy questions. I’m not a foodie and don’t judge an establishment on its ability to produce poncey overpriced food that would struggle to feed an anorexic budgie.

I like good portions of old fashioned good food and probably tend to aim more towards Grill establishments rather than posh restaurants.

Yialos beach grill – Latchi

My absolute favourite establishment on this planet sits in the South west on the island of Cyprus in the town of Neo Chorio, Latchi and is called the Yialos beach grill house.

Akamas peninsula

As stated it’s on the beach with the most stunning view of the Akamas peninsula that let’s you view the most stunning sunsets in the early evening, it’s like watching natures personal show of beauty just for your enjoyment….and then you get to eat and drink in the most convivial atmosphere where food is spectacular and service is personal and friendly.

Yialos beach grill – Latchi

Food is Cypriot/Mediterranean, lots of meat and unbelievably tasteful vegetables, along with a free portion of desert made by the elderly lady that runs the kitchen. It’s probably the most relaxing restaurant I have been to in my life, whenever we go back to Cyprus this place features high on the list of things we do, and to top it all off the price is extremely reasonable.

Give it a look in if you are ever in the area.

Thoughts 13/4/4

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

By then I will be well into my 60s marching on quickly to my 70s. I sincerely hope I am well settled in retirement by then, ten years is a long time and a lot can happen along the way so I must admit I do have some trepidation regarding this.

Hopefully All those I love will be with me around that time but I do suspect one or two may fall along the way, who knows it may even be me! Looking on the bright side, I would love to be living in a nice warm country so I very much suspect that if I want this, I’m not going to be living in the UK.

The Mediterranean

Work is becoming quite a bind. We have a new manager and he is going through our entire team one by one and gradually wearing them all down. Work is not a place of enjoyment anymore. I don’t mean enjoyment in the playful sense I mean enjoyment in the fact that i have a lot of colleagues who I really respect and enjoy working with, in our eyes we are a fantastic team. We get things done, with little bother or worry for the management team. We self manage and we think we do it quite well but this guy seems to think he knows it all, he doesn’t and he’s fragmenting our team making it bad for all and spreading bad feeling.

I just really really want to be retired by then I’m kind of hoping I’ll be retired in the next two to three years and I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve worked hard all my life as have other members of my family and I think it’s the least we deserve to take our foot off of the gas and slow ourselves down a little. We can do what we want to do, whether that be travelling, hobbies or just taking our time with things, that’s what I’m looking forward to the most. It won’t be the same if I haven’t got those I love around me and I’ve said that this question brings trepidation into my sights, but the future comes whether we like it or not and we have to handle it as best as we can, so I guess the only thing I can do is prepare myself for this period of my life.

I must look forward and try not to be too worried about things. We all work hard to achieve things in life but we can’t go on at that pace for ever. We’ve earned the right to take it easy and we must allow the younger generations to take the reins, whatever we think of their attitudes and decisions, its progress however you view it.

Have a really good day, stay safe.

Thoughts 12/4/24

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Alfie Bichon Frise

That’s easy, waking up in the morning, looking at my wife and thinking how lucky I am, seeing my dog wagging his tail and coming at me as if he’s not seen me for ages when in fact he’s been asleep at the side of me all night, being able to go to work even though it’s not always the best of places to be, and being grateful for what I’ve got and not envious of what anyone else has.

Simple.

Next question please….

Have a good day everyone

Thoughts 11/4/24

Describe something you learned in high school.

Senior school for us in the Uk lasts 5 yrs as standard unless you decided to stay on in sixth form to take further studies. Back in my day you were pretty much pumped out of the system into the working world at the end of the fifth year, as university wasn’t really an option open to everyone as it is now.

Courtesy of t’internet

I enjoyed my years at senior school but boy did I learn a few things beside the prescribed curriculum.

It was an all boys school

Bullying was rife. I was the victim of it and I’m embarrassed to say I was party to dishing some out myself and I sincerely regret ever taking part in that.

I witnessed homosexuality, and the awful bullying that attracted, again an individual was sexually assaulted by a member of staff, both just seemed to disappear overnight and nothing was ever mentioned again.

Assault from members of staff was at epidemic proportions, in those days it was corporal punishment but nowadays would be downright full on assault. I took my fair share of this as well.

The first three years of schooling at this level were fine for me, and then I turned. The last two years when I should have got my head down just went to pot, i rebelled, probably a mixture of what had gone on above but I scraped through. It taught me a lot about people and their behaviours, it taught me that respect is a trait that is earned not just given out freely. I learned to protect myself, I have absolutely nothing good to say about any tutor I had dealings with in this period of my life.

My tutor in my last two years of junior school though has my full respect, he shaped me and my fellow students at a very early age and taught us about respect and what we needed to do to gain it. He was the most influential man I have met in my life, he did more for me than my own father, and that is true and not just written fodder for you to digest.

Teachers have this amazing ability to shape and put students on a course to navigate life and to become a valid member of society. Thankfully I have done ok, I’ve tripped and made mistakes along the way but I’ve learned and had to take some hard knocks along the way.

Unfortunately the teachers I met in my senior years did not have those abilities and I believe failed not just me but my fellow students.

This was probably the toughest lesson learned. They were inadequately prepared to do their job in a time where strictness, bullying and harassment was seen to be the way to forcefully teach subjects. They failed my generation in that particular school.

But we’ve done ok.

Have a great day all. Stay safe.

Thoughts 10/4/24

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

When sitting here I find it very hard to actually pinpoint a positive change I’ve made in my life. I’m sure I have made many however I find it difficult to pinpoint one in particular.

I guess if I had to choose one positive change, I would say that it would have to be that of not worrying, but that would be lying because I do worry I worry continually, it’s natural we all worry.

What I really mean is that I try not to worry about small stuff as that’s always been an issue with me. I let the smallest thing worry me I wish I could adopt the attitude of mañana just like the Spanish. Don’t worry about it until later. It’s a wonderful attitude in my eyes.

I struggle with it and it’s a constant battle, to not worry, it’s the way I’ve always been. It’s the way I’ll always be. I can only try to worry less.

This isn’t sounding very positive is it? So I guess I will just have to stop there to be totally honest. I can’t put my finger on one thing that I’ve been positive with change wise in my life.

I have failed terribly in today’s “Thoughts” I will have to try harder in the future.

That’s sad, it really is.

Happy day everyone

Thoughts 9/4/24

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

Fun and exercise, two words I wouldn’t personally use followed by the word fun. But hey that’s my opinion only. I know a lot of people get off on the exercise buzz, but in my job I easily clear 15000 steps a day so to be honest I do a lot of exercise at work and that’s not fun.

Old boat, Latchi harbour – Cyprus

On the rare days I do get some time off I find no better way to exercise than taking the dog out on a nice walk, however as his illness is taking over these walks are now very rare and not too long in duration, both myself and my wife are coming to the reality that these journeys out aren’t going to last much longer, and this saddens us both.

I don’t knock it, if you love exercise, then you keep it up, whatever floats your boat and keeps you happy and healthy. My boats sailed though and I’ve now berthed in port to maintain a slower if sometimes more sedentary lifestyle from now onwards.

Have a great day all.

Thoughts 7/4/24

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

This is quite a tough one and I’ll have to think about that. I rarely read fiction so any choice I make will probably hark back to my school years.

I’ve got it. Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. I’d have loved the life he had as he was a bit of an adventurer and an independent soul.

I know the area where he spent his childhood fairly well so could relate to some of the places he wrote of. The period of time was a much more innocent era and the characters are so well described, what they did and what he thought, all of this pulled you into the story. I read this at school and again only a year or so ago, but it meant more to me as an adult than it did as a child. I would have loved his life purely for the innocence and lack of responsibility in those hazy days of summers long past.

His follow up books of when he pretty much hiked all around Spain at the time of the civil war and then when he returned at the height of the civil war gave a fascinating insight to those particular times.

It’s amazing the feelings a well written book can stir inside you.

Have a peaceful day all.