A year ago today we lost our little dog Alf. It’s been a tough year and I must say time has not been a good healer, it’s as tough now as it was back then and he’s left a massive void in our family structure.
I’d say now that if you aren’t an animal lover then read no further. You wouldn’t understand.
However if you have a modicum of appreciation for a species that loves another being, unconditionally, then please read on.
Planning goals, now there is a conundrum if ever I heard one. If I really want / require / need something then there is a modicum of thought and planning that goes into it, otherwise most of my goals are on the fly as they say, whimsical to many and probably with no planning at all.
Things like holidays and breaks away are the wife’s domain and she does that most competently, I just pass some money her way when she needs it, so I don’t really get involved there.
Work
Personal goals for me are pretty much medium to long term and I don’t go over the top in achieving them according to any time scale. If they occur then that’s good, if not I’m not really that bothered. I have nothing planned that’s life changing or affirming, to be honest, I’m quite happy with my lot.
The only goal I’m really spending some time in planning is my pending retirement. It’s been on the cards for a couple of years now and will probably be a few more years yet, unless Lady Luck intervenes and allows me to close that door and enter through a new one any time soon. But even here I have no time scale, it will happen when it happens.
I guess this is why I am not a planner for my company as timelines and schedules are not really my thing as they say.
Things such as days out are always off the cuff, last minute, and here I am pretty good at putting together a last minute schedule. This is something I am good at, and ties in with my work. At work I’m always responding to issues that occur on the rail network and have to have a plan in place out of reactive necessity, not really having the pleasure of being able to draft a plan in advance of such a set of events.
Failed trains
That’s where i can excel, I guess that’s why I’ve been in this role for the last 25+ years, we have planners for the proactive stuff and I’m there for the reactive stuff, applying the big Elastoplast if you like. However, you always learn from these incidents and therefore fine tune activities accordingly, so if they ever occur again you can apply a different sticking plaster if you like. You learn and adapt, reactive response allows you to do that, you are not working to someone else’s plan, a plan that is just put together to satisfy auditors, and has not even been prepared by an experienced individual in the first place. Railway management is good at doing this, incompetence reigns supreme!
So in a nutshell my goals are pretty much reactive and get put into place as they occur. This is the same in my life outside of work and I guess this is a result of how I am at work. It can’t be all that bad as it seems to work well with me across all areas of my life.
So I’m not going to change just now, am I?
Here’s to that impending retirement, roll on I say.
Those who have read some of my past ramblings will know the issues we’ve had with our estate agents whilst our place is up for sale. Most of the time they are tour guides showing people around our home, these people having not the funds or any intention of purchasing. We’ve pulled them up on a number of occasions even threatening to talk to their governing body as they are so non-compliant in a number of ways that they conduct their business.
Today it has hit a comedic level.
“You might have a better chance of selling if you remove a sign from a shed in the garden”
I despair
I think they mean the shooting one that was brought by a friend when they went to Canada, however it could be the Leicester one, but that’s our local team.
Needless to say I have just completed a thoroughly enjoyable phone call, where in layman’s terms I’ve “Kicked their arses” a few times.
They are here doing another guided tour later today, and I’ve just been out and polished the sign so it really stands out 😂
They have also been given their two weeks notice of cancellation as to be honest, they are about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.
If you see me running, just run after me and try to overtake me. I’m running for a purpose😂
Other than that such a thing doesn’t exist for the majority of people.
I love the attitude of the Icelandic people, they live on an island that is forever changing due to volcanic and seismic activity but they have such a mañana attitude. They know their environment and they are constantly prepared to move on out, with pretty much no real panic or concern.
One lady I spoke to who makes lovely art using glass and volcanic ash said, “ if I was constantly worrying how would I even begin to enjoy life?” And she is right you know. What’s the point of worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet and making yourself sick over it?
The ability to get away from an incident fairly quickly is probably the best advice I’d give. But then again what do I know?
I tell you what though, I won’t be losing sleep over it.
I guess this is quite easy, especially for me to answer, and I do suppose a lot of others out there will probably feel the same. I’ll read other comments later just to confirm this. But for me I’m pretty simplistic, for me it’s just two things, comfort and silence.
I know that makes me sound like I’m some kind of Monk in training but it’s not meant that way. I could have said solitude, but I like to have company, however when the occasion suits, solitude is good.
Local park
I find the company in choosing those I want to be with, those who know me and have similar likes and tastes to me. The silence/quiet/solitude aspect is what seals the peace, and to be in that position with the company you choose to be with is what truly brings me peace.
Part of my work environment
I’m a city dweller, I work in the city and the noise is 24hrs constant with no let up, I find peace in taking breaks away from that environment. Fortunately my work allows me to venture into some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside where I can find that peace, and as I work alone I also find that solitude. But that moment of solitude is often kept as a moment of time in my memory, to share at a later date with my loved ones, and so that perfect circle of finding and observing peace, starts again.
No, I’m not talking about secret Russian radio stations, that seems to be all the information you can find, regarding ghost stations on the internet. This Ghost service station has popped up on DAB radio in the Uk, in Leicester, and there is no info that I can find about it online, and all that it seems to be broadcasting is someone making spooky ghost sounds. Have a look at this little video I made of it, only about 30 seconds long.
Spooky
I’m wondering if someone is having a laugh on this channel, maybe it’s on hold, just awaiting a new residency, who knows? I believe this is based somewhere in Leicester city as I’m unable to tune it, anywhere outside of the city limits. I’m surprised that our radio regulators at OFCOM are allowing it, however radio standards aren’t what they used to be nowadays.
At work I frequently visit the station at Hinckley in Leicestershire and I can pretty much guarantee that this fellah is there kind of challenging me to go get him off the tracks. Personally I think it’s a person reincarnated, trying to tempt me 😂. It’s uncanny that it’s always about when I’m in the area….spooky!
To be totally honest at the moment, I’m focused and really excited for the future. Talk to me tomorrow and I’d probably be a different beast with an attitude lower than a snakes belly, but at the moment everything is fine. I’m curious why I feel this way.
Curiosity
As you will all possibly be aware, I like fixing cameras and I love my photography, it being a major feature throughout my life. I struggled in the transition from Analogue to digital and that was when my interest in the hobby dwindled. I wasn’t ready to accept the digital age, I was and still am really, an analogue dinosaur. But I’m curious.
I have recently delved deep, deep into the digital world, tried some really good equipment belonging to a photographer friend, and I really like it, I want to do more. I’m now interested. But is it too late?
I have also been a social media dinosaur, having had bad experiences in the past I’ve pretty much ignored everything but YouTube for the last ten years or so. I’ve regularly slated social media, and now this is another subject that makes me curious.
I’ve changed my attitude. I have in the last, few days gone back into the social media community, yes in many eyes I’ve probably succumbed to the call of this evil temptress, however, hear me out you have some learning to do regarding moi!
Im now on FB, Instagram, and Bluesky and these accounts are pretty much locked down to subjects that I want to see, and people I want to correspond with. It’s opened up communication with distant family members, old professional contacts and over the last few days I’ve even had requests from some of these old contacts to step back into the business professionally, and assist them. I just need to learn to ignore negativity if it begins to creep its way in, and it probably will.
The issue here is that I’m not set up professionally or in the position do so at the moment. But the call to return has hooked me and I am giving it immense and serious consideration. As many will know, and it’s there written there within my profile, that im wishing for an early retirement, and this could be an option that brings in a small income to allow me to realise that goal earlier than I initially intended. But like any business opportunity there is some investment required, and I’m now looking at ways of providing for those required tools of the trade as such.
This has been a positive, because of Social media that has opened up to me, but I’m being cautious.
Im always going to be here working with my old cameras and stuff though, as that’s what i love to do, it just all ties in like a great big knot of contentment, hope and ambition.
And it’s a nice, not always felt, feeling.
And I’m liking it, a vein of positive energy running through an aging body.
Long may it last. We all need dreams. We all need goals. It’s just I’ve left it so late in life, that’s the only nagging doubt that remains.
Strange title. I know. But I had my first experience of it only yesterday. A photographic moment that I’ve never experienced before, but shall be using more of in the future.
My dear wife – totally unaware, as was i
I’m currently in the middle of repairing a Nikon Coolpix L820 16mp bridge camera. The camera has a broken rear LCD screen, and this is the only way of seeing the subject as there is no through the lens viewfinder. Whilst testing its limits and finding out about the faulty screen, I became aware that it sounded as if was working, it was making all the right sounds. So I threw an SD card into the camera to give it a try.
I was just pointing anywhere and pushing the exposure button, taking pictures of everything and nothing, I had no control on settings and functions only the exposure button. Anyway, I did this for a few minutes then transferred the SD card to a reader connected to my iPhone.
Nikon Coolpix L820
Wow, I was impressed with this one picture only, of my dear wife just finishing some lunch. She wasn’t aware I had taken it and neither was i.
This is the magic of photography.
The original was colour, I was so impressed with the sharpness, tones and colours in the picture. It’s not a particularly good picture, just a candid one of someone going about their day, totally innocent and unaware.
I love Black and white pictures, so I quickly converted the colour version via my phone.
I was in two minds as to whether I continued with this repair, as the cost of parts were rising the more I delved into it. This picture alone, changed my mind. I am going to finish the repair as this camera is too good to let go.
And I’m just amazed, that a random photo, that the photographer and the subject were both totally unaware of being taken, has come out so well. (All that has been done is a bit of cropping to align the subject)
The post for the camera referred to herein, will be published shortly.
Foxes Den 
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