I’m sure we can all list a number of pet peeves that wind us up on a daily basis, but for me the ones that trigger me are:
Incompetence, in work, sport and all aspects of life, especially so called professionals who should be oozing ability and who struggle to just manage the basics.
Ignorance, those in a position of responsibility who just turn a blind eye to the needs of others hoping the whole issue will just go away. Supposedly these people are the high flyers, but to be totally honest are only interested if there is something in it for them.
Rudeness, ties in neatly to the two points above. If you can’t say anything nice then just don’t open your mouth. There’s an old saying that goes something like this, “ Put your head into gear, before you put your mouth into motion.” Some people could learn a lot from this. Quite simply just take 5. 5 seconds or 5 minutest, it’s up to you just think about what you say. And in this world of delicate souls it could make the difference to someone between feeling appreciated or totally destroyed. Do not go out there to ruin someone’s day, you just do not know what’s going on in their life.
We moved into the East Midlands approximately seven years ago, I came up with my wife and my dog and they were, and still are, the most important in my life. However that has changed since the passing of my dog in August. My family unit has changed. I still have my wonderful wife but I now feel vulnerable in a way, as there is no one else. I have no friends up here only colleagues and the recent passing of my dog has made me consider that I am only one tragedy away from being alone.
I am a person who likes my own company, but I’m not looking forward to having that forced upon me. My future seems quite bleak in that aspect but I’m just going to have to prepare for that day I guess.
When you start losing the ones you love it’s as if you are personally having the love and support you are used to, gradually being ripped away from you. It’s a horrible situation that I don’t think that life ever prepares you for, and you will always be caught out by it.
Appreciate what you have. And protect that with all you have.
I thought maybe that I’d answered this question in the past. But a quick search though my history confirms that is not so. I have spoken about them many times in the past (as well as our dogs that are always my very favourite domesticated animal) so my favourite wild non domesticated animal would have to be the humble little hedgehog.
Hedgehog in our garden
I have to make people understand that we do not yet live in a countrified part of the East Midlands, it’s very much the opposite. We live on the Far Eastern edge of the city, ten minutes east and we are in a more rural setting, but then ten minutes in the other direction and we are in the centre of a decaying lawless city that has seen better days. And we have hedgehogs visit on a regular basis, they are urban city dwellers and that is unusual.
We’ve lived in this house for around seven years now and I was always aware from the start that there was something out there at night snuffling around. You could always hear their presence and installing cameras around the house confirmed it, we had hedgehog visitors. We also had them in our previous house down in Hertfordshire so they were very much a welcome visitor.
Another smaller visitor
My garden has been a constant challenge to get right, it is North facing, it is extremely cold in the winter months and has developed over the years into a wonderful little haven for these guys with lots of perennial cover and wildflowers for their delectation. Yes it’s fair to say that when the garden was designed they formed a big part of the consideration as to how it was laid out.
We have hedgehog highways that allow easy access throughout our garden into neighbouring gardens, we have ramps to allow them up the paving as well as small water features around the garden that allow access to water. We also leave cat biscuits out every night to give them extra feed, because as you may well know their natural food sources are dwindling due to decline of wilded environments, yes, another animal the good old human being is killing off probably unbeknownst due to ignorance.
Hedgehog highway signs around the garden. I know they can read but it shows the way to human visitors
It is estimated that in the UK there are less than two million of these animals in existence. They are high on the endangered species list here, considering back in the 1970’s there were estimated to be in excess of twenty million in existence, that’s a decline of almost eighteen million in fifty years. Horrendous.
This is why I try to help and educate people of this animal. It is wonderful when we have guests, that I know we can all sit in our conservatory and at pretty much the same time, they can sit and watch our prickly friends come to visit and eat. It’s lovely to see and they are always happy to see them. Some have even left here and gone and set up similar environments in their own gardens. That’s a win in my eyes.
I believe we have the same family circle visit our garden as they know they are welcome. At the beginning of the year we have them come in and feed in twos and this year we even had three at the feed station at the same time. As they all get older we have the usual territorial huffing and puffing and only one at a time, but they can all be identified due to their differing sizes and attitudes. It really is wonderful.
Three at the feed station
I love these little creatures, I love all wildlife but these guys are different as they need a helping hand. And that’s the very least I or you can do. It’s no sacrifice. Be a friend not an enemy. It’s your choice. Just choose well.
If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?
The Tudor era fascinates me, I’d love to meet Henry the eighth, to hear him, to see him and just to find out if he is exactly as he is portrayed in pretty much every book or programme I have ever viewed about him.
His wives fascinate me, their stories and their upbringings.
His subjects such as Wolsey and Cromwell also fascinate me, the whole Tudor period is just like one big soap opera, really gripping stuff.
Though if Henry’s anger is as bad as they have portrayed then maybe I’d like to meet him from a distance. Maybe a bit more than an axe swing distance.
Apparently there are 11 basic instincts in humans. I don’t claim that, that honour goes to someone a lot more aware than I will ever be. But I doubt he even believes there are 11 as I can count at least 17, but hey he’s a Psychologist so what do I know.
List of Human Instincts.— Waiving, then, the question of the order of appearance, we find the generally recognised instincts in man to be as follows: Fear, anger, shyness, curiosity, affection, sexual love, jealousy and envy, rivalry, sociability, sympathy, modesty ( ?), play, imitation, constructiveness, secretiveness, and acquisitiveness.
James Rowland Angell – Psychologist
Do I trust my instincts? Not all of them that’s for sure, many are stereotypical and people have certain predefined expectations of how you should deal with your instincts, but we all know that’s not the case. From the list above I’ll choose a couple that I believe I have trust in, the rest of them are pretty dodgy in my case.
Curiosity, affection and constructiveness i have in large quantities and I probably trust them the most as I am comfortable with them.
That said I guess I must be comfortable with Jealousy and envy, why you ask? I just don’t do them and that is honestly the truth, ask my wife it annoys her somewhat the way I approach these two instincts. In my eyes I don’t envy or feel jealousy I never have, I’ve always told others to admire, not feel bad about someone or their good fortune, they’ve probably worked hard for it and you just don’t know how they have struggled along the way. No one has the perfect life, there is a very fine balance and we are all aware that awaiting every high is an equal low. Life is a valley of walls we have to climb.
Jealousy and envy hold us down and do not allow us to move forward. A change of attitude can change your life.
I apologise for going off at a tangent, you get my drift.
I put up with the cold and miserable weather as most people do, but for us in the Northern Hemisphere March bears the new shoots of life and a much needed promise of better times ahead. The flowers are awakening and getting ready to put on their best show, the birds are being more vocal and we are starting to put away the winter clothing and bringing the summer wardrobe back on display.
Butterfly
Yes we can still have some cold spells, but at least there is sunshine, hope for a better day, and a positive attitude to go forward.
I love springtime and therefore March is my favourite month, I’m even looking forward to it now more than I do any holiday season. As far as I’m concerned in March we have come out of the dark and into the light.
Have a great day everyone, stay safe. Peace to all.
Here in Leicestershire we have a number of places that I particularly like to visit. I’ll put two of them here…cos I can 👌
When you think of the city of Leicester you don’t really associate it with space travel. But don’t be fooled! We have the country’s national space centre, and for adults and children it is a fantastic day out if you have an interest in space exploration. They have many activities there, a fantastic collection of rockets, moon rock, and exhibits that you can get involved with. Heck I’ve even met a couple of astronauts there the last being Don Thomas who was a scientist on board a number of space shuttle missions.
Astronaut Don Thomas – Taken at the National space centre in Leicester.
Secondly you can’t go wrong with a visit to Leicester cathedral. You may have read that a few years ago archaeologists unearthed the remains of King Richard III in a carpark in Leicester. Well he is now interred in the cathedral alongside a visitors centre that gives the whole story regarding the last Plantagenet King of England. And it’s a beautiful quiet place of reflection.
King Richard IIILeicester cathedral
The city is pretty much like every city in the UK and has its good and bad points, urban decay is kind of getting more prominent as the investment declines. Here’s hoping the tide turns before it gets too bad.
What’s the first impression you want to give people?
Well, if you are trying to impress, apparently you only have 7 seconds to do it according to those wise old owls at LinkedIn:
Within seven seconds of meeting someone, a person will conclude if you are confident or weak, interested or aloof, friend or foe – based solely off your body language. Obviously, that’s going to directly affect your ability to get leadership buy-in, close a sale or just make a friend.
LinkedIn
I’d like to first off have someone think I’m friendly, confident and approachable however I’m the first to admit I’m not always successful. The thing is the other person you meet is probably using those 7 seconds to do the same to you, and it’s stalemate from then on. I meet an awful lot of over confident people, sometimes it can be a cover to hide shortfalls in their abilities, sometimes they are just damned frightened of the situation and feel out of their depth.
I think I’m good at sensing these issues and I hope I’m good at getting them to have confidence in me to help them on their way. It’s a big old world out there and I’ve tripped up and embarrassed my self on more occasions than I care to remember. if I can save someone who is starting off on their life journey from making the same mistakes I have, then everyone is on a winner.
I think the first impressions I’d like to therefore give are that I am approachable and helpful.
Nice and simple. I am currently reading this 900+ page book by the author Andrew Roberts. I have an absolute thirst for history, and as a child at school history lessons touched on people such as Napoleon but that was it, they never really delved deep into the characters of these individuals and you only ever heard about particular successes or failures. In this case Napoleon was only ever mentioned as someone that the Duke of Wellington defeated. However the real story is very different.
Napoleon was very much an old style Micro manager if you like, a very complex and fascinating individual who was an extremely talented military and social tactician. Winston Churchill looked upon him as one of the most influential tacticians and military leaders of modern history, he was an extremely talented individual. The book covers his entire life and not just the battles, and that is what is different. You get to read what encouraged and influenced him and how his humble upbringing shaped his life. A great book, for lovers of history.
Now I couldn’t not answer this prompt after the year we have had. See this post from August this year: Is there a cure for a broken heart 💔 We have had three dogs over the 33 yrs of our marriage and each of them was a lovely individual character. All were of the same breed – Bichon Frise.
Muffin
Our first was Muffin in the early 90s, I have never known such a laid back and calm little dog, he was a super little fellow, not scared by noises and loved by everyone, next was Digger who became Muffins “Carer” as it wasn’t until later in life when Muffin was very old that we’d realised he was losing his sight and it was Digger guiding him around with strange little nudges to his neck and head. Digger didn’t like children and would growl at them but it was all noise, just pat him or give him a treat and he was your friend for life, he was the polar opposite of Muffin.
Muffin and Digger
Then came along little Alfie. We were grieving after Diggers demise and Alfie pretty much came to us. My wife saw a little pup being walked and went over to say hello, it transpired that the owner didn’t want little “Joey” and he eventually came to us. His name was changed to “Alfie” as we already had a budgie called “Joey” and the whole thing would have been confusing to continue that way. Alfie was a mix of his earlier brothers, he was as soft as shite, loved everyone (even children) and was a very big part of our whole family, I never heard him growl at anyone throughout his whole life, he went everywhere with us.
Alf – our little fellah
Alfie passed away on the 16th August this year. We are still very upset and slowly coming to terms with it all, as more time passes and allegedly heals.
Animals are the most beautiful of companions. They will give you unconditional love and affection in return for very little. It really is a blessing that an animal from another species can gain your trust and give you so much in return.
Then they pass away and break your heart into a million pieces. This has occurred with us three times in the past and I very much doubt we will let that happen again. We just couldn’t take it. Even though I am pining like mad to have the routine we had, I have to resist it.
If you are willing to give your all to love and support one of these fantastic animals, through good and bad and back again,then please go ahead and do it, you will not be disappointed. If you can’t commit to all that then please stand back and let someone else do it.
Three beautiful boys
Joy and love are the best words I can use. They are wonderful creatures that make your world a better place. Who else would you tell your most confidential thoughts and dreams to and know that no one else would ever find out?
Foxes Den 
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