Tag: dailyprompt

My father, not for obvious reasons

If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?

I’d like to be my father for the day. Not because he was someone who could be admired and loved and cherished, he was none of that. He was a nasty evil man that made my mothers, my younger sisters and my life an absolute misery.

I would like to know what made him tick, what was his reasoning and did he ever consider getting help for the way he was.

I’d kick start that change even if I could’ve been him for a day. He has ruined my life and still haunts me in nightmares to this day. Never was I more pleased when someone passed away, it’s a horrible thing to say but my life began in earnest that day. However my faith and beliefs tell me we will meet again one day and that is what bothers me now, I’m not prepared for that..

His evil ways, I carry as a burden everyday.

As a child it is not right that you have to be protecting your mother from abuse and a little girl for being downright petrified of her own father. As for what I endured it goes to the grave with me.

I’ve always said to my wife I want to be a better man and be nothing like him. I’ve managed that well, I have never raised a hand to woman in my life and will never do so. My mother was a punchbag and far too many times it was me that absorbed those punches as I tried to protect her.

I have moods occasionally and I put them down to being like him, and I dislike it when someone says I look like my father, there is no one I’d rather be.

It’s a curse to be honest, and here I am just a few small years away from retirement still paying the price, and very much afraid.

It’s not fair. Domestic abuse is not acceptable, it affects lives for longer than you can imagine, it’s probably going to be with me way into the afterlife. It’s a life and death sentence. And he is the winner. It’s wrong.

Peace to you all.

Building a garden

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

I’ll always attempt anything, but when it comes to plumbing or high voltage electricity, that’s when I get the professionals involved.

In my current home the most ambitious DIY has probably been landscaping the garden. We purchased a rickety old house that’s been a constant project since it was brought, back in 2018. So really that could be the most ambitious couldn’t it?

Anyway, the one I’ve enjoyed most is landscaping the garden, not concreted over with no concerns for wildlife, my garden was designed around the needs of the Hedgehogs and birdlife we have that visit throughout the year. They have easy access to the whole garden, a part that is wilded for them to forage in and plenty of food and water stations as well.

One of our visitors

We also have a feral cat “Tabs” who has lived in our garden longer than we have, she gets on with us, we feed her and she has plenty of weather protection in and around the garden, and she tolerates the hedgehogs, so that’s harmonious.

Some colours in our garden

The garden has been a big project taking about 6 years to reach a maturity with flowers, shrubs and trees all planted to create a little bit of the country side in a city urban environment. I am so proud of my garden come spring time when all the new buds are breaking through, and it is a riot of colours come summertime. And it took a lot of planning as it’s a north facing garden.

The gardens the place i’d rather be, it’s like producing art, art that changes on a weekly basis.

Have a super day.

Same as when last asked…

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

We are now on a WP quote repeat cycle. This question was last asked on the 2nd of March 2023.

Back then the answer to the question from me was “Impossible” and I include the link to it here Thoughts 2/3/23

It’s pointless blabbering on about it again when it’s already out there. It’s only a short piece and I can’t think of any other words to add to it apart from a couple used by the younger set being, “Babe,” I hear that word and I cringe, or the word “Like” used as an informal adverb, though it is used so often in that context it’s now quite formal and swamping conversation.

adverb

  1. 1. INFORMALused in speech as a meaningless filler or to signify the speaker’s uncertainty about an expression just used.”there was this funny smell—sort of dusty like”
  2. 2. INFORMALused to convey a person’s reported attitude or feelings in the form of direct speech (whether or not representing an actual quotation).”so she comes into the room and she’s like ‘Where is everybody?’”

Oxford English dictionary

Oh well, that’s me moaned out for the day.

Have a great day out there today. And if you have sun – enjoy 😉

Anticipation and Hope

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

Well there’s a question.

I think my biggest personal challenge is going to be health related, things that have concerned me in the past, that were under control, have now started to raise their horrible little heads above the parapet again. But there is always hope, and if you have a modicum of hope then you are in a good place. Anyway I’m not going to bore anyone with my issues.

Let’s look at what other challenges I’m liable to face in the next six months. I know that within the next few weeks my wife will be saying that the house needs to go up for sale, that’s because we’ve been looking around a little town on the outskirts of where we live and we’ve seen some nice properties, ones that remain warm in winter unlike our old 1930s semi that we currently reside in. And when that day comes where she says it’s happening, I’m then going to be fully employed getting the place spruced up and dealing with those little diy projects that I’ve put on hold for sometime. That said, we also have a plan if we don’t decide to sell, where we are going to extend the property that will also keep me occupied for many a month.

So I anticipate being challenged to work as much outside of work as inside it, but hey that’s nothing new!

I think in the Uk as general though, we are all going to be challenged over the next few months especially with the ever increasing cost of living, and a wage structure that is not rising commensurately. Businesses, especially those smaller ones that are failing miserably as there is no support from a system that is systematically strangling the life from them, I know of this first hand as friends in such a business are really struggling.

So forget my little struggles, as a society the next six months, will probably make or break us as a collective, it’s getting to the point that one more little straw will break the camels back. I sincerely hope I’m very wrong and everything will miraculously change, but it’s just that my realistic head thinks it’s not going to be, but as I said at the very beginning this is where “Hope” comes in to play.

I Hope that things improve for everyone in the next six months, as it cannot be allowed to decline any further.

Stay safe, be happy.

Learn and don’t get addicted

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

To be honest there would be a small number of things I’d advise teenage me to reconsider.

Firstly to avoid negative people whenever possible, as they drain every single last piece of hope and happiness from you. What they gain from it, I just don’t know. They are poisonous.

Take every opportunity to learn, don’t get caught out by the advance of technology, be a step ahead of yourself and protect your place in society.

Avoid addiction at all cost, your life is literally in your hands, don’t follow like a sheep, be brave and say no, you’ll thank me later in life.

Be your own boss, grab the opportunity to step out on your own, and be answerable to yourself only.

Move to a country where you pay less to the taxman.

Just be nice to people. It will open many doors for you.

Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing.

Stay safe and be peaceful.

Inactivity, so boring

What bores you?

In a nutshell, doing nothing or having nothing to do bores me immensely. I actually asked my wife prior to answering this question what she thought I’d write and she said exactly the same, “Doing nothing”.

She was spot on.

I feel as if I have to be busy to justify myself, even on rare days off I have to be doing something or else I feel I have accomplished nothing and wasted that day. However there are times you just have to do what your body tells you and just rest. Yes, I understand that, but even then I feel as if for some reason that I’ve cheated myself and others around me that day. I don’t know why.

It’s the reason I have so many hobbies. If there is nothing to do around the house then I pick up on one of my hobbies hence you can see the long list of stuff I have created or repaired in the margins of this blog.

I’m not a live wire, hyperactive or anything like that but I’m always plodding on just doing stuff. On holiday I’m quickly bored and have to be studying the local area, getting to know how it runs, who’s in charge and what’s the history. If there is a fault in the hotel room 9 times out of ten I’ll fix it. Yes I do take a small repair kit with me, don’t ask why I do it, I just do. It’s about the only thing I really pack as the wife has packing the cases off to a tee, and she’s given up questioning why I take it now, it’s permanently in the case.

A good example of this is that on our recent journey to Iceland, whilst putting the case on the baggage conveyor it split open, the zip failed. Not good. It was about 5:30 in the morning and there were no shops or baggage wrapping services open. Did i panic? Yes a bit, but I had my kit with me so I went and sat in a quiet area, much to the wife’s displeasure and got out a needle and thread, the zip had split right at the end where it should have a small metal clip holding both sides of the zip together. However the clip had departed, gone forever. With the needle and thread I was able to create a stopping point for the zip and permanently hold the zip together quite sturdily, at its previous point of weakness. So about 30 mins later I was back at the conveyor with a repaired bag that made it out to Iceland and back to the UK in one piece with no further issues.

I now use this as the example as to why my little repair kit is an essential travel companion.

So inactivity bores me. And fixing something really makes me feel good, no matter how small that fix is.

Thank you for popping by, here’s hoping each and everyone of you has a peaceful and productive day.

Stay safe.

Good old H2O

What is your favorite drink?

My every day routine is to start the day with at least two cups of tea, this is normally the kick in the pants I need to get into the groove as they say. Funny enough though this routine will be affected today as after only one cup we have run out of tea bags. A childish mistake we have made by not having enough in stock before we went on holiday.

It’s funny that on holiday my routine changes and the tea becomes coffee, a drink that at home I wouldn’t even entertain until at least elevenses.

So that’s my drinking routine on a standard day, however I guess my favourite is Water, i never seem to drink enough of it, allegedly. I’m not one of these people that carries around a vessel that looks like a small barrel, I’m a chancer kind of person who just takes a swig whenever I’m near a water tap. I do take a small flask in the work van with me but that is never enough to satisfy a thirst.

We all need water so why wouldn’t it be everyone’s favourite? We’d all be extinct without it.

Happy day to you all.

Of love and appreciation

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

My mother on her death bed bless her, turned to me and my wife whilst we were beside her and said, “You are a wonderful couple”

The last few words this beautiful soul ever spoke and they were to the both of us. It is the most precious memory I hold and the finest gift I have ever received. It was like a moment of full flowing love and appreciation, we were in her thoughts at the very last moment of her existence.

Some gifts do not come in a physical form, sometimes a gift is given in a form that just cannot be replicated, a real one time special offer, exclusive just for you. And this was ours.

Often talked of by us. Never to be repeated, but forever remembered and cherished.

The last words of a much cherished and kind hearted soul who made and shaped my world. My mother. ❤️

The gift of words, original and heart felt, and very much exclusive.

Peace to you all.

Difficult to impossible

Write about your approach to budgeting.

To be honest I think I’m pretty good at budgeting as long as I don’t have my wife beside me when I’m making a decision on how to budget.

Bless her she seems to be one of this group of people that sees the word “Shop” and then she’s off.

And if the shop mode is in full swing then all thoughts of budgeting are out the window.

It’s the same with home improvements, I’m the practical one who will size a job up, get it planned and priced and she will come in at the last moment and add her requests and all of a sudden a perfectly decent price will now double because she’s probably added some unnecessary upgrades that weren’t really needed.

It’s different but you become used to it. I’m absolutely sure that in a previous life she was a lady of the manor, however I am not unfortunately on the earnings of a lord.

So I am quite good at budgeting, however nine times out of ten I don’t bother as it’s a pretty impossible task.

Have a lovely day..

I’d love to be, but unfortunately I’m not allowed.

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

It’s nice to see patriotism being shown all across any nation in the world. It’s good to show a love and a belief in all that your country and its people stand for. It allows everyone else looking in to know that its people can’t be walked all over and pushed around, they all stand together.

However in the Uk a good majority of its own people hate to see anyone showing any pride. You quite simply get labelled as being, far right, fascist, racist you name it. It’s just not fitting the current climate of opinion or agenda to show any patriotism.

What’s the point. Am I patriotic? Yes. But just like discussing religion or politics, I just keep it to myself. My business.

Label me if you must, but I’m not the idiotic one, take a look in the mirror and make a change.

Have a wonderful day.