Tag: favourite

A bit of this and a bit of tat

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

I miss the stores such as Maplins (aka Radio Shack). When I used to go into town with the wife at the weekends she would go do her thing and I would go into and spend a lot of time in Maplins. For her it was like a kind of Man Crèche as she knew where she could easily find me ( don’t forget this was in the days when mobile communication was in its infancy)

Here you could buy individual electrical components, it must have been murder doing a stocktake. But I loved it. All the kits, all the ideas, and all the boys toys you could dream of.

I really miss Maplins.

I’d also love to have a store where you could get hold of good quality retro games, and equipment at a reasonable price, not at rip off prices that are currently being seen on auction sites. People really do have inflated ideas of the worth of items only a few decades old, they really are becoming the new antiquities.

So maybe the shop I’d like to own would be a mix of Maplins and a quality second hand store of memories. Somewhere the hobbyist or dreamer could walk into and spend a good while reminiscing, and maybe buying some stuff.

That would be nice.

Hedgehogs. I love them…

You may have heard me going on about the Hedgehog visitors to my garden. I’ve kind of built the garden around them with wilder areas and Hedgehog highways and ramps all over the place.

Tonight I was upstairs in the bathroom and I could hear a hell of a racket out the window, a really loud crunching sound. I sneaked on the security lights and grabbed a quick photo out of the bathroom.

Not one but two. How beautiful

There wasn’t one but two. I suspect they are from the same family as they are not known to comfortably share their dinner with another. I loved this it’s really made my day, as it shows just by making a few changes to your garden, leaving out a suitable food and fresh water, you can keep these rare animals safe and give them a foot up.

The fact we are bordering a large city with busy roads all around is another problem.

I’m just so glad I’m doing my little bit to try and preserve them. They are gorgeous 🦔

The four seasons

What is your favorite season of year? Why?

And I’m not talking Frankie Valli and his pals, neither am I about to burst into song, you don’t deserve that.

Every season has its good and bad points for me, but I have to say Spring is probably my favourite.

My reasoning for each season is listed below:

  • Spring: crisp mornings but now is the added bonus of the sun poking its head out, the plants are starting to awaken and the birds seem to be singing a different song. It’s all about awakening and looking forward. This is my favourite season, as it’s all about progression, it seems positive to me.
  • Summer: Sun, heat all the things we haven’t had and have missed for the last five months should now be here in abundance, however here in the Uk in the middle of what should be flaming June, we have single figure temperatures and even more rain than usual. Mother natures clock seems to be out of sync.
  • Autumn: Nature is about to go into hibernation, the trees put on awesome displays of colour and the last sprinkling of warm sunshine takes a bow. Cold days reappear and Jack Frost starts to make his presence felt.
  • Winter: warm coats come out of storage, the common cold hits with a vengeance and crisp mornings and more rain appears. And then the slight dusty sprinkling of snow appears that makes the country grind to a halt, and makes us the laughing stock of the world.

Oh how I love our four seasons.

Take care people..

Thoughts 5/6/24

Describe your dream chocolate bar.

Lindt shop Wembley

Never ending, Fruit and nut with a caramel centre, coconut sprinkles and made from Lindt chocolate.

Handsome.

It would certainly keep the cardiac department in “fruitful” employment 🤦‍♂️

A good day to you 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.

Thoughts 6/4/24

What animals make the best/worst pets?

I’m going to be quite boring and predictable here, I’m a dog person having had the same breed of dog (Bichon Frise) throughout my married life, about 33 years now. Alf has been our constant companion for the last eleven years and is just an all round super fellow, funny little bundle of joy.

Alf – our little fellah

I’ve put Cats here as the worst, not that they are a particularly bad pet, but for me I have a severe allergy to them and their fur, so for me they are not a practical pet to be in my presence if I want to maintain an acceptable level of breathing. I used to have one as a pet as a youngster and that’s how I found out about this allergy.

Tabs – Feral cat

However there is an aside to this. When we purchased this house a few years ago there was a cat in all the outside photos of the property and we assumed the previous owner had one as a pet. We were very wrong. No one owns this cat known to us as “Tabs”. She is a feral cat that took ownership of this area many years ago and we live on her property. She is not scared of any animal, absolutely loves our Alf as she knows he is a right softy.

This garden is her territory, she chases foxes and any other uninvited visitors to the garden, she is an excellent mouser and will also bring evidence to the back door to prove this, much to the displeasure of the wife. She’s fed regularly by us as a result, and she is always missed if she goes off wandering for a few days as she often does.

So really there is no best or worst here, Im basing it solely on my own selfish “health” problems. She’s a lovely cat, I can’t touch her (she wouldn’t let me anyway) so we have a mutual distant respect for each other. She’s the dogs best friend though and they get on fantastically.

The dog has been through so much with us, helped us through some very tough times just by being a lovely form of stress relief for us. His companionship is without condition and his loyalty is unique. He’s my boy, he deserves nothing but utter love and respect. A true pet lover would understand.

Have a wonderful day

Thoughts 18/3/24

What was the best compliment you’ve received?

I’m sure I’ve received some compliments in the many years I’ve been walking this big old world.

I’m just one of those people that doesn’t seem to register compliments when they are given.

It’s as if I prefer to constantly question myself and my abilities, and react with disdain towards anything complimentary.

Strange isn’t it? I’m sitting here really trying to think of a moment in time and then one does pop into my mind…

My mother on her death bed holds my hand, looks at my wife and I any says, “You are a lovely couple”.

Maybe that’s why I struggle with it all. She was the best and nothing can ever trump that moment in time. Maybe I’ve locked the door to compliments from that moment on, who knows?

It is strange isn’t it?