memories – Page 4

Laughs & Giggles

List five things you do for fun.

Good morning all. I’m having to get my thinking head on today for this one, not that I don’t have fun, but when put on the spot like this you have to think the answer over. There are probably things that I call fun that others out there would probably find nauseating and strange. Hey, we are all individuals and it would be boring if we were all the same. I’ll do a little list now but it’s not an exhaustive list, this is only a list of things I might do. I’m sure there are plenty other activities I can turn to:

Football: Been following my team Leicester City, through good and bad in excess of 30 years now. Unfortunately, now is a bad spell but that’s the trials of being a fan of any sport. And I love having a Balti pie and a pint, or in winter a nice hot cup of Bovril. It’s tradition.
Walking: to be honest haven’t done a lot of late but I’m already planning some nice walks to do in the next couple of months. There is nothing better than getting out there into nature and just drinking it all in. You have time to think and clear your mind, and it’s probably one of the best and healthiest activities you can get involved in.
Art: I love art and have a genuine appreciation of anyone that gives it a go. I’m really bad at it but I’m a trier. let’s be honest some of the worlds finest artists must have been bad at some point, it’s just I’m making an art of being bad. It gives me immense joy and satisfaction just creating something, so it can’t all be that bad….can it?
Holidays: My wife and I have found that since our dog passed away we now have a lot more time and availability on our hands. We are now taking a good few holidays and having more short breaks away. We love each other’s company and that’s a good place to be. We have holidays in Iceland, Uk and I believe we are planning one to the Caribbean later in the year. I say “I believe” as the wife is concocting a plan with her cousin for the big holiday at the tail end of this year.
Family days/nights: Our families are quite spread out around the Uk/Sth Africa/ Australia so it is rare to get a good gathering of the clans together. When it does occur as it did around July last year it is pure carnage, but good old fashioned raw fun and laughter. You need this every now and then to charge the memory banks. Here’s to the next one.

And that’s probably that, for now, I think these activities probably rate in my mind as the five things I most enjoy participating in, for fun.

Have a great day everyone, may peace and joy radiate throughout everything you do.

Mental photographs

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

My wife and I have always had a great understanding of what we class as memorable moments. We don’t even have to tell each other it’s memorable, we usually say to each other, “I’ve taken a picture”.

This isn’t a physical picture where you’ve lined up a camera for a snap, this is a mental picture, one of those special moments you store in your mind and in your life forever.

One particular moment comes to mind one fine September day many years ago on the island of Cyprus. We were staying at a beachside hotel in the area of Chlorakas a few miles to the west of Paphos. We had gotten through a particularly bad period of our life and were away on holiday, just resting. This day we just grabbed a couple of chairs, a couple of drinks and then walked up on to a small hill to watch a glorious Cypriot sunset, and believe me there are not many better sights to view in your life. Here we sat alone, holding hands watching this glorious sight until the light faded and the dusk took hold. We continued just talking until it was time to make our way back for dinner. It is probably the most beautiful and peaceful moment I can ever remember, where for a fleeting moment we were the only two people on this wonderful planet enjoying a beautiful moment in time.

Mental pictures, that is what we collect, and we often both recollect these wonderful moments in our lives.

If you have wonderful memories, you need very little else in life, memories make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.

Have a wonderful day people.

Past & Present

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

Anyone who reads anything on this site will know I am a glass half full kind of guy, most of the time.

Do I think about the future? I plan like most people and that’s about it, I don’t really dwell on the future as i kind of have a tomorrow never comes attitude. I’ve developed a live for today way of life because too much sorrow and heartbreak has hit me in the past, and what you have today, may well be taken from you tomorrow, so take what you have now and cherish and appreciate whatever that may be, as the future is a thief that steals everything of importance from you.

Do I think about the past? Again, I try not to dwell on it but when you are a fan of most things “antique” it’s hard. Fantastic memories and people you have met along the way, why would you not reminisce on how they have shaped your life. If you have loved, it’s built on what has happened in the past and determines how you feel about that relationship in the present.

So in summary I am a thinker of the past and present. Life is a precious gift, what’s the point of worrying yourself about the future, we all know what the outcome is. Enjoy what you have had and what you have at this moment. That’s all that matters.

Peace to you all.

I was there

As you progress through life you start to collect favourites. Favourite sports teams, favourite foods and favourite bands to name just a few.

This post regards my favourite band, a band from Athens in Georgia who go by the name R.E.M

I was casually browsing a shopping website when the above metal reproduction of a tour poster caught my eye and the memory banks opened and flooded my brain with fantastic memories of this very day. Yes I was there and what a day it was. And today I purchased that poster to go in my workshop, beautiful memories.

Milton Keynes Bowl (or the National bowl as it was officially known) was just that, like a massive crater in the ground that during this period of time in the 90s attracted a number of big groups to this part of the Buckinghamshire countryside.

The National Bowl (originally the Milton Keynes Bowl) is an entertainment venue located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay pit (for brick-making), filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area. It has a maximum capacity of 65,000. The arena is open-air grassland, without seats.

Wikipedia

I was living in Watford at the time and a friend and i had to make the journey north by train. Not a particularly long journey it’s only about 30 minutes each way.

This was part of the R.E.M Monster tour.

The support was superb with three acts who all became well known in their own rights, Sleeper, Radiohead and the Cranberries, mix that with plenty of sun and beer and it made for a fantastic day.

When my favourite band came on, Wow, they were superb.

Here’s the set list for their show that day:

I can’t believe it’s almost 30 years ago, the band split in 2011, and by then I’d seen them about 5 times. I’ve always said if they were ever to reform for just one concert anywhere in the world then I’d be there.

It’s just amazing that one picture, can bring such good memories flooding on back.

Happy days.

Stylophone pocket organ

What the listing stated:

A BRILLIANT RE-pro of an iconic Stylophone Pocket Organ from 1968.

Bought for me as a birthday present back in 2008. I packed it away and placed it in my loft.

I’ve just found it again and have added 3 Duracell Plus AA batteries to test it for the first time. (Included in sale)

All works extremely well.

The unit is as new, the box has very minor wear.

EBay

We will just have to wait for delivery to see just how true this listing is… however I have spoken with the seller today, he’s a lovely chap and my mind is at ease that this is a genuine good purchase.

Anyone that pays the slightest bit of interest to my blog will know I love retro electronic equipment, especially if at sometime in my life it has meant something to me. Well, the Stylophone was a very basic synthesiser/toy that popped its head above the parapet originally in the late 60s, but was super popular in the mid 70s and that was when I first got my hands on one. It was a cousins unit, not mine as my parents wouldn’t pay out for toys like that as they were just a fad. (How wrong were they?). So envy struck once again as I was never able to have one…..now fast forward 50 years and I’ve now purchased a good example of one.

The Stylophone is a miniature analog electronic keyboard musical instrument played with a stylus. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, it entered production in 1968, manufactured by Dubreq.

Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children’s toys, but they were occasionally used by professional musicians such as John Lennon, Kraftwerk and David Bowie.

Wikipedia

Back in the day a chap called Rolf Harris was constantly on the TV advertising or playing these units, however the less time talking about this fellah the better, he was a right wrong ‘un.

This particular unit is not an original, I’m still after one of those. This unit was a reissue in 2008 so it’s about 17 years old now. But I’m happy with that. And it works, and for me that’s unusual as I normally only buy broken ones to repair, maybe the original one I’m after will fit the bill, if I can find one that is not completely overpriced. The original unit ran off a single PP9 9v battery, these newer units have improved circuitry and operate off 3x AA type batteries using half the original power. I’ve said before retro electronics are rapidly become the antiques of tomorrow, and people are out of their heads with the prices they are demanding even for something that is completely wrecked. They all need a reality check for the prices they are demanding. The total I have paid for this one is £20:00 GBP and that includes the postage and batteries, so in all I think I’ve got a bargain if it matches the actual listing.

I’m actual going to record a video of learning how to play this unit, just to see how easy or hard it is, and this creation will also be the subject of a later post, Here: You were warned

In the meantime prepare your ears for an assault to the auditory system as someone with no ability to hold a tune tries to play a toy/instrument from the 1970’s, you are truly blessed 😂

You lucky people 😂

Pinch Pottery Pt:2

Back in September 2024 I wrote this post about pinch Pottery: Pinch pottery

It’s been a few months and I’ve just decided to finish it off and give it some bright colouring and a sealant coat or two. I want it to represent a bright sun if I can, but when I get to actually paint it, it could well turn out looking totally different. Here we go.

This is one of those things I think my wife dislikes but she knows it means a lot to me, even though it is a poor quality and there are probably kids of 5 or 6 years of age that could produce something a lot better. But I made it, it was made at a time when I was grieving and gave me a lot of pleasure. It still does and this will probably remain in my workshop when I eventually get it up and running. It makes me smile when I look at it and i love it. It’s simple, it’s how life should be.

This is how it originally looked:

I started painting the base Yellow, and the inside Orange, with the dog done in white with a black outline. This is what I have so far.

I’m using acrylic paints here. I’m going to put a line of vine type effects around where the yellow joins the orange. At the moment I’m letting the piece dry for the next 24hrs and then I will try some touching up and repainting what I have already done. The yellow coat is quite dull as it is being absorbed quite literally into the clay base. I’m kind of hoping that the next coat will not be absorbed so much, fingers crossed.

I’ve gone with a yellow scheme for the underneath and a red – orange on the inside. I’ve tried the same type of painting that you find on narrowboats on Uk Canals, when they paint the buckets and metalwork with flowers. I’ve used this effect around the rim and from one angle it looks like he is looking over a hedgerow. It’s exceptionally basic, but it’s brightened up a piece of pottery that would otherwise sit in the corner unnoticed, discarded and unloved. You can’t miss this now, it just stands out.

The final task is to give a nice coat of lacquer to protect the acrylic paint. I’m going to use some fast drying lacquer that I have sitting in the shed at home. About two coats will be sufficient.

I’m pleased with the outcome, it’s made me happy, and I smile whenever I see it. It’s kept me occupied and busy, It’s special to me and that is all that matters. It’s adult pottering and nonsense at its best. But it’s my nonsense.

Thanks for stopping by.

Old Photos

What makes you feel nostalgic?

Probably the one thing that makes me most nostalgic is viewing old photographs. Not the many thousand you have on your phones (Though many are relevant), I mean the many thousands you have stashed away in boxes, in loft spaces and under beds. Those pictures that go back generations sometimes.

Black and white, Polaroid many different formats, all forming a pleasant picture of how it used to be. Times were simpler, I know we had a lot more Illnesses and afflictions back then, but we were amongst the last generations that actually went out and had proper “play time” and were able to venture every where, oh how times have changed.

When I look at the old photos the first thing I do is turn the picture over and see what paper it’s printed on, having worked in the paper and film production process at Kodak for many years, I often have a wry smile to myself recognising where the paper was probably made. And in those old days you very often had date stamps on the back that would allow you to instantly age a photograph.

The photographs usually come out when someone stumbles on them, that rare occasion, or when you stumble across them when spring cleaning.

It’s one of those little treasures you know are there, but your mind forgets them until it decides to surprise you yet again sometime in the near future.

Have a great day.

Happy Woofday

Strange how people’s social calendars change when they become carers of animals.

Today I have received an invite to one of our dear departed Alf’s friends.

Wasn’t expecting this to be honest, what does one take to such a soirée as this?

Barney and Alf grew up together, Alf was about 5 years his senior and when he was younger he took him under his wing, however as Barney got older and a lot bigger the order of bossiness changed. However he is a great dog and one of the family, just crazy as a box of frogs.

Strange as you start aging, the randomness in your life just gets stranger and more wacky.

I wonder if they will be serving Jelly and ice cream? That might just swing the acceptance of the invite.

Happy days everyone.

Walking

I love walking but over the last 18 months or so I’ve not done so much. I don’t mean everyday walking, I do loads of that especially at work, I mean the type of walking where you set a route, go out, get some good thinking time, clear the cobwebs from your head and get back to nature.

I used to walk miles when we had our dog Alf, but as he aged and became increasingly unwell my own health started to decrease as the purpose and need started to dwindle.

We regularly did the walk 1000 mile challenge over the course of a year and we both loved it.

As we now move on up to Christmas, my wife has gone out for breakfast with her friends, I have work later today but I’ve told her I’m going to retrace some of our old walks and maybe pop in to have breakfast somewhere and I’m really looking forward to that now. I don’t know, it’s just that sometimes you just need a good old kick in the pants to get motivated and moving, today may well be that day.

I did what I said I’d do and clocked up a nice 3.6mile walk at a slow pace, just as I would have done if I had my mate with me as he would be stopping every few yards for a sniff. I took his lead with me today the first time I’d carried it since he passed on the 16th August. I must admit I was a wreck and had tears in my eyes all the way round, so many beautiful memories came flooding back, I miss him so much.

I carried his lead, only one thing missing….

There is an old saying:

Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our
tears once in a while, so
that we can see life with
a clearer view again.”

Anon

And I believe this is true. There is no shame in being emotional, and what with it today, being the 20th anniversary of my mother’s passing, it is going to be a highly emotional day for me. To love and be loved is an amazing gift to possess, and to be given, but it hurts like hell when it is taken away. A lot of tears however have been shed recently and the view has not yet cleared. Here’s hoping and praying for better days.

I walked the routes we always walked, refusing to take shortcuts or to go down roads where we never used to venture, that would have been cheating him, holding his lead was strange but also comforting.

We stopped at a new Cafe strangely called “Cafe 55” I had a lovely coffee and a breakfast roll. It had a lovely atmosphere and was a nice clean environment. When I got the bill I realised where it obtained its name from as it seems to be 55% more expensive than anywhere else in the area. That aside, it was a pleasant stop over.

The last mile home allowed me to get myself together, a nice cuddle from the wife when I arrived home is always appreciated. We talked, again, we both shed tears, then realised just how fortunate we are for what we have, and for what we have been blessed with in the past.

Life is a puzzle, but once you have the borders sorted, it all starts to fall into place one small piece at a time.

It was a lovely walk. It needs to happen more. And it will.

Peace & Love.

My Primary school teacher

Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.

This is an easy one for me. And to save repeating myself I will just refer you to an earlier post I made back in 2023 regarding this man.

Thoughts 25/3/23

That man was a teacher, absolutely the most influential man I have had the pleasure of coming across in my life. I had a questionable upbringing and my own father could have held this accolade, however he failed in most aspects of both mine and his life. He was a nasty, jealous and dangerous man.

Mr Twelftree however stepped up to the plate and was the polar opposite of my father. He was an exceptional teacher and mentor.

This man has, and will forever be the most influential person I have met in my life. The teaching profession has such an effect on young lives, and here I am 45yrs later still holding a torch for this man and his profession. He is an exceptional man, I would love to shake his hand and simply say, “Thank you”.

Stay safe, stay humble.

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