Tag: Thoughts

My Gold bling bike

My favourite purchase, from the days of my youth…

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

It was around 1984 that the Raleigh bicycle company in the UK released the Raleigh Record Sprint entry level racing bicycle. I would have been around 18-19 years of age at the time and I would have been working in central London, temping as a photographic technician at the time. I would have been working between Edgware Road and Farringdon, and would be cycling in from Bushey in Hertfordshire every day, about 25 miles each way at the time. I was quite fit back then.

The Raleigh Record Sprint

My mum at the time had one of those catalogues where you could purchase items over a period of time otherwise known in the UK as on the, “Never Never”. I loved this bike as this particular model had a lot of Gold coloured attributes, gold handle bars and levers as well as a gold chain set and mudguards. This bike really looked like, “The mutts nuts” as they say.

It was a pleasure to ride however the pot holed roads of London were not the ideal surface for a road racing bike with pencil thin tyres and narrow rimmed wheels. It gradually got to the stage where I was spending more time in maintaining the bike at the roadside, and being late for work, that I made the decision to transfer to public transportation.

I worked with a lad at the time who was mad on biking and he turned up to work one day on what I believe was one of the first mountain bikes I had ever seen. I was very sceptical at the time joking that there were, “No mountains in London” however he was the one cycling the roads of London daily with no issues with punctured tyres or breakdowns.

It turned out that Mountain bikes were the way forward on the mean pot holed roads of central London. Though, it would be a few years before I could afford one of my own.

I’ve seen many old Raleigh Record Sprint bikes since and have always considered getting another. But to be honest they command such a strong price now that to be realistic, it just wouldn’t be worth it as I’m probably never going to actually ride one again.

It was a lovely bike, it served a purpose but was killed by the potholes that were strewn across London in the mid eighties. The roads haven’t improved much since, but the bikes have, hence the amount of them you see if you ever venture that way.

Have a lovely day. Stay safe.

Wisdom

“Who is wise? Nobody, apparently.

Deserted room

“Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.”

Benjamin Franklin

For me to know, for you to find out

If you want peace and tranquility. Don’t mention politics or religion.

How have your political views changed over time?

You develop political exposure from a young and influential age, mainly encouraged by the leanings towards the political views of your parents. Wrong or right, you tend to follow their views until you get out into the big wide world and see for yourself exactly what is going on. And then you realise the majority of them are all the same, all likewise little piggies with their snouts in the trough, all looking for something for themselves. All self serving little tow rags for want of a better word.

And that’s pretty much all I will say about politics. As with religion, I have very personal views on both, and as they are both probably the two most proven causes of distrust and war in this world, that is where I will remain quiet. My views, my business, and never will they be imposed upon anyone.

Let’s change the subject.

Have a good weekend.

Patience and calmness

Where has all the calmness and patience gone…

What is something others do that sparks your admiration?

I admire absolute patience that people display in their day to day activities. Not everyone, as not all possess the ability to do so.

Those people who spend time with the elderly, and those with special needs, always willing to give help and advice and not be distracted until the person requiring that assistance is content and has an understanding.

Those people are special, remaining calm and never showing signs of panic, or frustration and remaining level headed throughout.

I must admit I have only ever met a few of these people however they always have my utmost respect and admiration.

What happened along the way that the majority of people lost this ability? What have we done wrong and can we ever get that ability back again? Wouldn’t that be truly wonderful.

Wouldn’t it be a much more pleasant existence if we could all be just that way.

As you may suspect, I haven’t met many people like this lately.

Have a good day.

This and that

I was asked to share five things I’m good at. Well, here it is.

Share five things you’re good at.

Another list.

Does anyone read this bilge? If so, then please continue.

  • Getting up in the morning – never been a problem
  • Reliable – Never late to an appointment, to work, or a meeting
  • Useless information – I’m a specialist in knowing about everything you don’t need to know about.
  • Commitment – if I love you, you are stuck with me for life. Sorry though, as that one position is held by my wonderful wife.
  • Fixing stuff – yep. I think I can do that.

Have a wonderful, peaceful and productive day wherever you may be.

Cyprus

It’s the only place on the planet I’d happily move to

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I’ve answered similar prompts to this before therefore it won’t be a protracted answer.

Akamas peninsula- Cyprus

That answer is southern Cyprus. West of the island, Polis and Latchi to be precise.

Latsi or Latchi – Cyprus

Love the people, the food, the culture and quite simply the quality of life. it’s a fantastic place operating at a speed I can quite easily blend in to.

It’s our very happy place.

Have a beautiful day.

Self worth

Why do I beat myself up? It’s not necessary.

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

I’ve never actually considered this question before, and to be honest I had to look at some other blog posts that I follow to get some clarity on what was being documented.

Now I’m not in anyway looking for sympathy or kind words, and for that reason I will make this a no comment post, but the only part of my routine I really would like to skip is when waking up in the morning, I’m always very down on myself, self flagellating if you like, over what I should have done or what I should be doing. I love putting myself down and that sets me up for a lot of hill climbing and wall building right from the moment of awaking.

Now some would put a positive spin on this and say, “ as long as you are beating yourself up, no one else is doing it to you” and that may be so, but it becomes very tiring when you’ve been doing that pretty much all of your adult life. Now I do have coping mechanisms and i have them securely entwined within my daily operation. I’m not sad, I’m happy, I’m not depressed as I try not to venture down that dark avenue, but just like most I have my good days and bad days, and I just get on, as do the majority of the people on this big old planet, I’m nothing exceptional in that case. I’m certainly not well off financially, but I’m happy and grateful of my lot. I’m fortunate to have a lot of love surrounding me, and in that case I’m probably extremely wealthy ❤️

So, in a nutshell it would be nice for one morning to just wake up and not go into fight mode with myself, I’m not going to say I’m perfect as no one is, but I deserve better, I can love others with no issue at all, i just wish I could show some of that love to myself.

Have a lovely day. Stay safe.

Now be truthful

It’s good to dream, and even better to achieve

You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?

Truthfully, and from my own personal point of view it would be: eternal happiness, better health and a guaranteed life security for my family.

In keeping with the majority of the population and at risk of sounding like a contestant in the Miss World contest it would be: Respect for all, World Peace and the end to famine.

The second paragraph though made up for political correctness and to pacify a world TV audience is probably what, in truthfulness, we would all want, and to be honest, if it could be obtained then everything in the first paragraph would easily be achieved.

With no mention of money.

If everything in paragraph two was achievable, you’d be amongst the richest people in the world. We all would.

Worth thinking about and considering, isn’t it?

Have a lovely day.

Blah blah….

When everything in life lines up perfectly to cause maximum confusion

Have you ever had one of those days where you are determined to write something but just don’t know what to write about? I’m having one of those days today, I don’t even know what the title of the post is, hence I’ve just called it Blah, blah as a draft title.

I might keep it at that.

I look through all of the posts that i subscribe to and I’m immensely impressed by the frequency that some posters write at, you guys are so organised and regimented that i can be nothing more than mightily impressed. And i am. Well done all of you.

This site, as i have stated previously, on many occasions was put in place purely as an extension to the journal i used to keep by my bedside. However it has also extended to be a journal of my hobbies and interests, in no way was it ever to have a professional “Air” to it and to that extent i have been very successful.

I’m inherently aware that lately i have used this medium to whinge and moan about a number of things, one of those is the process (or should i say endurance) of moving home in the UK. Before you shut your computers down and redirect to a site on do it yourself lobotomies, I’m not going to go on about it too much in this post, i promise. I might just touch on it a teeny tiny bit, sorry.

So let’s get it over with. After the collapse of the chain on Monday, a new purchaser was in the frame by Wednesday, who had previously viewed the house and loved it. They were disappointed that we had sold, and left instructions with the agent that should things not work out then they would be happy to step in. Their dream came true and on Wednesday they officially committed to purchasing, however the price they were offering was lower than we wanted, you can’t win them all i guess. The whole process rides on them coming back again early next week, and to be honest it could still fall flat on its face. And it probably will. However the wife is now in a better state of mind and we have had some good discussion on how we carry things forward. Things are good, and we have plans. Either way, whatever happens it was meant to be. Just roll with the punches, that’s life.

See i told you it would be brief.

Now, health. I don’t normally talk health as it’s no one’s business apart from mine. And the wife’s. I’m fast approaching a landmark birthday, and as you get older, things start to happen. Things that make you question yourself, ”That’s never happened before”. Well, somethings occurred that has made me contact the doctor. And if you live in the UK you would generally understand that, that alone is no easy task. To partake in the 8am lottery to get a doctor’s appointment is no task for the weak hearted. How ironic, as that is exactly what my problem appears to be. The ultimate test of strength and endurance.

You get on the phone at 8am when the doctor’s appointments line opens, within 3 minutes you are number 32 in the queue, and at this point you realise there is probably no point at hanging on as you are not going to get to see anyone today. Just remain incapacitated and try and call back tomorrow, there’s a good lad!

No wonder many people just say, “sod it, what’s the point” and that’s probably why at this stage our entire hospital and A&E system is at bursting point. Crazy. The NHS is such a diamond, but it’s at a straining point that can’t be sustained, it just can’t handle the demands put upon it, and its the every day man and woman on the street that will eventually pay the price.

The good news is that prices for cremations have dropped in price, a classic sign of supply and demand being in perfect harmony.

My head is full of bloat at the moment, and i just had to unload some of it here, how do you writers put it all into some type of order? That’s what I don’t understand. Where do you get your motivation from?

My entire life is packed into boxes at the moment, and i really do miss the activities that gave me a little bit of artistic licence, I’m on all the auction sites at the moment just itching to push that “Buy now” button, but its hard….very hard. I already have 13 projects on WordPress currently in draft mode, awaiting completion but this entire process of moving home has sent my anxiety and patience levels through the roof, but I’m keeping it together somehow, i have to stay strong for my wife. However she is in exactly the same situation as me, and at times she well and truly puts me to shame. Selfishness has no position in a stable relationship, we are partners, and partners share the burden, rethink your attitude, refocus and share the burden. Simple as that.

So that’s today’s rant put to paper…or the cloud, and do i have a suitable title now? No I don’t. So Blah, blah it is then.

Stay safe. Have a beautiful day.

Sitting on the fence…. I just knew it.

Don’t ever let anyone force you into a false feeling of comfort.

The sale of the house has just collapsed miserably. I always said it would, much to the frustration of my dear wife, we are all packed up, we have storage in place in another town and that’s almost full. The house is empty…. And then the inept estate agent calls to say the buyer has pulled out due to being made redundant today. That’s highly unlikely as he still wants to make us another offer, a derisory one, for a lot less money. Bastard.

I’ve distrusted this process since the day it started, I think you’d be aware of this if you read my posts, the estate agents have also miraculously found someone else who is willing to pay again, a derisory price as they have people circling the pit of doom waiting for situations such as this when they know someone is very advanced in the purchase process, so they can circle like carrion, or scavengers to be precise, expecting the seller to accept a ridiculous offer. We’re not like that though, we’re not going to succumb to the absolute scumbags who partake in this disgusting game that is the British property selling market.

Am I angry? Not as much as I should be, no doubt we are going to lose financially as now we have to pay our solicitors, but the frustrating thing is that those who broke the chain should be partially responsible, but as it is here in dear old Blighty, that’s not how it’s done. We were asked to sign a contract a couple of days back, I’m glad I didn’t, that would have committed us to being liable at this stage to a sum in excess of £30k, with nothing to show for it. Apathy rules sometimes.

I’m more upset at how my wife has reacted. As I’ve always said she’s the eternal optimist and was always pulling me up about my fence sitting stance. I’m now worried for her, as she has sunk her heart into this new property hook line and sinker. She’s totally beside her self and I’ve been dreading this day for so long. My work starts now. Not only has the lying git of a seller ruined her dreams, he’s now shouldered me with the task of having to now bring her back to absolute reality that she’s not going to realise her dreams. I can do that though, I’ve done it before as it’s my duty as her husband to do so. She will soon be back in the room as they say. She is going to be looked after and cuddled constantly, it’s a minor setback, and we can now look at upgrading what we already have. We are fortunate as we already have a home, many are not. We just have to count our blessings and realise this.

I feel remarkably calm, not smug, as I have already prepared myself for this failure. That’s how I seem to work. Sometimes it can be very wrong, this time I feel that my stance has been justified. I’m not gloating, far from it, I just think sitting on the fence occasionally pays off.

Don’t ever let anyone force you into a false feeling of comfort. Trust your instincts, and go with them. It will all turn out well in the end. Be grateful and thankful for what you have, and have had.

Have a great day.