Tag: Thoughts

We’ve found a place…and reality checks

Yesterday we viewed a house. We are both super impressed by it, and have instructed the solicitors to start work on it and have placed a holding fee upon said property.

The solicitors are already rubbing their grubby little hands, as within an hour of instructing them they are already asking for various payments in advance. I should have known.

The wife, in full supervisor mode

It’s a new home, on a site that I have passed more than a few times a day in the last two years of its construction, i witnessed the day they broke ground, so I know the area very well. It’s in a nice town about 12 miles from where we currently are, it’s pretty much all we are looking for. Believe me it will be our last move unless we hit big time on the National lottery. This so far is proving to be stressful beyond what I have ever experienced on previous moves.

Full supervisor mode

And I still believe the reason for that is the incompetence we have experienced in the early days of the selling experience. Confidence is still so exceptionally low that the sale will ever complete, and it’s strange that we cannot be excited as we are just waiting for the whole chain to collapse. We’ve never experienced such lethargy before and I can only put it down to how this whole process has evolved over the past few months. We’ve always been so excited and positive on previous sales we’ve completed before, this time though they have really kicked the trust and excitement out of us. We are but a shell of our former selves.

Anyway without sounding too dramatic, it will be what it will be. We are fortunate to have a home and if we end up staying here it is no loss at all. We are fortunate and must never forget that.

I spoke to my friend Ed today, he’s the guy I spoke about a few weeks back in my blog who has a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer in both his lungs and kidneys. He’s managing just superbly at the moment and his immunotherapy treatment is progressing just fine. Even despite his diagnosis he is so upbeat and chipper with a superb attitude.

And there’s me whining about a bloody house. What a prat. It was the kick in the pants I needed I tell ya.

It’s a horrible analogy I know, but someone is always worse off than you are.

I’m now saying thank you for what I have, everything I have been given, and for whatever I receive going forward. Just writing this post has made me go from down hearted and depressed to thankful and hopeful.

Thanks to my friend Ed, you have made me see sense and taught me a big lesson today. My friend, I wish you continued good health and I pray for you and your family on a daily basis.

Sometimes, a step back from a situation and a full evaluation of your current situation is all that is needed.

We all need to do a reality check from time to time. Today was that time for me.

And I am truly grateful for all I have in my life. I really need nothing else. Just be humble.

Have a super day my friends. Stay humble. Stay safe.

Financial leaches and stuff

It’s been a tad quiet around here lately, especially on the blogging side, and there is a reason for this. As stated recently, the house has sold but my disdain towards the estate agents still remains and to be honest I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them. For me to regain just a modicum of trust in them they would have to pull off some quite stunning and spectacular acts of estate agent “activity” whatever that may be.

The solicitors are now deeply involved and rubbing their hands and then cupping them to catch the continuous flow of cash that they seem to be extracting from us. What I’m getting at here is you manage to find a way to save a couple of thousand pounds only for these leaches to suddenly drop another bill for a similar amount. It’s just like they are using the smart speakers in the house to listen into our discussions on our finances…the swines!

Anyway that said our search for a suitable abode goes on, we have some candidates and one in particular that the wife has fallen deeply in love with. I suspect that this will ultimately be our target. The thing is that as much as I want to, I just can’t get excited. The total incompetence of the selling agents has scarred me and I expect this sale to collapse at any time, there is something that just doesn’t sit right with me. I try communicating this to the wife but I don’t want to rain on her parade, she is super excited where as I’m being super cautious, we are both at total opposite ends of the spectrum at the moment and I’m struggling to be honest. I seem to have lost faith and that’s very unlike me, but once bitten twice shy as they say.

My wife bless her, is the eternal optimist, she’s the one you want around you. Me however, I class as a pessimistic optimist, or maybe even just a realist, I don’t really know myself to be honest. I’m that one sitting very firmly, not rocking on the middle of that fence, and as I’m getting older the battle scars are ensuring that the balance is gaining a rock steady gyroscopic steadiness, I’m not budging in any way.

Work is exceedingly busy at the moment we have all kinds of issues going off and there isn’t enough hours in the day to get things done, however it is a welcome distraction from the day to day goings on in and around the home.

That said, we have a family party on Friday that I’m looking forward to, before delivering my wife to her elderly friend’s house, where she is going to spend a week looking after her. It will be a quiet week at home for me, and I’m going to miss her keeping me in check and being the ying to my yang as they say. To be honest I think I’m going to struggle, but I’ll just have to get on with it, it’s only a week and other people need her more at the moment. I’m lucky, I always have her around whereas others have no one. This is where she becomes that one little angelic presence in everyone’s life. I’m fortunate to have her presence in my life, and I’m eternally grateful for that. It still remains that I will miss her immensely. It will be a lesson in patience. I’m sure I’ll be fine, she’ll still check in and keep me on the level, that I know for sure.

All projects are currently packed away apart from a couple of easy ones that will appear on here shortly, I have a camera to service for a photographer friend, but that’s just going to have to wait.

Life plods on, I sincerely hope you are all having a peaceful time, stay safe and just continue being that wonderful presence that you are. Thank you for passing by, it’s always appreciated.

Let’s put the rose tinted glasses on

How would you design the city of the future?

This is an interesting question to comment on, especially as I live on the edge of what is most likely, one of the filthiest and dirty, worst run cities within the Uk, Leicester.

Extreme, but you get my drift?

Like all cities they seem to attract a population of people who really don’t care that much about themselves or anyone else to be fair, and they accept no responsibility for their respective actions. We have a mixing pot of cultures who don’t mix, hence we have a city of micro cities with each respective micro city closing itself off from the other parts of the city, and that’s where we have issues. All cities worldwide seem to have similar issues. Current city structures do not work, unless you are in the minority, super wealthy category, where life is wonderful and there is no issue. What issues? It’s great having a blinkered view of the world.

City centres are normally fine, it’s when you look at the fringes that you find the down trodden, the chancers and criminal fraternities that feed on the citizens like a white blood cell attacking a virus, the virus being the everyday individual just wanting to make a living for themselves and their family. It’s tough.

I speak from experience that the air around the city is foul. The amount of cars are increasing day on day and the air quality is decreasing as a result. In the last 5 years there has been a marked deterioration in air quality, and being an asthmatic who also has bronchial issues I can vouch for this and that is why we are looking at moving out further into the countryside.

Planners need to get involved and stop owners digging up perfectly good grassed driveways so they can concrete them to allow 8 cars to park on them. I kid you not when I say one house near me has 11 cars and vans on its drive, it is a 4 bedroom house and has three families living within, how is that even possible? This is not a rarity, it is more of a norm for this city as landlords are fleecing individuals by renting out sub standard accommodation to those who can barely afford to live within the laws of the land. The curse of the HMO, (Home of multiple occupancy), take a bow UK government, you should hang your head in shame.

To improve a city you have to clean it up, put rules in place that the occupants also have to maintain their spaces, try to inject some self pride and ownership back into people life’s. The last time that ever occurred was after the last world war, and I’m not suggesting in any way that we have another one, but where has the comradeship gone since then? The little independent micro cities need to be addressed and all communities need to be put back into that melting pot and spread wide throughout the city areas, good luck with that one as I don’t ever see that happening. And then the air needs to be cleaned up, it’s vile up here but 5 minutes to the east of the city is a different cleaner environment. It’s the magnet of the city that seems to pull communities in, maybe there needs to be an engine size limit to cars, who knows? It’s been tried in bigger cities but does it really work?

I don’t think you can design a city of the future. Yes wearing the rose tinted glasses we can all say how we want it to be but in the end it’s down to the individuals who live there. If they don’t want to integrate, if they don’t want to commit to take part in caring for their environment, if they don’t give a toss or don’t care for anyone else, then what hope is there of improving any community or instigating plans for a better futuristic city.

People make a city not buildings or big corporate entities. Change people’s mindsets and you might have a chance. But until then it’s business as usual, the rot has already set in, and I don’t see it getting any better, any time soon. It’s a generational issue, I live in hope that future generations will overcome the issues and learn from all the mistakes we have all made in the past. I wish them well. As currently we as a society have failed miserably.

Have a good day.

SOLD!

Yep. The estate agent tourism palaver has concluded. Two days ago they contacted us to state a viewer (one of the few that were actually interested) had made an offer and we then willingly accepted.

Sold

We have sold.

However, I cannot bring myself to be excited at this point as knowing just how inept our agents have been, I expect it all to fall flat at any moment. My trust is at an all time low.

At least we are now able to explore the markets for our next move. So both my wife and I are looking at available housing in our chosen area of preference. My wife, bless her has done a great job in getting us on the market, now it’s my turn to deal with the reams of paperwork from the solicitors that has now become my responsibility. I tell her she has done the dirty work and now it’s up to me to clean it all up, this rightly, earns me a clip around the ear hole. I deserved that. Don’t do it again. I won’t.

I just dislike intensely the whole buying and selling process as to be honest, we are just making the wealthy a lot more wealthy, ie the Taxman, the legal guys and all their cohorts.

Life has at this moment very quickly changed. Everything is now being packed away, everything going on at this moment in time is now being put on hold, I probably won’t catch up with any of my camera projects for a few months now, until we are safely ensconced in our new residence, wherever that may be in the world.

I’ll keep on posting on here, as I’ve always said this blog is very much my journal and I need this to help maintain my sanity, so I will continue to post pictures, answer those prompts and post whatever dross comes to my mind within this moment in time. It’s just that the repair / technical stuff will be taking a temporary back seat, it will return. It has to.

So, the next few weeks for me involve filling out paperwork, making boxes, filling boxes, and moving boxes, as well as making the not so good, good again.

This really will be the last time I do this. Our next home will truly be our forever home.

Have a superb day, enjoy your weekend.

Ooh that’s a struggle…

What are your top ten favorite movies?

As I’ve probably stated many times previously, I don’t watch a great deal of television or cinema. The last time I went to a cinema was on my 50th and that’s getting on for ten years ago now.

Most of the films I rate were what I viewed in my childhood and a number were influenced by what my parents liked to watch. As a sixties child a lot of those films were “War” based films as the 2nd World war had only ceased some 19 yrs before my arrival on the scene.

So here are 10 films (I may struggle to get that many) that feature in my top ten but in no particular order:

  • The Dam Busters
  • The great escape
  • The Glenn Miller story
  • Robin and the seven hoods
  • Priscilla Queen of the desert
  • The exorcist
  • American werewolf in London
  • Jaws
  • Close encounters of the third kind
  • Saturday night fever

Quite a range I’d say, and pretty much nothing falling within the last 20 years or so reflecting the fall from personal grace of this entertainment medium, in my personal point of view.

Now… make that a question about radio and I can go on, and on, and on….you get it 😂

Have a great day.

Heck, I miss going Walkies.

A year ago today we lost our little dog Alf. It’s been a tough year and I must say time has not been a good healer, it’s as tough now as it was back then and he’s left a massive void in our family structure.

I’d say now that if you aren’t an animal lover then read no further. You wouldn’t understand.

However if you have a modicum of appreciation for a species that loves another being, unconditionally, then please read on.

Is there a cure for a broken heart 💔

I wrote this last year at his passing, nothing has changed.

Alf – our little fellah

I really miss walking this little fellow.

Good day to you all. Have a happy and peaceful one.

Planning, reactive not proactive

How do you plan your goals?

Planning goals, now there is a conundrum if ever I heard one. If I really want / require / need something then there is a modicum of thought and planning that goes into it, otherwise most of my goals are on the fly as they say, whimsical to many and probably with no planning at all.

Things like holidays and breaks away are the wife’s domain and she does that most competently, I just pass some money her way when she needs it, so I don’t really get involved there.

Work

Personal goals for me are pretty much medium to long term and I don’t go over the top in achieving them according to any time scale. If they occur then that’s good, if not I’m not really that bothered. I have nothing planned that’s life changing or affirming, to be honest, I’m quite happy with my lot.

The only goal I’m really spending some time in planning is my pending retirement. It’s been on the cards for a couple of years now and will probably be a few more years yet, unless Lady Luck intervenes and allows me to close that door and enter through a new one any time soon. But even here I have no time scale, it will happen when it happens.

I guess this is why I am not a planner for my company as timelines and schedules are not really my thing as they say.

Things such as days out are always off the cuff, last minute, and here I am pretty good at putting together a last minute schedule. This is something I am good at, and ties in with my work. At work I’m always responding to issues that occur on the rail network and have to have a plan in place out of reactive necessity, not really having the pleasure of being able to draft a plan in advance of such a set of events.

Failed trains

That’s where i can excel, I guess that’s why I’ve been in this role for the last 25+ years, we have planners for the proactive stuff and I’m there for the reactive stuff, applying the big Elastoplast if you like. However, you always learn from these incidents and therefore fine tune activities accordingly, so if they ever occur again you can apply a different sticking plaster if you like. You learn and adapt, reactive response allows you to do that, you are not working to someone else’s plan, a plan that is just put together to satisfy auditors, and has not even been prepared by an experienced individual in the first place. Railway management is good at doing this, incompetence reigns supreme!

So in a nutshell my goals are pretty much reactive and get put into place as they occur. This is the same in my life outside of work and I guess this is a result of how I am at work. It can’t be all that bad as it seems to work well with me across all areas of my life.

So I’m not going to change just now, am I?

Here’s to that impending retirement, roll on I say.

Have a superb day.

Run if I’m running…

Create an emergency preparedness plan.

That would something like:

If you see me running, just run after me and try to overtake me. I’m running for a purpose😂

Other than that such a thing doesn’t exist for the majority of people.

I love the attitude of the Icelandic people, they live on an island that is forever changing due to volcanic and seismic activity but they have such a mañana attitude. They know their environment and they are constantly prepared to move on out, with pretty much no real panic or concern.

One lady I spoke to who makes lovely art using glass and volcanic ash said, “ if I was constantly worrying how would I even begin to enjoy life?” And she is right you know. What’s the point of worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet and making yourself sick over it?

The ability to get away from an incident fairly quickly is probably the best advice I’d give. But then again what do I know?

I tell you what though, I won’t be losing sleep over it.

Have a great day.

Comfort and silence

What brings you peace?

I guess this is quite easy, especially for me to answer, and I do suppose a lot of others out there will probably feel the same. I’ll read other comments later just to confirm this. But for me I’m pretty simplistic, for me it’s just two things, comfort and silence.

I know that makes me sound like I’m some kind of Monk in training but it’s not meant that way. I could have said solitude, but I like to have company, however when the occasion suits, solitude is good.

Local park

I find the company in choosing those I want to be with, those who know me and have similar likes and tastes to me. The silence/quiet/solitude aspect is what seals the peace, and to be in that position with the company you choose to be with is what truly brings me peace.

Part of my work environment

I’m a city dweller, I work in the city and the noise is 24hrs constant with no let up, I find peace in taking breaks away from that environment. Fortunately my work allows me to venture into some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside where I can find that peace, and as I work alone I also find that solitude. But that moment of solitude is often kept as a moment of time in my memory, to share at a later date with my loved ones, and so that perfect circle of finding and observing peace, starts again.

Hoping you all have a peaceful day. 🙏

30, you’re having a laugh

List 30 things that make you happy.

  • Cameras
  • Holidays
  • My wife
  • My family
  • Chocolate
  • Biscuits
  • Beer
  • Music
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Dogs
  • Hedgehogs
  • Football
  • Countryside
  • Lakes
  • Rivers
  • Mountains
  • Money
  • Comfort
  • Friends
  • Boats
  • Aircraft
  • Colleagues
  • Conversation
  • Electronics
  • Radio
  • Silence
  • Books
  • Health
  • Security

I’m sure I could add a lot more, but at this time of the morning this is all you are going to get.

Another pointless prompt from the AI gods at WordPress. Enjoy, glad I could be of assistance.

Next please……

Have a great day y’all