Tag: world

1986

What were your parents doing at your age?

When my parents were at my current age it would have been 1986. They were probably doing their best to just get by, and they both had multiple jobs. I remember a few details from this period as there were some significant goings on around this time.

My mother would have been a shop worker in a local store as well as a cleaner at the company i worked for. I would have been in the photographic industry about four years at this time, i would have had a darkroom in the spare bedroom and would have probably been on my third computer at this point. I’d have ditched the Sinclair ZX81 and the Commodore Vic 20 and I’d probably be trying to master the Amstrad CPC464. I loved the start of the computer era, as did a lot of my friends at the time.

I had my first SLR camera around this time and that would have probably been a Praktika. I was saving as much as i could, to try and purchase my all time favourite camera at the time, and in fact it is still my favourite of all time to this very day. A jet black Canon A1.

I know that i was heavily into photography at This time, as i took one of the most iconic photos i have ever taken in my family history, of my father. I have it to this day. He was leaning on a coal bunker in the garden, it was a beautiful sunny day and i took it, and processed the film and enlarged the photos in my little darkroom in the spare bedroom, on a Gnome enlarger. It was a black and white photo and it represented a turning point in all of our lives.

He had just had a heart attack, and he suffered a deep immersive depression that he never really came out of. Please don’t misunderstand me he lived for another 21 years with no other medical issues, however he had changed and became highly abusive to my mum, my little sister and me. He was heavily into alcohol at this stage, and we were paying the price. I had to grow up quick as i became the protector of my Mother and sister, it was hard and i was not prepared. We were the only ones at home at the time as my two elder brothers and elder sister had all left at that point, and boy how we suffered big time. Our lives were changed the very day his heart attack occurred.

He was a very good electrician, he had been an aircraft electrician but was now working for a local building company, he was also a part time baker.

In the next few years my mother would lose all her brothers and sisters as time took its toll. Father would lose his mother and sister and the family began to dwindle in size.

But thats enough of the bad as its all in the past and though i never forget what happened, i have to move on with my own life for purposes of maintaining sanity.

I loved the 80”s as the world was opening up and starting to develop technologically, however i do believe the older generations did struggle. It’s strange really as it is a mirror image for us older generations today, with some of the things that are going on around us currently. Perhaps all generations have their own Groundhog Day periods.

Here are some points of interest that also occurred back in 1986

  • Plans were announced between the UK and France to build the channel tunnel
  • The space shuttle Challenger exploded just after its launch
  • Halley’s Comet makes a show
  • The Soviet Mir space station is launched
  • Microsoft goes on the stock market
  • The Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes
  • Argentina wins the World Cup
  • The M25 motorway – The UK’s biggest car park opens officially

A lot happened that year and these are just a small selection of them. However the dynamics of my family changed that year and what occurred from that point on will never be forgotten . WordPress really couldn’t have chosen a worse time line to talk about for me than this one I’m afraid, but then, it’s good to get it out there.

However, time moves on, wounds heal and we all learn. This is why it is important that we don’t erase our past, otherwise how will we ever learn to be better people and treat others with the mutual respect and belonging they all so rightly deserve.

Have a lovely day, everyone.

My World

When are you most happy?

Like a broken old loop from an Eastenders sub plot, lots of people will say “When I am with family”. Well that doesn’t work for me. My family were an extremely dysfunctional unit and to be honest we were probably best kept apart. My dear darling mother died on this day 20 yrs ago, she was the glue that held our family together and once she had gone the rot set in.

However, I have my own small arm of the family that consists of just my wife and I. It used to have a third member, little Alf our dog, but he unfortunately passed away in August of this year and what I always refer to as “My World” again collapsed, so now we are two.

Alfie Bichon Frise

Home is my safe place and that is where I feel safe with the only person I know that knows me better than I know myself. After 33 years of marriage I am still excited to go home at the end of a working day, and I can’t wait to see her again.

My world

I’m just scared that one day My World will collapse again, but I will not dwell on the future, I will concentrate constantly on ensuring that My World is content, happy and safe and most importantly cared for.

Peace

The humble Hedgehog

What are your favorite animals?

I thought maybe that I’d answered this question in the past. But a quick search though my history confirms that is not so. I have spoken about them many times in the past (as well as our dogs that are always my very favourite domesticated animal) so my favourite wild non domesticated animal would have to be the humble little hedgehog.

Hedgehog in our garden

I have to make people understand that we do not yet live in a countrified part of the East Midlands, it’s very much the opposite. We live on the Far Eastern edge of the city, ten minutes east and we are in a more rural setting, but then ten minutes in the other direction and we are in the centre of a decaying lawless city that has seen better days. And we have hedgehogs visit on a regular basis, they are urban city dwellers and that is unusual.

We’ve lived in this house for around seven years now and I was always aware from the start that there was something out there at night snuffling around. You could always hear their presence and installing cameras around the house confirmed it, we had hedgehog visitors. We also had them in our previous house down in Hertfordshire so they were very much a welcome visitor.

Another smaller visitor

My garden has been a constant challenge to get right, it is North facing, it is extremely cold in the winter months and has developed over the years into a wonderful little haven for these guys with lots of perennial cover and wildflowers for their delectation. Yes it’s fair to say that when the garden was designed they formed a big part of the consideration as to how it was laid out.

We have hedgehog highways that allow easy access throughout our garden into neighbouring gardens, we have ramps to allow them up the paving as well as small water features around the garden that allow access to water. We also leave cat biscuits out every night to give them extra feed, because as you may well know their natural food sources are dwindling due to decline of wilded environments, yes, another animal the good old human being is killing off probably unbeknownst due to ignorance.

Hedgehog highway signs around the garden. I know they can read but it shows the way to human visitors

It is estimated that in the UK there are less than two million of these animals in existence. They are high on the endangered species list here, considering back in the 1970’s there were estimated to be in excess of twenty million in existence, that’s a decline of almost eighteen million in fifty years. Horrendous.

This is why I try to help and educate people of this animal. It is wonderful when we have guests, that I know we can all sit in our conservatory and at pretty much the same time, they can sit and watch our prickly friends come to visit and eat. It’s lovely to see and they are always happy to see them. Some have even left here and gone and set up similar environments in their own gardens. That’s a win in my eyes.

I believe we have the same family circle visit our garden as they know they are welcome. At the beginning of the year we have them come in and feed in twos and this year we even had three at the feed station at the same time. As they all get older we have the usual territorial huffing and puffing and only one at a time, but they can all be identified due to their differing sizes and attitudes. It really is wonderful.

Three at the feed station

I love these little creatures, I love all wildlife but these guys are different as they need a helping hand. And that’s the very least I or you can do. It’s no sacrifice. Be a friend not an enemy. It’s your choice. Just choose well.

Difficult or Easier?

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

As I have a hunger for knowledge I guess I’d be doing a lot more reading. I’d probably not be blogging, I’d be doing my daily journal. Beyond that as a kid of the 60s i guess I’d just be getting on with things. I don’t do the social media stuff, I’ve never had it so I’ll never miss it, so that would never be an issue for me.

And I believe that’s the difference. If you lived in an age when you didn’t have a computer, stepping back to that way of living wouldn’t be so much of a hardship. Yep there are things we all benefit from as a result of having computers, but we managed without them and we survived.

A child of the computer era would suffer purely as they know no other way. For them it would be a totally new way of life, but for us of a certain generation it would be “Ok, let’s get on with it”, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.

Times change, people change, life goes on.

Peace everyone

A couple of pictures of our dogs

Again today we’ve been going through a whole raft of photos and we’ve chosen this one to sit alongside Alfie’s ashes. It’s a lovely photo of him with his head on the first stair, looking up at us getting ready as we’d told him he was about to go “Walkies” it sums him up perfectly. Beautiful boy 🥰

Alfie’s ashes – new picture

The second one we received as an anniversary present from my sister in Lancashire. It’s a lovely hand drawn pencil picture by a talented young lady of all our three boys. Bottom Left is Muffin who we had at the start of our marriage 33 years ago, bottom right is Digger who was next, and on the top with his trademark cocked head is our little Alfie. This is the only picture my wife wants on the wall of the boys as it is the three of them together.

The three boys. Muffs, Digs and Alf

What memories we have, and thousands of pictures to look back on and smile. We were so privileged to be gifted these three wonderful little souls. We have been so fortunate and lucky.

Smile today, make someone’s day.

Quiet everyone

What’s your favorite word?

It probably sounds corny, and to be honest it is quite difficult to sideline a single word that is a favourite of all those that are used on a daily basis.

But for me it would be the word “Quiet”

It’s the one thing I like the most, it’s the one thing I seek the most and at the same time it’s the one thing that seems to be most difficult for me to find. It’s a strange all encompassing word.

My wife is a polar opposite, she loves hustle and bustle and finds “Quiet” difficult to handle but we do find a happy medium.

Yes, I’m the guy that would love that house in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours or main roads for miles.

Silence is golden they say, for me it’s an achievement to find it, keep it and treasure it.

It’s a lovely word “Quiet”

Peace to you all and please try to have a happy stress free day.

What’s going on in Iceland?

What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?

Well, you asked so I have answered. I’m currently working a nightshift and it’s slowed down a tad so I’m just checking up on what was going on in one of my favourite places on earth. I usually check in and read the news and this is what I found.

Volcano still active

The volcano is still erupting around the fault line, it comes and goes quite regularly but this last one was quite spectacular.

An ice cave collapsed killing one person i believe, however all others have been rescued and are safe.

A 16 yo is in custody after stabbing some people at a concert, it seems the world’s cancer has now reached this beautiful place.

I kind of wish I hadn’t made that search.

Hey ho, that is quite depressing.

Stay safe everyone, who knows one day Peace might be infectious.

We can only live in hope.

Expect little. Don’t be surprised or worried.

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

That’s better Wp, looks like a little thought has gone into this prompt but don’t get too excited as it’s not that good.

People blog for many reasons, some professionally some for fun and some like me for the reason of maintaining some sanity in what is a world full of hatred, poison and what appears to be total and utter disrespect for pretty much everything.

Pleasantries seem to be in extremely low stock these days.

Anyway back to the question. My blog like many others will more than likely just drift into that great pit of unread nonsense in the cess pit that is the internet. People don’t seem to like just every day ramblings and thoughts, they want the nasty stuff, for that we have MSM not the old fashioned blogging platforms.

My blog, took over from a book I had at the side of my bed, yes I used a journal as I was struggling after some pretty horrific situations in my work that would have finished a number of people. I was screaming for help, and that never came. For me this is self healing. This is my way of sorting the mess out.

If just one person looks at my blog and smiles, learns something or picks up a tool and repairs something or stops an item going into landfill I’ll be happy.

But then I’ll never know, as that’s not the point of this blog. Even at my age I’m still learning and this platform in my eyes is my personal journal, if you are reading it then, welcome, I have let you do that.

My thoughts. My journal, My journey. My search for peace.

Anything else is a bonus.

Do whatever you fancy

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

Strategy? What a load of old tosh. if you have a strategy for your health and well being than you need to give your head a wobble as you’re over thinking it.

This is what the dictionary states:

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages ·

noun

noun: strategy; plural noun: strategies

  1. 1. a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.”time to develop a coherent economic strategy”Similar:master plan grand design game plan plan of action plan policy proposed action scheme blueprint programme procedure approach schedule tactics set of tactics
  2. 2. the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle.”he was a genius when it came to military strategy”Similar:the art of war military science military tactics generalship
    • a plan for directing overall military operations and movements.”non-provocative defence strategies”

Here’s what I do though:

  • I eat what I want
  • I drink plenty of water
  • I sleep when my body tells me to
  • I get drunk occasionally
  • I do what I want, when I want
  • I don’t suffer fools
  • Don’t do social media
  • Don’t follow MSM
  • Enjoy life

Not much of a list to follow but basically do what you want and don’t follow the advise of a fool such as me, or some other numpty on social media who claims to know the answers to life. ( A dimfluencer )

However I’m still here after almost six decades, so I must be doing something right.

Happy days all….

Thoughts 4/6/24

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

See this is what I’m getting at, the prompt from yesterday was not much different from this one for today. The guy that does the prompts at WordPress must be getting right bored.

Cockleshell heroes

Anyway, just as well I read a lot as a youngster. One of my favourite books I read as a youngster was the Cockleshell Heroes by C.E Lucas Philips. This book was published in 1956 about 9 years before I arrived on the scene.

I was a bi product of that period post wartime when the big rebuild of the country and the economy was starting to kick start. As a kid it was all war films and war comics so it was only natural to read war book’s wasn’t it?

It’s another book that I’ve read more than once and as a youngster it’s sheer excitement and intrigue kept me engrossed from cover to cover.

I hope tomorrow’s prompt is another subject, I quite fancy “What did you eat yesterday?”, for a change. (Only joking 🙃)

Anyway have a darned nice day and enjoy the sun if you are fortunate enough to see it.