I like light classical music, piano sonatas, even film scores.
I don’t always know the name of the musical piece, or the composer, one of my worst skills is answering music quiz questions. But it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it gives me a feeing of gentle calmness.
Singing with a choir has the same effect. Especially when we are practicing and not performing. I hear the other parts, soprano and alto, and try and meld my voice in with the others. It gives me a real sense of peace and quiet. Gentle Maori lullabies effect me, and sweet folk aires from ancient history. They are all really meditations. That and the breathing required to do it help make me feel at peace.
The industrial revolution in Britain and Europe began the transformation of alchemy to science. Inventions were happening and knowledge became more and more important.
As instruments improved things like telescopes and microscopes gave us a better understanding of the micro and macro aspects of life and the universe. We could see smaller and smaller living organisms, such as unicellular plants and animals, and then bacteria and finally viruses.
That understanding gave us vaccinations and antibiotics and began to initiate preventative medicine instead of simply trying to deal with the ravages of Plague and poxes.
There are many branches of science where humans have delved into how things work. They may have started as a philosophical perspective, such as Geography and Meteorology, but then deeper understanding of the underlying issues. Dinosaurs and fossils were discovered. The age of the the Earth extended from the supposed 6000 years since the biblical flood backwards over millions, then billions of years.
Meanwhile Issac Newton was discovering the ‘clockwork’ universe. Where stars moved in their courses. What then happened took decades and centuries, but scientists like Einstein changed the modern world.
I’ve been watching “The Ascent of Man”, by Jacob Bronowski, talking about all the changes and revolutionary things that happened in the last few centuries. It not only covers discoveries, but also how destructive factories could be to humanity. Thankfully not all manufacturers treated their workforces so badly.
I conclusion there is simply too much to discuss about sciences, it is impossible to understand all their aspects. But hopefully we can use science to improve our world, even if it’s only to work out methods that are less destructive to nature.
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?
If I could I would open an art shop. But I don’t have the skills. I’d need to be trained in accounting, in design to get things looking peofessional, and more knowledge of pricing. Also I’d need sufficient funds to rent or let a property.
At the moment I’m lucky to have some of my work on sale or display, but the business side of it doesn’t enthrall me. I’d never be an entrepreneur.
I did try when I finished work, I set up a studio and worked at producing new art. But the building us rarely open to the public, and my studio is off down a narrow corridor so I don’t have much contact with people when I’m there. Covid and lock downs stopped me from getting stalls on local craft fairs.. A cheaper way of selling than having a permanent ‘public facing’ shop.
I’ve heard of business plans but never had one perhaps that’s my biggest failing, I just keep getting on with getting on….
What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?
Not this!
Yet again I have to be equivocal about this question. I mean I’m not deliberately being ambiguous, but there could be many answers depending on the person, their age, sex, health and the place they are at.
1. Fresh water /food
If you are alone and outside away from people, for instance on a walk it’s a good idea to take supplies. I imagine I won’t be far from transport, but what happens if you get lost?
2. Spare clothes/groundsheet
If you are out and about and lost you might not be able to find shelter if the weather deteriorates or it gets dark. You might have to stay put, so having extra clothes and something to make into a shelter could save you from exposure. We went camping one Easter and I had to wear two pairs of trousers and three jumpers because of the cold!
3. A map
Learn to read maps, if your phone goes flat and you can’t charge it how do you find your location?
4. Medication?
Even if you don’t expect to be out all day and night it’s better to be prepared. The older you are the more likely you are to need medicine. Don’t ignore it, and if necessary take out travel insurance.
5. Car keys?
Yes if I take the car with me, and house keys.
6. Medical alert.
If you take some medications then you need to take warning notifications with you. Similarly if you are allergic to food colourings, bee and wasp stings, or antibiotics it’s worth letting people know!
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?
The world’s a mixed up place. There’s too much fake information out there. How can my small blog cut through it all?
I had a silly idea that I could write and prevent the War in Ukraine escalating. I even wrote to the Russian embassy in London to think about what Putin was doing and going to do.
I have written about global warming and famines. But I’m one person. Clearly if everyone agreed, then we as humanity could change things. But who’s going to listen? I don’t have a large reach here or anywhere else. I’m no influencer.
It’s nice to feel I might make a difference. But it’s like winning the lottery, a 14 million to 1 chance that someone might care. That’s all I can say.
How would you like your blog to influence people? When will individuals work together, team up, care enough to change things?
Obviously there are people out there in groups and teams who try. I hope you give them half a chance. The world needs changing but it might be too late!
Dr Who would be real (what a character!). Scientists would have solved global warming. People would be kinder to each other. There would be enough food to feed the population of the world.
No one would be called a bleeding heart Liberal, because everyone would be. Things would unfortunately happen as normal, like death and taxes, but maybe they would be organised a bit better rather than taking from the poor to give to the rich.
There would be a hypocrite law, basically if you acted like a hypocrite you could be fined for deliberately gaslighting people. I guess there would still be freedom of speech but hate speech would be banned. In my alternative universe we would be in touch with good aliens who wanted to help us survive.
Life would be benign but not boring. And all animals would not be hunted or pushed into extinction. I’m a bit too much of a pessimist though to believe all this could happen.
(I sound like a Miss World contestant from the 1970’s!)
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?
We went out for a lovely meal at a Japanese Restaurant called Miso in Stoke on Trent. There were three of us so we agreed to share the cost between us as it was a family outing. It’s actually mentioned in a Novel by a Richard Osman, one of his Thursday Murder club series.
We had sushi for starters, with Miso soup, then each of us had a different Bento box, including Duck with teriyaki sauce, and mackeral with black pepper sauce, salad, rice, and guyozo.
Finally we has pistachio ice cream with sesami seeds.
Drinks included iced tea, sake, and cold japanese lager. I think the cost crept up because we kept ordering sake and I also had a glass of peach wine. Very tasty.
We love the place, but they were being refurbished recently, I know it’s reopened but we haven’t had the chance to go back and I will have to be more careful about what I spend!
Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.
What uninteresting story can I write about? I still like reading newspapers so that means I can find something uninteresting if I look hard enough. But then my sense if humour kicks in amd I will see the silly side of the story.
Most online stuff seems to be click bait. Stuff that you click on and the article has nothing to do with the headline and you are dragged off to some advert about bitcoin.
So finding something was hard, but a clue to something came from my hubby. I asked him if he had seen anything interesting. He then proceeded to tell me about an article in his monthly magazine from Apedale light railway. He told me about a well tank. (a steam engine with a tank of water between the frame of it instead of outside like a saddle tank).
He said the engine was called Stanhope and it was found sunk in a swamp in Africa where it had slid off its rails. It was rescued and restored and brought back to the UK.
So the story is entirely uninteresting to me. I like steam trains, but the story does not enthrall me. But it interests hubby, so I guess the point is the old saying, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Why list 30 things? What if none of them make me happy. I’ve just chosen mainly food because it’s easy to list. Not much effort needed, and it’s not disclosing much about me. I might like things on the list, it doesn’t mean I eat them all the time!
Recently I’ve found myself singing in the shower. I don’t think I’m disturbing anyone as my hubby is deaf and the neighbours have moved out!
It’s lovely trying to sing one of the parts for a song our choir is performing. It means I can get the part right instead of struggling. It also means that I can learn the part off by heart and not have to ready from my songbook.
I also try and remember my favourite film tunes. Like Summertime, or Moon river or Singing in the rain. They are all old music, but they are lyrical and sweet. They give joy to my heart.
I think you get a different acoustic in a bathroom, you get an echo that can enhance your singing. That’s why I enjoy it.
