Tag: dailyprompt

Security

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Are you seeking security or adventure?

At my age I prefer security. I used to like adventure, but I’ve grown out of it!

When I was young we used to cycle all over the country, riding a bike or a tandem for miles. We would go out and ride at weekends to different destinations. We would also catch the train and then cycle from there to campsites or a place to visit like a castle or a forest. One of my favourite places was Grizedale Sculpture park. On that occasion we had got a car and the bikes were tied to the top of it. We parked at the campsite and used that as a base to cycle all around the lake district.

One day I was cycling home from a friends houss and was hit by a car. I ended up with a fractured skull. From that day I became nervous of cycling. After a couple of more years of riding the bike suddenly collapsed underneath me. It had been damaged in the accident and the brazing had broken on the bike headset. It took months to get my bike repaired by which time I had started to drive more frequently. My health got worse and I was not able to ride my bike any distance.

I think it was about then that I became more risk averse. I still liked to go and do adventurous things but I was more careful. Nowadays I am even more concerned with safety. Covid and the pandemic has made me more aware of my situation and my security. I guess that I realise my life has changed, and I can not do things I would have happily done in the past.

Who to invite?

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If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

I would invite all my artist friends from over the years. Plus all my family. I would go to the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It would be fully restored (it was destroyed in a fire) and all my murals would still be there.

We would chat about the old days, and what they had been doing. Find out about where they had lived after I lost touch with them. I would lay on a good meal for them depending on what food they liked. I don’t remember what they used to eat? How could I after 40 years or more in some cases… But to know their life has gone well and hopefully they have been successful.

Who wouldn’t I invite? Famous people. I would be in awe and unable to talk. Can it be possible to meet someone who is important and speak with them at their level? I just don’t know.

Questions like this trouble my imagination. It’s wonderful to think of great people, but I would be too nervous and shy!

Knowledge?

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What do you think gets better with age?

Thinking about this question is a challenge. As I age I know I’m not getting physically better, but I hope and believe that I have better knowledge now than I did in the past. I try and keep up to speed with many things. I would say I’m a generalist, not an expert. My brain cannot take all of that information in, but I can try.

I think you always need to be willing to learn. Why not? Why be afraid of finding things out? It makes life more interesting.

For instance, the images that The James Webb telescope is taking of the universe really interest me. Our eye on the universe has got so much better in recent years. Then knowledge about chemistry might help us reduce or stop some of the carbon dioxide emissions that are causing global warming? Changes in computing and AI might help with human health?

And knowledge should be something we all seek. Having knowledge can give us a personal key to what is going on in the world. Avoiding fake news and fake facts. Being wary of things that are too good to be true (They probably are). There is a lot to sift through. But I think its worth seeking out true knowledge.

Late

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What time do you go to bed and wake up currently?

Early to bed, early to rise, just isn’t me!

I think my circadian rhythm is out, because over the last few months I’ve gone to bed later and later. Then I eventually sleep for a few hours, before waking up around dawn. Then sadly I look at my phone! Spend an hour or so catching up with videos and messages, before falling asleep again and waking up in the late morning.

I don’t want to be this way, I sometimes need to be up and out earlier, but insomnia and an overactive brain can see me struggling to sleep. It doesn’t help that I have to wear a mask at night to help me breathe. I also do have painful joints and my arm is still very shaky and sore (I sound like a wreck!).

One thing to do is to think the word “the” over and over to yourself. This was recommended by my friend and it works when I remember to do it. “the” is a word with no connotations, it interrupts your train of thought and gives your brain time to disengage (at least that’s what I think!).

Anyway hope you all have a good night’s sleep. Best wishes!

I do a yoga class

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What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?

I’m not good at yoga, I’m not very flexible anymore. So I use a chair for most of the positions we do in class.

I have to use the chair for balances too, I just cannot manage to stand up and balance on one leg. But overall I think its slowly helping my mobility. I don’t feel like I will ever be able to do some of the poses, but at least I try.

I think yoga is about doing the best you can, and trying to get to a calm state of mind in the process. I have to admit I have not studied the teachings behind the practice, but if it lowers my blood pressure and helps me to gain some lost movement, even if only to a slight extent, then I’m all for it.

I ache after classes but I think as I have kept going I have been able to feel more comfortable physically, and it might be helping me mentally.

I don’t like the idea of ‘exercise’ style of yoga, where people force themselves into position and use heated rooms, I think there is more to it than that. What next? Boxing yoga? No thanks.

The return of Halleys comet!

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What are you most excited about for the future?

See Wikipedia for information https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet.

I don’t know all the information about Halleys comet but I did see it in 1986 although it wasn’t as spectacular as expected. But I watched a TV programme that showed photos of it from a probe called Giotto that had been sent out to investigate the comet. The debris and ejecta from the out gassing of the comet meant that the view stopped before the comet nucleus was fully visible. The idea that a comet is a dirty snowball was suggested around then?

Halleys comet returns every 76 years. It is next due in our skies in 2061. I might just get to see it! That is because it is a short period comet as opposed to ones that have much longer orbits only entering the centre of the solar system again after hundreds or thousands of years.

The comet was named after Sir Edmond Halley who in 1705 worked out its orbit around the sun and calculated when it would return. I believe he was made astronomer royal because of it but I might be wrong!

One thing to also note is that a meteor shower happens each year, I think in March? This is caused by dust and debris blown off Halleys comet by the solar wind. The material is left behind and the Earth passes through this debris over a couple of days each year. The resulting meteor shower or shooting stars are basically tiny pieces of cometary dust and small specks of material burning up in the earth’s atmosphere as they enter it.

I’m interested in astronomy but I’m no expert, but Halleys comet has always excited me.

What to give up?

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What could you let go of, for the sake of harmony?

If I had to give up something it might be one of my trees at the bottom of the garden. Why? Because the neighbours don’t like it, it is a huge laurel bush/tree. It shades our garden and their garden too. I won’t be cutting any others back though. I like our little nature reserve. Laurel bushes are evergreen so they give shade and shelter to birds and squirrels all year round. But they do block out the sun. The trouble is ours is about forty feet high and thirty or so wide. It’s also right next to our fence line and about six feet away from theirs.

I know there have been huge legal battles over hedges and trees, and I don’t want to fall out completely with my neighbour, but I also cannot afford to have it pollarded or pruned. We will have to see what happens in the future. I hope it doesn’t get to legal action!

Classical

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What is your favorite genre of music?

Stravinsky, Holst, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mozart, lots of older and more modern classical pieces. Including opera, ballet, symphonies and anthems.

I particularly like the Rites of Spring, and the Planet Suite. But almost every piece of classical music cheers me up.

But one of my difficulties is I can never remember what half of the melodies or composers are called. I will remember the music when I hear it, but ask me to name specific pieces and I struggle. Oh I know Ravel wrote the Bolero and Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake (I hope?), but I have a blind spot. I can remember some physics or biology, or information about art and artists, but music of any genre? I really struggle. It’s not in my head. And yet if I’m singing with the choir, I don’t remember the song until we start singing, then suddenly its there, words and tune. I must have a strange brain.

The dolphin one..

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Describe your most memorable vacation.

We were holidaying on the Devon Coast in summer. We came back to the campsite and saw a crowd of people on the beach and others in wet suits in the sea. We went to find out what was happening and saw a pod of dolphins swimming back out to sea. But one had stayed behind.

I looked at my friend’s and told them I was getting in! I took off my glasses and shoes and got in the sea fully clothed! I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity of swimming with a dolphin. I swam half way to the people in wetsuits so I was not much out of my depth. I was a reasonable swimmer and it was a calm and walm evening.

The dolphin was very inquisitive and kept swimming backwards and forwards between the people on the beach and out to sea. Of course that meant it had to come past me. One thing I did notice was it had a lot of cuts along it’s sides. Apparently it was well known for getting near the propellers of boats. Sadly it had been hurt by this behaviour.

The other memory I have was of the caravan step collapsing on our last night. It had rusted through because of the salt air and broke as I stepped on it. We had to move caravans and got an extra nights stay as I had hurt my foot and couldn’t drive back home until the following day.

I don’t know!

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On what subject(s) are you an authority?

Jack of all trades,

Master of none.

Expert, I’m not

I learn for fun.

I can paint and draw

But I’m not an old master

I can do some stuff

I like to paint faster

Than most people

But an authority?

If put on the spot

I’d hesitate

To state

All the information

That gives my ego

The biggest inflation!

So I’ll dabble and draw

And keep myself modest

You decide if you saw

A glimpse of the oddest

Authority bore!