USA, sorry I have to say it.

Posted on April 16, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged avoidance, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1910, Disturbance, Fears, Guns, health costs, Thinking, USA, violenceLeave a comment

What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?

I know it’s an awful thing to say, because as with all countries there are good and bad people in all of them. It’s not so much the population as the behaviour of some of them that I find so frightening. Just writing this on social media could see me detained and deported because it could be read as criticism.

But I am afraid of flying, and there have been too many crashes lately. My health is poor, and I could not afford the exorbitant costs of the treatment I might need.

I also would not be comfortable in a country that is so happy to allow it’s population to freely carry guns. When I read of the school shootings that happen on an almost weekly basis I cry inside for the loss of the children.

More fears grip me, the lack of safety because vaccination is not encouraged. The levels of measles and bird flu are increasing, but you cannot find out what is happening because many government websites have been deleted or distorted to remove useful information. How can this continue?

No, I don’t think I would dare to visit. It’s strange and threatening to outsiders. It’s not for me, sorry.

Fears

Posted on March 29, 2024March 29, 2024 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Fears, Insomnia, Life, Memories, OK, Sadness, slack, Thinking, Time, Tired, Upset, WorldLeave a comment

Today is a hiding day. Lots of thoughts and fears roaming around the inside of my head. I need to get things done but I don’t feel like doing them. I’m going to give myself some slack, just a few hours to feel safe.

Yesterday I was more optimistic, I got some things done I’d been putting off. I’ve even started my gratitude book again. And later I will go out as the cats won’t have anything to eat if I don’t. But yesterday afternoon something happened that put everything into another perspective. And I just froze. I’m only hinting, I’m not going to say, and I think I will be OK, it was something mental not physical. I’m OK. I will be OK.

Nuclear weapons

Posted on January 18, 2024 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bloganuary, bloganuary-2024-18, Curie, dailyprompt, Disaster, discovery, Fears, Medicine, nuclear bomb, nuclear weapons, Thinking2 Comments

If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

Yes, I know that there are weapons that have as much power as nuclear bombs but they are big and heavy and more difficult to lob at your enemies. I think we should un-invent nuclear weapons.

I would still keep power stations if they were built with safety features that stop incidents like three mile island, chernobyl and fukushima. Mainly because of the horrific damage nuclear material can cause. It’s tasteless and does not smell and you can’t feel it, but it burns and causes cell damage and death.

Sometimes radioactive isotopes are used in medical techniques such as imaging areas affected by tumors or other illnesses. I would keep these substances. I’m glad that the elements were discovered by scientists such as Marie and Pierre Curie, but turning it into bombs was, I believe, a terrible mistake. I realise they ended the second world war but the worry is that mutually assured destruction is still a serious possibility.

Ballooning

Posted on October 11, 2023 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Balloon, Climbing, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2086, Fears, heights, Memory, Nerves, Prompt, Safety4 Comments

What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

Fear of heights and flying have held me back from doing this, but if I knew I would have guaranteed safety, no risk of the balloon suddenly deflating, or getting caught in a gale, or plummeting to earth, I might have a go.

I’d have to be on a tethered line, and maybe not go any higher than ten or twenty feet!

Why am I scared? I suffer from vertigo if my feet leave the ground, so even jumping can make me dizzy (I exaggerate), but I think I know where it stems from.

When I was young I was happy to climb up the outside of the swings or the big slide in the park or the ropes in the school hall. I’d climb to the top and hang upside down. So when I was a teenager and went on a school trip I was fine. But I borrowed some binoculars from the school teacher and climbed up a steep hill. I’d wanted to see the view. BUT, when I tried to climb down it wasn’t as simple. The surface was scree, loose small stones, I could feel the ground sliding away beneath me and I couldn’t use both hands because I was holding onto the binoculars for grim death! I finally got down in a flurry of dust and rough rocks, but I think it shook my confidence, I know from then on I was much more cautious and nervous about heights.

Spiders

Posted on June 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 0spiders, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1957, Environment, Fears, Nature, phobias, Snakes, Wildlife2 Comments

What fears have you overcome and how?

When I was little I would jump and scream if I saw a spider. They scuttle, they crawl, they shake their webs to make it hard to see them.

Then I did biology and found out about them. They have little boxing glove shaped things on their front legs called pedipalps, they have eight eyes, they catch and eat flies and other pests. They come in all shapes and sizes, but British ones are relatively safe and garden spiders are quite interesting to look at with patterns on their backs.

It got to a point where my manager, who was arachnophobic, would ask me to catch spiders if they were in her office! I also like snakes after a wildlife talk at school where they bought some in for pupils to see. I was at a festival today and got to hold a snake. Once you get over the initial fears you can do it.

Spiders and snakes are part of nature, kill off insects and spiders die, if spiders are gone birds have less to eat, and what do snakes eat? Birds and small mammals, soon we would be left with nothing. We need to care….

I don’t go out much

Posted on April 4, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Covid 19, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1896, Death, Fears, Illness, Life, millions, sickbess, Testing2 Comments

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

I still wear a mask when I go in shops, especially supermarkets. I rarely go out except to try and walk a bit to keep myself fit. Sometimes the world seems like an alien place and I feel like I have walled off the world. I have stopped visiting many friends and don’t like going in pubs or places where there are a lot of people. I still have covid testing kits and I try and remember to test once a week, mainly when I go out to choir practice. I have not had covid19 (yet) and I do hope to continue to avoid it, but I think people are forgetting about it, and really it’s not surprising because it isn’t in the news headlines any more. But millions died and millions more have been disabled by it. I’m not going to put my life at risk if I can help it. Stay safe x

Spin

Posted on March 3, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Calm, cease, Fears, Ideas, Life, Mind, Pace, Poem, Poetry, Spinning, Thought, WorriesLeave a comment

Spinning head

Twisting top

My mind rotates

it just won’t stop

Thoughts tumble

Round and round

My thinking fuddled

Worries sound

In my head

All around.

Lots of problems

in the world

Let’s make peace

Speak calm words

And emnity cease.

Renoir

Posted on December 21, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Conversation, Drink, Fears, Food, History, Life, Lunch, Memory, Oil painting, Painting, Renoir, Thinking7 Comments

I just saw a photo of this painting and thought of simpler times. When people could meet in groups, no one wore face coverings, and there was less fear in the world.

The conversation flows, there is gentle banter, there are smiles and laughter. People drink and eat and share food, a mouthful or two of delicious fruit or a compote. Wine and beer, fruit juice and water. The voices murmur, no need to shout through a mask and at a distance. I hope we can go back to more carefree times, but we will have to see. Stay safe. X

Omicron, oh dear

Posted on December 7, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged avoidance, Caution, Choir, Covid, Depression, Fears, how long, Life, omicron, Safety, Thinking, Time, Worry2 Comments

I don’t have the Omicron version of Covid, I did a lateral flow test. But things are getting to me. Mentally I feel run down, fed up, worried, scared even. I don’t want to go out or see people. I missed a few things recently because I’m keeping myself to myself. But I know I’m getting worse. Recent health issues have made me feel more isolated and it’s almost too easy to hide away. Seeing people walking round shops without masks also puts me off….

I will wait and see what happens, but I do think that old addage about discretion is the better part of valour (is that right) might be the phrase that describes how I feel.

Toothache

Posted on August 7, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dentist, Fears, Nervous, Painful, Pandemic, Scared, Toothache, waiting times12 Comments

I’m not happy. Had toothache for a while. Its hard to get into dentists at the moment with waiting times six or eight weeks. Plus I have a fear of them. I’ve been scared since I was a child but I can’t afford not to go. I keep using sensitive toothpaste and mouthwash, but it’s been years since I’ve visited a dentist. My own responsibility. I must sort it out. So I’m not smiling at the moment.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Fears