Esther’s prompt Home

Esther Chiltons weekly prompt was Home.

I’ve posted this to her blog page:

Home
I hear the accent of a fellow midlander and I’m home again. There’s a twang, a sound that I recognise. I tentatively ask them if they will say where they are from. Usually I get a friendly response. Then we discuss where we come from. Either the same town or close by. Memories of town centres, historic areas, parks and zoos. So many things have changed. But hearing a friendly voice takes me back over 40 years to when I left. I can’t go back, my family has all left, homes sold. Only a couple of relatives and friends left and I can’t drive far so it’s out of the question to go. But I’d like to drive down on a nostalgic trip. Some negotiation with friends required as I couldn’t get on a train on my own I don’t think. Anxiety is not a good friend.

Happy New Year in Greek

ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος
eftychisméno to néo étos

A relative recently went to live in Greece. Its not something I would ever consider because I’m never going to get on a plane (phobia of flying) and I’ll never drive there. But that doesn’t stop me from be interested in the language. I’m not going to start learning it, but it is fun to know a few phrases and as there are Greek people in the area I thought it would be polite to learn this. It is also useful to be a singer in a choir that learns music and also languages by repetition. I’m amazed at how many words I know by heart just from singing them. Greek pronunciation is interesting but by reading the translated script and listening to a verbal translation I think I got it. Anyway my relative has now been sent my best wishes for 2023, hopefully in Greek and not Gibberish X

Keeping in touch.

I’ve realised how out of touch I have got with some people. It’s not deliberate, but I’m one of these out of sight, out of mind people. I tend to be aware of things in the ‘now’, and the past is gone. It’s helpful because I don’t dwell on bad things from the past, but on the other hand it makes me forget to keep in touch with old friends. Can you know too many people? I don’t think so. But I can’t hold them all in my head! So my intention is to try and at least say hi once a month…. I need to remind myself to do it…..

What shall I do?

Another ‘almost’ lockdown, a world in turmoil. I just want to ignore it. I can’t stop the world and get off. I want hugs. I could do without being the ‘sensible’ one. I want to just do so many things, go to a gallery, sing in a choir without being on zoom, visit my family, deliver Christmas presents. See my neice and nephew. Visit the seaside… Go on a train….

I wish all of you the chance to do things you really want to do!

Happy New year when it arrives for you!

Late presents…

I need to send some late presents. I didn’t receive my orders until a couple of days before Christmas so it was too late to catch the post to send the presents on. If things had been normal my sister would have come to collect them and taken them with her when she went to visit my other sister. But that wouldn’t work this time. I posted something to a friend well before Christmas and that took ten days to arrive. Goodness knows where it went in the meantime.

Giving presents means a lot to me, I like sharing things with people although I’m not bothered about receiving them. I usually try to fit the present to the person, but this year the things I’ve ordered are a bit more generic. Maybe next year I will be more creative. I hope things get better by then. We are living through a moment of history that cannot be helped but must be endured.

Masks

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From Monday people will have to wear masks in shops here in England. That doesn’t bother me, me and my hubby have both been wearing face coverings of one thing or another since lockdown began.

What does bother me is the outcry against them. A Tory MP tore up his membership card because of it.

Now our Prime Minister is saying it could all be OK by Christmas!

This is after over 45000 deaths that have been attributed to Covid 19 since it arrived here.

I’ve had a couple of family members that have had it. One is still affected a couple of months later. They told me it’s nothing like a touch of flu. That it’s really bad, and they didn’t get it badly.

Now I’ve got one friend telling me it’s all fake, not real, all a conspiracy! Another said she wouldn’t have a vaccination or allow her daughter to have it. Why? Why would you put your granny, or uncle, or child at risk because you don’t believe in a virus? Why would you not wear a mask to protect others?

And why would you not take a vaccine if it was safe? When Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine for Smallpox maybe the people in his day were against it. But why now? How many people are alive today because they were vaccinated. In this age of Fake news we need to use our brains. Not believe the first thing that someone says on the Internet. We need to fact check maybe.

But most of all we need to be safe and wear a mask and wash our hands.

X

Life

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Life is never simple. No matter how hard you try, something will come along and put a spanner in the works, whether it’s ill health, finances, or just bad weather.

If I had money I know I would share it. I would not want to keep it to myself. If I was healthier I would be able to help people more and get fitter. If I had the money I might move into a slightly bigger house, but only enough to fit in more books and paintings.

But it’s just wishes. I doubt that life will change that much. My biggest wish is for health for my relatives and friends. That is my strongest thought. Wishing you all the best.