Most of it!

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

OK, but why?

The Earth is quite a large planet to humans, but it is also a finite place. It doesn’t go on for ever and it has limited resources.

I know there are wonderful places to visit and also terrible places, it depends mainly on human activity. We may preserve a place or tear it apart. Every time a person travels though they have a carbon footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced by the vehicle you travel in, what energy it takes to make it and what is used to fuel the vehicle.

But with satellites, television and the Internet I can visit almost every corner of the world without actually going there. So why should I? I visit places in the UK because it doesn’t cause too much pollution. If I could, I would cycle to where I want to visit. If I want to go abroad I would prefer to use a sailboat or at the most a ferry. I don’t want to fly unless there are solar powered planes.

Another reason not to travel is the fear of disease. There have been films about escaped viruses and diseases, but I never thought I would experience a real pandemic. I guess it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy. I don’t know what I might catch ‘out there’. I am not xenophobic, I’m happy for anyone to come here. I just want people to think first. Do you need to visit, do you want to increase your carbon footprint? It’s a different situation if you are fleeing violence or oppression, then in my opinion you are very welcome. The world is a strange place. I’m lucky to be here.

Five letters

I’m still playing…

Stray, spice, slope…

Wordle got me

Fight, gates, grape….

I hear these words in my head

Trawl, choice, fears….

Saying words that fit the frame

Frame, banes, party….

Driving me madly badly silly

Batty, ratty, tatty…

Some American spellings catch me out

About, spout, trout,

Not the above!

But humour or humor?

But now my mind

Ticks… Tocks… Evoke….

Five letter W. O. R. D. S

Owlish

A small turquoise and blue painting of two owls I painted a few years ago. I want to do a few more like this, semi realistic but with a bit of quirkiness.

I’ve got a small craft table in June and I need to restock my paintings. I’ll post about the craft fair soon.

I’m asking for suggestions for small paintings, ideas for new pictures? These will be matchbox sized or slightly bigger. I need to do some paintings of bees on flowers. I painted giraffes against sunsets. I might add some metallic paint again.

I just want to get going. But I’m a bit blocked mentally at the moment. I look at me easle and think, tomorrow? But that begins tomorrow again…. Life is strange.

Password protected?

A friend has just posted here and the notes with it say the post is password protected. It says go directly to the post.. But when you click on the post it says ‘you are not authorised to view this post’

So how do I view it. I tried to link to his site but it wouldn’t work. Should I post to another of his posts to tell him? I hope he (I’m assuming it’s a he?) sees this and either changes it or posts how to open it?

Lots of questions. I sometimes see posts that you can read but that you cannot ‘like’ I suppose that is fair enough, except its like ghosting yourself? They won’t know if you would like to appreciate their writing.

So anyway, sorry to witter on, you know what it’s like, you just have to ask sometimes!

I’m late!

The white rabbit was at the New Victoria Theatre, artist unknown.

Time, delay, late, always late.

I can’t sleep due to insomnia. So when and if I do sleep I can’t always get up.

So I’m late, it takes me time to get ready, I have the best intentions, but by the time I’m sorted out its sometimes too late to get things done or go somewhere. I do hate it, thank goodness I don’t have early starts at work like I used to.

My car clock broke (I think its mechanical mechanism froze this winter), so I don’t rush to appointments any more, I’m not trying to beat the clock as it isn’t there. I have to try and work the time out by listening to the radio. If the shipping forecast is on I know it’s either very early or late at night!

A hard definition…

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

What flame or glimmer of character makes a person unique? I guess everyone has their own foibles, that could be size or shape, colour or religion or none of the above. If identical twins can have their own thoughts and ideas then everyone has the ability to be unique if they are allowed to be.

Most of all I think it is in the mind that the unique aspect lies, nature versus nurture is the phrase that people use, but life is chaotic, it twists and turns, there may really be a multiverse out there where every step in one direction or another changes the outcome of a person’s life, but some of it has to be down to how they think and react? How else can you explain the diametrically opposite results that can occur in families, or how sometimes similarities between non related people happen? All I can say is its good to be unique!

always an artist

Daily writing prompt
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always drew for as long as I can remember and I knew I wanted to  be an artist. I stuck drawings up on my bedroom walls as I got older, i would copy pictures of Asterix the Gaul, or draw Elizabethan people with ruffs round their necks and wonderful clothing. When the walls got covered I strung string across my side of the bedroom and hung my drawings and paintings on with clothes pegs or sellotape. As I got better at art I was asked to do a painting for one of the deputy head teachers who was retiring. I remember painting portraits of some of my school mates as if they were in the school playground in clothes that would look very old fashioned now. Eventually one of my paintings got sent to a display of childrens art in our twin town in Germany. That was a big highlight of school life. Luckily I got to go to art college, and here I am, still doing art all these decades later!

Rarely

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

If I can help somebody I generally will. I do think about it though. I have gone out late at night and picked up a friend because she missed the last bus home, I have helped people out even though it inconvenienced me. Why? That’s the way I was brought up. Fair shares, kindness, modesty were things that we had drummed into us. Don’t be selfish, don’t be jealous. We were not perfect, but we could see that if you helped others it makes the world a better place. Yes there is a risk of getting ripped off, but I don’t give money away, I’d rather help.

Talking about scams, a man stopped us in the street outside our house. Can you give me the bus fare to a maternity unit several miles away? I have gone to the wrong hospital in this city and my wife has just rung to say she’s having the baby! Instead of offering money I said I would drive him to the right hospital. Needless to say he turned us down! Strangely another man stopped us with the same scenario a year later. I couldn’t resist offering a lift too, and when he said no I asked him if he had a brother who had the same problem a year ago. He walked away…..

Questions?

I’ve started doing the daily prompts on here but I can’t help wondering about giving away information. I’m not the most interesting person in the world, and I don’t want to share stuff that could allow me to be scammed. So I don’t share per names, or relatives names. If anyone did get into my pages they would find I have a separate password for everything. Capital letters, numbers, symbols, long words. So password protected is real in my case.

I do talk about my past life sometimes, but it will be vague, and I try not to identify with definite dates.

The prompts are questions, which I’m not sure I like to answer, and yet they make me think of things that I would not necessarily write about otherwise.