Farewell

Posted on February 22, 2022February 23, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Covid, demolished, Gone, Photo, Police, reduced numbers, Thinking, twenty thousandLeave a comment

This was our local police station, now its being knocked down! What a waste of resources. No doubt they will build a block of apartments. Our city used to have about seven police stations including a headquarters. Police could get to crime scenes or incidents quickly. Now they are miles away. A few years ago the government removed twenty thousand police jobs. Suddenly they decided they wanted to recruit twenty thousand again. Where do they go? What a strange situation. Its a bit like getting rid of all restrictions for Covid which the government are currently doing. Will they, after a few months, have to bring them back again. I wonder how much money they are wasting and how many lives they might devastate by removing the police and relaxing the rules?

Information!

Posted on February 21, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Computers, confidential, Emails, Information, Life, modern life, PDF, Thinking, TimeLeave a comment

You get an email. We need this information, we must have this document. Please send a PDF of your certificate. Please fill in the form marked exhibit B!

Well it feels like that. I’m trying to find bits of information that I haven’t seen for thirty years! It’s just part of our modern life. Everything is online. But what happens if you don’t have it or are not totally expert in it. I’ve transferred PDFs but can’t find them now….

I rang up. Yes of course you can post the information in to us! Phew. My hubby never uses our computer. So I’m his secretary. Better than having it thrown out of the window!

Alien life?

Posted on February 20, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abominable snowman, Alien, Digital drawing, Fun, Ideas, Sketching, Thinking2 Comments

Mammal? Ursine, bearlike, white faced, snowy coat. Is there an abominable snowman? An alien creature or a hidden anthopoid ancestor? Related to the mythical Big foot? Could something survive in hidden valleys up in the mountains? Living in caves. Quiet and intelligent. Their furry bodies insulated against the cold. Would melting glaciers and snow force them higher and higher? Their camouflaged bodies keeping them hidden from the increasing population of mountaineers and walkers encroaching on their space.

A digital drawing of an imagined creature. Making up a history and biology of it is interesting but I don’t have the skills to really write it.

Cat toy on a mat

Posted on February 19, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black cat, Cat, Life, lost toy, Mat, Memory, merrythought tortoise, Raffle, Thinking, Toy cat2 Comments

Found my old cat toy while tidying up today. I will balance him on the back of the sofa but I couldn’t resist putting him on my old mat. Then I played with the texture to emphasise the fake fur on him. He has a gold tartan ribbon. I think I got him to go with a ‘merrythought’ tortoise soft toy that I won in a raffle years ago. That’s missing too, but I only just realised that because they are linked together in my mind.

Now my cats have come in. They want food! The toy cat has one advantage, it doesn’t need feeding!

Summer house doorway

Posted on February 7, 2022 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Black ink fine line pen, Cat, Feelings, Garden, Life, Sad, Summerhouse, Thinking, Tuxedo cat, Urban sketchingLeave a comment

May 2020. This is an urban sketch because its ouside drawn in real time. I’m pleased with some of the details I added, like our plastic garden chair with the cut out curves in the back. When I sat and drew our then outside cat sitting by the summerhouse door. I haven’t been in the summer house much since then. I guess things got to me a bit. I didn’t shake then… I need to start feeling like I can be less isolated. But because my balance isn’t as good I always feel like I might tumble over. My hubby is good at leaving things in the way and I’m rubbish at bending over to move them. How did I get like this? It’s easier to hide away in the house. I need to try and sort myself out, but just getting doctors appointments is difficult. Anyway enough feeling sorry for myself. X

Light in the sky

Posted on February 6, 2022February 7, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ceramics, Creative, Factory, Fumes, History, Industrial, Memory, Sky, Stoke-on trent, Thinking, tyre factory, WeatherLeave a comment

Half past five in the evening and the clouds scud by. There’s still light in the sky but the rain showers keep pounding the windows. I love the newly washed look of the air. Almost sparkling. When I came here forty years ago there was far more heavy industry in the area. Smoke and dust polluted the air. A smog sometimes settled over the city and you could smell the fumes from the tyre factory or enamel being fired onto pottery if the wind was in the right direction. Now the wind is more a carrier of sound. The local A road and the motorway. The occasional sound of pile drivers when new buildings are erected, which is not very often. Sometimes smoke travels on the forlorn breeze as an old building accidentally burns down. So sad. So much bustle gone. We are a warehouse city of poorly paid jobs. No real chances. No ambition if the naysayers are believed. I think we can do better. Think creative, be creative. Let a bit of light shine on us. X

Black and white cat

Posted on February 5, 2022 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, Food, Fun, Humour, jellicles, Life, Purr, Thinking, time tuxedo cat, tuna2 Comments

Finds a seat, on anything, climbs net curtains, is lovable, purrs, attacks toes, eyes are bright, eats what it likes. Ignores consequences, follows its own path, pees in the bath, doesn’t know maths. Can eat its own bodyweight in tuna. Dances with wolves? No with kitties! By the light of the moon. Jellicles is a nickname. Fleas are to blame for its itches. Cats mighty have intellects, especially when it comes to food, sleep, and love.

Missing friends

Posted on February 2, 2022February 2, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Died, Facebook, Instagram, Memories, Missing, passed on, Thinking, Time, WordPress7 Comments

The trouble with blogging is that you make friends and then after a while they might disappear. Suddenly they go into the fog of the Internet. It’s not clear if something has happened to them or if they have just left. Thankfully people do write and say they are going sometimes. That’s not as bad. But it leaves a hole in your life when you’ve got used to reading their words. You can go back and look at previous posts but it’s not the same. Or you can find them on other platforms. I remember finding someone on Instagram after they had left here. But a few months later they left there as well.

It’s also a shock when after losing touch with people over the years you find out they have died. It happened last weekend, someone I had known for a while had passed away. I asked her husband how she was and he said she had died two years ago. He said everyone in the town knew she had passed away. I had to explain that I don’t live in that town so had not found out. I was so sad to have discovered she was gone.

The worst thing I think is Facebook memories. Someone who has died will suddenly appear on a memory. Or their birthday will show up. It can be disturbing. There should be a memorial button. A way of closing an account without erasing them. Meanwhile. If I decide to leave WordPress I will try and remember to let people know. X

My messy chair

Posted on January 31, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Anxiety, Art, Canvas, Dragon, Is it art?, mojo, Mugs, Painting, Pallette, Sketch book, Thinking, Tidy upLeave a comment

Instead of an easle I prop a stand up in a chair. But sometimes it becomes a bit of a dumping ground. Empty mug, started to colour a canvas, pallette, brushes and tissues and a mug for water. Sketchbook with a zebra Dragon idea. I need to start painting but I have no get up and go. Tidy up and start, or worry and prevaricate. I don’t know. I need to do something soon. Maybe it’s these dark days that are getting to me? I need my mojo back….

Moon closer?

Posted on January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged disaster movie, Distance, Earth, Film, Instagram, Life, Moon, Orbit, Sci fi, Thinking1 Comment

There’s a new film out about the Moon getting a lot closer to the Earth. Its by the same director as ‘Independence day’ and ‘the day after tomorrow’ I think?

There is also a video on Instagram showing the Moon closer and instead of being tidaly locked with the Earth (one face always towards us), it’s shown wobbling irregularly.

Thinking about it I wondered what would happen. Unless it was hit by something very large it wouldn’t move closer to us. But if it did I think we would have massive tides and earthquakes. The land rises as the moon passes over it. The question is how close does the video or film represent? The closer, the worse the effects. I know the moon is slowly moving away by a few centimeters a year, its been measured with a laser fired at mirrors left on its surface by the Apollo missions. If it was knocked away the Earth’s tilt would become worse and our spin unstable. Either way not good news…

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Thinking