Lockdown being lifted?

Posted on May 28, 2020May 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Concerned, Ending lockdown, Is it safe?, Life, Lockdown blues, Mask, Meeting in a garden, Six people, Stay safe, Stress, Thinking, Worry2 Comments

I’m going to keep my distance and still wear a mask.

The latest in the UK is that from Monday six people can gather in a garden as long as they keep two meters distance. You can even use the bathroom as long as you thoroughly clean the toilet and wash your hands.

So that will be everyone running round looking for barbecue charcoal and burgers. Buying beer. Drinking, hugging, having a laugh. It’s already happening near us. A closed public house has people meeting in their beer garden. Hidden behind a fence, but you can hear four or five people laughing and joking. No I’m not against fun! Please don’t think that. But there are a lot of vulnerable people about…

One, asymptomatic or presymptomatic person meets five friends, they share a beer or three. The next day he visits his mate and the mates elderly parents in their garden. Then he pops down to the shop for some food for tomorrow’s barbie. He doesn’t bother about keeping apart, he’s relaxed because he’s been able to meet friends and relatives, different people on each day.

Barbecue day arrives, the sun is shining, but our friend feels under the weather. He’s got a bit of a fever and a dry cough. His partner is cooking breakfast but he can’t smell it. He decides to dial 111 (our health telephone line), and is told to book a test. He needs to drive himself to the test center, which is forty miles away, or they will post him a kit out. Eventually it arrives, but he’s too ill, his partner has started feeling under the weather and they are worried about their parents.

Track and Trace can’t find out all the contacts because of the number of people involved.

So I’m keeping a distance and wearing a mask. It may not be much of a defence.

Stay safe

I loved drawing horses.

Posted on May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Animal, Art, Constrained, Digital art, Digital colouring by numbers, Digital drawing, Horse, Idea, Painting by numbers, Sketchfu, ThinkingLeave a comment

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Probably drawn around 2011 or 2012. Drawn at sketchfu. There was something very satisfying about being able to draw what you want, and not being constrained by ‘colouring book’ style websites where you add pre selected colours and everyone’s pictures are the same except for the speed you do them. I am on one of those sites, and although it’s good to see what the image turns out to be, it’s really just like painting by numbers, except you can’t go mad and add different colours to jarring effect.

In fact what I might do is buy some painting by numbers kits when all this is over, and fill them in with different colours, just neatly completed, or try and do a time-lapse film of it.

Ideas….

I’m sure other artists have already thought of this….

New Editor?

Posted on May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, Change, Confused, Don't change the editor?, Don't understand, Don't want this, New editor, Thinking, What is it?, Why?, WordPress4 Comments

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Has anyone else seen notices on WordPress about a new editor being released? I’m just about OK with the classic editor, and I don’t like the Gutenberg one. Is that the right name for it? Anyway, I am confused. Is the new editor a brand new one or the Gutenberg one? There are posts saying get ahead with it. There were previous ones last year about ‘levelling up’. But I’m not a revolutionary sort of person. I don’t need change every year. Let me use the basic skills I have as a slightly older writer. Don’t force unnecessary change on me. Please.

Solstice

Posted on May 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Hemispheres, Life, Light, Moon, Poem, Poetry, Solstice, Space, Summer, Sun, Thinking, Time, WinterLeave a comment

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As the year waxes and wanes,

as time passes,

light rises and falls.

Life comes and goes,

hearing bird song, then silence.

Summer solstice,

the world is warm,

but days will shrink and shrivel.

Winter solstice,

the promise of warmth,

locked in ice,

day lengthens, nights slowly shrink.

North and South

seasons, polar opposites.

Hot in one hemisphere,

cold in the other.

Unless, near the equator,

seasons are less obvious,

No frozen wastes here.

World floating in space,

around Sol, the Sun, our star,

Earth tipped at an angle,

anchored by moon,

held in mutual gravity

Eternal?

Saving an economy?

Posted on May 13, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blogging, economy, Environment, Greed, Green growth, HS2, Life, Thinking, Time, Trident2 Comments

IMG_20200416_154522_428 What is life worth? when will we see the green shoots of growth?

I’ve seen discussions on line to cancel the trident nuclear deterrent and maybe HS2, which is a high speed railway line that could take you from Leeds to London twenty minutes faster. These are huge projects in Britain that have been voted for by the government. But surely we should spend the money we have on improving the environment? Think about it. After all, people can hold on line meetings now instead of commuting. The work day could be 9 till 5, no more early starts and late finishes because of travelling to work and kids will get to see more of their parents. And why would we want to bomb people? The virus is causing enough deaths as it is.

When you think about it, the world has had a chance to rest. So instead of going back to normal, chasing greed and growth, let’s give ourselves a chance and a rest.

Argument

Posted on May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Argument, Blocked, Disagree, Rude, Sharing, Social media, Swearing, Thinking6 Comments

What do you do when someone asks you to share something on social media and you disagree?

So you message back to say you cannot share it, the idea is wrong, it’s based on fake news. You attempt to say no politely, and point out reasons why you can’t agree.

The person messages back and after some patronising thoughts, swears at you.

You come back with more information from a reliable source. Another abusive reply.

I’ve known this person for several years. I have never been spoken to in that way by the person before. My thoughts are they must strongly believe what they are saying. They must care or they wouldn’t share. But what they are asking me to pass on makes no sense. After another exchange where they were rude and patronising again…

I blocked them.

What?

Posted on May 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ear, Listening, News, Poem, Poetry, Relax, Rest, Rhyme, ThinkingLeave a comment

What did I hear?

What did you say?

So many rumours fly this way..

What someone thought

What myth revealed?

What does this days news report ?

Breaking stories,

The fakes are out

Telling us all in loud shout.

The world is ending

Or soon will fall,

Is there nothing

To do at all?

Step back,

Breathe deeply

Take a break,

Switch off your phone,

Some news IS fake.

Instead you should

Go rest and sleep.

Maybe tomorrow

Sense will seep

Into your mind

Into your dreams

“Hope springs eternal”

It now seems.

I wish I was….

Posted on April 28, 2020April 28, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Danger, Health, Hoping, Ideas, Luck, Poem, Poetry, Poverty, Sad, Thinking, Thought, Values, WishingLeave a comment

Dancing at a barn dance,

putting up an exhibition,

displaying art on my craft stall.

Walking along the canal,

cycling through the countryside,

taking tea at a posh teashop.

Visiting a castle,

looking out to sea,

feeling the wind in my hair.

I’m glad I’m not

suffering from hunger,

hiding from bombs,

frightened and missing my family.

Too poor to buy medicine,

and all the time oppressed.

I may wish for things,

but I’m lucky to have things.

Feeling lonely

Posted on April 25, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Alone, Blank verse, Lonely, Memory, Poem, Poetry, Thinking, Thought, Time4 Comments

I’m tired

A bit lonely,

I have company,

But it isn’t easy.

I should ring you

I should speak,

But I hesitate,

I wait.

And all alone,

But yet, together,

My mind is caught,

My brain is baffled.

My shoulders tight.

I am alone,

In the end,

All alone.

Lonely.

Being isolated.

Posted on April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Discussion, Isolation, Talking, Thinking, Thought, Virus, WordsLeave a comment

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That feeling of being trapped, a prisoner. But should that be our first feeling? In these weird times we can use ideas to try and cope. I’ve been talking to a friend, and I said that I thought being enclosed in a home is more akin to being a priest or a nun. Let me explain. I don’t mean in a religious way exactly. But if your home is safe, then it’s like being closed off from the rest of the world. Even to the extent that some people became hermits. Clearly this is not out of choice. But the point is you don’t have to feel imprisoned.

Yes it’s frustrating. I would really like to go to a restaurant or a pub or go out for a walk. And because I can’t go out I think about it more. But it is a temporary situation. It’s bad, but it’s not going to harm me to stay home. Stay safe.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Thinking