Category Archives: personal

amusements, memes, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 11

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. Struggling for inspiration again some days this week, partly due to this f***ing cold which won’t go away.

Monday 9 September
Tandem, bike and trike,
penny-farthing, bone-shaker:
velocipedes all.

Tuesday 10 September
Absent mindedly
daily haiku forgotten.
Recovering now.

Wednesday 11 September
Sorting cutlery:
steel forks, and silver fish knives,
cake slice and crumb tray.

Thursday 12 September
Peach, grey, silver-gilt;
pale azure blue up beyond.
September sunset.

Friday 13 September
Doubt, lies and bullshit,
uncertainty, confusion.
All have gone cuckoo.

Saturday 14 September
Azure, semé of
cloudlets argent, a chief or.
Flyer’s escutcheon.

Sunday 15 September
Black and white Rosie
cat’s getting rather podgy;
much like the humans.

Here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9 28
10 18
11 26
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

personal, ramblings

Ten Things, September

This year our Ten Things series is focusing on each month in turn. The Ten Things may include facts about the month, momentous events that happened, personal things, and any other idiocy I feel like – just because I can. So here are …

Ten Things about September

  1. Her and my wedding anniversary
  2. Also my late parents wedding anniversary a few days before
  3. Pagan festival of Mabon celebrates the Autumn Equinox
  4. Michaelmas, or the Feast of St Michael & All Angels
  5. My late mother-in-law’s birthday
  6. Meteorological Autumn starts on 1st
  7. Nothing happened in the UK between 3 and 13 September 1752 ‘cos that’s when the UK changed from the old Julian calendar to our current Gregorian calendar
  8. Mop (or Hiring) Fairs occurred during September
  9. Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance (above) takes place on the Monday after 4 September
  10. Great Fire of London 1666
personal

40 Years Ago

2 Comments

Saturday 8 September was a lovely, warm, sunny day – as early September often is. That afternoon, at St Peter’s, Acton Green, Noreen and I were married.

L-R: Victor (Best Man), Maeve (Chief L-in-W), me, Noreen, Meg (L-in-W), Jilly (L-in-W)

The wedding was fairly low-key and quiet; unlike many of today’s extravaganzas: neither Noreen’s mother, nor my parents had much money, and we had none. It was sufficiently low key that we walked to church, early-19th century style – we lived only a couple of hundred yards round the corner – and had the small reception (lots of food, lots of wine; no band/disco) in the church hall.

Although we had known each other for 3-4 years, we’d not met regularly before the previous October when we started going out. We got engaged at New Year, moved into a flat together in the May … and here we were getting married “in under a year”. The omens can’t have been good, especially as we had a fairly rocky first couple of years: both trying to build careers, living in a fairly depressing rented flat, and “negotiating the rules of engagement”.

But here we are 40 years on. Still married; older, maybe wiser, better off; but not as healthy (who is at nearly 70?). To commemorate the day I’ve posted 40 Marriage Quotations on the website.

To this day we have no idea how we’ve achieved it! Every year we look at each other and ask “How did we do it?”. And we still don’t have an answer. Probably we never will. Which could well be why we’re still together 40 years on.

Many and more!

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 10

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. It’s been quite a challenge again this week.

Monday 2 September
Moist misty mornings
with wind-blown wafts of wood smoke.
Autumn’s ambiance.

Tuesday 3 September
Today will be tough,
I’m struggling to get going.
Alarm clock strikes back.

Wednesday 4 September
Sanshin and sitar,
bagpipe and digeridoo:
music makers all.

Thursday 5 September
Cough, cough, bugger off,
stop me coughing up my lungs.
Intercostal hurts.

Friday 6 September
Brain and body strike
for better working conditions
without cold abuse.

Saturday 7 September
The Apparition,
head tucked under her arm,
walks abroad for ever.

Sunday 8 September
Tree vital for life:
climate change regulator,
balancing carbon.

Here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9 28
10 18
11  
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 9

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge.

Monday 26 August
In postprandial
balmy twilight, sitting out.
But where are the bats?

Tuesday 27 August
Chattering, London
Historians, enjoying
yearly lunch party.

Wednesday 28 August
Girls in skimpy shorts,
pelmet skirts, crop tops, no tops.
It’s what summer’s for.

Thursday 29 August
Government holding
democracy to ransom.
Civil war looms large.

Friday 30 August
Thick of head and brain,
full of snot and sore of throat.
Cauldron of head cold.

Saturday 31 August
Disturbed by dreams.
Why such poor sleep when unwell?
Better sleep tonight?

Sunday 1 September
Wakefulness falters.
An afternoon nap beckons.
Much better after.

And here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9 28
10  
11  
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 8

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge.

Monday 19 August
A small brown shell moth
rests on the bathroom ceiling.
Not good camouflage.

Tuesday 20 August
Once upon a time,
deep in historical mists,
the story was born.

Wednesday 21 August
So where am I now?
Three words will tell exactly
anywhere on Earth.

Thursday 22 August
Dreams that disturb sleep.
Dreams with many-layered plots.
Strange Byzantine dreams.

Friday 23 August
The optician
rechecks my visual fields.
Dots before the eyes.

Saturday 24 August
Berry fruits and plum,
nectarine, cherry brandy.
Summer fruit salad.

Sunday 25 August
Sweaty textile hell.
Be brave, go nude, why care so?
Comfort over style.

And here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
Written
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28
8 24
Week Haiku
Written
9  
10  
11  
12  
13  
14  
15  


Next instalment, next Sunday.

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 7

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge.

Monday 12 August
State registered
geriatric, so I am.
Have granny bus pass.

Tuesday 13 August
Sixteen sixty-six
fire destroyed London town.
Sadly rebuilt by Wren.

Wednesday 14 August
Friends talking travel
to mysterious places
I’ll never visit.

Thursday 15 August
Four women and me
drink together in the pub.
The lone male survives?

Friday 16 August
Touch is medicine.
Deep tissue massage is good,
if uncomfortable.

Saturday 17 August
Little Jacky Horner,
just so quiet in his corner,
enjoys pinching bums.

Sunday 18 August
Outside the window
bright coloured fluttering:
Jersey Tiger moth.

And here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27
7 28

More next week.

amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 6

Here’s this week’s update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. (BTW this is the SFW version.)

Monday 5 August
Sunday, oh Sunday,
why always so full of work?
Please adjust God’s week!

Tuesday 6 August
Evening shower,
fresh laundered bed linen.
So sensual again.

Wednesday 7 August
Teenage skin complaint:
acne is not the acme
nearing seventy.

Thursday 8 August
Outside the town hall
a street tree, dusty and green.
Rain soon refreshes.

Friday 9 August
Reclines on the bed
bemoaning lack of TV.
Old stuffed tiger.

Saturday 10 August
Windy day, so strange;
driving rain and sunshine too.
August unravels.

Sunday 11 August
Bounding along twigs
putting circus acts to shame.
Daredevil squirrel.

And here’s the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26
6 27

More next week.

personal, ramblings

Ten Things, August

This year our Ten Things series is focusing on each month in turn. The Ten Things may include facts about the month, momentous events that happened, personal things, and any other idiocy I feel like – just because I can. So here are …

Ten Things about August

  1. Pagan festival of Lammas (Lughnasadh)
  2. Summer bank holiday on last Monday (for most of the UK)
  3. UK School holidays and family holiday time
  4. Grouse shooting opens on the Glorious Twelfth
  5. The month was renamed in honour of Roman Emperor Augustus
  6. Edinburgh Festival
  7. Royal National Eisteddfod
  8. Notting Hill Carnival
  9. 27th is the official date when Julius Caesar invaded Britain
  10. Feast of the Assumption
amusements, personal, pleasures

100 Days of Haiku, Episode 5

Another weekly update on my 100 Days of Haiku challenge. Inspiration and creativity continue to to be in short supply – I’m not good at either, and that’s the point: to try to improve. Anyway, here’s this week’s daily selection.

Monday 29 July
The rain it raineth
every day – not always here,
it just feels that way.

Tuesday 30 July
Disappearances:
Mysterious? Oh really?
Bermuda Triangle.

Wednesday 31 July
Wild boar. Friend or foe?
Millions of disease vectors
but lots of paté.

Thursday 1 August
Willow tree, so green,
is the paint upon the wall.
Dining room is done.

Friday 2 August
Recently mown grass.
Crows hunting amongst the hay.
Lone cedar stands guard.

Saturday 3 August
Housefly, nuisance fly
buzzing around our bedroom.
Magazine scored.

Sunday 4 August
Mary’s lamb is little.
Mary’s lamb is snowy white.
But there’s no dwarves here.

And the tally of progress by week:

Week Haiku
1 16
2 28
3 33
4 26
5 26

More next week.