so it's Christmas day now I've never really liked Christmas sorry have I #survived It's been surprisingly good we went to the beach of course I couldn't get Nevil Shute's on the beach novel out my head and the TS Elliot quote from The Waste Land this is how the world ends not with a.. #vss365

when I was young I would #shoot pinball I would love it never quite a Pinball Wizard ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball do you remember The Who it was my anthem from Soho down to Brighton I must've played them all do you remember the song the deaf, dumb and blind kid.. #vss365

we have a new neighbour she has a Persian cat called #Jumpa she's very beautiful with big grey eyes the birds in our garden are wary when she's about well she is a predator understandable but she is a sort of house cat in the main not out much I hear the blackbird sigh with relief #vss365

I asked my prof what caused #Saturn's rings he hesitated for a moment then spoke an icy moon or comet got too close and passed what we call the Roche limit where Saturn's immense gravity ripped it apart data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft... I kept my eyes open but I wasn't awake zzzz #vss364

as a child I would get strange gasping seizures when I got into a #fight as I got older I did all sorts of martial things even boxed but in my heart I had no wish to overcome or beat others it's better to just pray or meditate I try and tame the wild monkey that is your mind breathe #vss365

when I worked I became a bit full of myself but over time I began to realise that being #humble was the best way for me anyway #vss365

now #gratitude is a big thing being grateful for our body our lungs and heart eyes brain mind for food and shelter the list becomes long so long friends enemies lovers children gratitude bursting out of a fountain #vss365

#regrets I've had a few that old Frank Sinatra lyric I remember a presentation at a conference where the slides were lines from My Way It was a very good one but me I try not to dwell on regrets but always think do better that's it really regret and dwelling on it doesn't do you good #vss365

Arnold Swarznegger in Total #Recall was a masterpiece before he became an A lister Douglas Quaid's seemingly ordinary life takes an extraordinary turn based on Philip Dick's 1968 novel to which it's faithful incredible script and direction that holds up over time there's something.. #vss365

our neighbour had #memory problems then she had this big surgical procedure which put her into delirium which made her memory problems worse she's a lot better now thank goodness was I writing something to do with a neighbour anyhow she had this big operation oh I told you #vss365

one of the Church ladies came up to me the other day and said you a bit of a #boho I laughed replying free spirited yes individual yes but I am a conformist conservative with a small c so that was the end of that conversation she walked off in a sort of huff I shrugged walking on #vss365

when I trained it was somewhat #monotonous repetition upon repetition of basic movements for hours on end that was then but now I prefer mantras listening to them or chanting them it sounds monotonous but it's not it's strange isn't it #vss365

we had reached our #apogee of the planet x15 of our catalogue as far as our sensors could discern there was plenty of life down there obviously some tech ability as we were being monitored friendly or unfriendly we thought till atomic rockets started to come unfriendly then #vss365

so I never found out who my #successor was after I retired probably because I'd been ill prior to leaving first a nasty norovirus then complications because of it I turned off from work for what it's worth not really wanting to see old colleagues but the years have passed miss it no #vss365

#illicit unlawful illegal you get the drift if you do it's behind closed doors in the garage or attic out in the woods you know the score if you do it might be in the pub with the dodgy geezer with wads of notes stuffed in his pockets you know the tricks don't you good time bad time #vss365

the only time I ever came first in class at School was a religious education task writing an essay on belief in God I came across it the other day in my late Mothers papers she'd kept it all those years a teenagers view on religion I remember the crowd smarts my #consolation class prize #vss365

my first wife was an #artist she painted oils watercolours gouache litho I loved her work but the art world the fickle lover she suffered at the end so much and during covid like the perfect storm we divorced much earlier but I always cared for her and wrote a poem for her funeral #vss365

does our land places we live hold some sort of predictive #augury the flight of birds are they trying to tell us something the blackbird in our garden waits for me at dusk for the porridge I put out every day I mean to ask him what my fortune will be today but I always forget don't I #vss365

I liked the music of #Chic Le Freak an invocation to dance turned away on New Years eve from Studio 54 in 1977 the lyricists Nile Rodgers Bernard Edwards wrote this massive hit a revenge song getting back at the dance club Le Freak c'est chic Le Freak c'est chic Le Freak c'est chic #vss365

I was brought up to be #chivalrous no everybody likes it though I stopped to help a disabled man cross the street with many cars passing I'm perfectly able to cross the road myself he said I like to open the door for anyone let them go first many's the time they've made me go first #vss365

I had a professor of Philosophy for a term or two but was #aphotic there was a darkness in me that I was unaware of so we talked about Descartes and Hume and JS Mill but I was young and stupid the story of many a life but then as an old man I realised the treasure that I had been given #vss365

I said to Hillary do you think I'm #suave well she said sometimes you can be polite charming not really sophisticated no it comes from Latin meaning sweet and pleasant you try maybe too much she said now look at Johnny captain of the 1st 15 he's suave 55 years later and I wonder #vss365

some people say this is the #last days of us humans the end is nigh they cry maybe it is maybe it isn't who knows it's the first day of Advent today the first candle stands for hope none of us hope for that final judgement do we we just try our best day by day and then life's over live on #vss365

I was feeling the strain yesterday competing demands on my time as a volunteer it felt as if my #health was at risk but I'm still here writing every day just a little then the big poem appears and I'm amazed others too all those little neurons connecting but yesterday rage #vss365

and so it was #learning that my career was built on and now retired it is learning that my volunteering is built on we met as a group last night and he led us a younger man who had a vision of where we should be we listened I had a glass of water others tea we debated and planned #vss365

and so we headed South for the funeral I read my #reflection on his young life tripping slightly on the podium like all the other speakers bar his daughter I watched the front row of those mourners knowing their pain I was present feeling the pain but my tears had passed weeks before #vss365

the last of the SMART targets is #timed but often the correct timing is dependent on others and them completing their tasks projects on time timing also applies to when to say something finding the right time can be difficult #vss365

what is #achievable if you're a mother wanting to save her only child almost anything lifting a car hard to believe but true for you and me it's more difficult based on ability and motivation perhaps genetic disposition but the new wave was only interested in the mantra sad #vss365

what's the second part of a SMART target my colleague Geoff asked moronic I said sarcastically he didn't laugh he was one of the new breed of new managers who talked about our professional service being more robust #measureable he scorned I remember the year our service went down yup #vss365

don't get me wrong there's a time and place for #specific targets but it all came from the States didn't it I remember all those management techniques appearing but it was just job creation for the designers wasn't it everyone knew it glad I'm retired don't have to worry no more #vss365

so you see something time to take #action you smell something time to take action you hear something time to take action you touch something time to take action you taste something time to take action I'm thinking time to take action some things will pass but if life at risk yup #vss365

I new a young person who loved clubbing when she met potential partners she talked about #options keeping them open I never really understood what she meant but she took her clubbing seriously I never asked her to elaborate I felt those options were a private matter so that was that #vss365

what is #reality sounds seeing hearing touching tasting thinking not really sure are you good I'm glad #vss365

I know I have #issues I said to Hillary like what she said well really expressing how I feel about you I continued I'm sorry she said I go for much sportier boys with a touch of cleverness I didn't know how to reply I just wished the world would swallow me up in that moment #vss365

we're flying South on Friday for a funeral a sudden death #transported upwards I'm reading one of my poems go gently #vss365

#science yes I studied it a lot but was never really a scientist so that's that I worked as a community worker for 30+ years social engineer some say we built communities helped people help themselves educated them empowered them and so on it didn't end well #vss365

can you remember your NI #number if not move to section 2 can you remember your phone number backwards if not move to section 3 can you remember the last four PMs' if not move to section 4 can you remember what you had for breakfast and if you say porridge dial the emergency number 999 #vss365

I said to Hillary you know the word #myth I always think it almost sounds like miss as in our English teacher myth campbell I laughed to myself Hillary looked at me in that dismissive way she sometimes does I'm not laughing she said #vss365

what is the #measure of the man woman child whatever their description that lay down their life for another not necessarily in uniform they are our heroes remembrance sunday was busy in our little village it poured with rain a baptism of the willing but we are not as cold as they #vss365

So I ask Hillary is Julius Caesar #literature written in 1599 it dramatises the political conspiracy and the assassination of the dictator Caesar followed by Civil War most definitely literature she concluded mm I said what's your favourite line from it you're boring me now go she said #vss365

I'm old school always supporting the #law at school I'd always be respectful of teachers police officers and anyone else in authority teachers were called Mr, Sir, Mrs, Ma'am, Ms nope Police Officers PC or WPC you'd be in real trouble from Mum if the Police came knocking at the door #vss3656

I was much better at Science than #English at School although I dreamt of great success at writing wasn't to be or not to be beware the ides of March nope no #vss365

the #history of the planet earth is all speculation were we a blob that came from the sun or did we come from somewhere else astronomers don't know physicists don't know the matter in earth knows and maybe there is some special mass spectrometer that knows there is that's fine then #vss365

so I wasn't great at #geography when I got my first job my old geography teacher was a councilor having retired from teaching we got on really well I had to confess to him that my best mark for a class test was due to the fact that my best friend had already sat the test he laughed #vss365

I never wanted to be #famous did I I'm quite happy to be in the background working away quietly following others let them lead the way #vss365

Oh gosh my #education is still going on Spanish now I've studied science maths philosophy psychology computing but languages have been difficult at school my report card always said I should give up French but I got a tutor who came once a week to help me I passed my exam hooray #vss365

I grew up with all sorts of animals mostly livestock non really #domesticated when lambs were born a bit blue they would be put on the warming shelf of our Aga to help them live the dogs slept in the scullery and ate porridge and left overs the geese would chase me as a small boy #vss365

what am I some sort of #creature that inhabits our planet what am I do I have a soul what am I am I a result of certain conditions all coming together what am I who am I why do I live hold me close just now kiss me for I feel lost in this uncertain world #vss365

I worked for the local authority for 30 years initially as a youth worker then as a top secret it's nobody's #business youth work was great got me out of a depression playing football listening to all their problems taking them places proper adolescents then on the street talking #vss365

I'm turning Into an old fogey #halloween in my day we didn't do much scraped out a neep pumpkins we'd never heard of them now it's plastic witches cobwebs gouls ghosts enter at your own risk guising we didn't do much now it's American Express (although nobody takes that now) #vss365