Journal Entries
Another beautiful city.
Posted Oct 24, 2023
Back from visiting my youngest in Bordeaux.
What a beautiful place! Lovely people.
Had a drive around wine country too .
Thought I'd taken around eighty photos, erm, make that 700!
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Latest reply: Oct 24, 2023
Balance Sucks!
Posted Aug 11, 2023
I've decided to write a story while I'm off injured (again).
About a guy who suffers every time he does good. The greater the good deed, the worse the outcome for him.
But as a *Child of the Light* (thanks DG) he can't stop himself from getting involved.
I mean, most of us would help a stranger, even if we knew there'd be painful consequences...
Wouldn't we?
Balance Sucks. Part 1.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
A question spanning time, throughout mythologies and religions, there's always been some poor schmuck asking, "Why me?*
Here's the answer, simply put:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I'm sure Isaac bloody Newton never knew the full cosmic implications of his Law.
Forget physics and science. This simple fact encompasses everything. All of creation, the whole of Everything.
Yin and Yang, Darkness and Light, Good and Evil, fish and chips.. (OK, OK, not fish and chips) .. everything in every Universe needs to be balanced. (Although, I suppose even a good meal needs balance, so maybe fish and chips count too?)
But Balance, my friends, and here's another unbendable, irrefutable, Law - Balance sucks!
Totally, undeniably, infinitely sucky.
OK, forget Newton, it's more like "No good deed goes unpunished*.
Take yesterday.
One minute I'm standing there, enjoying a nice chat with workmates. The usual, unoriginal, but heartfelt, remarks about last month.
Echoes of many, many other events. Always the same. I wish they'd stop. Know what's coming. As I said, Balance sucks.
Hand shaken, back patted.
"Well done mate, don't think I could've done that! "
"Deserve a bloody medal, deffo would've died without you being there!*
"Can't believe they treated you like that, you're a bloody hero for God's sake!"
The next thing, I hear this horrible bang, the crumpling of metal, shattering glass, and the unmistakable snapping of bone.
Actually heard it, actually thought, "Oooh, that sounds nasty!"
Then I'm sailing through the air, stuff flying out of my pockets all over the bloody road, landing on one knee, arms outstretched, head bowed, like some bloody cheesy Marvel superhero in a yellow hi-viz!
Then I realise, through all that pain and blood, adrenalin and twisted metal, that it hurts when I breathe...actually, it just hurts.
And all I can say, when the cops arrive, the one thing that pops into my head...
"Why do I bloody bother?"
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Latest reply: Aug 11, 2023
A St George's Day memory from 7 years ago!
Posted Apr 23, 2021
Firstly Happy St Georges Day and a happy may or may not be your birthday to Mr Shakespeare!
I am proud to call myself an Englishman, I’m also proud of my Irish, Viking, and Celtic roots, however, we as a mongrel race fall way behind the other melting pots of the world when it comes to one thing: admitting we’re actually quite good at something. Modesty is one thing “In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility”, but do we have to be so all the time?
I was called ‘wretchedly humble’ the other day when I laughed off a compliment about a piece of writing. A piece I was quite pleased with too, so why the modest stillness and humility? What stops us accepting a compliment and admitting our successes?
One only has to look at sporting events, winners from everywhere else are eager to tell the pundits how fantastic they are or pose for adoring crowds, one finger raised to admit ‘Yes, look at me I am the best!’
English champions however tend to state any victory was all down to the team, the backroom boys and girls, lady luck or just that the other side were having a particularly bad day.
‘Good job’, ‘Way to go’ and ‘Good on ya mate’ are shunned by the English, we prefer ‘Lucky sod’, ’spawny git’ or simply an awkward silence and profuse blushing whilst we shuffle to the back of a crowd hoping the ground will swallow us up.
Maybe it’s down to a national shame that we once had a vast empire built on thievery and slavery and we don’t like to draw too much attention to our links with the green and pleasant land? Maybe we’ve been watered down so much since Churchill’s days we’ve forgotten our true national identity, what other nation can let its neighbours have their own parliaments and national assemblies, but not possess one of their own? Even our national flag can’t be waved nowadays without worries about links to the far right.
Maybe it is time to “show us here the mettle of your pasture. Let us swear that you are worthy of your breeding, which I doubt not”?
So Happy 23rd and to Elektragheorgheni, thank you very much, it is a good piece! (even for an Englishman!)
And, no, I can't remember what I was referring to back then! 
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Latest reply: Apr 23, 2021
Soul Searching - while I'm stuck in electronic limbo!
Posted Apr 20, 2021
Funny old things, souls I mean, most happy (eager even) to move on. Tiny sparks joining the Great River of Light that flows constantly around us. No end , no beginning, just eternally there.
The Great River, Father, Mother, Home.
But, and here's the funny bit, what about those who drag their metaphorical feet?
There are roughly (and it's still being debated, before you start an argument!) 30 of us for every single person alive today. That's around 210 billion dearly departed.
From cavemen to David Bowie, quite a mix.
Most join the River. Still, that's a lot of us left wandering around for eternity. Simply put, the world is bloody chocker block with ghosts!
Most of the living can be divided into two main camps, the Faithful and the Faithless.
Wander around any church, mosque, temple, stone circle, etc, etc, there's millions of the poor things trudging around, waiting for the shaft of light, or the heavenly choir, or a Valkyrie escort. (insert heavenly vision of your choice here)
Sad thing is, it's not coming any time soon, that ship has sailed my friends, you chose to dawdle, you choose to hang around these places, trudging and hoping. Refusing to accept any Afterlife but the one you'd always imagined, artists and writers have a lot to answer for on that one!
The Faithless, on the other hand, refuse to accept the River as fact, and have a great time, for a while, shooting around the globe, carefree, visiting the sites, seeing the bright lights - oh, avoid Times Square, if you're dead, Wall to Wall jammed with the dead, awful place! - then boredom sets in.
No need to eat or drink, no requirement for a good night's sleep, no urge to procreate. Borrrrring!
What's left? I'll bloody tell you - an eternity of walking through walls, finding something half decent on telly, (if you haven't waited 7000 years for TV to be invented in the first place!) and sitting in a houseful of noisy, irritating, mouth-breathing, channel-hopping idiots!
For Ever!
Top Tip - when the time comes, and you feel drawn towards the River, don't dawdle, say a quick 'see you on the other side', and jump in with both feet.
The alternatives are either trudging endlessly around holy ground, or watching endless reruns of Columbo!
Your choice!
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Latest reply: Apr 20, 2021
Happy Days!
Posted Mar 31, 2021
I asked the house to turn on the lights, parked the Electrolux/Triumph cycle, and entered the kitchen
The fridge held 6 bottles of water and a flask of H2wow, (the nearest thing to a stimulant you could buy and very, very expensive, fiendishly difficult to find, so I was saving that for a very special occasion).
I held up my camera and called Fonzie.
The holographic unit in the walls projected a very young Henry Winkler onto the bar stool next to me.
The Fonz smoothed his leather collar, gave me a tilt of his head and a double thumbs up.
*Heeeeey, Mr C, you been working?* Fonzie opened a holographic drink with a cool flick of his unreal fingers.
I motioned to the camera, took a swig of water and let the Fonz do his work.
The Future Offence Notification System (yup, the Fons, hence my rather retro choice of persona!) hummed quietly as it processed the 400 images on file. Fonzie pulling cool holographic faces as he worked.
*Heeeey, Mr C, cool stuff!*
I waited for the inevitable as Fonzie's brows knitted.
*Now I'm a big fan, biiiig fan of your stuff, very cool. Frosty even! But…. *
Fonzie allowed his persona to be overridden by the System.
*... 398 of the reviewed images breach System Codes and may cause offence to future generations, these files will be deleted.*
I looked at the view screen. Two shots remained.
Water flowing into a roadside drain dull but inoffensive, and a rather beautiful silhouette of an elderly lady with a dog, umbrella up against the rain, street slick in monochrome. The lighting was sublime. One of my best shots in decades.
Fonzie blinked slowly.
*System update. Possible future offence may be taken by the depiction of a living creature being enslaved by a human. The subject of keeping pets may be contravertial. This image will be deleted.*
One shot. Rain and metal. Not brilliant but acceptable to future sensibilities.
I opened the fridge, cracking open the H2wow,
*Made it Fonzie, got one through! Time to celebrate my friend!*
Fonzie gave me a grin and another thumbs up *Cool Mr C, heeeey!*
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Latest reply: Mar 31, 2021
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