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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
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Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end. So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.     |
| Andrea Again! And, talking of Andrea, here's another Andreaism that is just too good to leave withering in the past: There's an article this morning on women who dress too young and women who dress too old. I was trying to decide which category I fall into. I decided it was "women who dress in the dark". |
| After the Game is Over "Game of Thrones"  is over, they tell me. Yet it hangs on grimly in some ways. New habits have necessarily been established and it will be a while before they let go. An instance is that I have done all my required preparations for the day within an hour of booting up. That means collecting any gift points left over from the previous night, checking the stats, writing an answer to Small Talk, quick poem for Express It In Eight, comment or post on the Newsfeed, and review something from Read & Review.Before GoT, that could take me half the morning. But now I’m in the habit of doing the lot before I’m allowed breakfast. So, this morning, it’s all done (apart from Lilli’s QOTD and that won’t arrive until later) but now with no GoT to consume the remaining hours. What am I to do with all this time? Sorely tempted to take the day off and do absolutely nothing. But that’s dangerous - I might like it and let it become a habit. And, when you’re old, you can’t let that happen. When we run out of things to do, there’s only one thing left. And I’m not allowed that just yet. So it looks like I’ll be doing the rounds of the contests today, just like it used to be in the pre-GoT days. And I’m going to begin to think about what I’m going to do about the Contest Challenge. Had to let it go during GoT, so now I need to find a substitute for April. Right now, however, it’s time for breakfast. Which means I’ll be off in YouTube for the next hour or so. Seeya later, ‘gators. Word count: 285 |
| Santa and All That I held the whole matter of the existence of Santa Claus in the realm of the dubious (but useful) until I was twelve. I did not then decide on the facts available (they were, after all, contradictory) but stayed awake all night to see for myself. Having ascertained the truth from this experiment, I had the good sense not to noise it abroad and so ensured continuation of the tradition for a few more years. Interestingly, my son, Mad, managed to keep the thing going well into his late teens, even though we all knew that he knew and he knew that we knew. He was always a charming blighter... Word count: 110 |
| An Andrea-ism Another Andrea-ism: I saw this really cool status on Facebook today. I was going to re-post it here but it said that only 3% of people re-post. I checked and 3% already had. Darn it. |
| Cliché I have come to realise that the cliché is a much maligned creature. For so long we have reviled it, saying that it must not be used if we’re to write properly, that it should be cast out and something new and fresh substituted in its place. Yet, that’s not always possible - sometimes a cliché is still the best way to say something. But it goes beyond that, especially if you write poetry. The thing about clichés is that they come with baggage. Each of them is a cliché because they’ve been used for years and have accumulated all sorts of moss in their lives, all of which now affects their meaning and means that they are positively obese with nuance, expression and adornment. And that makes them something special. They have become portmanteau words that say in a few words what it might take whole sentences to say otherwise. In poetry, that’s extremely useful. The trick then becomes to use them in such a way that their value overcomes their familiarity (which, as we all know, breeds contempt). And that needs an example to demonstrate. Old Age Is it really yesterday already? There’s so much I had to say, and now the times are folded over with dreams so long forgotten and memories before us spread. I’ve honed my skills of long ago, filled up my drawer of things to keep, the rainy day may be tomorrow. Line count: 8 Free verse For Express It In Eight, 04.16.24 Prompt: Skills of yesteryear. See that "rainy day?" It’s a cliché because it’s part of a well worn saying - to keep something for a rainy day. So I can use it to say exactly that with two words instead of seven. The cliché becomes a magical form of shorthand. We actually do this all the time: “great minds,” “jack of all trades,” the early bird.” And poetry can pounce upon such things and use it to say a mouthful. That’s what I think today, anyway. Word count: 337 |
| Music to My Ears How come everyone's music taste is eclectic? And why do we bother to ask, in that case? |
| Tomorrow Today Do you ever listen to people’s answers to the question, “What would you do if you ruled the world?” I do, although the answers always horrify me. People throw out ideas in magnificent confidence that just this one rule here or this tweak there would make things so much better. And I’m sitting there thinking, “Did you ever think of the consequences of that action? Has it never occurred to you to wonder why it hasn’t been done before?” Or, if it has, don’t you know how it invariably goes wrong and results in the exact opposite of your intentions happening? No one ever seems to face the fact that we’re all human. That we don’t have perfection in any way. That all our answers are inevitably flawed and will ultimately bring about disaster. “No one” means you don’t have special dispensation and the same goes for me. Both of us, if ever placed in that position would make the most awful mess ever imagined. And the reason is we’re human. So, unless we’re prepared to start by admitting that we haven’t got a clue, we’re beaten before we start. The only way to mitigate our mistakes is to begin by preparing for the worst. We don’t instigate anything until we’ve already created the means to dismantle it hastily if it starts to go wrong. It is indeed a case of “work out your salvation in fear and trembling.” Perhaps the best policy would be to duck the question by saying, “Absolutely no idea, mate.” Word count: 255 |
| Favourite Misspellings # 1 I went to collage but only for a piece of paper. |
| Review, Anyone? Isn’t it funny how your best stuff never gets reviewed. That they ferret out things you’ve nearly forgotten and don’t think much of, ignoring your beloved babies as though they’d been hidden in a dark corner somewhere. Or maybe it’s just that we like the latest ones, the ones that have surprised us by actually being quite good, that we haven’t had time to grow familiar with and so lose respect for. I know it’s true that I love the most recent ones the most and wish that Read & Review wouldn’t keep digging around in the past. And it’s also true that when someone asks what I’d like them to review, I have to think hard, run through the old portfolio looking for something, and always end up by suggesting the latest thing because I can’t think of anything I like better. Of course there isn’t - I’ve only just fallen in love with it! Still, it’s weird how they always pick the duffers, the ones that would be first to go in a port clear out. Perhaps it’s true that writers are terrible judges of their own work. Word count: 188 |
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I've always remembered that episode and thought that was a fun idea.
Quite good is quite a good compliment 
As someone who just reviewed an item in your port, I can't help but wonder, Did I pick an item that you'd throw out? 