Spring Forward, Fall Back!!!

Well, it's that time of year again. The time when we have to move the clocks back (or forward!). The time when you settle down, determined to make sure that there will be no missed clocks this year. Ho, bloody ho!
The obvious ones are in the front room, one on the wall, one on the mantle shelf ... oh yes and the wristwatch. The television is on Telewest cable and they take care of that. How smug can you be when you remind youself that the computer looks after itself?
Out to the kitchen, alter the wall clock ... that should take care of that.
Upstairs, it's into the bathroom and slot the little clock in there back an hour.
...
Five down, many to go. But where are they? Ah! bedside table radio alarm (seldom used but it is illuminated and very useful) (SIX). My alarm, again seldom used. (SEVEN). One small travel clock in the back bedroom. (EIGHT). Then into the small room where there is a large boardroom clock (NINE), and a small clock on the bookcase (TEN). Think, think ... I know the two cameras have clocks in them but I'll do them later when I need to reset them. (Twelve!).
...
All done! Twelve bloody clocks ready to put forward in six months time. But NO!!! I nearly forgot. Mobile phone and answer phone (Phew nearly missed them ... FOURTEEN). My wife has done her wristwatch ... Soooo
Yes, YES all done.
...
...
Sunday morning ... my wife from the kitchen calls "Did you remember the central heating timer?"
B*ll*cks I thought, there's always one and the strange thing is it's always a different one.
...
Roll on March!!!

Thoughts from Jim

I mentioned the friend of mine who sends humorous e-mails (thanks Jim) which keep me feeling really great. Well he also sends messages of meaning and I hope this hits you where it hurts! That way you'll appreciate how I felt when I read it!

A poem written in the 1970s by James Patrick Kinney
Called "The Cold Within" reminds us what's at stake:
...
Six humans trapped by happenstance,
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
...
Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back,
For on the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.
...
The next man looking 'cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
...
The third one sat in tattered clothes;
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?
...
The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.
...
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
...
And the last man of this forlorn group.
Did naught, except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave,
Was how he played the game.
...
The logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without.
They died from the cold within.

OK Let's try to be Positive!

Hmmm! This is easier said than done ... but I will succeed.

Looking at my introduction I seem to have been on a bit of a low ebb but, today, I am realising that there must be a way out of this vale of gloom. It is up to me to go forward with confidence and see what is in the future and not dwell on the past.

I shall endeavour to look for a more positive view of the world. I shall concentrate on the way ahead.

...

SOooo!

...

Let's start with a little humour.

...

I have a friend who passes on e-mails of which most are very funny ... well they are to me.

Here is one such chuckle-muscle toner.

It arrived under the heading of "Butt Dust".

What, you may ask, is "Butt dust?" Read on and you will discover the joy in it.

(These have to be original and genuine ... no adult could be this creative!!)

...

JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: "Mom, why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?"

...

MELANIE (age 5) asked her granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more. Melanie said, "If you don't remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six."

...

STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom goodnight. "I love you so much, that when you die I'm going to bury you outside my bedroom window."

...

BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a childproof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Her eyes, wide with wonder, the little girl asked:"How does it know it's me?"

...

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. "Please don't give me this juice again", she said, "it makes my teeth cough"

...

D.I. (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scales and asked: "How much do I cost?"

...

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: "Why is he whispering in her mouth?"

...

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, "I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?"

...

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." Concerned, James asked: "What happened to the flea?"

...

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, "Why doesn't your skin fit your face?"

...

The sermon I think this Mom will never forget ... this particular Sunday sermon ... "Dear Lord," the minister began, with his arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that very moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening) leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

...

There, I feel better already ... how about you?

Introduction

Hello Everybody ... always assuming there is someone out there reading this!

I'm not quite sure where this 'blog' is going to end up, but I feel it is time to start putting some thoughts on paper, even it is cyber-paper.

The freedom of a blog is appealing to someone like me, as I can grab a thought and put it into words before it flies away into the ether. This happens quite regularly now and I get very frustrated when it does.

It comes with age.

Age is the territory you don't want to inhabit.

It is an inevitable step in the course of life.

AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.

Up until recently I have led a fairly well-ordered life and have known where I want to be in it and I have dreaded getting to the point where things start getting mislaid, keys, bus pass, loose change and the like.

I am beginning to suspect that I am now entering the realms of the forgetful.

Perhaps it is the onset of senility but when you become senile, how do you know?

To return to the point of starting this blog now is that today has not been a good day for remembering things!

It may be that I am more tired than usual ... or something.

This mental exercise may serve to re-order my balance a bit, so this could be the start of a journey of discovery as I progress into the latter chapters of my existance.

Please bear with me ... I may need a friend along the way.