February 2012
8 posts
Neighbours
My daughter and I could not wait to move into our new house. We had lived in a tiny two bedroom flat for over a year. It was a little cramped to say the least. Two grown people overfilled the space provided. We began to get on each others nerves and in each others way.
A friend at work let me know of a three bedroom semi-detached house that was coming up to rent. The house was literally across...
Lost
We have all lost something in our lives. Whether the thing lost is as mundane as a favourite ring or as vital as our will to live, we have all suffered the loss of something we needed. Most people’s lives are filled with loss. As we shuffle through this mortal coil, we constantly misplace things. Some of these things are corporeal, like car keys, others are ethereal . I say ethereal because...
Pain
Pain changes our lives. It affects how we think, how we feel, and how we move. It is also a part of everyday life. Pain comes in different categories. There is emotional pain, mental pain and physical pain.
I do not like any of the categories.
My father used to say that pain was a necessary part of life. If you could feel pain you knew you were alive. I always responded the same way. “I...
Passwords
In this day and age of computers and on-line accounts we all live and die by our passwords. Each account, whether it is an email account or an on-line bank account, requires a password.
These passwords are the bane of my existence.
Every website (that’s spelt account) that requires these annoying things trots out the same guidance. “Must be a combination of alpha-numeric characters.” A lot of...
Valentine's Day
I suppose I should say something about this somewhat dubious holiday - Valentine’s Day. What can I say? I don’t suppose that I am what you would call an expert on the art of romance and love. Years ago it was a different matter. I remember going out and picking wild flowers for my first wife. She found the gesture romantic and was impressed that I’d gone to the effort...
Snow
About two-thirty in the morning, after dozing on the couch, I went into the back garden to have a cigarette. Half-asleep, I opened the back door and stepped out, lighting my smoke. I was instantly jolted awake by the sight of snow drifts. I was standing in one that covered my back door step. There was a veritable blizzard outside and it had apparently been going on for some time. I got so excited...
Vampires
Vampires, we are told, are fictional creatures that suck the ‘life force’ out of us mere mortals. They are incredibly strong and can only be killed or hurt by sunlight, holy water, garlic, crucifixes and wooden stakes. These supernatural “un-dead” beings can either drain us dry and extinguish our ‘light’ or they can transform us into carbon copies of themselves....
Beards
George Carlin used to do a routine about beards versus whiskers. When I was a teenager I found it hysterically funny. George’s position was that beards were un-American. After all Joseph Stalin had a beard. Whiskers on the other hand were as American as apple pie. Gabby Hayes had whiskers. *side-note* I wonder if anyone remembers the actor George ‘Gabby’ Hayes? Comic...
