conversation

A strange time . . .

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Last week was a bit strange. The public holiday on Monday for Easter didn’t help. I wasn’t working because the cafe does not open on public holidays. Although it was open on Good Friday, which I thought was odd. When the cafe is closed we have to take the time as either unpaid or Annual Leave. With three public holidays coming up in May, I thought taking the day unpaid would be better.

Tuesday was back to ‘normal’. Well, I say normal, for me it wasn’t a day people would normally expect. Two weeks previous there had been an ‘incident’ so to speak, that involved a friend and former colleague. I had been told something, and it came out in conversation with the chef. It was just an ‘off the cuff’ remark when we were talking about standards.

However, the chef related the incident back to the boss who then quizzed my friend. It apparently was most embarrassing and unrequired. This type of thing has happened before and I was not happy about it. The chef can be very irritating at times. When he is busy he can get angry and quite aggressive. There are times when he will be ‘chatty’ but then will suddenly go moody and not speak for hours.

I took the decision before I went in to be on the quiet side. I would speak when spoken to, but I would not start a conversation and any reply would be brief and to the point. It made for a strange day. We shall see what this week brings as I am minded to be in the same frame of mind.

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I managed the get my car washer pump fixed eventually. It has not worked since August last year. I tried to get it repaired when the car was serviced, but the garage was not able to get the part. He explained that his ‘supplier’ did not stock the part, but that if I got one online he would fit it. That was in September and I simply never got around to buying the said pump. Then Mrs H had a problem with one of the tyres on her Mini. She got it repaired and it seemed quite reasonable for the type of tyre.

I then checked if that garage was just a tyre fitter or if they did other repairs too. It seems they are classed as an ‘Auto-centre’ and are able to do most repairs. This place was only six miles from home, whereas the garage that did the service was over fifteen miles away. So that was settled and £125.00 later, I now have working washers again.

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Two events next week !! Birthday on Thursday and dentist on Friday. What a combination! I’m not saying what birthday it is but suffice it to say that I will be nearer to 70 than 60. And I’m beginning to feel it.

I was intending to quit the job at the end of April. It is quite physical working twelve hours over two days, but when I get my wage packet on Tuesday afternoon, it doesn’t seem as hard going. That is until ten-thirty the following Monday when the doubts start again. I do think that I will quit in April 2025 though, but then again … who knows?

I like my phone …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

My 1st phone
1980’s

Love them or loathe them, mobile phones have come a long way from the house brick of the 1970’s to the razor thin, smartphones that we are now used to. I got my first phone in the mid 80’s, and it was a BT phone on the Orange network. It was about the size of my open hand and just as thick. But the main problem was cost of the calls. At 30p a minute for local calls, it was very expensive to use, so it only got used in emergencies, of which there were thankfully very few. After that, I moved onto a Blackberry type of phone from Nokia and gradually upgraded to my latest Motorola.

Now to the point of this one. About 4 years ago, I took a part-time, free online Creative Writing course. It wasn’t a very good course and I didn’t pursue the offer of a paid course. But, one of the ‘ideas’ that were floated about was about conversations. It was the thought that we can get a better understand on how to write good dialogue, by having a discussion with yourself.

We were supposed to think of a subject, then have an imaginary chat to someone. All this was supposed to go on in your head but I often found myself talking out loud, which can be quite embarrassing, especially in public. To get around this, the tutor advised getting a pair of earphones, the ones with a built in microphone, and use them to pretend you are talking to someone real. I have never tried it, but it was an interesting thought. It made me wonder though, if many of those people you see with earphones in, chatting away are really just talking to themselves.

It’s been a long week …

/ Tony / 1 Comment

I’m referring to the holiday my wife is on at the moment. As I’ve not posted for some time, I’ll get you up to speed. Around the middle of April, K****s sister and daughter, returned from a week away in Gran Canaria. She returned with an offer that K*** should join them on their next trip. There was much discussion about this, with me having a lot of misgivings about the whole thing. Firstly, it’s a ‘beach, bar and pool’ type of holiday, which I understood was not the type of holiday K*** enjoyed. Secondly there was R*** to consider. How would he react, coming home from respite to find his mother not at home, and not going to be home for another 4 days. Then there is the cost. K*** tells me that it’s a ‘one-off’, but isn’t that waste of all the money it cost for a new passport? And what about all the new clothes … more expense. Anyway, she is back on Tuesday. R*** and me will both be pleased, and as I say, it’s been a long week. I had a list of jobs that I wanted to get done, which I managed to do in between the rain and the wind we had here. I suppose the worst part of the experience is the lack of conversation. I went to the pub a couple of evenings, but there is only so much you can chat about with people that you don’t really know. It will be nice to get back to what we call normality.

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I’ve been a bit lazy with this blog over the past couple of months. To be honest, I’ve not really had much I wanted to say. I wanted to stay clear of politics as that is all that people have been talking about for the past month. I know from past experience, that it is one way to ‘lose friends and annoy people’. That is something I can do without any external help, thank you very much.

I tend to update this blog in the late evening. I thought, that this retirement (early) would give me lots more time to do things like this blog, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out that way. It still late at night, when K*** and R*** have gone to bed, that I think ”I must do a blog post”, and then I get distracted and end up not doing anything. I was going to look for a part-time job. That’s not happened. I signed up with a recruitment agency, but the jobs they have come up with are never appropriate. I promised myself that I would do more writing, but I don’t seem to have had any ideas that I could write about. I have done a fair bit of knitting though. A three beanie hats, five headbands, a pair of wrist warmers, a couple of scarves and I’m a quarter of the way through a sleeveless jumper. So I’ve not been sitting on my hands, so to speak.

I shall stop now as I don’t want to start rambling on about anything. I think I shall make a mental note to think about updating this effort at least once a week. I’ll put a note in my diary. See if that makes a difference!

It’s been a long week ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Work is a ball ache. Nuff said ?

Eldest lad and me went to Scarborough last Sunday (youngest was on respite.) Very ‘man-to-man’ experience. A pint in a pub, then fish & chips on the front, before a couple of games of pool in the arcade. We then went on to Filey, but there was nowhere to park, and we were both feeling a bit tired so we just came home. Took ages to get there, traffic was a nightmare.

I was off on Thursday, and we took the eldest to Beverley to stay with his Uni pal. This is the guy he will be sharing a flat with from August. Only stopped to say ‘hello’ and then we had to leave, but he seemed okay. We then had a day in Bridlington, which was nice. It seemed very strange, just the two of us. Took us back a few years. Is this what we will have to get used to again ??? I am going to pick him up at around 6pm on Sunday.

I have a new friend on MSN. A nice person from ‘chat’. We got into ‘PM’ somehow, and it grew from there. We now chat for a while most nights. No expectations, just pleasant conversation. She is going to Ireland for 5 days, so I’ll be a bit lost chat-wise. I never know when N*** is online, A*** seems to be very stressed at the moment and certain other people can be a bit weird. Some take everything too serious. Lighten up !!

I saw the nurse on Wednesday evening, about my blood pressure. Gave me lots of ‘good advice’. Told me I need to do 20 mins vigorous exercise, at least five days a week. So the walk along the prom at Brid was a start. On Friday, I decided to go for a ‘brisk’ walk at lunchtime. Walked on the footpath toward the M1. It was about 2 miles there and back, so not bad. I will try and do that more often. It’s not the most pleasant of routes, but I’ll put my MP3 player on, and make the best of it.

Gardening today. Hedge trimming and lopping mostly, and the ubiquitous grass cutting. I’m wacked, but you can see what we did.

I need to write more often. Get into a routine. This needs a plan. I may have to make notes during the day…that may be an idea.

That’s it for now.

It continues …..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

As Wednesdays go, I suppose it went. I did not have too much to do, but kept my head down, and was not very conversational. There are times when the conversation, with certain people, is just a little too much hard work. Of course, when I did pass a comment I was, to certain people, a miserable sod !!

We have one of the famous ‘tool-box talks’ tomorrow. Much fun!! Although to be honest, I have never been to one before. I just hope that we do not have an ‘ice-breaker’, or any role play, because I would not want to offends anyone when I do not join in.Ripon Cathedral

I got some stuff for my little ‘grow house’ as it seems to be called. Just a few odds and ends … seed trays and the like. I planted some salad leaves and some leaf beet. We will wait and see how it goes .. or grows even.

I’m starting with a cold. It should be in full swing by the weekend. I have only just got rid of the cough from the last one. But that life I suppose. 

Youngest seems to be in a reasonable mood tonight. He’s been out riding this evening, and seems to have had a good time. No incidents of any significance tonight.

Ripon Cathedral             

I took the picture on Sunday. I think it’s quite a good photo for a phone camera.