Changing Times

Having gone round the house carefully changing the hour on the clocks, at the end of British Summertime this weekend, why is it that today, the next day, we always find one that we haven`t changed? Wonder if those who have the job of changing all the timepieces in stately houses, museums and clock shops have the same problem?!

Sunday selection

As it`s Sunday today, I thought I`d share with you this site that I discovered the other day. I enjoyed exploring some of it, and it`s one I will return to. It was interesting and educational, but I would like to have seen a few more modern ones included. What am I talking about? Well, if you follow the link you`ll find out!

Funny money?

I`ve worked for many, many years with money, and still keep finding odd things crop up.
Today I saw something I`d never seen before – a £100 note.
Yes, I have put the right number of `0`s on that. I didn`t know such a thing existed, I looked twice at it. Was it a joke or toy money? – No it felt like a real note and seemed to have all the right characteristics. So, yes, one of the cashiers had taken a £100 note. On closer inspection I discovered that it is an Irish note, Belfast to be exact.
Now, whether its legal currency in England, I don`t know, and no-one else is sure either – so we wait to find out.
(Woe betide the cashier if it`s not!!)

Microchipping

`Free Microchipping for pensioners and the retired.`
I read it again, yes the poster on the shop window I was in had it written large and clear in capital letters. That really set my thoughts going…. Why would someone want to microchip a pensioner?

But then the more I thought about it, I could just imagine the uses of it. A retired granny going off on holiday on their own getting lost; an old gent found having a snooze on a seat the park could be taken home! And, if they made the chips so that you could track them in the way they tag birds and animals – just think how interesting that could be!!

Wonder what information they`d put on the chip? Name, age - that might not be popular!; address - what about each time they moved house?; next of kin? - there`d be no way to disown them then!

But, where would you put the microchip?!

Charity catalogues

Charity Christmas catalogues seem to keep dropping through the letter box these last few days. I browse through them just to see if there`s anything really unusual or outstanding, but, as I wrote in my blog a few days ago, I don`t want to think about Christmas shopping yet, it`s too soon. Anyway, getting back to the catalogues, I find that maybe there are a few cards or a gift that would just be ideal for someone, and after all it would be helping the charity, so, turn to the order page, start to fill it in, as one gets down towards the bottom there it is (as always) …. Postage £?-?? ……
Now, if I only want one item that postage often costs more than the item, so it doubles its price. Or even a few items, makes me think – if I`m paying that much postage just to buy something to support the charity, surely I`d be better just sending them a donation – even if its only the amount that I would have paid for the postage. Now, I`m not saying we shouldn`t pay the cost of postage, but the amouts requested often seem excessive to the actual cost of postage. So, do I order? No, very often I don`t.

Boats

When does a boat become a ship?
That question came to me as I posted this picture.
It wouldn`t sound the same to say "don`t spoil the boat for a ha`pworth of tar" would it?!

Donkeys

I`m sitting looking at two donkeys. They both have a pile of hay to eat and each it trying to reach it, it’s a few feet (yes, feet, I don`t work in metric!) away from them, but they`re unable to reach it.
Why?
Because they`re tethered together and each is trying to go in opposite directions to get their own pile of hay. They struggle and pull against one another, but get nowhere.
Then, they both sit down and think about it.
And, finally they find the solution, they both go to one pile of the hay and share it.

Animals have a lot to teach us, don`t they.

(If you want to see what I`m looking at a copy of, look at F16 here )

Sayings (3)

I`ve not found much history yet on the sayings, so I`m going to ponder round one!

“A stitch in time saves nine” – why nine? why not eight, or ten or twenty??
What type of stitching were they doing – sewing, knitting, crocheting?
Were they using old bone needles or metal ones?
What type of thread were they using thin dainty silks or coarse thick twine?
It sounds as if it was repairing something rather than making it, so were they doing chain mail armour? (chain stitch soon runs undone!) or some large tapestry wall hanging? Perhaps it was mail sacks? Or perhaps something entirely different!
Wonder if we`ll ever know

Ship building

Going back to my writing about proverbs and sayings that we use, I`ve come up with a thought of where one of them might have come from – or perhaps it`s just my interpretation of where it could have come from. The favourite saying that I mentioned was “Don`t spoil the ship for a ha`pworth of tar” –My theory is that it might go back to biblical time and to Noah building the Ark? After all, it would have been disasterous if Noah had not fully coated the ark with tar (or pitch, as it`s called in the bible) wouldn`t it.

Weather report

I heard the following on the local radio station`s weather information this morning…. about the latest hurricane…..
“it won`t be as bad as people are expecting it to be, but it will be worse than people thought it would”
Now, what I wonder does one make of that?!

Trafalgar Day

Its Trafalgar Day, and everyone`s celebrating Lord Nelson.
But, I ask, did Nelson win the victory single-handed? Was he really the only person on the ship??
Ok, he was the captain, but who did all the real work, the physical, hard, dirty work? Without those countless numbers of men (and women??) he couldn`t have done it – so surely they should all be recognised.

But, then again, it always seems wrong to me to celebrate battles anyway, in any war, because countless people died in those battles, so should we really be proud that we killed so many?

Expressions

It seems quite a coincidence that having been writing and thinking about sayings during the last few days, a programme on our local radio station this morning was getting people to ring in with expressions, phrases and sayings they dislike. One that came up was “I can`t get my head round it”, along the lines of how can one literally get ones head round an object. And, what a lot of contradictory expressions people use when you think about it – like “awfully pretty”, surely something is either pretty or it`s awful but not both! And using a string of words instead of just one – like “at this moment of time”, instead of just saying “now”. Why do we do that?
Our language is a strange thing isn`t it?
Wonder what expressions others dislike or find inappropriate.

Favourite Sayings

I seem to be thinking about Sayings this week, so here are a few of my favourites, -

She`s/he`s talking nineteen to the dozen

Don`t count your chickens before they`re hatched

It`s no good crying over spilt milk

A stitch in time saves nine

It`s raining cats and dogs

You can`t teach an old dog new tricks

Don`t spoil the ship for a ha`pworth of tar

That last one in particular is a special favourite, as it was one my Dad often used when doing anything. But, as to where it comes from originally, I don`t know. I know its meaning, and the meanings of all of these, but what caused them to come into our language?

Sayings (2)

Writing about a saying yesterday, got me thinking – what a lot of different sayings there are, and several of them very contradictory to one another. Like for example – “many hands make like work” or the opposite one “too many cooks spoil the broth”. That one also makes me ask, why broth, why not soup or stew or rice pudding! There must be a lot of history behind a lot of these expressions. Who first said them? Why? When? How did they come to catch on? and still be used today? I think I might even be tempted to try and do some research and try and discover more about them, in my spare time.

Sayings (1)

“While the cat`s away the mice will play”

What a true saying that seemed to be at work today. Management were away so there was definitely a feel of while the “cat`s away the mice will play”, about the place!

I wonder who first invented that saying?
What made them think of it?

Sunday Afternoon Walk

I`ve been walking again today.
A three mile walk.
A brilliant blue sky
A gentle breeze
The sound of birds calling
A robin sitting on a nearby hedge,
Hedgerows glinting red with berries
A well trodden path
muddy in places,
grassy in others.
A wide expanse of marsh land
pools of water and winding creeks.
Quietness
Peace
Solitude
What more could one ask.

Wait till tomorrow

“Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do today”.

Well, I`m going to put off writing my blog till tomorrow, because I can`t come up with any inspiration on what to write today!

Counting the Weeks

It`s approaching, just 10 weeks to go, or so I read the other day.

Why is it, I wonder, that to say 10 weeks sounds so much shorter than saying 2½ months? Both are the same measurement.
What`s that time away – if you haven`t guessed. It`s Christmas.
It makes me wonder if the shops actually really sell any more of their Christmas lines by putting them on the shelves so early and telling us its so many weeks, or do the goods just sit there until nearer Christmas anyway?

No, I`m not going to be counting the weeks off to it yet, to me, (and I`m probably odd in this), it`s far too soon to start thinking about it, the end of November is soon enough. I`ve got my birthday to have first!

Brain testing

I came across this the other day, so thought I`d try it to see what it said about my brain pattern

Your mind is an incubator for good ideas, it just takes a while for them to develop.
But when you think of something, watch out!
Your thoughts tend to be huge, and they come on quickly - like an explosion.
You tend to be quiet around others, unless you're inspired by your next big idea

I suppose some of it is fairly accurate, especially about being quiet, but I`m not so sure about being inspired

Birds and Planes

What do birds think of planes?.... that thought crossed my mind the other day when there were quite a lot of aircraft in the sky and some of them very noisy. We know what they were, but it made me wonder about the effects they have on the birds, and other animals come to that. Do they hear the sound of them in the same way as we do? Does it frighten them? It seemed to at times that day as I watched the way the birds flew in all directions as if trying to get away from it but not knowing which way to go.

Yet, at other times I`ve seen birds pecking on grass alongside a busy road and not batting an eyelid when cars and lorries thundered past. So is it that they can cope if they can see the source of the noise rather than if they hear something and can`t identify where it comes from?

Autumn or Spring?

Is it spring or autumn?
By the weather these last few days its spring! I was fortunate enough not to be working this afternoon so I`ve had another lovely walk today, this time out over some marshes. Well, on the path, not actually on the marsh, I might have sunk in! So I`ll share a picture I took of the sun on the creek with you. Isn`t it beautiful to see the sun sparking on the water like that.



( the photo doesn`t really do it justice). It looked so beautiful

A Different Taste

Getting back to my car from my walk yesterday afternoon, I then sat in the car and ate the picnic tea that we`d brought with us, and that set me thinking….
Why does food eaten picnic style like that taste better than the same food eaten at home? Is it that the fresh air somehow adds flavour to it?

Four S`s of perfection

Sun, Sea, Sand.... and Silence

Yes, I`m going to wax lyrical about a walk I had this afternoon.
I drove about 40 miles from home then walked along a cliff top and down a sandy path on to a wide expanse of sand, with the sea gently lapping a long way out in the distance. The sun was shining on this beautiful autumn day and a gentle breeze blowing, but not coldly. I walked along, my feet at times crunching over fine shingle, at others making footprints in the damp sand. What pattern and diversity there was in event the sand, at times ripples of it, in other parts flat and even, some dark gold and damp other patches very light yellow and fine. Looking closely down there were razor shell, cockle shells and other shells some embedded in the sand, others scattered among the stones, some broken, some whole. Yet on looking closer I don`t think any two shells had the same pattern or markings on them.
To my left, the cliffs rose up steeply, giving a feeling of protection and safety, to my right was the vast openness and the sea. I came across rock pools of water, water that was so clear and sparkling with the sun on it. The sun too shone on the sea making a silver road across it. There were other people walking along too, but the overall feeling was one of peace and quietness, of time to think, to feel close to nature and to God. To give thanks for the beauty around me, the time to appreciate it and to feel benefit from it.

Lawn mower?

Here`s a young creature I saw while on holiday a few weeks ago.
I could do with him (or is it a her?!) on the grass in my garden to keep it mown short!

Just looking at it the line from "Little Red Riding Hood" has just come to me "oh what big ears you have" !

Missing blog

If anyone wonders what happened yesterday because I didn`t write an entry, I`ll tell you. I had to attend a meeting in the evening and knew that I`d got to say something about a subject. I get very, very nervous about having to do anything like that, and especially as I knew that it could be opposite to what others were thinking. It was going round and round in my mind all day long and I just couldn`t concentrate enough to write about anything else.

I`m odd like that, I can happily and easily sit and write and know what I want to say, but as soon as I have to speak to a number of people (I`m not quite so bad on a one to one), I get flustered and stumble over it, and knowing I do that makes me more nervous, so it becomes a vicious circle. I suppose too, I`m afraid of appearing stupid.

I suppose that explains too why I find doing this blog so helpful because I can write what I can`t say.

Spiders on Guard

Is it me, or are there a lot more spiders and webs everywhere in the garden this year?
I`ve just been out to pick some runner beans in my garden and the spiders seem to be on guard, they must know I don`t like them, they`ve got webs at all angles from bush to bush surrounding the beans which are in the middle. I know its very clever how they spin them, and the strength of the way they stand up to all the rain and heavy winds for something so apparently delicate is amazing, and when you see the sun shining on dew on them they are real works or art, But, why oh why, can`t they spin them somewhere else, so that I can get my beans?!

Prayer time

I like to have my `quiet time` at the start of the day, the only time when I can be sure, or as sure as I can be, of not being disturbed, of the phone not going, of the other person in the house not wanting to talk, or to call to me, but that means that I usually end up reading my bible and bible notes while I eat my breakfast. But yet I don`t really feel it`s right to be doing it that way, infact I felt guilty that I did do the two things at once. (I know readers may say I should get up earlier! I`ve tried that, it doesn`t work - I`m not awake enough, plus I have to start work early).

But, this morning while doing it two thoughts suddenly came to me while I was eating my breakfast – Firstly, that Jesus often ate and drank with his friends, and second that we are told of several different times when He broke bread and shared it with his disciples, crowds, a couple of people…. So maybe he wouldn`t mind sharing my breakfast time with me each day, that as I ate my bread, toast or whatever and drank my tea he was sharing with me?

Make over result

My parent is back, so my peace is shattered!,

But at least all the work of the transformation of her room with paint and paper and new accessories, was well worth while, it`s given the room a whole new look and a more spacious airy feel about it. And, she liked it ! Now all I`ve got to do is find a space for the rest of the clutter that I took out of the room, which has still not found a storage space. Why do we hoard so much? Or is it only us??

Vegetables

Cutting up a cabbage for lunch, set me thinking….
who first discovered that one could cook and safely eat them?
What made them decide to try it?
The more I thought about it, it made me wonder, who first decided to dig up a carrot and cook it? Or pick some beans to cook and eat? Same for all the other vegetables we enjoy today. Someone, somewhere must have first tried it, wonder who and where?
And, come to that, how many other things did they try and decide were not edible?
Did anyone die trying out different plants for food?

Cold or paint?

Having shown my feeling as headachy today, I feel I should add that it`s not the result of `the morning after the night before` kind of headache! I don`t go out at night like that. It`s either the fact that I`ve got a cold (caught from my boss at work who was sneezing her head off at the beginning of the week), or else it’s a reaction to the fumes from the painting and decorating I`ve been having done as a surprise for my parent.

Anyone any ideas how to get rid of the smell of paint?