Penguins in Boxes don’t you know.

So what happened to October & November? Well to tell you the truth the same as what usually happens each October. I have a birthday and its sort of the same one each time but with a different me standing there. You would think after having nearly half a century of them I would have got the hang of it. But I do not go gently Old age should burn and rave @ close of day. November drifted away with NaNoWriMo, sort of and NaBloWriMo wasn’t what I thought it was either. I sat for a long time trying to remember as many of them as possible (Birthdays that is), although it is not recommended, the memory part of your brain  the short term part anyway forgets things unless you re-live them    (and its not completely wise to do so as  a bad memory can re-scar you as much as a good memory can hold you back. New memories is what you need something to tell you you are alive and moving forward.) This is the problem, this is where my particular kind of broken crowds in and fills up all the available memory  boxes, well the ones that are not filled with Penguins. “Insofar as she recognized at all that she was dreaming, she realized that she must be exploring her subconscious mind. She had heard it said that humans are supposed only to use about a tenth of their brains, and that no one was really clear what the other nine tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing penguins.”  Douglas Adams   I read and understood this fundamental truth in 1991 and I recognized it for what it was, my universe instantly made sense here was an operating system that I understood ,this was my operating system better than windows no blue screens of death etc better than what I had before which was just plain bewilderment. Of course I have had to redefine it as new and modern technologies have become available but essentially imagine the mind is 10 square boxes 9 of them filled with Penguins and the 10th crammed with memories all of them the useful as well as the unhelpful. The entirety of  knowledge from which you have to operate….. So with a...

Battle and Humbug.

Well that’s another 5 pubs off the list, thanks to Mr Battle. Yet another good friend who after approaching 20 years without saying hello was willing to to throw caution to the wind and agree to drink beer and talk up a storm. I have to admit in hind site that I had no idea how fundamentally important we were to the well running of trade group 14 and the Air force in general, but there you are. Some names from the past came up and they were the usual suspects. For the more senior of you that taught me the fine skills of Beer drinking and Pond building BBQ and the ninja deployment. It’s all gratefully received. And believe it or not frequently used to show those in civi street how to party properly. Well in the theme of partying properly I am about to undertake another night out knock off some more of those elusive pubs and stuff myself with CURRY. No wife to complain about the smell however my mum has already opened my bedroom window and laid on the breath mints. The night was further enhanced by my top decision to knock on my good friend Peters door on the way home after a bus ride (even the bus has WI FI what’s wrong with my old mum and dad I keep telling them to move with the Times but they just think I am annoying whine to be ignored) Anyway thanks Peter for opening the door in your wife’s dressing gown the image will stay with me. I am not sure what she thought when she came in and a strange man was sitting in the front room with her scantily robed husband but I think we coved it...

Stupid app or Stupid Richard?

Well am finally awake enough to blog, having found free Wi Fi in the Crossed Scythes pub of all places. This is going to make the whole blogging thing and reading my mail so much more pleasurable. So here I sit wanting to upload a special photo and my iPad is resisting. It’s the first 35mm I took over 30 Years ago down at Totley Rise S17, on the corner was a strange collection of scrap cars Minis Angle boxes ford cortina and older all rusting gently into decay, the way we should all hope to go. But damn me I just can’t get this thing to load it, I guess I will have to get on someone’s computer and post a gallery of them So what Am I doing back here, well visiting parents and friends and old haunts now shame on you for thinking I am talking about Pubs as I only have 37 of those on my list. It’s going well 3 down already and I arrived late Tuesday after a bit of airport shenanigans. Fortunately they had some Johnny Walker on hand to calm the natives everyone was desperately hanging on to and gulping their doubles as we plummeted into our descent in Manchester. The Snake as serene and beautiful as ever. So what next, well it would be rude not to have another beer in celebration and recognition of the free wi fi. Well bugger me it’s Richard who is the idiot looks as though the app knows what it’s doing who’d have thunk...