Fresh Thoughts
Sep 7, 21:53 — I wrote this a few weeks ago. It was an 'off the cuff' intro to the start of a short story. If you read a story that beg • Sep 7, 21:01 — We only ever did this a couple of times, but this was the night everyone in the family got involved with stargazing. The • Sep 7, 17:42 — I found a photo earlier of me in Cambridge with friends. We found a conveniently placed mirror we could capture proof of • Sep 7, 17:16 — Today I swam 36 lengths. I actually managed to relax enough today to enjoy it without feeling like Jaws was about to gra • Sep 7, 16:37 — Hardly anyone I know has watched or knows of the sitcom, Black Books. People should be walking around saying, "Ah yes. I • Sep 6, 19:28 — Impulsive and welcome beer I'll have to burn off tomorrow... Also bumped into these guys and gals (apparently the film s • Sep 7, 21:53 — I wrote this a few weeks ago. It was an 'off the cuff' intro to the start of a short story. If you read a story that beg • Sep 7, 21:01 — We only ever did this a couple of times, but this was the night everyone in the family got involved with stargazing. The • Sep 7, 17:42 — I found a photo earlier of me in Cambridge with friends. We found a conveniently placed mirror we could capture proof of • Sep 7, 17:16 — Today I swam 36 lengths. I actually managed to relax enough today to enjoy it without feeling like Jaws was about to gra • Sep 7, 16:37 — Hardly anyone I know has watched or knows of the sitcom, Black Books. People should be walking around saying, "Ah yes. I • Sep 6, 19:28 — Impulsive and welcome beer I'll have to burn off tomorrow... Also bumped into these guys and gals (apparently the film s

Freshly Spilled Thoughts

Today: 5 new · updated 4 hours ago

  1. I wrote this a few weeks ago. It was an ‘off the cuff’ intro to the start of a short story.

    If you read a story that began like this, would you read the rest of it?

    The Forgotten Key

    The forgotten key was something that he’d only ever heard his dad talk about in passing. The old man was legendary at spinning a yarn and nothing got in the way of a good story, so he didn’t think it was actually real. Not in a million years! Until that day he discovered it hiding underneath an old dusty picnic blanket in the dark corner of the loft. He shouldn’t have even been in there crouching beneath the roof beams, and he’d surely get into big trouble if anyone found out. It was weighty and magnificent in his hand. He stood there for a minute imagining what a key such as this would open. A mighty chest full of treasure? A door to an inner sanctum of some kind? Should he ask his dad about it when he comes home from work or keep this to himself, at least for now?

    Moments later there was a loud yet familiar noise outside. The screech of the brakes on his dad’s old Ford pickup. “Shit! He’s gonna kill me.” 

  2. We only ever did this a couple of times, but this was the night everyone in the family got involved with stargazing.

    The next door neighbour pressed himself against the bathroom window trying to work out what we were doing (he didn’t know we could see him – the weirdo)

    Patrick Moore eat your heart out…

    Fully fledged post on this at some point in ze future.

  3. I found a photo earlier of me in Cambridge with friends. We found a conveniently placed mirror we could capture proof of our existence in with the aid of a mobile device 😉

    I’m the one holding the phone up obscuring my own face (well done Dean)…

    Cool though eh…

  4. Today I swam 36 lengths. I actually managed to relax enough today to enjoy it without feeling like Jaws was about to grab my ankles and pull me under the water (lol). I’ve discovered that my best ally is not thinking about anything while I’m swimming.

    If you can just zone out and get lost in the rhythm it turns into an altogether more beautiful thing.

    The scales are still showing I’m at 9lbs weight loss since I started this, but I’m noticing subtle things like my clothes starting to feel looser and I’m not getting tired after the session anymore.

    My swimming shorts are starting to look like they belong to someone else (lol).

    So all this is tangible progress.

    I’ve always done cardio but I’ve never done more stamina/endurance based stuff like this in recent years. Even when I was running regularly, I never did it for this long.

    I’m going to keep up the resistance training in between so my body hangs onto the muscle while I’m dropping weight off the scales.

    I should be a lean, mean, fighting machine in about 6 months from here. *crowd roars*

  5. Hardly anyone I know has watched or knows of the sitcom, Black Books.

    People should be walking around saying, “Ah yes. I am aware of this contemporary comedy sitcom classic and I experienced rejuvenation in both mind and spirit after partaking in its viewing.”

    But no… they just say, “Nah, never heard of it. I don’t watch programmes about books. Don’t read much actually.”

  6. Impulsive and welcome beer I’ll have to burn off tomorrow…

    Also bumped into these guys and gals (apparently the film starts at 8pm)…

  7. Dream season has started again.

    Yep, I am having vivid dreams. I think it’s the sunlight peeking in through the curtains that does it.

    Just lately, once I’m awake that’s it. I have to get up, which is a pity because I do enjoy the bit where you roll over and sneak a bit more shut-eye in.

    I miss the days when you could hit the snooze button and defy the world by having an extra 9 minutes sleep.

    If nothing else, I revelled in it as a civilised act of rebellion.

    4 snoozes later, you’d be getting up half an hour too late and rushing around like a nut job to get to work.

    Milky tea was the worst.

    When I was 19 there was nothing on gods earth that would wake me up. I used to have 2 alarm clocks. The first one had pre-recorded audio messages and I always thought it sounded like a transvestite.

    It would start off really calmly telling me to get up, but after a while it got angry and the urgency escalated through a series of about 4-5 different messages that got increasingly louder.

    By the end it was emphasising the word ‘really’ in “It REALLY is time to get up now”.

    Short of hitting me over the head with a rolling pin, it tried everything, but I snoozed blissfully through the whole lot.

    I never used to know how people could get up hours before they even had to.

    Now I do. It just happens.

    It’s like my brain has turned into one of those SSD drives that gets a sniff of electricity and it’s already booted up for the day.

    The sleeps I like the best are the deep REM cycle ones where the slumber is so magnificent you just don’t want to move, it’s that good.

    I wouldn’t trade in that feeling for anything. It’s one of the best things about being alive and because it’s not an everyday occurrence, it’s that bit more special.

    So… I’m keeping my eye out for the next one 🙂

  8. The worst time to do shopping for food is after exercise and I know this only too well.

    Pot of pasta with pine nuts? Yes please

    Hula hoops? Don’t mind if I do

    Ooh look, Chicken Jalfrezi with Pilau rice. That looks nice… I bet that would go well with a baked potato.

    At this point your mind is ‘carbs daft’ when it’s glycogen depleted.

    Everything with carbs in looks like an an absolute delight.

    You’ll feel giddy at the sight of a Pepperoni pizza in aisle 3.

    Always reminds me of the Cube lyric: “I make dough, but don’t call me dough boy.”

    The best thing you can do after exercise is rush home and fantasise about broccoli and chicken.

    We all know that nobody actually ever does that.

    But it sounds good, doesn’t it?

  9. Autumn is my favourite time of year. I like it being a few degrees cooler and I enjoy the fresh, crispness in the air.

    The leaves falling off the trees look pretty and it’s still pleasant enough to enjoy being outside in it.

    Quite frankly, I find it all rather invigorating 🙂

    As I type this now, sunlight is cascading in through the windows and I can hear some enthusiastic birds twittering about what they are planning to do this evening.

    Mike the Magpie suggested going on a pub crawl. I often see him staggering down the pavement late at night.

    I also think Autumn is the most romantic time of the year. Some people may say Summer, but what’s romantic about sweating due to humidity and saying, “God it’s hot. I like it hot, but not this hot. Can you turn the fan on and point it at my face”.

    It’s an awkward sentence if ever there was one.

    This is also the ideal weather to go running outdoors in, but I am knackered from swimming two days on the bounce, so I decided to write a silly post about Autumn instead 😉

     

  10. Only the other day I was watching an episode of Man About The House. I always liked Yootha Joyce (Mildred) in it and she’s the main reason I would watch it. I thought she was a brilliant comic actress and she was always one step ahead of George in that show.

    Paula Wilcox was quite fanciable back in the 1970’s and Richard O’Sullivan was your typical middle class(ish) type that had a certain charm.

    It was sort of innocent, but saucy… and honestly, light hearted enough that it was an easy watch.

    Richard O’Sullivan was an actor I remembered watching on Saturday Mornings when Dick Turpin was on. All you needed in those days was a horse and mask in order to go into business.

    So with all that, I say RIP Richard O’Sullivan. Thanks for the laughs in the 70’s and when you were a highway man.

  11. Today I had something of a breakthrough after 24 sessions of swimming.

    I finally managed to relax while I was swimming instead of feeling like I was drowning.

    Before I was just trying to get to the other end as fast I could which was absolutely knackering.

    That’s okay if you’re only doing 10 lengths but I’m doing the best part of 40.

    Today was almost enjoyable.

    What worked for me was clearing my head of all thoughts and imagining the water was my friend (LOL).

    Into the breach we go again tomorrow.

  12. It’s always heartwarming when you find out a monkey in a famous film is still out there doing ‘its thang’ in monkey land.

    This one got involved with Night at the Museum, which had the legend that was Robin Williams in it.

  13. Moist is a terrible world. Nobody should ever use it.

    Not even in the context of cake.

  14. I think things being tactile is quite underrated.

    My generation likes buttons you can click and press.

    It’s what we grew up with and I make no apologies for it.

    I think blokes in particular like pushing buttons that make a reassuring noise or feels a certain way.

    For me, that means something. Actually it means a lot.

    If you disagree with this, why do people like the way silk feels?

    Yeah, I know I have you on board now (lol)

    It’s more human. It puts you in touch with yourself…

    … humans are meant to use their hands to get some sort of sensory feedback.

    Nobody woke up one day and said, “I wish I had a piece of glass I could fondle”

    It just doesn’t happen.

    I know all this sounds a bit mad, but there’s a part of you that is nodding your head in agreement.

    And that’s the part I’m connecting with.

    The human element. I know it’s there 😉

  15. Do you remember the TV show, “The Six Million Dollar Man”?

    I wonder if anyone used to see the title of that programme and think, “Six million dollars? He sounds like a reet flash bastard”

    Obviously I only ever saw a few repeats.

    I know a guy with a 20 grand pacemaker but the TV series based around him wouldn’t sound so exciting:

    “The Twenty Grand Man With A Stable Pulse”

    😉

  16. There’s a twat at swimming who I have nicknamed Jaws because he is always bouncing into someone or trying to overtake.

    Most of the women absolutely hate him, which I find very cheery.

    The contempt they have for him is palpable.

    The best catty line so far as he swam off was a woman turning to me & saying, “He’s hardly Michael Phelps, is he!”

    I was looking forward to what she would say next after that. Water based wit is usually in short supply.

    Another went, “He’s not as good as he thinks he is”

    Miaowwww 🙂

    The only thing missing was the popcorn…

  17. I saw Twins when it came out at the cinema. One thing I like about Arnie is he stays in touch with his old friends like Danny DeVito and he seems to introduce animals like donkeys (?) into the mix from his own home. Looks pretty fun.

    Check it out…

  18. I have a soft spot for Orson Welles. He used to do these adverts for French champagne, which I’m sure he never usually drank (although I’m sure he made up for it during filming) or gave a shit about, which is what makes it even better (check out the drunk out-takes after the main ad). I will never tire of this – love, love, love Orson Welles (he also used to get angry about peas… brilliant)…

    The Drunk Out-takes (ha ha)

    A lot of people in the YT comments think that this out-take sells the champagne in the best way possible (it gets you pissed)…

  19. I love it when it rains so heavily in the UK that you can’t walk outside or do anything outdoors without an umbrella the size of a terraced house.

    Never ending slashery on a Bank Holiday weekend.

    My cup of joy on Sunday doth brimmeth over.

  20. This is me as a kid, proudly wearing what I believe is some kind of Disney t-shirt…

    I spent most of my childhood outdoors. My mate Andy fell out of a tree we were climbing once.

    He plummeted straight into some stinging nettles and we couldn’t see or hear him.

    About 20 seconds later he stood up, injury free, holding his hand aloft in the air before uttering the legendary words, “I’ve just found a fiver”.

    The only kid I knew that could fall out of a tree and turn it into an exercise in profit.