Baby boomers move over

I've said for some time now, the age of the post war babies is over and we should stand aside.
It's not our world any more. We are stepping into a new world of differing challenges and very different rhetoric.
Well, the face of Westminster certainly took a change for the younger yesterday as the old guard in the Conservative party were removed and fresh faces replaced them.
Sharp intakes of breath from the old brigade but, it's time.
Will they do a better job? I don't think we can compare, at least not yet, not until the history has been written and I wont know what that says.
They will do a different job. There will be gaffes, fopahs and successes, but the new brigade have to find their way in this world and dictate its future. Soon they too will have to step aside and allow the next age in.
Now that, the age of social media, AI and advance technology I would love to see, but I will be no more that a whiff of dust on a shelf.

Glowing in the dark

For the past couple of years I've watched the tree at the end of my garden light up at night with a soft fluorescent glow.
For ages I presumed it to be fairy lights in the neighbours tree shining through; they have young children and presumed why not.
At least I presumed.
Last night I remembered I had left the greenhouse door wide open and with the number of cats out on the prowl, decided it would be best if I got out of bed and close it.
Little did I know the past midnight foray would answer a question I hadn't realised I asked.
Fireflies sat in the tree emitting their bio-luminescence in the hope of a quick, hot, date with the opposite sex.
It was truly magical and I stood in complete wonder at the sight.
Yawning, and hopefully thinking of my bed, I closed the greenhouse door and went back to bed.

New day, new dawn?

With politics playing a new game, rhetoric stepping up into divisive status and growing temperatures, the tinder box is beginning to look a lot like it's ready to ignite.
Today is deemed to be the "hottest July day on record" here in the UK and, if the computer generated model is to be accepted, which I believe it generally is, these 'unusual' temperatures are to become more 'usual' each year.
We won't travel abroad for the heat, we'll stay here and soak up the sun closer to home, like Bognor, Blackpool, Brighton.
Places we once frequented because of their heritage and weather will become so hot, they will be ghost towns during the day. Siesta will begin earlier and end later with people only coming out at night.
We will cope, but, and this is where rhetoric could become even more divisive; there is only so much water on this planet and it has to go round it's own cycle. We can't get extra from space, we have just what's here.
If the tropics get hotter and turn to desert, then people will migrate towards more polar communities where the rain still falls.
Will these water refugees be welcomed?
The polar ice caps are melting. Great, you say, more water. Agreed, but what happens to that land people need to migrate too?
Migrating to sinking land is somewhat counterproductive.
And the animal populations? What happens to them? Do they become superfluous to demand and are eradicated so as not to compete for space and precious water?
If we all turn veggie, where do the plants put their roots? If water is scarce do we have enough to spare for large hydroponic factories?
I began contemplating these issues many years ago whilst studying population ecology and statistics. I decided then not to bring more people into the world and did not have children.
Now I'm even more relieved. I have no family growing into this new dawn, I have no family to face a very uncertain future. I rest easy knowing the buck stops here and leave it to parents to wake up and realise just how hostile this future world could be.

Inventioned out

When the lightbulb was created society thought it was either the devil's work, or the greatest invention ever. Arguments in government over its importance and fears of its potential risks were hotly debated.
However it was viewed, there was excitement. It was major news and the world changed.
I remember the affordable calculator arriving; the power it unleashed. I remember being able to do mathematical calculations so much quicker.
They were basic but adding endless numbers together without taxing my brain was wonderful, divisions where numbers were awkward and large multiplications, all became as easy as pressing a series of buttons.
Change really started to take off after that.
I remember room size computers came to my university, and we could use them, albeit with punch cards (😖)!
Mono systems were replaced by stereo sound and it was transforming the way we listened to vinyl.
Front loading, automatic washing machines!
Aah, heaven sent. I could dispense with the mangle in the back garden, treading the sheets in the bath to wash them. I could add soap powder and the washing, close the door and it would both clean and spin the clothes. It was stupendous! And it was plumbed in! I didn't have to fight pipework to taps and drains.
Microwaves! That revolutionised the household. We applauded the cheaper prices (still hundreds though) and as more families could afford them, more frozen meals started appearing, more families lost mealtimes (😥).
We still cheered, but less so.
As each new thing arrived we looked at it, worked out if we could afford it and then moved on.
Our wonderment was decreasing with every new innovation.
When you take a snapshot of where we are now, then consider those over 60 years old are the last generation before computers, this new world is a complete transformation.
But do we appreciate that? Appreciate all the new creations, good and bad?
Computer games? An important part of many peoples lives, 3D films, AI, VR, we even know which initials to use instead of the words. Emojis. Social media. Satellite connectivity. Drones. Gun ship helicopters. Supersonic jets. Killing machines of extreme potency and deadly accuracy. Bombs. Cyborg development. Genetic engineering. Organ replacement. High Street plastic surgery........the list goes on and on and on.
When the lightbulb happened, the world took a sharp breath and weighed up its impact.
When new innovations happen now, do we stop and think at all?

This time next week

Do you ever say this to yourself?
"This time next week I'll........." and you tell yourself about the up and coming event, good or bad?
I do and this time next week I will be getting ready to go away for fifteen days. Should be fun, I'm going north instead of south and going to cooler climes rather than warmer.
Fifteen days of cruising in waters which can turn nasty, but seeing things I really would like to experience.
They're part of my bucket list and I am looking forward to ticking them off.
I've always wanted to see the islands off the north coast of Scotland as well as Iceland and the fjords of Norway. This cruise covers all three and I am feeling a bit smug.
This time next week I will be getting my final packing organised, ready to catch the train to Newcastle.
I'll be getting the house ready too, so my friend has an enjoyable break here. It's her "annual respite" as she calls it.
I've decided to go a day early and stay up there overnight. Makes sense as it takes the worry out of getting to the port at the right time for boarding.
I'm going on one of those bigger ships this time so the days at sea will have a bit more 'walking about' room; I do feel like a caged tiger onboard the smaller ones.
I have plumped for a balcony room; I want to see this!
So, this time next week........

A change is as good as a rest

I love the hot weather, the edge to edge sunshine, blue skies and warm nights.
I love opening the doors and windows onto my garden and letting the warm air float through the house.
Even more, I love pottering around the garden deadheading and tidying the borders without having to wear a coat.
But, at the end of the day, I do enjoy those days when the temperature drops just a few degrees and the cloud cover comes over, obscuring the sun, giving everywhere a chance to pick up and de-stress.
Perchance rain? Now that would be a nice gift.

From nothing to something

Once upon a time I was offered an art scholarship. I chose the sciences instead and revelled in the statistical side of population dynamics on the seashore.
An exciting time.
They had recently discovered the importance of ozone in the upper atmosphere and had made the connection between CFCs and its subsequent damage.
Inroads were being made into the 'new' breed of insecticides which attacked the nervous system of the insect and the now outlawed DDT had just received its cancer warnings and was being withdrawn.
The Apollo missions were under way and plans to build a shuttle were being muted.
It was a 'brave new world' and we thought we could rule it.
We thought we could do anything. Little did we realise how playing God was going to disrupt the planetary harmony so successfully for everything except us.
I played in that time.
I enjoyed the rising up of the digital age and watched computers, not only reducing from room sized goliathons and enter the house as desk tops, then as years passed, become the smart phone I am happily tapping on now.
I was so very proud of my first microwave, and the power of a quick visit to the supermarket, pick up a package and there was a dinner. All I had to do was heat it up.
Cars! Trucks! Hot rods! Classics! Playing, tinkering, improving the performance and then trying it out on our streets! Being chased and getting away.
And of course, AI.
It was indeed the first steps to this present age, the Age of Technology,  The Digital Age.
We had indeed, moved from nothing to something controlling pretty much everything.
So, I left that fast paced world and returned to art.
I returned to a nature which was chemical free and hummed to the sound of what insects still flew.
I returned to simple cooking from fresh ingredients I was lucky enough to get from local farmers who eeked out a living on the now, impoverished soils.
I returned back to nothing? No, I still enjoy my smart TV and smart phones, I use the microwave, but to reheat food I've cooked, and I thank heavens for the extremely low emission car.
Have I returned to nothing? No, I believe I have found that brave new world.

Monica buys lipstick

"You are very bland," she said, as I looked in the mirror, "bland and monochromatic. Where's the colour? The contrast? Where's the life?"
Monica crossed her arms and with a deep huff, looked away, " at least get some lippy!"
I felt that part of me flounce off and leave me hanging, looking in the mirror at what I thought looked quite good really.
Oh dear, the alter ego was not impressed and I could see why. I have never really been one for rosy cheeks, puckered lips and eyebrows, more the sallow, bobble hat wearing, mud covered creature wiping her sniffling nose on the back of her hand.
Far from elegant. Far from feminine.
'Ok,' I thought, 'I see your point and will take a look. No idea what colour so I hope she shows up.'
I looked round the standard shops with rows of makeup brands and that musak playing loudly enough to drown my thoughts.
'Aargh! Can't stand it!' I left.
I wandered into TJ HUGHES a discount store where everything is at least 30% off all the time and sales are a delight.
Monica showed up, reached out my hand and said, "this one, it'll suit you and it's cheap!"
At £2.50 I had to agree, nice one too. Will I wear it? Let's see if I can make it a habit, but with Monica up my bottom I suspect I will.

If only.......

I say those two words, not with regret, but with a sense of wondering, if the accident hadn't happened when I was 30 years old, where would I be now and what would I be doing?
We can all say this about something in our lives but sometimes it's just nice to have a think and daydream....
So, let's think back, who was I before the accident and what was I doing?
I had just got married, bought my first property, was working locally and enjoyed driving a custom mini with excess grunt and two motorbikes which my other half used for work. We had a classic car and used to attend classic car rallies.
We contemplated biking around Europe, attended heavy rock festivals and had started riding horses....well, I had and was thoroughly enjoying it.
I attended a gym twice a week and swam locally, I gardened, walked and had a wicked social life.
All in all, life was sweet and the garden was rosy. I had been very active since young so enjoyed maintaining a high octane pace.
Then......
I hit a tree. Hard. With my back. It broke in two places.
I can't say my life stopped, but it was held in check by chronic pain levels which have become worse as the years have gone by. NHS wasn't much help throughout the 30 years I kept asking for help, so the private route gave me the answers, but not until I was in my late 60s.
Anyway, less of that what would I have done? No accident, clean sheet?
Mm, what would that list include.....
Long distance riding would definitely have featured, travelling across Ireland and eventually Europe.
Just me and my horse with my stuff ferried to the next stop where we could both sleep then off again the next day.
Bliss.
An off-road monster of a four wheel drive to play in the mud, ditches and dykes. Tee hee. Coming home exhausted, with broken suspension or a blown tyre, knowing I'd done it my way!
Driving and walking across various poorly inhabited places around the world.
Taking on derelict houses and doing them up to sell on........
But most importantly I would have been a better teacher. I wouldn't have been in pain all the time. I could have remained totally focused on them rather than taking endless amounts of pain killers and fizzing the day.
I could have been the very best of me.

The Monica - justjo debate

Well, it's been a few interesting days of exploring Monica and I really like her, which is fortunate considering she is me without the guilt trip and hang ups!
I had a realisation too which I chatted over with a really close mate of mine; I am known by most people as "justjo" and as they say, "what you see is what you get."
Interesting in itself because what you see isn't really Me, it's a cameo.
I'll give an example.
Whilst at an establishment in London, I was chatting with one of the receptionists. It came up in conversation that I'd not had the best service from the NHS and when I had been told to go home and have a baby by a consultant who should have been less sexist, I lost it, reached over and grabbed him by the collar. I was tempted to hit him, but I growled my abject horror at his sexism and informed him I was not frustrated I was in pain!
He was most surprised and I was most stuffed because, one, I was now labelled a dangerous patient and two, if I could do that then in his mind there was no problem with my neck. At least that was his excuse in closing my file.
The receptionist heard this, and looked at me,
"I would never imagine you could be capable of such a thing," she said and I grinned, if only she knew the half of it!
This is something we all do when we meet people, judge them and pigeon hole them. Worse still, its done without thinking.
Our outer shell, our facade, fails to portray us in all our facets and yet we expect people to know us in them. Ironic isn't it?
We see a potential partner, we doll ourselves up, we behave in the way we presume they would expect. We play the charade until we live with them and the pretenses fall; they see each, other warts and all.
Is it any wonder relationships have a tough time?
So Monica is Me but still only a pastiche because what can convey all aspects of Me? What can convey all of You?
Who is it You expose to the world and is it the just(insert name here) or the flamboyant Monica? The retiring just(insert name here) or the outspoken, guilt free person we all really are?
More thinking needed 🤔