Positivity

My First Musings Of 2022

~ beetleypete ~ 87 Comments

I’m musing on the wrong day here, but at this time of year I have to look at my calendar to know what day it is. Apparently, it is Saturday. As it is a ‘sort-of’ public holiday here, and most people will not be out and about or back at work until the 4th, it feels like yet another Sunday.
(The 3rd is the official public holiday, because today fell on a weekend.)
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I managed to stay up and awake to see 2022 arrive. In fact I didn’t go to bed until 2am. My perkiness was assisted by only having one glass of wine with my dinner. The Tapas-style buffet we chose to prepare was delicious, and eaten over a decent amount of time as we sat around watching the poor choice of seasonal TV provided.
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I am going to try to be a little more positive about things this year. Here is one example.
It rains too much in Beetley, and that gets on my nerves. So here is a positive slant on that for New Year’s Day.
Too much rain = never having a water shortage.
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My driving licence expires in March. That is because I will be 70 years old. In Britain, that means I have to make a ‘Medical Declaration’ that I am fit to drive, and also supply proof of my identity all over again. It is such a faff to do this. They recommend you do it online, but I have no scanner to scan documents. The paper form requires that I send original documents as proof that I am who I say I am, and it comes with a warning that there is a very long backlog of applications already. I was hoping to win the lottery so that I could just abandon driving and employ a full-time chauffeur.
Sadly, that did not happen.
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Ollie is going to be 10 in February. For his breed, that is a considerable age, close to 80 in human years. His fur is still patchy, and refusing to grow back. Some other dog-walkers seem to be avoiding me recently, as they are convinced his skin condition must be contagious. Covid-19 has made people fear anything unusual.
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I intend to cook a Chinese meal tonight. Duck in hoisin sauce, stir-fried with suitable vegetables and noodles. After days of making do with leftovers or eating huge traditional roast dinners and High Tea, I am yearning for something Asian and spicy.
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The brakes on my car are making a nasty ‘squeaking noise’. When life gets back to normal on the 4th, I fear I am going to have to take it in for examination and repair. No doubt this will be my first financial downturn of 2022, as I can already hear the mechanic’s cash register ringing up a huge bill.
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On the plus side, I am looking forward to reading all your posts in the coming year, and I might even be having my usual moans about bloggers who follow with no link to their site, or others who think that a one-word comment like ‘Nice’ is acceptable. (It isn’t, and you get spammed for it by me)
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The sun is shining brightly. That’s two days in a row. I am taking that as a sign!

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Hailstones In May

~ beetleypete ~ 68 Comments

I am trying so hard to be positive.

Honestly, I am.

I have stopped moaning about the Block Editor, and my moans about the weather had changed to trying to be amusing.

But it is only 6:15 pm, and already very dark, with low cloud.

Then we had a hailstorm.

So fierce, it scared Ollie, and he came to me for a ‘comfort stroke’. The noise was incredible, as the hailstones crashed onto the windows and pattered off the roofs and cars outside.

I checked the calendar, just to be sure.

As I suspected, it was still the 4th of May.

Being positive in England is not easy, I can tell you that.

Worn out, but positive

~ beetleypete ~ 99 Comments

I woke up feeling worn out this morning. Despite trying to make the most of the relaxing four-day lull, my body refused to see the positives that my mind insisted on conjuring up. This tiredness and malaise is predominantly self-inflicted of course, and I know most of the reasons for it.

Too much red wine over a ten-day period.
Eating things I would never normally even have in the house.
Staying up far too late, for no good reason.
Being awakened by barking dogs before 8 am every day.
Allowing myself to be physically aware of every year of my long life so far.
And so on…

But I am a positive person now, so must search out the positives, and let them rise over the negatives trying to dominate my day. This first day of that strangely futuristic-sounding 2018, when in just three months, I will be 66 years old, an age I never expected to reach, at one time.

The sun is shining.
Ollie is waiting to go out, watching me type this. He has been exceptionally good, despite all the disruption to his routine.
The house is warm and dry, and everything has been tidied away.
After today, life returns to normal, until the 24th of December at least.
My blogging friends are all anticipating the year ahead, and many are featuring their blogging ‘best bits’ of 2017.
The TV will stop showing ‘specials’ and tired re-runs of films, concentrating instead on some fine ‘winter drama’ to enjoy in the coming months.
I have a pile of DVD films to watch and review.
My wife starts a new job next Monday. A fresh start, and a complete change of career.

So, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
You just have to say them out loud.

Trying to be positive about rain

~ beetleypete ~ 68 Comments

I have just two and a half days left of being positive in 2017. I was hoping to make it, but the recent weather is testing me to my limits. The local river has burst his banks after the constant heavy rain, flooding the paths, and making dog-walking a real issue. Ollie doesn’t care of course, he just runs through the water, even when it is up past his chest.

But for me trying to follow in heavy rubber boots, it isn’t that easy. Slipping and sliding on the slick surface under the water, rain lashing my face, using my big dog-walking stick to try to stay upright, I present a sorry sight indeed. When the rain stopped, the water froze, and I was faced with cracking the ice to be able to make progress. This is turning out to be one of the most miserable starts to winter in years, and we still have the worst to come.

I woke this morning to yet more torrential rain lashing the windows. It is accompanied by strong cold winds, and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon. This brings the prospect of another daunting dog walk later; braving the elements, and the mud, once again. Ollie is sleeping, resting before the exertions to come. He doesn’t give a fig if it is raining, or that he will be running through thick mud for a couple of hours. He just wants to get outside, smell his smells, and escape the stir-crazy feeling that we humans regard as being content to relax at home.

But I have to stay positive of course. So I have thought long and hard for a positive to cling to.
All I could come up with is, “It can’t rain forever”.
But sometimes, it’s easy to imagine just that.

Staying positive, for at least two and a half more days.

Staying positive: More thoughts

~ beetleypete ~ 51 Comments

As regular readers will be all-too aware, I have decided that 2017 will be my year for beginning to have a positive outlook on life. Attending the funeral of a friend and ex-colleague, yesterday, I refused to dwell on the fact that he was four years younger than me; that he would not be drawing the pension that he worked so hard for all of his life, and that he will not be joining us for meals in attractive country pubs anymore. Instead, I concentrated on the fact that he served for 36 years as a police officer in London, doing what he had always wanted to do. He loved his family, made many lifelong friends, and left this world behind with a legacy of a working life spent helping people, living on in fond memories.

The sun came out today, and despite a chilly breeze, I had an enjoyable walk with Ollie. I thought about buying that second camera again, and decided not to. There’s nothing wrong with the one I have got, and it is good enough for what I use it for. So, why spend the money? I will put that to better use, helping to fund a holiday abroad next year, for the first time in seven years.

I noted that my passport has also expired. That would usually send me into a flap, in case I needed it for some unexpected reason. But being positive, I soon realised that I was unlikely to need it until the summer of 2018, so plenty of time.

Starting today, I am receiving my State Pension. That’s a monthly increase of over 50% in my disposable income. That’s pretty positive, if you ask me. Jobs put off can now get done; cars sorted out properly, decorators employed, and the chance of a few more trips away in other parts of the UK to anticipate too.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s no big deal, I suppose. But even being positive about the small things in life can make you feel so much better. Why don’t you join in? I know it is still only March, but it has been very good so far.

Staying positive, in 2017.

Staying positive, with difficulty

~ beetleypete ~ 58 Comments

I promised to stay positive in 2017.

Regular readers will note that it is already the 11th of January, and there hasn’t been a single post complaining about the weather. Despite losing my Aunt in December, and one of my best friends last Friday, I have tried to see the bright side of everything, even though I now have two funerals to attend before the end of this month alone.

And in March (all being well) I will reach the significant age of 65, not something I particularly relish. Still, it is Julie’s birthday on Saturday, and I have arranged for us to go somewhere nice for a meal, booked taxis for the journey, and got her a gift that she actually wants too.

See, I am staying positive.

If I was the old me, the 2016 me, I might have been complaining about walking with Ollie in thick mud. I may well have mentioned it being dark in the gloom by 3pm, and the heavy rain making it most unpleasant to walk around our normal routes. But I didn’t, because I am being positive. That old me would have been worrying about the snow and ice forecast for Thursday into Friday, and the accompanying traffic problems. I would no doubt have been concerned about the taxi being able to navigate the roads at the weekend, or the bad weather hanging on until the following week, when I have to drive a long way to that first funeral.

But no. I didn’t mention any of that. I am sure that everything will work out fine.

Isn’t it great, being positive?