For the past month I have been motivated with daily plans which are adjusted according to my own revisions and external events. I use post midnight writings to reflect on the day for if I can remember what has happened and make sense, make an assessment, and then through this process I begin to establish both a chronology of experience and an evaluation for the whole life.
My priority task for last year was to complete a maternal family history which successfully linked my mother's Gibraltarian ancestors with a family network in Calne, Wiltshire, going back to the early 1600's, with three editions of the work completed in the autumn and distributed to relatives and to archive and family history centres in Wiltshire. A greater distribution was considered but decided against.
After Christmas there were final preparations and celebration of the 100th birthday of my mother. The day was so moving that I did not take many photos relying on others. I have made some close up studies in the past with a mini computer digital camera with Zeiss lens, mainly using a 64Mb memory stick for stills and short film. Over three years some 240000 stills have been taken several hundred short clips and 20 hours of unedited film. My ink cartridge supply firm included a gift of two instant camera negatives and yesterday my mother was receptive to the use of flash and I used one film(so I thought) which I knew included some of the shots of her in relative close up. Today I could not wait to walk into town, despite the sharp wintry wind in search of an instant photo development outlet. I had no idea if there was one was therefore delighted at the discovery of a purpose unit close to the Metro Station, having noted that the monstrosity of the concrete car park had been raised to ground. My walking route into town takes me past the Azda Wal-Mart, the old railway station used for a taxi rank, mobility and women's health centres on the platform and then down stairs or uninviting lift down to the main shopping street, with the active street market at one end, and immediately opposite the photo shop which I must have seen several times a week on my walkabouts but had not registered. The offensive car park used by druggies and hoodies until recently fenced off, but never by motorist because of the instant attraction of vandals soon after completion has damaged the town image for a couple of decades. Its loss will only be mourned by the idiots who put it up in the first place.
I decided against going for coffee while you wait for the half an hour required, I had the day's ration instead of tea, with my eggs and bran cereal breakfast, fortification for putting the waste bin out for the Monday morning collection and the mid morning outing. Instead I went to Wilkinson's for shaving razors. For decades I had made do with single bladed throwaways which nevertheless lasted a couple of days but was never content with the result, until I took up an offer to try a three blade and have not looked back. It is not so much loyalty or superstition but order and security which led to returning to the same store at the furthest end of the street which made the offer, rather than get the same make at Boots or a couple of other options nearer. Anyway I wanted to look at their pots, garden patio type pots, or indoor plant pots, having got half a dozen when I set my mind to creating a Mediterranean environment out of my garage, painting a soft blue, covering one wall with pictures from travels with plates and a set wine drinking vessels hand painted and fired at Vallauris within a stone's throw of the Picasso exhibition. (I have had to out to the garage to check the spelling and this led to opening a new bottle of red, picked at random from the latest case of Times Wine club reds. a Prince d'Albret, a Merlot Sauvignon of the Comte Tolosan 2005 to wash down 4 mixed Bhajis planned to eat as a starter earlier but decided on a vegetable soup, it has been that kind of a day.
After having a look around Wilkinson and the Monday Market I arrived to collect the photos to be told the camera was only partly used and therefore had not been developed. I had with me a small artificial tree of pink roses which would look great by the fireplace (a Wilkinson's purchase and ten card envelopes for the photos) and struggled home up the hill against the wind in time to beat the hail which was rice to pea size. I checked the car and then found where the used film one had been placed so I would remember, and decided I would do another trip by car, parking close to the photo shop with the intention to return to Wilkinson's for a pot I had seen and was too heavy to take on a walkies. The ticket machine was not working at the end of the car park where I had stopped, having passed the other working machine which required a quick run to beat the next shower. This part of the day had a good end because I have 20 worthwhile prints, some will become good with some on screen work. My mother enjoyed looking at the set although my understanding is that she thought they were of a sister.
The day started well with getting up once in the dawn after going to bed around 2are. There was a prolonged waking dream which I believed I was controlling for a time about a subject which remains as clear as it confidential. Alas it was not a young or old man's normal dream but a subject classified as an official secret, but not by me. I have failed to work out the prior experience which triggered the event, which was frustrating more than scary.
There was several necessary but boring work tasks planned for today. More sorts through recently completed work and set registering and this is now more than 50% completed. There are over thirty sets to photo but got bored after the first efforts and guess it will have to wait as having drunk the wine before Bhajis were cooked I am going to have another vessel, cannot all it glass as it made of pottery, and it is not goblet size, making three times my daily quantity, for months upon months and offsetting the additional exercise gained earlier.
I could not find the disk which has the masters for the artman glitter cards and decided that there so many disks that I needed to create a master registry which will take hours. I will make use of the attractive storage boxes from Ikea which is a bonus.
An early cheese salad and banana lunch was eaten watching what I thought was episode 15 of Lost and then watched what I thought was episode 16 of the evening meal where I finished the cold cuts of yesterday joint with added gravy followed by fresh pineapple and water melon mix, with the glass of red some, nibbles and the soup consumed immediately on return from the visit to my mother. It was when I started to make notes about the second set of 8 episodes and all the missing links and mounting queries that I checked the online list and discovered that I been sent the first 8 then a gap of 4 and then the next 8.
The process transferring an aging copy of Word 2002 to the additional desk top was also complicated as it had to be allocated a fresh code. My last light bulb crashed out in the guest lounge so I went crashing about in search of stuff last night but the investment of spot lamps fitted to a traditional three pronged candelabra suspended fitting has worked well but I have put off a second ladder climb to change the bulb fittings in here to low energy long life. And this is only for starters to what has not been a good day, and writing this instead of getting on with what I should is a bit like wolfing a whole bar of chocolate and immediately wanting several more.
My priority task for last year was to complete a maternal family history which successfully linked my mother's Gibraltarian ancestors with a family network in Calne, Wiltshire, going back to the early 1600's, with three editions of the work completed in the autumn and distributed to relatives and to archive and family history centres in Wiltshire. A greater distribution was considered but decided against.
After Christmas there were final preparations and celebration of the 100th birthday of my mother. The day was so moving that I did not take many photos relying on others. I have made some close up studies in the past with a mini computer digital camera with Zeiss lens, mainly using a 64Mb memory stick for stills and short film. Over three years some 240000 stills have been taken several hundred short clips and 20 hours of unedited film. My ink cartridge supply firm included a gift of two instant camera negatives and yesterday my mother was receptive to the use of flash and I used one film(so I thought) which I knew included some of the shots of her in relative close up. Today I could not wait to walk into town, despite the sharp wintry wind in search of an instant photo development outlet. I had no idea if there was one was therefore delighted at the discovery of a purpose unit close to the Metro Station, having noted that the monstrosity of the concrete car park had been raised to ground. My walking route into town takes me past the Azda Wal-Mart, the old railway station used for a taxi rank, mobility and women's health centres on the platform and then down stairs or uninviting lift down to the main shopping street, with the active street market at one end, and immediately opposite the photo shop which I must have seen several times a week on my walkabouts but had not registered. The offensive car park used by druggies and hoodies until recently fenced off, but never by motorist because of the instant attraction of vandals soon after completion has damaged the town image for a couple of decades. Its loss will only be mourned by the idiots who put it up in the first place.
I decided against going for coffee while you wait for the half an hour required, I had the day's ration instead of tea, with my eggs and bran cereal breakfast, fortification for putting the waste bin out for the Monday morning collection and the mid morning outing. Instead I went to Wilkinson's for shaving razors. For decades I had made do with single bladed throwaways which nevertheless lasted a couple of days but was never content with the result, until I took up an offer to try a three blade and have not looked back. It is not so much loyalty or superstition but order and security which led to returning to the same store at the furthest end of the street which made the offer, rather than get the same make at Boots or a couple of other options nearer. Anyway I wanted to look at their pots, garden patio type pots, or indoor plant pots, having got half a dozen when I set my mind to creating a Mediterranean environment out of my garage, painting a soft blue, covering one wall with pictures from travels with plates and a set wine drinking vessels hand painted and fired at Vallauris within a stone's throw of the Picasso exhibition. (I have had to out to the garage to check the spelling and this led to opening a new bottle of red, picked at random from the latest case of Times Wine club reds. a Prince d'Albret, a Merlot Sauvignon of the Comte Tolosan 2005 to wash down 4 mixed Bhajis planned to eat as a starter earlier but decided on a vegetable soup, it has been that kind of a day.
After having a look around Wilkinson and the Monday Market I arrived to collect the photos to be told the camera was only partly used and therefore had not been developed. I had with me a small artificial tree of pink roses which would look great by the fireplace (a Wilkinson's purchase and ten card envelopes for the photos) and struggled home up the hill against the wind in time to beat the hail which was rice to pea size. I checked the car and then found where the used film one had been placed so I would remember, and decided I would do another trip by car, parking close to the photo shop with the intention to return to Wilkinson's for a pot I had seen and was too heavy to take on a walkies. The ticket machine was not working at the end of the car park where I had stopped, having passed the other working machine which required a quick run to beat the next shower. This part of the day had a good end because I have 20 worthwhile prints, some will become good with some on screen work. My mother enjoyed looking at the set although my understanding is that she thought they were of a sister.
The day started well with getting up once in the dawn after going to bed around 2are. There was a prolonged waking dream which I believed I was controlling for a time about a subject which remains as clear as it confidential. Alas it was not a young or old man's normal dream but a subject classified as an official secret, but not by me. I have failed to work out the prior experience which triggered the event, which was frustrating more than scary.
There was several necessary but boring work tasks planned for today. More sorts through recently completed work and set registering and this is now more than 50% completed. There are over thirty sets to photo but got bored after the first efforts and guess it will have to wait as having drunk the wine before Bhajis were cooked I am going to have another vessel, cannot all it glass as it made of pottery, and it is not goblet size, making three times my daily quantity, for months upon months and offsetting the additional exercise gained earlier.
I could not find the disk which has the masters for the artman glitter cards and decided that there so many disks that I needed to create a master registry which will take hours. I will make use of the attractive storage boxes from Ikea which is a bonus.
An early cheese salad and banana lunch was eaten watching what I thought was episode 15 of Lost and then watched what I thought was episode 16 of the evening meal where I finished the cold cuts of yesterday joint with added gravy followed by fresh pineapple and water melon mix, with the glass of red some, nibbles and the soup consumed immediately on return from the visit to my mother. It was when I started to make notes about the second set of 8 episodes and all the missing links and mounting queries that I checked the online list and discovered that I been sent the first 8 then a gap of 4 and then the next 8.
The process transferring an aging copy of Word 2002 to the additional desk top was also complicated as it had to be allocated a fresh code. My last light bulb crashed out in the guest lounge so I went crashing about in search of stuff last night but the investment of spot lamps fitted to a traditional three pronged candelabra suspended fitting has worked well but I have put off a second ladder climb to change the bulb fittings in here to low energy long life. And this is only for starters to what has not been a good day, and writing this instead of getting on with what I should is a bit like wolfing a whole bar of chocolate and immediately wanting several more.
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