1610.15 AUNTIE DOREEN

On Thursday we lost my Great Auntie Doreen, she was 86 years old.

1610.14 COULROPHOBIA

It seems the world is going mad. My country is falling apart yet still committing itself to building a railway line nobody wants. The US is on the brink of electing a megalomaniac dictator that would give any James Bond villain a run for their money.

Then what do we get? Bloody CLOWNS! Not just any clowns, evil clowns! Now I don't like clowns. They give me the heebie jeebies.  There has been an epidemic of sighting of these scary clowns (all clowns are scary to me though) all over South Yorkshire and the rest of the country. Some have even been reported to have been carrying knives.

South Yorkshire Police issued this statement:

Between 21 September and today (12 October), concerns have been raised by 61 members of the public relating to incidents involving people dressed as clowns in South Yorkshire. 

The incidents include people being dressed as clowns knocking on windows and doors, and children and adults being frightened. There have also been two reports of clowns with knives, which are being investigated by police.

An incident last night (11 October) is also under investigation after a 17-year-old boy was assaulted by a man dressed as a clown.
Superintendent Colin McFarlane said: “There is a clear distinction to be drawn between young people who might be dressing up as we move into the Guy Fawkes and Halloween period and those that are dressing as clowns in order to commit public order offences or harassment.

"Clearly those that are crossing the threshold of criminality and especially if they are carrying weapons will be dealt with accordingly. I need people to understand that consequences of their actions and to take responsibility for them - South Yorkshire Police will not tolerate criminal behaviour.
“I urge anyone who feels frightened or threatened to report it to police.”

This happened about 3 years ago and quickly fizzled out. I hope this goes away a quickly as it arrived. I haven't had the misfortune of coming across one of these costumed monstrosities. Not yet anyway.

Did I mention that I hate clowns? 

1610.11 LIEBSTER AWARD

I am honoured that Susan Leighton of Woman on a Ledge has nominated me for a Liebster Award. Susan blogs about life and does so in an honest way which makes for refreshing reading. It soon feels like you're chatting away to an old friend. I am happy to accept this token of appreciation.

The Liebster is a way for bloggers to acknowledge other bloggers whom they feel have a unique, entertaining, informative or educational voice.  It is also a terrific way to promote and spotlight hidden gems in the blogging community. For more information and the official rules, please visit the Global Aussie website.

One of the requirements for all nominees is to write a short essay on their favorite blog.  Well I'm going to write about a guy named Stu. Stu writes a blog about his life as an Englishman living in Holland and how his life has adapted to the customs and culture there. Why have I picked him? Because he's an excellent cartoonist too and it was him that inspired me it start drawing cartoons again and use them in my blog. Sadly his blog posts are a little sporadic these days as he juggles family and professional life with a bit of live improv. He's still an entertaining read and I love his (cartoon) work. You can find his blog at InvadingHolland.com.

Then I have to nominate my own choice for an award. This is a difficult choice since all the blogs I read and/or comment on are excellent for their own reasons. I'm supposed to choose blogs with less than 200 followers but I'm not going to go about asking for that information, I've taken a guess based on what I've observed on their pages.

List of 2016 Nominees:

Military Wife and Pug Life - 'MiliWifey' is pug loving, Marvel maniac and (obviously) military wife who loves to recap really bad movies.

Life From a Seated Perspective - Mark Rankin is a fellow Yorkshireman and writes about the challenges of his life being wheelchair bound.

Cat Hair and Glitter - Holly writes about her life in Kentucky (not the chicken shop) as a mother and potential cat lady (she has 6 cats and 2 dogs!).

Not Meatloaf Again - I first came across 'Chocolat Lover' when I used to follow her husband James' blog. She writes about their lives with young daughter Evie.

Yet Another Coffee to Go - Retired life in North Wales with Eileen. She writes about life with her husband and her dogs.

Liebster nominees must do is provide 10 random facts about themselves set by the nominator. Bring it on...

10 Questions about me:

Q: If travel was something everyone did as a rite of passage growing up where would you recommend they go and why? (one country only)

A: Lake Ullswater in the Lake District. I did an outward bound course there when I was 16 and it had a profound effect on my life.

Q: What is the last show you binge watched?

A: Mr Robot - blog post coming soon!

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: Obviously Yorkshire Puddings!

Q: Give a tip for other bloggers or potential blog starters. 

A: Be yourself, that's all it takes.

Q: If you had to choose between living with TV or music, which one would you choose?

A: I'd choose TV over music anyway. Music isn't a massive part of my life.

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your life?

A: It has to be my wife, Morticia. She pushes me through my doubt and encourages me to be the best version of me.

Q: If you could travel back in time, what year would you visit and why?

A: I'd love to be a time traveler and be an observer of history. I'd love to see my home city back at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.

Q: The gun or the cannoli?

A: Don't really understand the question. Don't like guns, we don't really have them in the UK. Cannoli? Had to Google it and it's got cheese in it. Yuk! Is this some sort of American question?

Q: Who is your favorite author?

A: My favourite author is probably Peter David, the best Star Trek novel writer out there (in my opinion).

Q: What is the last movie you saw?

A: I assume this is referring to the cinema? The last film I saw at the cinema was Star Trek Beyond.

To the people that I nominated, if you choose to accept, please read the rules from the original post (link is at the top of this post).

Here are my 10 questions for my nominees... 

Why did you start blogging? 

If you were a time traveler, would you go forwards or backwards? 

What is your idea of a great evening? 

Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with? 

What scares you, I mean really scares you? 

If you were a cartoon character which one would you be? 

If you won the lottery (or came into a large sum of money) what would you go out and buy first? 

When you're in the car alone (if you don't drive then think of a similar circumstance where you're alone with a radio) what would you turn the radio on to? 

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Gravy or no gravy?

There it is, anyone else want to answer these questions please put your responses in the comments. 

1610.10 THIS WEEKEND

We were on a mission this weekend. We have been working on friends' wedding photos (which Morticia had taken) and we planned to drop them off. These friends live close to Morticia's mother so the plan was to combine the two things together.

The drive is just over 2 hours and is quite dull. The A1 South is just a duel carriageway that feels like it goes on forever. We headed down Friday night with the idea of presenting the wedding photos over a late lunch the next day.

We'd booked a table at a local 'Brewer's Fayre pub (a typical chain establishment). I'd not visited a Brewer's Fayre for many years and in the past found them a little generic. The menu was indeed very standard but I was pleased with the fact that you could get free refills on soft drinks (and hot drinks too), a rarity for such an establishment. The photos were handed over to our newlywedded friends who were very pleased with their boxed memories. At the end of the afternoon just before we left the pub I noticed they had Rev James on draught at the bar, such a shame since I wasn't drinking, I'd never seen it this far out of Wales before (except in bottles).

They even had the classic pump clip.

The whole weekend was just the relaxing break I needed. As many know my head hasn't been in the right place recently and this trip gave me the opportunity to (to use old computer parlance) defrag my mind.

The drive home yesterday was uneventful and today I wait for the routine of my life to kick back in. I have the satisfaction of knowing I'll be going with a clear head, at least for now.

1610.06 NEW FIVER

Last month in the UK a new £5 banknote printed on polymer, a thin flexible plastic film, was issued. The new note bears the image of wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill on the reverse. The new note can apparently last about five years longer than paper notes and features loads of new security features, making the note extra hard to counterfeit. They include a see through window featuring the Queen’s portrait as well as the Elizabeth Tower (commonly mistakenly known as Big Ben) depicted in gold foil on the front of the note and silver on the back. The £5 will be joined shortly by new £10 and £20 notes which also will be printed on polymer.

Since the new notes came into circulation there has been a movement on social media under the hashtags of #firstfiver and #fivergiver to donate the first £5 note you receive to charity.

I got my first one this week and thought it was a great idea to give it away so I donated my first fiver to Action for ME, a life changing condition my wonderful Morticia has struggled with for almost 10 years.

1610.04 XV

My youngest daughter was born fifteen years ago this day.

Everything changed. Even though I had been a father for 5 years previous to that point I wasn't prepared for the difference Rags would make to my life.

Baby Rags with her big sister

She is wise beyond her years, she has a sense of fun than rivals anyone I know. She has intelligence and wit with a grounding that I envy.

Rags

She has grown into a beautiful young woman and I am immensely proud of her. Happy 15th birthday Rags. I love you with all my heart.

1610.01 AUDIOHYPNO

Before I start I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words regarding my last couple of posts. I am feeling much better now, I know I've a long way to go and this isn't the last time I go to that dark place. For now I must get on with life and that's what I intend to do.

A couple of weeks ago Morticia visited a hypnotist with some friends with a view to losing a few pounds. She came away with a recording to play at night. I'm not an expert in such things but I've heard of these subliminal suggestion techniques but never had any experience of such things.

She started playing the recording before sleeping and of course this was the last thing I heard before sleeping. It was a woman telling her (and I guess me) to breath and relax, I'd be asleep before I heard anymore. I've no idea of the exact content of the recording.

On the days that followed I noticed I was snacking less and generally keeping within my calorie intake goals. I'm not actually on any sort of diet, I just like to monitor my food intake. Snacking has always been my biggest problem.

Then I had my 'blip' and Morticia didn't play the recording for a few days. I'm not sure if it's my mental well being or the absence of the recording but I've started to hit the Doritos pretty hard.

My Nemesis

There are too many variables to understand whether the hypnosis recording is having an effect or not but I do think it's worth more study. Morticia resumed playing the recording last night.

1609.27 THE VOID

Since 2012 I've lived with the darkness. It's always there like an unwanted stalker forever traveling with me. Back in 2012 I had a breakdown, since then I've had this companion who occasionally pushes me into a dark place, a void, a dark corridor full of locked doors. I have to traverse the whole thing to get back out into the light. But what if this time there is no light this time? It's this making sense?

Yesterday I almost deactivated my blog. I thought about deleting my Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I came really close. It could still happen. The only reason I think I haven't was the words of my previous therapist who advised me to share my thoughts and that blogging was beneficial to my mental well-being. That's why I'm rambling on like this.

Hopefully I'll see you all on the other side. 

1609.25 HEADSPACE

I get 1 weekend off in every 3 with my current shift pattern. This makes every weekend quite special. This weekend I planned to sort out a friend's wedding photos (a bit of photoshop tidying) and of course go cycling. Apart from that we were just going to relax as a family and spend time together.

My head had other ideas.

Yesterday my head felt like it was in a vice whilst being repeated hit on the forehead with a lump hammer. It was like a hangover without the pleasure of a night out. The unmistakable dark mist had descended over me. I couldn't explain the cause of was just there. I couldn't concentrate on the photos I was supposed to be working on. This morning I planned to go cycling with the club but after a night of nightmares and waking up feeling so much dread I didn't feel like going, so I didn't. Probably the worst decision I could have made, I spent the morning feeling guilt on top of everything else.

A double rainbow to cheer me up? 🌈 #ukweather #Rotherham #southyorkshire

A photo posted by CaptainKirt™ (@captainkirt) on Sep 25, 2016 at 9:25am PDT

Maybe it's because it's the end of summer? Maybe it's that my life feels like I'm just treading water? I don't always know why the darkness descends over me, I wish I did. This afternoon as I sat looking out of the window and 2 rainbows appeared. I took it as a sign that things are going to get better. It's the first positive thought I've had all weekend.

I know this post doesn't make much sense, I apologise for that but writing it down makes it easier for me to process it all. 

1609.21 PLUMGATE

Don't worry, whist this is a blog post about plums, it's not the plums you might be thinking of. These plums are mine but they are ones I purchased in our local Tesco store. 

I bought them the other day whilst shopping because they were £1. When I got home I noticed a discrepancy with the receipt. 

I'd been charged £1.50! Whist I was a little peeved about this it wasn't a massive deal, after all it was only 50p (I know that's a 50% overcharge but it's not a huge amount). I was still annoyed enough to fire off a tweet in Tescos direction. Along with the photo as evidence. 

They were very quick to respond and without quibble or question offered me double the difference (via a money card).

Tescos online customer service team, I have to say, have got it nailed. Fast, polite and not afraid to add a little personality either. Well done them! 

All I was really after was an apology and perhaps fixing the pricing issue so it didn't happen to anyone else. This morning I received my refund+ through the post.

Now what to spend my windfall on? A packet of ham? More plums?