Bucket and To Do List.
help me to risk failure that I may discover new things
not many will know where that sunset picture was taken
It’s kind of stultifying here in the garret, in theory I’m only supposed to go out if it’s absolutely necessary, or for my daily fresh air and exercise. I can’t really leave town, and I certainly can’t leave the country at the moment, but as soon as this imbecilic and pointless lockdown is lifted, I am out of here, doing some cool and exciting things. Although, I can make a start on some of my list right now, ergo I have made a beginning on;
- Get myself much fitter and healthier, looking and feeling better. My preferred exercise is just plain walking; for me it exercises my body, mind, and spirit. Walking gives me time to think and quiet my emotions. My daily target is 5 miles, (10,000 paces as recommended by lots of fitness gurus), this morning I walked 10 miles, (20,240 paces) in the fresh air and sunshine, getting my knees brown.
- Be a better friend to those I really care about. Lose all of those defects of character I have collected over time. Be the English Gentleman, The White Night, The Steadfast Friend, and the Hero if I need to ever be that for a friend. Hey, I’m working on it.
- Get out of this place. I like travel, and I can afford both the time and the money. Just as soon as I can I’m going to California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Crete, Malta….. Probably in just about that order. I’d better leave room for Marmaduke in my luggage…..
- Buy a car. For years I’ve gotten bye with renting when I needed a car, but now I want to go out and buy something I really like. I have a short-list, and a generous budget. It will be a classic, so an older vehicle.
- Go through my clothes, shoes and stuff again. Dump anything that doesn’t really fit the cool, together, classy English guy I want to dress as, to portray. I can think of some stuff that I should never have bought, and I should never wear again.
- Learn something new, interesting, and difficult. I think I’m going to be studying practical psychology for a while, along with astronomy and astrology.
- ?????? I don’t know what goes here, not yet anyway. All lists should have clearly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty.
I should never be afraid to risk failure. WTF have I got to lose? Only by risking failure will I ever learn new and exciting things. It’s time for me to take risks ~ big risks.
Some say that making lists is a pointless exercise. And that nobody ever does anything on their bucket list or to do lists. All I know is I’ve already made a start on becoming that better man, that very cool guy, living a really great life.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Meteor Crater
One place I will Never go back to
Scenes on Sunday ~ Pacific Ocean
out to the west of me the sun is going down
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
shadows on silk as the night rolls in
Scenes on Sunday ~ California
being anywhere with anyone has got to be better than lockdown
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
California, mostly empty
Evolution in Action
it is not the strongest that survive, but the one most responsive to change
Evolution takes thousands of years, and in the last few days our thinking about every situation seems to have changed. fundamentally. Perhaps our beliefs, attitudes, and actions are trying to play catch-up with us here. None of us is used to a daily diet of bad news that rivals that which was fed to us English in the early months of the last war. Catastrophic thinking is what we have here, the idea that the human brain is predisposed to jumping to worse-case scenarios, and it’s fucking dangerous.
In the not so distant past I was thinking about my next overseas vacation, perhaps a visit to California, or a trip to Crete, Nowadays, I can’t go anywhere at all. I turn on my TV and the news is just a long series of nightmares with the death toll being right at the top and tail of everything.
It’s a relief when a piece of news, or a telephone conversation with a friend, isn’t full of doom and gloom, a call that doesn’t have the fear of death looming over it. Almost everyone is scared almost all the time, and there is a feeling of helpless resignation.
Well, I for one am going no further down that depressive, defeatist road. This morning I did my usual laundry, took my usual walk for an hour or so, called at the store as usual, (although I did have to stand in line just to get in there), bought the kind of stuff I would usually buy…. Sadly when I got back to the garret I was too knackered to do my usual yoga and other exercises. But thus far I’ve managed a fairly normal day, (for me), and I can live like this indefinitely.
But it’s not a great life if I can’t journey to the sun, see friends, travel all around England, walk towards the far horizons…. And sex is out of the question. As far as I am concerned the sooner the world safely gets back to what we are predisposed to call normal, the better.
One big upside, I haven’t been brainwashed into believing all that catastrophic anthropogenic climate change crap for a little while. Global warming looks pretty unimportant right now ~ call it evolution in action.
Stay safe and be well. And may the Deities of your choice go with you.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
even a bed of roses is full of thorns
Scenes on Sunday ~ Horizons
look to the far horizon, for that is where your future lies
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
a far away friend
yet the most beloved
Coronavirus and Travel
it is not the length of life that matters, but the depth of it
There is nothing much in the news these days except the effects, implications, and horror stories concerning the coronavirus, or to give it it’s more sinister name COVID-19. There is no doubt that there is an outbreak of illness involving a couple of varieties of this nasty little bugger. According to some organisations, (WHO), the death rate from coronavirus is about 3.4%, (in comparison to a death rate of 0.1% from your average influenza). But will I let that change my life ~ the hell I will.
In little while I should be heading off for an extended vacation ~ first stop California. My journey to the warm sunshine should take me about 24 hours, elapsed time. During my journey I will likely pass through 5 different airport terminals and sit in 3 different aircraft for a total of maybe 15 hours. I will be in close proximity to hundreds, thousands, of people who could have come from just about anywhere in the world. Was I of a nervous disposition then that’s the last kind of ordeal I’d put myself through during this present medical emergency. But then, by that token I should never leave the garret at all ~ ever.
However, I will be taking some sensible precautions ~ in essence these will be no different whatsoever to the precautions I always take when travelling long-distances.
- Do not go to or through some disease-ridden hell-hole like Africa, or India, or China, or right now Northern Italy.
- Organise myself aisle seats on all flights, which usually costs extra in coach. An aisle seat because if I’m sitting near someone I don’t like, for example someone coughing and sneezing, then I can always get up and find someplace else to spend most of a long flight. It also gives me a chance to stretch my legs.
- Carry and use cleansing wipes. It’s bloody terrible carrying stuff like a hand sanitiser through airport security, but I will buy one in the departure area.
- Don’t eat any food or drink any liquid that’s of dubious origins.
- Thoroughly wash my hands and face as often as possible.
- Never, ever touch anyone, and touch mucky looking surfaces as little as possible.
- Have comprehensive health cover included in my travel insurance, (£10 million + £10 million repatriation).
- Carry a list of emergency contact numbers.
You’ve seen news footage of people wearing masks ~ that’s bloody pointless. A virus is so small it will just go right through anything you can breathe through.
Some say that it’s better to be safe than sorry. And that they don’t want to get near to anyone who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. All I know is that normal life has a 100% mortality rate and I intend to make the most of every moment I have left in mine.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
better to cash out going backwards off a cliff than forted-up in the garret
Scenes on Sunday ~ Idylls
there is something very simple about the most idyllic dreams
sunset Orange County CA
the Pacific Ocean
parasailing over the Mediterranean
the Atlantic Ocean
red rock country near Sedona AZ
Zion Canyon National Park
Sunset in North Turkey
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the North Sea and winter sky at dawn
An Englishman in New York
if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere
Back in the day I spent a lot of time in New York. Why? It’s where the money is.
Some say you haven’t lived until you’ve died in New York. And that somewhere between living and dreaming there lies New York. All I know is that New York may be the city that never sleeps, but it certainly sleeps around.
Please listen with care ~ The Big Apple can be dangerous to the unwary.
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some sights you just have to see
to get around New York, rent a limousine
Scenes on Sunday ~ Zion
you cannot describe Zion, you can only experience it
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
get the girl riding shotgun to take the cool pictures while you do the driving
Stress #5 ~ Getting Out
that’s why I drink ~ escaping from the real world
Some situations you can find yourself in are uncomfortable, painful, difficult, dangerous, intolerable. It might be work, family, marriage, living with someone, romance, an affair, a stalker….. It could be as bad as gaslighting, where you are being psychologically manipulated so much as to doubt your own sanity. Or you could be verbally and physically abused, bullied, threatened, and deeply hurt.
I myself was once bullied at work by my director, aka the Ginger Bitch, she was a woman and I was a very senior and very successful executive. It made going in to work at all an immensely stressful thing, it kept me awake at nights, and I started drinking far too much. Drinking too much is only a temporary escape. For a while I fantasized about pushing her into traffic on a very busy London road, decided that wasn’t a good plan. So, I did the only sensible thing I could, and left that job, got myself out of there, escaped.
If you are in an intolerable situation, then the most sensible thing you can do is leave, get out, escape, leave town, change all your numbers and email addresses…..
And this is where it will get heartbreaking for you. Leaving home is a momentous decision you will shy away from making, put off for as long as possible. You would rather live in misery than make the irreversible decision to leave your abuser. Before that you will try all kinds of other ways to escape; booze, drugs, an affair, promiscuity, vacations on your own with all of the aforementioned.
It’s no good, eventually for your own safety and sanity you will have to leave. Before that you need to prepare;
- tell nobody of your plans, not family nor friends
- stash away a lot of cash in a place known only to you
- if you can find a place, say a storage unit, then stash away clothes, shoes, utensils, and anything else you might need in your new life
- get a new cell, new email id, new internet provider, new tablet
- decide where you are going to go, not to your family nor friends because your abuser will find you there ~ a woman’s refuge in another town is good
- leave home when your abuser is at work, at a bar, with their whore, vanish, disappear, tell no one or your abuser will find you
- buy a different car, preferably a van, pick up your stuff, and drive, keep to all the traffic laws, drive a long way in an unexpected direction
Sadly it might be more complicated than that. You may have kids in tow, you might be reported to the police as anything from a missing person to a kidnapper of your own children, you have no job so you might go broke fast, if you tell a relative where you are then your abuser will find you. Tell nobody, and I mean nobody where you are; send a postcard from another state to tell people that you are safe.
Some say that escaping is easy, it’s found at the bottom of a bottle of booze. And that things are bound to get better soon. All I know is that escaping takes bravery, determination, and a shed load of preparation.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
just think how good freedom will feel
