Strength Of Character.

Strength of character. It's a great thing to have. Sadly it seemed to be lacking in my immediate forebears. You notice I use the word forebears? I did that because I didn't really want to say parents, but who am I kidding? I'm not casting blame. We are what we are when we are, if that makes any sense? I lacked it in my younger days, especially my teens. Lacking any strength of character was perhaps a reason why I was in trouble so often. But hey I had other issues to deal with. Not that I was too aware of them at the time, consciously at least, and I certainly wasn't into soul searching. That came later.

Looking back, I realise that my climb back to self respect came mostly in the shape of two particular probation officers. I shall tell you their names, because they were good men: Mr Record and Mr Garland. They saw some good in me. I am grateful for that. It didn't happen overnight though. There were quite a few lows, and brushes with authority before I finally came to some kind of agreement with myself and realised the futility and error of my ways. Not that I'm a perfect example of how to live one's life of course. I still have the occasional aberration. But I do try my best. I suspect I have developed a degree of character, and though I say so myself, it does have some strength to it.

My extremely handsome son George has lately displayed a strength of character that I lacked at his age. He is moving out of his digs at university this week and into new ones. He got on well with his flatmates but he disagreed with them on the subject of drug taking. EHS is vehemently against them. I am not going into details about this. It would serve no purpose. He decided he couldn't stay there. He told his flatmates why he was leaving and they understood. It makes me so proud that he stood by his principles. He showed strength of character.

EHS George's mother has strength of character. He must have got it from her.

What would I have done in those circumstances when I was a similar age? I suspect you probably know the answer to that.



PS: Over a hundred thousand page views. Thanks everyone.

A Facebook Status

Due to some accommodation problems my extremely handsome son George's start to university life in Liverpool has not gone too smoothly, However I think the situation has now been resolved. He will move to new 'digs' next week. I will be writing more on the subject soon.

It isn't only this blog I have been absent from I haven't been on facebook for a while either but today I put this status up, and thought I would just share it with you, to let you know I am still about.


Had a lovely walk and catch up with my friend Samantha today. We went to Bury Hill and walked with Sadie the German Shepherd and Ned the Border collie along the Monarchs Trail. A nice warmish day for it.


I hadn't seen Sam for a couple of weeks and remarked that I thought she had lost weight. She told me she hadn't but explained that she looked a bit thinner because she hadn't washed her hair! Only a woman could come up with an explanation like that me thinks. I didn't bother trying to understand what the hell she meant because being a woman she would probably have a perfectly reasonable explanation and that would only have confused me even more!


Anyway it did get me thinking. I need to lose a bit of weight, so I have decided not to wash my hair (what there is left of it) for a few days! You never know, after all women are always right. So look out for the new slimline me.


There was a slight problem when our walk began. Apparently she could feel something touching her bottom! It definitely wasn't me! In fact I was walking just ahead of her. On investigation it turned out that a strap from her coat was hanging down and I spent a few minutes trying to sort it out for her. Too long it seems because she suddenly decided I had spent far too long looking at her bottom. Anyway she decided to try and ignore the problem and we went on our way, albeit with her mentioning the errant strap every once in a while. It must be awful to have something constantly banging against ones backside!

After a while something distracted me from Samantha's backside. Something I have never seen in all my 36 years. We were met with clouds of butterflies for almost the entire walk. Namely the Speckled Wood butterfly. I have never seen this particular butterfly in such profusion before and it really made this walk special. There were hundreds of them settled on the trail and as the dogs loped along the butterflies rose up in fluttering clouds. Absolutely wonderful and such a good sign that there is hope for nature.

So a good walk and I learned some things: Don't wash your hair if you want to lose weight. Speckled Wood butterflies are doing OK in the ecology, and women's bottoms look good in those black leggings as long as they are not too fat!

EHS George is home for a long weekend I picked him up from the station just an hour ago. It is so good to have him home.

I will be back soon. Have a lovely weekend.

EHS George Is At University.

My extremely handsome son George is now at 'uni' in Liverpool. I drove him there on Saturday, stayed to get him unpacked and settled in, and left to come back home on Sunday afternoon.

His student accommodation is quite spacious. There are four rooms to each flat and each has their own key to their room. There is a communal kitchen and sitting room. Also each room has an on suite bathroom.

Unpacking

Our parting was difficult to bear. We are both sensitive and emotional types. There were tears. I hated leaving him.

He is missing home, particularly the animals and familiar things. But he has flatmates and hopefully soon he will have lots of new friends.

 I suspect that he will be making the journey home quite a lot in the first few months. It takes about five hours by train. Of course if he asks me to come and get him I will be there like a shot.

Two hundred and seventy two miles. That is the distance involved. Not a lot is it? My new satnav told me it would take four and a half hours to get there. Haha maybe it would if I had a fast car and didn't make any stops on the way. Sadly I don't have a fast car.

Today is induction day for EHS George. He will meet his course tutors and fellow students for the first time. I am hoping that he will soon be so involved that he won't have time to feel homesick.

The accommodation blocks

How long will it take for me to get used to him not being at home?

The Liverpool seagulls are no respecters of royalty. Just ask Albert.

I can feel a blogging break coming on. I need to concentrate on other things for a while. I will be back.

Goodbye for now.

Emma's New Blog.

Emma Springfield who has been following my blog since it began more than two years ago, has started her own blog and I take the liberty of adding the link to it here
http://mdleaves.blogspot.co.uk I hope you will pop over and have a read of it. I think it is going to be a good one. Emma has always encouraged me in my writing and I hope that this small gesture serves to show my appreciation.

Not a lot to report on my home front at the moment. I am picking up but still getting occasionally low. I am on the upward slope though and hope to be back to 'normal' soon.

I think that my extremely handsome son George's imminent departure for university in Liverpool might be affecting my mood somewhat. However I think once he has gone I shall get on with keeping busy and get on with the next phase of my life. I have some ideas to work on. The first one being to work on not being such a pathetic 'wuss'.

EHS George and I went beach fishing yesterday. It was good quality time. Neither of us caught anything but you should have seen the one that got away!

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon. Don't forget to have a look at Emma's blog http://mdleaves.blogspot.co.uk




   

Can't Think Of A Title For This One.

This miserable 'ol bastard was up early this morning. It's the sun what does it. It shines through the mollicroft windows and I thinks to meself: "best make the most of it Johnboy it'll soon be winter". So up I gets and starts the day. Cuppa first and a couple o' slices o' buttered toast with marmalade. After that I might have a bowl of oatbran porridge, if I can be bothered and if I think I ought to eat healthily. Mind you, after eating healthily I might then have a bacon and egg sandwich. Purely for it's protein content you understand.

When I was a married man my dear wife used to put my clean clothes out ready for me in the morning. Those days are long gone but I still like to maintain standards and to this day I always get dressed in the morning eventually. Unless it's early afternoon.

Clean clothes can be a problem, mostly when I run out of them. But one learns to adapt. Underpants for example no matter how long you have been wearing them, will always manage to have 'just one more day' in them, even when they have already been turned inside out several times! And socks! Well they can be worn until they fall to pieces and on the sad day when that finally occurs, it takes only a few hours to run to the local hosiery supply centre and purchase a new pair. So I manage to get by as a single man, and what with Febreze fabric freshener and today's powerful deodorants, one is able to live a relatively normal life. I still don't have a girlfriend! Strange that. What with me being so damned good looking!

Sadie the German Shepherd and I walked to the village today. I bought a newspaper and four slices of bacon. The newspaper didn't have much news in it. Mostly it was about some woman called Sharon Osbourne and her face being lifted. I don't care how many times she has her face lifted. To be honest, I don't even care about her at all. Except in the normal way I care for all humans. I care about the innocents in the Syrian conflict though, those poor souls who just want to live a happy quiet and peaceful life, but instead must spend their time wondering when the next bomb is going to drop on them. Yes I care about them, but the newspapers don't seem to care too much. Not as much as they care about Sharon Osbourne's plastic surgery. Why would anyone give a flying fuck about her face? Beats me! S'cuse the language, but sometimes I need to say things with fervour. Anyway this blog needs to be more daring, more cutting edge, more modern! I have become modern man. Modern grumpy 'ol man. Why not? This is my blog and it is in dire need of updating.

The showman's wagon, my home, has suffered in the sun. and I am currently redecorating the exterior. It involves a lot of work and because I am so lazy it is being done in stages. My latest excuse for not painting is that it is too hot too work to work outside in the intense heat. I am at this grey stage right now, which suits my mood at the moment. Extremely handsome son George, likes the grey. He thinks it looks 'cool'. I like bright colours though which is quite unusual for a miserable 'ol bastard! I am a complex character. Can't even understand myself at times. Most of the time. I shall, in the fullness of time have it looking bright and gay again. Watch this grey space.

I forgot all about the mollicroft roof.

.

EHS George is off to start university next week. I am taking him on Saturday. Driving there in the VW camper. Takes about five hours to get there.. I expect I shall drive straight back after I see him settled in. I am going to miss him a lot. It's not as though I see a lot of him at the moment. What with his work and his friends he has a busy life. But I think I shall miss the fact that he isn't around. Still, as I said to him yesterday, students do seem to have long breaks and plenty of them.

To fill the void I am thinking about doing some voluntary work, only thinking about it mind you. I don't want to rush into anything. I might even take up sea kayaking. It has long been a thought.

Oh my word! Is that the time already? I must dash I have a dentist appointment at 4.15. Need to sort out what to wear. A red shirt would be a good idea, because of the blood, and I expect these underpants have still got a couple of days left in 'em. I won't wear socks. No one will notice if I wear my wellington boots!

It's good to be back blogging. I hope you think so too. Cutting edge and all!