I have no relationship with my phone. Unlike successive generations brought up glued to social media and their phones, doom scrolling to find a connection, any connection, I came out of a different era. One that smiles at people in the street, chats casually with the person on the next table in the coffee shop/bus/train, and reads an old fashioned newspaper. Yes, they do still print them. So in this age of the smart phone, mine gets put into my handbag when I leave the apartment and, never comes out till I get home, and it goes back on the side waiting to be charged. The only times it gets any actual use is if I’m out for a walk or we’re visiting one of my fav parks & gardens. Then, it gets used as a camera and storage, posting device. Occasionally, I will use it to text the OH, but only on the two days they’re in work and not at home working. As for upgrading and buying the latest incarnation of X or …

I’ve never really thought about it before this morning, thinking I never really had a “brand” per se, but the truth is, when I looked closer, yes, I do. And it’s quite distinctive to me. From the choice of fonts I like to use because of the way they look, to the colours I choose for links and the fact I like clean, crisp, uncluttered white space. I think most of this stems from when I changed jobs moving from the stress of air traffic control (from my time in the military) to publishing on the cusp of computers moving full time into the work place. I gravitated to both, and combining the two, had a thirty plus year career in print & publishing. Obviously, working within this dynamically changing arena has informed my online presence in subtle ways I hadn’t really notice before. Of course it did. My artistic side has had training and now, has free reign to create in a way that’s simplistic and understated. I crafted any number of magazines back …

I’ve had an amazing number of jobs over the years, starting with what I guess is a rite of passage for any kid born in the UK pre 1980s — that of paper delivery kid. Like many, it was my first real job that I got paid for by someone not a family member. A job I took very seriously at the time, never missing a day regardless of what the weather threw at me. I loved that job, being up at an ungodly hour before the rest of the world, being out on the streets on my bike riding like a crazy, despite the weight of newspapers I had to deliver. I got so good at doing my one paper round that I ended up doing 2 back to back, and eventually did the Sundays as well. Earning myself enough to buy myself things I had only dreamed of. I kept those paper rounds right up until just before I left home and signed up to join the military. Supplemented by then, with a …

I’ve had an internal monolog running in my head since I was probably 3-4 years old. I know I spent a lot of those first aware years—between 3 and 5—firing questions at my father almost non-stop. Asking him why this, or why that. Questions he always patiently answered. And, despite my best efforts, he always, but always, had an answer for me. Whether any of those answers were scientifically correct was neither here nor there. If I wanted to know why whales had holes on the top of the head, my father had an answer for me. Our routine got so that he started calling me, Miss Why. He would come home from work, and we would share dinner together—this mostly because at the time I refused to eat all day long till Daddy came home, and I insisted then on eating what he ate. This phase lasted a very long time, throughout the three years we lived in Hong Kong I think. What broke that particular streak? Him having tripe (sheep’s intestines and stomach …

Of course, all events that happened in, this is a day in the life of … happened yesterday so I could post it as today’s #NaBloPoMo offering. Time I woke up: 5:15 a.m. Yeah, I wasn’t happy I can tell you. Stupid bladder. First thing I did upon waking: Go for a pee … no, seriously. I have a bladder the size of a thimble. Today’s weather: Wild and stormy. The winds are lashing the trees outside. Something I spent money on today: A freshly baked baguette. An out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened today: The kitchen sink backed up, again. We’ve been waiting 2 weeks to get the drain(s) seen to. Every time someone’s dishwasher or washing machine empties, our sink backs up with water and bubbles. We’ve had two mini floods already. Last thing I read (not on the Internet): The back of a noodle packet we’re having as part of dinner tonight. Last thing I read (on the Internet): Comments on my blog, checking to see who I need to answer. Last text I sent: …