Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

We all know what colour orange is; or lemon, lime, lavender and lilac - but what about apple? What colour is described as apple?

Actually my own appreciation of colour and ability to differentiate and describe it is very limited; apparently it's a common male trait.

Yesterday there was a lot of discussion in the media about the government's proposals for NHS reform; particularly access to services and preventative medicine. Generally, I welcome these suggestions; but they don't go far enough - health provision isn't only the responsibility of one government department concerned with GPs' surgeries and hospitals, but is also affected by benefits, income and taxation, social services, health and safety legislation, public transport, housing, lifestyle choices and personal responsibility. The levels of provision and ease of access in all these areas need asessing and a fully integrated policy developed.

I got in from the shops this morning and a sense of being totally overwhelmed just washed over me as I entered the house. I just couldn't decide what to do first; take off my coat or shoes, unpack my shopping, go the toilet, switch on the heating, check the phone for any messages or just sit down and turn on the TV.

This affliction doesn't happen very often, but when it does it can be quite debilitating for a few minutes. I don't know what the medical term for this situation is; it usually happens in the supermarket with the large selection of products, or when I'm just walking around town and don't know which shops I need to visit.

Basically, I can't cope with choice, it all gets too much for me sometimes.

I was listening to a live radio programme online yesterday when I lost the feed, not an unusual occurence - however, the last two words that I heard were 'shut down'. Of course, coincidences do regularly happen without anything suspicious, conspiratorial or even paranormal being involved...for example, the many coincidences between the Kennedy and Lincoln assassinations are amazing...yet genuine.

Iceland - volcanoes and glaciers (and maybe ask the people why they felt it necessary to destroy the Humber fishing fleet)

Greenland - glaciers and early Viking settlements

Antarctica - glaciers and volcanoes

New Zealand - mountains, volcanoes and geysers

Australia - visit my sister (nothing much worth seeing though)

Patagonia - mountains

Grand Canyon - spectacular helicopter flight

Petra, Jordan - spectacular rock city used as location in many Hollywood films

Macchu Picchu - spectacular mountain-top ruined city

Granada - Moorish heritage

Seville - Moorish heritage

Rome - Roman ruins

Siberia - travel along the Trans-Siberian Railway

Kamchatka - volcanoes, geysers and unique ecosystems

Japan - unique culture

Moscow -The Kremlin

Yellowstone National Park - geysers

Geoff Boycott - cricketer
Leonard Parkin - newsreader
Jackie Hampshire - cricketer/umpire
Brian Blessed - actor
John Godber- playwright

I've briefly met and worked with Brian Blessed (I operated a slide projector at a presentation he did.)

I just came across them whilst surfing on the net. I'm not at all interested in chemistry, I just typed in the word 'unusual' into Google.

arsole
crapinon
bastardane
pubescine
munchnones
luciferase
putrescine
diabolic acid
cadaverine
vaginatin
spermine
antipain
spermadine
angelic acid
dickite
clitorin
moronic acid
constipatic acid
curious chloride
fucol
fuchsite
traumatic acid
vomicine
rhamnose
gossypol
lucifer yellow

Although I'm not a climber in any sense, I like visiting hilly and mountainous areas. I'm no more than a hiker, but like to reach the highest point whenever possible.

My achievements so far are:-

Highest point in Peak District/East Midlands - Kinder Scout 2,088 ft. (actually a boggy plateau)

Highest point on North York Moors - Urra Moor 1489 ft.

Highest Point on Yorkshire Wolds - 807 ft.

The highest point I've actually 'climbed' to is approximately 7,300 ft. in the Alps. The bottom of the valley was 3,000 ft.

Noel Edmonds - Swop Shop
James Burke - science programmes
Rolf Harris
Dr. Magnus Pike
John Noakes - Blue Peter
Roy Castle - Record Breakers
Patrick Moore - Apollo moon landings
Jimmy Saville - Jim'll Fix It
Bob Monkhouse - The Golden Shot
Bruce Forsyth - The Generation Game
Larry Grayson - The Generation Game
Valerie Singleton - Blue Peter
Frank Bough - Grandstand/Nationwide
John Craven - Newsround

Some people have recently been having some fun on their blogs with the Googlism site, so I thought I might as well join in.

I'm not sure how the site works exactly; but the premise is that you type in a word or name and it searches the web for a list of definitions. Unfortunately there are no links provided to any of the results so you can't investigate any further.

I began by typing in my full name, but the site didn't have enough information to return any results. I then restricted my search to just my Christian name and a long list appeared.

Here are the highlights:

Lee is open.
Lee is outrageous
Lee is free
Lee is hot
Lee is cool
Lee is an object lesson
Lee is on the bus
Lee is a sick man
Lee is psychic
Lee is real
Lee is the king
Lee is coming to Tucson
Lee is nude
Lee is evicted from Big Brother
Lee is charming
Lee is problematic
Lee is a spy
Lee is not a cock
Lee is on a fiscal diet
Lee is all mine
Lee is shocking
Lee is fully done
Lee is adding an automated attendant
Lee is gone but not

I didn't realise I led such an interesting life.
Reading the list out loud, it sounds quite poetic though.

Next I typed in Doncaster (where I live)

Here are the highlights again:

Doncaster is shrinking
Doncaster is one of the largest boroughs in the U.K. with a population of approximately 300
Doncaster is at the centre
Doncaster is now open
Doncaster is not York

I'm 43 years old, unemployed and never had a job.

In the area that I grew up in the local jobcentre has been closed for a few months with all the windows now boarded up (these are not the only boarded up premises in the vicinity.)

Nationally, today and tomorrow certain jobcentre and benefits agency staff are on strike in protest at government plans to make 25% of their posts redundant.

You must draw your own conclusions.

Put a hypertext link as a button rather than the complete webpage address.

Organise my emails using Outlook Express.

Compress and access WinZip files.

Set most personal preferences (The default settings are fine though.)

Great Houghton, a mining village near Barnsley: a locally held belief is that the first shots of the English Civil War were fired here. I can't find any reference on the net though. Both Nottingham and Hull have well documented rival claims. The village does have one of the few Commonwealth era built chapels in the country.

Thurnscoe, near Rotherham, the next village though; only a mile away. At various periods has claimed to be the largest village in England; with a current population of over eleven thousand.

I go to the shops to see what discontinued items and out-of-date food I can find.

I write my blog daily and look forward to how many pageviews, visitors and comments I get.

Most Friday and Saturday evenings I go to my friend's house and we watch videos/DVDs.

I visit my parents every three weeks or so.

I write poetry in the hope that it might get published (quite often it does.)

My brother visits me once a week.

Most days I spend about an hour online talking to an old schoolfriend using the webcam.

That's all...but every one of these activities is precious to me; they are my contacts with the rest of society.

3 boxes of Bramley apple pies ...£1
4 breaded salmon fillets with spinach...£1.50
4 breaded cod fillets with Mediterranean vegetables...£1.50
4 salmon griddlers...£1

A better day than most for picking up bargains; that's why I've decided to post the details.

British Sign Language and American Sign Language are two completely different languages. This must make the lives of deaf people in both countries and how they perceive and understand the world a contrasting experience when compared to hearing people. Obviously there is a close link between language, culture and politics...I wonder if any academic studies have been undertaken on this particular subject.

The concept of people in America using a different language is totally bizarre though; how different the world would be if this fact also applied to spoken language. Of course, in the early years after independence, the U.S. Congress held a vote to determine the official language of the new country and English only just beat German by a few votes.

implied
weather records
inconsistencies
name changes
origins
future developments
findings
dissident
test yourself
out of place
remains
peoples
re-classification

When I'm travelling on the bus to visit my parents I always have forty minutes to write down my list of search terms...each list usually lasts me until I've compiled the next.

Mum & Dad - both retired; my dad was a miner and my mum a part-time shop assistant.

A brother, two years younger than me, still living with our parents...like me, he's never had a job.

A younger sister, living in Adelaide - she's a nurse and currently going through the process of getting divorced.

Things that I don't like, or ideas I disapprove of.

A: advertising,ambivalence,animal rights
B: BBC,boxing,basketball,bravado,bad manners
C: cinnamon,capitalism,censorship,consensus,cosmopolitanism,compromise,children,communism,comprehensive schools
D: dieting
E: environmentalists
F: fashion
G: gangsta rap
H: humid weather,hypocrisy,human rights (without responsibilities)
I: ignorance
J: jeans (uncomfortable)
K;
L:
M: mushrooms,materialism,macho culture
N: nylon clothing (uncomfortable)
O: organic produce (it's a rip-off)
P: political correctness,piercings
Q: quorn
R: reality TV,religion,reggae (so depressing),relativism,rhyming poetry
S: speed cameras,swearing,socialism
T: TV licence fee,traffic calming,tattooes
U: umbrellas (sharp points at eye level)
V: vanity
W:
X:
Y:
Z: zips

Bands/performers I've seen perform live.
Orbital: at an eclipse festival in Plymouth.
James Brown: at a festival at Brighton.
Bad Manners: upstairs at a town centre pub (This was many years after their chart success.)

Sports teams I've watched live.
Only local teams, Doncaster Rovers, Rotherham United and Barnsley. I have been to Hillsborough though (the home of Sheffield Wednesday) to watch matches at the World Student Games several years ago - it was rather strange supporting a Great Britain representative team though.

Most men of my age would probably be showing signs of the onset of balding by now, but not me (A few grey hairs though.) I'll most likely never lose my hair; my dad's seventy now and still got a full head of hair. In fact I seem to have hairs sprouting everywhere; my nostrils and ears have thick hairs protruding in all directions and my eyebrows are keen to meet in the middle of my forehead.

Strengths:

A large everyday vocabulary which allows a much larger degree of nuance of expression.

Very adaptable to the introduction of new words.

No accents on letters makes typing quicker and easier.

Weaknesses:

An irregular and illogical spelling system.

The lack of distinction between subject and object when using pronouns - the noun to which the pronoun refers can only be understood by context or inference.

I recently bought some quorn burgers because they were cheap. When I tried to eat one it was disgusting though, even after cooking it was still as hard and dry as when it was frozen...covering it with baked beans didn't help either. I hate having to throw food away and waste money; but I had no choice - I couldn't eat them.

Childhood Christmas presents I can remember.

board games
Matchbox cars (and a looping track to run them along)
Scalectrix
Lego
chemistry set
table top horse racing set - very cumbersome to set up and operate
blow football
Spirograph
Etch-A-Sketch (I think that's what it was called)
Stylophone

Walking: 40/45 miles, Lyke Wake Walk and The Shepherd's Round - both on North York Moors.

Cycling: not very far - I soon get severe cramps in my arms.

Climbing: a 7,200 ft. peak in The Alps (Saalbach, Austria) - just a challenging hike really.

Abseiling: down a quarry face in the Peak District.

Swimming: I can't even float!

Running: a five mile jog (I couldn't do it now though)

Things I like and ideas/concepts that are important to me.

A: Abba,adventure,Alps,Almodovar,alternative history,astronomy

B: blogging,Barcelona

C: cricket,countryside,chocolate,cheese,conspiracy theories

D: Dali,documentaries,Durham,duty

E: education,enthusiasm,etymology

F: football,family,friends,food,films,fish,Forteana

G: Gaudi,geography

H: hiking,honour,hayfever,health

I: internet,information

J:

K: knowledge

L: language,love,laughter,Lincoln

M: minimalist,mountains,military history,mysteries

N: north,news,new experiences

O: opportunity

P: poetry,Pennines,Peak District,passion,participation

Q: questioning

R: radio,Roman

S: Springsteen,sci-fi,squint,science,space exploration

T: truth,teamwork

U:

V: volcanoes

W: words,Whitby,what if?

X:

Y: York,Yorkshire

Z:

Curly Wurly
Double Decker
Smarties
Cinder toffee
Fruit Pastilles
Chewing nuts
Sherbet Dips
Wine gums

I haven't eaten any of these for decades, but there are still many sweets (mainly containing chocolate) that I'm still enjoying as a 43 year old adult.

Some interesting new words and phrases I've found on the web.

philentrepreneur
metal shed retailing
dry desk
accijam
Usian
open-collar workers
cybergenarian
face time
granny dumping
Blank-American
flustrated
e-maul
mouse potato
vacillambulation

It's quite easy to guess the meaning of some of these, but most are rather clever or humorous.

I was watching a TV programme about a young woman who was £15,000 in debt and sought help in drastically reducing her spending. One area in which she was required to cut back was on eating out. Instead of spending £180 on a meal for three people, she was taken to a local market and 'only' spent £40 on the ingredients needed to cook a meal for herself and two friends.

Just for comparison; £40 per week is the amount of money (after paying the necessary contribution to your rent) that an unemployed person receives.

I was reading someone's blog the other day; a young woman who had done more in a weekend than I'm ever likely to do in an entire year. She certainly seemed to have an active social life!

Not by design, but by circumstances I lead a quiet life with a lot of time for writing poetry and updating this blog.

I would like to listen to the football commentary whilst surfing on the net. Unfortunately I can't do this though. For reasons of copyright the BBC cannot broadcast live online match commentary and when I try to listen on the radio, interference from the computer blocks out the signal.

You'd think that the BBC could have devised a way of blocking access to these specific webcasts for overseas listeners though.

I've recently been on the Fortean Times Forum viewing a thread about a theory that light switches never work in dreams. I'm interested in the unusual and paranormal but have never come across this before though. On reading some of the postings it seems that the phenomenon might have something to do with consciousness and perception; and more controversially, belief in ghosts and near death experiences.

On a related subject, I seem to have difficulty in remebering colours; not just in my dreams, but also in recalling real life situations.

I was taking the rubbish out to the bin earlier this morning and I noticed that some soil had been disturbed in the garden, probably by a cat. It looks like some of my escholtzia seedlings have been dug up.

With so many cats living in the locality I just have to accept a high level of attrition for my plants. I'm not actually starting planting anything for several weeks yet though.

My parents returned on Friday from one of their regular midweek breaks, this time to Lytham St. Annes (near Blackpool.) They go on three or four of these short holidays every winter and have already got stays in Bournemouth and Clacton booked for the next few weeks. They never go anywhere in the summer though because it's too expensive.

My father retired from his job as a coalminer twenty years ago, aged fifty, and during this time they must have been on dozens of these short breaks. Of course, they're both pensioners now and much less active and mobile than they used to be and so most of the time they just stay in and around the hotel.

When learning a foreign language, a 'false friend' is a word in the language you are learning which is identical or similar to a word in your own language but has a completely different (and specifically, inappropriate or misleading) meaning.

I have managed to find a few examples from German (I had to search on the net...my 'O' level German was only good for two words). The word on the left is German, with its English translation after the hyphen.

Gift - poison
Gymnasium - secondary school
Puff - brothel
Rat - advice
Tripper - gonorrhoea

I listen to a lot of internet radio, public radio and international (overseas) services in particular; but I'm having a problem in accessing the correct regional services. I live in Europe but can only hear the African or East Asian feed from the Voice of America, or other non-European feeds from various international broadcasters. It's not a major problem (which could be sorted by going to the station's homepage rather than accessing their output via the internet portal I use); nothing more than a minor inconvenience really. There are many more programmes for me to enjoy though when my regular stations are webcasting the wrong feed.

A few days ago I had a new streetlight planted outside my house. It's part of the council's safer streets programme. Other initiatives that have been undertaken are the installation of alley gates and marking household property with smartwater. Actually I already feel quite safe where I'm living, but I'm all in favour of the policy.

I recently found myself inadvertently listening to a song I'd not heard for many years, an old U.S. folk tune, 'The Big Rock Candy Mountain'.

The lyrics are totally utopian, and I hope, tongue-in-cheek...it never rains, all the policemen have wooden legs, the jails are only tin shacks and all the rivers flow with alcohol. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Sometimes I think our politicians know the words to this song very well though.

I've just returned from my employment placement interview. It only lasted for five minutes; it was all very polite and professional, but it was soon obvious that I wasn't suitable for the post (or it appropriate for me.) When I mentioned my two nervous breakdowns and the fact that I've never had a job it soon brought proceedings to a close. The interviewer was rather angry with the jobcentre for sending me in the first place and mentioned she intended to phone them...I'd prefer it if she didn't though.

Mrs. Tessy Moore, personal assistant of a Nigerian oil executive who was involved in a car accident in which all his children died - some sort of complicated financial scam then follows.

Positive Thoughts For The Day - Christian propaganda.

Criminal justice information - the U.S. Homeland Security/Law Enforcement Dept. is hiring new staff - I didn't read the rest of the message as to how it might relate to me.

Winning notification/processing advice from the European Prize Award Dept. - yippee!!!...I've won again, £870,000 this time.

For a few days now I've been on the lookout for some cheap mince pies and found some this morning, only £1 for four boxes. I suppose you could say that this purchase counts as my having participated in the January sales.

People's holiday pages about places I've visited; Austria, Spain and various parts of England.

Alternative history scenarios.

Video documentary archives.

Music video libraries.

Free samples directories.

I've just returned from my interview at the jobcentre and they've decided to send me on a job trial as an industrial cleaner; something I have no knowledge or experience of, nor any interest in. It will mean an early start, a full forty hours working week and all this for £40 ($70); not an additional £40 per week, but £40 per week in total...so, after expenses I'll be even worse off than I am now.

I'll attend the interview because I have to, but there's no way I'm going to be taking them up on their offer...I can't afford to. I didn't sacrifice my entire childhood and formative years in pursuing an education for this.

I'm just having a quick session on the computer this morning because I've got an interview at the jobcentre at nine o'clock. It's about sorting me out another employment/training placement. In effect I'll be working full-time hours again for what amounts to no more than sixty percent of the statutory minimum wage.

If I'm likely to enjoy the placement, or will learn something interesting or practical I'll participate enthusiastically - otherwise I'll just go through the motions.

Whatever the outcome though, wherever I get sent, it will get me out of the house and interacting with other people; which is good.

I typed my name into Google this morning and discovered a new webpage with a positive review of two of my poems that appeared in a magazine a while ago. I've also noticed that several other [external] bloggers are linking my site to their own pages; this might explain why I got 163 visitors one day last month.

There were some good programmes on TV last night; Star Trek, Enterprise, the first three episodes of a new science fiction series 'Invasion', a 'Time Team Special' about the excavation of a Roman villa and a (possibly fake) documentary about a conspiracy concerning the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the 1920s. There's also another U.S. sci-fi series starting tonight; called 'Surface.'

I've just been bagging up some autumn leaves in the garden; eight bags so far, and at least another eight for next week when there'll be room in the bin.

I noticed that my eschscholtzia (California/golden poppy) are already germinating. The seedlings should be okay though, the species is native to the mountainous regions of that state; which I'm sure have plenty of cold weather.

I've learnt from the internet that escholtzia is the state flower of California and can somehow be used as a herb.

Dr. Rogerio Gonzalez would never be told the truth, few people associated with the Red Horizons project are even aware of the fact he's the second choice for medical officer for the mission. Chip Randall had been NASA's first choice, outscoring Gonzalez on eight of the ten psychometric and performance tests, and presenting a far superior resume.

However, sixteen weeks into the Antarctic Isolation two of the female crew members refused to sleep with him any more, let alone have sex. 'Too vane and arrogant' they said.

On humankind's second visit to Mars (and the first attempt at colonisation) you've all got to get along. Eight male and eight female, no prior emotional entanglements and none to be allowed to develop during the planned fourteen years of the voyage. Sex, yes...it's to be encouraged (compulsory even) but no emotional ties. So strict is the daily mate selection process initiated by the computer that couples don't know who they'll be pairbonding with until thirty minutes before lights out. No-one is on a promise during the 'day' because everyone is guaranteed sexual release.

Rogerio likes Carolina, the Latino navigator the best; her jet black hair, perfect skin and piercing hazel eyes. Oh yes, and what she does when she's...

They've been paired together for the previous two nights. The computer allocates the occupants of each of the eight dormitory hatches totally at random, but the doctor knows that there's always been a line of code in the program that overrides the protocol and prevents any one couple spending more than two consecutive nights together...it's supposedly bad for team morale. He gleamed this piece of mission-critical information from Jedd Barczak, mission commander and only survivor from the failed Red Horizons I deep space insertion - a man who had earned eighty four million Dollars from endorsements and media appearances, and subsequently gambled away nearly ninety percent of his fortune...he's still a wealthy man though and someone who Rogerio would trust with his life, and has already done so on two separate occasions.

So, it won't be Carolina tonight...it might be Nadia though.

After receiving a copy of a magazine with two of my poems published in it yeaterday, today I've had more good news - two more editors want to use five more of my poems.

To be honest, it's not too difficult for me to place my work these days; I've been published in the smallpress sector for eighteen years and have got a fair reputation for the quality of my poetry.

However, it's successfully taking the next step that I can't seem to manage; actually earning some sort of living from my writing. Unfortunately, I don't have the contacts or resources.

Over the years I calculate that I've earned no more than £600 in total in bursaries, awards or by leading workshops. I suppose it's just about enough to cover the cost of postage, stationery and travel.

Great Houghton, near Barnsley: I was born at the local hospital, Southmoor Hospital at Hemsworth, near Pontefract.

Thurnscoe, near Rotherham: I went to secondary school here and lived with my parents until I was thirty five. (My brother, now forty one, still lives with our parents.)

Heslington, near York: I went to York University for a year and hated it. I hated my fellow students even more...I had absolutely nothing in common with any of them.

Doncaster: since 1997.

This morning I received a copy of a magazine with two of my poems published in it. This has got the year off to a good start; I checked the statistics for 2005 and calculated that I had forty poems published...the most ever in a year. This good news has encouraged me to write some more poems; the first for nearly two months I should think.

MASSAGING THE FIGURES

Our affinity - your letter
A black cat and a skyward fable.

A stretched-limo shiny topcoat
Sly looks from beneath sunken sheets.

A cold comfort warning to all of us
Of bread and circuses
And poets standing on every street corner.

FIRST WORDS TO HIS WIFE

After the new diagnosis...
"Well, it'll make a change,
Somewhere different to hurt."

Since the end of the Christmas/New Year holidays I must have had a dozen phonecalls originating in India from people trying to sell me different mobile phone tariffs. I don't possess a mobile phone though, so it's all a bit pointless.

All the callers were obviously from the subcontinent, but were using English names.

Conversely I've also received a call from an Indian woman speaking with a northern English accent trying to sell me financial services.

It seems that since I've registered for the Telephone Preference Service every call centre in India has my details...another reason for companies to move their operations abroad; so that British laws don't apply to any of their activities.

Earlier, in town this morning I heard the noise of a siren and noticed that an ambulance coming up the pedestrianised section of High Street would soon have difficulty in getting past a couple of cars waiting at the traffic lights; the positioning of some bollards meant that there was only enough room for one vehicle at a time to pass.
Fortunately the two drivers of the cars were very alert to the situation and edged forward beyond the red lights and wedged their vehicles up against a shop window.

Of course, if this section of road hadn't undergone the ridiculous process of traffic calming there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Yesterday I was looking forward to watching the final episode of the first series of 'Lost'. However, it's been postponed for a week; fortunately though I realised this a few hours before the scheduled broadcast time and so didn't need to stay up late and be disappointed. Instead I got my regular fix of the programme by viewing some of the season II trailers on the official 'ABC' website.

Geology
Geography (in particular, economic geography)
Comparative linguistics
Etymology
Astronomy/cosmology
Military history
Leadership skills
Citizenship studies
Geopolitics

After Russia's turning off the gas supplies to western Europe due to its own dispute with Ukraine the British government is going to need to look at ways of securing our future energy supplies. The obvious option is to commission more new nuclear power stations. Of course, if most of the country's coalmines weren't closed in the 1980s...

Furthest north...Leeds - it used to be York, but now a change is required at Selby. The train service to York is very good (several trains per hour, journey time 20 mins) but very expensive unless there is a special offer. There are even more trains to Leeds, but the journey time is 45 mins.

Furthest south...Sheffield or Lincoln I think. There used to be a direct bus service to Nottingham and Leicester. The train service to Sheffield is excellent, very infrequent to Lincoln, and travel to Nottingham and Leicester is via Sheffield.

Furthest east...Scunthorpe. There used to be regular daytime services to both Hull and Cleethorpes, but since trains serve both destinations the buses were cancelled.

Furthest west...Barnsley or Leeds. There is no rail link to Barnsley.

'Fair Trade' and 'Free Trade' are not the same thing.

Living in poverty is not only about lack of money.

News is not a form of entertainment - the tendency for newsreaders to say 'story' instead of 'report' shows just how bad things have become.

I am not a client of the DSS/Jobcentre; I'm a claimant - I do not choose to enter the building and be humiliated.

A sheepdog-type dog called 'Fluff' who loved to go walking on the moors with us.

A Jack Russell called 'Titch' who thought he was human (Maybe he just thought we were all dogs though.)

At different times, cats called Tiger, Tom and Fred. I can't remember much about any of them.

1...Hobbies I'm no longer interested in.

Stamp collecting.

Listening to short-wave radio (I use the net now.)

Model-making.

2...Hobbies/interests I can no longer afford to pursue.

Going to the theatre and cinema.

Hiking on the moors.

1...To continue to never decline an invitation or overlook an opportunity. There are too few of either in my life.

2...Try to eat a more varied and healthy diet and possibly lose a bit of weight. (I don't need to lose much weight in reality.)

3...Attempt to have many more of my poems published.

Nothing too challenging in this short list; they're all easily achievable. There are many aspects of my life over which I have little or no control and so it's pointless in setting myself goals in these areas.

291 posts (approx. 2 per day)
231 comments (very few are my own...I tend to send personal messages to people who comment on my posts)
5195 pageviews (1600 of these were for just three days...spammers, I should think.) I don't know why they do it though, what is there to gain?
No running total for vistors though, which is annoying.