Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

Electrity bill

A copy of my health and safety certificate for the course I passed a few weeks ago

A copy of my birth certificate

If I hear another journalist or commentator on TV or radio ask the question again, 'Why didn't you fix the roof while the sun was shining?' I think I might go over and burn the bleeding house down!

I watched the video again on Saturday night - the first time for at least five years. It's a great film, but I think it would be even better if Tarantino, the director, had put the scenes in their correct chronological order...I have difficulty in following the storytline.

I noticed that there are posters up around town this morning advertising the open day at both the magistrates' court and the crown court; the highlights seem to be a mock trial and face painting - a strange combination.

Although I walk past both courts almost daily I've never set foot in either building and won't be doing so today.

My favourite places in, or near to, Doncaster town centre.

Fish Market
Museum and Art Gallery
Cusworth Hall
Elmfield Park
Secondhand books and DVD/video stalls on the market
The library [where I'm currently posting from]

I noticed this yesterday: plastered all over the windows of a shoe shop having a sale, posters which read, 'Buy One, Get One Free.'

Cats with funny names that I've known:

Big Mrs
Little Mrs
Mrs Mog
Bugbear
Ratcliffe

When I was doing my voluntary work in the Dearne Valley, to the west of Doncaster, I did get several opportunities to travel to other parts of the country.

Here's the list of the most interesting places and events;

London (Royal Opera House twice and Houses of Parliament)
Blackpool (Community Transport Association conference twice)
Co-operative Association Community College at Loughborough
Rural Communities' Council awards ceremony - several times
Coachbuilders at Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire
Teambuilding awayday at Edale in the Peak District
Doing a presentation at a conference organised by the Diocese of Sheffield
Travelling on a coach to York and having a conversion with the Bishop of Sheffield

I really enjoyed these years; I really felt part of something that I was contributing to.

Every morning my feet are a different size and shape - it's a good job I've got three pairs of comfortable shoes.

I've discovered a new vegetable; it's called a romesque and looks like a cross between brocolli and a cauliflower. I put some in a stew and it didn't taste all that different to either existing vegetable.

The edible floret is beautiful though; it's lime green coloured and consists of a series of symmetrical, fractal patterns.

I've not been able to find out anything about the romesque online yet though.

During the last few weeks I've also noticed a fruit on sale that's new to me; a mineola...I've still not tried one.

Yesterday I learned that staff who work for the jobcentre or training agencies have a word that they use for long-term unemployed people such as myself - stock.

Well; they tend to treat us like cattle, so I suppose the usage is appropriate.

During the last couple of days I've noticed that nearly as many people seem to be holding their mobile phone to their left ear, as people do to their right. Some of them were holding bags in their right hands and so might have been right-handed, but is it possible that many of the others were actually left-handed and the number of left-handed people in the general population is significantly higher than official statistics state?

Will the banking/financial crisis affect me?

I don't have a mortgage, pension fund, shares or any insurance policy; and I only have a small amount of savings.

Until about six months ago I'd always sleep on my right hand side, yet now I tend to prefer my left hand side...I seem to be able to get off to sleep quicker.

I'm right-handed and until I was eighteen would always wear my watch on the traditional wrist; the left one: yet for the last twenty eight years I've been wearing it on my right wrist.

Types of shops/businesses I've never entered:

Bookmakers
Perfume shops
Driving schools
Fishing tackle shops
Sports shops
Health food stores
Fashion shops
Pawnbrokers
Mobile phone shops
Insurance brokers
Foreign food restaurants
Tattooists/piercers

Free admission again; thanks to English Heritage's Open Weekend.

Very disappointing; the inside of the keep was very dark and there wasn't that much to see anyhow.

It was a pleasant day though and there were extensive views to enjoy from the roof of the keep.

Sky News reported this morning that Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden works as a pilot for an airline called 'Astraeus' which is participating in the scheme to fly stranded XL passengers home from their holidays.

I went with my brother to visit the gardens at Brodsworth Hall yesterday - it was free admission as part of English Heritage's Open Weekend.

We've never been before, but really enjoyed ourselves for about ninety minutes; the highlight being the formal border consisting of 1920s varieties of many popular garden plants.

We also saw something that we'd not seen before - people playing croquet on the lawns.

It was reported on the news yesterday that local councils are having to install CCTV cameras to monitor speed cameras which are being vandalised or deliberately attacked by protestors.

It's madness.

Today is the seventh anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. There's a commemorative tree in the town centre and a brass plaque - reading the wording you'd think it was only an accident though.

Every time I walk by I feel so angry!

So, the government isn't going to provide a one-off payment this winter to people in fuel poverty; instead they'll get help with the cost of lagging, double glazing and loft insulation. Well, that's no bloody use to someone who's going to be cold this year - they need help now, not help with reducing their fuel bills next year. Even if they're only charged 10% of the cost, most people won't be able to afford it; even if it will save them hundreds of Pounds in the future.

Then, of course, there are people such as myself to be taken into account; people who rent their houses from private landlords - what incentives do we have to make our homes more energy efficient since it will be future tenants who are likely to accrue the financial benefits?

My brother, who rarely takes an interest in anything, seems to have decided to grow some rudbeckias [black-eyed-Susans] because he's really impressed with the ones growing in my garden. He's never grown anything before - but seems to be quite keen.

The post/mail arrived at 3:30 p.m. yesterday. Maybe the Royal Mail has re-instated afternoon postal deliveries...or maybe not.

Things I remember from my childhood:

Bus conductors
Running boards on buses
Corridor trains
Staffed railway stations in rural areas.

I don't know if it's the bad weather or just regular maintenance on the Elmley Moor transmitter, but this morning, and a for a few hours last night, I can't receive some of the digital TV channels on my set top box.

This is something I was pondering whilst listening to the cricket comentary on Wednesday; what is the optimum size for a cricket field in order to maximise the number of runs scored?

The smaller the ground, the easier it is to score boundaries but more difficult to find gaps between the fielders, and conversely, the larger the playing area, the rarer fours and sixes would be, but there would be plenty of gaps.

I wonder if someone has worked out a mathematical formula?

Something positive to report.

It seems to me that T-Mobile is actually treating its customers fairly. At the weekend my friend in Glasgow phoned me up and after a few minutes the signal was lost and so he left me a voicemail to finish the conversation.

I've just checked my credit balance on the phone and it seems that I haven't been charged for the retrieval of the voicemail message.

During the past five days I've read two novels about scientists discovering Atlantis; one book sited it at the bottom of the Black Sea and the other placed it beneath the Antarctic icecap.

Here's a list of all the other possible locations for Atlantis that I know about:

Thera/Santorini in the Aegean Sea
The Azores in the Atlantic Ocean
England generally
The Isle of Avolon in Somerset
Rockall
Bimini in the Bahamas
Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

I've blogged several times before about I think that the rate of inflation is actually much higher than the official government statistics show; well, now I've noticed another scam where, rather than increase prices, some companies are reducing the size of their packs or portions in order to keep the official rate of inflation down to a minimum. This practice is grossly unfair to people on benefits or a pension whose income is directly linked to the government figures which will be even more inaccurate, showing a much lower rate than is truly the case.

On Tuesday and Thurdsay I'm due to take two one-day courses in 'first aid' and 'health and safety.' I'm told that by doing so it will increase my employability...and will be something I can add to my C.V.

Yesterday morning it was really foggy - more like November than the end of August.

For the first ever though I noticed four large cobwebs hanging from the branches of the buddleia bush. They looked quite impressive, glittering with the early morning dew that clung to them...three of them had the same pattern, but the other was different; does this mean that they were spun by two different individual spiders, or by spiders from two separate species though?