Arthur English

 Noise of female

I'm very noise-sensitive today. I couldn't do breakfast at all. Too much jaw-jaw. I just took myself off and wrote a long email to an old friend I'd recently got back in contact with, who lives in Sydney, Oz. He's a mason too and still going at 65.

It's good to be in contact with old friends and with modern communications the world seems a little smaller, and the people you want to call just a stone's throw away. It's the best thing about the 21st Century. So far.

There's now the huge dull throb of whatever it is they're using to build whatever it is they're building at the hospital behind us. It's awful. Goes through to the bones. The house feels it too, as it shakes away like an old auntie at a wedding party.

My noise-cancelling headphones aren't quite as effective as I'd like. Perhaps the next generation will be world-cancelling headphones. 

I guess they'd be more like a helmet though.

The End

J has told me not to read the papers so much as I get so wound up with it all. My brain churns it around - over and over and over like hot coals in a tumble dryer. I've always had this but it seems to be worse now with FTD.

It does seem like end-times at the moment. 

• The environment. 
• War in Europe (we were told this would never happen again after WW2 but for some reason people don't count what happened in the former Yugoslavia.) 
• China. 
• Price of fossil fuels
• Everything else.

And there are still people who are so far down the rabbit-hole they think we're the bad guys.

At least in the west we have the luxury of thinking we're the bad guys. You don't have the option of questioning the state in Russia or China without serious repercussions. 

Activities for the demented

Today I mowed the lawn for the first time in months (maybe years). It was quite easy. Now we can see the dog poos too. I also cleaned the patio which was still covered in Saharan dust after that weird rain a week or 2 ago. Looks better.

Geraint Davies, earlier today.

I am also going to clean the house as J's mother who is also called J (saves a lot of fuss and bother - I'm thinking of changing my name to J as well) is coming to stay with us. So I'll do that on Thursday as the tides of chaos will destroy my good work if it's done today.

And I need to sort out the window sill on the bay. It's actually not a single sill but a bunch of protruding bricks covered in sand and cement. Pretty crap for the Edwardians. I guess we were going downhill at that stage after the high-standards of the Victorians.

Aren't you glad you read all this? But it is important for us demented ones to have shit to do otherwise we atrophy much more quickly. A few tasks every day. This is why a lot of us get volunteering work or keep going as long as we can, reducing our hours as we progress.

The Rick Wakeman of Dungeons and Dragons

As the masterful prog keyboard wizard himself played 2 keyboards simultaneously, I have been running 2 D&D campaigns - not quite simultaneously - but 2 in one week. That's quite a challenge.

We're keeping the Sunday group small and manageable as things can get quite noisy and out of hand with more than 5 players. This group is focused and I am enjoying running the games very much. I'm really looking forward to Sunday. 

It's great to have these things in the diary that punctuate our week - rather like booking holidays or weekends away. It gives us hope.

An Apology

Having been told off by J for naming names and the possible repercussions thereof, I have now turned over a new leaf with a more diplomatic and considered approach to blog writing.

I tried to explain that should anyone come to the door with bad intentions I have first-rate weaponry and a foolproof method of body disposal. Unfortunately, this did little to assuage her. 

No pleasing some people.