Are you more of a night or morning person?
Definitely Morning,although it depends what time zone I’m in.
Filed under Short Stories
What are your feelings about eating meat?
I don’t know what would happen to the lives of animals who we breed for eating.They basically would not exist as there was no need for them to exist.
The cruelty associated with the “use ” of animals needs to stop.I would give up meat eating straight away if I thought it would,but it won’t.
So I try and buy meat from a good source with as kind of a supply chain that is verified to me.
I could be vegetarian and would be if there wasn’t a nagging doubt in my head that by not acknowledging or buying from the “meat ” industry that standards will deteriorate and cruelty will continue.There would be no good practice.
As I say,it’s complicated.
Filed under Short Stories
Stan settled into life in Milo’s grand house, but he liked to sleep outside in the shed because he had been used to living outside all his life. The meals though, Stan always came in for his meals and he enjoyed sitting with Milo as he ate his dinner and made his business calls. Stan often thought that this would give Milo indigestion, but in truth Milo didn’t eat much and Stan usually finished off his dinner too. The cook didn’t mind as there was always clean plates.
It was one evening when Stan and Milo were sitting at dinner that the butler mouse came in and told them that an old lady was outside and wanted to talk to Milo.
“Sure ” Milo said and went out.
Stan was immediately suspicious , his boss was too trusting. So Stan decided to keep an eye out for him. Which was just as well.
Milo , was totally relaxed when he went to the front door, he opened it expecting to see a nice old lady. Instead he saw a very frightening witch.
She grabbed him with her scrawny hand immediately and threw him out into the street.
You Mouse, you are ruining my business, all my customers are saying they won’t pay me anymore because I’m an Evil Witch, this is your doing! It cannot go on!
“Hey, you, it’s your own fault , you charge too much and you don’t even do a very good job. Our laundry may not be magic, but at least everyone gets clean clothes!” Milo squeaked.
” Fiddlesticks, they get what they’re given and they have to pay!”. The Witch was very angry and began hopping around.”
Stan came around the corner, he’d gone around the back of the shed, he could see Milo in the middle of the road.
The Witch raised her arm and in it she had her magic stick to cast spells with.
Milo stared wondering what kind of spell she would cast.
But Stan came to the rescue, he pounced at the witch and took the magic stick straight out of the witch’s hand. It fell on the ground and broke into two pieces , and each piece burned very brightly.
The Witch looked in horror as her wand began to disintegrate. It meant she had no powers anymore.
“Oh no, you bad dog!” but it was too late, the wand was burning.
Stan ran towards Milo and told him to jump on his back and they both ran into the house as fast as they could.
The Witch was left outside staring at her broken wand. She was very angry but there was nothing she could do . She had lost all her power.
Milo and Stan were safely in the house and knew that they would not hear from the witch again, and that all their customers who used their laundry would also be happy to have gotten rid of the wicked witch. They sat on the sofa together, until it was bedtime and then Milo went up to bed and Stan went out to sleep in the shed.
The End, until next time.
Filed under Short Stories
What are your two favourite things to wear?
If I could afford them I would have a collection of different coloured and shapes of Wellingtons and I would look forward to the rain and splashing in puddles with them as well as digging in the mud.
Secondly I love Gloves, with no fingers, fingers and mittens. I do really like wool ones, even though they aren’t suitable for wearing when it’s wet.
Perhaps , you can tell it is winter here.
Namaste
Filed under Short Stories
What technology would you be better off without, why?
If we are able to strip away our layers of technology and find we are better off without it,because continuously being faster and better is subject to the law of diminishing returns then that is no bad thing.
We are all looking for that ultimate experience that connects us with others and justifies our existence in this World ,bit like having sex and creating offspring without the difficulties of raising the little blighters.
“You have an I Q higher than 83.7% of the existing population and we have just scored our highest score ,equivalent to beating 95% of the population”.
Playing a free Play store game means I’m bombarded by these statistics. Are they real or made up,I don’t know,but we would be better off without them.
I contrast that with my love of taking unique quirky pictures of my natural surroundings such a this one of winter berries.Out of focus and totally unprofessional,well you try taking a photo with a dog pulling at you with one hand and a full poo bag in the other.Technology in my phone camera will fix that,but I don’t want it to.
The picture to me reflects my experience. Available technology increasingly concentrates on perfection and replication of how we would like to see things.
I would say hold on,use the hammer,the paintbrush,make mistakes,make your own World,we are not in a race with each other. Yes it’s handy to have tools to make things better,but life is not perfection and accuracy,some of the best discoveries have happened by accident
Like penicillin.
Don’t let technology override your initiative.
Namaste.
Filed under Short Stories
What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?
I’ve made lots of decisions and who’s to say how hard they were to make or how much quality thinking I put into making them
Modern humans and also wild animals make decisions every day.Some are about survival others are just decisions about mundane things.
I see them a bit like a rapid fire weapon,or batting tennis balls from a machine.We make them every day.
Namaste
Filed under Short Stories
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
I have a special thick glassed ,rectangular ,jug which fits nicely in my fridge that I fill with water and infused with crushed juniper berries and a number of spices such as cinnamon,nutmeg,fennel and a hint of chilli.
Like proper Gin,it doesn’t need to be infused or distilled(alcoholic version) for very long. My ideal is 3 hours in the fridge and then I use a strainer to pour the liquid straight into a highball glass,a piece of lemon and top of Fever Tree Tonic,my favourite being either the aromatic version or the light Mediterranean version.
The juniper gives me the gin flavour and the fact that there are no artificial additives or sugars added to either the infused water or tonic gives me extra hydration and I can enjoy my favourite drink without the drawbacks of a traditional alcoholic gin.
Cheers.
Namaste
Filed under Short Stories
It was a warm evening, Milo the mouse was driving into the City to have a nice dinner. His secretary had booked a table at ” Le Grand Raton” his favourite eatery .
When Milo arrived at the restaurant, he was greeted by the concierge who was very happy to see him as he was a very good customer. Milo always tipped generously and had a very good sense of humour.
Milo sat down and had his meal, it was very tasty and of course he had a cheese course to finish. He paid his bill and left a generous tip.
He had parked his car a few streets away in an unlit alleyway. He wasn’t worried as he walked along, but he began to feel as if he was being followed. He reached his car and had pressed the sensor to open it , when he felt a black paw claw at his back. He was surrounded by about twenty cats, he was pulled away from is car and down the street.
Milo was very frightened and really thought that he wasn’t going to survive as the cats were beginning to scratch and pull at him. He looked around, but there was no chance of escape.
Suddenly, Milo heard a bark, and the cats scattered.
It was Stan, although Milo didn’t know his name yet . Stan was a dog who lived on the streets, he was quite old and was always suspicious when there were a lot of cats gathered , it usually meant they were up to no good. The cats were scared of Stan, no one messed with him , so as soon as they heard him bark they ran away.
Milo was a little bit bruised and battered and as the cats had disappeared he sat for a short while in the street. Stan walked up and in animal language , nuzzled him and asked him if he was OK.
Milo was so grateful to Stan for saving his life, he asked Stan if he was hungry. Stan was always hungry. So Milo said they should go to the restaurant and Stan could have what he liked. Stan liked that idea . It was while they were sitting together , that Milo thought , it would be good to have a bodyguard like Stan, so he asked Stan if he would like a job and would he come and live in Milo’s big house with him, that he had a big garden and there would always be plenty to eat. Stan said yes.
And so Milo and Stan got together and their adventures began.
Stan and Milo
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Prompt : If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
If the World didn’t sleep, then it would deteriorate very quickly, sleep is regenerative. How dangerous to think we can live without sleep. So sleep is not wasted time. The time would not be extra , it would be taking away from something that is necessary to us.
So practically, the only people who really would make an effort to go without sleep are those who feel they can fill their time with more activities than others to gain an advantage, or those who just can’t sleep for health reasons( insomnia ). Insomniacs can’t sleep as much as they need and learn to live with the feeling of being tired .
It’s the first group that interest me, the second group have my sympathy and I hope they find techniques that help them. They know not sleeping does not give them “extra time”.
The people in the World who deliberately eat into their own “downtime” and ignore it’s benefits either have to do it, eg. medical staff, people in the armed forces, emergency response staff. They will work almost superhuman hours and achieve superhuman results because they can, but then they need rest and recuperation to recover. They cannot continue at the maximum response for long, their adrenalin may keep them going , but eventually they will burn out and will need to have back up.
Those who make a choice to not sleep to gain an advantage over others , end up on a slow burn and probably cannot think straight. Although in their mind they are functioning at full capacity. They don’t have back up and see whatever they are doing as helping humanity or giving them a distinct advantage against it. They can do more , because they have stolen time.
They know little what damage they can do or what ill effects it will have on their well being. Yes , they may think they are functioning at full capacity, but they are inevitably not. They are an electric car who needs a recharge, the warning red light has come on. It’s time to switch off. The other cars who have had their charge go off on their journey knowing they have a time limit , the more cars being charged the more complete journeys. Those that have stopped half way are those that ignore they needed to be recharged. They have broken down and will need to be rescued.
Please, please , be a World that allows sleep, it is part of our Survival, we all need downtime and rest.
Filed under Short Stories
