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My sister has spent hundreds on a "snake" (bunch of cables rolled into one) plus other cords for Xmas, and since Xmas, probably spent over a grand in various things for me, gave me a few surprises, and we been having a blast most nights between the wine and pot.

Family is fking great

I was doing the same job for the same company for nearly thirty years. When it came to an end I expected it to be something that would take a lot of getting used to but that wasn't the case. Suddenly, my day in and day out carry on was different yet I slipped into the new situation completely seamlessly. Likewise, I lived with the same person for forty years and when that came to an end it was the same story. I find it surprising that a way of life that has gone on for so long and become so deeply ingrained in my sense of who and what I am can be moved on from so easily. It's not that I don't have any regrets or feelings of nostalgia about the past, I very much do, but even so, I can't quite get over how things can change so much and yet just feel normal. I just wondered if I was unusual in this or is it a common experience?

Blog buddies may remember last August I packed up my whole life, bought a 2003 converted Citroen Relay, and drove from Scotland to Spain with a dog, a cat, and a lot of boxes and suitcases. Like it says in my profile, I’m a loon. And a dreamer. And now live in Spain.

Never been interested in camping, never driven a van before, it was a means to an end and I never expected to enjoy the adventure, but I did, oh so much.

When it came to the time when I either had to convert the van to Spanish plates (not cheap) or sell it, I was in real denial about the whole thing, I kept wishing by some miracle I could get just a few months more with it even if I couldn’t keep it for ever and ever and ever, permanent adventure just the turn of a key away.



I even convinced myself Paddy the potential buyer would decide against making a 5 hour drive across Spain to see an old campervan, but he got here and turned out to be a loon too, a kindred spirit (albeit young and dreadlocked) and, like me, a former Saffer. In fact his real name is Bafana - and he arrived with two other guys to check the van, a team, that almost makes them Bafana Bafana.

I think the van is happy about it too. I was fiercely resisting selling, so two days ago it started making little noises to scare me. I don’t like noises under the bonnet. The all-knowing Zman said they weren’t expensive noises but that a 2003 van will start becoming expensive. When Bafana Bafana test-drove it, no little noises. The van chose them, and new adventures, and I must respect that.

But . . .

Will add a pic of it via the ridiculously complicated process in a moment. Then get a moody cup of coffee and feel miserable for a while, then get on with adventure-free life.

It often appears that time passes very quickly. We look back over the weeks, months and even years and wonder how far away certain events now seem. It doesn’t seem so long since we were looking forward to Christmas and yet now it seems so far gone. How quickly life seems to pass us by. Are we standing still and time is passing through us or are we moving forward/changing and it is time which standing still?
Time is indeed precious and yet it is something we cannot hold onto; all we can try to do is hold it in our memories but do we? Perhaps one reason time seems to pass so quickly is that we so easily forget much of what has occurred during the days, weeks and months gone by. Much of life doesn’t seem memorable, so why bother thinking about it? And yet it is the simple ability to forget which means that time itself disappears in as if into a black hole.
If however, we take the time to remember, even the small details, then we fill up absent time and bring it to life and therefore extend it. A problem we have is that we have so many distractions to occupy our thinking mind that we perhaps don’t bother remembering. We have TV, radio, computers, smart phones, books and magazines, not to mention so many after work activities we can absorb ourselves in – why try to remember anything except the major highlights of one’s life? And even then we tend to only remember them in loose detail. Ask yourself this question, “What did I do yesterday?” And try to remember it in as much detail as you can. How much can you remember? Tomorrow might be a fresh memory but what about the days before?
Of course the past is gone, so what’s the point of remembering? So let’s move on. Perhaps only older folk talk about the past more and it’s called reminiscing; for younger people this would be considered a boring pastime. And yet thinking (remembering) is no different than talking, it’s just talking requires the use of voice and hearing, whereas thinking only requires the mind to talk with itself.
With so many things to occupy our time we really don’t need to spend time remembering and bringing out the detail of the past. But this means we lose the time that has passed us by and life becomes shorter or feels like it is speeding up.
What does a person do when they return from a holiday or travel? They bring out the photos, that is if they haven’t already posted them on Facebook or Instagram. These photos represent their memory of the trip and even replace their memory. Who regales others with detailed stories of their travels and exploits these days? Probably very few; instead we quickly flick through the pictures on our phone, eliciting little comment from our friends, or just a thumbs up on Facebook.
Only a few centuries ago the average person could only have a life expectancy of half that of which we have today and yet we could speculate that their time of being was as long as our own today, simply because they had plenty of time to think, contemplate, remember and discuss. Time therefore, might well be not the minutes and hours on the clock but our memory of what we took note of and what we can recall.
We cannot remember time, that’s impossible but we can remember what fills the time, and that is a lot. And yet we choose not to because it seems all too dull, and so we forget it. Therefore all we do is remember odd events in sparse detail – no wonder time goes by so quickly and we grow old so quickly too. Am I just speaking of myself – what’s your view?

It will be good if everybody have 1 night with your type like a dream.
Now my dreams go to abroad!

The true is real is life you are what you do can not be changed.

Sundown March 9 to sundown March 10 is the national day of switching off the internet and reconnecting with real life. Wonder how quiet it will get on CS? I won't sneak in to peek.

Well, I hope I won't

"The idea behind the day was to challenge people to keep their electronic devices unplugged and unused for 24 hours in order to give themselves the chance to take a break and spend time relaxing with family, friends, or alone."

Read books, meet a friend to blether in real life, go for walks, and of course work on the house, lots (LOTS) to do. I don't spend much time on the internet during the day, tend to spend too much time at night. But I can do this. Good idea.

If you do it, what will you do with the time you are getting back for yourself? Could you even do it? Very few people I know could. Not entirely sure myself that I can, good grief, 24 hours, of COURSE I can.

Again there is Valentine, passing in my life without love and has been same since 10 yrs.. tired of falling in love alone, tired of getting hurt, tired of waiting for love, tired of living alone,...just for once I want someone to be afraid of losing me!....anyway I'm happy for the people who are realy lucky with love...Wish you all a very very happy Valentine's Day!

Does anybody fancy a quick shag in my office?

Bang out of order !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!