Tag Archives: DP Challenge

Daily Prompt: Break the Silence – The End

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When was the last time you really wanted (or needed) to say something, but kept quiet? Write a post about what you should’ve said.

River Aar

Actually this theme for the daily prompt is quite opportune. Not that I am a silent person, I have a loud voice. Over the past couple of weeks I wanted to say a lot but I kept quite, just now and again an outbreak.

Now I have come to the point that I have no longer interest in writing a daily prompt. I have been writing these prompts for at least 3-4 years I think (hope I am not exaggerating, I must be careful what I say, might be misunderstood). Daily prompts are no longer what they were. It used to be fun to write something, and now I have written it all. Running the risk of repeating myself, I began to compose my own theme on the daily prompt. Some like it, some do not, and some classify it as rubbish. I do not really care, but now the time has come to write my own thing.

I am too old for fiddling around with finding the right words to write a prompt, you can please some of the people some of the time but definitely not all of the people all of the time. I will look in on your blogs, I will not totally ignore you, but I now want to do my own thing. If you find my writings in this jungle of WordPress you are welcome, but I am neither hunting for likes or seeking self promotion, I survive quite nicely without that and just want to do my own thing.

Many have tried to build up their own prompts, but up to now they were a success at the beginning and a failure after the first three or four attempts. I even joined in myself in these independent prompts and suddenly they disappeared: here today gone tomorrow.

I also have a life outside of the daily prompt, like housework, cooking, ironing and all those housewife hobbies we have. I look after my garden, bones and joints permitting and I like to take walks with my camera in the countryside and town. I even read books.

I have made some good friends here and definitely do not want to lose contact, but I will no longer be interrupting the flow of the WordPress Daily prompt people who find that the prompts are useful for beginners to practice their writing.

Thank you for following me over the years, but it is unfortunately no longer fun.

I will continue with my Daily Feline Prompt. My felines enjoying their contact with their feline fans and have not yet responded to all the prompts that arrive, but one day they will probably also begin to write their own thing.

Daily Prompt: Break the Silence – The End

Daily Prompt: Sweeping Motions – A lost dog

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What’s messier right now — your bedroom or you computer’s desktop (or your favorite device’s home screen)? Tell us how and why it got to that state.

I wrote all about this the first time the prompt appeared in October 2014, so I really do not want to repeat myself. Unlike others (in WordPress central) I like to daily write something original and new, so I really do not need these repeat prompts all the time. They are catching up on me/us, this prompt is only 10 months old. Anyhow thanks to Mr. Swiss and his critical eye, he saw something worth a photo.

Toy dog

“Look at that little dog all on his own between the letter box and some metal supports.”

“Oh yes Mr. Swiss, he looks so lonely. Hello doggy where’s your human?”

No answer, he did not even have the strength to do a little bow-wow.

“Do you think he is dead, he isn’t moving. I do not think he is breathing. Why is he all on his own? All the other doggies are in the special cages obediently waiting for their humans outside the supermarket.”

Doggy Kennels Migros

“Perhaps his human no longer wants him, and with one sweeping motion she decided to tie him up outside the supermarket, hoping that someone might give him a home and before you ask, no, we have two felines and do not need a canine as an extra. Our felines do not like canines.”

“But he is so small and well behaved. Any other doggy would be barking his head off looking for his human.”

“And if we take him home he might be barking his head off longing to chase our felines.”

“But he is so still. I am sure he is afraid and feels lonely.”

“Where are you going?”

“I only wanted to pat him on the head to reassure him.”

“I wouldn’t do that. You never know how he might react and your tetanus injections are now out of date.”

“Well nothing happened, he just ignored me. Poor little dog, so alone and frightened.”

“Come on, we have our shopping to do.”

And so we did the shopping and left the supermarket. Naturally I had to take another look at the little lost doggy to see how he was. He was still sitting there in the same position. He had not even tried to strain against the blue lead fixed around his neck.

“What do you think you are doing.?

“I thought I would release him from his lead to see if he would move.”

“Put the dog back where he was and attach him to the lead. I do not want to spend the next half hour chasing after a dog that someone has left outside the supermarket whilst shopping for various articles. Probably his human will soon turn up, take him into her arms and give him a dog biscuit or something like that.”

“But what if his human doesn’t arrive. He will be left all on his own.”

“Just a minute.”

“What?”

“LOL”

“We are not on a computer and LOL is not exactly the phrase to apply to a forgotten, perhaps dead and dying dog.”

“But it is LOL, even ROFL”

“HUH?”

“My dear Mrs. Angloswiss our little forgotten dog has a plastic nose. If you really want to take him home, there might be a little girl that will miss her toy dog that she probably tied to the letter box outside the supermarket so that she did not have to carry it around when mummy did the shopping.”

Yes, it’s amazing the things you find outside a supermarket.

Toy dog

Daily Prompt: Sweeping Motions – a lost dog

Daily Prompt: Delayed Contact – Meet Son of Fred Junior – Cyril the new spider in the kitchen.

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How would you get along with your sibling(s), parent(s), or any other person you’ve known for a long time — if you only met them for the first time today?

Spider in the kitchen

“Hello Fred, nice to see you have returned to my kitchen corner.”

“Fred, no, Fred was my grandfather. My dad was Fred Junior and now it’s time to introduce a new name in the family. I am Cyril, son of Fred Junior. Where shall I start Mrs. Angloswiss. Dad said to just hover around and wait for something interesting to land in the web. I must say you seem to have quite a lot of flies this year.”

“Oh yes I do Cyril, they are everywhere, especially in the morning when I eat my breakfast in the kitchen. They never seem to fly into your web. Do you think you might be doing something wrong Cyril.”

“I am hovering and waiting Mrs. Angloswiss. We are not hunters. We are not equipped with fly swotting hands at the tips of our legs. We are the patient kind. If a fly happens to get lost on its flight he will be caught in my web. It is then we pounce and make a lunch packet for later digestion. We indoor spiders are more into the smaller kind of flying insect. Fruit flies are welcome, but you have no fruit.”

“I keep the fruit outside in the summer Cyril, otherwise the fruit bowl is full of flies.”

“You see Mrs. Angloswiss, that is why I am so thin. You are starving me of my rightful food. Oh, just a minute, yes got him.”

“What was that?”

“One of the mini flies just entered my web.”

“You mean that dark speck in your web. I can hardly see it.”

“Mrs. Angloswiss you do not have to see all the flies. As long as we can absorb them, it suffices. And there goes another one.”

“I don’t see it.”

“But I do. If you want one of the big game hunters, you have to go outside. I saw that Jeremy has made a nice nest this morning, although he said he spun the original web yesterday and it was washed away in the evening. Be careful where you aim your hose Mrs. Angloswiss.”

“I didn’t see Jeremy. I was just giving the garden a good soak.”

“All very well, but be careful where you soak. Jeremy spent hours weaving his web and it was all gone in less than a minute. Look where you spread the water Mrs. Angloswiss. No consideration from the humans. We are only doing our job.”

“But some of us do not like spiders Cyril. My blogging colleague Marilyn …….”

“We know all about Marilyn Mrs. Angloswissl She is notorious in the spider world. Some of us spiders do not like humans Mrs. Angloswiss, but we have to live with them.”

“Well, I did look after your granddad and daddy over the years. They were very helpful in keeping the other insects away, except for the flies.”

“Glad to hear it Mrs. Angloswiss. My daddy told me that if you want a safe and comfortable place during the summer, then hang around in Mrs. Angloswiss kitchen. She says where there is a spider there is a home. Now go and take a photo of Jeremy, I am sure he would appreciate being shown to all the nice bloggers (except Marilyn), but be careful where you tread. I think Mabel may be in the garden.”

“Who is Mabel?”

“That’s Jeremy’s wife. Jeremy said she is transporting her egg sack at the moment and we don’t want to destroy Jeremy’s next generation, now do we.”

So here is a photo of Jeremy with his lunch next to him in the web. I did not see Mabel, but I think she was busy with the family protection plan.

Garden spider

Daily Prompt: Delayed Contact – Meet Son of Fred Junior – Cyril the new Spider in the Kitchen

Daily Prompt: History of Language: it is all a matter of understanding

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Write a piece of fiction describing the incident that gave rise to the phrase, “third time’s the charm.”

Sorry Americans, we say “third time lucky” in my language. I had to look this one up in the computer dictionary to see what it was all about. Yes the history of the english language often goes in different directions, one on the left of the pond and one on the right and whether this is fiction I will leave you to judge for yourself, but the phrase much have originated somewhere.

“I think I will move to the front garden where it is cooler. Here the sun shines on the patio all day and even if the sun shade is down, it is still too warm.”

“No problem, you have enough energy on the computer for at least ten hours.”

And so Mrs. Angloswiss moved to the front garden where it was cooler. There was even a table and two chairs and everything was in the shade.

2015-07-16 18.52.28

Mrs. Angloswiss made herself comfortable with her computer and switched on.

“What’s that, no signal available. Mrs. Swiiiisss there is no signal here.”

“Of course there must be, let me have a look. No, you are right, but that is because the walls are thick and we have so many other electronic apparatus.”

“So what do I do.?”

“You will have to go back to the back garden.”

So Mrs. Angloswiss carried her computer back to the back garden placed it on the table which was not actually in the sun, but hot enough to fry an egg on the tiles on the floor. In the background Mowey, the automatic lawn mower, was moving back and forth on the lawn, the sweat dripping from his chassis.

“Can’t we do something about that weak signal?”

No, we could not, it was too weak and my days of summer prompts were accompanied by heat until, yes, Mr. Swiss had an idea. We have a contact, one of those people that do things with the computer to improve computer life if you have a problem. We had a problem and an appointment was made.

“No problem” said computer man “there is a simple solution, I will come along and sort it.”

An appointment was made, and there was a further telephone call from the computer doctor to say that something had cropped up, but he would come the next day. In the meanwhile my sweaty fingers were still sliding over the keyboard due to the heat.

Eventually Mr. Computerman arrived with his “No problem” he got to work. Do not ask me what the problem was, but we now have two boxes attached to our electric system: one plugged in the living room and one in the room near to the front garden. During the time that the great adjustment was being made I lost contact with my computer now and again. Eventually the work was completed with the result that we now have two WLAN signals, one at the front of the apartment and one at the back of the apartment. They should adapt automatically on the computer, which they think about, but in the meanwhile, being a computer semi-freak, I change them myself. My iPad refuses to recognise the different signals, but he is still learning probably.

I lost count of times it was changed, but eventually we were lucky. Actually we had been meaning to have this organised for some time. A small problem has now arisen with connection to the printer, but I am convinced that Mr. Swiss can do it. In the meanwhile I am now sitting in the front garden admiring my flowering buddlea and thinking, yes, it is really pleasant here. I even found a nice comfortable cushion for the wooden chairs. I bought two cushions for our sunbed chairs, but discovered they were the wrong size. I was going to return them, but now I am glad I did not as they fit perfectly. Yes, life is great.

Daily Prompt: Histroy of Language: it is all a matter of understanding

Daily Prompt: Three Coins in the fountain – Me as Anita Ekberg?

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Have you ever tossed a coin or two into a fountain and made a wish? Did it come true?

Fountain at Cemetery St. Kathrinen

I was not even thinking about tossing a coin in this fountain. It was at the local cemetery and so I decided that it would only benefit the cemetery gardener and I found it quite a nice little fountain with its green moss and slime deposits.

Of course when I was younger, after my visit to the Fontana di Trevi in Rome, I joined in with everyone else throwing my lira into the water. I did not resemble Anita Ekberg when she did her alluring poses for Frederico Felini’s film La Dolce Vita, but I was too young to have inviting curves at the time.

I toss coins regularly in the cash register at the local supermarket, but even that pleasure has disappeared. Everything is paid for with a plastic card. The waterproof credit card for coin throwing has not yet been invented for throwing into fountains. It would definitely simplify life for the workers that have to rake the coins together after the tourist visits.

Just yesterday Mr. Swiss and I decided to take a walk. The sun was taking a break from beating down on us, there was even a little rain in between, but the ideal weather to put on your special Sketcher walking shoes with memory foam to overcome all obstacles. I am not getting a special reward for advertising for Sketcher shoes, but at last I have found shoes that fit themselves to your lumps and bumps on the foot and not vice versa where the feet have to force themselves to fit the shoes. I cast myself into my special walking pants, together with my t-shirt and I was ready to go.

Image 10.08.15 at 15.31Note the elegant shoes, they are perfect. I even managed to climb the 50 steps to the top of the hill without resting in between. I have now ordered a pair of these fantastic walking shoes with a blue design, for special walks where I might be seen by others, so that they can admire my feet and walking style. I would note that my feet never left my legs once during our marathon.

Our walk was along the river bank, but during a recovery pause I took the opportunity to see if there had been any important messages left on my iPhone. This is a WordPress action photo, as I had uploaded my prompt before leaving home and I was reading the thousands of comments and checking the millions of likes I had received. You might notice the camera hanging round my neck, all part of the walking uniform, ready to take a Pulitzer Prize suspicious shot. Of course I revenged myself on Mr. Swiss by taking a couple of sly pictures whilst he was resting. I have not yet received permission to show them here.

It was a nice easy walk and five swans decided to show themselves for a photo. Unfortunately they were on the other side of the river, so it was not such a clear picture, but you can get a feeling of atmosphere.

River Aar

Daily Prompt: Three Coins in the Fountain – Me as Anita Ekberg?

Daily Promt: Obstacle course – An never to be forgotten visit

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Think about what you wanted to accomplish last week. Did you? What are the things that hold you back from doing everything you’d like to do?

This is just a prompt, a suggestion to write or not to write. I realise that I had absolutely nothing I wanted to accomplish last week. I fought my way through heat to finalise the usual cleaning plan. I visited the supermarket to buy food so that we would not starve and, of course, not to forget I even wrote my daily prompt, although I had written them all before. You see I braved my way through all the obstacles put in my way and I am still alive.

Nothing holds me back from doing anything, unless I do not feel like doing anything. Today the daily prompt is holding me back from unfolding my usual creative Pulitzer prize suspicious writing. It has killed my interest in writing because of the silly subject matter. I know it is not like me, but I feel absolutely no inspiration whatever to write about anything. I am brain dead.

Perhaps it is the suspense waiting for my turn in the queue for Windows 10. Everyone is talking about it, telling me how they now have it and I am still sitting at a disappointed computer in the waiting line. Mr. Swiss read today that there are many obstacles in the way when it arrives. Secrecy is not a big thing in the Windows world. One man’s wife even discovered a slide show of pornographic photos when she switched on the computer in the morning. It seems her husband had stashed them away in “my photos” on his Windows 10 predecessor and had left his computer to upload Windows 10 during the night. Windows 10 decided to apply the photos as a screen saver and in the morning Mrs. Windows 10 lady was astonished to find them on the computer.

That is one of the reasons why everyone should have their own computer. Imagine Mr. Swiss discovering the secret files of Mrs. Angloswiss. It would be catastrophic. All my hidden photos of The Chippendales would appear, although it would not be such a shock. When I was a working lady the Chippendales visited one of our nearby towns in Switzerland. I decided not to let the opportunity pass by and made a cautious suggestion in the office if anyone was interested. Within an hour I had a list of young (and not so young) ladies that were ready to devote fifty Swiss francs for the opportunity. Within another hour I had reserved our tickets and paid for them on line and we were ready to go.

Much was the astonishment of my boss in the office. He mentioned he had been trying to organise a group expedition from our office to go somewhere interesting during the past year, and I had managed it within two hours. You see, nothing held me back, or my work colleagues.

The evening approached and we were ready to go. We naturally booked the most expensive seats towards the front. We did not want to miss anything. The show began and actually we realised that seats were not really necessary, as we were standing most of the time to be able to study the dancing qualities of the young men in detail. Eventually there was an interval where we could buy various souvenirs. This was quite interesting as it seems there was a background team of wannabe Chippendales selling the goods. I was the one speaking the good english so I did the dealings. Yes, the men were very helpful and polite. They were not wearing their stage dress, unfortunately, but everything was quite normal. Most of us, I think all of us, decided on a calendar for the next year and I believe I still have it in a safe place in the cellar. This must have been almost 20 years ago, When I now look at the fine young men in their artistic poses on the calendar today, I realise that they have most probably also now developed into golden oldies .

The finale of the show seemed to be combined with the young men on the stage in the wet look. They even invited members of the audience to join in. Before you ask, no I did not join in. I was not sure whether I could climb the steps to the stage without falling.

We eventually arrived home tired but happy and my boss was so ignorant, he did not even ask the next morning in the office if we had a good time.

Sorry to disappoint ladies, but no photos from the occasion. I did not take my camera with me.

Daily Prompt: Bedtime Stories – to be read before waking

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What was your favourite book as a child? Did it influence the person you are now?

Twilight in Feldbrunnen

As the golden sun sank in the West I would take my favourite book and begin to read. My mind wandered to the gloom and darkness that prevailed in a place that I so wanted to visit.The sky was preparing the backdrop to take an influence on shaping my personality. I arose from the place where I was resting and quietly closed the lid to the coffin. Of course, I could have just dropped the lid on the hinges but I did not want to wake my family, although they had already left. I was then a child and needed my sleep, the adults were already hunting.

Of course I replaced my book in the coffin, the dog-eared pages with their blood stains were the worse for wear. It was a family heirloom, handed down from claw to claw in the family. We do not even know where it originated, but it had been a constant bedtime story book through the generations of our family. The family archives mention this book back in the days when there was no such thing as superstition. People believed it seems, which was a problem when on our nightly flights. I remember great, great, great grandfather Gloomius telling me of the disappointment when he arrived at a door to a chamber, tired and worn out from his flight from the graveyard, to be confronted with a wreath of garlic. He told me the blood curdled in his veins, even though he had not yet had his daily ration. There was always a remainder somewhere in a place where he once had a heart, helping to sustain him before he could replace it with a fresh supply. Worse was when his victim appeared at the door, to discover what the flapping noise was and presented two sticks of wood, crossed in the middle. There was no pity or sympathy from the living towards the undead.

To a certain extent I realise what he suffered. I myself always avoid places where I can hear the laughter of the living, and see the illuminated windows from their televisions, although I often take a peep through the window, ensuring not to be seen. It might be that one of my favourite programmes are on the television. I like to watch animal programmes, especially if they feature the development of bat families. I remember some time ago there was a shooting taking place in my favourite corner of the cemetery where the undead are mostly to be found. The bats were delighted to be featured in a film and were hanging from the ceiling of a nearby tomb. Unfortunately the production team had to terminate their work when one of the cameramen was bitten by a bat, who aimed perfectly for the jugular vein. I came to the rescue and told the bat to find something more his size, which he did and he afterwards pounced on a rat that was on its way home with something squirming trapped in its jaws.

The cameraman was pleased to see a human shape removing the sharp teeth of the bat from his neck. Actually I was glad to be of help, and still being one of the younger vampires learning the trade I already had ready made puncture marks in the neck.

“Morticia, you don’t have to tell everyone the story.”

“Fred, you are still the best cameraman for filming nocturnal scenes. You have become famous for your documentaries about vampire bats. You should be thankful that I helped you on your way to become one of the best.”

“It’s just that some of my friends ignore me and no longer invite me to their parties in the evening. They say I smell and they do not like my new makeover.”

“But you look great with your nice shiny white pointed teeth and a black cloak suits you.”

“Ok, Morticia it might be fashion in your world, but not in mine.”

“Your ex world Fred. Now go and play with your camera, there is a werewolf taking a walk through the forest, I am sure that would be good film material.”

Yes, Fred is still learning the ways, but I think he is one of my most successful victims.

It was nice talking to you about my favourite book but I must be on my way. Oh I forgot to tell you, yes the book is titled “The Life and Times of the daily prompt” and tells of the experiences made of one of the first believers in the daily prompt (my great great great grandfather Gloomius) when he decided to take the job on suggesting things to tell everyone to write about.

I am now on my way to the local blood bank to tank up on my life’s liquids. Since Fred, who was a vampire’s delight, I no longer attack the so-called living. They are armed with all sorts of weapons like knives and guns and no longer have respect for the undead. Yes, my name is Morticia and I am a vampire.

Daily Prompt: Bedtime Stories – to be read before waking

Daily Prompt: Through the Window and a VW Beetle

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Go to the nearest window. Look out for a full minute. Write about what you saw.

Phox

All sorts of things are happening in the back garden at the moment. I have had my phlox at least 10 years and it gives me a show every year. There has been a problem over the past couple of years, a fight broke out between this plant and the snails. It was flowering but the leaves resembled a battlefield with snail mouth-sized holes and snails have 14,000 teeth and some can even be fatal (whether to humans or the plants, or themselves in a fight I do not know). In any case my snail pellets were also fatal to the snails and despite repeated attacks my phlox survived. This year there are no snails. The record temperatures of over 30° C and the lack of rain seemed to have sealed their death warrent. However I did see a slime path with the letters “we will be back”, so who knows.

Today I was sitting on the porch with my two computers. After I finished uploading a couple of photos on my Bill Gates machine, I suddenly heard a loud rustling noise and noticed I was being observed by a figure over the border to my garden. It was a young lady gardener who came to remove the remains of the nature meadow between our garden and the next. It had been forgotten this year and the stalks of the wild flowers were still standing. We have an unwritten law that this meadow should be left to grow until mid June, when the plants can spread their seeds for the next year. It really does make a nice show every year.

Wild flowers

And now for something completely different. This morning was hunting day and so Mr. Swiss and I spent time in the supermarket trapping the spoils for the week-end. I will not bore you further about what we bought, but we were glad to escape from the crowds and the stress of it all. It was then we entered the parking lot and what did I see parked just opposite our car.

Volkswagen

Yes, a Volkswagen Beetle, a car that was manufactured until 2003, although perhaps someone somewhere still produces them. I am not an expert, but I was please to see this model as a memory returned of our very first car. When we married, there were five mouths to feed: Mr. Swiss, me and three children at the time of speaking. Mouth No. six arrived later. Of course money was not exactly in abundance. I worked until my son No. 1 arrived and was then a full time housewife for a couple of years. We had no car, and depended on walking, busses and now and again a train. Mr. Swiss had a moped to get himself to work. Eventually we examined the possibility of our own four wheeled transport system and settled on a second hand VW beetle. It was our first car, white and I think it had the magical number 1200 on the back in metal letters, which was about the strength of the engine.

We were young and daring and knew nothing in the way of safety or danger and now we could go further. This was probably about forty years ago and I don’t think this car had more than four gears to change. One memorable journey stays in my memory. It was Summer holidays and we decided to do a day trip to Montreux on the Lake of Geneva which was quite a distance, but what is a 2 hour drive when you have VW beetle. We arrived quite safely after ploughing along on the motorway being overtaken by everything that was a little larger and stronger then our car. We spent a pleasant day in Montreux. It is a lovely town situated on the shores of the lake. and eventually we had to make our way home. I remember the steep descent when approaching the town and the steep ascent to leave the town. On the way home we were driving on a country road (the motorway system had not yet been completed in Switzerland) and there was a strange noise. It seems that our VW had been attacked by a stone beneath the chassis or something like that. Who cares, it was just a noise.

Afterwards Mr. Swiss noticed that he could no longer use the brake. We were still quite a distance from home, but we survived. I could not drive then so it was up to Mr. Swiss to bring us home safely. We arrived safe and sound. I do not know how he did it to this day without being able to apply the brake. I just asked him about it, but all I am getting is a few negative words not to be mentioned on this blog about the garage that sold us the car. He even remembers that it cost two thousand Swiss francs. Our next car was a Simca, the first of many Simca, but that would be another blog.

Daily Prompt: Through the Window and a VV Beetle

Daily Prompt: From You to you – Into another dimension

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Write a letter to your 14-year-old self. Tomorrow, write a letter to yourself in 20 years.

Me sitting on stone

I do not think I will bother to sit down and write myself a letter. Fats Waller even wrote a song about it, “I’m going to sit right down and write myself a letter and make believe it came from you”.

At the age of 14 I really had other things to do than read letters. I probably was about 14 years old in this picture, dressed in the latest Marks and Spencer fashion blouse, known as a scarf blouse. I was quite proud of that blouse as I picked it out myself. You might think how lovely and slim she is, but I remember that holiday well at the Isle of Wight in England with mum and dad and my aunt, uncle and cousins. I had shortly before recovered from an attack of scarlet fever. The skin on my hands and feet had just finished peeling, something like a banana skin, after going through a bout of very high fever and probably the fresh sea air did help me on my way to recovery.

We often spent our holidays on the Isle of Wight. It was a couple of hours train journey from London to arrive at the coast, a place called Lymington where we caught the ferry over the Solent to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, an island South of the english coast. We usually stayed at a holiday camp and had our own apartment, my uncle’s family staying in the apartment next to ours. The time was spent on walks on the Tennyson Downs which was along the cliff tops. It seems that the english poet Lord Tennyson lived for 40 years near the downs. Wikipedia tells me the poet used to walk on the downs almost every day, saying that the air was worth “sixpence a pint”, even cheaper than a glass of beer. As it was an island there was beach everywhere and I managed to get my colour back in the sun. In the evening the holiday place had entertainment in the bar.

Dear me, carry on regardless, you did it your way would be about the only words I could tell myself. My head was full of Beatles songs, Carnaby Sreet fashion in London and Mary Quant who was the fashion designer of the time. I think that Vidal Sasoon hairstyles were approaching and the Rolling Stones were appearing in the Marquis club in London.

I was heading for my GCE exams at school which took place two years later. My week-end entertainment mainly circled around Saturday afternoons when I attended a local football match, (the game with the round ball) either at West Ham United or Leyton Orient, although I am not really sure of the time when all this happened. At the age of 68, when you reflect on the past, things get a little mixed up with their order.

And now to write a letter to myself in 20 years. Huh? At the age of 88 I probably am thinking about downloading the free Windows 20 programme. This morning I took the plunge and told my computer to go ahead and give me Windows 10 with all the bells and whistles. I checked yesterday and discovered how I could remove the tiley surface, which reminded me of a primary school picture book. Windows 10 clapped their hands and sent me a mail to say I was now in the waiting list. It might take a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, even a month, but eventually I would get my free download/upload. I would just have to take my place in the queue. So in 20 years, at the age of 88, I will definitely have Windows 10 and will be planning for Windows 20. I am sure Windows 20 will be just a chip implant in my brain, if my brain is still functioning. Otherwise I am sure they could slip the chip in next to my pacemaker which I will probably have in 20 years. Yes. windows 20 will throb constantly on my computer.

I was actually not going to do this prompt, as I found it so stupid, but you see perseverance is everything. You just have to understand the meaning of life and the daily prompt and everything will be OK.

Daily Prompt: From You to You – Into another dimension

Daily Prompt: No Tattoo, but a new bird in the garden

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Do you have a tattoo? If so, what’s the story behind your ink? If you don’t have a tattoo, what might you consider getting emblazoned on you skin?

As a golden oldie I do not think so. On the other hand having a tattoo at the age of 68 would mean that I would not have so many years left to live with it, if I no longer wanted it. There is also the advantage that approaching the years when you tend to forget, I could have my name, address and telephone No. (and of course web site www) engraved on my arm. Should I be found wandering in the streets, It would be easier to discover where to return me, but I would have to ensure that Mr. Swiss also has such a tattoo. He is older than me, it would be a quicker job, as he has no web site.

Today Mr. Swiss and I were again on a hunting excursion for food and other things. After the spoils had been found, I was left to deal with the financial details at the cash desk. Mr. Swiss had other important things to do, like a visit to the kiosk and made an appointment to meet me outside the entrance to the supermarket. As usual my financial dealings were not so straight forward as I knew the lady doing the cash business and so we exchanged a few words. I also decided to hand in one of my 2x vouchers, meaning that I got double Cumulus points on the value of the goods I had bought. This has a purpose, as at the end of the month the cumulus points cumulate (which is to be expected) and I receive tokens in the shape of goods value to exchange at the cash desk. Are you with me? The women definitely are, the men might be left still trying to work it out.

Eventually I descended the escalator to meet Mr. Swiss outside. It was then I saw him clutching an overlarge plastic bag with a metal head peeking out of the top. Before I arrived Mr. Swiss had sneaked into the gardening department near the entrance and fulfilled one of my secret wishes and here he/she is.

New Bird in the garden

The first time I saw this wonderful creature I knew it was made for my garden. It was the dot on the gardening “i”. However when I saw the price label I decided to wait a while. Mr. Swiss is not too keen on my ideas of garden decoration. He has a somewhat more conservative taste than mine. I am more into flashy colours and something to make an impact on the neighbours. It was only yesterday that I noticed that some decorative colleagues of this wonderful work of garden art had been moved to the table where it said “half price”. I asked the lady serving (another one of my shop assistant contacts who sometimes works in the butchers department) if there might be a possibility that these wonderful fantastic metal birds with the moving eyes and neck, which were attached on a spring, might also one day soon be reduced in price. She answered that she did not know, but would think of me if it would become the case.

All this is now not necessary, the man of 46 marriage years of my life was standing waiting for me near the entrance to the supermarket holding my bird. in a plastic bag. We carefully put it in the car boot to ensure it would stay safe during the home journey. At home he was placed in his new permanent place. We found it would be necessary to fix his delicate feet with a stone in the case that a puff of wind might blow him over and he would be injured. I had to remove my metal frog to make room for this work of art, but the frog did not mind. He is now in the back garden getting friendly with my green caterpillar model. Yes, my garden is slowly resembling a sculpture exhibition.

And so another day passed in the villa Angloswiss. There seemed to be quite a discussion in my front garden. I think my new bird was getting acquainted with my meerkat model, my tiger and a few other feline items. Of course he was quickly on friendly terms with my smaller metal bird. Mr. Swiss did mention that the garden is now full and there is no room for more. On the other hand I am sure when Autumn approaches there might be a model of a hedgehog that would suit my garden.

Daily Prompt: No Tattoo, but a new bird in the garden