Contemplatively Ethereal

He’s tall and thinks he’s in charge with his plastic smile, perfect white miniature teeth and uncombed curly short blond hair, but he often overdoes it. He always wears plain colours as if he’s just finished a session in the gym, and doesn’t want to commit himself to a brand. He has a bit of a plastic personality and doesn’t like to talk about himself much. He prefers to remain active and demonstrate athletic skill instead rather than sit and chat. He’d rather move onto the next event than reflect, and will try to exert the highest authority unless someone else has already established it, in which case he’ll respect it and won’t try to overpower them. When he’s in a group, he’ll listen and join in with a jest, but he won’t necessarily create one for fear of being offensive. He looks forward to his own downtime and likes his privacy.

The Snowman and the Snowcat

Someone’s done their very best to gather up as much snow as they could to have some traditional winter fun. It’s a shame that this is all that’s left, but it’s good to see that someone’s tried to have a bit of neighbourly fun. Perhaps they’re having a protest to block people’s drives to raiser awareness of global warning. Either that or the snowman’s put its back into trying to push the car up the drive as the doesn’t want his cat to get run over. Or they could be shaking the car to get more snow off it to make themselves bigger. You’d be straining as well if you had a stick coming out of the top of your head. I can’t help but think if there’s the remains of something else next to the snowcat. Could it have been a snowbird, or perhaps another animal companion? It’s too small for a mouse.

What's their Motivation?

There’s a skill or power at stake that you need someone to utilise or stand down. If you want to convince someone to do something, you’ve got to find out why and convince them how it will benefit them. They may be pursuing a path for reasons as of yet unknown. Or if they’re doing something that you don’t want them to do, you’ve got to do the same thing. There’s a bit of detective work involved. It’s a great feature for character and plot development. People act for a reason. Is it for practice? Are they required to follow orders under a higher power for employment or have reacted to a controlled substance? Is there a love or family bond involved? Or are they just pure evil? Perhaps there’s a realisation that they’re missing. And if you can work that out and show them that your solution is better, they might just trust you.

Guinness is Good for You

We were due to go to the pantomime but as it was closed we got a televised one on DVD. We also got some games in and a buffet going. We’ve got nibbles while we prep the hot food, and some extra gifts and prizes. Some want to do their own party piece by pretending to be an adult. There maty be a bit of spinning involved.  Start them off early. It gives them a bit of protection and may make them settle down a bit. And even if they don’t taste anything, they can get used to the culture and branding. You can see the cloud of confusion begin to ascend upon her. Or is it the cloud of clarity descending? It might even inspire her. She seems to be enjoying herself with a slight expression of mischievous. It’s a bit of entertainment for everybody while we set up the next party game.

Why do some passengers refuse to give up their plane seats for families, and is there a way to handle it that benefits everyone involved?

Some people pay for those seats for a reason. It helps to get them through the flight. They could be a nervous flyer and need the extra reassurance. Maybe they like the view. Maybe they took the time to work out where the best views would be from that particular side of the plane. Maybe it’s a position where the seat is less likely to be jolted so that they can catch a nap. Or maybe they need access to the aisle quickly if they need to use the toilet. If someone’s paid money to select that seat, they’ve done it for a reason and you have to respect that. The only way round it is to offer them compensation for moving. It could be an upgrade, a free drink, or a snack, gift or meal. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from the airline. It could be a gift as a thank you for agreeing to move.

Any Regrets?

Someone’s looking like they’re regretting what’s been put in front of them. Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time or they’ve decided that they’re just going to be sociable. Maybe they’ve been overdoing it. Or maybe it’s a really bad drink. Someone’s decided to alter it in some way with a naughty ingredient. It’s something that really sour or strong. Will she finish the glass? Will it take her a long time while others move onto more interesting beverages? Or will she pour it down the sink or into a plant pot when she thinks that no-one is looking? She could also pretend to knock the glass over and spill it, though she’ll have to do that delicately so that the glass doesn’t break. Perhaps it’s the foresight of a big clean-up that is yet to come that no one else will take responsibility for. It’s not something that you want to be doing on Christmas Day.

Utter Contempt for the Cats, Staff and Customers from Black Country Ales

It’s a shame that it’s come to this. A beautiful black kitten who brought so much joy to visitors has had to be evicted from the pub. It might be because of an allergy issue. It might mean extra cleaning. Leaving cat hair and scents on the upholstery isn’t great. I suppose it’s possible that some animals don’t moult and leave hairs behind. It’s not great when you’re eating food to have to have a feline disturb you for a piece of your snack, but it’s not like you’re having a sit-down meal. I wonder if there was a complaint from the public since the cat’s been there so long. Perhaps it was something that the cat did like raiding the kitchen, bringing in a dead animal or scratch and slash the furniture. Maybe it was sick in front of a customer. Or maybe someone had it in for the landlord. I hope that Hops is doing well in his new home, but this hasn’t gone down well with the locals and some of them have started to boycott the business.

Mind the Gap #titannabell 25

‘Watch your head.’

There wasn’t much space between the princess and the ceiling. Her hair and rear brushed it as the princess lifted her over the threshold as if she was a feather. She brought her to rest in front of her breast which was as big as she was. The princess laid her on top of her surprisingly level stomach which, while sculptured, was delicately soft. She asked the maid to close her eyes and give her breast a gentle stroke as if it were an animal. Titania was so sensitive and she could feel every caress and hair. It was a long time since someone had touched her this way. She began to sigh in ecstasy. Every cell in her body seemed so cramped, and she needed more room, but at the same time she realised that the sensation might stop as she stretched.

‘Hold on tight’ she said.

When You're Expecting...

No, no-one’s pregnant. But it is Christmas and our Chloe is expecting something to go wrong. She’s just got that expression. Maybe Dad’s going to burn the turkey. Or Uncle Paul’s going to drop the camera. He has got a reindeer on his head after all. Her Mum’s keeping an eye on her to make sure that she’s happy. Perhaps she need that reassuring pat on the shoulder. The youngest one looks as rosy as ever. She’s just cheerful that everyone’s enjoying themselves and it’s been a great day but she would like to rest her eyes and have a bit of quiet at some point but she also doesn’t want to  miss out on any fun. Or maybe the room’s getting a little slidey. All those bottles are going to start sliding any minute. Hopefully the food on the countertop isn’t going to topple because someone’s took their eyes off of it.

Indian Odyssey #dreamdiary 210

I’m in an Indian city. There’s much to explore. We’ve just had our breakfast and we’re exploring an old library. There’s a vertical concrete cone that just goes down below, at the bottom is a giant ceramic vase. It looks as if it’s a set-up for a video game and that I should attempt to slide down the cone to see what’s inside. Adjacent to this is a staircase for an ancient library. Inside, we buy souvenir mugs which aren’t wrapped but placed into a plastic bag. We ascend the stairs to see a balcony of colour. It’s the rooftops of a modern marketplace, of which there are beautiful decorations adorned and painted with idols of the Hindu gods. I drop my carrier bag in amazement. I peer inside and one of the mugs is smashed into pieces. There’s not much I can do about that other than purchase another one on the way back. We spend the rest of the afternoon browsing souvenir shops and restaurant menus.

A Blurred Christmas

It’s our annual cheesy family Christmas photo where we squeeze everyone together to show off our family getting together on the big day on social media. It’s time to show how much Christmas tack we’re wearing and what we’ve been up to. My brother looks like he’s just got back from work and has donned a paper hat to go with his pint. It’s time to show how cold I’m feeling as I’m shaking the phone as I take the picture (though others will chalk it up to booze). There’s a fair few of us on it though. My mother and my sister-in-law looks as though they’ve been having a right old singsong as the empties get put out of the way on the top of the kitchen cupboards. And the girls are happy because everyone else is happy enjoying themselves. It also disguises the fact that no-one got upset because a magic show got heckled and hopefully it’s all forgotten about.

Floresta Apartments

A nice but busy place to stay, but at times it was a bit of a battery farm. Reception was clean but we could have been aided by a second receptionist to check us in. Our room was surprisingly spacious and comfortable, but it took us a while to open the prison-style steel door. We were lucky enough to have a sea view, but our ground floor patio didn’t seem to be fenced off. The wi-fi was also limited during busy periods. We had just enough time to take dinner on arrival where protective staff patrol the area and are more concerned with guarding tableware and cleaning rather than welcoming newcomers and explaining how everything works. It’s touch and go on how hot the food is depending on when they brought out the trough, but there’s a microwave at the end to reheat your mound if desired. There’s also restaurant theme nights with cuisine from aro7nd the world as well as regular staples to cater for everyone. The pool was beautiful but it’s a shame that people reserve their sunbeds before breakfast, and as we didn’t do this on the first day we missed out. The bar is small but service is quick and most of the cocktails are pre-prepared in large plastic bottles. The pool bar food, although limited, is cooked fresh to order. There’s a great variety of evening entertainment which we tried to keep our younger party members awake so that we could see it. And there’s also a daytime activity programme for both adults and kids, though the mini golf seems to be a rushed addition. We’d probably stay again for the peaceful convenient location and amenities but might go half board instead to enjoy more of the island.

Getting Shirty

Is this a Christmas shirt or can I get away with wearing it when it snows? I don’t wear it at any other time. I guess a Christmas shirt would have more Christmas things on it. It’s getting old now but it’s a pleasant smart change from having to wear a Christmas jumper when I’m out somewhere formal for the evening. It’s also comfortable to wear a t-shirt underneath without getting too hot and I can unbutton it if necessary. Maybe I should get a top hat, scarf and broom to go with it. I could even wear a carrot as a snack if it’s comfortable, or get a plastic one. It’ll be a bit odd if I put it on in the summer unless I’m in the southern hemisphere or somewhere where I’m expecting it to snow. It’s something for the kids really. It’s a wish that we all hope will come true on Christmas day.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This was an interesting film, but I can’t help but think that it was based on  a book owing to a decision to Americanise the protagonist. It’s got a good gothic style, but a bit more thought is required for plot development. Each of the characters had a hidden past and it would have been interesting to learn a bit more about how Miss Peregrine came to be. There’s no shortage on special effects though, and there’s good involvement in the real world. The list of powers suddenly seems endless, and it’s a shame that Jake’s power is a bit dull and nothing else develops, though it probably explains how he’s kept in human society. It’s enjoyable, but it’s hard to keep track of what’s what. It’s a shame that more time wasn’t spent investigating the lops since these featured heavily in the conclusion, and that Jake’s father is suddenly abandoned and forgotten about.

Fill Your Pants

This is a simple game that adds a bit of chaos to the household. It helps if you know where everything is, and it certainly gives you a home advantage. The aim is to get as many objects down your pants as you can  find. To this end, you’re given a massive pair of comical pants. You’re then given an object to seek out via a cryptic clue relating to colour or material, and you have to stuff it in your pants before your opponent finds something similar. Once it’s in your pants, it’s not clear. Perhaps we’re doing it wrong. Maybe we should be given three cards to complete the task, but the opponent has to have the same three cards. Perhaps this is where the rest of the team comes in. Or maybe you should bounce around with your pants full for the rest of the game until they fall off. Kinky.

Have you been to Yorkshire?

A useful response would recommend places to go and explore, or at least look up. A less useful response would be to give a reply in an attempted accent that’s just insulting to the Yorkshire people. Or it could be honest and just say no, but it always was interested in going. I get two single sentences that I have no idea what was just said. It might be useful to Yorkshiremen but not to anyone else. Hopefully there’s a few more phrases that can be deciphered without the aid of Google (which defeats the purpose of an AI if you have to use another one to look it up), or a Yorkshireman, which I unwisely do not have on retainer. I got a positive answer the second time around, but I’m still not sure what the follow-up phrase was. In my final attempt I got three phrases. Well, actually, it was the first two phrases repeated (possibly) with a third added that I did understand.

Battle of the Waves

It’s frustrating how it works. Some devices adapt to it quicker than others and will still be connected. You never know if you’re online all of the time, or if it’s fed through in predicted spurts. You have to use and check different devices to determine if your device or the connection that’s experiencing difficulties. Maybe someone else is using your network which is slowing it down. There must be a way to view how many devices are connected and what they are. Then you have to wonder who else is watching you. And that’s when the paranoia begins. You might get emails which take intelligent guesses and try to extort you. And it’d be great to fight back, but most people don’t have the right tools or know what they’re doing. Will you expose more loopholes that they can hold you hostage to? You need a bit more kit, or alternatively some kit that you don’t mind getting compromised.

Maduro says he is "a decent man and is still President of my country".

I don’t know much about Venezuela and how it’s governed. I can only just about spell it. It’s on the other side of the world so it’s of little concern to me. It might seem kind of selfish but I can’t keep track of everything. I’ve got no idea of the history of the south-west. There might be military dictators but that could be prejudiced because of what I’ve watched in the media. I honestly don’t know if this president deserved to be expedited. I haven’t been given any background of what he’s supposedly done. Wrenching a leader away from his home turf kind of seems like a war crime. Will there be repercussions? Will his country prove their loyalty by appealing for protection, defence and aid until their leader is returned to them? Who will be next on his list and will the rest of the world just let him do what he wants?

Mad About the Wi-fi

It seems such a waste when you walk into a residential area and you get hit by at least five different wi-fi networks, very few of which you’re able to get onto. But everyone has a different package. One log-on code should get you onto the network no matter what; providing that you’re eligible and you have an account with a ridiculously long password that’s difficult to try to work out how to personalise, so you get this little slip of paper that you always have to hand out to your guests. Some operators let you use their network regardless of who owns it, unless the user has paid for tighter security. When you’re mobile, you have to rely on the same signal as everyone else, though you can’t always get a signal. Sometimes you have to register, and it’s easy to kick off and it’s also difficult for these servers to remember your devices.

Demping Around

She’s one of those people who you’ve heard of from somewhere but you’re not sure know how they know you or you them. She’s suddenly appeared on my phone. You probably wouldn’t recognise them if you saw them. You’ve clicked on them as a friend on social media. Occasionally something would pop up that was shared, liked or an event attended and tagged, but very few personal posts were posted. She’s a friend of a friend. She might have even been the partner of someone. I think she’s bit butch and muscular with grey whitish short hair. Tank tops and tattoos are pictured. It doesn’t sound great, but I’m not entirely sure if she’s with us anymore. I think we had a connection through beer but we didn’t really engage with each other. I got the impression that she liked to travel and had family commitments and didn’t want to get too involved in running things. 

Heading it Up

The idea seems cool but you need a lot of expensive kit to make it work, including a console  well as a TV and space to play. The console costs as much as the headset but it’s new technology so people have saved up or have sought out credit deals to get their hands on one. You do get a lot of cables to give you many charging options. Some people thought that you just needed the headset and tried to return it on that basis. There were also people who had headaches from using it and thought that that enough was a good excuse to qualify them for a refund. It looks like something that you’d use for curling. I wonder if anyone has ever tried that instead of trying to resell it. Other manufacturers have given up on this idea, although in the last few years someone’s developed one without the extra equipment.

Only in the darkness can you see the stars

-Martin Luther King Jr. 

There’s an exception to this rule. You can see one star in the daylight, unless it’s covered by cloud as it’s our sun. But then again, the quote is plural. And you might not be able to spot them in cloud at night either, but you can always see them on a screen, though some would see it as cheating as you’re not looking directly at them and you’re protected from the twinkle. It’s odd because you know that they’re there in the day, and you can even see the moon sometimes. In the future you might be able to wear special viewing glasses that filters out the daylight. But for now, you have to wait until nightfall to see the stars, and hope that it’s a clear night with no light pollution, road lights, air traffic or international space stations. And that your eyes are open, unless your head is spinning.

The Truth about Loss

There’s lots of different types of loss. The more significant it is, the harder it is to cope. It all depends on how much you rely upon the item or person that’s lost. And the effort required to replace it or them and if that’s possible. It might be a handy item or tool that you’ve misplaced in the house. You might not need it at this particular moment but you’d like to find it or know where it is for next time. In the meantime, you can put the task off completely, use a different tool or borrow or purchase another one. Then there’s important things like keys, phones and wallets. Again, there are ways around these and they can also be replaced but you really want to find them for your piece of mind. Panic can set in if you don’t know where they are as they could have been taken from you. And you’ll have to undertake a series of tasks to secure or replace them.

Sharp's Doom Bar at the Red Lion, Alvechurch

The lounge has a very traditional layout with wood-panelled walls while the dining room is very contemporary with lots of different tables and shelves designed to create a large open-plan room with sections. I was a bit disappointing to see just the one beer on offer on this visit, but these were different circumstances to usual. We were led to the lounge as we’d booked and the table were wide with banquette seating. We didn’t get a good look at the bar owing to the restrictions but I think it’s been given a better paint job compared to the pallet-coloured pine state that it used to be in. There was a pre-printed menu which seems to be personalised as to what was on offer at the time. The chef was named and the dishes listed felt like they were his creations. This could be a pub that’s easy to redecorate very quickly in stages.

Backend of a Heist #dreamdiary 209

I’m at a social club on a motorbike. I’ve had to buy tickets for my mother who wants to attend a charity quiz night. On the way home, I notice two teenagers on the dual carriageway who are also on motorbikes racing each other. I decide to catch up with them to see if I can beat them. There’s something happening as a lorry has pulled onto the hard shoulder and two cars are coming at me on the wrong side of the road. Once I’ve got around the hazards, I accelerate where the wind somehow catches up with me and lifts me up, and I manage to land in an adjacent field. My belongings are scattered about a bit, and I notice that the police have arrived to pick up bits of paper. Upon examining them, I realise that they’re £20 notes. I try and cram some into my wallet, then when I’m spotted gathering them up, I bring the ones that I’m holding in sight over to the police officer. 

A Warming Return

Here, we followed a footpath north-east alongside the river Arrow where it began to get a bit muddy. The path carried along the banks before reaching a mill pond. We continued until we reached the main road marked by a tile, then turned left. We continued along the road until we reached the roundabout, then took the first eft which took us straight back into the village. This wasn’t the most imaginative way to get back, but it was the driest. Fortunately, we had dry clothes back at the car. Heading south, we passed back underneath the motorway until we entered an area of modern built-up detached housing. Some of it was separated by hedgerows. We passed the school then arrived back outside the pub. We were shown inside to the lounge where two tables had been set aside for us to be socially distant while remaining in the same room.

Is life in the UK as bad as people are saying? I've heard of so much negativity about it, and I don't know why. Some people make it sound like hell and keep claiming that the UK has become just like a third-world country.

It depends upon who you talk to. Inflation is never-ending which makes it hard for independent businesses to thrive. We’re on an island which relies on a lot of imports including food because the global market is cheaper than the cost of creating our products. People who have seen all of these problems evolve over the years are naturally going to compare it to how things were. There’s a lot more people and there’s the same number of resources. Too many different people are trying to make changes and it’s not working out. There’s a lot of people struggling to cope with rates rising. But it’s not exactly a war-torn country. Some people are still able to do very well out of it. People can get stuff paid by the taxpayer, especially if they’ve made it across by boat and have a family. But there’s still some beautiful and unique places to see.