jonbeckett.blog

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

A God of Slow Things

I spoke to a friend on the internet this morning – the first contact with anybody outside my family for a couple of weeks, and we both found ourselves wondering where each day goes. How is it suddenly Friday already? I suppose in a way I’m glad it’s not

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

Trying

How has it been a week since the last time I wrote in the blog? How does this keep happening? In the past I wrote almost every day. How is that possible? What did I find to write about, and how did I find time to write? It’s about

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

The Harder You Work

You know how sometimes life continues on for months on end, without anything in particular happening? The last few years have been a bit like that. And then yesterday, all sorts of things happened one after another. Which is good, I think? The universe started to re-arrange it’s doorways

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

Paying it Forward

A few years ago (actually quite a few years ago now) there was a popular twenty something TV drama in the UK that made stars of it’s cast. It’s still on now, but nothing like as popular as it once was. The actors involved were splashed across the

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

Searching for Splinters at the Doctors

The clock is ticking towards lunchtime, and I’m yet to really get started with any meaningful work. Most of the morning has been spent sitting in the doctor’s waiting room with my youngest daughter, who has had a mysteriously swollen finger all week (Dad jokes about pointing at

Import 2022-12-12 18:45

Stealing Minutes from the Sandman

You find me sitting in the dark at 1am again. I’m not entirely sure how this keeps happening. One minute I’m washing up the things from dinner – the next everybody else has gone to bed, and I’m here tinkering with a few different projects and losing track

Focus

Tuning Out

I opened the word processor at 8:35 this morning, with every intention of writing a blog post before work started. One thing after another cropped up throughout the day to make sure no writing of any sort happened. Before I knew it, I was up to my ears in

Friends

I never thought of that before

It’s been a strange few days. My other half finished working at a local infant school on Friday. The end of nearly twelve years as “the lady in the office” – and apparently a huge figure in the childhood of hundreds of small children along the way. We’ve kind

Elon Musk

Watching for the Keymaster

Do you ever feel like you’re drowning in the various projects you’re involved in – but also realise that you started each project? I suppose you could say I’m terrible at saying no to myself. I was supposed to go for a run this morning – to begin getting

Friends

With a little help from my friends

We went out last night – to help a good friend celebrate her birthday. We met at her house, summoned a taxi, and had the best night out in quite some time. A lovely meal, a few drinks, and lots of stories, laughter and smiles along the way. I’m SO

Late

Twenty to Midnight

As the title suggests, the clock is whirling inexorably toward midnight once again. I’m sitting in the dark of the junk room, watching a pretend aeroplane whistle across a pretend sky – headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s relaxing, in a strange sort of way. Work is going well

Time

A minute here, a minute there

I continue to struggle finding time to write. A window of opportunity opened at lunchtime, but before I knew it one thing after another conspired to slam it shut. I’m not sure I have much to write about. I was programming all day again. Working on a project that

Experience

Listen to the trees

A scene from the first Narnia movie has been tumbling around my head all day – where the children are approaching Aslan’s camp, and the fallen leaves of nearby trees swirl in the wind to form a figure – waving to Lucy as she passes. While it’s lovely to believe

Friends

A Piglet Moment

There’s a moment in the book “The House at Pooh Corner” that has always stayed with me: Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh!” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” The House at Pooh Corner,

Family

Finding Time

As a few might have noticed, I’ve returned to WordPress. This had absolutely nothing to do with platforms – more about separation of concerns. I needed to use Substack for something else, and would rather have something of a dividing wall between my personal blog, and other endeavours. So what

History

The End of an Era

Queen Elizabeth II was buried today. It seems fitting that I write something to mark the day. I’m not a royalist, and never have been, but I appreciate a life well lived, and a life that must have been constrained by endless rules, expectations, and obligations. A life in

Family

If not now, when?

Tonight (or this morning) I’m taking a leaf from a good friend’s book – and asking myself “if not now, when?”. I’m talking about the blog of course, and writing a blog post. It’s 1am. We got back from a night out a couple of hours ago.

Friends

Still Here

Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated (if indeed there were any). I can’t remember the last time I let so many days go between blog posts. It’s all slightly surreal really. It’s not like I even missed writing – I just didn’t think about writing

Tired

Too Tired to Think

I’m not entirely sure where the last few days have gone. In-between chores, work, running, writing, more chores, more running, more work, more writing, and endlessly putting things away, two entire days have vanished. I suppose the biggest news this week is that my other half is changing job.

Fitness

Run Like the Wind, Bullseye

Alexa, the curious daemon that lives within an electronic gadget on the bedside table burst into life in her metronomic way once again this morning – filling the room with Ronan and Harriet from Magic FM as they wished everybody a wonderful day before playing the same twenty songs they play

Routine

Back to Work

I won’t lie – there was a feeling of dread at 7am this morning when the alarm clock filled the bedroom with an internet radio station. I drifted in and out of sleep for a few more minutes before resigning myself to the day ahead. I always find the first

Internet

Descending into the Twitterverse

This morning I have been dipping a toe into the Twitterverse. It’s a strange word, isn’t it – “Twitterverse”. The Twitter Universe. It really is a universe of sorts though – populated with subject driven worlds, related interests, and with no barriers between them. It’s loud, it’s cacophonous,

Diet

Washing and Writing

We got home on Wednesday. It’s now Saturday. The washing machine is still going. I think we can see the end of the washing mountain now though (thankfully). It’s just a case of getting it all dry, folding it, and putting it away – which we know won’t

Family

The Journey Home

We left my parents house in Cornwall mid-morning. The final hour was a huge game of backwards Jenga, where our belongings (and various acquisitions) were re-assembled into the car. Seven hours later (after a wander into a nearby fishing village, and a rest-stop mid-afternoon, we arrived home. Our car doesn’

Cornwall

Final Day at the Coast

After booking a restaurant table last night, we visited Fowey today (pronounced “Foy”) – across the estuary from the small village we visited so often in my youth. We caught the local ferry, and somewhat remarkably found a parking space in the local car-park. The route into Fowey takes you through