Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => Sports, Hobbies & Interests => Topic started by: floo on April 16, 2016, 04:32:17 PM
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I enjoy going to the gym, swimming (for which I can go safely for one half-hour a week), tap dancing of course! and being able to walk. Talking books are not the same as reading of course, but the choice is better nowadays.
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Possibly books first and foremost - I've been a book fiend all my life so the personal library is fairly large by now. Absolutely love books and reading and everything about them - choosing, browsing, waiting for them to be delivered, unwrapping them, everything.
Music is equal to books or as near as makes no different. I have a huge collection of CDs of every conceivable genre of music which I still buy since a CD can give you all the benefits of a vinyl LP - album art, lyrics, extra information and so forth - without all the drawbacks of vinyl so well expressed by L.A. just this morning, which also puts it ahead of the rather drearily functional utility of a bald digital purchase.
I write music as well - not that any of it will ever be heard, but I don't do it for that but for the challenge of doing something difficult as well as I'm able.
I used to paint (oils) at one time but haven't for a while, predominantly landscapes, although I keep saying that I'll get back into it when I get around to it.
Nature - photographing or simply being in, growing up as I did and having spent almost all of my life in the countryside.
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Fishing, not that I ever really catch anything. I just love being by the water with my rod in my hand.
Playing music, mostly piano. I think I am reasonable but my wife thinks I am a noise polluter.
Restoring old things. I have quite an extensive garage and love getting hold of something old and broken, most often bicycles, and making them work again.
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Fishing, not that I ever really catch anything. I just love being by the water with my rod in my hand.
That's not fishing, that's flashing.
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I like sleeping.
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That's not fishing, that's flashing.
;D
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Nature and the countryside are the first thing on my list. Probably more than 'something I enjoy' as they are an intrinsic part of who I am. I didn't grow up in the countryside and can't really say where it comes from, but being outside in all weathers (apart from extreme heat) and experiencing and noticing what is around me matters a great deal.
Music - whether I want something loud to play in my car, something funky for my kitchen it something quiet to contemplate in the evening, it means a huge amount to me too. I don't really understand the technical aspect of it, but then I don't need to.
Books - because I love learning. I so wish I'd gone into an academic career - I would loved to have been a historian or possibly an archaeologist and spent my whole life learning. But nobody ever thought it was a suitable career for someone like me and it was never presented to me as an option. So instead - books. And lectures and things... Books also present me with a chance to savour something else I love - words, and how they can be used to paint pictures or add a richness of meaning it history. Even better is when words give you the personality of the writer and you find yourself in the company of someone you really like, someone who may not even be with us any more - last night I was reading Roger Deakin.
Books - fiction books to cart me off to another world. Somtimes nothing else will do other than a Victorian/Edwardian gothic ghost story or a well-written historical murder mystery.
Upcycling, crafts and interior design. I'm a bit of a magpie and love searching out vintage stuff to do up (I'm a big fan of Annie Sloan chalk paint) and have a big stash of vintage fabric, buttons and trimmings that I'm unlikely ever to get through. I upcycle lamps and make cushions and sew silk roses. Then I like to figure out how it comes together in a room, in a home. Love it.
And this place. Bonkers though it probably is, I enjoy being a part of R&E. I've learned tons here, honed my own thinking, and met some fab people. I'll always be grateful to Jak for it.
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Fishing, not that I ever really catch anything. I just love being by the water with my rod in my hand.
Playing music, mostly piano. I think I am reasonable but my wife thinks I am a noise polluter.
Restoring old things. I have quite an extensive garage and love getting hold of something old and broken, most often bicycles, and making them work again.
What sort of fishing do you do?
Course
Fly
Sea ?
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What sort of fishing do you do?
Course
Fly
Sea ?
Compliments?
JOKE! (Just in case anyone thinks otherwise!)
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I used to go fly fishing and am thinking of retrieving my stuff from the shed, I enjoy mackrel fishing ( spinning from the shore)when they are in, but also do fish for other sea fish with a variety of different methods.
Also enjoy choosing heritage fruit trees to grow and am about to start an experimental growing of things in straw bales.
( am growing an orchard). ( but not on straw bales )
Also have deer and badgers in the orchard which I enjoy capturing on film ( nature cam).
I enjoy camping out with friends and cooking outside over a fire pit.
I enjoy going to various rallies and meeting people.
I also make jewellery of various sorts and used to make glass beads ( by melting glass) but had to give up due to lack of space.
I enjoy cooking, music, trying new things.
My orchard is probably my most enjoyable one, I love seeing the blossom and leaves coming on my trees in the spring and the wildlife
:)
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Reading - Science fiction, Sir Terry Pratchett (as if anyone here needs to be told that one!), humour of most sorts, early modern history, the history of witchcraft.
Music - Just about anything recorded or written pre-1975.
Collecting - stamps, British QEII mint - Yu-Gi-Oh cards - Monster High dolls - POP dolls - dolls of anime and manga characters.
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My husband used to collect stamps and coins as a young chap, but lost interest years ago. Some of the items could be valuable. Unfortunately none of our kids or grandchildren have the slightest interest in coin/stamp collecting.
I once found a couple of old halfpennies in a field, from the reign of Queen Victoria when she was a young woman.
I don't suppose my stamp collection, being QEII, will have any real value until Charlie becomes King, if he ever does. God (the one of your choice) help us - Queen Camilla Park-and-Ride!
I still have my grandfather's collection of early Victorian pennies - what he used to call the Honolulu pennies. It wasn't until I was in the army that he considered me old enough to explain the connection between Victoria and Honolulu - the picture of Brittania of the reverse of later pennies had the trident resting on her knee, the earlier ones had it resting rather higher up her legs - on 'er lulu!
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I used to go fly fishing and am thinking of retrieving my stuff from the shed
I was recently rummaging through my 96 year old mother's attic (I've had to ban her from going up there on her own!) and came across my fly fishing stuff, untouched since I was a teenager. The fly tying materials had mostly turned to dust and the beautiful split cane rods are now antique pieces, sadly long since superseded by soulless carbon fibre. It was a poignant moment and took me back to my four year old self, when I lived on the banks of the (Scottish) river Dee, and would hang over the banks and gaze at the long brown backs of salmon, swaying in the deep clear pools below. I've been bewitched by streams and rivers and their inhabitants ever since. Later, I learned to hunt for the bright small trout that eked a living in the fast mountain streams and would spot you a mile off if you didn't slither up to the water's edge on your belly like a snake. They fought like demons and tasted of the limpid peaty water. When we moved down to England I fished for the fatter but duller trout and grayling of the turbid lowland rivers, in the days when water voles were a common sight slicing a V shaped ripple through the water as they swam from bank to bank. It was fishing that introduced me to entomology, as I discovered the fascinating world of Ephemeroptera and how to imitate them in silk, fur and feather. I recall longing to tie a 'real' tups indispensable, which requires the hair from a ram's scrotum. Now since this isn't, as you might expect, a widely available product, I was obliged to approach the large ram that grazed in the field opposite our house, armed with a pair of scissors. There followed a lengthy stand off, during which the ram and I silently came to an arrangement that left us both with our dignity but me without the desired material for my fly. Ah, blue remembered hills!
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Almost certainly not. She suffers from dizziness but still insists on standing on chairs to change light bulbs, which is bad enough, but the ladder to the loft is really perilous!
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You have my sympathies. My mum only gave up driving 5 months ago (very reluctantly) after reversing at high speed into someone's garage as she left the local GP's surgery. She completely demolished the rear end of the car but mercifully the garage came off a lot better. As she was parked in a disabled space directly in front of the surgery I was just glad she hadn't put the car into a forward gear, otherwise she'd have one straight through a large window into the waiting room! Amazingly, the motor insurance company sent her a huge box of flowers.
Talking of the hazards of old people driving, I've just remembered a time, many years ago, when I didn't have much money and was living in a dilapidated cottage in the Yorkshire Dales miles from anywhere. I survived mainly on roadkill but occasionally hitch-hiked into Leyburn on market day when I got fed up with flattened rabbits and crows. One winter's day after severe flooding a crusty old farmer (straight out of a James Herriot novel) picked me up in a battered Land Rover. He drove leaning over the steering wheel, his face pressed up to the windscreen, and when I commented on the extensive flood waters, which were lapping the edge of the lane, he just grunted "What floods?" I was glad when we got to Leyburn in one piece!
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That's not fishing, that's flashing.
:)
It wasn't intentional.
We need a Sid James emoticon.
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What sort of fishing do you do?
Course
Fly
Sea ?
Hi,
I am 90% Course and 5 % Fly.
Went out for the first time this year last Thursday and had quite a few Perch on the canal so was a good start to the year.
I will be fly fishing now though. Mostly trout on a local brook, but it is very difficult, it is so narrow and bendy that you can't get enough line out to make the rod load up properly. It is a lovely spring thing to do though. Like Rhiannon's experience you get to walk along the stream casting your fly and at the end you arrive at the local pub in the village for a pint brewed at the microbrewery a few miles down the road. Hard to beat that.
Throughout the summer months I am mostly in pursuit of Tench. I fish for them in local farm pits and whilst it is east to catch fish of 1-2 lbs, if you want bigger ones you have to crawl on your belly and drop the bait, silently, in front of the fish you are stalking, usually at around 4-5 am. I use a free-lined bait of bread paste on a centre pin real. Best yet is 5 lb 8 oz
Ambition for this year is to catch a surface feeding carp on a fly fished dog biscuit.
Good luck, and tight lines!
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I was recently rummaging through my 96 year old mother's attic (I've had to ban her from going up there on her own!) and came across my fly fishing stuff, untouched since I was a teenager. The fly tying materials had mostly turned to dust and the beautiful split cane rods are now antique pieces, sadly long since superseded by soulless carbon fibre. It was a poignant moment and took me back to my four year old self, when I lived on the banks of the (Scottish) river Dee, and would hang over the banks and gaze at the long brown backs of salmon, swaying in the deep clear pools below. I've been bewitched by streams and rivers and their inhabitants ever since. Later, I learned to hunt for the bright small trout that eked a living in the fast mountain streams and would spot you a mile off if you didn't slither up to the water's edge on your belly like a snake. They fought like demons and tasted of the limpid peaty water. When we moved down to England I fished for the fatter but duller trout and grayling of the turbid lowland rivers, in the days when water voles were a common sight slicing a V shaped ripple through the water as they swam from bank to bank. It was fishing that introduced me to entomology, as I discovered the fascinating world of Ephemeroptera and how to imitate them in silk, fur and feather. I recall longing to tie a 'real' tups indispensable, which requires the hair from a ram's scrotum. Now since this isn't, as you might expect, a widely available product, I was obliged to approach the large ram that grazed in the field opposite our house, armed with a pair of scissors. There followed a lengthy stand off, during which the ram and I silently came to an arrangement that left us both with our dignity but me without the desired material for my fly. Ah, blue remembered hills!
Hi,
I also have a couple of split can rods that I have inherited c. 1930. I restored them, fitted new eyes and re-varnished.
I caught a 8 lb carp on one last season and whilst during the fight I was constantly in fear that it might disintegrate into matchwood it actually performed really well. I would say, get your old rods and give them a go. I would draw the line at scrotums though :)
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I am relying on my children to tell me when they feel I should no longer be driving, if I haven't clocked the fact myself. As it is I can no longer drive at night as my night vision is too poor.
I thought that it was now possible to get spectacles with lenses that correct this problem.
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Badminton, cycling, 5 a side football, walks with my wife.
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It doesn't work for me.
I have the same problem, but the oculist told me it was due to an incipient cataract, and I am waiting to have it treated.
Could yours be the same?
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Don't tell her that Len! She'll be worrying herself silly. In any case, an optician would pick up a cataract on a routine eye examination. Night vision is poor for all sorts of reasons.
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Don't tell her that Len! She'll be worrying herself silly. In any case, an optician would pick up a cataract on a routine eye examination.
That is precisely how mine was found. The optician said she couldn't improve on my glasses, but suggested a cataract investigation.
Night vision is poor for all sorts of reasons.
If any of the reasons are treatable, I would be glad to hear about them. I am not looking forward to a cataract operation, even though I am assured it is simple.
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Well, I'm an on-and-off reader; I build up half a dozen or so books, and then spend my evenings reading for a while.
I'm still larping, and doing/coaching Tai Chi (just bought my first metal practice broadsword!).
We also enjoy dressing up for events - mostly steampunk, but we might do something a bit different for our visit to Whitby Gothfest next Saturday...
ht
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Well, I'm an on-and-off reader; I build up half a dozen or so books, and then spend my evenings reading for a while.
I'm still larping, and doing/coaching Tai Chi (just bought my first metal practice broadsword!).
We also enjoy dressing up for events - mostly steampunk, but we might do something a bit different for our visit to Whitby Gothfest next Saturday...
ht
Are you going to MCM ExCel by any chance?
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I've just bought an Austrian scythe to cut my lawn. I hate motor mowers and I thought it would be fun. It is, but it took me nearly 2 hours to cut a patch that used to take about 10 minutes. And it looks like a bad haircut. Good exercise, though.
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Are you going to MCM ExCel by any chance?
Unlikely, although I'd love to. Long-distance travel is a bit difficult for my wife at the moment :(
Whitby gothfest is probably as far as we're going!
ht
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Dear Brambles,
I've just bought an Austrian scythe to cut my lawn. I hate motor mowers and I thought it would be fun. It is, but it took me nearly 2 hours to cut a patch that used to take about 10 minutes. And it looks like a bad haircut. Good exercise, though.
Have you, have you indeed :o
This reminds me of highly intelligent people doing daft things, and it reminds me of a true story.
My oldest nephew, brainy bugger sorry forgot who I was chatting to, brainy chap, if you have ever donated to a charity using a mobile phone, that's him, his company specialises in optimising charities profits, anyway he now lives in Texas, he has a garden twice the size of a football field, so this highly intelligent person had a brainwave, I will buy a old fashioned push mower to cut his lawn, the upshot, he now employs a Mexican gardener to cut his lawn like every other respectable Texan. ;)
Nevermind, you could always buy a long cloak with a hood, could be a opportunity for a new career move, you also might need to buy a horse and call it Binky. ::)
Gonnagle.
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Gonnagle,
I confess I once thought of buying a push mower too but then remembered trying to push my gran's as a child! My perfect garden wouldn't have a lawn at all, or only a very small one. Unfortunately, our house came with 3 lawns, made worse by being strange shapes with lots of trees and other obstacles to get in the way when you're trying to cut the grass. One of these I soon abandoned to nature and it does what it wants. The others would go much the same way if it wasn't for other votes in the family, so I've turned much of the grass over to wildflower meadow, which means only one or two cuts a year, for which a scythe will prove ideal. The rest I have to keep short and this is where scything becomes challenging. In the old days people did maintain fancy lawns with scythes (the great lawns at Versailles were cut this way) but it's very difficult to cut short grass like this. To do it well you have to cut at dawn, when the moisture content of the grass makes it resistant to the sweep of the blade. Lazy folk like me want to cut it during the middle of the day when the grass is all floppy and just bends over when the blade contacts it. This is why I took so long to cut the grass the other day. It was, after all, my first attempt and I trust I'll improve with practice. In future I plan to leave the grass until it is longer before I cut it.
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Dear Horsethorn,
just bought my first metal practice broadsword
Have you, have you indeed :o :o
This reminds me.......................................................................... :P
If you need a bit of practice, Brambles has a lawn to cut, actually you and Brambles should get together you would only need another two to make the complete set ::)
Gonnagle.
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Dear Bramble,
It all sounds fascinating, the best thing, I hate the sound of a lawn mower disturbing my quiet Sundays ;)
Gonnagle.
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I always thought the challenge with scything was to keep one's feet attached to one's legs.
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Dear Bramble,
It all sounds fascinating, the best thing, I hate the sound of a lawn mower disturbing my quiet Sundays ;)
Gonnagle.
Yes, there's altogether too much noise these days. Scythes make a wonderful quiet susurration and disturb nobody.
Re broadswords: my wife has 2 of these and practices her tai chi on the lawn with them. Watching her thrust them into invisible foe like one of those nifty bints from 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' I've often wondered whether she's actually visualising me :-\
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I always thought the challenge with scything was to keep one's feet attached to one's legs.
You can't cut your own legs with a scythe - just other people's!
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You can't cut your own legs with a scythe - just other people's!
Can you not? I always thought that was an occupational hazard.
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Can you not? I always thought that was an occupational hazard.
Well, you probably could if you tried hard enough but remember the blade is attached to the far end of the snath (the long wooden thing with handles) and so is kept permanently distant from your own body. People do have nasty accidents with their scythe blades because they are very sharp but this only happens when one isn't actually scything.
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Gonnagle,
I confess I once thought of buying a push mower too but then remembered trying to push my gran's as a child! My perfect garden wouldn't have a lawn at all, or only a very small one. Unfortunately, our house came with 3 lawns, made worse by being strange shapes with lots of trees and other obstacles to get in the way when you're trying to cut the grass. One of these I soon abandoned to nature and it does what it wants. The others would go much the same way if it wasn't for other votes in the family, so I've turned much of the grass over to wildflower meadow, which means only one or two cuts a year, for which a scythe will prove ideal. The rest I have to keep short and this is where scything becomes challenging. In the old days people did maintain fancy lawns with scythes (the great lawns at Versailles were cut this way) but it's very difficult to cut short grass like this. To do it well you have to cut at dawn, when the moisture content of the grass makes it resistant to the sweep of the blade. Lazy folk like me want to cut it during the middle of the day when the grass is all floppy and just bends over when the blade contacts it. This is why I took so long to cut the grass the other day. It was, after all, my first attempt and I trust I'll improve with practice. In future I plan to leave the grass until it is longer before I cut it.
My husband has a scythe.
It one of those Austrian ones
http://www.thescytheshop.co.uk/picturegallery.html
He's attended a course on sything at a game fair.
It's quite good but the grass needs to be even rather than tussocky.
He sharpens it every time he uses it.
I've not tried it as it's made for him, size wise.
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Dear Brambles,
Scythes make a wonderful quiet susurration and disturb nobody.
Susurration, a wonderful old word, one of Pratchetts favourite words, a word that sounds like the sound it is describing.
Gonnagle.
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a word that sounds like the sound it is describing.
There ought to be a word for that ;)
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There ought to be a word for that ;)
Oi, Aladdin, where are you?
I'm on a mat, up 'ere!
;)
ht
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Yes, there's altogether too much noise these days. Scythes make a wonderful quiet susurration and disturb nobody.
Re broadswords: my wife has 2 of these and practices her tai chi on the lawn with them. Watching her thrust them into invisible foe like one of those nifty bints from 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' I've often wondered whether she's actually visualising me :-\
I'm sure she could come up with a grass-cutting form, lots of low spinning with both blades out... :)
It's good to know other people practice in their gardens, though - I'm always worried that someone will call the police when I do!
ht
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Dear Brambles,
I was far to busy looking at susurration to notice "those nifty bints" sorry but it brought a smile to my face ;)
Gonnagle.
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I'm sure she could come up with a grass-cutting form, lots of low spinning with both blades out... :)
It's good to know other people practice in their gardens, though - I'm always worried that someone will call the police when I do!
ht
I'll be sure to suggest this. To date her 'grass-cutting form' has lacked enthusiasm ;)
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Music was always my first love.
Walking and sight seeing was amongst my most pleasurable especially old buildings like Churches.
Holidays away with Church groups from about the age of 15 was always fun.
Fire flies on the Isle of wight was a really good memory. First time I had seen them.
Open countryside and views from the hills having walked up them.
I love swimming when I get the chance and dancing I do not get to do anymore.
Also eating out with friends when I get chance.
I guess sometimes life feels as if passing me by now... :(
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Hopefully many more years to enjoy Sassy, especially if you keep well. You is one young little girl, girl!
I don't do that much these days and am very conscious of it. Only a few years ago I did a lot of walking, loved it, read a great deal, listened to music, went to concerts and the theatre, sometimes film. I also liked drawing and painting. I don't have health problems but lack motivation these days. Ah well, maybe it will come back.
Bramble, loved the talk about your lawn and garden. I have to tell you my husband mowed the back lawn yesterday morning as he had a day off from work. He put the grass cuttings in green garden waste bags and was bringing one through the house to put in the green bin when I heard a loud exclamation. I went into the hall and the bag had burst. Honestly, what is compacted into a bag becomes an enormous pile when it is released! It was everywhere, grass, leaves, weeds and probably loads of insects. Anyway we got it cleared up quickly enough but when I first looked at it, it seemed overwhelming. Quite miraculously, I didn't get bitten which usually happens to me so am grateful for that. After we cleaned the carpet I sprayed some fly spray on the floor, just in case.
Then he went back into the garden to put the mower away, slipped on the path and fell over, bruising himself. It was one of those days........
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I wouldn't say I have any passions as such. Not like shakers books or those wonderful scythes everyone is talking about. But, I am a gamer I suppose. That is video games. I own an Xbox one and a laptop that can just about manage some newer titles.
It used to be that I liked nothing more than to sit for most of the day and get absorbed in a new game. That was when I did shift work and before I had children though... these days I'm lucky if I get a couple of hours here and there.
I recently joined a story telling group and last week told my first tale! It was my own invention and although nervous I really enjoyed the telling. It my firsts time showing off anything truely creative of mine in public. Anyway I have a taste for it now and am already cooking up my next one... a rather dark story that runs as a sort of sequel to the elves and the shoemaker.
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Eventually we'll have our creative writing board up and running, Sam...
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That is an excellent idea Rhi.
We could have a funny one too, where anyone can add a short paragraph, a never ending story (until everyone is fed up with it :D).
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Darts
Guinness
Dominos
More Guinness.
(...falling down, bonus hobby :-[ )
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That is an excellent idea Rhi.
We could have a funny one too, where anyone can add a short paragraph, a never ending story (until everyone is fed up with it :D).
Always failed elsewhere. A few pages and then it goes off.
Been a good idea in the past but never lasts.
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Very true, people do get fed up with it but it would be fun for a while.
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Very true, people do get fed up with it but it would be fun for a while.
Very true, like all threads it will have a self-life. How long that is will depend on the contributers.
Sassy needn't join in! ::)
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I enjoy sitting in the garden drinking a glass of Muscatel and looking at the fruits of my labour. ;D
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That is an excellent idea Rhi.
We could have a funny one too, where anyone can add a short paragraph, a never ending story (until everyone is fed up with it :D).
A bit like the music one ;)
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Pipe smoking, cycling, fruit and veg. gardening, cider making, drinking real ale and cider, reading poetry, litererchewer, popular science, lit. crit., and history. I used to write poetry, and had some modest success in getting some of it published, but I don't really write it any more.