Rhymes or Reason

OK, I give up, Candy Gal, where have you posted your week in Scotland photos? I can't seem to find them under Travel, so have you put them somewhere else?

 

I will link on your profile. They are always in members photos. xxx

 

The wife's birthday today, and it's inspired me to put fingers to keyboard once more. She's now an OAP like me, and it would appear that just like I did, she isn't going to stop working for a while yet. I s'pose she doesn't feel that she's on the scrap heap as long as she's working. I can understand that. As soon as I actually retired, when I was 67, the first thing I did was set up a part-time business to keep me occupied and give me an interest in carrying on living.

Anyway, here's today's rather sombre little dittie about everything and nothing, and it's just the random thoughts of an old man, thinking back to how things have reached the point in life I now occupy.

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Birthday Blues

Birthdays come but once a year
when young we wished they'd come so fast
but now as ends are drawing near
we wish for less, and hope they'll pass

those aches and pains
and worried brows
the weight that gains
and drags us down

until we can no longer run
and all our efforts are in vain
we can no longer feel the fun
of laughing loudly at the rain

and shouting at the devil time
that swirls around us in the fog
it snipes at us, it is a crime
as it adds new pages to the log

the ledger that keeps track of all
the things we do and all we've said
it follows us through every hall
and place we've lived until we're dead

the leaden weight that looms ahead
of everyone as time moves on
from birth until our dying breath
first we're here and then we're gone

Amen

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Love that xxxx

 

PAM AYRES – Poem about the coronavirus

I’m normally a social girl

I love to meet my mates

But lately with the virus here

we can’t go out the gates.

You see, we are the ‘oldies’ now

We need to stay inside

If they haven’t seen us for a while

They’ll think we’ve upped and died.

They’ll never know the things we did

Before we got this old

There wasn’t any FaceBook

So not everything was told.

We may seem sweet old ladies

Who would never be uncouth,

But we grew up in the 60s –

If you only knew the truth!

There was sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll

The pill and miniskirts

We smoked, we drank, we partied

And were quite outrageous flirts.

Then we settled down, got married

And turned into someone’s mum,

Somebody’s wife, then nana,

Who on earth did we become?

We didn’t mind the change of pace

Because our lives were full

But to bury us before we’re dead

Is like red rag to a bull!

So here you find me stuck inside

For 4 weeks, maybe more

I finally found myself again

Then I had to close the door!

It didn’t really bother me

I’d while away the hour

I’d bake for all the family

But I’ve got no flaming flour!

Now Netflix is just wonderful

I like a gutsy thriller

I’m swooning over Idris

Or some random sexy killer.

At least I’ve got a stash of booze

For when I’m being idle

There’s wine and whisky, even gin

If I’m feeling suicidal!

So, let’s all drink to lockdown

To recovery and health

And hope this awful virus

Doesn’t decimate our wealth.

We’ll all get through the crisis

And be back to join our mates

Just hoping I’m not far too wide

To fit through the flaming gates!

 

Excellent x

 

I haven't written much for the last couple of months or so, but I've had other things on my mind. You can see from the avatar that I had a mishap in my plane, and now it's more or less a write off. Which is a shame, as I'd done lots of work on it to get it looking and performing exactly as I wanted. However, fate intervened and so did a 2ft high wheat crop, and now the plane is looking very sorry for itself.

I don't know if I'll try to repair it or not. It will take a lot of work and a lot of money for new fabric and glue, as well as the rather expensive wood that's required for these little aircraft, and I don't know if I'm up to it. So instead, for the time being I've bought myself another Minimax. It's a slightly later model than my silver one (a 91 instead of an 88). It has a more powerful engine, and a larger and more comfortable cockpit, and I'll be using that as my toy this winter.

Speaking of which, today's the quarter day, when the season changes. Today is the beginning of Autumn, and I notice that the weather's improved already, so it looks like we may get something of an Indian Summer this year. Let's hope so because Summer was something of a washout.

Anyway, in celebration of the change, here's a little ditty I've just knocked up for your delectation and delight.

Quarter Day

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It's the quarter day today
the Summer's come and gone
now the clouds have rolled away
and since this morn the sun has shone

the Autumn is upon us for the next three months it seems
so now the Indian Summer can reward us
for putting up with Summer's endless rain that fell in streams
now the skies are blue, the Sun shines out to warm us

no more icy fingered mare's tails looking cold from here on Earth
no more dark and heaving ragged raincloud splinters
soft clouds now gather round to smile at Autumn's timely birth
that will shepherd us from Summer into Winter

seasons march in single file like the hands upon the dial
with the quarter boys appearing when they should
as the clock strikes out to mark the change we give a timeworn smile
to know what come's this Winter would be good

but the weather is a fickle thing it changes in a moment
one minute you can see the Sun is shining
but the next you need a brolly to save you from the torrent
let's just hope the rain cloud has a silver lining

for the next three months somehow we are all Autumn's children now
the mellow season's harvest should be good
when Winter brings a scowl and its icy winds do howl
we'll be glad the crop was cut when best it could

so don't rush on too fast, but make this season last
enjoy the sunshine while it bathes us all
in its yearly fading glory, that's the never ending story
as the seasons dance to Nature's beck and call

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Don't know when I'll post up another one. Might be after this weekend as it's my birthday on Saturday and I enter the second year of my eighth decade (I'll be 71!)

It took me a few minutes to work out what year of which decade I'm going to be in, but as I was 70 last year, I'd completed 70 years as a living independent human being. So since my last birthday I've clocked up nearly a year of my eighth decade, and after Saturday I'll have completed that first year and be starting my second. Wish me luck!

 

Thank you BJ. X
Sorry about your plane.

 

Candy Gal,

Life happens! Luckily I was well strapped in when it went over, and all I did was scrape my elbows and shins. Other than that I was OK, although somewhat annoyed that the engine had chosen to stop firing when it did. However, the problem for me was trying to get out from under the plane. I was in an enclosed cockpit that had perspex panels on both sides and the roof, riveted to a tubular steel frame, and behind that cloth covered panels on the frame. But I couldn't get to the cloth panels because of the roll over bar behind my head, so I had to shout for help till a young lady called Marcia, who happened to own a horse that was stabled in the stables next to where I crash landed, heard my calls and came to help. I didn't have enough room to manoeuvre myself into a position where I could push out the perspex side panels of the canopy, so she got a claw hammer and passed it through a tear in the cloth panelling to me. I then used the claw to lever the perspex off the rivets that held it to the metal canopy frame, and slide out.

It was a sorry sight that met my eyes when I stood up, and I walked around it to see how much damage had been done, but most of the damage is internal, i.e. inside the fabric, so it wasn't till I got it back to its hangar the next day and had a good look at it all that I was able to gauge the total extent of the damage to the airframe and wings. And it is extensive. Both wings had their rear spars broken by the impact due to stresses imparted by the rear wing struts, and where the plane had ended up upside down resting on the tail fin, there was stress inside the rear fuselage that had popped several of the diagonal strengthening wooden stringers and their joints. Furthermore, the front of the fuselage had suffered quite extensive damage when the plane pitched nose down into the ground before it flipped onto its back, so there's a lot of work needed to rebuild that as well. Not to mention the suspension legs, which were both destroyed by the impact.

All in all a bit of a sorry mess, and one I don't want to confront for a while. So I've bought another plane of the same type, but a later and slightly larger model that I'll fly while I decide what to do about the old one. I might sell it on as a rebuild project for a pittance just to make room in the hangar, but if anyone buys it they will be taking on quite a lot of work before the old girl can fly again.

 

Can you not claim insurance on the other?

 

Providing you get to walk away from it, any landing is good !!!

 

Candy Gal,

The plane is only insured third party. The insurance I have covers me for third party claims whatever plane I'm flying, so I didn't have to change the insurance from one plane to the other. However, with a plane that only cost me just over £1000 when I bought it five years ago, the actual monetary value of the plane is virtually nothing.

 

Ok, thanks for explaining. Stay safe xxxx

 

Vlad,

You're right! And if you get to use the plane again then it's a brilliant landing, especially with a tail dragger. As it was this was merely a good landing, with me walking away from it with nothing worse than abrasions on elbows and shins.

 

I looked out of the window this morning, and in the faint mist I watched starlings fuelling up ready to make the long trip south to their winter feeding grounds. It struck me then that soon they'll be gone and winter will be here, and the cold and the wet and the windy weather will prevail till next spring and the starlings return.

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October October you'll soon be over
then what will we do when it's gone
with Winter in sight and diminishing light
we'll be pushed to keep singing our song

for the days will be colder the wind will be bolder
and we'll all be wrapped up against it
the weight on our shoulders as we're feeling older
each day will remind us we hate it

soon the season will change and it will feel strange
all the starlings have flown to the tropics
only sparrows and pigeons and perhaps a smidgen
of crows will be left as our topics

of quiet idle chat while by windows we're sat
and watching the birds in our gardens
they'll hop and they'll fight and some will take flight
as the ground underneath them will harden

with cold Winter frosts, and some will be lost
to the predators waiting to catch them
what with kites and their like and cats and their spite
it's a wonder that any survive them

but there will be a few who start breeding anew
for another four rounds of the seasons
as the weather improves so the birdsong will soothe
us and remind us that life has its reasons

for all that we see and all that can be
is there for a purpose it seems
so enjoy while you can all the things your eyes scan
because soon you'll be living in dreams

dreams of the past when you thought all would last
till you took your last breath and passed on
but now you can see that man's follies are real
and all that's been made has now gone

a new generation sees itself as the nation
that takes us all into the future
but they discard the past increasingly fast
as they rush to detach us from nature

with their phones and their apps to cover their backs
they strive to ignore the real world
but one day when it's gone they'll be on the run
when their batteries no longer work

they'll be unprepared to do the repairs
that are needed to keep us alive
yet the birds and the bees will keep living with ease
coz they've constantly nested and hived

so watch them and learn how to work and to earn
all the things that you need to stay healthy
for they know the secret, and just how to keep it
alive as you strive to be wealthy

for money itself is no use for your health
just a tool that you use to obtain
care for your life, and if married, your wife
so you both can with wellness remain

around for as long as it takes for your song
to be sung to its final conclusion
then to quietly shuffle without any kerfuffle
from this mortal coil with no illusions

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Don't be too downhearted. I'm sure we'll all still be here to welcome the starlings back next spring.

 

Starlings migrate ??? - they don't from here - they stay all winter !!!

 

Well well, you learn something new every day. I knew that starlings migrate, however, I got it wrong about where and when they migrate to. It seems that they come to here each winter from scandinavia! I'm sure when I was a kid I learned that starlings migrated south from the UK.

Ho hum! What do I know? Not a lot apparently, so chalk that one up to experience.

Thanks Vlad for appraising me of the real situation.

 

Wonderful xxxx

 

A little thought, cannot be bought
Never forgive those that retort
To bully those who have different skin
They are the ones committing a sin
Embrace all, and love them no matter
Let go of any, and let them scatter
True friends are those in need
Never let evil, sow its seed

Candy 2021