Day: December 30, 2020

Gobble-degook

As most of you know, I volunteer, just chatting to people on the phone each week.

Many of us are still isolating – have done so since February – so people cancelled any plans they nurmally make and stayed home instead. For me, while I normally have a short break I have just carried on this year. After all, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas this year, does it?

But there can sometimes be a funny side. We’re all relying on online grocery deliveries to keep us stocked up, though of course sometimes the stores can’t supply things.

So I had this one client, the supermarket couldn’t get hold of a turkey for him. So the poor chap had to go without.

They did, however, supply the jar of cranberry sauce he had ordered. And he’s, like, wtf am I supposed to do with this????

Fandango’s Provocative Question (30 December 2020)

Today’s Provocative Question is short and sweet. Fandango asks:

What do you fear the most?

I get anxious, really, about two things. My health and my wealth.

Many of you will have seen my posts since christmas. I had a scare with one of my eyes. It seems mostly to be okay but there are a few little giveaways – I can’t read the programme guide on the TV, even with my glasses, which I could do before. But I can use the computer – this is the key not only to my productivity, but to my link with the outside world.

So, I’m scared that my sight goes. Really, shitless. The trouble is, I know exactly what it is – glaucoma caused by diabetes – and there’s not much I can do to stop it, there is no cure, although taking good care of my sugar slows it down. But one day it will get me, if I don’t die of something else first. I had thought I was doing well on that one until last week.

The other thing I worry about is my bank balance. If I continue not to work, and just to receive benefits, then my overall wealth dwindles by about 10% each year. I keep telling myself that of course I will get a job – with the things I am doing now, and a top notch cb vehind me, but what if?????

It’s silly, really. I am one of that last generation who bought an endowment policy when I mortgaged my house. I don’t know what they called them elsewhere, but they must have existed. The mortgage is up in 4 years, and the current projection is that the endowment will only repay 50% of it. But that doesn’t really bother me, because in that time, the value of the house has risen fourfold! So I have plenty of equity. Plus, after 2008, there are plenty of people in my position, and after COVID, there are even more!

I suppose the thing that really worries me here is that this might be the end of my working life. It’s not the money – I’m very frugal these days – it’s more not being useful to anyone any more.

The other thing I wanted to mention was death. Nope. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy life, I’d miss (some) people and our animals, but since the stroke I figure I’m on borrowed time anyway. I fear the pain that is often associated with death, but not really death itself. My stroke had no pain associated with it, so if push came to shove I would take another one of them.

Sex Sells

inspired by Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC) of 30 December 2020, silhouette.

This curvy young dancer was hot,
Though had nothing to do with the plot,
With her movements seductive,
Hiding payload destructive,
Though these days we might spot a cheap shot.

When I saw silhouette, I thought immediately of those (always nude, always women) dancers they used to put on the intros to the James Bond movies. You know, nothing whatever to do with anything, but a nice bit of titilation inserted by Broccoli for what must have been a mostly-male audience.