Leaving the Smoking Ruins

Finally made myself leave the house.

Told myself that it was going to be destroyed in 30 seconds with me in it if I didn’t leave.

Started the countdown.

30 ran

29 upstairs

28 to

27 get

26 my

25 coat

24 ran

23 downstairs

22 whilst

21 putting

20 my

19 coat

18 on

17 ran

16 to

15 back

14 door

13 pulled

12 left

11 boot

10 on

9 pulled

8 right

7 boot

6 on

5 grabbed

4 bag

3 put

2 alarm

1 on

0 boom!

Just managed to get out a bare microsecond before the blast ripped me apart.

It was raining and so, spotting the umbrella in the ruins by the back door, I grabbed it and put it up.

Then I locked the door and waked away.

A Life in the Day (22-23)

I’m writing this half an hour early because all I did for the first thirty minutes of this hour was read and have a cup of tea, and all I’m going to do in the second half-hour is brush my teeth and read. If something unexpected happens, like the house falling down, I’ll tell you in the morning.

Goodnight.

A Life in the Day (21-22)

I washed the pots and did some tidying up and thought about life and the allure of distractions.

I started writing stories in 2015. Since then I’ve written loads of them, and plenty of other stuff besides. The reason I started on that course was to wean myself off of the distractions: movies, books, music etc.

It didn’t work.

Instead of taking time from my distractions and giving it to writing, I’ve taken time from other parts of my life and given it to writing. All the distractions are still here.

So, like I say, I washed the pots and, instead of perching a movie on the window-ledge, I thought about life.

Can’t say that I came to any particularly deep conclusions, but at least I didn’t distract myself from myself (if you know what I mean). One thing that I did conclude is that movies degrade my mind. They put me in a state where I don’t have to think, and they keep me in that state for hour after hour. It’s like turning off my mind. That can’t be good for me. Or anyone!

So I didn’t start watching another movie. I read an eBook instead. I figured out how to read my Kindle stuff in an internet browser (it’s quite easy; just search for ‘kindle in browser’ and it’s the top hit). Books are, so they say, different to movies in that they don’t turn off the thinking (as much). The mind is needed to visualise the scenes created by the words apparently.

So, yeah; not perfect, but at least I’m not being a total cabbage-case. And hey – I’m writing too!

On a totally different note – here’ a bubble that I discovered hiding underneath a pan on the counter-top:

A Life in the Day (20-21)

Day turns to night and I look up from this screen to see that shadows have crept into the world. All that’s left, now that the movie is done, is to wash the pots and have that cup of tea. Then perhaps I’ll stare at the wall (or the computer screen (which amounts to the same thing (in terms of what it represents))) for a couple more hours, before going to bed.

And then I type the word ‘solemn’ for the first time ever.

A Life in the Day (19-20)

The evening is the most uneventful time of my day. I sit and watch movies and eat snacks. This one is no exception.

The pots are still in the sink unwashed and my bum is still on the chair. The only thing that has changed is that my belly is now full of Doritos, a Nakd bar and grapes. I think that all I need now is a nice cup of tea to round it all off.

Oh, and the movie, Deception, is still playing. Surely the twist must come soon.

A Life in the Day (18-19)

I did nothing but eat pizza with salad and watch the movie I started earlier (Deception) in this hour.

And no, I didn’t eat all the pizza; I packed some away for another day. But all the salad is gone. Salad is good for one, right? Balances out the junk-food-i-ness of the pizza?

The movie is good, if predictable. I trust that there will be a twist at the end.

A Life in the Day (17-18)

By the time I got home I’d read a few more ePages of the eBook I’m reading (The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal‎)  and I was ready for dinner.

The rest of the hour was spent cutting up vegetables and putting them on a pizza that then went in the hot oven my legs are resting against right now as I type this on top of the cooker. Yeah, it’s not one of those internet-enabled cookers; the laptop is resting on top of it.

I listened to the Official UK Top 40 on BBC Radio One whilst doing this. There are some nice, poppy records about these days. Jiggling and humming along.

Scuse me while I finish skinning this iceberg lettuce so that I can finish the salad. Pizza is almost done. I can smell it.

Et voila, dinner’s ready to eat: