https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/05/art-health-eyeroll-dose-wellbeing-lists?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Do it yourself

Autumn’s coming,geese fly by,
Autumn,rust,red,gold,so gay
Drystone walls edging fields.
Apples gathered,holly berries
Flash so brightly,look like flowers
Sun shines sideways,shadows long
Of trees appear.I dwell among
Woods where gentle beeches sing
Swaying with the sideward wind

See their roots, all intertwined.
Feel their geometry in your mind.
Look up now into the sky,
See the V formation high.

Geese fly home at end of day.

My heart is moved by patterned dance
In this peace and great silence
My mind widens like the sky
And in this moment I would die,
So I could stay with this still vision
Of geese set out on autumn mission.

Snails in rain pools slither near
My feet upon the terrace here
Yet how swiftly life’s destroyed
When blind foot steps into the void.

Keir Starmer v  Che Guevara

Rachel Reeves…. falling leaves

Wesley streeting, plotters meeting 

Job vacancies

Corridor cleaners are paid £20 an hour in the Old Whittington Hospital. Patients waiting in A&E can be taken on in these jobs for all  or part of a day. It’s a good way to keep fit while you’re waiting instead of lounging in a chair weeping with pain drinking hospital tea Where do they buy their tea from by the way? I suppose if the tea was good quality then folk would walk in from the street and pretend to be ill just so they could get a cup of free tea who knows maybe people are already doing that

The prime minister sounds like a mother of young children when he says that he didn’t look at the welfare bill properly because he was distracted by  foreign policy

I know that feeling when you would have loved to make your husband a wonderful dinner but you were distracted by the baby’s potty

My I goodness I’ I’m completely out of date who makes their husband’s dinner now? Who who even has a husband now? And if you do would you dream of making his dinner rather than lying down anything and eating a Mars bar ice cream?

I ate one in alderburgh  I look at Me now!

What with that and the scar from my surgery I could be in the fairground frightening children or men

Che Guevara don’t eat llama

Vote for starmer it will keep you calmer

Work from your bed or you.will go to prison instead

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47254/gerontion

Mary decided that the best way to dress for early summer would be cotton trousers and  Dash cotton tops she bought from eBay.

How do you like this one? She asked her friend Annie after she showed her a top that has arrived the same morning.

It had a swirly yet geometric design in black and white

I like it very much but it could give someone migraine

Well that’s not my problem, said Mary.

If certain patterns are dangerous then the government should make them illegal

It would definitely make a change to hear prime minister’s question time if they were arguing about patterns and designs especially those on women’s clothing. I I’m tired of all the racism and lies that are being displayed everywhere and talked about and written about as well.

And I am tired of hearing people use the name of Jesus Christ as a weapon against Islam.

Yes I really get angry when I hear people call themselves Christians when they are doing bad things to others and I don’t just mean telling lies or stealing.

Anyway Mary, I can see there’s a pair of denim culottes on your bed.

Yes I just found them in the spare room. What do you think of them?

As long as they cover your knees I think they’re very good for summer.

I suppose they will be cooler than trousers, Mary said thoughtfully. But why should one wear those instead of a skirt?

Well they must be in fashion said Annie nervously. It’s more normal now for women to wear trousers and these are a version of trousers.

I wonder what would happen if all women decided to become trans men because that’s the way things seem to be moving,

What do you mean?

When we were young women never wore trousers. They were thought to be immodest

But mostly everybody wanted a clear distinction between men and women.

Does that sound as if people don’t think there is a clear distinction?

I suppose it does

And since those distinctions were used to keep women subservient to men then why should we keep them?

I can hear someone saying where will it all end.

Indeed where will it all end when women become trans men and some men become trans women and in any case if they’re not white they’re all being deported to the Congo. Or anywhere else that want some money

Well maybe it’s time we had some lunch. We were only meant to be discussing my summer wardrobe not the state of Britain but can these things be separated?

Maybe the culottes are a good idea because they combine masculinity and femininity and they also let plenty of air onto the lower part of your body which is perfect for hot weather as long as there are no flying ants or wasps about.

No wonder Mary is not dressed  by lunch time.

She is not in employment so she can get dressed whenever she wants to.

How difficult is this to live with all these problems.

Maybe it’s best if you buy a uniform If you’re small enough you can buy a school uniform. 000 but then some people would buy uniforms for public schools and those of us who couldn’t afford that could get very annoyed or jealous.

It seems as if there is no peaceful solution to anything nowadays.

Given that Britain is going to become extremely hot in the near future perhaps it’s better if everybody wears dresses like the paramedic friend of Mary’s called Dave.

We could be Newtons too if we awoke

Used our senses and our minds combined

So our days would not go up in smoke.

With willing vision and our thoughts we’re live.

But stepping into places yet unknown

We need great courage when we are  alone

It’s harder still for those who cannot trust.

In the end we all must fall to dust

When we walked  I  held your hand in mine

We walked  round a small lake  to see geese fly

We  sauntered, in a rhythm were aligned

Time had stopped, the geese  in circles climbed

Then swept  onto the path as we came by

When we walked  I  held your hand in mine

Like a natural god, the geese divine

Landed  in their beauty with a sigh

We  entered  a new rhythm, were aligned

On the shining water  geese in line

Float and hunt for food with little cries

When we walked  I  held your hand in mine

 In our garden for your love I pine

I may never love another  till I die

We  sauntered, in a rhythm were aligned

God is on the mountain with his lyre

Singing of the beauty of desire

When we walked  I  warmed your hand in mine

We  lived attuned  to love  until you died

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmpxbdm#zpwm7yc

I am sorry that going to the pain in my hands at the moment I cannot do copying and pasting but this article is very worthwhile and it includes a video

It’s hard to find something at the right level and it does not make you have to memorize lots of long names that you will never really find useful in your writing

Because what matters is to write not to fast examinations about writing although it’s obviously very useful to know as much as you can manage of techniques even if you  don’t want to use them.

I knew myself in his face when he lived

But now I have no mirror,I’m alone.

I learned myself reflected in his love.

An actual mirror seems like a dull stone

I was alive when mirrored his eyes

For those who hate us do not give us life.

What’s the answer when the loved one dies?

Without a husband there can be no wife.

All alone my blood seems not to flow.

The wellspring of my heart is arid,dry.

My hands curl up protective on my heart

I have no tears and so I cannot cry.

Yet I bleed inside from every part.

So where is my reflection, where my grace?

I can’t live without his tender face

Stan was a very naughty man because he winked at his dear wife before dying and she had no chance to respond. That is so typical of Stan, she said to Annie, her best friend. Well, at least he went peacefully.Annie replied in a kindly tone And to think I had just bought him 6 new pairs of pyjamas. You can’t blame him for that.You always buy too much, Annie murmured politely Well, I suppose I like to be prepared, Mary muttered.I felt so helpless as he went thinner and thinner. What are you going to do with them all, Annie whispered. There’s only one solution.I’ll have to find a man to fit the pyjamas and marry him That’s a strange way of choosing a new husband, Annie said in a shocked voice. In the end however rational we try to be, life is down to luck. Yes, didn’t Churchill say, chance favours the prepared mind? It wasn’t Churchill, it was Blaise Pascal.Mary told her in of voice rich with wisdom to Well, why not marry him? He sounds intriguing He’s dead, Mary responded succinctly

Oh, what a pity.He sounded just right for you, Annie said tearfully.Are we going to the funeral? I am afraid he died before we were born, Mary said in an anguished tone.
, he’s no use.Anyone else you fancy?How about Dante? Annie screamed Which Dante do you mean?I thought he was Italian, Mary informed her. It’s not far by plane, though Brexit might be a problem, Annie said wisely. Let’s be realistic.No dead, great genius will be revived by the Lord to marry me.Mary said as if she were lecturing to a big class on differential geometry and its use in economics.No wonder we had the Depression That might be blasphemy, Annie informed her.After all, if God is omnipotent he can do anything at all. To me, he sometimes seems incompetent, said Mary wildly.And of all the lonely people in the world, why should he aid me in my grief? Anway male geniuses are very demanding.I think a cook or chef might be more practical. Oh, look, we’ve missed Mass again. We’ve not been for 40 years and just when we decided to go we started talking about these powerful creatures and a husband for you Never mind, why don’t we wait till Xmas? And so say all of us.

We think we are unique, special and deserving of happiness, but we are terrified of being alone. We declare that personal freedom and autonomy is both a right and good, but we think anyone who exercises that freedom autonomously is ‘sad, mad or bad’. Or all three at once. https://www.goodreads.com Sara Maitland Quotes – Goodreads

There is a sentence often spoke
In jest or repartee:
“See how the cookie crumbles,mate.
Why don’t you have more tea?”

But my cookies don’t crumble
They bend in multi-ways.
Why here are some I made for you
Only yesterday.

You want to know why cookies bend?
Well,mine are made from rubber.
They look impressive on the plate…
As good as any other.

But when you pick one up to start
And press it in your hands
It does not crumble,but just falls
Into a thousand rubber bands.

The guests suffer embarrassment
As they gaze down in dismay.
But the children and the dogs and cats
are happy as they play.

I gave my lover,one cookie
I gave him three or four
But he was never satisfied
Until I gave him more.

Then when I met him later on
He seemed to be in pain…
And claims his doctor told him off
For eating food again.

So now I’m having lessons
In how to bake real fakes.
It’s called the Oxymoron Class
And you should see our cakes.

I made one,I made two,
I made fifty four.
But now the freezer’s full right up
So I can’t make no more.

I want some crumbly cookies,
But mother doesn’t know.
She has gone to heaven above…
Oh,how I miss her dough!

https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/63097/dalrev_vol61_iss1_pp39_51.pdf?sequence=1

“When we look into Keats’s expressions of conflict between
imagination and reality we can see the roots of this conflict in the
problem of identity. Keats wrote about the sunset, the sparrow, the
mythological figure as if he had lost his identity in the object. He
experienced these identifications sometimes with a sense of discovery
and sometimes with fear or irritability. Eventually, Keats began to see
that his identity would not be maddened by his imagination and could
be strengthened by it. He realized, in other words, “that a not inconsiderable increase in psychical efficiency” can result “from a disposition
which in itself is perilous.” In-the four years we know Keats as a letter
writer and a poet, we can see the development of his capacity for
retaining a sense of identity even when seized by powerful or seductive
visions. This is the development–the turning of a weakness into a
strength, both as artist and as man-that accounts for many apparent
contradictions in Keats’s thought. The language of negative capability
has been difficult because it suggests a puzzling oxymoron- a negative
and a positive. The figure presents two aspects of a dual process, the
first part of which, in its partial renunciation of control, can be felt as a
negative, while the second, or alternating, state recreates and is felt as a
capability. The creative process in some of its operations posed
dangers for Keats’!; identity. But by the spring of 1819, the period of the
great odes, there appears a new strength in the second aspect of
negative capabilily imagination”

A needle, pen or life itself have points

To sew, to write, to beautify or haunt.

.Our hands and minds, creative in intent

Give our lives their point, their way. their bent..

The long hands of the clock to numbers guide The fingers on the the gun this life deride.

The hand of fate without our will can point

The demons in the dream may rudely taunt.

Our lips may tighten when we are enraged

When others in our lives direct our page

Our words are stuck, we cannot let them out

So we never learn the truth ” about” Fingers pull the trigger,use the switch ..

The world destroyed in pointless rhetoric

Stan’s new laptop computer with Windows 8.1 seemed very good but he had discovered that “superfish “was installed on Lenovo computers for a few months and it is adware with a malicious aspect getting a false trusted certificate into the registry.So Mary had read. What a pest when this happens. to stupid young or old folk.Mary was about to fix it manually, but first she went the hairdresser, a new and gentle Turkish lady.When Mary went she always said just take a little off the ends but the hairdressers usually took no notice…possibly because they knew she was often daydreaming and musing and unaware of recent trends So today she came out with a bob long at the sides and short at the back.She had noticed this on other women around the town so she was now on trend for once though Stan her over virile and naughty spouse would probably hate it as he liked her wild look.Even though she nevr wore the thick makeup and turquoise eyeliner of her friend Annie. What is that big white dressing in your cleavage,madam, the manager asked Mary courteously Oh,it’s where they accidentally sprayed frozen nitrogen over an open wound she said.The doctor was a bit drunk I think but can you blame them when they are so poorly paid? How can they afford brandy then,he asked curiously.Or is it white spirit or some chemical? I have no idea said Mary.We never learned that at Yoxford.Differential equations,yes.People,no So emotional intelligence was not taught? he enquired tactlessly. yet thoughtfully How could such narrow minded scholars teach that,Mary replied pensively.They have none.Or not much.Well.they could download it from the web.A self teaching aid.There’s a creative notion,she told herself.. But why do we have to learn it @Mary continued quietly.Is it not part of our natural development like learning to speak? Even Wittgenstein did not speak till he was four and he was never happy but is it normal to be happy when the world is so de-sacralised and bankers steal from the poor and men make whores from young immigrant women who have no idea where to get help.What type of man wishes to have sex with poor, terrified girls? Are people really depressed now or are they seeing a horrible reality in their world; where military solutions are sought for impossible situations…. fascinating though awful but I must dash home now as my thin old husband needs me to feed him and he is so sweet..goodbye for today.She rushed out without paying but they all knew who she was, When Mary opened the front door of her detached bijou residential red brick home she heard Emile the little cat sobbing under the bureau in the entrance hall. I thought superfish were real fish and I wanted to eat them for my dinner,he told her artfully between sobs Would you like some sardines in olive oil;it might make your fur shine and impress your lady friend,Ariel…..7 Yes,please,Emile mewed.Yum,yum.love Ariel.Love you,Mary, What next for this resilient,beautiful and highly unemotionally intelligent lady, we may wonder …. a new boyfriend or two or proof that God must exist but only as a transcendental number…so one can really count on him at times of danger even though as a decimal he was non repeating and endlessly changing,just like a woman one might say.Though women are very various and not all the same.That’s where the Trinity comes in handy.What would we do without it….. may God bless us and drag us out of the mire of sin we are stuck in.Amen. Share this:

Walking on the long white shore with you

The perfect sands, the sky and sea so blue The rippling waves made patterns on our shoes Oh,come back,sweetheart ,I can’t bear your loss

The church at Old Hunstanton has a pond

Ducks and geese were waiting for more food

The silence was enormous, like the sky

Interrupted by a wild bird’s cry

At Brancaster we nearly met our deaths

Cut off by a wave behind our backs Young and green ,we knew no panic then

But now I feel it as I walk alone Without my anchor I may float away

A little speck of dust in that wide bay

Hello Mary. what are you doing today? There stood a vision dressed in a teal jumpsuit
it was Annie, Stan’s  mistress,[ when he was alive.] Quite what her status as a former mistress can be is unknown,but she remained on friendly terms with Mary ;she  had helped Mary a good deal while she was grieving,mainly by being present yet undemanding not to mention making frequent cups of tea and putting out the washing

 I’m going to stay with the Pope in Rome ,Mary cried out from her pink armchair

 Are you being sarcastic, ironic, or have you gone mad? Annie  replied politely

Well I was trying to be sarcastic but I am not very good at it yet I hope to improve as time goes by because research shows being sarcastic improves your creativity

But can you be sure which part of your life will become more creative, Annie ask her thoughtfully with a little grin

 For example you might become more creative in the way you trying to attract  men

 Well that would not be difficult, said Mary ,as I do nothing to try to attract  them at the moment and on the other hand it could be rather time-consuming

 Would it improve my ability to write in a creative manner or to be more creative in what I cook?

 I have no idea Annie  told her. the only problem is is that if you practice on me it might affect our friendship

 You are far too  childish, Mary told her. Is that sarcastic?

 Tell me, the ex mistress of your ancient husband!

 What do you mean ancient, he was only 23!

 23 what? said Annie

Are we being sarcastic?

  Well if we can’t  know the answer then we are not being sarcastic because I am sure we would realise if we were

 I am glad you  can express yourself in such a brief manner

 What have briefs got to do with it?

 I just found a bag full of dry ones and I have been folding them  and  putting them into the drawer

 Do you mean knickers?

 Yes, I do, but I couldn’t remember the name

 You’re pulling my leg

 No I’m not. I’m nowhere near your leg

 Don’t tell me that you are not familiar with the expression meaning “you are joking”

 Why do you assume I am not familiar with anything?

 I am giving you the benefit of the  doubt

 Doubt is a very dangerous State of Mind

 Shall I wear the pink knickers or the blue ones I spend  all morning trying to decide so it is best not to doubt anything but to believe that what you do must be correct and everybody else is wrong

 That’s alright as long as you’re not stealing people’s husbands

 If they can be stolen so easily  what does that tell us about the state of the marriage?
Nothing nothing at all, men are so easily beguiled that is in the best of marriages they’re not be enough to keep them faithful  for ever

 Don’t be so horrible
I was trying to be sarcastic
Should it not come naturally  like  loving?

 What kind of  loving do you mean?
If you mean physical loving it doesn’t always come naturally to  human beings’

.many couples go for help in having a baby and the doctor discovers they didn’t realise what sex was

 They thought by sleeping in the same bed, the wife will get pregnant

 It seems very hard to believe but compared to thinking about Donald Trump

 and his lies, it is nothing

Shall I put the kettle on,  said Mary

 That is sarcastic Annie said  because you know that I always put it on when I am here
it is more like dropping hints  Mary cried
All these things are very hard for scientists. You don’t solve mathematical problems by dropping a hint nor does anyone drop hints  to you whereas  in interpersonal relationships it is very important to be able to drop hints and to be able to take hints when they’re dropped in front of you
Mathematics and physics much easier than everyday life because they contain no sarcasm no irony and no hints whatsoever
I wonder if Wittgenstein would agree with you.

 As he is dead we cannot know but I am almost sure he would agree

 I was just being sarcastic,that’s all!

 It seems like that Mary and Annie are going to have to spend much longer  practicing sarcasm before they were able to go outside and be sarcastic to neighbours or Friends

 well Emile’s view is that he will not accept sarcasm from anybody

 He will bite the hand that feeds him if necessary because he knows that Mary will forgive him when he apologizes

 
On the other hand it would be easier if  he didn’t bite  anyone And God might be angry  with Emile  for being a trying animal to live with

God, does he enjoy sarcasm?

Noone has asked before!

I think he is beyond language altogether

And so say all of us

https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-mindfulness-115648?utm_medium=article_native_share&utm_source=theconversation.com

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zb4tbdm#zfc63qt

https://www.reddit.com/r/Poetry/s/YTgnlIatwu

Today I’m mainly thinking about saving money and I’ve already managed to save some  myself by changing my phone tariff.

My living room faces is North northwest and it’s very cold right now

I have got severe osteo arthritis I have also got rheumatoid arthritis so I can’t move about a lot

I hate it when the air changes to autumn coldness It’s essential to wear socks or stockings. When the weather is really cold wool is the best thing.

And you need to wear at least one more layer of clothing. Even when it’s not a problem to pay for heating it just seemed wasteful to have it on in September in some rooms but sometimes that has to happen and if you’re short of money what else can you do?

Sometimes lightweight fine merino wool sweaters are  good

Covering up your neck and throat is very important especially when you go outside in cold weather. If that area of your body gets cold you are more likely to have a heart attack especially if you already have angina.

Inside the house it also helps. Maybe a lightweight scarf for something around your throat makes a big difference

Now many people wear fleece instead of wool

It’s hard to find pure wool sweaters in places that used to sell them very frequently like marks and Spencers.

And the cost is very high

If you are going to visit somebody their house may be very hot so you have to think about these things nowadays

Cardigans or fleece jackets are good. Partly because you can take them off without causing offense to anybody

It’s what women going to the menopause learn that is wearing  fine layers  idbetter than one very thick layer because you can’t take that off easily and you may very well cause some surprise if you’ve got nothing underneath it or if you’re wearing a zebra striped bra which is a little bit too small for you but you like it anyway

That brings us onto underwear. It’s difficult to find woolen underwear but there is thermal underwear which ones you he ave bought it should last for quite a while

But should you waste your money on zebra striped bras or something else leopard skin print knickers question mark well that very much depends on your lifestyle

If you have a partner who is turned on by you wearing that sort of underwear then maybe you should buy it but if not whatever your fantasies are do you actually need to actually wear it in reality rather than just fantasizing about it?

That’s a difficult question to answer.

But it might be more economical just to wear beige or black underwear especially maybe more sensible if you’re likely to have to whip your clothes off with a hot flush or a panic attack.

I once went to college wearing some red corduro trousers and the zip broke while I was giving a lecture on some boring mathematical topic like pascals triangle

And I was wearing white underwear which is not the best sort but my lecture was so interesting that the students’ eyes remain on my face and nobody looks at anything else.

We had some very nice students

If you want to wear zebra striped trousers I would recommend wearing zebra striped underwear as well or making sure the trousers have elastic waist and not a zip

I’m not sure if you can save money by wearing the zebra striped trousers it depends where you can buy them from. If you have a market that sells them for ten pounds each then that probably is quite cheap although there won’t be very warm but then you could afford to have two pairs of them

This is one of the secrets of warmth.. wearing more than one of the garment

Or it will make more sense to wear some cheap black leggings underneath your trousers.

If you don’t plan to give a lecture on Pascal triangle then I think you will be ok wearing any kind of trousers

Since then I have an aversion to red trousers. And I forgotten what a triangle is not to mention the ellipse and the parabola and the other beautiful geometric forms that we used to study

But my students did very well they were very hard-working kind people

So in other words use your imagination

It’s worth spending money on certain things like wool

Making  our own jumpers is not economical. Wool is very expensive and also unless you like knitting with very fine wool you’re going to produce sweaters which most people find too hot when they have Central Heating. But if you don’t have it knit one for yourself and it will last you for a long time

Knitting is an activity which can bring about peace of mind similar to what you get when you do meditation and you also get a product

I believe it’s caused by the rhythmic movements and the rhythm of the pattern itself for example Shetland layers might be a pattern of horseshoes on the sound and I have done that and I it’s it’s a wonderful thing to do.

So you can combine benefits from knitting meditation and producing something beautiful as long as you are that you or someone else will actually wear it or that you can sell it because all I’m writing about today is saving money reall whether it’s short term or long term

If you have a friend who lives near you you could save a bit of money by having them to lunch once a week and then the following week the reverse because it will save money on heating and also it might so a little bit on cooking

What’s a pity we can’t live on grass and leaves but there we are m

I have lost my shadow, I’m not real

The sun may shine but  I am in the dark.

My eyes are full of tears, but I can’t feel

I eat alone and so it’s not a meal

When I walk my feet don’t leave a mark

I have lost my shadow I’m not real.

I think I know the game but not the deal.

I see no neighbours yet their dogs still bark

My eyes are full of tears but I can’t feel

My mind runs on like clockwork, I can’t heal.

If I climb a hill there is no lark

I have lost my shadow I’m not real.

I tried to hold your  hand, it shook like eels

My eyes are rich with tears but I can’t feel

My father used to hit me there’s no mark

I loved him and he died, my heart’s a shark

I have lost my shadow I’m not real

My eyes are full of tears but I can’t feel