At least, that's what I tell myself. I really do think that over many years of marriage and responsibility I have evolved into Homo Domesticus (Almostus).
I cannot really explain this phenomenon. I only know that as a single student my room was so cluttered that the spiders were complaining to the landlord. And that now, although I do still manage to clutter the joint, I am relatively speaking, a neatish person. I am just as likely to be found moving things to their PROPER place, as I am to be leaving them lying around. In fact I have become at heart a wannabe minimalist who would love, if I could find a legal way of getting rid of all the children, to live a simple life. With a chair. And a plate. And a knife and fork. And not much else.
It is known for me to TELL the children to move THEIR stuff. OK, I do get a bit of the old hypocrite's guilt as I recall the look of horror on Ineke's face when she saw my student pad. But I tell them anyway.
And connected to this I have come to love efficiency, as though my Saxon genes had, after many years buried at the bottom of my personal gene pool swamp, managed to fight their way to the surface. So if a thing is worth doing (because if you don't do it you will be feel that remorseless stab of Procrastinator's Stitch under the rib cage) then it is worth doing once. And only once. Why would you want to repeat an activity, other than the pleasurable ones, when the repeating of said activity could have been avoided by careful planning.
So I think I have made my case. I am a New Man.
The only fly in the ointment?
It's very frustrating, but Ineke will tell you that I am still a right messy pup. She is the proverbial hard nut to crack. And I would try harder to crack it, but have you noticed what a mess cracked nut shells make?
The line "Well, I'm not messy, but I'm not neat either" is from this month's Fee Comes Fourth tune, Cleaning Out The Shed.
Showing posts with label Cleaning Out The Shed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleaning Out The Shed. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
"Cleaning Out The Shed"
So, today's Fee Comes Fourth tune? It's about an old fella who has been grieving for a while. For the lady who was the love of his life, though he would never have described her like that. To anyone really, but definitely not to her.
And, like many emotionally repressed folk of a certain disposition, dealing with the grief wasn't easy. The biggest helps, and possibly the biggest avoidance tactics too, were the regular pints at the local. It was that or the shed at the allotment. And the shed at the allotment seemed too lonely a place. He needed company, he needed distractions, he needed...not to think about her.
But at the end of a night of drinking with the pals, there's still the long, zig-zag walk home. To an empty house. And that walk was where the all the haunting happened. That was the time when his booze addled brain had no control over her presence. When she'd slip in and out, more in than out, like a swallow making dozens of visits to the nest, with a mouth full of midges for the chicks.
That walk was bitter mainly, occasionally bitter sweet. But it was also the time when he could start, subconsciously, and without any knowledge of strange other-language manifestations such as "Grief Psychology", to process and make sense of and cry for his life with her. And for the rest of his future without her.
And one night he remembered a picture, a silver framed picture, of them together when she was a sweet heart and he was a Jack the lad. And he knew he had to find it...
The line "Cleaning Out The Shed" is from TODAY'S Fee Comes Fourth tune called...Cleaning Out The Shed. It was co-written with Gary Carey and Gerri McManus.
And, like many emotionally repressed folk of a certain disposition, dealing with the grief wasn't easy. The biggest helps, and possibly the biggest avoidance tactics too, were the regular pints at the local. It was that or the shed at the allotment. And the shed at the allotment seemed too lonely a place. He needed company, he needed distractions, he needed...not to think about her.
But at the end of a night of drinking with the pals, there's still the long, zig-zag walk home. To an empty house. And that walk was where the all the haunting happened. That was the time when his booze addled brain had no control over her presence. When she'd slip in and out, more in than out, like a swallow making dozens of visits to the nest, with a mouth full of midges for the chicks.
That walk was bitter mainly, occasionally bitter sweet. But it was also the time when he could start, subconsciously, and without any knowledge of strange other-language manifestations such as "Grief Psychology", to process and make sense of and cry for his life with her. And for the rest of his future without her.
And one night he remembered a picture, a silver framed picture, of them together when she was a sweet heart and he was a Jack the lad. And he knew he had to find it...
The line "Cleaning Out The Shed" is from TODAY'S Fee Comes Fourth tune called...Cleaning Out The Shed. It was co-written with Gary Carey and Gerri McManus.
Monday, 3 March 2014
"Letting The Light In"
Haven't written any poetry for a long while. Decades in fact. But I got the urge just now. It flowed, rustily, and I think that these words are me trying to say something about the vote for independence in Scotland this year. I happen to think it's a very important moment, and one that we should not just stumble into. And though I have become profoundly in favour of independence, I'd far rather people voted No than let the moment pass by, like a thunderstorm from under the covers.
Letting The Light In
When the window of opportunity reveals curtains open wide
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
But it's the crimes of omittance that imprison a life,
And the sin of procrastination,
Of cowardly hesitation,
That leave a nation
Holding on
To the apron strings
Of destiny.
When the chance comes to cast a vote with pride
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
And it's the missed opportunities that breed regret,
With the final destination
For aborted gestation,
Being alienation
From ourselves
And an attachment
To tyranny.
When the moon is full and pulls strong for a high and surging tide
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
The line "Letting the light in" is from TOMORROW'S Fee Comes Fourth tune, Cleaning Out The Shed. Don't forget to get your free download!
Letting The Light In
When the window of opportunity reveals curtains open wide
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
But it's the crimes of omittance that imprison a life,
And the sin of procrastination,
Of cowardly hesitation,
That leave a nation
Holding on
To the apron strings
Of destiny.
When the chance comes to cast a vote with pride
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
And it's the missed opportunities that breed regret,
With the final destination
For aborted gestation,
Being alienation
From ourselves
And an attachment
To tyranny.
When the moon is full and pulls strong for a high and surging tide
It's one way, but not the only way, to let the light in.
The line "Letting the light in" is from TOMORROW'S Fee Comes Fourth tune, Cleaning Out The Shed. Don't forget to get your free download!
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
"I Can't Easily Describe"
It's tough putting words to thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It's a creative act whenever we do it. When we get beyond "How are you? "Good, thanks". It involves dredging, sifting, examining, analysing, framing, choosing. And building. Building a construction that somehow manages to express what is going on inside "me" to what is going on inside "you'.
Am I making it seem too complicated? Perhaps.
Recently I was listening to the banter between some fellas who were putting down a carpet in the house where I was staying. I was in my bedroom. They didn't know I was there. And the chat was relaxed, flowing, full of laughter, friendly, familiar. I felt a wee bit envious of the easy, natural feel of it all. And all the while they were expertly fitting carpets in complicated nooks and crannies. Amazing.
One fella was describing the experience of giving a speech at a wedding for the first time, the previous weekend. His speech had gone alright it seems, but someone else who was speaking had frozen. That poor guy had to stop before he'd said what he wanted to say. The brain and speech have a funny relationship sometimes.
Conversation with friends can and should often stay on a fairly trivial level. The weather, sport, what we've been up to recently, and the funny, interesting or common place stories that result from those experiences. I think that the seemingly trivial stuff is vital to life and our enjoyment of it. Nobody concentrates the whole time they are driving a car. It would be exhausting. Same with speaking. We need to be able to cruise on auto-pilot and give our brains a free ride a lot of the time.
But sometime's it's good to delve deeper. To give ourselves a word workout. If words are your thing, whether written or spoken, then you try and workout regularly and more intensively. But even if they are not your particular strength, it's probably still good to give the Art of Describing a little bit of a walk around the block. Keep the cobwebs at bay. Use it or lose it as they say.
Although I suspect those Carpet Fitters might think I was making a shag pile out of a welcome mat.
The line "I can't easily describe" is from my next Fee Comes Fourth track Cleaning Out The Shed. Available for free next Tuesday.
Am I making it seem too complicated? Perhaps.
Recently I was listening to the banter between some fellas who were putting down a carpet in the house where I was staying. I was in my bedroom. They didn't know I was there. And the chat was relaxed, flowing, full of laughter, friendly, familiar. I felt a wee bit envious of the easy, natural feel of it all. And all the while they were expertly fitting carpets in complicated nooks and crannies. Amazing.
One fella was describing the experience of giving a speech at a wedding for the first time, the previous weekend. His speech had gone alright it seems, but someone else who was speaking had frozen. That poor guy had to stop before he'd said what he wanted to say. The brain and speech have a funny relationship sometimes.
Conversation with friends can and should often stay on a fairly trivial level. The weather, sport, what we've been up to recently, and the funny, interesting or common place stories that result from those experiences. I think that the seemingly trivial stuff is vital to life and our enjoyment of it. Nobody concentrates the whole time they are driving a car. It would be exhausting. Same with speaking. We need to be able to cruise on auto-pilot and give our brains a free ride a lot of the time.
But sometime's it's good to delve deeper. To give ourselves a word workout. If words are your thing, whether written or spoken, then you try and workout regularly and more intensively. But even if they are not your particular strength, it's probably still good to give the Art of Describing a little bit of a walk around the block. Keep the cobwebs at bay. Use it or lose it as they say.
Although I suspect those Carpet Fitters might think I was making a shag pile out of a welcome mat.
The line "I can't easily describe" is from my next Fee Comes Fourth track Cleaning Out The Shed. Available for free next Tuesday.
Monday, 24 February 2014
"I'm Cleaning Out The Shed"
Or to be more precise, Clearing Up A Roof That Got Blown Off. Not off of our house fortunately, but off the outside area I was building, as mentioned in the very recent blog "Here's A Good Place To Look At The View".
To start with I blamed the Yoof. We'd had an 18th birthday party for one of The Boys on Saturday. About 30 people came around and there was a certain amount of alcohol imbibing happening. And to be honest, the whole thing had seemed to go very well in the alcohol imbibing circumstances.
But when I saw the state of the roof, which was pretty much trashed, I put 2 and 2 together and made 18. I thought a group of them had sneaked out at some point and, for some strange reason, had wrecked my year and a bit of planning and hard work. I was upset. As mentioned in the blog, I had ideas for the place. Musical ideas. And it was part of plans for our son's wedding reception. In a brain fuzzled place I took the obvious step and rang the Local Nick.
Two nice, young constables came round. Least that was the impression they gave (of being nice that is) and though I've heard plenty of Police horror stories I'd prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt. PC, soon to be Detective Constable, Bill Smart (no actual names have been used in this account) observed, quite correctly, that it would have been very, very, difficult for a gang of yoof, in the dark, to cause the specific sort of Roof Movement as exemplified by The Roof in question.
So. The Wind it was. And my apologies to the Yoof, for my lack of trust in them. I'm usually telling other folk off for that. And apologies to the roof for not believing in the power of the wind as much as I should have. Not that we didn't take it into account, but hey, ho.
Anyway, it's not been a great day. The only positive outcome being that I've now got a new song called The Roof Blows Off (Cover Me). I don't hang around. Well, I do with the DIY, but not with the songwriting.
The line "I'm Cleaning Out The Shed" is from my next Fee Comes Fourth tune Cleaning Out The Shed to be released on March 4th 2014. It's a dance number.
To start with I blamed the Yoof. We'd had an 18th birthday party for one of The Boys on Saturday. About 30 people came around and there was a certain amount of alcohol imbibing happening. And to be honest, the whole thing had seemed to go very well in the alcohol imbibing circumstances.
But when I saw the state of the roof, which was pretty much trashed, I put 2 and 2 together and made 18. I thought a group of them had sneaked out at some point and, for some strange reason, had wrecked my year and a bit of planning and hard work. I was upset. As mentioned in the blog, I had ideas for the place. Musical ideas. And it was part of plans for our son's wedding reception. In a brain fuzzled place I took the obvious step and rang the Local Nick.
Two nice, young constables came round. Least that was the impression they gave (of being nice that is) and though I've heard plenty of Police horror stories I'd prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt. PC, soon to be Detective Constable, Bill Smart (no actual names have been used in this account) observed, quite correctly, that it would have been very, very, difficult for a gang of yoof, in the dark, to cause the specific sort of Roof Movement as exemplified by The Roof in question.
So. The Wind it was. And my apologies to the Yoof, for my lack of trust in them. I'm usually telling other folk off for that. And apologies to the roof for not believing in the power of the wind as much as I should have. Not that we didn't take it into account, but hey, ho.
Anyway, it's not been a great day. The only positive outcome being that I've now got a new song called The Roof Blows Off (Cover Me). I don't hang around. Well, I do with the DIY, but not with the songwriting.
The line "I'm Cleaning Out The Shed" is from my next Fee Comes Fourth tune Cleaning Out The Shed to be released on March 4th 2014. It's a dance number.
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