What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?
When I saw today’s prompt I thought how little I play board games. I never choose to play them but when I do play them I always enjoy them. Why do they stay in a chest gathering dust? Well, I suppose it’s for two reasons. First, I associate them with children so they tend to come out at Christmas when, as Dickens observes in A Christmas Carol, it is never better to be a child than at Christmas, which is why we tend to play games during the festive season. Second, I was an only child so I had no one to play board games with on a regular basis so I never really developed the habit. Even at Christmas games never came out of the box because our Christmases were grown up affairs.
So, I will make the effort to play games more without waiting for Christmas. We have some games that definitely hit the sweet spot like the Love Actually version of Monopoly, Simpsons Cluedo and The Game of Enlightenment, which is about collecting chakras and achieving ultimate peace. The latter is fun and thought provoking and is one of the best board games for a calmer, more reflective games session. A while ago I got a Jenga game with a variety of questions, varying from the silly to the profound. That was great fun and we played that for about two hours and laughed a lot at the answers everyone was giving.
So, in the future I will get these games out more often. After all, a board game is for life, not just for Christmas!
What foods would you like to make?
I love cooking with fresh ingredients and I love the feeling of putting together a really good meal. When I was commuting to London I tried to get home to cook at least a couple of days a week, but once it got to the weekend the kitchen was where I relaxed. Now that I will not be doing the same journey I can do more in the kitchen and experiment with more meals.
Spicing it up
I have always enjoyed cooking chilli and curry, especially the former, and I love the smell of the spices. Years ago my wife hit upon a mix of spices that was perfect for our curries. She wrote it down on a piece of paper and that piece of paper is still in our cupboard to refer to, having ensured that our meals have the right balance. The chilli was always made with packet spice mix until I found jars of chilli garlic sauce when we lived in Hong Kong. Since then nothing else will do.
Christmas Dinner
In the picture you will see a fairly normal Christmas Dinner from my kitchen. Turkey, whether a crown or a full bird, together with loads of side dishes for people to help themselves to. Actually, this isn’t my kitchen, it’s the kitchen of the holiday apartment we were in when we spent Christmas in Australia. Yes, even on holiday there was no chance of me missing the cooking of my favourite meal of the year. When we got married I asked Janet if there was anything she would like in terms of splitting up the household duties and she said she never wanted to cook dinner on Christmas Day. We have had 35 Christmas Days together and I have cooked every single Christmas Dinner. The feeling of happiness when I see everyone enjoying their food is indescribable.
My weaker areas
I can cook pretty much anything but I am nowhere near as good as my wife when it comes to baking so I leave that side to her. Everything I enjoy most about Christmas is taken care of before the big day as she bakes Christmas Cakes, makes mincemeat for her mince pies and makes Christmas Puddings. She is incredible at that side of the festive season and nothing shop bought will do. I absolutely refuse to eat anything other than her homemade delights and we haven’t bought a mince pie from the shop in well over 20 years!
No idea what I will be cooking this weekend but I bet it will be tasty!
Dogs or cats?
This is Albus! We have had him for over 7 years now, having adopted him from the local Cats Protection shelter. We were never able to get a cat before as we lived in rented accommodation and my daughter was adamant that a cat would be one of the first things we would do!
Since we brought him home he has steadily and successfully achieved the aim of every cat, namely making the household run completely to his requirements 😹😹 He wakes me up to go out at around 3 or 4 o clock and I usually find him in the conservatory when I get up again. The waking up never bothers me. It’s part of the rich tapestry of cat ownership… Of their humans! 🤣🤣
Albus is not the first cat I have had. When I was 8 years old a tiny kitten found its way to our house. My parents were determined not to keep this new arrival so they called her Thing a name that guaranteed they wouldn’t become attached! She was feral when she found us, but she became steadily more domesticated and seemed to enjoy the food and drink available on demand even if she remained fiercely independent. She ended up with our family for 15 years so it wasn’t the most successful idea and she would not answer to any name other than Thing for the rest of her life.
Which activities make you lose track of time?
I was brought up to make the most of every minute by filling it ‘with 60 seconds worth of distance run’! As a result it had taken me time to come round to apps on my phone. Now, I have days where I can’t seem to drag myself away from it! What do those days have in common? Well, they usually follow a period of time, it could be a day, a week or a month where I have pushed myself at work and I need a break. In that sense, you could see even the least worthwhile activities as necessary. However, I am aware of my feeling of frustration with myself when I have spent an inordinate amount of time on an activity that I realise does not contribute to my overall development. So, I will start with things I lose track of time on and which don’t contribute to my personal growth, then move on to those that do.
The Bad
Social Media is the obvious culprit and one I am guilty of. My main addiction is Instagram which sees me scrolling endlessly at times, looking at endless videos about teaching and cats (!), and occasionally being drawn into purchases that are not necessary! Facebook and Twitter (its proper name!) are far less important now than they used to be but it is still not unknown for me to spend ages on there to no real effect. Now, using these platforms to contact people or to discover new music artists and other creatives or to use them to investigate something like a show or a hobby can be positive, but I will be honest when I say that this isn’t what I do!
A subsection of above is dual screening which I am increasingly guilty of these days as my daughter is very fond of pointing out! This has two effects, taking your full attention away from either phone or TV and completely robbing you of any sense of time. I find I am worst when watching sports. I don’t concentrate on the game, it just serves the purpose of moving wallpaper, and I don’t concentrate on the content of the phone and scroll increasingly mindlessly. I am doing my best to rein in this behaviour but I have a long way to go.
The Good
Happy Colour is a delight! I go back to this app every day and enjoy filling in the colours from the palette so much that I feel like time ceases to be of any consequence. Most days I will start, and often complete, at least two or three pictures and once I get into the colouring all my frustrations and stresses just wash away. Below you will see four of my most recent pictures. You will probably be able to see why I get so engrossed.
Blogging
Yes, the great time waster, and I use great in both senses of the word. Blogging has transformed my written communication and has enabled me to express myself in ways that had never been possible before. I can spend three or four hours drafting and redrafting a book review, gig review, music review or a piece of social/personal history. As with Happy Colour I end up with a final product that makes me feel good and makes me feel as though I have achieved something. Yes, my least read blog posts often end up in single figures and, no, there is no telling which fate will befall which posts. Memories of Singing Together has had over 700 reads and it’s one of the posts I am proudest of. Keedie by Elle McNicoll – A Personal Reflection one of my most personal reviews has 11 reads to date, but I am also incredibly happy with it. I long since accepted that the number of visitors and pages viewed will impact upon my sense of self, but because I get so much pleasure from blogging I regard that as a small price to pay. Having said that, if you have got this far, perhaps you may want to give Keedie a go. It’s well worth it I promise!
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 