Wildewire

MANY years ago, something unusual caught my eye in a shop. It was a timepiece which used ball bearings and pivoted chutes to tell the time. I was intrigued but the shop was closed and it was in a place I happened to be visiting but didn't expect to revisit any time soon. I kept an eye out for it but it was a few years later before I found it again.  I have a bit of a trait in that; whilst I'm not particularly interested in amassing physical stuff I will sometimes get it into my head that possessing a particular thing is somehow important. I had it about my 'om' ring and it happened over this clock. When I eventually had the cash and opportunity to buy the clock I could no longer find the one I originally saw, which was made from blue plastic and, I think, wider than the one I eventually purchased. I remember being very pleased to have finally acquired the piece, but I think I elected to have it in my bedroom which proved a mistake: when the hours (in particular) change,...

I rarely do anything out of my usual routine for Christmas. I don't eat meat (fish sometimes), I don't like getting stuffed full of food anyway, I am single, childless and try my best to avoid being invited to 'Christmas celebrations' with well meaning friends who erroneously imagine me pining away like Johnny Nomates. Hmmm... it is true that I often get pangs of boyfriendlessness around this time of year, but it is what it is. In fact I am a bit of a coward: Christmas gatherings too often hide tensions which are released by excess alcohol etc. My lodger will be spending at least a few days with his father so as long as I could count on a supply of festive greens, I expected to be content. In 2022 I expect to be caring for a foster child- that will be different: I've always said that if I had a kid to look after I would go all out to make Christmas and New Year as magical as I could. There was talk that my friend who has been experiencing a brutal divorce for almost...

Grrrr! My fostering plans have been postponed because the police still haven't started to process my DBS application and the fostering panel won't see anyone who has not been through that check. The good news is that my lodger has said 'yes' to a flat in the centre of the city- close to the place I rented before I moved here. The bad news (sort of) is that the place is to be renovated before he will move into it and he doesn't know when that will be- "in the new year". As I now won't face the fostering panel until a couple of days after my birthday in January, at least I will be getting some rental income for a while which will be very handy.  After the song and dance to get started as an 'Approved Landlord' I admit I expected something to happen to put me off my more than six month process to become a foster carer. LOL and social services wonder why people are put off from fostering. I suspect that the administration is more onerous than looki...