My Space 2

This week the latest casualties in Afghanistan really hit home. The daughter of some friends of mine has recently buried her 23 year old fiancé after he was killed by an explosion whilst serving with the Coldstream Guards in Helmand province.

Her dad explained that although she had a lot to cope with the worst thing was not knowing if she would be able to see his body and say a proper “goodbye”. He went on to say that “luckily” his body was virtually intact (apart from the loss of one leg which took the full blast) and that he died from shock. His daughter was eventually able to spend time with the deceased and place a wedding ring on his finger.

Not only has this girl lost her soulmate - his parents have lost their only child.

Lance Corporal James Hill - RIP

....... and head scratching

So ............. what can you see from your window right now?

* No I'm not getting my camera out to prove it and yes I'm glad it's only head scratching!

Yesterday I wrote a poem about acceptance and today I'm not too sure about the concept.

What I was trying to say was there are some things I simply can't change so I might as well accept them and get on with my life. Now I'm asking myself:

Perhaps I shouldn't accept so much?

Perhaps I should try harder to change things?

Perhaps I'm too easily pleased?

Perhaps I give in too easily?

Perhaps I should just give my head a rest?

Perhaps I need to get out more?

So much for a marathon night's sleep last night!!!

No I haven't lost my marbles - the title just reflects my morning so far.

Last night I stayed at my daughter's house because she had to take my son-in-law to the airport early this morning and I was needed to do the school run. Just before we set off it started to rain so we had to scrabble round for waterproof jackets. When we opened the front door we were surprised how "earthy" the air smelt and we stood there breathing in for a moment or two.

When I got back I washed the childrens' breakfast dishes and made my first cup of coffee of the day. Fed up of not having enough decent coffee mugs other than two Denby ones my daughter had bought four new ones. They are white with brown coffee beans and writing on them and look very trendy indeed. The only problem is the rim of the mug slopes (by design) from the handle to the opposite side. I'm still trying to decide the best way to drink my coffee without dribbling it all down my top.

Mmmmm ..... bring back the Denby!

Longfellow -
- Be still sad heart and cease repining;
Behind the clouds the sun is shining,
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life a little rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

The sun has now appeared

Have a lovely day

Tomorrow is the 'big day' when my 'play' is being performed

I've been busy ticking things off lists, making new lists and generally making sure that everything is as ready as it'll ever be. This afternoon I'm going to the venue to set out the room for the 'wedding ceremony' and then this evening I can hopefully relax and chill out with my family.

My daughter phoned up at 11am to have a chat and I told her how busy I've been and she said "don't forget to eat" ah ...... that's a good idea .... I've been up since 7.15 and haven't had anything to eat or drink

So here I am sat with some hot buttered toast and a mug of coffee. Ah that's better - I knew there was something I'd forgotten!

Tomorrow morning I'm having my hair 'done' at 9am (it is a wedding after all) so that'll be a nice start to the day. The weather forecast is excellent Everything else is now down to my cast and crew - "For Better or Worse".

Now then where's my clipboard?

..... or disrespectful?

Yesterday I used the phrase "popped their clogs" referring to someone dying. This has been a phrase used in my family for as long as I can remember. This got me thinking of how many more similar euphemisms I could remember and came up with a few more.

Kicked the bucket
Pushing up daisies
Turned their toes up
Cashed in their chips
Fallen off their perch

Then I came across a great big list of death and dying eupemisms which made me wonder why we use them and is it disrespectful or just our way of trying to talk about delicate matters.

So I looked up the definition of euphemism and found this

A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker. It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse. When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Euphemisms may be used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas, even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive

In this age of "political correctness" we seem to have gone to extremes. So what's the point of my post? - goodness knows - blame Mala!

Oh I've just discovered some interesting euphomisms courtesy of Wikipedia so I hope none of you are "shampooing your ferret" or "waxing the dolphin" just now!

Right I'm off to powder my nose. Have a great day

...... how could I forget you?

My Mum very rarely picks up the phone to ring me because she doesn't like using it. So yesterday when she did phone I immediately thought that some ageing family member or friend must have "popped their clogs".

Well I was wrong - she rang to say she was missing me and asked when was I planning to visit her again. I felt so guilty because I haven't been giving her the usual Sunday evening (after Songs of Praise) telephone call.

Anyway I've made amends and tonight I have booked return flights for her and my eldest daughter to come over and stay with me in three weeks time. It'll be my daughter's birthday when they're over so it'll be a nice treat for them both.

Mum said she won't be able to sleep tonight - I bet she's already started packing!!!

I'm not sure if this will appeal but here it goes!

During my day of being a slob self indulgence I've been gorging treating myself to some of these:

Being in a lazy reflective mood, my thoughts wandered back to my earliest recollection of them and I clearly remember sitting on a dry stone wall at Haworth, in the heart of Bronteland, along with my eldest brother.

And eating them straight from some newspaper of all things!

I don't suppose they were even washed as they came straight from someone's allotment!

So do you have a childhood (or other significant) memory you'd like to share with everyone?

(Illustrations courtesy of Google)

This is rather a nice one copied from faffajane and GilraenH who according to NotBob got it from a rather bored source

To date I've been very fortunate to have met *17 of my *64 blogfriends. This is over a quarter of you (*26.5625% to be precise).

I'm hoping to meet another three of you in the very near future bringing this up to *31.25%

*These figures exclude two former blogfriends, two blogger's spouces and a virtual meeting with CJ at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday Night!

I'm looking forward to meeting more of you in due course.

It's official the French have declared a ban on public kissing.

"Experts are also telling people to avoid shaking hands and caressing others’ faces – and have advised everyone to keep a “3ft buffer zone” around themselves"

Well this should make life interesting. I wonder how they're going to police it?