Sod that. I still use a fountain pen & Basildon Bond writing paper. When a company tells me to email them or "go to our website AI chat" I say "narr, don't do that. Let's sort this out now & keep you in a job eh" 😊
Yesterday I gave a pen & notepad to a geezer in his late 20s, so he could make a note of a jab detox protocol. I started talking, he began to write - then stopped suddenly. I looked at him & he said .... "Its been ages since I've written, I've forgotten how to do it".
Cue lecture, which began with a raised eyebrow & "Ohforfucksake" 🙄
I give everything a name too. Henrietta the Spider lives in the bathroom & my wheelchair is called Boudicca [she takes me to gigs when needed]. My guitars are all named after favourite singers & friends. I just sold one though as her name-sake has not replied to my last two messages 😂
My "celeb" friends stay in touch as they're not up their own arses [I wouldn't give em the time of day if they were]. It's the non-musician that's been a nob 😕
Oh well, Toodle pip I say. I'm picking up the new guitar next week anyway. I just gotta think of a name 🤔 & it needs to be someone that's not likely to piss me off, as I wanna keep this one cus it's taken weeks to pay for the bugger 😂
Lovely story Frances and a great antidote to any disenchantment with life though I must say despite the reasons you have for sinking into despair your spirit overcomes so admirably.
Oh it really is a great place to live! I used to come to Dorset for holidays when I was a kid and always imagined myself settling down here after retirement. Corfe Mullen is just inland enough to avoid the summer crowds but close enough to the Jurassic coast and Stonehenge for me to indulge my favourite locations and solstice events.
I love love this post Frances! It takes a sweetie to know a sweetie. Spiffy is super cool ~ and RED!! I laughed at the visual of your son riding it back home. Humility at its best 😂 Just last week, I had to phone a company to work out a discrepancy they caused. I was frustrated and warned the young customer service man that it’s not directed personally at him, but rather the company. He was a doll. I told him I liked his name and he said he was just about to tell me he liked my name as it was his first girlfriend’s name. Then he asks, “Can I sing you a song?” Yes!! He proceeded to sing Carole King’s , You got a Friend. 😆 I experience out of the ordinary things all the time. I just love these unexpected moments!
What a fun story! Made me smile. I do love adventures, and people can be so nice-- especially when they don't know me... ja ja ja ja ja ja (dogs always laff in Spanish).
Glad you got to hang out with the Poogies for a while. 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶😍😍😍
There were some gorgeous doggos in the Vets office. All of them were so friendly too! A cute little spaniel who was 12 years old but still very lively, stole my heart. She was too cute! Her owner told me that she is terrified of water and has to have gentle showers, never baths! Bless her! There was also a long haired German Shepherd who smiled at everyone continuously - super shiny multi-coloured coat. So handsome!
Me too.... my friend Christina Gerrard (check her Substack page) comes to visit from Cornwall when she gets a chance. She has a South African Ridgeback dog called Theo. I totally love him! He is a brilliant guard dog and he loves to play fight with my son Dan. He is huge and loving but super serious when he goes into defender mode! The poor delivery drivers got quite a shock at the deep and very loud bark he greeted them with.... that is one mighty breed.
Yes, I know that breed... A guy was going to pay me $100 to watch his dog over a weekend. I said I wanted to come and meet the dog before I accepted. The Ridgeback attacked me and luckily I was wearing a sweatshirt, which he ripped! No dog to mess with! Mighty Breed is right, and I'd love to have one to protect me and be my buddy, but I imagine, between the two of us, the food bill would be astronomical!! ;)
You have just inspired me for song No 9, Just read your post when I had the guitar in my hand and all of a sudden out pops the beginning of another song, First couple of lines go all aboard, join the train, there's to many of us, feeling pain.
imagination and inspiration can come from everywhere and nowhere, sometimes the right place at the right time, it's strange how something just pops into the brain, thank you for lighting the spark to this song,
Aww, I got the same scooter for my Mum in Law 10 years ago off Freecycle, test drove it for her and remember those same looks! Sadly she did not get on with it and passed from cancer soon after. I passed it on to someone who appreciated it. Great fun to ride!
Blandford Forum is very nice! I went to a great Indian restaurant there a few years back! I had met up with Jojo Mehta who is campaigning for an Ecocide Law at the UN. She had come to hear me give a speech about fracking and to tell me all about Polly Higgins' ideas.
Nice welcoming crowd at that venue and a couple of the people I met there came to visit our occupation camp when we were defending Swanage, on the Jurassic coast from the frackers, Infrastrata..... we kept them out of the field until their planning permission ran out and they went broke! That was one of our greatest, most successful campaigns, thank goodness!
I could not believe they wanted to put a bloody rig right next to a World Heritage site!
Read Episode Two - https://francesleader.substack.com/p/a-new-start
Is it where you had the sauna & managed to sign up for the membership without even using a pen?
Yes! No pens necessary, we are digital now, ya know! https://francesleader.substack.com/p/a-new-start
Sod that. I still use a fountain pen & Basildon Bond writing paper. When a company tells me to email them or "go to our website AI chat" I say "narr, don't do that. Let's sort this out now & keep you in a job eh" 😊
Yesterday I gave a pen & notepad to a geezer in his late 20s, so he could make a note of a jab detox protocol. I started talking, he began to write - then stopped suddenly. I looked at him & he said .... "Its been ages since I've written, I've forgotten how to do it".
Cue lecture, which began with a raised eyebrow & "Ohforfucksake" 🙄
The link works for me! That is very odd!
I don't think that "they" don't want us communicating properly 😏 So .... carrier pigeon on the way [she's called Edith]
I give everything a name too. Henrietta the Spider lives in the bathroom & my wheelchair is called Boudicca [she takes me to gigs when needed]. My guitars are all named after favourite singers & friends. I just sold one though as her name-sake has not replied to my last two messages 😂
😉 bloody celebs! So up themselves that they are brown!
My "celeb" friends stay in touch as they're not up their own arses [I wouldn't give em the time of day if they were]. It's the non-musician that's been a nob 😕
Oh well, Toodle pip I say. I'm picking up the new guitar next week anyway. I just gotta think of a name 🤔 & it needs to be someone that's not likely to piss me off, as I wanna keep this one cus it's taken weeks to pay for the bugger 😂
Pick a dead celeb! They are too far gone to piss you off now! 🤣😂
Bloody good idea, tar Fran 👍
Lovely to find youngsters who care; restores my faith in humanity! Well not all humans; not those predator class but you know what I mean!
Enjoy the pool, Frances, when you finally make it there! You deserve it. Thx for sharing your story. 💦 🏊♀️ XO
Humans (and dogs!) are great. It's their rulers who aren't!
Morning Frances put the song on Substack called all aboard, hope you like it.
Lovely story Frances and a great antidote to any disenchantment with life though I must say despite the reasons you have for sinking into despair your spirit overcomes so admirably.
Thanks, Petra! xx
Frances would you mind if I put these words into the song, I can change it if you don't want Spiffy in it.
When Spiffy McZoom
loses his bet
and I struggle over
to find the vets
and they make the call
yes I'm desperate Dan
and they call a cab
I'm home again
Don't know if my singing will do this justice, but will have ago if ok with you. will have to pop now got to make the better half a cuppa
OK! lol
lol .... a spirited uplift reminding me of long ago visits to England when no one was bothered 'bought anything.
Greatly enjoyed your story. That's a really lovely area -- I used to go to a holistic dentist in Poole (when I lived in the greater London area).
Oh it really is a great place to live! I used to come to Dorset for holidays when I was a kid and always imagined myself settling down here after retirement. Corfe Mullen is just inland enough to avoid the summer crowds but close enough to the Jurassic coast and Stonehenge for me to indulge my favourite locations and solstice events.
I love love this post Frances! It takes a sweetie to know a sweetie. Spiffy is super cool ~ and RED!! I laughed at the visual of your son riding it back home. Humility at its best 😂 Just last week, I had to phone a company to work out a discrepancy they caused. I was frustrated and warned the young customer service man that it’s not directed personally at him, but rather the company. He was a doll. I told him I liked his name and he said he was just about to tell me he liked my name as it was his first girlfriend’s name. Then he asks, “Can I sing you a song?” Yes!! He proceeded to sing Carole King’s , You got a Friend. 😆 I experience out of the ordinary things all the time. I just love these unexpected moments!
Aw! It is not often we get serenaded down the phone! 🤣😂
I know, right?! I’ll take what I can get! 😁
What a fun story! Made me smile. I do love adventures, and people can be so nice-- especially when they don't know me... ja ja ja ja ja ja (dogs always laff in Spanish).
Glad you got to hang out with the Poogies for a while. 🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶😍😍😍
There were some gorgeous doggos in the Vets office. All of them were so friendly too! A cute little spaniel who was 12 years old but still very lively, stole my heart. She was too cute! Her owner told me that she is terrified of water and has to have gentle showers, never baths! Bless her! There was also a long haired German Shepherd who smiled at everyone continuously - super shiny multi-coloured coat. So handsome!
A spaniel afraid of water?!? Outrageous! lol They are adorable, yip.
I want a pooge sooooooo bad.
Me too.... my friend Christina Gerrard (check her Substack page) comes to visit from Cornwall when she gets a chance. She has a South African Ridgeback dog called Theo. I totally love him! He is a brilliant guard dog and he loves to play fight with my son Dan. He is huge and loving but super serious when he goes into defender mode! The poor delivery drivers got quite a shock at the deep and very loud bark he greeted them with.... that is one mighty breed.
Yes, I know that breed... A guy was going to pay me $100 to watch his dog over a weekend. I said I wanted to come and meet the dog before I accepted. The Ridgeback attacked me and luckily I was wearing a sweatshirt, which he ripped! No dog to mess with! Mighty Breed is right, and I'd love to have one to protect me and be my buddy, but I imagine, between the two of us, the food bill would be astronomical!! ;)
Yes, life is about making lemonade out of lemons 😊💪🏻Stay strong ❤️
You have just inspired me for song No 9, Just read your post when I had the guitar in my hand and all of a sudden out pops the beginning of another song, First couple of lines go all aboard, join the train, there's to many of us, feeling pain.
Ooh!! I am so honoured! 💛💚
imagination and inspiration can come from everywhere and nowhere, sometimes the right place at the right time, it's strange how something just pops into the brain, thank you for lighting the spark to this song,
Aww, I got the same scooter for my Mum in Law 10 years ago off Freecycle, test drove it for her and remember those same looks! Sadly she did not get on with it and passed from cancer soon after. I passed it on to someone who appreciated it. Great fun to ride!
i was working not far away in Blandford Forum a few months back, lovely area.
glad you had an interesting day
my day was expensive, MOT :(
It'll come back to you, Ray. xo
Blandford Forum is very nice! I went to a great Indian restaurant there a few years back! I had met up with Jojo Mehta who is campaigning for an Ecocide Law at the UN. She had come to hear me give a speech about fracking and to tell me all about Polly Higgins' ideas.
Nice welcoming crowd at that venue and a couple of the people I met there came to visit our occupation camp when we were defending Swanage, on the Jurassic coast from the frackers, Infrastrata..... we kept them out of the field until their planning permission ran out and they went broke! That was one of our greatest, most successful campaigns, thank goodness!
I could not believe they wanted to put a bloody rig right next to a World Heritage site!
Plonkers!