Scream Time!

How do you manage screen time for yourself?

I’m managing my scream time

Trying not to choke.

How could civilised people

Vote for Donald Chump?

I just don’t get Americans

He’s a liar and a cheat!

An irresponsible narcissist

You wouldn’t want to meet.

He comes across an idiot

A man you can’t respect

All his shady business deals

So easy to forget?

At least there will be tax breaks

For Musk and billionaires.

As for all the ordinary folk

At least he’ll say he cares.

But don’t go wanting health care

Unless you’re well insured.

Too sick to work and lose your job?

Then you’ll go to the wall.

There’ll be curbs on abortion

So kids safe in the womb.

But they’ll grow up and go to school

and can be shot at there.

I guess there must be something

We foreigners don’t see?

Except perhaps the Russians?

They’ll love to see him there.

The world feels more unstable

You can’t know what he’ll do

And as for climate action

There’ll be no progress there.

The Guardian 6th November

The result is a catastrophe for the world. It saw Kamala Harris’s competence and expertise, her decency and grace, her potential to be the first female president in America’s 248-year history. It also saw Trump’s venality and vulgarity, his crass insults and crude populism, his dehumanisation of immigrants that echoed Adolf Hitler. And the world asked: how is this race even close?

Just give me a moment.

Do you need time?

Why yes. I need a moment.

A little extra time.

I’ll be with you presently

But right now I need time.

I need some time to clear my head

To think what I should say.

I think I’ll really like this prompt

Once I get underway.

I’m prone to always rush things.

I need to take my time.

I ought to stop and think a bit.

Perhaps I’ll make it rhyme?

Good things are worth waiting for.

They come to you in time

But I will need a moment

To search for rhyming lines.

There’s so much that I could have done

If only I’d had time.

I put things off and now it seems

I’m running out of time.

Yes I think I do need time!

As much as I can get.

I’m prone to waste so much of it.

I dawdle and forget.

I’d like to understand it

The stuff that Einstein said

But all that relativity

Just sends me back to bed.

So I will put things off for now

I’ll do this when I’ve time.

I haven’t got much time just now.

I could have done with more.

I’ve let you down in that last verse

It sadly doesn’t rhyme.

It might have done. It could have done.

I just ran out of time.

You reach an age there’s no guarantees

What will your life be like in three years?

I like to think in three years time

I will be still alive.

Though you reach an age

There’s no guarantees

And I’ll be seventy five.

I hope I’ll still be living

Much as I do now

Fit and healthy for my age

But you can never know.

I worry about my memory

I struggle and forget

I’m learning new things

To stretch my brain

Fresh challenges to be met.

We’ll downsize our allotment

To make it easier there

We’ll experiment with ‘No Dig’

A different way to grow.

Perhaps help in the garden

To help with bigger shrubs?

But we hope to be out and doing things

Keep active there’s the rub.

Our grandkids will be older

They’re changing quicker than us.

Look forward to their futures

Catch up and make a fuss.

We’ll maybe do less travelling

Though that would be a shame.

Still new places I’d like to see

Places I’d go again.

The dream’s to still be running

A new age category.

First Male Veteran Seventy Five

Will be the aim for me.

But who can know the future?

What three years can bring?

We’ll just be making the most of life

Keep active while we can.

‘Just Another’ Holiday

Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

Bank Holiday Traffic

The ‘Just Another’ Holiday

It’s on a random date.

There’s nothing much to celebrate

It’s just a day off work.

Except essential workers

They’ll have to work of course.

And thanks to all the rest of us

Experience extra stress.

Half of us are in our cars

Congested, stuck in jams.

The other half are stuck at home

Complaining that they’re bored.

Shops and restaurants crowded

Like everywhere you’d go.

The worst time to go anywhere

A public holiday!

Perhaps we’ll leave the country

If we can find a flight

But holidays most always mean

The airport’s hit by strikes.

There’ll engineering work

Affecting all the trains

And a restricted service

On almost every line.

Then of course there’s relatives

Arguments to have.

Will they go to his or hers

Can they come to ours?

Of course I’m up for holidays

And keeping special ones.

We’d all like extra holidays

But must we go at once?

I’d love an extra holiday

But add it to my leave!

Don’t tell me when to take it

Just leave that up to me.

Choose a favourite website?

What are your favourite websites?

Choose a favourite website?

Well that’s a difficult choice!

I kind of like to cruise around

And get to different points.

I’d like to say it’s Jetpack

But Jetpack has its faults.

The thing that often fails it

Is rotten, awful prompts.

Sometimes it’s contributors

Who just rely on bots

Or just repeat the question

And somehow still get likes!

But still I’ll turn to Jetpack first

Then glance at various news

And then I’ll find the sports sites

Spend lots of time on those.

I’m into fantasy football

So must keep up with those.

Love the hub and fantasy scout

And fpl’s own views.

I’ll go to Duolingo

to exercise my brain.

Brushing up on languages skills

Though sometimes it’s a strain.

I like to go on YouTube

A place to learn new skills.

Quite often it’s just household tasks

Right know it’s drawing skills.

Now and then I’ll play a game

Designed to help my brain

Presently I play Mahjong

The favoured way to train.

Right now that’s just a flavour

Of how I use the web.

Who would ask my favourite page

if I just read books?

Give me back my teenage years

Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?

Give me back my teenage years

I missed them first time round

Totally lacking confidence

I missed out on that age.

I didn’t go to parties

Too shy to talk to girls

Not much into music

My only interest sport.

Even there a failure

Would never make the team

Excellent in the playground

But on the pitch too quiet.

Tried hard with my schoolwork

But mostly keeping up

Gave up on difficult subjects

Never spoke up in class.

I never wore my hair long

Or wore outrageous clothes.

As for controversial views

I kept them to myself.

If this sounds pathetic

I must tell you that I was

And missing out those teenage years

Will have a consequence.

Those years are for experiment

To make mistakes, grow up.

Miss out on that development

And it will catch you up.

I tried to live life backwards

Get back those missing years

But later life’s an awful time

To find that you missed out.

An Indian Memorial that really caught my eye.

What historical event fascinates you the most?

A memorial at Barton

really caught my eye

Indian convalescents

on Britain’s Hampshire coast.

I knew they fought

in our ‘Great War’

Were on the Western Front

But here in sleepy Barton?

That took me by surprise.

How were they received here?

It must have been a shock.

Probably the first brown face

The locals ever saw.

I learned that they were feted,

Really popular,

The propaganda message:

The Empire backs our war.

Pictures show a concert

They held there for the troops

Parades and celebrations

When they finally left.

Khudadad Khan

was based here

India’s first VC,

Awarded that great medal

for his bravery.

I’ve made the place a study

The letters they wrote home.

They found the locals friendlier

Than the British back at home.

It led me on to study

The Indians at war

A fascinating study

I hope to learn much more.

You are not the centre

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

You are not the centre

However it seems to you.

There are eight billion people

And they’re all unique like you.

We see the world through our own eyes

We each have our own view

Each mind it’s own universe

All complex just like you.

We all experience different things

Our lives have their own skew

And yet we cling so rigidly

To our own point of view.

Know you’re not the centre

It isn’t all about you

Eight billion humans in the world

All complex just like you.

We only see the partial truth

We can not grasp it all

The world’s a very complex place

So listen to my call.

You are not the centre

There’s billions just like you

Try your very hardest

To see others point of view.

Hey Diddle, Diddle here’s a great riddle

What does it mean to be a kid at heart?

Hey Diddle, Diddle

Here’s a great riddle

When do we stop being kids?

Let go of your dreams

And stop having fun

And life will go into a skid.

The man in the moon

Came down to soon

Because he was feeling his age.

He said to the cow

There’ll be no jumping now

I’m tired of you acting so strange.

The dish and the spoon

Went into a swoon

‘We’re never too old to play’.

The cow gave a moo

Said, ‘I’m so sad for you‘

There’s no time for fun in your day.

The little dog groaned

‘You aren’t any fun’

Ran off with the dish and the spoon.

You’re never too old to be playful

It’s sad to be grumpy and dull.

Age is partly a mindset

I want to stay child like for now.

Be careful what you wish for is what they always say.

You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?

Be careful what you wish for

Is what they always say.

Wishes can backfire on you

It’s always been that way.

So if I’m answering wisely

The first thing that I’d ask

The gift of conversation

Ability to talk.

Others can talk endlessly

They’ve always things to say

But I get lost in my own thoughts

I’ve always been that way.

Second I’d want empathy

To know what others feel

To be a better listener

And learn to really hear.

And for my third and final wish

I’d want a real good friend

Someone to confide in

And turn to for advice.

I am always envious

Of those with lifelong friends

My life has not been like that

Too often moving on.

These wishes may seem selfish

They just relate to me

But that is the tradition

It’s what a genie’s for.