Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East, South West London (The NEXT Chapter).

Week 300 Saturday 14^th  until Friday 20^th March 2020.

Its week 300 of this ramble, and possibly the toughest post to write.  Most of what follows was not expected to be typed.  One thing I have always tried to be with this is honest.

“Don’t panic, she is working.  Honest!”.

Six weeks ago, while standing in the rain at Clapham Junction station early morning on the way to work, I desperately tried to work out why my life had led to that location at that specific time.  As rain dripped of the front of my hoodie on to my nose, I realised that I had made so many mistakes over the years.  This was the moment I decided to make changes. That night at my sister’s place I booked a one-way ticket to Paris.  Last year I had looked at travelling through France to Spain ending up in Ibiza.  In July this year my family will be on the island for the 3^rd year running and I wanted to be there and meet them at the airport.  Over the course of the next few days maps were bought and studied with a number of routes being considered.  The decision to quit work on 22^nd May was made, which would give me a week to tie up loose ends before heading off on 1^st June.  Once the family had left the island I would stay for a while, eventually making my way back seeing the sites of Spain and France.  The important thing was there was no time limit.

 “How i am fighting the Virus”.

When I booked the one-way ticket of course I was aware of the Coronavirus in China that was spreading to other locations in Asia.  Over the following weeks as I made more and more decisions, such as should I hitchhike, walk the pilgrim route, buy a tent, take coaches and/or trains Corvid 19 moved nearer to home.  When it reached Italy I think deep down I knew I wouldn’t be going.  I continued to plan and secretly hoped that all would be ok.

 “Whats not to smile about looking out of the window, while working from home”.

While working on the prep for the adventure I was aware that week 300 of this ramble was fast approaching and I needed to do something special.  That’s when the idea of bringing this ramble to an end started to formulate in the soggy mush, I call my brain.  I would then have a blog free period to concentrate on the trip, which would also allow me to come up with a new ramble that would be published while travelling documenting my attempt to reach Ibiza airport for early July.  The joke with family was that if I took a wrong turn I might end up in Switzerland.  To cut a long boring story short, my trip is off.  A couple of friends have said by delaying my plans, it will enable me to save more money meaning that, when I do bugger off, I will be able to do it for a longer period.

 “Riffy has been very prolific this winter“.

These last few weeks working in the call centre haven’t been too stressful because I had an end date in site.  I’m my mind I had started to dig an escape tunnel with a rusty spoon ready to squeeze my lardy bulk out of the building.  At the start of this week that tunnel felt like it had collapsed around me.  How quickly things have changed.  By the end of the week I have escaped the office, in fact everyone has, because we’re all working from home (their own homes, before anyone makes a comment and a joke about everyone squeezed into one living room).  My commute has gone from an hour and a half on the tube to a couple of minutes down the stairs.  This is being written at my new desk in a corner of the living room in my PJ’s.  During the day I can look out of the window and watch the birds and the occasional squirrel on the garden feeders.  As well as laugh at the neighbour’s very fat cat trying to creep through the grass towards them.  The virus is terrible, but if there is any good because of it I am less stressed in a job I hate because I can work from home.  But the need to escape is still there.  During these uncertain times, I will continue to plan a future foreign adventure, I will keep you posted.

 “Making friends, with a cat that really reminds me of an old friend.  By the way, this is not the Fat Cat mentioned above”.

Week 300 of this blog is a real achievement, no matter where I have been (Mozziebeak, South Africa, Ibiza, Sri Lanka, The Isle of Wight or London) I posted my thoughts, feelings and just bored the hell out of anyone who cared to look.  As mentioned above this So-called Blog was going to come to an end, but because of the circumstances that’s changed.  This ramble will continue (for now).  The new improve ramble from next week will probably be shorter due to the fact I will be spending most of the time at home (working and watching nature) there won’t be a huge amount to say.  I will probably post drawing, paintings and doodles maybe even bore you with some of my story writing.  At the moment I will continue to post something every week.

 “Originally, i started to work from home on my lap.  By midday i was very uncomfortable”.

It doesn’t matter if you’re new to this ramble or have read this before; I just wanted to say Thanks.  Oh, stay safe, wash your hands and look after yourself and family and friends.

 “My homeworking desk end of the week.  Writing this distracted by 1970 colour TV”. 

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“A Quiet Place”, (2018).  “Ad Vitam”, (S1, ep 6).  “Altered Carbon”, (S2, ep 1).  “Blur: Out of Time (Video), Out Of Time (E4, TX: 06/04/03), The Universal”, (YouTube).  “Cheers”, (S10, ep 13 to ep 18).  “Click”, (TX: 14/03/20).  “Christine And The Queens : Live Stream”, (Instagram).  “Death In Paradise”,(S2, ep 4 to ep 6).  “Dubstar: Not So Manic Now”, (YouTube).  “Electronic: Getting Away With It”, (YouTube).  “Hidden”, (S2, ep 6).  “Last Tango In Halifax”, (S5, ep 4).  “Life Lessons: Oysters Are Vegan (BBC Three)”, (YouTube)(TX: 19/12/19).  “Our World, Wuhan: Life Under Lockdown, (BBC News)”, (TX: 13/03/20).   “Peter Kay’s Car Share”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 6)(S2, ep 1 to ep 6).  “Sports Relief 2020: A Question Of Sport, A Round With Rom And Andy Murray, Celebrity Boat Race, Killing Steve’s”, (TX: 13/03/20).  “St Etienne: Hobart Paving”, (YouTube).  “Star Trek: Picard”, (S1, ep 9).  “The Beautiful South: A Little Time, Rotterdam, Song For Whoever”, (YouTube).  “The Divine Comedy: National Express”, (YouTube).  “The Graham Norton Show: Compilation Show”, (S26, ep 19, TX: 21/02/20).  “The Great Celebrity Bake Off For SU2C”, (S3, ep 2, TX: 17/03/20).  “The Kings Speech”, (2010).  “The Last Leg”, (S19, ep 9, TX: 13/03/20)(ep 10, TX: 20/03/20).  “This Country”, (S3, ep 5).                       

Doctor Who Watched This Week:

“The War Games”, (S6, Prod Code ZZ)(BBC Bonus: “Devious (Fan Made Ep btw War Zone And Spearhead), Now and Then, Stripped for Action – The Second Doctor, Talking About Regeneration, War Zone (Making Of)”, 06/07/09).

“Spearhead From Space”, (S7, Prod Code AAA)(ep 1, TX: 03/01/70)(ep 2, TX: 10/01/70)(ep 3, TX: 17/01/70)(ep 4, TX: 24/01/70)(BBC Bonus: “Down To Earth, Regeneration From Black And White to Colour, UNIT Recruitment”, 09/05/11).

“The Silurians”, (S7, Prod Code BBB)(ep 1, TX: 31/01/70)(ep 2, TX: 07/02/70)(ep 3, TX: 14/02/70)(ep 4, TX: 21/02/70)(ep 5, TX: 28/02/70)(ep 6, TX: 07/03/70)(ep 7, TX: 14/03/70)(BBC Bonus: Colour Silurian Overlay (Restoring the Story To Colour), Going Underground (Making Of), Musical Scales, Now And Then, What Lies Beneath – The Stories Background”, 14/01/08).

“The Ambassadors Of Death”, (S7, Prod Code CCC)(ep 1, TX: 21/03/70)(ep 2, TX: 28/03/70)(ep 3, TX: 04/04/70)(ep 4, TX: 11/04/70)(ep 5, TX: 18/04/70)(ep 6, TX: 25/04/70)(ep 7, TX: 02/05/70)(BBC Video Bous: “Restoring Black And White Prints to Colour”, May 2002).  

“Inferno”, (S7, Prod Code DDD)(ep 1, TX: 09/05/70)(ep 2, TX 16/05/70)(ep 3, TX: 23/05/70).

This week I have mainly been listening to:  

“13 Minutes To The Moon (BBC World Services), (S2, ep 2, 16/03/20).  “Anti Social Show”, (ep 80, 14/03/20).  “Blood On The Tracks”, (06/06/19)(13/06/19).  “Brian And Roger”, (06/03, 11/03, 13/03, 18/03, 20/03/20).  “Daddy Look At Me”, (S3, ep 3, 19/03/20).  “Iain Lee (Highlights)”, (12/03, 16/03, 17/03, 18/03, 19/03/20).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 135, 13/03/20).  “Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (14/03, 15/03, 20/03/20).  “Rule Of Three”, (S5, ep 7, Eddie Izzard Pt 1, 19/03/20).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowman”, (ep 185, 13/03/20)(ep 186, 20/03/20).  “Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast”, (ep 24, 20/03/20).  “Strange Times”, (ep 337, 18/03/20).  “The All New Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (17/03/20).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (16/03/20).  “Walking The Dog With Emily Dean”, (ep 58,19/03/20).  “What’s Your Problem? With Nick Abbot And Carol McGiffin”, (S1, ep 10, 17/03/20).  “Morrissey”,  “James”,  “Belly”,  “Red Hot Chilli Peppers”,  “Kula Shaker”,  “Oasis”,  “Skunk Anansie”,  “Blur”,  “Arrested Development”,  “Julian Cope”,  “Shed Seven”,  “The Lightening Seeds”, “The La’s”, “The Black Crows”, “Smashing Pumpkins”, “The View”, “St Etienne”, “The Divine Comedy”, “Electronic”, “The Beautiful South”, “The KLF” and lots more Absolute 90s.