Marty

Love the sentiments, Gary! Some nice reflections on life. If I had to make one small criticism, it would just be that the use of a capital letter at the start of every line, accompanied by a complete lack of punctuation (except for the occasional question mark, and the final full stop) actually made it difficult for me to get the rhythm of the verses correct in my head at times. For example, in the third verse I initially heard in my head that never feeling safe was your companion. It was only when I read the next two lines that I realised that Never feeling safe was a sentence to itself, and that Was my companion actually belonged to the next two lines. I hope that makes sense. And once I had read the poem through once, I found that I didn't stumble in making sense of the sentence structures the second time.

One of the nice things about modern digital cameras is that you can take many, many images. Unlike in the days of film photography where you were limited by the cost of the film. Sometimes I have to take well over a hundred shots of the same scene before I get that one shot that makes it all worthwhile. Back forty years or so ago I had a friend who did portrait photography. He would sometimes get through 5 rolls of film (36 shots to the roll) just to get that one shot that both he and the client were happy with. And, of course, he couldn't preview the images on the back of the camera, but would have to wait until the negatives had been developed and printed before he could be even sure he did have that one shot. Things are certainly a lot easier nowadays.

You say the nicest things. Gary...

I'm going to try this one again (as it lost the above quote the first time)...

Well Menmaids sounds like emasculated men to my ears, and I prefer my men to actually be men.

We call them mermen here in Ireland, Bob That photograph is of Lough Allen, which is the first large lake on the River Shannon waterway. Its Irish name is Loch Aillionn, and it is named after the goddess Aillion who, according to legend, still dwells beneath the waters of the lough. So, no mermaids or mermen, but seeing as it's a freshwater lake, and not the sea, that's hardly surprising (the mer part refers to the sea). (Here endeth the lesson for today)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Clo.

And here, especially for young Albert, is a photograph I took just after sunset on Wednesday, very close to where I live...

Yes. Apparently today France experienced its highest ever recorded temperature since records began. According to the BBC: France has hit its highest recorded temperature - 45.9C (114.6F) - amid a heatwave in Europe that has claimed several lives. The new record was measured in the southern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux. Before this year the previous record was 44.1C during a heatwave in 2003 that killed thousands. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48795264)

So I see... I'll try to reply later this evening. Have to do some photo editing now. And I must get an early night tonight, as I have to be up very early in the morning to head up to Dublin for Pride. Busy, busy busy....

Hey Drew-pi-Drew

The meds affecting your memory, Gary?

Hey, young Albert!

The chapter is now live, and can be read at: the-charmed-life-of-danny-murphy-working-title/4

The fact that I had missed Freshers' Week had meant that I was finding it a little difficult to fit in, since the majority of my fellow new students had already had that week to get to know each other and start to form friendships. And it had also meant that all the available accommodation close to the university had already been snapped up before I arrived. As a consequence I was in digs in a small town called Stocksbridge, about ten miles from Sheffield. Since that necessitated a bus journey,

Well, I'm certainly not going to run with either of the cute or sweet adjectives. So that only seems to leave the harmless one. He's one of the empty vessels my primary school teacher used to complain always made the most noise.

To misquote Meatloaf... One out of three ain't bad.

The egg! He kept it in the fridge in a sealable plastic container - might even have been tupperware, for all I can remember.

Talking of cute, did you know the human head weighs eight pounds?

Hey DrewPi-Doo :hug

Still does, as far as I am aware.

I'm still struggling with finishing Chapter 4 of Fragments of Sean, but have finished editing the Chapter 4 of The Charmed Life of Danny Murphy, so have uploaded that. Seems I don't have enough reputation on GA yet to avoid the Moderation Queue, so it could be up to 24 hours before it gets approved and actually goes live. Don't know how much time I'll get for writing over the next few days. Have a "dinner date" tomorrow, and off to Dublin on Saturday for Pride. Have to be seventy miles away in 3 hours time. Think I may head off early and bring Trusty Nikon with me to see if I can get any decent landscapes. Might chat yous all briefly when I get back home in about 7 hours time.

I'm told the odds for a double yoke are approx one in a thousand. When I worked in a cafe back when I was still at school, I once cracked an egg and found it had three yokes. The owner kept that in the fridge for months, and would take it out occasionally to show to people. After a couple of months it started to stink that badly he had to throw it out.