On time

Hello, dear reader!

And it’s back to li’l ol’ me!

Yes after Tina’s wonderful post last week, I’m afraid it’s back to my (Mark’s) inane ramblings.

And it’s about time!

Funny Peculiar
No, I mean that literally. I’m talking about the passage of the seasons. The ticking of the clock. The moments that last forever. The years that leave too soon.

It’s a bit maudlin and reflective, I know, but with one funeral just passed and one soon to come, I’m in that kind of mood.

So…time. It’s a funny bugger, isn’t it?

The Week That Was
I think the thing I’ve noticed, of late—possibly more than ever, is how meaningless a lot of the markers we employ are to me in my current, medically retired, state.

We all rely on certain cues. The working week, the sacred weekend, those miraculous Bank Holidays, to mark the months as they hurry on by, and Monday morning losing its dread and Friday afternoon its anticipation has led to something of a lack of routine for yours truly. A lack of structure.

True, there’s my writing group on a Monday afternoon, and true there’s Tina’s regular work slot on Friday mornings, but other than that it’s all rather arbitrary.

It leads to frequent queries as to the date, including the month. It leads to things creeping up on me (although that might be also due to my fantastic lack of any kind of planning skills), and the use of social media to keep track of certain events (that second funeral? Yeah, I’ve checked the date and time on multiple occasions—and that’s just today!)

Dear Diary
It’s led to a rather interesting conversation with a friend about meeting up over the coming bank holiday weekend. ‘Yes, but what date?’ and ‘How many weeks away is that?’. All followed by ‘you check!’ ‘No! You check!’. It was such fun.

So, maybe something should be done about it—some system implemented to keep a better track of things. A diary, perhaps. Maybe a journal. It would have to be on the laptop, what with me having difficulty reading my own handwriting on occasion, mind you, but that sounds possible, doesn’t it, even if it’s just a place to write down the day and date.

It wouldn’t be the end of the story, mind you. There would still need to be a better system for keeping track of those appointments that have a habit of sneaking up on me (hello again lack of organisation), but it would be a start. If I could stick with it.

Reading Habits
I’ve just finished a book called Atomic Habits, which advocates breaking plans down. Making each step a plan of its own. Making them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. The idea of keeping a daily space to empty the mental dustbin is tempting, but it starts with writing down that date, and that, in and of itself could be the start of so much more.

It’s an idea.


Until next time.

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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think.


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations