"The Day The Earth Sang"

It was ine if those July days when it didn't seem as if the rain would ever stop. Maisie was walking to the shops,with the rain trickling down her neck, despite the waterproof jacket that she was wearing.She was tired and generaly fed up, all she needed was a loaf of bread, but to buy that she had to walk a mile each way.
The trees swayed in the stiff breeze, sending cascades of water droplets down from their branches. Maises dog, Bognor, squelched happily along in the mud beside the path, and then on the scent of something, he bounded off across the grass. Maisie called for him to come back , but he was too busy sniffing around a gorse bush. "Oh. bogger Bugner!" Maisie said aloud, as she plodded over to see what the wayward mutt had found.
To her suprise when she looked into the gorse bush Maisie found a shiney blue and silver ball, about the size of a tennis ball. She picked it up and opened it, without any thought as to what might happen. A beautiful single musical note emitted from the open ball. Maisie felt as if the world was a perfect place, beside her Bognor sat and gazed into the distance. Maisie snapped the ball shut, and the note was no more. Once again the rain was falling. Bognor scratched his fleas, and then shook himself, sending water all over Maisie.
Maisie took her discovery to the local paper, whose story attracted media attention from all around the world. As no-one could know to whom the ball belonged there was much speculation as to wether Maisie should decide what should happen to it. Governments argued, business men offered ever increasing sums of money, the people of the world looked on with varying amounts of interest. It had quickly been discovered that the ball once open emitted it's musical note for forty two seconds, and that the note could be heard up to thirty meters from the ball. Each living creature seemed to entranced for the notes' duration.
One day a very elderly learned proffessor announced that after careful thought, and a few naps to sleep on his idea, he was suggesting that the musical note be amplified through radio equipement. The note could then be heard by nearly everyone on the planet at the same time.
At the appointed time worldwide people tuned in. As the note sounded the world was, for forty two seconds, a place of harmony and peace. When the note stopped it was discovered that the ball that was now shut could not be opened again.
Millions of miles away across the Galaxy the note could be heard faintly as the Earth sang. The Jupiterians immediatly launched a spaceship to journey to the Earth. When they arrived they uttered the first known words spoken by a space alien to humankind, "Can we have our ball back, please?"

I'm On The Engines!

Big news today is that for the first time both Jackie's Jottings and my website Jackie's Place have come up when searched for on the engines. On one search, on Google, my site came up at the top of the list of options. No bad for only a couple of weeks in exsistance, and being small, and in the case of the site not having much on it (so far).
Anyone reading this, go on give a go yourself if you haven't already. The world is only a mouse click away.
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In case you've not read my site, and there is a link futher down these postings, the big news in Fishersgate is that the Community First School has come first in the South East region in an education competition.

"The Vain Prince"

Long, long ago in a land far, far away there lived a prince who was very vain. So vain that he could not pass a mirror or other shiney surface without looking at himself. It would take him hours just to get from his bedroom to the palace throne room, and by then it would be time to start back to his bedroom if he was to get a chance to sleep before morning.
One day the prince decided he must do something, as he was getting nothing done. He ordered that all mirrors be removed, curtains drawn shut when he was in a room so that he could not see himself in the windowglass, that no shiney surface was to be dusted ever again, and that all those who wore spectacles should remove them in the prince's presence.
But trouble followed. The spectacle wearers would have had enough problems without their specs on, but in rooms darkened by drawn curtains in the days before electric light, they stumbled and bumped into things and each other, and said very naughty things about the prince;- but only when the prince was too far away to hear. Because no dusting was being done everytime something was moved clouds of dust flew up into the air and everyone sneezed a lot, as if they all had dreadful colds.
The prince decided that maybe he should try holding court outside in the palace gardens. First the gardeners had to take the fish from the ponds and then empty out the water, so that there would be no reflections. Then the gardeners had to drape black material over the summer house, and the greenhouses, in case the prince walked that way through the vegetable gardens. If it had been raining the palace staff had to shake any droplets of water off of the trees and shrubs, and mop up any puddles.
Still the prince's orders came. No-one could wear shiney buttons, and so the palace guard had to smear mud on their tunic buttons, and then on their boots as these gleamed too. Ladies and gentlemen could not wear jewelary or watches. The list went on and on.
Everyone was getting very fed up with the prince.
And then one day a learned proffesor came to the palace. He had the perfect solution to the prince's vanity. A small piece of glass in a jewel encrusted frame, that the prince could carry with him wherever he went. Now the vain prince did not need to stand and look at his reflection, but could continue to walk about, whilst gazing upon himself. Thus was invented the pocket handmirror.

My Website

I opened a website a few days ago, but for some reason I cannot establish a link from this blog to my website, although I have had no trouble establishing a link from the website to this blog. So lets try again shall we.
www.spanglefish.com/JackiePainter
Wether this will be ok this time we will now see. (Yipee, I've just tried it and it works, folks!)

Sloworms

There is a breeding colony of sloworms in my rear garden, which faces south. The cat from across the carpark, at the bottom of my garden, is fascinated by the little and the large slithering creatures. My cries to him to leave them alone as they are a protected species cut no ice at all. The sloworms were there when I moved in in 1984, and no doubt the colony will be there after I leave and move on.
When I first moved in there were also some common lizards, but I have not seen any for many a year. Likewise the hedgehogs that used to frequent my gardens front and rear, have disappeared. The occasions when I had hedgehog families in my front garden would often lead to a group of people on my garden wall (about two feet high) at dusk, watching the mother and little ones pottering about amongst the shrubbery eating the slugs and whatever else took their interest. One of my cats at the time was Basil, a hyperactive cat if ever there was one. One of those cats that they would say 'needs an experience owner'. Baz would sit in the path of the hedgehogs and remain unmoved (literaly) as the hedgehogs snuffled and pushed at him to get off whatever squishey eatable delight Baz was sitting on at the time.

Misuse Of An Amazing Invention

I have for the first time ever today viewed some of the videos on UTube. Some of them are frankly sick. It was surely not the reason that the information superhighway was designed. Few people realy mind what is called non politicaly correct behaviour, it can even be comical. But what some of the people on sites like that one will use as a stunt that they think in their own limited imaginations will find them some sort of fame, is beyond all that is decent and acceptable. The strange idea that people will police their own behaviour is a myth put about by those who make a profit (without it bothering their conciences) from providing the sick souls with somewhere to besport their images of shame.
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I wonder sometimes how many pages there actualy are on the internet at any one time. It must run into millions of millions. Just think of all the knowledge. It is said that man only uses a fraction of the capacity that is available in the brain, (the stastistic doesn't mention women!! ) But the human brain must be better than any computer ever invented (yet) as we can evaluate information in a way no machine may ever be able to do. I am not sure that I would like computers to be as intelligent as they often are in science fiction, as the possiblity of one getting it's own agenda is not something the world needs. There are more than enough meglomaniacs in humankind without anyone else joining in.

The Longest Day

Today is the longest day north of the Equator, and so as I watched the sunrise (which I do most days, it just that today I take more notice of it), I thought this is the day to go to Brighton. OK, so not all my ideas are brilliant!
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It was lovely and sunny, hurray. It was full of traffic, road works, building works. boo,boo,boo.
I found a nice pair of shoes in the shop that is realy quite resonable in price. They were advertised as reduced by three pounds a pair. When I got to the till the price came up as £7.99. "That's not right" I said to the young lady assistant "They should be £4.99". "That's the price that has some up on the computer" she replied. To cut out the need for lots of quotations I will paraphrase the rest of the conversation. I told her the price was wrong, she said it wasn't, I asked to talk to the manager, assistant said she knew the stock of the shop and there was no need to call the manager, I pointed out that the advertising said these shoes have been reduced and there is something in the UK called the Trade's Descriptions Act, this brought the manager!, I appologised to the manager and said that to sound threatening was the only was to get the assistant to call her, and I was proved right, the shoes were only £4.99. As they were a last pair in my size, and such a lovely shade of pink, I thought it worth puting up a fight to get them (at the right price). So never be afraid to stand your ground, however much you desperately want to just pay what is asked and not make a fuss.
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I see that the local hospital is under threat well and truely now. I cannot understand why in a country that has money by the bucket full to throw away on schemes that don't work, or go over budget by millions, or only work if lots of extra cash is spent on them, there is never enough money for the essentials.
No doubt there will be a fight put up, and it may even result in the hospital getting a bit of a reprieve, in the long run the authorities will do what they like, as they always do. And why do they get away with it? Because the majority of british people wont make a fuss. In the long run they will put up with what they get, even though they are paying the bill.

Hobbyhorse Time 1.

My favourite quotation is.....
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"We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars". (Oscar Wilde)
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It suggests to me that all human kind has the ability to dream and imagine, given the chance. One of my pet hobbyhorses is that the children today are not being allowed to develop their own imaginations. They watch tv, and re-enact scenes from soap operas in their play. They play video games, usualy on their own against that collection of metal, plastic and electrical wiring called a computer. They watch movies and play out the scenes for days afterwards. What they do not do is learn the skills to foster their own version of the world. The one that lives in their own imaginations. What of years to come I wonder, when these children have grown up. Since many are not in the habit of reading for pleasure, how many new works of fiction will there be? May it not be left to the formulised computer programme to churn out works of fiction based on the plots of the books from years before when people still knew how to imagine? It is sad to think how much many are going to miss out on by being denied the right to dream.
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How about some more jokes? Go on you know you want to read more!

1. What is the difference between ingnorance and apathy? I don't know, and I don't care!
2. Knock! Knock! Who's there? I dunnop! I dunnop who........?
3. Did you hear about the man eating in an open air resturante when it began to rain. It took him a hour and a half to finish his soup.
4. I've never donated an organ, but I did once give a piano to the charity shop.
5. How can you tell when you have run out of invisable ink? The printer stops!

That's it for the jokes, for the time being. Who knows when another batch may surface.

The big news of today for me is that I have opened up a website. Opened up is about as far as I have got! It all looks a lot more daunting that this blog ever did.

My website is already linked to this blog (I got that right!). But try as I might I cannot link from this blog to my website.It is call Jackie's Place, but the way, as sort of somewhat weak play on words. It is on spanglefish.com, so maybe you can find it without a link.I looked at the satelite map of the UK and I could see right into my back garden. There was the big tree that I lost to the winter storms in 2006. When I work out how I will post that picture on my website. What a shame the photo was not taken when I was out in the garden waving at the sky. (Not that I make a habit of waving at the sky).

Jokey Jottings

How about some jokes to start the week?

1. What has four legs and says "Boo"? A cow with a stuffed up nose!
2. Did you hear about the stage hypnotist who had just put twenty volunteers into a trance when he tripped over the microphone stand and said "S***!"
3. What do you get if you cross a black hat with a rocket? A fast bowler!
4. Did you hear about the man who is so short sighted that when he can't sleep he counts elephants?
5. And one final thought:Youth is fleeting, but immaturity can last a life time.

More poems of mine

I think that it may be time to add a couple more of my published poems to this blog, so that anyone who happens on to it can see that my style stays much the same. Poems are published for the reader to interperate as they will, and the first of these two "Dry Tears" written when I was 14 years old has been interperated in different ways by people, and that is realy what it is all about, not what I thought it meant when I wrote it. The other poem today "Angel Of The Morning" was written and published at the time of what we now call the first Gulf War. It was well received. It also caused me an embaressing moment some years later. I was collecting old clothes for a charity to sell, and I called on an elderly lady who invited me in to wait in her hallway whilst she found the bag of clothes from the cuboard. Whilst waiting I idley looked along a number of frames hanging on her wall, most contained photographs, but to my amazement one of the frames contained a copy of Angel. I couldn't get out of there fast enough, even though there was no chance that she could have made the conection between me and the poem.

"Dry Tears"

The willows weep beside the lake

Why do you weep they're asked

Do you weep for useless death

Do you weep for our mistakes

Or for the lives a war takes

No! No! the willows answer

As the questioner takes leave

'Tis not for starving children

Nor fallen warriors we grieve

We weep not for humanity

We weep for summers past

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"Angel Of The Morning"
The stary night is over
Dawn is in the sky
All the doubts and all the worries
Until tonight will fly
Away on wings of silver
On rays of sunshine gold
The angel of the morning
Makes the cow'd of night feel bold
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Today was just tomorrow
When yesterday was young
In it's very infancy
When pangs of doubt begun
But tommorow will be yesterday
And all doubt will be gone
When the angel of the morning
Comes. It wont be long.
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So take your heart in both hands
Let your dreams ride free
For all your tommorows
Will filled with hope yet be
And all your dreams and wishes
All your hopes my dear
Will flourish in the morning
When the angel does draw near

Where I live and other things

So first of all where am I. (No, that is not a question I am asking myself) I live in West Sussex, not far along the coast from Brighton in the east, and Worthing in the west. From the end of my road there is a clear view across the English Channel, which on a lovely sunny day looks wonderful. I rather like it when it a bit windy as it whisks the waves up, but of course this is not a favourite time for those who have to brave being out on the sea, except the windsurfers.
I don't spend time on the sea, due to the fact that I cannot swim.
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I was born in the historic seaside town of Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. It is said to be the town from which King Charles the second made good his escape to France when the Roundheads wanted to chop his head off. Whether King Charles did board the boat across the Channel in France and not Brighton is something that the historians debate (argue) about. But if you are ever in nearby Southwick and venture onto Southwick Green, you can see a cottage which it is claimed is where the King slept on his last night in England before his escape. I often sit on the seat on the other side of Southwick Green from what is called King Charles's Cottage and wonder what the scene was like on that night all those years ago.
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It's been a bit of a funny week, or should I say unusual even by my standards. First I was asked to apply to become a govener at the first school where I live, (that's children up to eight years old) , I've not heard that I have been accepted but they are in need. The school is being merged with two other schools, and will become part of a trisite through primary (children up to eleven years) from Sept 2008.
I also heard that I have won a premium platinum membership to a group of lesiure centres and an acquatic centre. I have never been into a gym in my life, so I should have some first impressions to talk about. Due to my age I need a doctor's letter, and I bet my doctor will be realy happy, as she has been known to drop hints about "just a little weight off would be nice".
And, of course, I opened this blog so that I can self indulge, with I hope a bit of it being interesting to anyone who happens to come across it over the years to come.

A poem that I wrote

Well world here I go into the big adventure of blogging!

If there is anyone out there. somewhere, who is reading this then good morning/afternoon/evening to you.

I will start not with some great thought, or a run of my day so far, but with a poem that I wrote and that has been recently published.

"Clouds Of Butterflies"

I lived a lifetime one summer

With your smile to light my day

Of golden hours and balmy nights

And clouds of butterfies

The grass was never greener

Sky so blue it looked unreal

Rainbows without rain shone bright

Over clouds of butterflies

Autumn came, time to part

Away you went to achieve your fate

Left alone midst falling leaves

No clouds of butterflies

I would not have missed one second

Of our life beneath the sun

Next year for others may there be

Clouds of butterflies.

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There it is for anyone to comment on. I hope you will.