Flotsam and Jetsam

Well here I am in between twelve hour day and night shifts working through ‘the grind’, I guess you could say that this part of my shift rota is ‘being in limbo’. I really do despise this part of the rota, trying to ensure that I’m not too knackered for this evening’s twelve hour stint whilst at the same time not wanting to waste my waking hours sitting on my backside being melancholy about the whole nightshift thing. I use the time to play a little catch up with my fellow bloggers; this sometimes raises a smile, drops a tear, gives me ideas for the trail or just imparts some knowledge that I was previously lacking. Then after this I’ll scratch around trying to fill my time but with one eye always on my driving master; the clock. Oh how I truly long to be free of time and its constraints, to just rise with first light and drift off to deep and sated sleep when the evening wraps me in her dark mantle.

Earlier I visited the local charity shops, these, along with weekend car boot sales, provide Clare and me with all manner of good stuff, from items to sell upon the dreaded E-bay to tools for the garden, from items to adorn the home with to cloth bears for Lucy to play with. 

This time there was little in the form of treasure for this ol’ pirate to pass on at a healthy profit to his unsuspecting customers upon the bay, but a trinket, nay a jewel did indeed come to pass to my hands. This treasure I speak of I hear you ask with baited breath? a book! A book that I’ve never read fully, but I’ve seen the film and also caught snippets of quotes from it along the way of my life. It’s a book that I’ve wanted to dive into but you know me, being the frugal pirate that I am the price always has to be the first consideration for these luxury items. So I’ve strolled home with a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea in excellent condition and its black n white illustrations are a joy. I’ll save it for tomorrow, for that time when this ol’ pirate rises from his bunk, his head buzzing with tiredness and probably some wrath at tonight’s shift (that never seems to go well) and enter it’s world with a cup of tea beside me and Lucy looking at me reproachfully from by my feet, just passing the time till the last shift of the rota from hell.

As soon as I've abandoned the keyboard here I going to take Lucy up the trails, yes my legs will ache later on in the early hours of the morning but hey, the choice is simple; the trails with old smelly or being grouchy watching the clock…….

Take care, your friend John