Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Tuesday, 11 May 2010

ducklings

















When I was walking along the Oxford canal this morning, I came across this little family--there is a fourth duckling but he shot ahead.

Ducklings are such wilful little things, determinedly getting on with their lives.

Meanwhile, I'm glad the government is sorted (if that's not too strong a word for what's happened). It's been a surprisingly unsettling period.

I thought Gordon Brown's speech outside Number Ten was moving, not least because Sarah Brown was standing beside him--she seems very dignified and loving. Then when they and their boys set off down the street GB seemed approachable in ways that he's not seemed for a long time.

In fact his speech was gentle--and, dare I say it, humble. No, actually to call it humble is to devalue it. When he spoke, he seemed warm and human. He came across as charismatic, I would have said.

A momentous day.

And in many other ways, enjoyable--a delicious, convivial lunch in Jericho. Thanks Malcolm.

Also got the flights, accommodation and congress registration sorted out for October, when I'll be Toronto bound. A privilege to be going.
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2 comments:

  1. frances farrer29 May 2010 at 07:02

    Ducklings are completely cheering, please take some more pix before they grown up!

    Gordon Brown: agree with all you said except about the word humble, which I think is a compliment.

    What about the govt now? Still feeling optimistic?

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  2. Frank29 May 2010 at 13:34

    Thanks, Frances.

    Well, in so far as the coalition is stable and might last rather than lead to a swift second election, I am optimistic. I also feel that the Lib Dems do have a chance of curbing Tory excesses. I think the two parties should be given a chance. Which, of course, they won't be--on day two, someone on the Today programme said something like, 'The first cracks are beginning to appear in the coalition...'

    As far as policies are concerned, I feel that the abolition of HIPs is a good thing (nice idea but difficult to implement). Although I found one of those single-sentence news items that iPM does rather sad in this context. From memory, it was, 'Feeling sorry for my daughter, who invested £10,000 in training as a HIPs inspector.'

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