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.

Saturday, 8 May 2010

what a gaggle

Was just checking Facebook on my phone, Thursday morning, scrolling down, when I saw, 'We are off to Oxfordshire for Saturday night. Anyone fancy a drink in the Morris Clown at about 6 pm?'

So off we went this evening to meet our friends Mark and Emily, who we haven't seen for too long. It was wonderful to spend an hour chatting. They used to be our near neighbours but moved to Dorset to run a pub called the European. Subsequently they bought the Gaggle of Geese at Buckland Newton--a Hardyesque name if ever there was one (http://www.thegaggle.co.uk).

It's the first time they've been away for three years and it was a shock to realise that so much time has passed since we last saw them.

It was also fun to be in the Clown--for various reasons we haven't been there for a while. Nice pint of Brakspear's.

It's been so cold in Bampton today. And wet. I got up at five, hoping the weather people had got it wrong and I'd be able to fork through more ground on the allotment but no, it was raining... Had a brilliant but chilly cycle ride instead. Countryside lush now, what with all the rain...

I was quite pleased with progress on the allotment a fortnight ago and thought that even if I missed a couple of weekends through bad weather all would be ok. Now I'm a tad worried. Come on sun, where are you?

Trying to push the election result from my mind. Hate all the uncertainty.

Needless to say the willowy UKIP-representing Count Tolstoy and the druidical Wessex Regionalist candidate failed to unseat David Cameron in west Oxfordshire!
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1 comment:

  1. Niels8 May 2010 at 21:44

    I saw somewhere [`Have I Got News For You'?] that Tolstoy's UKIP leaflet had the following printed on it with regard to immigration policy:

    "No-one admitted to UK unless unless they fluent in English"

    ReplyDelete

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