Optimism.

   I am an optimist by nature. How do I know? well if I look back as far as I can remember, I've always been buoyant, hopeful and positive about the future and all it holds, . Even when it would have been best for me not to. My optimism can lead me to take on too much. Sometimes it's best to give up or pass by some things and sometimes, some people. It may be possible in and with, time. To come back to those things and those people.
    After taking on too much or letting things bunch up the optimist inside me disappears for a couple of days till the heat dies down a little. Miserable me has to pick up the pieces of that lost direction and purpose and sometimes I just sit there and wonder what to do next. Not for long but enough to cause a problem or two and set things back a little.
   The optimist in me shouldn't feel bad and at fault. I just need to remember to get involved in less. Just what's in front of me.

Onwards and upwards in pursuit of fulfillment :-)))  

Really, really STUPID.

   After several (relatively) jolly posts. I have one that isn't. I got a parking ticket in a place where I and others have parked before. Which is a bummer at the best of times but then I didn't pay it within 14 days and now it's double the original £55. Getting the ticket was bad enough but it came on the day the wrong tiles for the job I'm on, arrived. I phoned the supplier and they said that's what I ordered. Check your email. What email? It was in my junk file. Now I've only ever had one code number for the tiles. It's on the sample the client gave me. So they made the mistake but I didn't look in my junk file, so didn't spot it and correct it in time. My mistake and an admin charge of £150 (10% of the order value) to pick up the wrong ones and deliver the right ones. Two avoidable errors on my part and my bank account down £260.
   There are far worse things that could of happened but avoidable things like those above really really eat into me and colour the proceeding few days (in the past) a morning (yesterday) and (right now) as I write this. Finding a way past things like this has been a real problem for me. Tiny errors become huge and up till now I haven't found a way of getting past it. I have read and been told that you have to forgive yourself and move on. The trouble with that is "me" the victim is forgiving "me" the perpetrator and I'm not sure or convinced that perpetrator me isn't going to go and do more dumb things. While I'm toiling this over in my mind, I hear the word "apologize" float out of the radio. Now maybe that will work. Perpetrator of dumb things me, apologizes to victim of dumb things me and promises to really try and not make the dumb mistake again. Victim me says "ok and I'll keep an eye out for stuff like that too." So now both me and me are friends again and can look back on how £260 made us a better, stronger person. Well until next time.

Onwards and upwards in search of fulfillment :-))) 

Scotland, sculpture and sleep.

   My new tiles, a few postcards, two secondhand books and a couple of tired picture frames found in a charity shop are now back home with me in Maison Margate by the sea.
   Scotland was brilliant. I revisited places. Found new ones and missed a couple I would of liked to have seen but that's now for another time.
   I also came across the "Kelpies." They are mythical shape shifting water spirits. Inhabiting the lochs and pools of Scotland. Usually appearing as a horse but not always. The Loch Ness monster is a Kelpie.  

The artist responsible for these two 30 metre high sculptures is Andy Scott ( yeah, I smiled at that too) Andy's vision, was for something representing the lost history of heavy industry in the Falkirk area of Scotland. 

   Falkirk is the meeting point of the Union canal from Edinburgh and the Forth and Clyde canal from Glasgow. So an important cross roads between Scotland's two principle cities during the Industrial Revolution. Barges laden with one thing or another would make the journey back and fourth and what dragged the barges up and down those canals? Horses. Not only are these two sculptures magnificent, representing the heavy industrial past of the area but they represent the future too. The cutting edge technology that helped create them and the pride and abilities of a new Scotland that helped inspire their creation. If further evidence of that were needed, just a short walk away is the Falkirk Wheel. The Falkirk Wheel is a boat lift. Replacing the 30 odd lock gates that used to get you from the Union to the Forth and Cylde. There are many boat lifts in the World but the Falkirk is the only rotating one. I've included a couple of you tube clips. One of the wheel in action and one of the construction of the "Kelpies."

https://vimeo.com/90747645

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX6kJKjg4y0

It's time to sleep.

Onwards and upwards. In the pursuit of fulfullment :-)))