As outlined in a previous piece, I have a blind mind’s eye. I don’t see mental images. It’s incredibly difficult to describe what I do see, but certainly not the vivid mental imagery that I’m told others experience.Something I idly wonder about fairly often is what it would be like to see life from someone else’s eyes. It sounds crazy to me that people see in their head in even a similar way to how they see reality — as it no doubt sounds crazy to those of you that can see…that I can’t.

Ed. Note 2021: Pfft. Tequila Happened. There’s something in human nature that makes us inherently self destructive. The foremost being a collective desire to intentionally poison ourselves. I am, if it wasn’t already given away by the choice of image, referring to alcohol. Yes, I did have too much to drink recently. Yes, it was the inspiration to finally write this piece. But no, I don’t write this *just because *of a hangover.

Ed. Note 2021 More precient than I meant...also to be revisited Working in a commercial kitchen is a more difficult job than I think most of the general public realise. The hours are long, the pressure is intense and the pay is terrible. I often joke that kitchens run on foul language, caffeine, cigarettes and (post shift!) alcohol. Though I only say it jokingly, my Kitchen Manager has a saying of her own — every joke hides a kernel of truth.

Nothing in life comes free. Nor, if it is worth having, does it come easy. Not all cost is necessarily financial, nor immediately apparent. My point is that perseverance and tenacity is worth more than talent. Talent gives you a head start, but won’t stop you from being overtaken by someone committed and determined. Talent helps, practice doubly so. It is said that it takes seven years to master any particular thing.

Yesterday I wrote a letter. An actual physical letter. My handwriting being as terrible as it is, I typewrote it. I acquired a 1937 Smith Premier ‘portable’ typewriter a little while ago. Best charity shop find ever! It could use a little renovation, which I intend to do…. Eventually. For the time being it works quite nicely. It’s interesting to see that it’s missing some symbols. Notably, the exclamation mark, though the question mark is present.

Thirteen days in, and I’m still not sure exactly what it is I’m achieving with this series. The splashes of fiction I tossed into the original few are gone. Maybe they’ll come back sometimes. Some days I write in a blog sort of way about my experiences. Others I just write about something that the day’s reading sparked off in my head, with no real mention of my life at all.

I wrote the other day about 10xing. Taking a goal, or an achievement, and striking for 10x that. It sounds crazy, and its supposed to. Life is too short, no matter how long it is. Because there’s just too much to experience. The volume of things is growing at an insane rate. We live in an age where there’s a million different things to watch, read, listen to…on and on. Creators are pumping out better and better content at ever increasing rates, which is itself a very positive sign of a societal shift towards creativity.

Ed. Note 2021: Take this all with a barrel of salt, its long overdue review. Watch this space. Politics is always a thorny subject, often avoided at dining tables and dinner dates everywhere because of the friction it can cause between people. The thing about politics is that it is intrinsic to all of our lives, like it or not. At the end of the day, politics is simply…people. Politics is the interaction between each of us, and between us and society.

I’ve added reading to my daily routine. Several articles on Medium per day, and I intend to re-add reading fiction to the mix too. Every day. Not only has this helped me think critically about my own ideas, and indeed discover things I just didn’t even think about, its rewarding in that it has been just plain interesting. Life is a constant search for knowledge and reading is a highly efficient way to borrow other people’s!

Entirely from personal experience — no basis in any kind of fact or science — life is balanced. Good and bad, equal. Good deeds have a bad counterpart or side effect and visa versa. Maybe it’s not true. Probably, in fact. But it seems that way. In less words, life is a rollercoaster. It doesn’t mean good isn’t worth it. On the contrary, it’s all the more so. Good is always worth it.

Snow’s great, a ton of fun. Until it stops you getting to work. Then it’s infuriating. Because England is notoriously unprepared for snow, it doesn’t take a lot to bring the country to a screeching halt. The snow is barely ankle deep. It was forecast at a 100% chance several days in advance…and yet there was no grit to be seen. And I live a couple miles from a salt storage!