As I begin this piece, it is 11:44pm. To keep my daily writing streak intact, even if in the most technical of senses, I must hit publish before midnight. Let’s see how that works out for me. This will be not just frenetic, but frantic scribbling! Today was quite uneventful. Right up until the journey home. I had time to write earlier, but inspiration wasn’t flowing. Now…it is. I almost crashed my motorcycle.

Those that know me will be well aware that I swear like a sailor. Working in a commercial kitchen really hasn’t helped that. I can now swear in several new languages though! But until now I’ve kept profanity away from my public Internet presence. The reason I’m more cautious to swear on the Internet is the indelible nature of anything written on here. A vital rule of thumb is ‘nothing is ever deleted from the Internet.

Another ‘bloggy’ one today. Maybe these will become the new format. Alternatively, I’ll just keep flitting like a butterfly from one style to another. That sounds much more like me… Alcohol may be poison, but it’s also an effective ‘social lubricant’. Had a drink or two tonight, purely because I was in an unfamiliar environment. It’s a convenient crutch that will take me a little while to forget (ironically enough). I’m convinced that doing so, despite the painful awkwardness, will be worth it.

Heads up — This’ll be a much more informal and ‘bloggy’ post than usual because I actually have stuff to talk about for once. Passed my motorcycle theory test this morning, though I’m not sure how. If I hadn’t had one of the craziest rides of my life on the way there, I might have failed Hazard Perception what from still being asleep! My body clock is totally out of whack now from a 6am start.

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.

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.