Adventures of an Idiot – occasional ramblings of a photography freak

Strange the twists and turns that Life takes. How one thing leads to another, then another, which then fits in with something else entirely so that it all eventually forms one seamless whole.

Why the waxing philosophical?

Well, it all started with the cost of fuel. Going up.

That’s not strictly true of course, cos the rise in the cost of fuel was itself an effect of some other cause, and so on ad infinitum. But for the purposes of this little ramble an arbitrary start line must be drawn somewhere or I’ll never get to the point of the tale, and that’s as good a place as any to start.

So where was I?

Ah yes… the cost of fuel… going up. Which in turn prompted an increase in energy prices. Specifically, gas and electricity.
Um… did I say “increase”? More like a mugging with extreme violence actually. Or maybe just plain old common or garden theft. 40%. Yep, that’s not a typo. Forty bloody percent, or thereabouts. In one hit! Its obscene. Probably immoral. And should certainly be made illegal. Its fattening too. For the directors of the energy companies leastways.

Now gas has always been a bit of a sensitive issue with me. For years I’ve been suspecting that I’m being ripped off but, other things taking precedence, its not something I’d ever got around to tackling.
With this 40% increase though, hell, its not just an increase on the cost of what I’m actually using… its also an increase on the amount I suspect I’m being ripped off. And, the long and the short of it is, I simply can’t afford it any more.

Clearly time to do something about it then. Long overdue in fact.

The whole situation is of course entirely my own doing. Cos for years now the gas company have been charging me on the basis of estimated usage. And I have very good reason to suppose that, year on year, my gas usage has in fact gone down. But estimated because they can’t get to the meter to take an accurate and up-to-date reading. And they can’t get to the meter because its attached to the wall… outside. And its completely overgrown with brambles and stuff. And its in this state because I rarely have either the time or inclination to do anything in the garden. Not anything that makes a significant difference, that is.

See? As I said, my fault entirely.

Well, not any more!

Amazing what a strong incentive dire financial straits can be. Strong enough to motivate us to do things we wouldn’t normally consider even in our wildest dreams.
So today I set forth to tackle the garden!

Um… just to be clear about this, not the entire garden you understand. That’d be silly, and way over the top. No, just the bit around the gas meter. But that in turn necessitated doing other bits in the garden.
For I was confronted with this… er… “thorny” problem: what to do with the brambles I’m gonna clear away?
The obvious answer, and the one I always tend to fall back on when confronted with such gardening dilemmas, is to burn ‘em. Can’t beat a good bonfire.

But in order to do that I have to clear a space in the garden where I can do the actual burning without the risk of fire spreading to everywhere else (mind you, a mass turnout of the fire brigade could be worth a pic or two!). That’ll be a bit more gardening then.
Moreover, notwithstanding the fact that it was only a few months ago that I cleared a pathway through part of the garden, I now have to re-clear said pathway to reach the safe burn area. That’s the problem with green stuff… it seems perversely determined to just keep on growing. So even more gardening.
And then I’ve gotta transport the cleared brambles from where the meter is to where I’m gonna burn them. No wheelbarrow. Buggered if I’m going to make multiple trips carrying them in my arms. The wheelie bin should do the trick though.
Which means I’m gonna have to wheel it along the side of the house from the meter, located at the front of the house, to the burn area located about a third of the way down the back garden. And that pathway along the side of the house is also overgrown. Ho hum, yet more gardening.
And in order to wheel the bin all the way down to the burn area I’m gonna have to move the dinghy. (No, don’t ask why, in a back garden miles from any water more significant than a puddle, I have a dinghy. Just accept I’m strange like that.) Which is also overgrown with brambles and stuff. This is getting to be a major operation.

Finally though I’ve got it all straight in my head; sequence of events planned; suitable attire donned; required tools assembled; coffee drunk; fag smoked; and off I go. Spent most of the daylight hours today doing it.

Um… that’s not strictly true, I have to admit. The actual pattern of working was more like twenty minutes in the garden, then half an hour indoors recovering whilst I nursed a cup of coffee and rolled a fag. Then another twenty minutes in the garden followed by another half hour indoors recovering, nursing another cup of coffee, rolling another fag. And so on. That was more like the actual pattern, sort of thing.
Somewhere in that pattern I also managed to periodically check for emails and do other computer-type stuff. I may even have grabbed a bite to eat as well. I forget now. I tend to do that with food. Forget it, that is.

But, I’m pleased to report, I achieved the objective! Meter once more accessible; pathway and side of house cleared; dinghy neatly leaning against the shed (should probably put it inside one day); burn area prepared; nice heap of brambles and other dead stuff piled up awaiting cremation (a job for another day methinks).
Not surprising really though. I generally do achieve my objectives, once I put my mind (and in this case back, legs, arms, hands, and every other bit of me) to it.

Now, shortly after commencing this mammoth undertaking the little fellah pictured above alighted on a nearby branch. Cocked an eye at me rather quizzically, and then started following me around. In fact he (he? Maybe a she? I dunno) stayed with me pretty much all day.
At some point it occurred to me this really was too good a chance to miss so I wandered indoors to grab the point’n’shoot. Who knows, p’raps he’d stay still long enough for me to grab a pic. He did! In fact, I grabbed a whole load. Only thing was, cos muscles were being subjected to unaccustomed (and totally unwelcome, given that I’m an essentially lazy person a person who firmly believes in conserving energy) hard labour I couldn’t really hold the camera steady enough even allowing for the antishake wizardry. So the pic above really is about the best of the bunch.

And this whole business of being accompanied throughout the day by the little fellah struck me as a classic example of precisely the sort of thing that fits very neatly into January’s theme (“The Magic of the Moment” – just announced earlier in the day) for that photo themes group to which I contribute.
So clearly the pic can qualify for my first submission for January. Yippee!

And that’s what I mean when I said that something fits in with something else entirely so that it all eventually forms one seamless whole, which we of course call Life.

Had it not been for the rising cost of fuel, and the hike in energy prices, and my getting ripped off, and finances being strained, and having to tackle a job I don’t normally do, and being into photography, and part of this themes group, and the theme for January being what it is and being announced not that many hours earlier, and me having a robin for company (it is a robin, isn’t it?), and so on and so on… well, isn’t it all just truly Magical?

Unfortunately, this particular lump of Life isn’t all roses. For, having grabbed a few pics of my feathered mate I put the camera on top of another wheelie bin, just in case I should want to use it again. And stupidly knocked it off so that it fell to the ground!
Well, initial examination seemed to suggest it had survived… if I choose to ignore that strange whirring noise its suddenly started making when switched on. And it still takes pics. Problem is, I suspect the focussing mechanism’s been buggered cos all the pics are… er… somewhat out of focus. In fact, it’d be no exaggeration to say they’re blurred… very blurred.
So I wonder to what curious turn of Fate this seemingly unfortunate event will lead. What higher purpose is being served? Maybe an omen to confirm its time I invested in a new point’n’shoot? Had I the requisite funds of course. Hmm.