Stalling for time

I found a post I started writing in February of last year, and never finished. It's been hanging out there as a draft ever since! This is what I wrote:

If you're on Facebook, you may be aware of a meme being passed around where you have to say 25 random facts about yourself. I've been stalling because I'm lazy, but now is the time, I guess!

1) I am a terrible procrastinator

I wrote a similar post called "Ten Things" a while back but never followed it up

That's as far as I got. Yeah.

A random memory

Occasionally, a memory completely unrelated to anything surfaces in my mind, and I realise that I never blogged about it.

Here's the thing. You know how in big cities, particularly where there are universities, it's not so unusual to see superman and a cowboy enjoying a pint in the evening? Well back on the Isle of Wight, that wasn't such a common occurrence. Which is why this event stood out so much at the time.

There was a man - probably a man, I couldn't tell. For the sake of argument, let's say 'man' - sat on a bus, upstairs, at the front, and wearing a chicken suit. He had a Sooty and a Sweep puppet on his hands, and was dancing to silent tunes with massive earphones on.

Like this but less aggy.

I was with a friend, (or possibly my sister, I don't remember now), and it made me braver than I would otherwise have been, so when the chicken man made Sweep talk to me - incomprehensible squeaks, for those who didn't have a childhood - I squeaked back. We had a brief and meaningful squeak conversation, and my day was made.

A thousand words for snow

I opened the door, and was instantly struck with wonder. The street outside was carpeted with soft, clean snow, and it was still falling in dizzy clumps from the odd, heavy sky.

My walk home was wonderful. Some people had ventured out into the beautiful winter; many were playing. What is it about snow that so excites us? that brings out the giddy child, so eager to get our hands on the cold, fresh snow?

How could I ever explain the delight and mystery of that brief walk home... how could I do justice to the fragile, ephemeral blanket of powder that so transformed the city?

Well, they say a picture's worth a thousand words. Perhaps this will explain the heartstopping beauty I encountered.

Stay classy, Cardiff.

a burning thing

Earlier today, my dad was struggling to get the fire lit. He'd finally given up on it when I, never one to back away from a burny challenge, stepped up. "Don't worry, father!" I cried, cape possibly billowing behind me. "I'll take care of this!"

So, I knelt, and I poked, and I crumpled, and I blew, but the flame kept giving up. The twigs just weren't that enthusiastic about it all, and the paper - while enthusiastic - didn't have much in the way of stamina.

After some time (I don't know how long, time flies when you're setting light to things), I began to lose hope. That dying flame reminded me of so much about myself. Fire has long been a metaphor for spirituality, for me in particular (partly due to reading these wonderful books as a child), so to kneel there and watch it try and die over and over again was really quite depressing.

So I did something I don't often do these days: I prayed. Praying was the first thing I did to see in 2010 (the second being a massive balloon fight), as I'd wanted to see the new year in properly; so, being off to a good start, I thought I'd continue the trend. "God," I thought, "you know how hard I've tried to get set alight again - well I'm going to leave it to you now. Please make it burn." I sat and watched as the flame licked the wood, making paper die and twigs glow, but as the glow got softer and colder, I gradually gave up hope. I left. I didn't want to see that last spark go out, not after such a good start to the year.

A couple of hours later, as I wandered through to the kitchen to help dad with dinner, I saw that there was a roaring fire going. "Oh, you got it lit in the end" I said.

"No, you did!" he replied. Apparently after I'd given up and left, the fire had kept burning. It had taken hold.

It's going to be a good year.

Goodbye doctor

10/04/2009 16:57, originally uploaded by alun.vega.

Goodbye, 10th doctor! No spoilers, don't worry. I just wanted to share this picture with you, and point you towards the rest of Alun Vega's photostream if you're interested.