Half of August

One thing that has changed recently is the cost of ordinary things like food. I see branded instant coffee  that costs more than £5, I see budget coffee at £1.50 per 100 grams. I see a single shopping bag of basic items costing above £25. I can't change anything, but I can try and stay cheerful if possible. I mentioned before that I finally got a virtual reality headset of mine after dreaming about it for a few years. Every day I can go to a happy place for an hour or two. I can go to a golf course or an '80s pinball arcade. Slowly I am building up my collection; getting add-ons, not all at once but slowly adding more content every month to keep that happy hour a golden time. 

You don't need a virtual reality headset to stay cheerful these days. You can get lost in a book and get joy from that. The more you read the more happy you will be. I found 3 old books I stowed away the other day; they were factual books about interesting facts. Reading a book is a bit like virtual reality, you visit a story or another world in your own imagination. Reading a book for a while will take you to a trance state as you forget about your life and get absorbed in a story. 

Armchair Creator

Things are normal these days. I was looking through the meta virtual reality shop for apps that might have a similar classy arcade lobby to the Pinball FX VR one. The one thing that is missing from VR is a treadmill that lets the user walk in virtual reality by moving their legs. In virtual reality you can walk but you don't really move your legs and your brain thinks there is something wrong after a while; it starts making you feel sick. 

Virtual reality is a nice way to be lost in your hobbies, you can just sit there in an arm chair and do all the things that make you tick. You can build a train set, draw pictures and even build things. It is even possible to fly in a flight simulator. 

Isn't it wonderful that a person can be fine just by sitting in a comfy armchair and doing their hobby. They sip some coffee, create something beautiful. Wouldn't it be even more nice if they got an income from their hobby. 

A British Pier

One thing that is outstanding about Britain is we have a lot of sea side piers, more than any other country in the world.  We constantly work to improve  them, paint them, add things to them, modernise them. I think that is why they charge money to go on them. Some of them even have little trains running on them. It is one of the things I'm proud of, we have something that makes us different to everyone else. 

When I approach a pier, I expect to see an arcade on there and some adventure mini golf. One could walk out onto the pier and look out into the horizon at the ocean beyond. You could sit at a café and look out at the sea while you eat your chips with coffee. 

I wonder what pier is the best? There are so many peirs out there that I have never seen before. Perhaps I could do some research on British piers. 

I will peer into the online brochures, excuse the pun.

Pinball in VR

I have the 'Pinball Fx Vr' game on my virtual reality headset. At the moment it is my favourite app. It is very much like walking into a forgotten 80's pinball basement arcade and having the place to yourself. As you play the pinball machines, you unlock customisation items that allow you to customise the arcade and machines. There is also a leader-board to compare your scores with other people around the world. You can climb up the leader-board as your skills improve. 

Playing pinball machines in an arcade, in virtual reality can clear your mind because you're focused on what you're doing. You leave behind your ego and all your worries for a little while and just exist in a happy place where you can focus on one thing, keeping the metal ball out of the pit and into the score zone. It is like being a kid. 

When I got my virtual reality headset, I was convinced that golf is the best thing to play in virtual reality. I was wrong. So far it is the Pinball FX VR arcade. I'm sure in the future there will be more worlds to explore but for now I'm happy with golf and pinball. 

Both the golf and pinball games have DLCs or expansion packs as I call them that let you play new items or areas. That is what I will do for the coming months, I will slowly build up my collection. Until it is time  for a new game.  

Puff Pastry Courtesy

Here in Britain there are good things and bad things. There are people filled with hate, they would tear a poster of a kidnapped toddler that doesn't know what Zionism is off a wall and leave the missing cat one there. You can sugar-coat hate with political jargon but you can't cover the smell; an ordinary man with common sense can smell hate a mile away. There isn't just hate, there is selfishness. People put graffiti on trains, they don't care about how other people see it, they don't care that some tourists see the graffiti and decide not to come back the following year. They don't care that commuters feel a bit less happy when they go to work because they have to look at the mess. They only care about their own expressions, very selfish. 

When I go to some restaurant chains I see the pasty style doubles as a key to indicate what is inside. I thought to myself that it is very creative. If someone bought multiple pasties and rolls, they would be able to tell them apart  using a pastry pattern key. They found a way to show courtesy with puff pastry. Puff Pasty Courtesy.  

The other day I walked past a BT digital advertising board. Right on the side of the display was a small discreet dial pad and a small message that said make a free phone call. I dialled my own number and my mobile phone rang, there was a speaker and microphone inside the casing of the sign and I could hear my own voice. They made a discreet way for people that are stranded to make an emergency call. If you lost your phone and wallet and you were far from home, you could call a relative to rescue you. They thought about it. The trouble is, it is overlooked by most people, I try to imagine why there is a partially hidden phone on the side of the billboard but I don't know. 

People do amazing things every day. There are good and bad everywhere. 

What can I say. 

Short Life

Back in July, Hulk Hogan and Ozzy Osbourne both passed away. Another reminder of how short life is. You can't even assume you'll reach the age of 75; you're not even guaranteed tomorrow. Even if you lived for 200 years, that isn't a long time. I feel a small amount of pity for the relatives of the two men. If I knew them better, the pity would be more.

They both passed away about a week after I purchased a 'Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset. The positive thing that came from their deaths is a reminder that I don't have long. I should try and make the most of every day. Use my vr headset when I can. 

Appreciate all you have until it's gone. 

What July 2025 Means To Me

My Birthday is in July. The same sort of things were happening as the previous month. Conflicts in the middle east region, the government was being scrutinised for taxing too much and overspending while cutting costs. Every government does things wrong and other things right, this time around it could be the case that moving the railways into state ownership is the way forward; it could be one  thing the labour party got right; lets see what happens.

In the middle of the month during my birthday, there was a new viral sensation sweeping social media that was replacing the 'hawk tour girl'. It was the cheating tech company staff caught at a 'cold play' concert on a kiss cam. Never have I ever seen a man blush red like a tomato so quickly. Every media platform was showing the same video of the two people, Tick Tock, Facebook, X, you name it their video was on there. 

Towards the end of the month I learned that the Wrestling superstar 'Hulk Hogan' had passed away. He suddenly had a heart attack at the age of 71. I remember watching hulk hogan on TV when I was a kid; he would shout out in a deep voice how he will be victorious in the WWF and his eyes would bulge out like he was excited and fired up. I think he was paired up with the ultimate warrior and they would fight together as a tag team.  

Ozzy Ozbourne died around the same time as Hulk Hogan for the same reason I think. Their causes of death were common for people in their age group. 

For the first time I owned a stand alone virtual reality headset. I bought the meta quest 3. I put off buying it for 2 or 3 years but now I have it. I use it to help me get a good start to the morning. I wake up at 6am and play golf in the back yard in virtual reality. I visit iconic golf courses and play some golf; then I'm set up for the day. My ordinary working man's mind is blown. I can instantly visit a coastal paradise and play golf. I can visit other worlds or just use VR apps. I can fill out other blog posts about what I have seen. 

It's august now. Lets see what happens.