What February 2025 Means To Me

 It was very cold in February and always overcast. There was very little sunlight. A sad month it was, a member of the family passed away; he wasn't old really. He has a young son as well. I feel pity for the boy. What can I do, I can only make sure I'm healthy and hope I live long enough to leave behind an aged family that feels prepared for my passing. I don't smoke, I drink a glass of Whisky twice a year and nothing else, I don't take drugs and I eat set meals 2 or 3 times a day, if I pass away early it would be down to bad luck. I downloaded an old computer game I used to play often called Roller Coaster Tycoon classic edition. I thought to myself I should always make time for leisure because I don't know how long I have in this world. I don't even know if I will still be alive tomorrow. Luck can run out and your time can be up at any time. In the olden days, text based games with still images were also quite popular, they had games like Myst and Kings Quest. I liked those games, they worked well on any computer because it was never about the graphics, it was all about solving the puzzle. I think software publishers still make modern text based games even today for those that appreciate those things.

I saw some altercations between politicians on the news, it has nothing to do with me; I hope they can peacefully settle their differences in the near future. I tried to think about the bigger things in this world. I looked up at the sky at night a few times every day and  most of the planets are still about on the horizon together, that's cool. I could see Mars, it looks like a pink star when it is low on the horizon or an orange speck when it is high up in the sky. I also could see Venus quite well, it was especially bright in recent days. It's amazing to think how big the Universe is. 

In the Air

I noticed there is a lot of air rage these days. Passengers have angry physical outbursts on planes.  I'm an ordinary guy, but I understand what is happening. The last 3 flights I took, I was very angry; I restrained my anger, all you would see is my expressionless poker face, you wouldn't know I felt very angry but I was. I felt like I didn't have any personal space and the seat in-front of me reclined without warning and pushed my tray table into my stomach slightly. I had no personal space, not even an armrest to myself. I also noticed many of the long distance flights had been dropped permanently since the pandemic so I was forced to take connecting flights. The trouble with connecting flights is you get worried you'll miss the flight if your first flight is delayed. To cut a long story short, you feel like the air line is taking the piss out of you. To top it off, I noticed they were giving out gin and tonic and wine drinks; it is as if the airline wants the passengers to fight. Take away their personal space, make them stressed and get them drunk, a good mix. They should take away the undersold first class, set the lighting to pink and provide seating that lets everyone have their own personal space, everyone has an arm rest to themselves. They will lose some of their seats but there will be less unsold seats and you could put special boxes on unsold seats to add to the air freight of the plane.  

I learn something new every day, today I learned that most of your taste comes from smell. You can trick yourself into thinking you're drinking flavoured water when you're actually drinking plain tap water.  There is a product that capitalises on this human trait, air Up. It is a drink bottle that feeds a scent in the air to your nose and makes you feel like the water you're drinking is flavoured. 

very clever.  

 

Olden Days

 When I was a kid, my father showed me how to solve logic elimination puzzle books. They were magazines filled with puzzles where you had to eliminate all the outcomes until you're left with the truth. Soon after that Sudoku became popular, but I still prefer logic elimination puzzles. 

You know you're getting old when you talk about the olden days. I tell all my nephews and nieces about the olden days, when domestic internet didn't exist. The olden days, when connecting to the internet was about your computer making a temporary dial up connection long enough to download the page and then stop, the olden days, no wifi, no social media, no streaming. Lots of small talk. 

Those were the days. There were computer games that were text based. There still is. You go on a quest in a little text based world. People still make them. Some of them are really interesting. The good thing about text based computer games is they work well on all platforms. You use your imagination and add the graphics in your head, but some of the text based games have still-graphics so you don't need to use your imagination so much. You just see a picture. 

Little Essex Getaway

There is a place you can go if you're a tourist to London, if you had a bad day and need a quick day trip  to the coast or if it's your birthday and you want to take a short break for a few days. It's the little quirky city of Essex county, 'Southend on Sea'. I go there for a short break some times. If I got a ticket to the blues and feel a bit down or If it's my birthday. 

I live north-west of London; I look at London as a clock face to simplify it in my mind. The number 12 is 'High Barnet', 10 o clock is 'Uxbridge', 6 o clock is 'Croydon', the tram district. 9 O clock is Acton and Stains, the bit next to Heathrow Airport. The Nearest Part of London to me is Uxbridge at 10 o clock. Barking and Upminister is 3 o clock. 

I take a bus to Uxbridge Train station so I can get to Barking station, I change at kings cross but the Hammersmith train to Barking stops on the same platform. From Barking station I take a 40 minute train ride to Southend on Sea.  The c2c train ticket costs about £8 but it's not subsidised like the London trains so I'm not complaining. The same 50 km distance from Barking to Southend on Sea would cost less than £4 in London, you would literally get change from a fiver.    

I walk out the sea front and breathe in the fresh sea air and look out at the Kent peninsula on the distant horizon. If you look to your left you can see the open ocean. At night the place is lit up like Las Vegas and the sea is dark but there are always ships passing with lights on them. It's not the best place to go, but it is good for a day trip or short break. 

I imagine some of the tourists that visit London live very far from the sea so it could be a chance to enjoy the coast without spending much time and money.  

London Crossing

London isn't perfect, it is a city with issues, high costs, high crime, little small talk. There are a few perks to London. Most of the important landmarks are by the river, you can walk along the river Thames ("tems") and see most of the important landmarks, Elizabeth clock tower with the Big Ben mega bell inside, Houses of Parliament, London Eye observation wheel, Tower Bridge, Tate Modern art gallery, Tower of London, St Jame's Park that leads to Buckingham Palace, Restored Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral, the Walkie-Talkie, The shard and various others. They're all together in a 1 hour walk by the river. Even Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square are a 5 minute walk from the Thames; remember it's pronounced "tems" not "Faims".  

For me there is a special perk, You can go across the city and use the subsidised TFL zone to get to the Thames Estuary smoothly.  If London were a clock, Uxbridge would be where the number 10 is on the clock face. I can go on the Train from Uxbridge and get to Barking near the number 3 on the clock face and get change from a fiver, £3.60 during off-peak time. The distance is 50km,  if I drive 50 km, the fuel costs a bit more than £3.60. The route that is smoothest is the one I use to get to Southend on Sea for a short break. I take a bus to Uxbridge, then I get the Metropolitan train at Uxbridge Station; it's a terminal station so all trains head east from there,  then I get off at King's Cross, I stay on the platform and catch a Hammersmith Train to Barking  and tap out on the platform. Then I use my C2C ticket to board a C2C train to the Coast in Barking Station , sometimes it comes on the same platform island as the Hammersmith train. It's not the quickest route but it is the smoothest, I get there very fast and don't walk very much. Remember the Uxbridge Line and the Hammersmith line share the same platform at Kings Cross so I would just step off the Metropolitan train and get the Hammersmith train where I stand. 

If I took the bus to Slough and took Cross Rail, I would get to the east side of London a lot quicker but I would have to do more walking and I think it would cost a bit more. 

Using London to chip the price off a journey, yes please. 

Journey Day

Jacob, My son. 

It has only been a few days since a member of our family passed away. It had a profound effect on me, I stopped eating at work, I eat a large dinner before work, then I work through the night, get home, sleep then I have breakfast when I wake up. I thought to myself I should never get sick or pass away because of a poor lifestyle. I'm not saying that's why he died, I would put that down to bad luck. One day my luck will run out and my time in this world will be up but I hope I will have aged enough for everyone else to be aged. 

I'm thinking about all the train journeys we could have in the near future. All the places we could visit. 

Smug Shadow

During this last portion of the winter, I was observing a very interesting new micro EV called the 'Squad solar car'. It is a very small self charging solar car. The website for the micro car is https://www.squadmobility.com/. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice if I had a front yard that is too small to make a driveway for a regular car but bought a micro EV that fits. The contractors that were building the driveway would ask what it is for and I would say it's for a car. They would say your car isn't allowed on the pavement though. I would say, don't worry, that won't be a problem. I would feel smug because the front yard is too small for a regular car but the micro car fits and it charges itself while it is parked. 

While this happened a shadow came over me that can only be made by a relative passing away, a dark shadow with no hope. A man that feels fine one day can be dead the next day. What good is life if it ends with nothing. I can only hope that I stay healthy long enough to leave behind those that have aged themselves. I don't want to cause grief to young kin. Let them be old that day and prepared for my end. I started watching what I eat so I can try to be healthy.  If I die because of a poor lifestyle then I would be responsible for causing sadness. 

I bought an old computer game, a roller coaster tycoon classic edition. I remember being very focused when I played that game. I wanted to build the perfect theme park. I could micro manage every detail of the amusement park in a way that even a real theme park director couldn't do.