Cloud Surfing – Iceland

Posted on June 2, 2019 by john graham

GrumbleSmiles was set up to provide innovative answers to tackling the problems of loneliness in later life.    Many older people are less able to get out and about, which can be the first steps towards a life of isolation.

My travels around the clouds continue (you can see more of my travel adventures by clicking on CLOUD SURFING in the TAG CLOUD).   Today I invite you to join me on a trip to unknown destinations around the world and an opportunity to talk to new and interesting people.    All at no cost and from the comfort of your own armchair.

We are going cloudsurfing to Iceland.

Courtesy of a blogger and photographer Brent Green, who’s blog is called “Boomers”.  Brent is an author and marketeer from America who has been blogging since 2005.

 

Below is a photograph of Reykjavik which is the capital of Iceland.  Somewhere I’ve never been or am likely to go to.  I always think of it as a cold and bleak place as suggested in the second photograph.  But reading Brent’s blog on his travels to Iceland in 2016, it certainly looks like he very much enjoyed his visit and met some interesting people.

You can find out the full story by clicking on the link below.

http://boomers.typepad.com/boomers/2016/12/boomers-iceland-is-beckoning.html

My thanks to Brent for allowing us to travel virtually with him and see another interesting part of the world.

In the weeks ahead, I will publish more blogs and photographs from my cloud surfing travels.

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Advertising Income

Posted on May 29, 2019 by john graham

I must be coming into a fortune soon, because adverts keep appearing after my latest posts.   I seem to have become the must-have sponsor of  a lot of new products.

It all started with fitness and beauty products.  I could quite understand why companies would want to use me to endorse the new goods, in fact I was flattered.   I could immediately see the advantages of me becoming the new David Beckham.    Of course I am a bit too old for football now, but I will be well suited to TV appearances.

The latest advert to mysteriously appear with my GrumbleSmiles posts, is rather less glamorous.   It’s an advert about skin cream for moles.   I’m not sure this is something that I really want to promote as it doesn’t quite fit with my Beckham-like image of myself.  Also, I’m not sure if the product really works.   I’ve tried rubbing the cream all over my lawn and yet the moles still keep coming.

I wonder what on earth these adverts will throw up next!   Still, the millions of pounds of sponsorship money doesn’t seem to have arrived yet.    Perhaps they will come in tomorrow’s post.

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Cloud Surfing – Alaska with Cap and a Moose

Posted on May 26, 2019 by john graham

GrumbleSmiles was set up to provide innovative answers to tackling the problems of loneliness in later life.    Many older people are less able to get out and about, which can be the first steps towards a life of isolation.

My travels around the clouds continue (you can see more of my travel adventures by clicking on CLOUD SURFING in the TAG CLOUD).   Today I invite you to join me on a trip to unknown destinations around the world and an opportunity to talk to new and interesting people.    All at no cost and from the comfort of your own armchair.

We are continuing cloudsurfing in Alaska.

Courtesy of a blogger and photographer Cap Chastain.  We visited with Cap earlier last year when he told us about his interesting experiences with a Moose in the woods.  Now it appears the Moose has followed him to his neighbour’s house.

 

His neighbours Bea and Terry have a remote cabin in the woods.

It looks like an idyllic getaway but it comes with some surprises when you look out the window and see a Moose eating your strawberries.

You can see the full story by clicking on the link to Cap’s blog below:

http://bobbacaps.blogspot.com/2018/10/oct-11-18-moose-moose-in-alaska-moose.html

In the weeks ahead, I will publish more blogs and photographs from my cloud surfing travels.

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LLLP FINAL MANIFESTO

Posted on May 22, 2019 by john graham

Over the last few weeks the Last Laugh Looney Party has gathered together a truly eclectic collection of candidates for the European Parliamentary Elections.   With the right sense of humour in the British Electorate, they are confident of being selected to enter the European Parliament, at least for the next few months until Britain finally BREXITs.

Their basic guarantee to the British Electorate is that they will spend their time in the European Parliament, jumping up and down and shouting their slogans.   Just like they’ve seen all other MPs do over the last two years, while they’ve been discussing BREXIT.  They will do this until the 27 countries in the European Parliament finally throw their hands up in exasperation and say LEAVE.

The LLLP will agree to this on one condition :-

The European Commission agrees to pay Britain £39 billion Euros in compensation for no longer being part of the European experiment 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Cloud Surfing – Washington State

Posted on May 19, 2019 by john graham

GrumbleSmiles was set up to provide innovative answers to tackling the problems of loneliness in later life.    Many older people are less able to get out and about, which can be the first steps towards a life of isolation.

My travels around the clouds continue (you can see more of my travel adventures by clicking on CLOUD SURFING in the TAG CLOUD).   Today I invite you to join me on a trip to unknown destinations around the world and an opportunity to talk to new and interesting people.    All at no cost and from the comfort of your own armchair.

 

We are going cloudsurfing to Mt Erie in Washington State, USA.

 

 

 

Courtesy of a blogger and photographer DJan who lives in Bellingham and regularly writes about trekking through the picturesque state of Washington.

 

 

This is a view one of DJan’s treks in April 2018.  It caught my eye because it’s from the Sugarloaf.  When I was a child, I used to walk up the Sugarloaf, but it wasn’t this one, it was a much lower mountain in South Wales.  It nonetheless in those days seemed like Mount Everest to me!

You can read more about DJan’s trekking by clicking on the link below:

http://djanstewart.blogspot.com/2018/04/mt-erie-and-sugarloaf-2018.html

In the weeks ahead, I will publish more blogs and photographs from my cloud surfing travels.

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LLLP Ciderman Manifesto

Posted on May 15, 2019 by john graham

BREXIT obviously isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.     The LLLP must admit they are scraping the barrel trying to find candidates to stand in the European Elections.    Fortunately, they have found somebody who is almost exactly like Nigel Farage, except he drinks cider rather than beer.   This is the next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Ciderman.

Ciderman has quite a lot to say – hicc – about European MPs.

First of all he thinks the German Euro MPs should stop drinking so much lager, because it makes them – hicc – too aggressive.  And we all know that we don’t want another war because then the Brits would have to come and sort it out again.

Secondly, Ciderman thinks – hicc – that the French and the Italians and even the Spanish should all drink a lot less wine because it makes them sleepy in the afternoons and they don’t get much work done.

Ciderman solution – hicc – is that Euro MPs should drink a lot more British cider.  That way they would have a lot more fun.   Hicc – and he also recommends that they should do a lot more leaning on fences instead of jumping in with both feet and dreaming up more and more regulations – hicc.

Ciderman says :-

“Cheers, here’s to a BREXIT exit”

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Cloud Surfing – San Francisco

Posted on May 12, 2019 by john graham

GrumbleSmiles was set up to provide innovative answers to tackling the problems of loneliness in later life.    Many older people are less able to get out and about, which can be the first steps towards a life of isolation.

Last year I did a lot of armchair travelling to distant destinations and with the help of other blogging friends, I am about to start my travelling again this year to find and explore new places with their help.   (You can see more of my travel adventures by clicking on CLOUD SURFING in the TAG CLOUD).   Today I invite you to join me on a trip to unknown destinations around the world and an opportunity to talk to new and interesting people.    All at no cost and from the comfort of your own armchair.

We are going cloudsurfing to San Francisco.

This is another blog from my new found friend, Cap Chastain who is a blogger and photographer based in Alaska.  His blog is called “Bobba Caps Doxology”.   This trip took place way back in 2012.   Cap is a remarkable 82 year old and he and his wife travel together around the world.

 

I’ve been to America many times, but I’ve never been to the West Coast and in particular California.  So like most people, I only know it from the movies.  The link below takes you to a series of photographs that Cap took on a visit to San Francisco in March 2012.  The photographs and his comments bring the place alive, much better than any film can do.

http://bobbacaps.blogspot.com/search/label/San%20Francisco%20CA

Once again my thanks to Cap for allowing us to travel with him.  I’m sure by sharing all his photos it will bring back many memories of “Bullitt”, “Escape from Alcatraz”, “Mrs Doubtfire”, “The Rock”, “48 Hrs”, “Malteze Falcon”, “Vertigo” and who can forget “Dirty Harry”.

In the weeks ahead, I will publish more blogs and photographs from my cloud surfing travels.

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Peak Socks !

Posted on May 8, 2019 by john graham

I exhausted myself with de-cluttering for most of 2018.    In fact the tide of clutter seems to have come back in.   😹☹️😫😩

If you have read my earlier blogs on this subject (you can find them by clicking on “Clutter” in the TAG CLOUD) , you will know I was very proud of my sock drawer.   It is only a small thing in a small drawer, but in it I had reached a good standard of tidiness.  A small but significant symbol of what could be achieved 😇

Sadly over the last year somehow the socks have crept up on me again. I believe I am now back to peak socks ! * 

It leads to indecision in your half-asleep early mornings, dithering over which socks to put on.   The thick ones or the thin ones.   The black ones or the fawn ones or even the green ones if I can find them.     Maybe I will wear the ones I had on yesterday ?    Wasting at least 5 minutes of every day over socks that most people don’t see anyway.

But that’s just socks, you can repeat this story about trousers and shirts and jumpers and shoes and jackets.   It can take half an hour of every day to achieve a level of sartorial elegance.  Then when I finally emerge my wife will say “You are not going out in that are you?”

* I wrote a blog about the theory of “Peak Stuff” earlier this year.  Essentially it is saying that as a society many people have now acquired more than enough things to meet their needs and as a result the overall economy might slow down.  Obviously I’ve got more than enough socks, shirts and ties etc, and by this theory I may never need to buy any more ever.  If you do buy more, “Peak Stuff ” rolls over into clutter.  In turn, as you still acquire more things, clutter reaches a stage of “Peak Clutter”.

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LLLP Tidy Up Teddy Manifesto

Posted on May 5, 2019 by john graham

BREXIT obviously isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.  Everyone seems to be saying that we should have a softer BREXIT, so the LLLP has come up with a master stroke of enlisting the help of Teddies.    This is based on the idea that a group of Teddy Bears are likely to be just as effective as a whole parliament of European MPs.   The next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Tidy Up Teddy.

To start with, Tidy Up Teddy would give all the European MPs a hug and tell them to stop arguing with each other.

Next Tidy Up Teddy would suggest that they scrap all their regulations and start again after Britain has exited.    That way they can have as many regulations as they like in future but none of them will apply to the UK.

Tidy Up Teddy would suggest that there are no cuddly toy regulations so that Teddies can do what they like, when they like.    They also suggest that the Europeans should be much kinder to animals and stop eating horses.

Finally, Tidy Up Teddy suggests, that there should be an annual European Convention for cuddly toys.   This should be set up on an all expenses paid basis with funds provided by the European Commission to celebrate the final exit of Britain from the European experiment.

Oh and one more thing, on behalf of the Steiff Teddies that come from Germany, Tidy Up Teddy wants to say “will you stop pinning labels in our ears”.

Tidy Up Teddy says :-

“Votes for Teddies make happy people”

 

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TTONRO

Posted on May 1, 2019 by john graham

I have discovered part of the problem of my cluttering disease.   It’s a affliction called – TTONRO – The Theory Of Never Running Out.

It starts at an early age.  It’s why you always have to have three pairs of pyjamas.   One to wear, one for the wash and one for best, in case you have to go into hospital in a rush.

It is the direct opposite to the Japanese theory of just in time – TTOJIT.    That has you living on the edge, ever in fear of running out.

The path in between the two approaches is what leads to excess.  It explains a lot.   It is why you have cupboards.  Cupboards are to store all the things you don’t need right now.   Most of the time you don’t need many things, hence all the cupboards!

But there is a problem with cupboards.  When they are not full you need more stuff, just in case you run out of anything.   And when they are full, you need more  cupboards.

That’s  TTONRO for you.    Funny the little thoughts you wake up with sometimes😀

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