The Ritual – 24th November 2025

A blessed pilgrimage
with a hint of purpose;

The glory of the moon
still hanging;

Footpaths
wet with drizzle;

People sniffling,
gambling on a bus that may not come;

Streetlights fade,
worms start to worry;

But the barista is already there,
running through their own ritual.

Inspired by the first couple of lines from this totally unconnected Substack post by Joe Nichols (but it is a fun read on a different topic).

A Meta Verse – 27th February 2022

Would you volunteer for a fatal addiction
To an electrical pleasure, brain implant
The sum of all pleasure, constant highs
A simple flick of the switch would grant?

Would you sacrifice your suffering
The demons and devils of your daily fight
The needles that give you balance
Just to die tomorrow in orgasmic delight?


We own our own minds – and together, we can take them back from the forces that are stealing them.

Johann Hari

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to watch my garden grow and change over time. It’s amazing.


A contrast of days for the weekend. Saturday was a fantastic day of reading in the hammock, reading in the living room, watching YouTube and Netflix, playing guitar and savouring every minute as they appeared to rush by because it was soon time for bed. What a great day!

And this morning I knew a guy was coming to fix the camera setup around the house. He was due between 9 and 10 and he actually made it on time. Excellent, I thought. Can be done by lunch time and can take Aing and Now off for lunch and furniture shopping that Aing wants for her new shop. Through various mess-ups and requirements, we didn’t get out until 4pm and there was nothing much I could do except to be patient.

I took them into town to a few shops and we were all so tired after an hour or so that we came back and then it was time to bring washing in, do some watering and feed the cats. No reading yet, no guitar, no TV yet, and it’s almost time for bed. Still, it’s good not just to be enjoying every day to the max. Setbacks come from everywhere and it’s a testament to the nevermind attitude of Thai people that often annoys the fuck out of Amy and me but must also be practised often in order not to go crazy. I still enjoyed my day.

Kicking The Habit – 21st November 1984

Got to kick this awful trash
Got to stop this horrible mess
This habit is alive and kicking
Got to stop it from sticking
My head is spinning around and about
I just wanna stand up and shout
I should just reach and grab it
If I want to kick this habit

3rd Sept 2023 – Although not specific to any addiction or habit I’m pretty sure I was already wishing that I could stop smoking sometimes. It would be another ten years or more before I finally managed to quit.