To do or not to do, that is the question.

There has been, during the last few days, a bit of a to-do about to do lists.

(A pretty ghastly pun, I know, but I just couldn't resist it.)

As my long-time reader will know, I am an occasional lister.  I used to be much more consistent in my listing, but so many things change in retirement.

Anyway, it seems that some self-styled expert considers to do lists are wrongly named and should really be called to not do lists, even though that is grammatically incorrect with the split infinitive.  He contends that having a to do list leads one to procrastinate.  To dither.  To put off doing anything while worrying about what to do first.  Or simply worrying about the length of the list.

After his opinion was published in my daily fish-wrap, it led to a flurry of comments by regular columnists and letter writers.  Many of those people - almost without exception listers like myself - have commented that they still have a to do list from eons ago which they have failed to complete.  And by eons I don't mean just the last couple of weeks or even the last month; they were confessing, admitting or maybe proudly proclaiming that they still had to do lists from YEARS ago.

I like having a to do list.  Not all the time, but just occasionally, at those times when there seem to be a lot of different jobs piling up.  I find that it helps me to decide whether any job is urgent and important, urgent but not especially important, important but not urgent - or maybe there just because it's something I would like to do!  Above all, it helps me to avoid the greatest sin: completely forgetting any job in the welter of activity.

When I was working, I always spent a few minutes at the end of the day (the working day, that is) thinking about the jobs I needed to do the following day.  I would then compile a to do list for the next day.  I found this a great help as it meant that my subconscious mind was contemplating at least one of those jobs as I slept (both on the train home and in bed) and I could crack on very much more effectively the next day.

It has been said that people who like compiling to do lists are the same people who cross out or tick off or otherwise mark the crossword clues that they have solved.  I have been an habitual devotee of the daily cryptic crossword since before I left my parents' home - and in all those years it has been my practice to cross off the clue numbers when I have solved them.

The argument against marking the solved clues is that one should look at the grid to see which clue to attempt to solve next.  I do that, but I also read the clues to see which I can solve without looking at the grid.  It works both ways.  In any case, neither crossing off nor not crossing off the clues is going to bring on the apocalypse, so why get excited about it?

Now, what's next on the list?

An historic view

Yesterday afternoon I decided that our walk ("our" meaning the dog and me) would be round the ramparts of the Roman Camp, or Hollingbury hill fort as it is officially known.  I had been there earlier in the week and yesterday I wanted to take a photograph of what I had seen, not having taken a camera with me the previous time.  But my efforts yesterday were in vain.  The temperature was officially about seven degrees, but it felt a good ten degrees colder than that because of the strong north-easterly wind.  The wind was so strong that I could not hold the camera steady enough to make it worthwhile taking pictures.  So I offer a picture I took back last August.

That is the scene from the southern rampart of the Camp, looking across the city of Brighton and out over the English Channel.  I grant you that it's not exactly what our Iron Age forebears would have seen; the city has expanded both outwards and upwards over the past two or more millennia.  but the view of the sea would have remained much the same during the intervening centuries.

That is about to change.  Indeed, change has already begun, which is why I describe this as an historic view.  About 8 miles offshore is this, MPI Discovery.

With apologies to the copyright holder for not obtaining his permission.

The Rampion wind-farm is under construction.  We will eventually see 116 wind turbines out there.

I'm not a fan of wind turbines.

Yes, I do appreciate having electricity, being able to flick a switch to provide light, being able to boil a kettle to make a cup of tea and so on.  And I accept that we need to find alternative sources of energy with the supply of fossil fuels nearing exhaustion.  But I do not accept that wind turbines are the answer.  Wind turbines only work when the wind speed is between certain limits and, as afar as I have seen, they are not altogether reliable.

We are an island state, surrounded by water.  And one of the enduring features of water is that it moves.  Sea water and, to an extent, river water is tidal.  Centuries ago, water was used to provide power, power to mill grain and other machinery through waterwheels.  Hydro-electricity is common enough and surely somebody is clever enough to devise a tidal version that we could use instead of blighting views, both inland and to sea, with those ghastly constructions?

A little bit of luxury

I allowed myself a treat this morning.

I had a lie-in.

Mind you, some people I know might ask, scornfully, "Call that a lie-in?"

I have never been one for lying in bed until ten; if I'm awake, the chances are that I have to be up and doing.  During the last few years of my working life I was woken by the alarm at 5.00am so when I retired, hearing the alarm at seven was something of a luxury.  And yes, I did still need to set the alarm as the OB was still working and would never get out of bed unless I was up first.

The habit of setting the alarm clock has never left me.  Admittedly, I only do it nowadays because the dog is getting older and needs to be let out into the garden if I am to avoid coming down to a puddle in the kitchen.

Now that the mornings are lighter it is so much easier to get out of bed.  All the same, I do find it a bit of a drag.  It would probably be easier if I managed to get a solid seven or eight hours of zizz, but I can't remember that last time I was able to sleep right through.  The OB's lack of mobility means that I have to help her to get out of bed and along to the bathroom.  She needs to go at least once each night, usually twice and sometimes three times and I have changed from a heavy sleeper into a light one - at least as far as she is concerned.  A bit like a mother hearing a baby just before it starts to cry.  Anyway, an extra half-hour this morning was luxury as far as I was concerned!

Need one say more?

The EU explained as thus:
Pythagoras' theorem - 24 words.
Lord's Prayer - 66 words.
Archimedes' Principle - 67 words.
10 Commandments - 179 words.
Gettysburg address - 286 words.
US Declaration of Independence - 1,300 words.
US Constitution with all 27 Amendments - 7,818 words.
EU regulations on the sale of cabbage - 26,911 words.

Which gives a small indication of how I intend to vote come the revolution referendum.

In, out, in, out, and shake it all about

David Cameron had his Neville Chamberlain moment on Friday when he returned from Brussels claiming to have won significant benefits for the UK in his tough negotiations with the leaders of the other 27 countries in the European Union.  It seems to me that it is all very well those other leaders agreeing compromises but they still have to be sanctioned by the European Parliament or commissioners or somebody.  At least, that is my understanding.  Or maybe it's my misunderstanding.

I have spent much of today ploughing through reports and comments in the newspapers, comments and opinions both in favour of our country remaining in the EU and those in favour of us leaving: Brexit, as it is dubbed.  We will now suffer four months of the same until the referendum in June.

What slightly bothers me - apart from the mind-numbing repetition that we will be forced to endure - is that so many people who will be taking part in the most important decision-making process this country will have seen in decades will not really be conversant with the facts.  I'm not over confident that I will be!  Let's face it; there are 28 members states in the EU (I think) and I would have difficulty in naming more than three-quarters of them.  If my knowledge is that badly lacking, what chance do I have of grasping the more intricate details of what is on offer now?

That said, my mind is already made up.

Now, where was I?

During the past few days I have had numerous ideas that I wanted to blog about but none of them have come to fruition, basically because of a lack of time.  Either that or there was too much else to be done that seemed to be more important or urgent.  I found myself becoming snowed under and, quite literally, not really knowing which way to turn.  Or what to do first.  Indeed, I eventually realised that I had actually started and abandoned several jobs.

There was only one thing to do.  Stop everything and draw up a list, which had to be committed to paper.  Or, rather, screen.

Having drawn up the list and placed the outstanding tasks in some semblance of importance and urgency, I was ready to make a start.

It was surprising how much simpler my life became, and in what seemed no time at all, I had crossed off almost a quarter of the jobs on the list!  The only trouble is that I keep adding more jobs to the bottom of the list.

Oh well, I expect I'll get there sometime.

Worth a try perhaps?

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