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On Thursday the 27th, after what had felt like an eternity, my corner of Essex experienced the most epic downpour. It started to drizzle as I left for work, which prompted me to grab a coat, and I made it to work well in advance of heavy rain, but once inside I looked out of the window and watched as the clouds emptied themselves. The rain was sorely needed, albeit with the possibility of bringing new problems, such as flooding, where the earth had been baked rock solid for so many weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There had been the prospect of thunderstorms. Would the rain translate into such a thing? It was still muggy, so it was not out of the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farewells to Legends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The world suffered two quick-fire losses a couple of weeks ago. First, Dolly Parton, noted for her singing but perhaps even more importantly, her activism, passed away, and she was followed by the actor Tim Curry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both left indelible marks in popular culture, and the world is a poorer place for their absence. Their partings also left me thinking. The icons of my youth are slowly passing into the stars, and that’s hard to take. It’s the way of things, but it’s sad. These people are, and always will be, amazing, and they shall be sorely missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following their sad departures from this mortal coil, Peter Cullen, perhaps most famous for voicing Optimus Prime in the Transformers<\/em> franchise, also passed away. It suddenly felt like a bad time to be a legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aggressive Posturing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Fortunately, I don’t mean this in real life, but rather, this is all about a dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’d gone to someone’s house to investigate a ‘something’, and during my investigation into whatever it was, I noted that the guy I was dealing with was quite aggressive. I think heh ad a son with him, an adult son mind, and I recall trying to encourage this lad to get out of his father’s shadow, though of course, dreams can be hazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was also joined by a couple that I think I’ve actually spoken to at work! We wanted to sneak into the garden late at night, and shine darklights around, and we also released kittens into the garden. I have no idea how any of this was useful, but the father figure decided he’d had enough, and kicked us all out, and then decided to get right in my face. We argued, but I can’t remember the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another dream proved generally more pleasant. It involved visiting a previously-undiscovered bookshop (except apparently it had been there for a while). The shop felt like a goldmine of books and geeky nostalgia, and I could have spent an eternity exploring it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Call to Arms… Sort of<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve been looking for beta readers to take a look at The Forest <\/em>and The Reckoning<\/em>, as I’d really like to get them properly looked at before I publish them. When I put a call out on social media, I almost immediately regretted it. There were so many people suddenly pushing services, and I should have expected that. To what degree would they be trustworthy? Maybe some were, but I had to wonder about how many opportunists were coming out of the woodwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would still like to secure beta readers, and I am aware that I can’t expect people to devote their time and experience for free. Perhaps placing a similar call via other avenues will yield better results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feeling Scared<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I write this, it won’t be long before my daughter starts college, at which point she will be out of reach, so to speak. Her journey from my precious little bundle to a young adult with aims, hopes and dreams of her own has been remarkable to see, but as she gets older and she starts to spread her wings, I am more conscious of what my parents must have felt as my brother and I grew up, and left the nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s tough, letting them go. It’s tough merely watching them go off to college, separated by a longer journey and greater distance than ever before. I’ve already conjoured up a scenario involving moving house if we won the lottery, so that her mother and I wouldn’t be so far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the grand scheme of things, we’re not actually that far away, yet it will feel like a chasm. I want her to be safe, I want her to be happy, and I also want her to be independent, yet I also want the power to watch over her, to ensure all those things happen, and if they somehow don’t, I can intervene. It’s the contradiction between protective parental instinct, and teaching my child to be brave and bold enough to tackle the world without a safety net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Day Trips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the wake of a trip to my daughter’s college for a pre-start meeting, we carried on via bus to Southend. Once there, we visited the local Sea Life Centre, and befrore that had fish and chips, as tradition pretty much demands at a seaside town. There were a lot of murials that my wife took photos of, and a lot of walking! I don’t mind admitting that I felt shattered by the end, and whilst we took the bus home, I would have preferred the far quicker option of the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I must also admit to feeling stuffed! It was a very big portion of fish and chips…<\/p>\n\n\n Next, a selection of my wife’s photos:<\/p>\n\n\n I couldn’t help but note how very different Southend’s beach is to the pristine white sands and crystal clear waters of Menorca or Sicily. It made me wistful for those locations!<\/p>\n\n\n The Bite<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something – possibly a spider though I don’t actually know – bit me at some stage, though it only became apparent when said bite – right on my shin – began to itch. Whatever it was, it may have done it twice, as another, smaller bite mark, on the same leg, also provided a measure of itchy fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 17 Years<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My wife and I have now been married for 17 years. It feels sort of surreal that our wedding day was all the way back in 2009, when so many things were different. We lived in a different house, I worked for a different place, a place now completely bulldozed, and our daughter was a twinkle in my eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What hasn’t changed is that I love my wife. She drives me mad, I drive her mad, and we face and fight the world together, as a team, with our daughter and for our daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My wife is an anchor of stability in a universe of chaos. She is my best friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Backstage Chaos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I refer to Meerkat Musings itself! I don’t understand how, but following a raft of plugin updates, the administrative presentation is all screwy. Everything still works and it’s usable, it just looks scrambled. I don’t like it! I don’t immediately know how to undo it either, not without reversing important plugin updates. I think I’ll have to live with this for the time being. Oddly, whether the info displays correctly also appears to depend on what computer I’m using. I’ll never understand the technical side of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ending as Beginning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Tuesday brought more rain, bookending this Muse rather nicely. It came down as my daughter started college, and as I endured a dreary, long day at work. I’ve felt a bit rundown these past couple of days, possibly the result of feeling anxious on behalf of my daughter, and just generally feeling tired. It feels like the past few weeks have been bitty, and busier than I have wanted. I cannot shake a general lethargy at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did wonder if the spider bite might be the cause. I certainly hope not, but then it looked fairly meaty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 60 Years of Star Trek<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s crazy to think that Star Trek<\/em>, one of the most influential modern cultural movements of our time, began 60 years ago. The franchise’s reach has been nothing short of epic, with thousands of hours of inspirational material and broken boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Star Trek<\/em> has left an indelible mark on me. The core messages of the franchise continue to be relevant, and are sorely needed in this broken world. I haven’t found the opportunity to develop an independent blog post on this subject, but I will certain revisit it in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s to a mid-September Muse cycle that is a little more productive, though whether that proves the case remains to be seen. We shall find out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761046212660-962x1024.png\")
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