Spread your wings and fly away

Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you hear, or are about to repeat, a rumor.

In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance that ran up to him excitedly and said, 'Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?'

'Wait a moment,' Socrates replied. 'Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three.'

'Test of Three?'

'That's correct,' Socrates continued. 'Before you talk to me about my student, let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?'

'No,' the man replied, 'actually I just heard about it.'

'All right,' said Socrates. 'So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?'

'No, to the contrary...'

'So,' Socrates continued, 'you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?'

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, 'You may still pass though because there is a third test, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?'

'No, not really.'

'Well,' concluded Socrates, 'if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?'

The man was defeated and ashamed, and said no more. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his wife.

Todays dinner, Chicken and mushroom pie, mashed potato and peas.

I tell my son off for shovelling his food and to eat slowly.

"Can't help it" he says "Your dinners are always so delicious I can't wait till I eat the next thing"

"All the more reason to savour it then" says I , "you should chew slowly and leisurley"

Hubby pipes up "Yes, like i do, I like a nice slow leisurely pee"

I have never been very good at writing poetry, but came across this as I was trying to file some papers away. It isn't brilliant, but it is something I wrote several years ago, when I was probably at my lowest

What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see the makeup, that hide the blemishes
Or a woman who is pretty
Do you see the lines on my face
Or do you see the laughter on my face
Do you see the lines around my eyes
Or do you see the shine in my eyes
Tell me what do you see?

What do you see when you look at me?
Do you hear the laughter that lights up my face
Or do you just hear a noise that you hate
Do you see a woman with personality
Or a woman with something to hide
Do you see a confident woman
Or someone with low self esteem
Tell me what do you see?

What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see a woman well dressed
Or a woman with no clothes sense
Do you see my arms as ones that will hug you
Or do you just see the flab
Do you see a mother of two children
Or do you see someone who is fat
Tell me what do you see?

What do you see when you look at me?
Do you see a good listener
Or am I not worthy of your thoughts
Do you value my opinions
Or am I someone of no consequence
Do you want to know me
Or do you want to ignore me?
Tell me what do you see?

I wasn't going to write about my day so far, but then I sat here and thought what the heck, if people find it boring they don't have to read it, and so I am!

You see it is a bit like that today.

Yesterday hubby came home quite shaken up and not in the best of moods. As he was driving down the road the brakes seized up on his van. Pulling over on a wing and a prayer, he checked it all out and the brakes started working again, so he started to make his way home. As he came of the motorway the brakes seized up again, nothing happened when he pressed on them and so he drove the rest of the way (10mins from motorway to home) holding the handbrake and using that to stop. Thankfully he arrived home safely, without doing any damage to himself or anyone else.

He phoned the office and they agreed to lend him a van, which is great but the office is quite a journey away, in Enfield. So this morning, when the alarm went off, I had to drag my weary body out of bed so that we could be on the road by 7am to drop him of at the office so he could pick up the van. The journey takes about an hour on a good day, if you are caught in the roadworks on the M1 or the M25 is at one of its usual go slows then the journey will take you an extra half and hour.

So off we went, I had less than a quarter of a tank of petrol, and most of that was used up on the journey there, so he gave me some money to get some.

Arriving at the office where he presents various documents he needed to produce and sort out paperwork etc, he collects the keys to the van and then proceeds to tell me how to get home. I knew how I was going to get home, my main concern was getting petrol, and anyway I thought I would pop in and see mum as she lives about 30 mins away from the office, but no Nig, bless his heart, told me at least 3 different ways to get back to the M25. In the end I smiled at him, said goodbye and headed towards Potters Bar to get petrol.

Two petrol stations in and around Potters Bar, one is being redeveloped, the other had no Unleaded petrol. So saw a sign pointing me to Barnet so headed that way through lovely country roads and eventually getting to the M25. Ah thought I, pop onto the motorway and get off at Watford except I didn't get as far as Watford. Had to get off at St Albans as the petrol light started to flash!

Now anyone that knows me well knows that in unfamiliar places, not that St Albans is but where I got off at, I have no sense of direction. So here you see me driving down roads which I thought I recognised and thought I knew there were petrol stations along it, but alas no, not the road I thought I was on. After about 20 mins with the needle being on the minimum amount of red and a petrol light flashing like crazy I saw signs to Radlett. I know Radlett well. I also know there is a petrol station there, but I must have panicked at some point because I kept following these signs but it didn't seem to be getting any nearer. I did find some shops though so pulled over and asked for directions to the nearest garage, which some kind person showed me, and yes, there I was at the garage in Radlett, pulling in and thanking my guardian Angel for getting me there safely.

Now with a filled up car, decided to proceed to my mothers, only to come out of the garage heading in the wrong direction, only noticing this when I saw the sign to St. Albans again (did I mention my awful sense of direction?) but undetterred I turned around and happily made my way to mums for a well earned cup of Tea.

Now I am in my own home thankful that I don't have to go out again - just as well really that I like driving

I hope things are well with you hun, where ever you are.

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by post people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

Which I managed to get posted with the help of AJ's site here

This letter was sent to the principal's office after the school had sponsored a luncheon for the elderly.

An old lady received a new radio at the lunch as a door prize and was writing to say thank you.

This story is a credit to all humankind. Forward to anyone you know who might need a lift today.

Dear St Josephs School:

God bless you for the beautiful radio I won at your recent senior citizens luncheon.. I am 84 years old and live at Grove Park , Home for the Aged. All of my family has passed away. I am all alone and I want to thank you for your kindness to an old forgotten lady. My roommate is 95 and has always had her own radio; but before I received one, she would never let me listen to hers, even when she was napping.

The other day her radio fell off the nightstand and broke into a lot of pieces. It was awful and she was in tears.

She asked if she could listen to mine, and I told her to f**off.

Thank you for that opportunity.

Sincerely,

Edna

Thank you for all your replies to my last post. Despite my cable box and computer saying that I was connected, it seems that my service provider ( who shall remain nameless but is owned by a well known dyslexic millionaire) was actually being worked on several miles away from me but for some reason always affects my connection!!

Anyway I am back now and have had to log into all my groups where usually I am automatically logged on.

Sometimes you just wonder why you bother don't you lol