Dull, Dreich New Year.

The year begins as I suspect it wishes to go on, dull, dreich, dismal and damp. I took myself out after the Dundee derby played in the usual dull, dreich, Dundee derby style weather and sauntered around the empty streets.  Imagine my surprise to find a near empty 'Argos' shop open for business. One or two other shops also considered it worth while paying time and a half, or even double time, to lose money opening today.  Few people trawling the shops for bargains, clearly many still in bed judging by the closed curtains all around.  Scotland would have been entirely closed today, and probably similar tomorrow, as the effects of the season wore off.  I still after all this time find it amazing that so many folks are keen to work on such a day.   So it's a quiet dreich start, with little in the way of new years greetings from passers-by down here, but that is nothing new, and a new year full of promise and bad weather ahead of us.

The only smiling faces to be seen were those of the dogs in the park.  From the grubby window I watched several happily wagging tails sniffing their way through the early morning gloom.  Well wrapped individuals trailed along, desperate to get back to the fireside, while the dog rummaged through the grass for friends unseen.  Today one hairbrush with a collar noted a rabbit that lives near the car park on the other side and chased after it.  Bunny was quickly back inside the bushes and no doubt deep underground within minutes.  The hairbrush cared little at his loss and made off in the other direction with the owner.  Yesterday the man with several dogs was seen clearly on the white ice covered park. He stood out clearly from the white background as did the mutts wandering about, tails wagging in the frozen ground.  Did they realise it was ice cold?  Yes, but did they care?  No!  The dogs had a whale of a time as always, no matter the weather.  

I did manage to fit in almost three complete football matches but my attention was distracted by becoming hooked on 'Watson's Block Game.'  That irritating block game that is so difficult to stop!

In the real world people pay vast sums for an 'X'-Box or PS something or other and buy violent guns and explosions type games to while away the hours. Rarely do any of these hero's enlist in the armed forces but if they do the training helps.  Me, myself and I however find one of the Solitaire games exciting enough and occasionally something else comes along.  For some years now I have taken periods where I get hooked on the block Game and today has been one of them.  Luckily there were vast amounts of goals being scored to distract me now and again but I did lose concentration on the football.  The problem is I have become addicted to using the keyboard!  If I am watching something on here my fingers demand to press keys.  Therefore I must play the Block Game or find something similar if any exists to occupy my fingers.  Life is so hard when you are an addict!

I hope your day has been good and the new year portends well for each and every one, in spite of all those difficulties we all face.  Remember, it could be worse, you could be English!

       

Hooked!

Watson

I'm hooked!  Every so often a game will cause me to lose days.  The Block Game is doing it today. I had this in times past but it refused to work on Windows 7. However once I increased the memory I went searching for it and discovered it worked.  The problem is I start and cannot finish, unless I make a mistake and look away and the thing falls over itself.  

This is not new, I have found a variety of simple kids games that keep me 'entertained' for days, sometimes weeks.  The 123 Solitaire game of course is always around, but there was a snooker game I once had (or was it Billiards?) that for a period filled hours that ought to have been wasted doing something useful, like eating, sleeping or washing!  

The 'Bouncing Balls' game is also a dumb simple game that is aimed at kids yet I can spend days playing the thing!  Usually I play such games while watching TV or even the football when it gets a bit rubbish!  This keeps my fingers busy as they get fidgety if I am not typing something.  My fingers do not like sitting around and if my mind fails to invent words to write they get very annoyed, these games fill that void. 

I am not one for the larger games that feature car chases, overcoming obstacles to reach an end but my ageing sister has developed a hunger for such as these. Her grandchildren demanded the 'X-Boxes' or 'Wii's' or whatever they use and as they grew older new ones arrived, gran found these dumped on her. Both she and her man waste time struggling through obstacles when in times past folks their age would have been sitting on rocking chairs smoking pipes and knitting. Not quite sure who would be dong which mind.  They say such games keeps the mind active, so does reading a book I say but that is too much for them.  

I will stick to simple games that suit my simple mind, brain stuff is not for me.

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