Fairy Hanny

Monday 30th June

An interesting and embarrassing day!

Of course woke with a mixture of jet lag and a hangover. It turns out the beer bottles here cost fifty thousand rupiah, which is about £2,20, and each one is 620 ml. A pint in the UK is about 570 ml and costs between £4 and £5, unless you’re a knob who lives in London and happy to pay £7 a pint; still they get paid more in London and pay £1000 a month to rent a box room in a terrace in the East End.

Breakfast was cheap. I asked for a ‘continental’ breakfast, which was interpreted as two slices of toast, scrambled eggs, butter and a sachet of jam! But it was only 70p so I am not complaining.

Nobody in the pool at midday, though it was very busy when I got up at 8. The other great thing to note is that there Arnt any towels on the sunbeds. Last year when I was on holiday in Turkey, the sunbeds were all ‘towelled’ by 0800, though nobody was on them. I think European travellers can be cunts sometimes.

Mid/late morning wandered down the road to KFC – I know, crap traveller. Long queues but I eventually got chicken and chips … Took my life in my hands crossing the road. Apparently this is one of the main roads north out of Denpasar and is always busy. Went to K Circle and bought a six pack of Bintang, the local beer. I probably should have gone back to the hotel and put it in the fridge, but no – Peter is more sensible. Headed off to the beach with it in my backpack. Walked for miles along the beach – I need to go back and sit down to listen to the waves.

Photo by Asad Photo Maldives on Pexels.com

After a convoluted walk I eventually found my way back to the hotel. It turns out KFC is one of my landmarks – bizarre.

Jumped into the pool and swam ten lengths. It’s about 10m so happy; 2m at the deep end. Nobody else in the pool. It appears the hotel fills up mostly with Indonesians and they don’t swim in full sun, Mad dogs and Englishmen…

Back to Google Maps – is there a bar nearby? Well yes there is and it is called ‘Sunshine 88’ and it is right next door to the hotel. Turns out to be a karaoke bar, but they serve food and beer. My first time for listening to Indonesian Karaoke. Some great singers and the girls who work there help to dispel the myth of the petite Asian woman!

At the end of the evening I went to pay with my card – ‘we don’t take cards. Cash only’. I didn’t have enough cash!’ One of the girls offered to put me on the back of her scooter to take me to a cashpoint; I don’t do two wheels anymore – still suffering from the motorbike accident in 1982! So I walked down the road to a cashpoint. Neither of my cards would let me have any money! Both rejected. Which was weird because I had used my NBO card in the supermarket and KFC, without a problem.

Embarrassing.

We went back to Sunshine 88 and there was a guy out there who helped as an interpreter. I offered £15 which was something like ninety thousand rupiah more than the bill. They accepted.

Will I go back?

Probably – beer is less than £3 for a massive bottle and the food was good!

Back at the hotel I did an online chat with my bank. My card is fine, no blocks on it. Must be a problem with the ATM.

Also noted the card runs out at the end of July so how can I get my replacement?

Another mini hurdle!

Sunday 29th June.

Oman Air flight 922 had disembarked at Muscat airport and I was wandering around by half past midnight. The next flight was due to leave at 0220 so less than two hours to sit and wait. It was often the same at airports, a couple of hours between flights. Though there was one time. when I was going out to Chengdu that there was a very quick turnaround at Schiphol airport, only 55 minutes. When I got to the check-in gate they wouldn’t let me board as they said my suitcase wouldn’t be loaded on time. So I had to wait an extra three hours for the next flight. The irony was that when I arrived at Chengdu my luggage was not there and I had to wait a couple of days for it to catch up with me!

There is a WH Smith shop in Muscat airport, always a good place to mooch about. I bought the fourth Thursday Murder Club and a Gerald Seymour. I also discovered that it’s a great place to allow the exhaust gases to escape, covered by a loud voice announcing a departure. I think it’s the constant pressure changes and the crap food they serve on airlines. When I sat in the departure lounge I realised I’ve read the Murder club book already.

I once had an eight hour stopover at Vnukovo Airport, Moscow, on my way back from Kazakhstan. It was relatively new at the time and the only all night place was a Burger King. Being Moscow, it sold beer.

We were able to board the Oman Air flight 849 in plenty of time and were all settled and ready for take-off. A French couple sat next to me – I had an aisle seat this time. Within seconds they had their eye masks on and settled down to sleep; I find it difficult to sleep on flights. Then the pilot announced there would be a slight delay due to a connecting flight from Riyadh being late. We waited another hour and fifteen minutes before we were able to depart. Something to do with all the war criminals like Netanyahu, Trump and the fella in Iran causing flight delays and cancellations as they were swinging their Dick’s at each other. It’s always the same; the big mouthed ‘leaders’ shout bollocks at each other and the working-class soldiers go off to die.

The French guy next to me was trying twat games and man spreading but I would let him do it. Trying to slide his feet under the seat in front of me, leaning into my side to intimidate – doesn’t work. I remember one flight out from London when I had one of those seats with extra legroom and no seats in front of me, only to find I was sat in the middle of two massive monsters – they couldn’t intimidate either; I made sure I was regularly banging my tray and monitor into place.

The flight to Jakarta was meant to be seven and a half hours, and yet despite the delay we still arrived on time! So much for schedules. On the flight I watch both of the recent Dune films. Back in school days my mate Coddo was a big fan of Frank Herbert and persuaded me to read both books. I like them and remember Paul Atreides, the Harkonnen’s, Bene Gesserit and Muad’Dib, but they didn’t capture my soul the way Tolkien had.

When I arrived at Jakarta, CGK, I found I had to collect my luggage and check-in again as the next stage was an internal flight. So back through passport control and up to the check-in desks. The first sign said check in at desks E1 to E6. When I got there it was the wrong ones – it should have been F1 to F6. Maybe my eyes were just tired from lack of sleep. Funny thing was that many of the people at saw at the E desks were on the same flight as me!

There we go, just under two hours on GA420 and I was in Bali! I had ordered a taxi via Booking.com which was sent to meet me at International Arrivals and I was at Domestic arrivals! I was lucky enough to get an airport golf buggy across; not that it mattered as the taxi driver was an hour late. When we headed away from the airport I could see why – the traffic is fantastic! Too much – cars, trucks, busses, and motorbikes chopping and changing and swerving all over the road.

It was about 1030 when I got to the hotel after travelling for twenty-two hours, and I was wide awake. Got to my room, had a shower, and changed and headed back downstairs. The reception area also has a cold fridge where they keep beer, so I ordered some! They are 620 ml and cost 50,000 rupiah, which seems a lot but is about £2.26. Bed just after midnight and tomorrow I will acclimatise and start reviewing writing and publishing plans. Of course this diary will go on my blog!

As I lay on my bed dozing off I realised that somewhere over the Indian Ocean I had crossed the equator for the first time and I am now in the Southern hemisphere!!!

Saturday 28th June.

Going on Holiday!

School finished a few days ago, with an odd ending. From the stary of the academic year it was written in the school calendar that we would finish on Thursday 26^th. (Note – the school is in Oman and the work week runs from Sunday to Thursday). We had forewarning that the Islamic New Year (1st of Muharram) would be around about that date and so the Principal worked on the assumption that the 26^th would be a public holiday. So he planned the last week like this-

Sunday and Monday as normal school days (not that many students turned up).

Tuesday – end of term celebrations at the Sultan Qaboos complex in Salalah. Pupils would put on acts and receive prizes etc. There was also an Art Show. The whole thing was opened by some big wig from the Ministry of Education. It was a nice morning. Staff had to arrive by 0830 and the whole place to be clear by 1230. It meant I had a chance to get in an early swim at my compound in Hawana, though I only managed a dozen lengths, which is 240m; I suppose it would sound better if I said a quarter of a kilometre.

Wednesday – all staff to come to school by 0800 and could leave at 1400. There was a meeting ‘well done, thanks etc.’ Then off to classrooms to sort out and prepare for next year.

It turned out that the spotting of the Moon was at a different time and the public holiday was declared for the 29^th – best laid plans etc.

Now I really did think that I was going to be very busy that day sorting out my room for my successor – and it turns out I am my successor!

Back in April I was offered a job as a Maths teacher at a school in Kuala Lumpur where an old friend of mine is head of the secondary school. Things looked ok though there was a pay cut; I was ok with that as I knew I would not need a rental car in the City, and rents were lower, so I could see that at least half of the pay cut would be reduced. Later on I found that pay is taxed…

Then in May I was offered the chance to move to our new school in Muscat; this will be the third school owned by the company, as we have this main one here an Salalah and another in Duqm (which I never pronounce properly). I was also offered a pay rise to move!

So, being a clever little Maths teacher I sat down with pen and pencil and calculator. Conclusion – because of tax and reduced income the school in Muscat would mean my take home pay would be nearly £2000 a month more!!!

No brainer.

Apologised to John in KL – sorry mate! And stared preparing to move to Muscat.

Then on Sunday 21^st June the Principal hit me with some news – the Ministry of Education in Muscat would not give me a work visa because my degree is in Physics and I would be employed as a Maths teacher! So 4 years to get my Physics degree, of which almost a third of the courses were Maths, counts for more than 40 years of Maths teaching.

Feckin eejits as we like to say.

There we go – 4 days before you’re set to go and everything changes. I’ already told the letting agency I was leaving at the end of the month, so had to get that sorted too – I thought I would get away with not having to pay rent for two months.

Feck it – so I have at least one more year in my five-star resort on the Sea of Oman; life is a bitch sometimes.

I’ve been waiting a while for my updated Medical Insurance card as the current one expires on the 30^thof June. I need it so I can get my medication for the summer – I have a minor heart condition and one day it will stop working… Still nothing so I went to the Pharmacy today to collect everything with the aim of paying up front and then claiming money back when I come back to Salalah. The Pharmacist looked and my prescription and would not fulfil it as it was dated the 18^th. I didn’t have time to see the doc and get a new one. I will probably have to visit a clinic in Bali or Phuket and then contact the insurance company. The girl from HR says she will send me the Insurance document as soon as she gets it.

I packed and drove to the airport and handed over my rental at twenty past seven, three hours before my flight. How to describe Salalah Airport? It’s an airport, which these days means an expensive shopping Mall where bored people will buy any old shit. I know because I bought some Calvin Klein aftershave at a stupid price. There is also a Subway which provided my evening meal.

I sat contemplating plans for my holiday;

Try to work out something with my sons,

Get The Death of Mr Dick ready for publishing,

Gomplete the first draft of St Neds,

Find out about putting the Fairy Hanny books onto Goodreads,

Research more on Thinkific,

And a million other things.

Flight was called on time – I think we get into Muscat round midnight. Then the flight will take me to Jakarta, then change for Bali.

Four weeks in Bali and I have no idea what it will be like!

Reduce confusion – be you

It can be incredibly fulfilling to embrace where you are right now.

We miss out on the richness of the present when we obsess about where we need to go next or worry about milestones and timelines.

But even when things are moving seemingly slowly, trust that transformation is in progress.

Tune in to the lessons that life is teaching you right now.

Even in the face of adversity and uncertainty, there’s always an opportunity to create positive change.

There is joy and meaning in every chapter of your journey.

Approach each day with openness, curiosity, and gratitude.

Ten Types of Journals You Can Create

What do you want to write about?

When you begin journaling it will likely occur to you that having more than one type of journal might be the best way to keep everything organized better. When you have more than one type of journal, you can simply go to the specific journal to work on one issue at a time or keep something organized so you can make better decisions.

1. Bullet Journals – This type of journal is useful for anyone who has lots of to-do lists, loves using a pen and paper, and who enjoys goal tracking. Your journal should have a table of contents that you create as you add to the journal so you can find things. You’ll use symbols, colours, and lines to make your bullet journal. You should be able to understand at a glance what’s on the page.

2. Vision Journals – You may have heard of vision boards and this is essentially it, except it’s a journal that helps lead you to your vision. The way it works is that you set up the journal to have only one goal per page. Then you can write words, add pictures, or draw something that enables you to make plans to reach that goal. When you do reach the goal, be sure to go back and add the date of achievement.

3. Line a Day Journals – Basically this journal is what it’s called – you write down only one line a day. You will simply write in the journal a short line about what you did that day. It should be only a sentence or two at the most, and should not take up that much space in your journal. Some people like using a calendar and a pen for this.

4. Classic Journal – This is simply a diary, and you can write whatever you want in it every day. It can be long, short, or you can skip days if you want to. The classic journal is just like the diary that you may be kept as a child. You write whatever you want in it daily.

5. Prayer Journal – This is a particular type of journal where you essentially act like your diary or journal is your higher power. Write God your prayers instead of saying them. Write them down so you remember them and can look back on them.

6. Dream Journal – Some people really like tracking their dreams because they believe that dreams provide signs for life. If you want to track your dreams, you have to train yourself to write in your dream journal every morning while you still remember the dream. Write about the dream and then research what it means and write about that too.

7. Food Journal – Write down everything you eat every day. Some people like to include the calorie contents and so forth. It can also help to write down why you eat it, how you felt about eating it, and things like that.

8. Travel Journal – A wonderful way to remember your travels is to keep a travel journal. Some people like making one for each trip so that it’s easier to remember. You can write your thoughts in your journal, but you can also attach tickets, pics, and memories.

9. Gratitude Journal – This is just what it sounds like. It’s a journal where you record each day what you’re thankful for and grateful for. Nothing can be negative in this journal because it’s designed to help you think more positively.

10. Project Journal – This is a handy journal to keep, especially for anyone who regularly works on projects. Keeping a journal of each project you work on that records actions taken, results, and data, will help you improve every project but will also help you look back on this one with excitement.

If you want to journal to help work through a problem, keeping specific journals for different things is an effective way to go about it. It’s also a great way to store your thoughts and memories for the future in a more organized and useful manner.

Reaping the Benefits of a Gratitude Journal

It might seem like a pipe dream that writing in a journal could be so beneficial. But the scientific evidence is in, and gratitude journals do benefit you in big ways if you keep one for the long term and use it daily.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Experience Stronger and More Fulfilling Relationships

It’s so simple, but it can be hard to accept. You are the one who makes yourself happy with your own choices. Another person cannot make you happy or grateful. Only you can do that. But something amazing happens when you express gratitude often – your relationships simply open up and become better. Those that don’t, you start to recognize for what they are and let them go.

Become Physically Healthier

Being grateful for the ability to move and breathe will eventually cross over into wanting to ensure that you can always do that. Therefore, you’ll be more motivated to go on walks, eat right, stay hydrated, and live in gratitude for every aspect of your life.

Increase Your Mental Dexterity

The ability to take lemons and turn them into that sweet, delightful state drink of Arizona can be gained by keeping a gratitude journal. The main reason is that you will learn on even a bad day to pick out the good in it. That requires a good imagination and creativity and thinking on your feet.

Feel Less Aggression in Your Life

It’s hard to feel aggressive if you are happy and grateful. It’s okay to be angry about injustices in the world without being aggressive. But if you feel angry a lot due to your life, it’s really due to not finding the things to be grateful about. There is almost always something for most people.

Act and Become More Empathetic

As you write more and learn to forgive yourself as you seek to fill your mind with thoughts of gratitude, you will start seeing others differently. You’ll have more ability to put yourself in their shoes and see things from their way without judgment. It happens when you learn to forgive yourself.

Get More Restful Sleep

If you’re not anxious but go to sleep each night feeling thankful for everything you’ve experienced (or at least most of it), it’s easier to sleep because you have less anxiety.

Get More Done Every Day

Due to feeling more rested, less stressed, and more grateful, you’ll have a lot more energy to get things done every day. That’s always going to make you feel even more thankful because good things happen due to productivity.

Feel Better about Yourself

You can’t help but feel better about yourself when you have improved so many good qualities about yourself. Your self-esteem will go up when you express gratitude for what your mind and body can do for you.

If you want to be happier, get more done in life, and experience real joy in life, a gratitude journal can be the way to achieve it. The guiding thing to remember is that your thoughts cause your feelings, and you are the one in control of the actions you take once you accept your feelings. Accepting that you do have control is half the battle, and your journal will make it clear that you do.

Journaling to Help with Stress

Stress affects almost everyone at some time in their lives. For some people, it’s more of a problem with their genetics and for some, it’s due to their situation. Whatever reason you are stressed, congratulations for recognizing it and wanting to do something about it. Here are some good ways to journal to combat your stress.

Write Daily for 5 to 15 Minutes

The thing about journaling that is important is you need to do it daily long term for it to really work. It takes a lot of writing and insight to figure out why you’re dealing with stress and how to overcome it.

Write about Your Worries

Go straight to the problem and write about your worries. Describe them from every single angle you can come up with. The more descriptive, the better. Go back to the first time you felt this feeling regarding this topic so that you can get to the bottom of it.

Describe What’s Happening Now

Put out of your mind what you did, what someone else did, or what can be done – right now write about precisely what is happening right now and where you stand with the issue causing your stress. If it’s generalized stress, try to make a list of things that might be contributing.

Document the Worst That Can Happen

As you look at the situation, one thing that often causes stress is the unknown, or the “worst thing” that you think can happen. Describe this worst thing but make it realistic. For example, don’t make up something like an airplane falling on your wedding party. That isn’t realistic. However, bad weather, rude in-laws, and other issues may be.

Document the Best That Can Happen

Let’s get serious by thinking about and writing about the very best (realistic) outcome of the situation you’re stressing about. Include potential steps and tactics to achieve this best-case scenario so that you can see it to fruition if you so choose.

Document What Is Really Happening

As you are writing, be very careful to be realistic and honest above all else. Other than when you imagine the best and worst, ensure that you are also documenting the reality of what is happening to you right now. That way, you can narrow down identifying the stress-inducing situation.

Write a Counterargument to Yourself

A really good way to overcome some stress about a situation is to argue with yourself. First, tell your story as a letter to yourself about what is happening. Then write a letter back to yourself in answer, arguing all the negativity and turning it into positivity. If your best friend wrote that, what would you say back?

It’s surprising that writing can accomplish so much, but if you go into journaling to help with stress under the right attitude and with a goal in mind, you can achieve a lot. The important thing is that you need to be honest with yourself so that you can find out the true causes of your stress. In this way, the actions you take to overcome it really are effective.

Journaling to Help Combat Loneliness

It really doesn’t matter what your issue is; if you want to overcome it, you can find a way to use journaling to help. You can set up a particular type of journal like a gratitude journal to help yourself become more thankful for what you do have, and you can also keep a bullet journal and set goals to overcome the loneliness you’re experiencing if more social connections will do it. The possibilities are truly endless.

Let’s look in more detail at how journaling can help combat loneliness.

Allows You to Explore Your Thoughts and Feelings

Journaling can help to simply focus on writing expressively your thoughts and feelings surrounding the loneliness that you are feeling. If you can write about each part of your feelings, and when you first noticed them, you may identify the core cause of the feelings. When you do that, you can develop a plan to solve the problem.

Gives You a Way to Express Your Thoughts and Feelings

Writing is a time-honoured way of expressing thoughts and feelings safely. You never have to let anyone read it. You can write it down in the form of letters to people, or to yourself, or even to someone you don’t know that you keep for yourself when you’re done but completed to get it out in the light to study by you.

Provides a Way to Understand Your Thoughts and Feelings

Sometimes you may not even know what you are feeling. It can be hard to understand and express what we feel even to ourselves. But when you focus on writing it down, it can help you understand everything in a new way from a new direction that you may not have considered.

Helps Foster Social Connections

It might seem like a strange notion to consider, but writing can even help you foster social connections. The main reason is that as you read through what you’ve written, you’re going to discover ways to overcome your situation to find the healthy social connections you need.

Helps You See the Big Picture More Easily

Looking back at the things you’ve written over time about any topic can provide insight into the situation that you never saw coming. That’s because having the journal to look back on provides a way to see the bigger picture. You may feel super-lonely today, but it’s still less than yesterday, which lets you know it’s going to get even better from here.

Provides a Means to Understand and Organize Your Thoughts

Writing things down, especially when you choose a particular method like the bullet journal, will help you get your thoughts down in an organized and useful way. When your thoughts are a jumble, you might not see the real point but when they’re organized, it makes all the difference. For example, in writing it all down, you may realize that your loneliness is really due to being with the wrong partner who does not value you.

You’ll Sharpen Your Observation Skills

Once you start writing regularly and it’s become a habit, something amazing will happen. Your observation skills will be sharper, and you’ll have an easier time coming up with descriptive and expressive words to use in your journal. This is going to lead to even more breakthroughs due to having more clarity.

Focuses Your Gratitude Skills

Something funny happens when writing in a journal, even if it’s not specifically a gratitude journal per se. What happens is that as you’re writing (even if you’re upset), you’ll become calmer – especially when you read it back. You’ll become grateful for what you do have that is positive in your life, even if it’s simply the ability to breathe in and out today.

If you want to combat loneliness, consider writing about and exploring why you feel lonely. You also should remember to read the definition of “loneliness” to ensure that this is what you are really experiencing. No one ever needs to be lonely, even when they are alone, if they know how to work through their thoughts and feelings. Journaling can help with that.

The Genius of Journalists

Don’t do this in your Journal…

How to Make Your Journaling More Effective

Any type of journal that you keep can be beneficial. It doesn’t matter if it’s just to document your life or to work through problems – you can use a journal to do it all. From tracking your projects to documenting vacation to overcoming anxiety, a journal will work for you if you pick the right type and make journaling a ritual.

* Find the Right Medium for You – For some people, that’s pen and paper. Many experts claim that’s the best way because of its simplicity. However, you have to do what works for you, and what works for you is what you will do daily. If you make it too hard, you won’t do it.

* Turn Journaling Daily into a Habit – To be most effective, journaling has to go on for a long time. It’s a long-term strategy to improve your life and not something that is going to have any effect overnight. For this reason, ritualize your journaling so that it becomes a daily habit.

* Set Up a Comfy Journaling Spot – Find a good space you can journal in each day, one which is relaxing and without stress. Some people like to keep their journal by their bedside so that each night when they get into bed, they can quickly write in their journals.

* Choose the Right Style of Journal for Your Needs – The type of journal you want to keep depends on how you plan to use it. You may want to track a project, in which case you’ll need a project journal. If you want to simply document your life, you’d want a classic journal.

* Use Your Journal to Work Through Life and Reach Goals – Don’t just write in the journal; actively seek to improve something in your life – whether it’s the thoughts which drive your feelings or improving your actions so that you experience more success.

* Consider Using More Than Writing to Document Your Life – You don’t need to just use text. You can use images, pictures, tickets, and other memories inside your journal too. Sometimes a few pictures and mementos mean more than anything you can write to help you remember.

* Read and Reflect Occasionally – Take at least a few minutes to re-read parts of your journal. Once you’ve kept it for a year, it’s fun to go back and read the same day from last year to find out what’s different now and what’s the same and why.

* Keep Your Journal Secure – You don’t want to worry about anyone getting into your private business when you’re not around, so keep it hidden. If it’s on your computer, keep it password protected.

If you know why you want to journal, it’ll be easier to figure out which type of journal you need to keep to make your journaling more effective. Sometimes you just want to document your life, while other times you want to work through something difficult. It really depends on your goals and the point of the journal.