Surprises!

You know, I will freely admit that I am not easily impressed or surprised by people, having dealt with the public in one way or another, for all of my working life. Now that I have retired, dear reader, that has changed a bit. Some of my friends, the ones I meet up with as often as I can, the ones I meet with on a regular basis as part of our art society (membership only by invitation and the agreement of all) have just recently surprised me.

You never know what someone thinks of you until they speak out. In the case of a friend, you will know if they are being sincere because you will have known them for a long time and therefore have the ability to separate politeness, from bullshit, from their true opinion. If I have offended anyone, then hard luck, bulls do shit as do you and I. I did say in previous posts that I have no regard for PC as I think that it is a load of, yes you've guessed it, bullshit! I do not seek to intentionally offend anybody, it is just that I am just a plain speaking old boy, so enjoy or read another blog, it is up to you. (I wonder if I will get a lot of comments because of this paragraph, well, I will wait and see).

Now, I have a couple of art mates that I have known for a very long time. I have the utmost respect for both of them, not just as artists but as men. Both of them are generous to a fault, live life as it should be lived, are both alpha males, but they would rather give something away than take it. Remember a previous post? Give freely so that you freely receive? But I digress, dear reader.

Well, one of them, I shall give him the initials JB to protect the guilty as well as the innocent, turned to me on one of our weekly get togethers and said that he had something that he must tell me. This is not good, I thought, as JB was very straight faced and serious. However, I was wrong (I am sometimes dear reader, but not often).

"John" he said, "You have a talent that I do not want to see you waste." Thinking that he was talking about art, I interrupted, saying that I don't always have the time to paint every day, as I have so many other interests that demand my attention. "No, it's not that" he said. "It's your writing". It transpired that he had been reading my poor excuse for a blog and found that he enjoyed my ramblings. "I had no idea that you could write like that", he told me. I was rather stunned to be honest, even thinking that the punch line to a wind up was soon to come my way., as is our usual habit.  "You should write short stories, or something" said JB. He was serious. I replied by saying that there are thousands of people that write, struggle to get recognition (if it happens, it happens) and never get well known. I just do it for the fun of it! He finished our little confidential conversation by just looking at me, straight faced,  and said "Don't waste it, don't waste your talent."

Now, that had a bit of an effect on me. Firstly, JB, who is an artist far in advance of and beyond my efforts, whom I admire a great deal, is not known for giving praise lightly. He thinks before he speaks and when he does give voice, he means it. By the way, he has an opinion on everything in the universe, just like me, but this really made me think. It is probably the best compliment that I have ever received. Thank you JB.

As for writing other things, well, I might give it a go, sometime in the future. But for now, I will just enjoy this blog, as I hope that all my readers, all over the world, will continue to do so. Keep well and warm, live long and prosper, until the next post......