The Tramp is gone. I am ending this blog and starting a new one. There are a whole bunch of reasons that I will explain but probably the most important one is that last Thursday I signed the papers that will provide me with a small but adequate pension for the rest of my life. I am not a Tramp any more.
The last two and a half years, since I separated from my wife, have been quite difficult.
A little over two years ago I was homeless, broke and quite cold so I met a girl. She was a singer in a seven piece country rock band and she had a house, with a roof on it. So I moved in and lived with her for about six months. She was a very good person but these kind of things don’t really last.
She gave me back my confidence. I was the fellow with the girl on stage. I was everybody’s best friend. We had a lot of fun with band rehearsals and gigging. She also taught me that at this time in my life I want to live alone. That is the way that I want it. I know that I could do other things but maybe later, maybe I have already done them.
The band played a style of music called “Outlaw Country” and some of it was quite raunchy. They wrote a lot of their own stuff but they did a lot of covers too. This is a song that they covered and a nice way to say goodbye.
Well that was Willow, she told me that she loved nature but all she really loved was rock and roll and I need grass and trees, that is just how it is. I hope that she is happy and well.
Tramp has run out of free storage space.
I always intended just to start paying for storage when my free space ran out but Tramp isn’t giving me what I want. In the year that it has been running I have written about five hundred posts and they have all become lost in the mist of time.
When I write something I want it to stay writ and I want to be able to easily find it again. The new blog has a series of pages running along the top that will provide links to everything written. I have only just started work on it so it is not a finished product yet but I will polish it.
Anyway you can just ignore the pages and read the posts. Pages that I create will not appear in your reader, just the posts, so I won’t be constantly bothering you with my trivia.
There will be a lot of this.
There will also be enough of this to keep me happy.
I am using the same template and I have tried to keep the new design as close to Tramp as possible because I know that some people don’t like change. You shouldn’t notice a lot of difference.
Easy Wildflowers is going too but it is just becoming a part of the new blog. It will all take time but Fizz and I have got the rest of our lives now.
For a long time I have been living with the knowledge that I am in trouble and that I don’t know what is coming in the future but whatever it is I am a tough guy and I will cope with it. I have had enough of that, I am bored with it now. Time for something new.
The new title reflects my new status.
No worries 🙂
Come over and see me if you like. Your friendship has kept me going and I owe you.
I look forward to reading your new adventures on your new blog. I will miss Tramp – I learned a lot from him, so thank you:)
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I’m sorry to see the end of Tramp, but looking forward to the new you!
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Bye! And, yes, thanks for your blog posts. I will be looking at tiny flowers a lot more carefully in future rather than just walking by. And that’s down to you!
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You could conserve WordPress storage space by storing photos on Flickr and linking them into your blog posts. They would display almost the same as if you stored them on WordPress (adding a photo caption is a little tricky). Flickr gives you 1 TB of free storage – several hundred times more than WordPress, and photos are what use up WP’s 3 GB so quickly.
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That’s exactly what I do, Ann. Also, it allows your photos to be seen by a lot more people. I use then add the HTML of the Flickr photo, then add: Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr. If the width is different on the next photo you use, it changes the HTML in the text portion of the editor automatically. You can also change the alignment by adding “left” or “center” instead of “right”.
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The comment took out the info before and after the HTML. Email me if you would like this information.
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I always turn on the HTML when I edit anyway – I add the target = blank tag so it opens in a new tab if anyone clicks the image. I also have to add stuff to get a caption if I want one. I really like being able to upload higher resolutions and use more images in my posts without worrying about running out of WP storage.
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I agree with you. I always take the time to change the caption in the text part of the editor.
By the way, you take gorgeous photos. Cheers.
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Have signed up for nre posts on plants and things. And to paraphrase the great Richard Feynman ‘you don’t owe anything to anyone!’ Cheers
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I completely understand the desire to start fresh with a new persona. I’ll follow you and Fizz again in your new space. Happy days ahead for you, Colin. Really pleased to hear you have some stability in your life.
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Your voice will still be heard, thank goodness!
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Already following the new page. Good luck.
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Wonderful news!
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Hello,
I was looking through some blogs I follow last night and saw Tramp and thought I haven’t seen a post in awhile. Then I thought I hope they are ok. Then I get your post this morning, funny that.
Nature and trees are much better that rock and roll any day! I will pop over to your new site to make sure I don’t miss any posts.
Good luck in your new adventures it sounds much more positive for you, I hope it is easier now.
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I’m not weeping for Willow, Willow’s not weeping for me,
I’m just mad about Fizz and Fizz’s just mad about me.
They call me mellow Colin……
Following so you’re not alone again, naturally.
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That’s good! I had to sing along!
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It’s still you, so we will continue to enjoy everything you write and teach us. I’m so glad you got your pension and can relax, cos stability is a wonderful feeling. I’ve already followed your new blog.
On a different note, I need to tell you that Ettel passed away quite peacefully on 5/23. She was tired, and suffered too long, and she was ready to end her fight. She was 87. She learned so much from you and I want you to know that you enriched her life right up till near the end. In the last weeks before she died, you had disappeared. I always emailed your blog to her and she kept asking………nothing from Colin? Does anybody know if he is ok? Do you think he will come back………..?
Sometimes a person doesn’t know what impact they have on other people. You have quite an impact of so many, including one crumpled up old lady in a nursing home, who loved you and Fizz. Thank you for sharing yourself the way you did with her. It meant more than you know.
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Kindness is never wasted!
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I am so sorry to hear that news. I am sorry for your loss and for my own because I knew Ethel.
My own Mother died thirty years ago and she didn’t die peacefully, she died in terrible circumstances. My sister was the head physiotherapist in that private hospital and the only person qualified to perform an operation that would result in the death of the patient. Mum had fluid in her lungs and someone had to put a tube into her and suck the fluid out, it was going to be too traumatic for her in her condition. Anne had to choose to break all of the rules and perform an operation on a relative or to ask an unqualified person to perform an operation that would result in the death of the patient. I went to fetch my brothers and I was coming back through the hospital grounds when I heard Anne’s scream. Bashing through Hospital doors, running, holding her. (There was a lot else, it was cancer and cancer wasn’t easy in those days)
Mum has never left me, we are always together and it is always peaceful. When I wake up I have a wonderful feeling of calm and love and it is just beautiful. I cherish those moments when they happen. People never leave us, so long as there is a place for them in our hearts.
Ethel was a friend of mine. As well as the comments that she left, we would exchange emails, as I am sure you know. I do know how much she enjoyed this blog.
So I let her down and I let you down. A little bit of Fizz would have put a smile on her face. That breaks my heart, it is something that I could easily have given. I will live with that but I am sorry and I will write for her now. Don’t worry, you don’t get rid of Mum’s that easily. Ethel is still here in your heart and in mine, you’ll see.
I can’t write sad for a fellow traveller, I will do gentle laughter and beauty for Ethel and I will call it “Smile because the grass is growing,” I will write as well as I can but probably not until tomorrow because doing this one well is very, very important to me.
I am so sorry to hear your sad news Nancy and equally sorry for my failures. Now I am going to write a post of laughter and love and I know that she will see it.
Colin
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Thank you so Colin but I didn’t mean to say that you left her down, because you didn’t and I want for you not to feel that you did. She still had the memories of your beautiful posts and that wonderful little dog and enjoyed all that for quite a while before she passed on. You gave her good gifts, so don’t ever regret that that wasn’t enough, because it was. Somewhere she knows that you are well and so is Fizz, and that’s all we need to remember.
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Looking forward to your new adventures! 🙂
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Wow. How to reply to this? Your blogs have been great: funny, knowledgable, thought provoking, though I always meant to suggest you edit down the pics – less is more. Good luck with your next life, and look forward to what you can throw at us. Cheers.
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See you there!
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Well, I love Tramp and I will love the New Guy as well. I’ve really been missing you but am so happy that things are working out in a better way for you and Fizz. You are a tough, and delightful man. Thank you so much for opening your heart to all of us who love you. You’re a walking encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge and strength; all of which you’ve learned from the brutal blows of life. I’m proud of you! Happy Trails!
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This is kind of sad:( But I’ll find you on your new blog, in your new space. Starting over is always exciting and leads to places we would otherwise never find. Good luck my friend and thank you all that you have given…things that informed, delighted, made me laugh and things that were beautiful. Have a wonderful life.
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Gosh, I had to read your post twice. Even though we’re only saying goodbye to Tramp and not to Colin, it’s still tough to say goodbye. For awhile I had been dreading the news that you would move to a new place, but now it seems that you will stay on in the Forest of Dean with your bosom friend Fizz? That is a relief.
Boy howdy, I hear ya’ on the part about things being tough in the aftermath of a failed relationship. I can’t at all imagine the strain and distress of going through what you have endured, but I do know the part that goes, “All this, AND I’m alone.” It’s dreadful for the ego. Nice that you discovered ‘on your own’ is where you need to be right now.
I am so glad to hear you have found friendship from your readers. I’m crazy about your posts: the outdoor life, the faeries, the different personalities of the forest and her nighttime creatures, the flirty sheep and cheeky robin. Even Fizz has grown on me. This has never been one-sided. I am grateful to know our collective admiration has lifted you, because your posts lifted me. Thank you thank you.
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Subscribed to your new blog . . . bu, if you had not considered doing so, I suggest leaving this one up. People can revisit old stuff, and new readers will still come across it even if it’s not updated.
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Joining you on the journey, Colin!! Congrats on the financial stability, I know that is a comfort and allows one to move along… Heading over to your new ‘digs’.
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I wish you the best of this world, luck to follow you everywhere you go my friend Colin, I enjoyed your blog a lot, I’ll follow you to the next! 🙂
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i wondered what had happened to you. Still glad you are blogging. I know I will like the new as well as the old blog.
Yu/stan/kema
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I’m glad you’ll still be blogging – you have a real gift for it! Looking forward to seeing more of you and Fizz in your new blog 🙂
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I am so glad you will still be here – I’ve already signed up on your new blog. I’m running out of storage space as well and wondering how to handle it…
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Best wishes on your new venture, Colin. I’m sure you will continue to amuse and educate your many devoted followers.
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Congratulations on the first day of the rest of your new life, Colin. I’m delighted to hear you’ll have an ongoing pension and support because being in a similar position myself, finances are never far from my thoughts.
I’m a great believer in positive change. If you want your life to be different it’s entirely up to you to make it so.
Too many people let others guide the direction of their lives and then complain that it’s not quite living up to their expectations. Be pro-active and take control is my motto.
I’m really looking forward to following your new blog.
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Hello Colin, Glad to see you’ll still be with us. remind me how do I stay in touch once this site has stopped? Stephen
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I am sorry to see the end of Tramp but will look forward to your new blog postings. I have enjoyed your writings very much about nature as I live in the city and lush greenery is rare to the eye. Take car and God bless. Regards, Carol
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Colin, I have been so worried about where you had gone. What a relief. The Tramp has been a phenomenal and huge part in saving me from my own personal experience of death dying and despair. All I can say is goodbye, Thank you and I’ll see you in your reincarnation.
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To New Beginnings!
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I’ve loved this blog and will love the new one, Colin. Am already following it. Very best wishes! x
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Look forward to seeing what you and Fizz will be up to. Was worried when you said Fizz wasn’t going. See you.
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Of course I will be following you and Fizz.
I never thought of you as a tramp, Colin. Just someone who was having a rough time, but still managing to find the beauty in life.
I’m really glad that you have found some security in your life and that things are changing for the better for you.
Keep writing… you have a brilliant talent.
Have you considered writing a book? I think there would be plenty of folk who would love to read about your life. You’re an inspiration. x And one to Fizz. x
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Ah Colin! I am so happy that you are finding your way forward and that I haven’t lost you, my dear friend. I will be following you in your new life.
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Dear Colin and Fizz, we have had quite an adventure together. Our next one will be like the leaves in the fall, a new stage in the seasons.
Free Spirit Mystic
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The Tramp will be missed! but I’m glad your on to something new, a change is good for the sole, it may be scarey, but I believe you & Fizz will do just fine!
Take care Collin and give Fizz a scratch from me!
Teresa (Ladybuggz)
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Good luck on your new venture, I look forward to seeing the world thru your eyes! 🙂
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A really lovely last post. I’m off to check out your new space.
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It’s another chapter of your life 🙂
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Good wishes on your new blog Colin! So glad you left this here for now to let stragglers catch up. I have been away for too long due to medical and other issues and missed a lot. And now I will need to follow you on your new trail. Pleased to know that things are more secure for you, the Farm, Forest and Fizz! See you over yonder 🙂
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