Choosing a name for a child is an agonising process for most people - apart from the woman on the ward when I delivered my eldest who named her baby 'Tray', obviously. The name you give a child may lead to glory or shame. Spare a thought for the Theresa Greens and Michael Hunts of this world (think about that second one). I knew of a urologist by the name of Richard Skinner. I have no idea what became of poor baby 'Tray'. Maybe she's a genius and her friends love her, or maybe she's routinely humiliated because her mother named her after the first household object that came to mind.
Naming my blog was almost as agonising as naming my offspring, I can tell you. I had wanted to call it 'Nice person, wrong planet' but there are clearly other space cadets out there with the same idea, as a simple Google search produced many a displaced nice alien. I racked my brain and wrung out my creative juices. After all, having conceived this blog, I am now responsible for it.
The name ‘Flying Saucer Hamster Wheel’ appeared to me – literally- following another Google search for ‘hamster wheel’. The idea of a hamster wheel being that the poor creature on the wheel keeps running and gets nowhere. I have often thought us humans are much the same; forever striving for unattainable goals and finding no happiness in the relentless pursuit of them. Sometimes you need to just step off the wheel and gnaw a bit of bark or scratch behind your ear. Or maybe, sometimes, you need a flying saucer to whisk you away.
When I step off the wheel I like to read. I also like to write-but if you’ll excuse me for now, I’ll just be in the corner nibbling on a carrot stick. Unless, that is, I happen to spot a passing alien craft...