So the next word on my list of twenty in my self-imposed writing challenge is ‘purpose’, and once again my mind is an absolute blank. I keep thinking ‘porpoise’ which may have been more inspiring, but the whole point of the challenge is to… well, to challenge me. A challenge should be challenging not easy, that’s the purpose of it. So I guess I could ramble on about the purpose of the challenge, but it would be quite dull to write and even more dull to read.
I’m not entirely sure of the difference between a porpoise and a dolphin – so on looking it up, I find the World Wildlife Fund page, and it tells me:
Dolphins and porpoises delight us with their playful antics and warm our hearts with their friendly faces. Marine species are the most well-known, but there are several species that live in freshwater rivers. All are air-breathing, warm-blooded mammals that nurse their young. The difference between a dolphin and a porpoise has to do with their appearance: dolphins have longer snouts, bigger mouths, more curved dorsal fins, and longer, leaner bodies than porpoises.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/dolphins-and-porpoises
I guess if I were one of these marine mammals instead of being a human I would be a porpoise as I definitely don’t have a long lean body. There are many things, including pubs like our local, named after dolphins, but are there many things called the porpoise something-or-another? I’ve just checked if there are any pubs called The Porpoise, and found that apparently there’s one in St Marychurch in Devon – except when I explore this further there isn’t! Just as well I checked otherwise a loyal reader might go in search of it and be disappointed! In my attempt to find something porpoise-related, I came across a book by Mark Haddon called ‘The Porpoise’ which sounds very interesting, so that’s one more on my to-read list.
This ramble hasn’t helped me decide what to write for my next challenge, as I’ve drifted away from ‘purpose’ and swum off with ‘porpoise! So what have I managed to write so far?
Purpose
The woman at the airport, the woman checking passports, had asked me what the purpose of my visit was. I replied holiday and catching up with old friends.
It was completely true…
So, it was completely true… or was it??
Lois Elsden 