Why I paint.

Today I had a sharp reminder of why I paint. Or rather, a sharp reminder of what painting means to me.  It’s complicated, selfish but important to me.

Painting is, I have discovered at this rather late stage in my life is the way I experience, peace. And in that silence, at least for a while, I am healed. Call me unrealistic or whatever you like but I admit it…I paint to escape.

The story…

Basically, we were that close to being scammed. That close to have what meagre monies we have torn away.

Unfortunately, my other half (who has recently come out of hospital exhausted) reacted to an email supposedly from our bank telling us that a large payment was in the process of being taken from our account. We did what we usually do when money or rather the lack of it is mentioned in our life, we panicked and clicked on the phone number that offered to help us.

We found ourselves engaged in a conversation with the scum of the earth.

The thing is and of course with hindsight, these people were so obviously scammers it makes us ashamed to think we were deceived so easily and dragged partway down into their swamp. Their manner was hurried, impatient and so obviously unprofessional that how anyone could be as fooled as we were, makes the mind boggle. But we fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

To cut a long story short.

We, slowly, very slowly, realised that the route these despicable human beings were leading us down was unnecessarily confusing. Questions were being asked and scenarios invented…’someone called Mohammed has ordered a mobile phone from Argos in your name’ that raised our suspicions.

After much toing-and-froing we ‘clicked’ we knew something was not quite right and after a quick conversation on another phone with the legitimate bank we ended the conversation with the criminals. Our cards were stopped at source, and we were told that our money was safe. Relief all round.

What fools we were (and how easily it is done)

The panic is only now subsiding leaving behind a mess, a vestige of doubt and the question that will plague us for probably days, ‘is it really all over’.

Anyway,

Tonight, before I go to bed, I will put a curse on the scum who stole a couple of hours of mine and my other half’s life.

But I will not sleep…

So, tomorrow in an effort to heal myself, I will paint.