It's the little things now

The last blog post was titled for my dad - "Be of good cheer" was one of his favourite expressions. He died quite a while ago but November 4th was his birthday and I will have a dram later and drink to "absent friends".  His generation lived or died through the war and got by on cups of tea and cigarettes it seems.  We are luckier. 

Just now many of us are talking about the surreal nature of the impending US election, the enormity of the refugee crisis and the confusion over Brexit - to B or not to B? Maybe it's because I am getting older (just a little) but some days it seems as if the world really is going to hell in a handcart. Rarely has the global picture looked more sombre. 

Somehow we go on with our lives.  We even enjoy them. This poem came to me during a sleepless night and I think it's about this phenomenon. An awareness of our precarious hold on the world combined with a need to "keep calm and carry on".  What's your solace?

It’s the little things now

Sally Givertz

Wandering over this troubled globe

There are – the UN tells us -

more than three million

refugees

And in the States the average mind

has sunk so low, they want to elect

a Primitive Life Form as their

leader

As for our crowded little island

We are become a disunited kingdom

Don’t know whether we are coming or

going.

So today we took a low-key trip

The ordinary stuff – the groceries

A charity shop or

two

Then stopped, this dreich day

to look at the sea, watch the grey waves

and the windscreen grow dappled with

rain.

As the inside gently misted over

we shared a Thermos of coffee

(the real thing, not instant)

and

A fresh, perfect, almond croissant.

Here suddenly, out of almost

nothing, the taste of

happiness

   

3.11.16

Have a good day in a small way.