Month: December 2024

I hope they’ll say ‘a nice man’.

Tell us one thing you hope people say about you.

I hope they’ll say ‘a nice man‘

In spite of all my faults.

I’m not sure there’ll be more to say

When life comes to a halt.

I hope that they’ll know who I was

And it needn’t be explained

That they’ll think I had a good long life I’m not a tragic loss.

I hope they’ll tell the children

Some things I used to say

And share an anecdote or two

Odd things I used to do.

I hope they’ll kind of miss me

But not be awful sad.

I hope they’ll think a good man

And a decent dad.

My first day in Kano

Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.

Kano, Street Scene

My first day in Kano, 1973

First time out of Europe

For the younger me

Quite a revelation

So much life to see.

Six hour flight from London

And yet a world away

I’d often been a stranger

Lived a lot abroad

But Kano was quite different

To anywhere I’d been.

Getting off the aircraft

It was the heat hit me.

I wasn’t used to heat at night

It felt a little strange.

And then, to state the obvious

Well everyone was black.

They belonged, were all at home

And I the odd one out.

I was met there at the airport

By a British Council man

And drove with him

Through Kano streets

That first and memorable time.

It felt like 3D cinema

The picture on all sides

Bewildering, lively, colourful

Too vibrant to be real.

Handcarts, cars and bicycles

Motorcycles too

And of course pedestrians

With bundles on their heads.

There seemed no rhyme or reason

A bewildering busy throng.

The sights, the sounds,

the heat, the smells

Came at us from all sides.

Kano is spectacular

A city made of mud

Well baked in Saharan sun

It’s quite as good as bricks.

There’s modern buildings too of course

But none that looked like home.

I’m booked to stay that first night

in Kano’s Central Hotel

Unused to air conditioning

it is an awful row.

I don’t sleep well that awful noise

And strangely I’m too cold.

It may have been that evening

Or perhaps the following day

That I was persuaded to venture out

With other VSOs.

I’m never quite sure how it is

They mark you out as new.

Perhaps it is the pallid face

Or something in your walk

But every beggar in the town

Makes beeline straight for you.

I did not know the money

Certainly had no coins

But embarrassedly looking

Was enough to make it worse.

You must be surreptitious

Or just not give at all

For any hint that you might give

Will just make things much worse.

There were happier

more impressive sights:

The grace, the colourful clothes.

So many in traditional dress

Respecting who they were.

Two years of happy days spent there

But won’t forget my first.

Friends, Romans, bloggers lend to me your ears.

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

I’ve never been a thespian

And strutted on a stage

But as to public speaking

It’s rather more my thing.

Friends, Romans, bloggers

Lend to me your ears

If speeches are what’s needed

Then I will have no fears.

I can’t do conversations

Or circulate in rooms

But can do public speaking

However big the crowd.

Presentations, workshops

Conferences and such

Or even in a pulpit

Once I used to preach.

I find it so much easier

To be the one in charge.

I’m not lost for things to say

I’ve carefully prepared.

I will not fret upon a stage.

That’s never been my thing.

But if a speech is what you want

I will be your man.

Still Running!

What are your favourite physical activities or exercises?

It always got to be running

How ever often you ask

It doesn’t seem so very long

Since you asked us last.

I’m still an old man running

It’s what I like to do

Though I’m an age when people ask

Are you running still?

Yes I am still running

It makes me feel alive

You stay home with your aches and pains

I’m off up the road.

I’m still running because I can

I can because I do

I’ll still be running while I can

If that’s ok with you?

Use it or lose it’s my motto

And I’ve not lost it yet.

See no reason for stopping

I’m only seventy two.

A list of skills that others have that I could never match.

What is something others do that sparks your admiration?

To catch a likeness done in oils

Or in a simple sketch

Or paint a scene on canvas

That takes away our breath.

To play most any instrument

To draw from it a tune

To lift the spirits, change our mood

Or make us want to dance.

To change a game by sleight of foot

Or maybe sleight of hand

To manufacture winning moves

When all had once seemed lost.

To move us with well chosen words

To lose us in a book

To write scenes that we won’t forget

Or phrases that will stick.

To understand machinery

And know why things are broke

To have the skill to mend a thing

And get it back to work.

To be a conversationalist

Set others at their ease

Know when others need to talk

And let them know they’re heard.

To see the worth in others

Know how to draw it out.

To be a patient teacher

Conquer others doubts.

To unify a nation

And give it common cause.

To find a common purpose

That is not based on war.

To fight for those who are weaker

To champion the poor

Respect the views of others

And have an open door.

The most tip top Top Cat

What’s your favorite cartoon?

Top Cat is the character

That does it for me.

“Top Cat, the most effectual

Top Cat, who’s intellectual

Close friends get to call him T.C.

Providing it’s with dignity.’”

Followed his adventures

On sixties TV

Benny, Spook, Choo Choo

All of the gang

Officer Dibble

Thwarted again.

“Top Cat

The indisputable leader of the gang

He’s the boss, he’s a VIP

He’s a championship

He’s the most tip top

Top Cat.”

And he will have you laughing

No disputing that.

He’s master of the alley

A most amazing cat.

Thwarts poor Officer Dibble

In no end of scraps.

“Yes he’s the chief, he’s the king

But above everything

He’s the most tip top

Top Cat

TOP CAT!”

Catching wretched colds!

What could you do less of?

A thing I could do less of

Is catching wretched colds!

Dreadful sneezing, all bunged up

Or worse a runny nose.

You can’t do what you want to

You’re miserable as hell

And everyone will hate you

Case they get one as well!

I’ve taken all my vitamin D

A substitute for sun

Wrap up well when I go out

And make sure that I’m warm.

As for other vitamins

I’m stuffed with fruit and veg

You can’t say as we grow the stuff

That we don’t eat enough.

Whisper it quite quietly

But perhaps I do too much.

It seems I don’t get injuries

But coughs and colds and such.

Forgetting that I’m 70 plus

I push myself too hard

I fail to get the balance right

And end up off the track.

Thankful for the vaccines

COVID and the flu

I only get a sniffy nose

Never anything worse.

Getting back my voice

What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

This year was not unpleasant

But has my life moved on?

I’m doing stuff I like to do

I’m happily retired.

The grandkids all got older

They’re moving on in life.

It’s nice to mark their milestones

But have I got my own?

There’s places still to travel

There’s places we marked off

But is that an accomplishment

A positive result?

I’m pleased to still be active

I’ve walked and run a lot

But I am getting slower

Not moving on a lot.

I’ve tried to be more social

But still don’t talk that much.

Even though I try quite hard

I’m still the man I was.

Oddly it’s my writing

That I’ve moved on the most

It isn’t brilliant writing

But every day I post.

I haven’t missed a day since June

I’m on here every day

I’m not producing my best work

But getting back my voice.

Thanks for being with me

For sometimes dropping by

It’s good to be back writing stuff

Let’s see where it may go.

First up there’s the squirrels

Do you ever see wild animals?

First up there’s the squirrels

We see them every day

Competing with the garden birds

For seeds we have left out.

I can see a nuthatch now

It’s feeding upside down.

Soon there’ll be goldfinches

And blackbirds on the ground.

There’ll be loads of pigeons

Feral parakeets.

Blue tits, great tits, coal tits

All of those will come.

Greater spotted woodpecker

He will come along.

Starlings, magpies, robin

Red Kites in the sky.

Sometimes there’s a Heron

Comes to get our fish.

We’ve even had a sparrow hawk

Drop down from the sky.

Occasionally in dark of night

An owl up in the tree.

And don’t forget the swans,

the ducks and other river birds

We are near the River Thames

And see them all the time.

Sometimes in the garden

More often in the street

We will see an urban fox

In search of stuff to eat.

Foxes are quite fearless

And will not run away

They will simply stare at you

And then just slink away.

We’re near to Windsor Great Park

And see a lot of deer.

Mostly larger roe deer

But sometimes muntjac too.

Then of course there’s rodents

Hope not to see a rat

But often there are field mice

Or perhaps a vole.

Kerala: The Beach at Kovalam

Do you have a favourite place you have visited? Where is it?

I sat on the beach at Kovalam

Watching India go by

For life comes to you

If you sit very long

Beside the Keralan Sea.

The fishermen first

Will catch your eye

Pushing out their boats.

They cast their nets

Swing back to shore

Dragging the nets behind.

And the tourists join in

As they pull the nets in

Beside the Keralan sea.

And the cameras click

As they pull the fish out

And they wriggle live on the shore.

A red and white lighthouse

Surveys the scene

From its perch up on the rock.

And palm trees line

The sandy beach

Along the Keralan shore.

If it’s shopping you want

There’s no need to move

Besides the Keralan sea.

Sit where you are

No need to shift

The shops will come to you.

With acres of cloth

Or fruit on their heads

The sellers will come to you.

If it’s not what you want

There are ‘sin’ glasses too

Or reading if you prefer.

Families come and swim fully clothed

Saris and all in the sea.

They all have such fun

And bring gran along

As they splash and have fun in the sea.

Nuns will appear,

with children who play

Their habits of every hue

And the whole of the beach

Is a colourful scene

Playing in front of you.

On a darker note

There are youths who run

With abandon into the sea.

They have made themselves drunk

Have not learned to swim

And all too easily drown.

Police whistle and shout

And call the kids in

Warning of Kerala’s currents.

If you’ve not learned to swim

You shouldn’t go in

And risk those dangerous tides.

If you sit long enough

A goat or a cow willwander on up

And want to make friends with you.

You could get bored on a Keralan beach

But God only just how.