Today because we‘re all at sea.. I‘ll take a little time.

What could you do differently?

Today I can write differently

We’re literally at sea;

I’ll try for better poetry

Spend a little time.

I tell myself repeatedly

Not to write so rapidly

Jotting thoughts down randomly

With here and there a rhyme.

It changes things appreciably

Approaching them quite differently

As hopefully you’ll clearly see

When I just take more time.

Today I‘ll write more carefully

Organise more thoughtfully,

Use a structure that’s less free;

Has more consistent rhyme.

So today we‘re all at sea

And there is more time for me

I didn’t write so hurriedly

I tried to take my time.

Billboard on a Freeway!!

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

Billboard on a Freeway?

The premise won’t translate.

Advertising hoardings

Are banned on motorways.

In the U.K. they’re illegal

On busy motorways.

We just like our drivers

To focus on the road.

So I’ve a ‘Freeway Billboard’

I guess it’s U.S.A?

My message to Americans,

‘Have you picked the right road?’

Here’s some words I did before….

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

Day Two in Santiago

Another busy day.

I’m bound up in the present

So hope this is ok?

I don’t dwell much upon the past

Or think too far ahead

I’ve sufficient on my plate

Dealing with today.

Here’s some words I did before

I hope they‘ll do today?

I had to drag them from the past

But hope they‘ll be o.k?

The past is past, it’s gone it’s flown.

No point dwelling on regret;

It won’t come back.

The chance’s blown.

For all we sit and sigh and groan.

However much we sit and fret.

The past is past, it’s gone it’s flown.

The things back then we wished we’d known.

Lessons we learned we won’t forget.

It won’t come back the chance’s blown.

There may be chances to atone

A different option, better bet.

The past is past, it’s gone, its flown.

We learned the lessons we have grown

The future hasn’t happened yet

There’ll be new chances not yet blown.

Let go the past, though don’t forget

We’ll grasp the future not yet met.

The past is past, it’s gone it’s flown 

The future we will make our own.

If only I were competent

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

In Santiago Chile

We just got here today

Two hours flying to Madrid

And thirteen hours from there.

I should have been reflecting

But there’s so much to take in

I’m such a lucky person

To be where I have been.

And now you’ve caught me on the hop

Not knowing what to say

What more is there to ask for

When I have the life I have?

The thing that I’m most lacking

I fear’s not in your gift

If only I were competent

And deserved the life I live.

Instead I bumble through in life

Make the most awful gaffes

Can you help me get a grip

That’s the gift I need.

This really is a boring prompt!

What colleges have you attended?

This really is a boring prompt

The very worst of all!

How to make that interesting?

I really do despair!

I’ve got better things to do

A really busy day

I cannot see the point of this

So bidding you adieu.

If there isn’t time to play – then what is our life for?

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

Do I play in my daily life

You have to bet I do.

If there isn’t time to play

Then what is our life for?

It’s work that makes the world go round

There’s stuff we have to do

But once essentials have been done

There should be time for you.

I’m retired don’t have to work

I still have household chores

But once they’re done

My time is mine.

There should be time to play.

My wife would say

I play too much

And leave too much to her

But I don’t always see the point

There’s no inspector calls.

There’s not much time to play today

I nearly messed my streak.

I had to put my toys away

And get on with real life.

Another day there’s fantasy

The Fantasy Premier League

Or running round the morning streets

Like some demented kid.

What to me says ‘playtime’

Is any time I’m free .

You never get too old to play

You grow old if you don’t.

So what will be the challenges I face in the New Year?

What are your biggest challenges?

So what will be the challenges

I face in the New Year?

First up there’s accepting

That I need to change at all.

You get to be a certain age

You get stuck in your ways.

I know I’m less than perfect

But I’ve always been this way.

You can just give up trying

Accept things as they are.

Must there always be a challenge?

Do we need to raise the bar?

Too often I’m a passenger

I do not pull my weight

I don’t initiate or plan that much

I more just tag along.

I’m very bad at friendship

I fail to keep in touch

If others made no effort

I’d not go out that much.

I’d not say that I’m lazy

I do my share of work

But mostly stuff that interests me

And other stuff I’ll shirk.

I’m loving my retirement

And time to call my own

But do I have a purpose?

I’d have to say I don’t.

So time for reappraisal

To think through what I’m for.

There won’t be changes quickly

But I’ll let you know the score.

Right now our biggest challenge is packing for a trip

What are your biggest challenges?

Right now our biggest challenge

Is packing for a trip.

A journey half across the world

Through different climate zones.

London, South America

Changing in Madrid.

Then Chile, Argentina,

Uruguay as well.

Falklands and Antartica

We plan to see them all.

The question is just what to pack

For different climate zones

From South American summer days

To chill Antarctic cold.

And add to that we’re on a ship

And should dress up at night

A good four weeks away from home

That is a lot to pack.

It’s knowing what you ought to take

And what to leave behind.

We’ve paid for extra luggage

But still must work it out.

Not that I’m complaining

It’s one terrific trip

The last long journey we’ll maybe do

Before we get too old.

Once a year we’d all be Scots

My dad‘s half Scots so New Year‘s Eve

You could‘nae be a sassenach

We‘d stay up late for Hogmanay

See old year out, a new one in.

He’d take a dram

And call us ‘bairns‘

And we’d be doing Highland flings

And swirling round as if in kilts

Accompanied by the skirling pipes.

And Andy Stewart on TV

Would host the Beeb‘s White Heather Club

And once a year we‘d all be Scots

And join in all the Scot‘s laments.

We‘d keep one eye upon the clock

We might be tired but none could sleep

Before it’s hands were at the top

And we had seen the New Year in.

And come the hour we‘d cheer, we’d hug

Our mum would give each bairn a kiss.

The arms would cross for Auld Lang Syne.

We’d sing to let the New Year in.

Then every window, every door

At dad‘s insistence we’d fling wide

And we’d feel the chill as the old year went

And a cold wind brought the new one in.

And we’d look for a neighbour

To cross our hearth with lucky coal

We’d seek a stranger dark and tall

Then luck would call.

But it often happened I recall

Sassanachs slept and none would call

Our celebration all gone flat

We’d go to bed and dad would drink.

A Happy New Year to you all Scots and Sassenachs alike!!

There is no going back

What makes you feel nostalgic?

It’s hard to feel nostalgic

And to long for what is past.

My life‘s been episodic

And nothing ever lasts.

I do not have a childhood home

One place where I grew up

Too much of it is history

There is no going back.

JHQ Rheindahlen, Germany – once a major army base now derelict.

Former homes abandoned

Or covered with barbed wire

Abandoned Famagusta

A town that time forgot.

Famagusta, Cyprus abandoned following the Turkish invasion.

My father was a soldier

We learned to not look back.

It’s good to be reminded

But bad to have regrets.

There are people who I miss now

Who are no longer here

I think of them with sadness

For the times that we once shared.

We‘ll recreate the times we had

With those still with us now.

The best things from our former life

We‘ll try to carry on.

We‘ll still enjoy the tunes we did

The pictures that we took

But there’s no time for nostalgia

We must live in the now.