There’s a lot of little things…..

When are you most happy?

I’m never totally happy

I don’t deserve to be

I can’t forget the flaws in me

Or how things ought to be.

But there’s lots of little things

That make the heart feel glad.

A welcoming, impromptu smile

Forbids you to be sad.

Enjoyment in a young child’s face

The world seen through their eyes.

The things that we find commonplace

Delightful, a surprise.

A look caught in my partner’s eye

That tells me she still cares

A small show of affection

That takes me unawares.

A family come together

That don’t meet up enough.

The thrill of clever grandkids

Showing that they’re smart.

The thrill of entertainment

That passes through a crowd

When someone scores a goal or try

Or hits a special note.

The hit of morning coffee

Perhaps a special meal.

Meeting an old friend again

Knowing love is real.

Being out in greenery

Enjoying the fresh air

A spring allotment fresh prepared

All its crops fresh sown.

The special feeling runners get

And call a runner’s high

When everything falls into place

You flow and touch the sky.

There’s no one thing makes happiness

You take it where you can

I try to make the most of life

Not dwell on being sad.

Sing a song of sixpence – here’s a silly verse

What was the last thing you did for play or fun?

Sing a song of sixpence

Feet are made of clay

None of this is serious

This is how I play.

They should have made me Laureate

I’d have made it fun.

Just write silly poems

Here’s another one.

Should have been a Carol

But Mighty Tom was there

Snow is in the very sod

But there’s no winter fuel

Cousin Rachel’s she’s in charge

She says the cupboard’s bare.

Must have been the other folk

They left nothing there.

Tinsel in the manger

Twinkle little star

Kings can’t get to Bethlehem

They’re old it’s way too far.

Santa’s stuck in traffic

All the roads are jammed

Reindeer mightn’t make it

We hope that Amazon can.

All the girls just blame the boys

The boys all blame the men

Santa’s in his grotto

And it all comes round again.

Hark the Herald Angels

Shepherds in a field

Not much time for all of that

But keep the glasses filled.

This is tripe and nonsense

Silly, senseless verse

It’s my excuse to play around

It doesn’t get much worse.

Spurs are up at Arsenal

Palace down the road

The King is in his castle

The Queen in borrowed robes

Musk is in his counting house

Counting out the money

Down comes a blackbird

And pecks Kier Starmer’s nose.

Stuff your face with Turkey

Lovely roasted spuds

Parsnips, extra gravy

Who wants Brussels sprouts?

If you’re turning vegan

Do not tell your mum!

Baby in a manger

No room at the inn

How’d you dare not stuff your face

We’re celebrating him?

What you doing Christmas?

Will you be away?

They’re slaughtering the first born

So we don’t think we’ll stay.

We’ll head on up to Egypt

Out of Herod’s way

All the world loves refugees

So we’ll be on our way.

Come all ye faithful

Come to Israel

Away in awful danger

They are bombing infants there.

But hey we all recycle

And some stop eating meat

We’re attacking climate change

So guess the world is safe?

So here’s to merry Christmas

Everyone have fun

Forget about the future

The time to play’s begun.

We are all wassailing

And full of Christmas cheer

Forget about the serious stuff

The best time of the year.

I don’t know where this gets us

I just set out to play

I tried to switch my left brain off

And just to have some fun

Here we go round the mulberry bush

It’s just a silly song.

All of that is in the past.

The future’s just begun.

Call me stupid if you like

List your top 5 grocery store items.

Call me stupid if you like.

What kind of question’s that?

Who would shop for just five things

Unless they had run out?

We’d seldom shop for just five things

We do a bigger shop

Most things can be stored and kept

We might run out of milk.

We seldom need much fruit or veg

We mostly grow our own

And mostly bake our daily bread

We buy the flour in bulk.

We eat a varied diet –

a lot of different food

And keep a well stocked larder

Of condiments and such.

When we’re running low on things

We add them to the list

Won’t always be the same five things

Depends what’s running out.

So why’d you ask the question

Do you find this interesting?

It won’t make for great reading

Or pull our readers in.

Footnote:

I had to look this up.

A grocery store (AE), grocery shop(BE) or simply grocery[1] is a retailstore that primarily retails a general range of food products,[2] which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, “grocery store” is a synonym for supermarket,[3] and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers[3] or grocery shops (though in everyday use, people usually use either the term “supermarket” or a “corner shop“.)

Chris Brasher co founder of the London Marathon

Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.

“To believe this story you must believe that the human race be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, achieving the impossible. Last Sunday, in one of the most trouble-stricken cities in the world, 11,532 men and women from 40 countries in the world, assisted by over a million black, white and yellow people, laughed, cheered and suffered during the greatest folk festival the world has seen.” Chris Brasher’s article in the Observer 1979 after completing the New York Marathon the first and at the time the only mass marathon of its kind.

Brasher came to prominence

With the four minute mile

Pacing Roger Bannister

Who brought it home in style.

But was through the Marathon

He really influenced me

Opening up the distance

To ordinary blokes like me.

It was once a race for athletes

Late in their career

We mere mortals wouldn’t run

We’d just be there to cheer.

Brasher ran and was inspired

By that race in New York.

He brought it back to London

And this transformed our sport.

It was nineteen eighty one

They ran it the first time

When Beardsley and Simmonson

Joined hands on the line.

I watched it from the sofa

Recovering from bad knees

Still in slow recovery

With physiotherapy.

But I determined then and there

It was something I would do

And completed my first London

In nineteen eighty two.

Then began the running boom

The whole thing just took off

Suddenly the running thing

Accessible to us.

It became a lifestyle

A big thing in my life.

I ran London five times more

And hoped to bust three hours.

Of course I never made it

Three fifteen my best

But running makes me feel good

It helps to swell my chest.

The race grew exponentially

It really is huge now

And of course the charities

All benefit as well.

So raise a glass to Brasher

A man who influenced me

And opened up the marathon

To all us ordinary.

Maidenhead’s new cycle path

Hurray we have a cycle path

Wonder where it goes?

Mercifully pedestrian free

They’ll walk in the road.

I’m not sure where it takes you

It peters out real soon

Or how you’ll pedal to it

When coming into town.

It cost a pretty penny

So enjoy it while you can

They’ll soon see it’s just stupid

And change it back again.

But developers gave them money

They thought they ought to spend

And guess they hit a target

For cycle paths as planned.

A Decent Life

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

Nothing unexpected

Pretty much to plan.

When you get to our age

That is all you want.

Anything from out the blue

Can only be bad news

Staying well and active

Is all we really want.

We do not have huge worries

Life is very good.

We will not win the lottery

Never enter it.

We’ve changed things in the garden

And how we grow our food

Had terrific holidays

And found great things to do.

But all of that was planned for

Nothing a surprise

I hope it won’t be different

Another twelve months time.

Our families are thriving

The grandkids growing up

Plenty things are changing

But nothing getting worse.

There’s things that happen round us

Things we do not like

Some of them are local

Some in national life.

But we’re ok we carry on

It will not get us down

We cannot go complaining

We have a decent life.

Learning to draw

What skills or lessons have you learned recently?

Self Portrait Attempt

They say that you must learn new skills

To help your ageing brain.

It opens up new pathways

And keeps your brain alive.

I’ve dabbled with new languages

My wife wants me to dance

But so far most relaxing

Is drawing; here’s a face.

It’s something I have never learned

At school it was not taught.

They’d simply give us paper, paint

And leave us to our selves.

But now I’m watching YouTube

The odd tutorial.

I find it very difficult

But satisfying too.

I’ve learned you draw

Just what you see not what you think is there.

You have to capture light and shade

To bring a face alive.

Faces aren’t the easiest

I can’t do eyes or nose

Never can make mouths look right

And can’t at all do teeth.

But it’s a skill I’d like to own

It simply fascinates me.

I like to watch how artists work

The subtleties they see.

South American cities next upon my list

What cities do you want to visit?

Santiago, Chile

I’ve been to many cities

Hope to see some more

Next up South America

Twenty Twenty Five.

Santiago, Chile

the first place we will fly.

Later on to Uraguay

Montevideo the coastal capital.

Montevideo, Uraguay

Visiting Ushuaia

Southernmost city of all

City of the snow capped peaks

A great place to explore.

Ushuaia – Southernmost City in the World

We’ll cruise into Antarctica

There are no cities there

Then up to Buenos Aries

To spend a few days there.

Buenos Aries, Argentina

We’re travelling most of January

Be away a month

Stick with us – perhaps subscribe?

And I will tell you more.

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.