Day: April 5, 2020

Share (some more of) Your World

A couple days ago I posted a photo near my home. Sunday, my wife and I went for a walk in the other direction, out into open countryside. Typically, between the time we decided to go for a walk, and the time we actually got out, the weather had clouded over a bit, but it has stayed generally pretty bright all day. Temperature was pretty good for the time of year, approaching 20C (that’s 70F). The breeze at this time of year is cooling, and I still wore my winter jacket.

It’s a quiet road anyway, but at the moment even moreso. We walked for about a half hour (as much as I can manage) and were passed by only about a half-dozen bicycles, and even fewer cars.

I’m a bit concerned here to see footage on tv of police admonishing people for having a barbeque on a beach. As far as I could tell, the two participants were observing social distancing, except with each other. I was a bit more concerned to hear the Health Minister justifying this by saying that people need to obey the rules, without giving a plausible medical explanation. So, I didn’t see the problem with what they were doing. I think that the way through this is through mutual trust, and it was really quite laughable to hear a minister talk in terms of enforcement, when he spent the last ten years firing all the enforcers! In any case, my wife and I enjoyed our fresh air – together.

  • 2 minutes south of our home, viewing south
  • viewing west, towards the river which runs through the village
  • view towards the river again
  • viewing east
  • looking north, back towards home
  • arty-farty!
  • time to turn back (viewing south)

Lobsters

I caught a Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie writing prompt this morning, asking us to write about soul mates.

I’ve got to say, I don’t believe in any of it, this idea that two people are just destined to end up together, anyway.

When I first met my wife, Friends was airing for the first time on tv. Phoebe talked about lobsters – you know, two lobsters will meet each other then will pair for life… All very romantic, but I don’t think it works like that for humans.

In my teens and twenties I did that whole falling in love thing three or four times. At the time, it is forever, but then it ends. With all those three or four, I look back and think lucky escape. It’s a bit easier now to be objective, to see the differences which ultimately split us up. I can see it for what it was – two people hook up together for a short while, then look for pastures new.

I think at twenty it is impossible to tell what we want in a partner. I was thirty when I met my partner, by which time I had a fair idea. I knew, at least, that it was something to get into bit-by-bit, rather than head-over-heels. We were together a longtime before we talked about love.

So are we lobsters? Well, my wife likes to think so, but I don’t agree. I think that, if we hadn’t have hooked up with each other, we’d have hooked up with somebody else. (I would have, anyway 🤣.) Seriously, we’re both good people. Whether other relationships would have lasted as long as we have, I don’t know.

So, made for each other, no. Happy coincidence, yes. We met because we happened to be in the same bar on the same night – a bar I never went to before or since, and only decided to go to at all when my friend suggested it, ten minutes earlier. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world… the probability of meeting this particular woman was so minute, how could it possibly have been planned? Besides, something planning all of this does not fit in with my beliefs in any case (for that is ultimately what it comes down to – it’s evolution versus intelligent design). Maybe if I did believe something different, I might have a different view?

Sorry, hopelessly unromantic. Having children does that to a person.

Song Lyric Sunday (5 April 2020) – Birthdays

Last week, Jim (NewEpicAuthor, A Unique Title For Me) set a theme of senses (my choice). This week, theme of birthdays.

I’ve got a dodgy link this week, but the song is just too good to pass up. In 1982, The Jam released their final studio album, The Gift. There’s my link.

I was just about too young to remember all the Mod and Rocker nonsense of the Seventies. I doubt very much it happened anywhere except the UK, did it? Mod music just seems very British to me. But now I am perfectly happy to listen to some of the old Mod bands. If I were ten years older, I could just picture myself riding a scooter 🙂. Even now, I have my honourary fishtail coat.

For anybody who didn’t follow that last paragraph, this is a fishtail. It gets its name from that distinctive split at the bottom. Fishtails were most always that military green colour, and people would often paint insignia on them, as you see.

Anyway, back to music. The Jam were always a cult band in the UK, where this album comfortably reached #1. They weren’t as successful internationally – the album only reached #82 in the USA. The album spawned a couple of singles, however, and one of these is my choice today. The Jam was Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler, and Town Celled Malice, like most of the music on the album, was writted by Weller and charted at #1 in the UK Singles chart in February 1982. It also charted in much of the English-speaking world, reaching #31 on Billboard.

It’s a brilliant, speedy track which epitomises The Jam era, I bet you have trouble sitting still!

Better stop dreaming of the quiet life
‘Cos it’s the one we’ll never know
And quit running for that runaway bus
‘Cos those rosey days are few
And…stop apologising for the things you’ve never done
‘Cos time is short and life is cruel
But it’s up to us to change
This town called Malice

Rows and rows of disused milk floats
Stand dying in the dairy yard
And a hundred lonely housewives
Clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts
Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry
It’s enough to make you stop believing
When tears come fast and furious
In a town called Malice

Struggle after struggle, year after year
The atmosphere’s a fine blend of ice
I’m almost stone cold dead
In a town called Malice

A whole street’s belief in Sunday’s roast beef
Gets dashed against the co-op
To either cut down on beer or the kids’ new gear
It’s a big decision in a town called Malice

The ghost of a steam train echoes down my track
It’s at the moment bound for nowhere
Just going ’round and ’round
Playground kids and creaking swings
Lost laughter in the breeze
I could go on for hours and I probably will
But I’d sooner put some joy back
In this town called Malice

Paul Weller