Eventually the rain stopped .... and it got quite warm. I went outside into the garden, and dried the chair, and the table, took my cup of coffee out with me, sat down and looked around to see if "anything was about." The Jays that have hung around our area for the last 3 years or so were racketing distantly in the trees .... they quite often come into the garden as well. Then, I realised that one had landed about 3 feet away from me, on the back of the "other" chair. I've been close to Jays before.... I've found a few dead ones, and ringed quite a few as well. But this was much better than any of that. I suppose it stood there for about a minute ..... sort of half looking at me.... probably wondering if I was among the dead or the living. It's a close thing.... at my age. Then it flew up into the trees and was gone. Birding, birdwatching, ornithologising, all of that, brings whole realms of these moments of pleasure. It's not the only channel, but it's a powerful one. Which is good, because we are only minuscule assemblages of molecules in a harsh, mainly deadly, universe. We've got to take our brief pleasures when we can. All this self-immolation , all this anti-life no-this no-that crap that lots of ideologies want us to follow ... they're sick. Life is an incredible, unbelievable gift ... let's do our best to enjoy a bit of it. This stream of thought all got triggered , once again, on Desert Island Discs !! Sue Perkins chose the Kate Bush song " Moments of Pleasure" ... a song I've always loved. It's totally full-on, a bulldozer of emotion ..... at the end she says goodbye to all her dead friends. Some moments that I've had
Some moments of pleasure I think about us lying Lying on a beach somewhere I think about us diving Diving off a rock, into another moment The case of George the Wipe Oh God I can't stop laughing This sense of humor of mine It isn't funny at all Oh but we sit up all night Talking about it Just being alive It can really hurt And these moments given Are a gift from time On a balcony in New York It's just started to snow He meets us at the lift Like Douglas Fairbanks Waving his walking stick But he isn't well at all The buildings of New York Look just like mountains through the snow Just being alive It can really hurt And these moments given Are a gift from time Just let us try To give these moments back To those we love To those who will survive And I can hear my mother saying "Every old sock meets an old shoe" Isn't that a great saying? "Every old sock meets an old shoe" Here come the Hills of Time Hey there Maureen, Hey there Bubba, Dancing down the aisle of a plane, 'S Murph, playing his guitar refrain, Hey there Teddy, Spinning in the chair at Abbey Road, Hey there Michael, Do you really love me? Hey there Bill, Could you turn the lights up?
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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