THE SHORTEST DAY by Susan Cooper

Water is the softest and most yielding substance.
Yet nothing is better than water, for overcoming the hard and rigid, because nothing can compete with it.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

The last few months have been extraordinary and life changing for so many of us. I doubt we’ll be going back to how things were, yet as one door closes… there will be opportunities to make a better future.

This year my lads turned 21 and 18, so after rummaging through the memory cards, I made these retrospectives (vol might need turning up). Afterwards I was reminded of this perspective upon Gladiator – strength and honour chaps.

Max has been back here. For a year, he and Yaz have planned and dreamt of van life and as Lockdown bit they began serious work on converting a refrigerated van into mobile life support. With university disrupted, returning to home comforts and a garage of tools seemed a good option, besides, he and I…

Easter Monday – Christ’s resurrection The most important, magical and promising event in the Christian calendar brought grey skies and showers that broke the most glorious sunny spell. Not so up lifting, but lockdown Britain breathed easier with the opening of some London parks earlier this week, albeit to the tune of megaphone wielding cops.…

Our generation has been called selfish for clearing supermarket shelves denying those who made sacrifices during the wars for our prosperity and freedom. We’ve faced criticism for whining about having to stay indoors with the TV and Internet but free from air raids. Yet aren’t we products of our upbringing, adaptions to our environment? Levels…

This is a headline in today’s Guardian – England: police to get power to use force to impose coronavirus lockdown:  “The Guardian has learned that, under plans being discussed by ministers and senior officials, officers would first encourage and cajole people to go back indoors if they suspect them of being out of their home…

The arrival of Covid-19 has greatly disrupted the world and daily life in a very short period of time. Though flu stats are hard to pin down, here’s a thumbnail summary for some perspective on Covid-19 – The Great Spanish Fu epidemic of 1917 is estimated to have killed 50 million+ with a mortality rate…

New Year’s Eve – a time of fire and feasting, reflecting on memories and pondering possibilities.   The two distinguished looking chaps in the background I’ve known for 35 and 33 years respectively, about twice as long as the two nearest the camera have been alive. That sobering realisation occurred shortly before sobriety left the…