Old Blighty

Posted on by nyamazela
Kings Speech pea soup scene
The Kings Speech London fog scene

“It was a foggy, cloudy morning, and a dun-coloured veil hung over the house-tops, looking like the reflection of the mud-coloured streets beneath. My companion was in the best of spirits, and prattled away about Cremona fiddles, and the difference between a Stradivarius and an Amati. As for myself, I was silent, for the dull weather and the melancholy business upon which we were engaged, depressed my spirits.”

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

A couple of weeks ago, we sat on our terrace having a socially-distanced drink with a friend.

“Summer in England sometimes feels a little bit like living inside a Tupperware,” he said. “Days and days of muggy greyness, the air thick and still. Then all of a sudden a bit of sun peaks in, as though someone has briefly opened the Tupperware lid.” Continue reading Old Blighty

A bit of perspective

Posted on by nyamazela

St Pauls Church Hammersmith

The Dead: A COVID-19 poem by Kathy Steinemann

The Dead can’t rescue the economy,
Can’t save the world from this dichotomy,

Can’t pay taxes or vote in an election,
Because they died from this corona infection;

Can’t sit with family, sip on their tea,
Can’t bounce little ones on their knee,

Can’t help them learn, can’t watch them grow,
Can’t buy them gifts or teach them to throw;

masked in churchThe Dead can’t save you from amoral greed,
Can’t steal your “freedom,” your rights impede;

They can’t educate you, but they can ask,
“Please be kind and wear a [bleeped] mask!”

© Kathy Steinemann

It was dark and warm inside the high ceilinged church. Hubby and I stood together. Up front, on a large screen, a worship band video played with the lyrics displayed on the side. Continue reading A bit of perspective

Looking back, I know that this time too will pass

Posted on by nyamazela

memorial stones on grave“Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said, “I don’t want you to hire me – and I don’t care for jam.”
“It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.
“Well, I don’t want any to-day, at any rate.”
“You couldn’t have it if you did want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.”
“It must come sometimes to ‘jam to-day‘,” Alice objected.
“No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day: to-day isn’t your other day, you know.”
“I don’t understand you,” said Alice. “It’s dreadfully confusing!”
“That’s the effect of living backwards,” the Queen said kindly: “it always makes one a little giddy at first –“

Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Have you ever been to a cemetery and found that on top of several headstones is a haphazard pile of small pebbles?

It’s a Jewish custom to place a pebble on a headstone to show respect for the departed. They are called ‘Stones of Remembrance’. What’s the origin of this custom? There are many theories, but this is my personal favourite … Continue reading Looking back, I know that this time too will pass

Sense of humour failure (SHF)

Posted on by nyamazela

Sense of fun“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

A friend of mine officiated a wedding in the United States recently. This is how she described her day:

“Everyone was in great spirits,” she said. “There were about 18-20 of us. But I was the only person wearing a mask and there was no social distancing.”

“It felt like unprotected sex all day long. Aaaahhhh!!!!”

Continue reading Sense of humour failure (SHF)