Happy Sunday! My third day of posting consecutively. Reasons to be cheerful? I turned off the light, last night (or, early morning, more like!), having watched Keith Urban’s impromptu concert on Instagram. Not something I would normally do but these are strange times. I do advocate reading before sleeping – pure relaxation and escapism – but I ended up checking my phone and … I do love Keith Urban. Love his voice and have always had a leaning towards country music. Seems like a really nice guy. Pint-sized, yes, but mega talented and full of charisma. Borne of success? Confidence is definitely a key factor. However, I digress. Reasons to be cheerful? I awoke, on Mother’s Day, to sunshine streaming through the windows and nowhere to be. Bliss! I spent a delightfully lazy morning listening to Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs followed by Michael Ball – accompanied by a mug of hot water, courtesy of Becca, in a mug inscribed with ‘There’s nobody else I would rather annoy’! Reasons to be cheerful, part one …
Ian Dury & the Blockheads! That is how Johnnie Walker opened his show today. Cryptic? Not really but definitely appropriate. Sounds of the 70s. The perfect antidote.
New paragraph! I have actually thoroughly enjoyed today. The sun shining, my lazy start and time on hold. Aware that I was ‘penning’ words of wisdom (not in quotes!) every day, my mind has become more alert to everyday occurrences in my life – such as switching off the TV! Yep, nothing if not quirky! I, actually, do it without thinking, now, but … Very much an old television, I have to smile when I remember its first appearance – I was aghast at the size of the screen and promptly demanded it be returned! Years on, it is tiny by comparison to the screens of today, adorning fireplaces (yuck!), and it is positively tasteful. However, the On/Off button has descended into the TV and the only way to operate it is to dig deep with a plastic spoon! It works so why question?! We, now, do it without thinking … and that’s my point. In our last house – when the children were little – we lived, for years, with an inherited cooker devoid of knobs. We had to use a set of pliers, which we kept alongside, and thought nothing of it. Friends, one by one, used to question why we never replaced the knobs? Weirdly, it became something personal to us and new knobs just wouldn’t have worked. So, the plastic spoon remains.
Mother’s Day. Never one to subscribe to blatant commercialism, one cannot help but think of one’s own. Listening to the music on the radio, I did exactly that and the song which came to mind was ‘Can’t Smile Without You’, Barry Manilow. I can still hear Mummy (or Nanny, as we refer to her now) singing her heart out to that very song in the car. She loved it. So do I. Thank you for the memories.
Back to my definitive dinner party and guests. I have thought long and hard about it and my next two would be Geoffrey Palmer and Judi Dench. What do you think? Geoffrey Palmer? Well, I have loved him forever. Butterflies. As Time Goes By. He reminds me of Pop! His characteristic sarcasm is just … perfect! As for his sidekick, Judi Dench? She is unique and oozing character, talent and humour. Already acquainted – nay, a friend – of, both, Sir Billy and Graham Norton, this is shaping up to be the dinner party to die for!
Mother’s Day. One guest I would never welcome to my table is the Queen Mother! Never a fan, for so many reasons, the irony is that we walked round her coffin as it lay in state in Westminster Hall, April 2002, and even signed the Book of Condolence! God knows what I wrote but I remember it was suitably restrained. Never a fan, I have read much about Wallis Simpson and the Abdication; much, too, about the Queen Mother. Did I mention that I was not a fan? Funnily enough, watching the latest offering on the troubled life of Prince Harry last night, I learnt that she always singled William out, requesting that he be sat next to her and he be given special treatment as the future King. Harry, his younger brother? An also-ran. Unforgiveable! She who had set her sights on Edward but had to make do with Bertie; she who was, quite clearly, jealous of Wallis Simpson and, consequently, happy to have history depict her as the villain/ess. Sadly, history, too, is subject to bias and untruths.
Enough. I must go downstairs, replenish my glass (becoming a theme!) and water my orange plant – Mother’s Day present from Manny. He thought the little oranges would be perfect for gin! The apple does not fall far from the tree …
Once, more, unchecked, let me just look for a fitting quote – or, even, a random one!
‘King George teach me –
The rain will fall
The grass grow green
And life, it begin again.’
‘Nullah’. Australia (2008)
Actually, extremely fitting …
Until tomorrow.
This is Trish, signing off,.
