Following the
example of
Harry and Meghan
I have decided
to step back
from being
a senior royal.
I just need
the Queen
to turn me
into one first.
Category: History
2020 vision
The first six
or seven days
of a new year,
find me all at
sixes and sevens:
What year is this?
What just happened?
What happens next?
How old am I?
Did I just waste
twelve whole months?
Will I do better
this year?
Should I stop reading
obituaries?
What am I going
to do with my life?
But after a week,
or so,
it becomes just
another year
and I get on
with life.
Darkness at noon
The fog
of war,
the smoke
of climate
change
Value of nothing
Politicians
and journalists
always demand to
know, and then
reject, the cost of
measures to conserve
the environment.
But neither ever
ask the cost
of war.
Forewarned is…bad
It would be good,
now and then,
to have a
visitor from
the future
drop in, say “Hi,
what year is this?”,
and, on being told,
reply “Oh, well, it
will all be ok
in the end, you
know.” But what
if he just frowned,
thoughtfully?
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends,
with the bang of a
million trees exploding,
with the whimper of a
thousand koalas dying,
and unbreathable smoke,
and blowing dust,
and drying earth,
and drying rivers,
and a howling wind,
and a bloody Sun,
and a feeling of
utter helplessness.
Black and blue Friday
We all know
that Friday the
Thirteenth is
just another day,
really.
But it is good
to be reminded,
now and then,
that our lives
are subject to
chance, accident,
randomness, and
that around every
corner there may be
a banana skin.
Under the influence
I’ve always
been the
trendsetter
who set a trend
of not setting
trends
Destroying the village.
Whodathought?
(Not me).
That the same
people who
damaged the
world by
flooding it with
carbon dioxide,
now say they can
solve the problem
by flooding it with
radioactivity?
The lost generation
When I see an
unusual
familiar name
in the news,
I think, “Oh
that must be
the daughter
(or son) of
someone who
I once knew”.
Turns out,
these days,
it’s usually
a grandchild.
