SOMETIMES...

I guess blogging is something very self-indulgent and I make no apology for what will be a very self-indulgent post this time. If I drift into sentimentality, then you might blame the Carpenters - Richard and Karen - for one of their songs, `Sometimes,` is all about looking back to people "who mean so very much to me and for so many years have made me so very happy. And I count the times I have forgotten to say, `thank you` and just how much I miss you."

You see, I went on one of my periodic pilgrimages yesterday to the 12th century church at Padworth (pictured) in the very depths of the Berkshire countryside, where the gravestone of my more recent forebears stands proudly in the churchyard - my grandparents, my father`s ashes and two of my aunts. I stood over the grave, left some flowers and recalled the song. I listened to the silence in that timeless place, which was broken only by the March breeze and the chatter of the local rooks and the early lambs in the nearby field.

I then went on to revisit my boyhood village of Hythe on the shores of Southampton Water, to leave some flowers where my mother`s ashes were scattered, to visit an old friend and to relive those childhood days once more. Over the years, the village has grown and grown, what was once described as undesirable ribbon development has been overtaken by Stepford-esque housing estates, but the core of the village, it`s heart and its feeling of home, remains.

I went back to the shoreline where I spent so much time as a boy and I picked up a shell which has joined the collection in my car. I walked past my old primary school, which again has grown but its heart remains untouched; I bought the local paper, took in the air from the Solent and wondered where 60 years had gone and why the memories of all those years ago are still so strong.

It was a long drive home, but my self indulgent day had been worth it. Sometimes, it does no harm to indulge in things, people and places that mean so much. And somehow I can`t see myself forgetting to say `thank you` for the blessings I have had for so many years.