A QUIET REFLECTION..
So here we are on the last day of another year and I guess like most people I`m having a look back over 2011 - not at the shattering events that have changed the world (tsunamis, economic meltdown, the relentless march of war) but in a quiet way, looking back at things that stand out for me personally.
Now, when I started this blog back in September 2006 following a visit to Chaddleworth with my eldest son, I stumbled into `designing` the layout. And I think there are probably three things in that design which say a lot about me. The first is the image of Godrevy island off the north coast of Cornwall, which tells you straight away about my affection for that mystic land.
The second is my `username,` which is in fact a nickname given to me by my boyhood school friend, William Scammell, now sadly departed after a distinguished career as a poet, critic and biographer. He and I spent our formative years in that `village by the sea` of Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water.....and it was only a couple of weeks ago that I was back there again also with my eldest son and my grandaughter.
The third element of my `design` was the quotation from Robert Browning - `Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.` And it`s on that note that I come to reflect on the year just gone. You see, I`m not at all sure it can get much better - we had no less than three visits to mystic Cornwall; we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and we have been blessed by the arrival of our fifth grandchild.
More prosaically, until last night, the Saints went the whole year undefeated at St. Mary`s Stadium; I revelled in the cricket season and already I`m longing for the return of the sun and the sainted game; and I`m also looking forward to resuming my endless battle with the Royal and Ancient mystery of golf.
But most of all, I`m just grateful to be able to do these things and to enjoy life and its simple but satisfying pleasures. I know I`m blessed, very lucky, and I have friends who are less fortunate than myself and for whom I hope 2012 will be much kinder. As for me, as I look back to 2011 in what is now my 73rd year, I realise just what a good year it has been and how right Robert Browning was when he wrote those prophetic lines.
Happy New Year.....and I hope the best is yet to be for you too.
The second is my `username,` which is in fact a nickname given to me by my boyhood school friend, William Scammell, now sadly departed after a distinguished career as a poet, critic and biographer. He and I spent our formative years in that `village by the sea` of Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water.....and it was only a couple of weeks ago that I was back there again also with my eldest son and my grandaughter.
The third element of my `design` was the quotation from Robert Browning - `Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.` And it`s on that note that I come to reflect on the year just gone. You see, I`m not at all sure it can get much better - we had no less than three visits to mystic Cornwall; we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary and we have been blessed by the arrival of our fifth grandchild.
More prosaically, until last night, the Saints went the whole year undefeated at St. Mary`s Stadium; I revelled in the cricket season and already I`m longing for the return of the sun and the sainted game; and I`m also looking forward to resuming my endless battle with the Royal and Ancient mystery of golf.
But most of all, I`m just grateful to be able to do these things and to enjoy life and its simple but satisfying pleasures. I know I`m blessed, very lucky, and I have friends who are less fortunate than myself and for whom I hope 2012 will be much kinder. As for me, as I look back to 2011 in what is now my 73rd year, I realise just what a good year it has been and how right Robert Browning was when he wrote those prophetic lines.
Happy New Year.....and I hope the best is yet to be for you too.
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