The first town we encountered in Vietnam. We were in the Mekong delta. Everywhere were floating houses, motor boats, floating banks of water weed, fishermen and the bustle of commerce (or was it smuggling?)
In our hotel there was a musician with an array of Vietnamese instruments playing and singing.
We were in Vietnam.
But We Are ‘Here’.
I awoke in the night and had to get out of bed to write this down. It is a variation of ‘The Road Not Taken’ but with some subtle (and not so subtle) additions.
I like the analogy of life being a journey. We can follow our path back down the many roads and lanes we have strolled. We can see the times we stood at obvious crossroads and made a decision that had immense effects upon our lives. Some of those decisions we regret. They did not change our lives for the better. If only ……
Yet we are here.
There is no going back. The past cannot be undone.
What we are less aware of is the tiny decisions that we make each minute that lead us down our paths. They are subtle but just as decisive. We live through habit and not by choice. We take the easy course and it is not always the best.
We are here. We have things that we hold dear. Who knows whether those other paths were really as good as we imagine. We rarely look at the great things we have. Our lives are full of things that are good that might not have been if we had stepped along a different route. There are things we would not swap for any other ‘here’.
We are here. Ahead, at this instant, is a world of possibility. We could stand up, walk out and head into a new life. We could sit and read another poem. We could buy a gun. We could write a novel. We could board a plane. Through force of habit we reduce our options. There are good reasons why most of those options are wrong. But there are many options that would bring improvement – with a little thought, planning and action.
We are here but there are a million ‘theres’.
We cannot alter ‘here’ but we can alter ‘there’ and we can fill the journey with laughter, love, song and poems. There will always be sadness and pain but life is what we make of it.
All we ever have is the moment.
Here is a good place to start.
But We Are ‘Here’.
I am going ‘there’.
But if I was going ‘there’ I would not start from ‘here’.
But I am ‘here’.
Behind me stretches a plethora of roads not taken,
Pleasures not tasted,
Wisdom unplumbed,
Adventures not thrilled
And experiences not relished.
Who knows what might have been?
But I am ‘here’.
This journey is a meandering line
And ‘here’ is but a dot.
But from this spot
A billion roads lead to an array of other ‘theres’.
Roads full of laughs, discovery and love,
Or roads of sadness, misery and longing.
There can be no regrets.
If I had not wandered my choice of lanes,
No matter how dark,
I would not be ‘here’ now,
With the things I treasure most,
For they are many,
And with the choices I now have before me.
I can only visit those other roads in dreams
And none of them lead ‘here’.
The array of roads ahead are not the stuff of dreams.
They are opportunities to be grasped
And relished.
For my meandering line is not yet ‘there’.
I see no full stop.
There is more life ahead –
‘There’ is at the end of the roads I have yet to choose.
Best not spoil the possibilities
By languishing in gloomy days of yesterday,
I’ll miss the signpost to that better ‘there’
And fail to taste the pleasures ahead.
For ‘there’ looms and the roads rises before me.
They are full of twists and turns,
I cannot see far ahead.
But I must raise my head and strain with all my might
To see a brighter path,
One full of poems, songs and love,
That leads to a better ‘there’.
‘Here’ could be worse.
‘Here’ is a good place to start for ‘there’.
Opher 9.12.2015 (thank you Robert Frost)
Keep on Rockin’
For me there were a number of eras of rock excellence. The thirties acoustic blues, the fifties rock n roll or Chicago blues, the early sixties Greenwich Village folk, British beat and r&b, then the late sixties underground and the seventies punk. But if I have to pick an era it has to be the late sixties. That was when music exploded and anything was possible. It was when the world was flooded with a wave of optimism and possibility, an age of experimentation and fusion. That was an age that suited my personality. It was a revolution that threw out old values and sought to create some better ones. It certainly allowed me to explore, think and expand my mind.
Back then I was out three nights a week rockin’ to Jimi, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Roy Harper Traffic, Tomorrow, Free, Edgar Broughton, Nice, Chicken Shack, Tomorrow and Floyd. Dylan was never far from my turn table and I got to see all those brilliant West Coast bands – Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Grateful Dead, Doors, Love, Country Joe and the Fish, Buffalo Springfield, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Byrds and Mothers of Invention. I’d been knocked out by Phil Ochs, Paul Butterfield, the Who, Small Faces, Pretty Things and Janis with Big Brother. Then there was Cohen, Bert and John, Donovan, Jackson C Frank and John Mayall. The Fugs and Velvets brought an East Coast realism. Joni, CSN&Y brought harmony and Neil brought energy.
So much was going on. You did not have time to catch your breath.
It went on and on. I thought it would never end.
We were having a Bonzo. John Peel was our Guru.
Anyway – I wrote a bit of doggerel that you might like to pick over and tease out some of the names. There are a few more obscure.
I was playing with words. But it is also a bit of a homage.
Keep on Rockin’
Country Joe was grateful as the airplane flew
From Buffalo with invention when that feeling grew.
Love flew like the byrds while velvets walked the streets
It was canned tomorrow for a bunch of cosmic freaks.
Doors flew open as magic filled the land.
We’d been devoid of Floyd but now we understand.
The cream of the traffic was a family of mac.
As Dylan had foretold there was no looking back.
We were all sunshine supermen across the universe,
Floating on a cosmic stream that skipped from verse to verse,
And I’ve been harping on with big brother in a fug
Where every stone is lifted a beetle runs amok.
Well I’ve been zapped with quicksilver, convention and who?
And experienced with Jimi, the look on a small face with you.
But a field can make it happen as we all make for free,
As we peeled back with more reason, so that we all could see.
I, like a cross bee, shall stay young with Joni
And plant the ochs of a different tree,
Based on Guthrie, and sanity.
For music’s been my inspiration as my consciousness flows
Along that golden stirring, as that syncopation grows.
Opher 7.12.2015
Phew!!! I was worried there!! I thought for a minute that Brexit was all going to prove a terrible mistake, make us a lot poorer, lose loads of jobs, wreck our economy, greatly reduce our power and influence and saddle us with mountains of red tape!! Glad to hear that it’s all just teething problems and that soon we’re all going to be turbo-charged and the over-ready deal was going to make the UK great again (And not just put money in Rees-Mogg’s pockets).
Fabulous Chris Riddell sums it up.
The sun was shining all day. It was cold and everywhere was still covered in ice and snow. It made it look very beautiful.
I took my walk up my hill and enjoyed the landscape. It looked like a painting.
Back home I have been doing some reading, editing my Harper book and listening to The Incredible String Band – very uplifting.
Out in Coronaland the madness continues.
In the midst of a pandemic Hancock announces that they are going to reorganise the NHS. Great timing. The Tories did that ten years ago. Now they realise that all the tendering, privatisation and red tape was a bad idea. Andrew Langley’s changes are being undone.
Reorganisation costs a lot of money, causes a lot of extra work and stress, and takes time. How many more billions are they going to waste?
Perhaps that money would be better spent on rewarding the hard-working staff?
You don’t suppose they are doing it to take attention away from the mess that Brexit is causing do you?
I noticed today that Holland has taken over as the biggest seller of stocks and shares. Our city is losing its market. That’s worrying as that is where our prosperity comes from. With firms collapsing, trade with the EU down 68% and firms relocating it’s looking pretty dire.
But not to worry. Rees-Mogg reputedly made a cool £2,000,000 out of Brexit. I’m sure Gove, Johnson and the others have their fingers in the pies. They’ll be alright. It’s just a bumpy start on our way to being a third world country.
Or is it to divert our attention from the dismal performance regarding the virus? 115,000 deaths now. But they’ll be reassuring us – a fifth of the population vaccinated!! All is well. Except it’s not is it??
I think it’s time for a comparison and analysis:
| Country | Population | New cases yesterday | Deaths yesterday | Total deaths |
| USA | 328 million | 94,893 | 3,255 | 471,000 |
| UK | 67 million | 13,013 | 1,001 | 115,000 |
| Brazil | 211 million | 59,602 | 1,330 | 235,000 |
| Vietnam | 96 million | 27 | 0 | 35 |
| New Zealand | 5 million | 0 | 0 | 25 |
As you may be able to detect – there is quite a big difference between the performance of the top three compared with that of the bottom two.
Even if you account for the differences in population the differences are stark
Vietnam, with a population one and a half times that of the UK and bordering on China and the epicentre of the outbreak, has just 35 dead compared to our 115,000. They have just 27 new cases and no new deaths. We still have 13,013 new cases yesterday with another 1001 deaths.
Why is that?
Bad luck?
Falsifying the figures?
The WHO verified their figures.
Their poverty level is high. They have crowded cities. Their health service is supposedly not as good. They are not as prosperous. They were very close to the outbreak and had very little warning.
We are supposedly a highly developed country. One of the most prosperous in the world. We have a great health service. We are far away from the epicentre. We had plenty of warning.
They shut their borders and checked all incomers. They isolated, tested and traced. They wore masks and brought all the resources to bear.
We ignored it and complacently carried on. Then we went for herd immunity and allowed the virus a firm footing. Our apps, PPE, Track and Trace were all hived out to Tory donors and were crap. We only shut our borders this week! We let millions in without any checks or follow-up. Even when the numbers came down in the summer we sent them shooting back up with Eat Out To Help Out and Back To The Office schemes.
The figures show the difference between efficiency and ineptitude.
Trump and Bolsonaro did their macho denials, hoaxes and ‘little flu’s’ and allowed the virus to take hold. This was incompetent stupidity. Result – hundreds of thousands dead!!!
But hey – The Tories are still two points up in the polls and they are reorganising the NHS to take our attention off their incompetence.
They might be stupid but we’re even stupider!!
Stay safe!!
‘Now then PM,’ Dan grinned, ‘time to take stock.’
‘Arf Arf, right you are, err err.’
‘Hancock’s releasing the white paper on the reorganization of the NHS. We have to make sure we put a positive spin on it and keep the attention off covid and Brexit.’
‘Fish-hooks, gazooks. err arff, you’re not wrong there Dan. Bally disaster, err.’
‘Quite.’ Dan shrugged. ‘It’s OK, nobody seems to have noticed.’
‘Bally lorries parked up, eerrr, arf, parked up all over. Firms going arf err bust, people winging yaah.’
‘Yes, yes,’ Dan nodded with a smirk. ‘But they’re not blaming it on you, are they? They think it’s covid and the EU causing the problems, don’t they? We’re still two points up in the polls! Just keep telling them it’s teething problems. It’ll settle. A bumpy take-off.’
‘Easy for you to say Dan arf arf. Those blighters want my balls!’
‘Yes, well,’ Dan handed the sheet of paper across the table. It was all simplified into ten bullet points. That was the maximum Boris could be relied on to read and probably more than he could take in. ‘A bit of a deflection from reality.’ He chuckled.
‘Err arf yaa, I don’t know Dan,’ Boris looked aghast. ‘with err 115,000 deaths arf. It’s er, er, getting damn hard to deflect. Bally worst in the world! Jolly hard to arf arf deflect that!’
‘I keep telling you,’ Dan replied with a frown and exasperated shrug, ’13 million vaccinated and the curves coming right down. It’s all looking rosy. You can’t compare countries. They use different stats. They lie. Nobody saw this coming. Nobody could do it better. We’re straining every sinew. Just keep repeating it. It’s going in. I hear people saying it. Two points up in the polls!’
‘Gosh, by Jove, err, err, you cheer me err up Dan, arf. What would I do, err err, with err out you?’
Dan said nothing.
‘Are you, are you err sure, that this um um change is right in the err midst of a err err bally pandemic?’
Dan raised his eyes and sighed. ‘We’ve been over this Boris. We need to take their minds off the Brexit chaos and the covid mess. Be positive. We are seizing the opportunity to make the NHS a lot better. Now,’ he waved the white sheet of paper, ‘Hancock’s coming out with the details. As much as he needs to tell the bastards,’ he muttered under his breath.
‘Bu,but, but, arf arf, isn’t this just undoing all the er, bloody things we brought in ten, err arf, years ago?’
‘ Boris,’ Dan said with a shake of his head. ‘That’s ten years ago. That’s a different world. Cameron and Langley were nincompoops. Nobody remembers that far back. They won’t associate it with a Tory government. We’re safe. We’re fixing glaring errors.’
‘But err err hell Dan. Those reorganisations cost billions and aaahh ah caused chaos. Won’t um um these ones err ummm cost us a bally fortune?’
Dan threw up his hands and looked shocked. ‘Whatever you do don’t say that! We are streamlining, we are connecting, we are joining up.’ He looked imploringly at Boris. ‘Look at the sheet man. We’re linking care and health into a single organisation. We’re making them accountable to government.’ He tapped the paper with his finger. ‘Read it man. We’re cutting red tape. It all makes sense. It’ll save money.’
‘Yes by jove, yes,’ Boris said eagerly, scanning the sheet without taking a word in. ‘But, err, err, what ummm what if the blighters daa umm start umm asking about err the 110,000 vacancies arf arf and the errm nurses and er doctors that err we’ve ummm driven out err with Brexit??’
Dan looked weary. ‘We’re putting more money in. We’re supporting our loyal nurses and doctors. They’re doing a gallant job. Salt of the earth. We’re training up proper British doctors. We’re doing all we can. National emergency.’
‘But ummm, everyone knows errr umm, we’ve cut the NHS to the bone and all the bally nurses are using food banks.’
Dan shook his head. ‘No, they don’t know that at all.’
‘And Brexit is erm erm like a huge err brain drain.’
‘No,’ Dan said firmly. ‘We all support our nurses and doctors. That’s why we’re doing this. We’re making their jobs easier and cutting red tape.’
‘But Brexit has caused, errr erm bloody mountains of red tape!’
‘We don’t say that do we? Massive opportunities. Strength to strength. Bright future!! DO NOT MENTION RED TAPE, LORRY QUEUES, JOB LOSSES OR FIRMS MOVING ABROAD!’ He looked exasperated and was actually thumping the table.
Boris looked chastened. ‘Couldn’t err, we err just arf arf, give them a pay rise?’ He asked pathetically.
‘Don’t be daft,’ Dan said angrily. ‘They’re not any of ours.’
The Incredible String Band really captured the mood of the sixties. They’ve been called psychedelic Folk. They certainly were extraordinary. Their poetic story-telling, beautiful melodies and musical proficiency created a magic whose spell still holds me. Philosophy and spirituality.
Stranger than that we’re alive.
I shall enjoy playing this album today. I think it was their best.
Change is the only rule
There is a mundane level in which we live. It has an unreal stability. Every day is a continuation. When we look in the mirror we are confronted with the same face. When we open our eyes from sleep we see the same room we left the night before. The view out of the window is the same. The sun predictably rises.
Yet that continuity is the illusion.
We live our lives through habit and rules. There are no rules.
Every three months I have a brand new body. All my cells (apart from nerves) have been replaced.
With every breath, every sip and every nibble, new molecules are incorporated to displace the old.
All around us, unseen energy explodes.
The universe is in flow. It is always different.
Our bodies are changing. It interfaces with the world. On the molecular level there is no barrier. We have frontiers that leak.
We are free to do whatever we want. We chain ourselves to habits. We bolt ourselves to the mundane. We become fixed in the confines of mediocrity.
I want to go back to those days when the world was wondrous; it sparkled with new energy and I delighted in its freshness.
Each moment is a gem to be savoured. I want each second to be new and unique.
That is when we really live.
Change is the only rule
I woke up this morning for the first time.
I looked on the world with new eyes.
It was all new,
All different.
Change is the only rule.
Everything I do is for the first time.
Every breath brings new atoms.
My cells thrill with fresh energy.
All is change,
Endless change.
There are no rules;
Only habits.
The atoms are perpetual motion machines.
They will spin until the end of time.
I myself am renewed each moment.
My cells come and go
But I persist;
Adrift in the midst of wonder
With no rules,
And endless possibility.
I make it up as I go along.
Change is the only rule.
Opher 7.12.2015
