Been in a heightened state of emotion recently due to bereavement, thought I was settling down and getting back into the rhythm of things, but as I have been told a thousand times, these things are not linear, and they’ll come back and get you when you least expect it. I can vouch for this being true. It’s not that I’m wallowing in the pit of despond or unable to get up every day, as I’m sure is the case with some folk.
No, for me it has manifested itself with the metaphorical stripping of a skin. I have always been ( as regular readers will know) somewhat susceptible to an outpouring of emotion, but I now appear to be in a febrile state, mainly about trivial things that make me happy or hopeful.
Let me give you a couple of examples. During this week’s radio show, I played Roy Harper’s When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, I knew it would make me think about my father, and it did. John Peel had the song at his funeral, incidentally. But it just made me reflective; however, during the song, I received a text from a former student informing me he had become a father for the first time. Wept like a child.
Out for a coffee this morning, I saw a police car pull into a layby in front of me and then turn its blue lights on. I slowed down. Standing in front of the car was a mother and a child. The child is pointing at the lights. The door opened, and the police officer got out, and the child was picked up and placed in the driver’s seat. There then followed more lights and even a blast of the siren. The child was then handed back to Mum, roaring with delight. Wept like a child.
Ed Miliband stands up in Parliament and demonstrates that Govts (France and Canada too) can have a moral compass by calling out the Govt of Israel (the Govt, not the people) for “ethnic cleansing” and supporting “Settler Terrorists“. It’s about time. Wept like a child.
All these examples are of good news, reducing me to tears. I feel better for it, but bloody hell, it’s exhausting. Thank god for the salve of music, eh? So it’s got to be Roy and also the wonderful new talent that is Schaefer Llana. The radio show is full of Steely Dan, Margo Cilker, Shelby Lynne, Kris Delmhorst, and much more. As ever…
