New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is coming.
I hate the countdown.
It reminds me that yet another year has passed in which I achieved none of my wishes.
That another year has passed without those I love.
That I have wasted yet another year.

It also reminds me of those around me whom I love dearly and would move heaven and earth for; if I could.
Which strengthens my resolve to do some of the things I want next year.
Vicious circle? Oh yes.

How about you? Do you love or hate NYE ?

Polar Bears = Christmas?

Now don't get me wrong; I love polar bears.
But really, why are they 'decoration du jour' in nearly every shop I pass in Paris this Christmas?
Does Pere Noel now ride a Polar Bear-driven sleigh like the Ice Queen in Narnia?
Did he retire his reindeeer?
Or .... Does he now live in the Arctic?
What's the connection? Ice : winter : ice bears?
Well, whatever their rationale, I'm lovin' it.
I am doing a photo essay of all the shop displays featuring my favourite wild animal, the majestic Polar Bear.
Merry Christmas Parisian window display artists.

Bonding - bah humbug!

Bonding - no, not glue and two sides of something forced together with it, but bonding of the family variety.
Is that an American term? Should it even be a term at all?
Isn't togetherness for families what it is all about?
How sad that we have to be reminded to notice our parents, our children, our siblings. That we have to be forced together.
Have our lives been so bombarded with nonsense, that we have forgotten the basics of the family unit?
I heard a radio host talk about it on my drive to work this morning. He suggested giving your kids "total attention parent time"coupons for Christmas. I must admit, if the concept depressed me, the fact that many parents would actually do it, depressed me more.
Yesterday I baked cookies with my daughter. And I drove through the dark and the rain to pick up my son, so he could share dinner with us.
Was I bonding? Bah humbug - of course not!
But I daresay some see my actions as being the glue that keeps us together.
Oh well.

Christmas in the Cold

Call me crazy, or inspired.

I am going to fly from the humid, sweaty tropics to the cold, windy delights of Paris and London for the two weeks leading up to Christmas. 

Excitement has set in and it is now, as I write this, only two weeks before takeoff.

I am picturing a light dusting of snow over the rooftops. 

Scarves, gloves, boots and wooly hats. 

Hot chocolate at a pavement cafe. 

And oh the lights! Lights and Christmas decorations everywhere. 

Tinsel and glitter. Baubles and trinkets. 

Shop windows warm and inviting, full of prettily wrapped presents, green and red. 

Cheerful folk, noses red, a spring in their step.

But I must control my excitement and curb my dreaming, lest reality disappoints.

While I am there, I plan to take a photographic journal and jot down notes about everything I see.

I want to capture my emotions, the smells, the feel of new textures.

Bon voyage, bonne vacances to all and I'll be back on Boxing Day, revived, refreshed and very, very homesick.

Look at what is inside.

What do you do when faced with a friend you haven't seen in many, many years and see instantly those years haven't been kind to them?
You try to hide your shock at their aged appearance.
You look beyond it to the friend you knew before.
Look through it to their wit, charm and kind soul.
Count your own blessings.
And rejoice in the reunion of two good friends.

Rhapsody of Rain

I love the rain. It refreshes, quenches, cleanses, cools.
The aroma of parched ground after it soaks up the first precious drops, be it tarmac or soil, is unparalleled.
Of course, this is a selfish fancy, realised in a country where rain is neither a rarity nor a threat.
But lying still in bed, listening to its rhythm on the tin roof, feeling its cool caress blow in through the window, is sheer joy.
Something I cherish.
How about you?

Peace OR Conflict ?

I am sitting here, crafting a short story, listening to the various birds' song, watching rays of sunlight filter through the swaying leaves, feeling at peace.
But then a switch flips in my head and I shiver. How can I be at such peace when so many bad things are happening in the world? 34 vehicle pile-up on the M5, 500 dead in the Bangkok flood, more dead in the Cambodia deluge, another suicide in Bedok Reservoir, a missing child, a lost pet, the disappearing ice cap.... on it goes. My daughter is convinced that the world is ending next year. Should we hunker down and get ready, or go wild and live our last moments in pure joy?
As these issues are too varied and complex for my simple mind to get a grip on, my POP is this : live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
I'm going out for lunch and some retail therapy now :)