Monday Musing

Dear Pogue, I came across a quote from Sylvia’s Plath yesterday where she said she had learnt “to embrace her own weirdness”. It sort of struck me that in doing so she found her own creative genius and whilst her life was a troubled one, she left us with a legacy of great poetry. Her … Continue reading Monday Musing

Human Nature

Oh when will we be healed Lord?When will we be well?We’ve been so sick foreverAt least that’s how it seemsAnd our physicians cannot heal usPhysician heal yourselfOur teachers teach us vanitiesIgnoring all our illsScience addresses the symptomsSteering clear of the root causeWhen all have worked their wondersWe will still wallow in despairBecause we’ve been saddles … Continue reading Human Nature

God In The Rain Without An Umbrella

Pirouetting and shimmying God moved through the rainWith a smile and a small laughAnd a sound like delight“I made this, I made thisIt’s was all down to me.It soaks to the skinI’m so full of joy”There’s an experience to be hadFor those who dance in the rainWho realise the blessingGet soaked to the skinForsake their … Continue reading God In The Rain Without An Umbrella

It’s Not An Exact Art

Dear Pogue, You know how I like to cook and experiment with food? It's a creative art to me. Well, someone gave me a day at a cookery school learning how to bake bread. So yesterday I set off early, into the city on my bike, and spent the day getting covered in dough and … Continue reading It’s Not An Exact Art

You’re All Right

Pogue, Let me start this letter with a quote: Show a little faith, there’s magic in the nightYou ain’t a beauty, but hey you’re all rightOh, and that’s alright with me.Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen Yes, the wisdom of Bruce. Not a bad way to start a letter and it fits right in with letters I’ve … Continue reading You’re All Right

Monday Musing

Hello Pogue, I woke this morning in the land of fire and ice, Iceland. I’m on another road trip, visiting a place I haven’t been before, quenching the curiosity that drives me to travel. My initial impressions? It’s a land of rugged beauty with snow still on the hills here in their summer, steam found … Continue reading Monday Musing

Imperfect Or Free?

Pogue, I think we are now agreed that imperfection is a form of freedom, freedom from the pressure to become something that we are not. Freedom from the pressure to modify our lives in an attempt to achieve a goal that has often been put on us by others. What is perfection anyway? Perfection is … Continue reading Imperfect Or Free?

Monday Musing

Well Pogue, It finally happened. Two and a half years in I catch Covid, just when life’s returning to normal! Gone are my own personal beliefs in my invincibility, my being bulletproof. And here I sit, miserable and feeling like I have a heavy cold. Hence no letters from me this week. Such is life. … Continue reading Monday Musing

Songs To Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now.

Hi Pogue, When writing yesterdays Monday Musing I found I had a song in my head. As I wandered to the postbox to post you the Musing I was singing it quietly to myself. It seemed relevant to what I saw going on in the world. “What was it?’” you ask. It was America by … Continue reading Songs To Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now.

Monday Musing

Pogue, Last week was another sad week in the world. Beyond the suffering within Europe which now, no longer warrants the headlines in the media, America was struck by tragedy with school children being gunned down in their classroom. And yet even now the world moves on, and like the war in Ukraine, it will … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musing

Pogue, Another week of horrors on our TV’s as more and more images arrive from the Ukraine conflict. Let me say, for clarity that I’m 100% behind efforts to bring Russia to heal and free Ukraine from the invaders. What is happening appalls me. That said, I read an article this week where the writer … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musing

Pogue, Another week of turmoil in the world with particular focus on Europe. Our television was filled with pictures of exploding munitions, solders, refugees, conflict at its worst. But I have also seen individuals on a local level, people I know and see about me, involved in conflict with each other. One on one. Not … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musings

Well Pogue, Last Monday I asked you how you would live this year if this was the last year, ever. If on 31st December the world just stopped. What did you think? Indeed, did you think? I’ve asked some others and there seems to be a big gap in the responses. There are some who … Continue reading Monday Musings

The Last Year To Come

Dear Pogue, So here we are at the commencement of a New Year and we’re all resolutioned up. All those things we intend to do to improve life. Weight to lose, fitness to gain, bad habits to shed. We do it every year and then, round about the third week of January begin to flag. … Continue reading The Last Year To Come

Antidotes To Fear Of Death

Pogue, I came across this the other day while reading around. It fits so well with a recent letter I’ve written to you. Better than I initially realised. Written by Rebecca Elson, sharing a view that I’ve suggested towards death, that we are only passing on and shedding our bodies to go to better things … Continue reading Antidotes To Fear Of Death

Songs To Pogue…What I’m listening to now

Dear Pogue, One last song for this year. A song that gives hope, at least for me. A song about relationship. It’s a cover version but I like this one and it finishes the year well. Nothing Else Matters, originally by Metallica, covered by Smith and Myers as an acoustic version. As the New Year … Continue reading Songs To Pogue…What I’m listening to now

The Mongoose

The mongoose danced the circle againThe cobra swayed and spatThe tango of death played onYet I have to askWhat profit the mongoose should it the victor be? It knows not what drives it into conflictBut this has always been the way‘It’s what I do’ it would want to say The cat that kills the birdLeaving … Continue reading The Mongoose

The Crow

There’s a crow on the fenceAnd she’s watching meWatching me And I know she knows more than I doBecause she’s been here a hundred yearsA thousand yearsLong before I sat downShe wonders at the futility of my lifeThe strugglesThe effortThe hopesThe dreams She wonders at all men and womenAnd the way they liveNever accepting the … Continue reading The Crow

Pogue,

I have continued my walking in the countryside because, well, it feels good. Even on the day the wind blows and the rain falls over the hills it remains good. It is uncomplicated and easy to become immersed in. So much a world apart from the way life normally plays out. It’s not demanding but … Continue reading Pogue,

Monday Musing

Dear Pogue, Well you read my letter on being Windswept? Several other people certainly did and I received some feedback. The good stuff😎 The gist of it was that people actually like the idea of being eccentric, if only in some small way. That they know that there are things that they keep hidden away … Continue reading Monday Musing

Windswept and the ocean

Dear Pogue, I’ve just picked up a copy of Billy Connelly’s autobiography. Love him or hate him he is an interesting person as a comedian, a film star and a documented traveller. The book has the title of Windswept and Interesting, a title Billy arrived at after a comment someone made when describing him. Windswept … Continue reading Windswept and the ocean

Monday Musing

Pogue, Good Morning. I think we both would agree that the world is changing and doing so at a pace. Most change is part of an evolution, all be it ever quickening, but occasionally we get side swiped as with the pandemic. There are things that we just don’t see coming. But which ever way … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musings

Dearest Pogue, Have you ever taken note of just how influential your surroundings can be to your mood and the way you think? The Danish, aware of the affects of their overly long winters on peoples mental health have addressed lifestyle and have a word for what they perceive as the best of styles. That … Continue reading Monday Musings

Songs to Pogue…What I’m Listening to.

Pogue, A more recent oldie for you (does that even make sense?). I’ve been singing this in my head for a few days as I travel around. I’m on the road this week. I’ve sold my home. I’ve given away half my possessions and…life feels good and I‘m sitting here and really, really appreciating the … Continue reading Songs to Pogue…What I’m Listening to.

Monday Musings

Dear Pogue, I’ve been writing to you about simplifying life. About cleansing the space around and about us. Minimising. I’ve told you how, surprisingly, I’ve found a liberty I haven’t known for a long time as I unattached from possessions. Happy Days! Now this theme seems to have resonated with a number of others and … Continue reading Monday Musings