Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

Isn't It Grand, Boys...

So cold! I turned a tap on this morning and all I got was a trickle. I know what this means; it means the water has frozen in the pipes. But this isn't a horror story- the water gathered up speed and then came bursting through- I tell it to emphasise how cold it is.

I just lit a scented candle in the hall. I like to keep a candle burning there through the winter months- partly for the scent, but also for the small, friendly flame- a reminder of the king in exile- by which I mean the sun. The inlaws came to the door last week, saw the small friendly flame flickering through the glass, and thought the house was on fire.

My mother-in-law is given to thinking the worst.  For instance she doesn't want us to go down to Kent next week because- well- in this weather it's dangerous. I call it displacement anxiety. She worries about a multitude of little things so she doesn't need to worry about the one big thing. You know which big thing I'm talking about. Its name begins with a D.

My father-in-law acknowledges his fear of the D thing, with humour, with a certain gallantry. Struggling to get into the car the other night he said- half complaining, half joking- " I feel like an old man."  "Sorry father," said Ailz brightly, "but I don't know where to find you one at this time of night."

Ailz is currently revisiting her youth by playing the Clancys and Tommy Makem all the livelong day.  By a remarkable stroke of synchroncity they've just kicked off with that song that goes, "Isn't it grand, boys, to be bloody well dead."- which, of course, they all of them are now. I prefer the gallows vein in the Irish tradition to the stirring invocations to rise up and fight the English, because, frankly, I don't have the energy for that right now. You shoulder your pikes at the rising of the moon if you like, boys.  I'd rather stay in where it's warm.
Subscribe

  • Golden

    I remember a blind man telling us that what he saw- in his mind's eye- was not darkness- as we'd presumed- but a "wonderful golden…

  • Back To The Meeting House

    I dreamed I was attending a church service. It was sort of Anglican, sort of Methodist, sort of Quaker. The building was very grand. I was sitting…

  • Sussex Charmer

    The Summer Solstice- and it's going to be another very hot day. Yesterday we drove across the County to buy the intensely local cheese they make…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 12 comments

  • Golden

    I remember a blind man telling us that what he saw- in his mind's eye- was not darkness- as we'd presumed- but a "wonderful golden…

  • Back To The Meeting House

    I dreamed I was attending a church service. It was sort of Anglican, sort of Methodist, sort of Quaker. The building was very grand. I was sitting…

  • Sussex Charmer

    The Summer Solstice- and it's going to be another very hot day. Yesterday we drove across the County to buy the intensely local cheese they make…