The road map of a life
is written on the face
looking back
from the mirror,
the face so much older
but hardly wiser
than I foolishly expect it to be.
How the hell did it happen
that in the blink of an eye,
the dewy skin and appealing eye,
–youth’s wistful mien,
were erased and eroded
with every switchback,
every road-block,
every lost hope,
every bitter U-turn
on that tortuous peregrination?
So in an unremarkable odyssey
between the beginning and the end
with directions lost and,
route plan blatantly disregarded,
I arrive at this place
without the slightest clue
or indication
how I could possibly
have ended up here.

#smallstone 16

The small stones have definitely been a little harder to find this week and perhaps dashed off much too quickly due to lack of time; this is the only one which I’m relatively happy with so far.

The Arvon Schedule arrived in my mailbox earlier in the week, it’s packed with some very tempting offerings and I would love to go back to the Hurst this year to see all the renovations but mostly to have the benefit of tuition from some truly talented writers.

I did give myself permission for a night off earlier in the week and went with friends to see The Railway May, the story of Eric Lomax and his experiences on the Burma-Siam Railway, it was quite simply excellent and Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine and Hiroyuki Sanada were brilliant in their respective roles supported by an exceptionally good cast.

My father was also in Burma during this period and growing up I had my own first hand experiences of the scars and emotional devastation which arose from his time there, and as a result I wasn’t entirely sure how I would react to this film.  I have to say it was so compelling the next day I went down to Waterstones and bought Eric Lomax’s book and have hardly put it down. It is extremely well written and notwithstanding the subject matter, highly readable.

Well that’s it for me for today, time to go and polish my domestic diva halo (well maybe do the dishes and chase the odd dust bunny around).

Wishing writers and readers good words!