Chinese New Year

My inspiration comes from people I speak to; people I know, people I don't know, in the latter case they are a fount of stories and life experiences.

So, talk to someone you normally wouldn't talk to , go to a different shop, bar, coffee shop.

This is Chinese New Year so go up to a Chinese person, clasp your hands and say - SHIN KNEE-N HOW!

Attached is a Chinese Event in Wycome this week-end if you are
wondering what to do in Wycombe this Sunday. 1 st Feb.

Saludos to my Uncle Jim In Canada, the most mature blog reader and Lin for her New Year Card. And for all your feedback on some of the stuff I have written.

All I can say is..in these difficult times - take a different perspective.

Embrace the poor, embrace the dispossesed, embrace the homeless, embrace the jobless
For in their despair, in their longing, in their grief
We find ours. We find ourselves.

Look to the weak and not the strong.
Look to the humble and not the mighty.
Look on the face of despair and not the fair of face.
Look to the wind-wise willow and not the stiff stout oak.

For in our weakness and humility, in our despair and yielding we find ourselves.

Gong xi Ba cai

Boys and boats

We'd run and skip and jump
Past rocks and cow pats and muddy bits
To find the place, the point to put
Our boat in ,
our stick
our flower
our blade of grass.

And watch it bobble and burst
And bounce and dive and sink
And disappear beneath a bridge
and catch sight

Where, where, where?
A joy, a shout, there it is!
it’s in front
Mine's first
Mine’s winning!

And as that brook bubbled and burst
past boy-made dams
and time-worn barns
We ‘d rush to the edge and stop!

Barbed wire keeps little boys out.

To catch one
last glimpse,
one hope,
one fear.
Our little boat of hope disappear
Over the edge of the world

I look up and scan the mighty sea
How will it fare over there,
that little boat of hope?