Skip to main content

Singing as the Darkness Lifts 22/01/2024 (20)

Singing as the Darkness Lifts

Podbean link for those who like to listen 



This morning the air smells clear and clean, like the breeze on cloud-skimmed mountain tops.

In my dreams last night, squirrels hatched from gossamer spun eggs in the branches of fir trees. The tree I stood under was full of them, and I watched in awe as the white webs dissolved and the creatures emerged fully formed. These were red squirrels, but perhaps the dream came from seeing black squirrels whilst staying in a cottage in a field near a wood. I am not sure I have ever seen black squirrels before and I had to check with someone who lived locally that my eyes were not deceiving me.

In the past week I have sung with a local choir, sung ‘Happy Birthday’ to my sister and I celebrate my voice for doing these things. If you had asked me a year ago if I was likely to go out and sing with others I would have told you I don’t have a voice for that kind of thing. And yet on Wednesday last week I stopped working at my keyboard when my wife went out to run choir rehearsal for our local community choir and went with her. My ‘Tomorrow’ definitely needs some work and might even be  beyond me, but I am right there with ‘Consider Yourself’ and a range of other selected songs. It was good to be out chatting and laughing too. And my paperwork was still done before bedtime and was probably even better because of the refresh.

I have been readying myself for the question, ‘What do you do?’ Having stopped a job that was quite easy to sum up (although also incredibly hard to explain in terms of width!) I knew that it was important to me to be able to state my new role authentically. My answer this week during the time I have spent meeting a large number of new people? “I am a poet. I am also a coach who provides people with the time and space to think, breathe and be. And I photograph discarded elastic bands.” This is the authentic me coming forward and finding my new place in the world and is feeling like a proper emergence with the potential for much to unfold from here. I do let each of these elements sink in as I talk to the person because I love seeing which one resonates with them the most.

One of the new people I spoke with suggested I start a Facebook Group for the aBANDonment of elastic bands. And I loved that someone who had met me for the first time thought there would be some fun in that. So I did. The thought had been in the back of my mind, but hearing it said out loud in a fun conversation got me right on to it. And within a day or so there are now 20 members. I am excited to see what new photos get shared. 

It made me smile to then find an elastic band in the stairwell of the shopping centre at Welwyn Garden City having been telling people that was part of my joy and I have included the two photos for this blog. The same band from above and below. They are called: ‘Welwyn Garden City 1’ and ‘Welwyn Garden City 2’. Number 1 is visually appealing for the lines and textures and number 2 gives a flash of colour and the band becomes Daliesque.

If you tuned in last week you may want to know that there was no Itchy just a Scratchy and ‘he’ was a rat. Oh dear, but OK, thanks to Dave!

I hope there is plenty of whatever brings you joy in your week and if you see a discarded elastic band on your travels do consider taking a photograph and joining in with the Facebook Group. I would love to see it.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Singing as the Darkness Lifts 13/11/2023 (11)

  Singing as the darkness lifts 13/11/2023   I am a poet who does not like the smell of petrichor. Last night it rained enough to make puddles on the path, so the smell is not in the air. This pleases me. Instead there is a refreshing, just there, note of herb and I learn that fruit flies too are sensitive to that smell of rain on dry ground.   When I was at school one of the projects involved counting fruit flies. I do not remember the exact logistics, but think it had something to do with tabling the numbers with different markings on their rears. My turn one lunch time resulted in me wracking my brains for the knowledge I needed when I dropped the lid of the fruit fly housing and some of the numbers headed for the freedom of the laboratory ceiling. I didn’t let my group down, but I do think a fruit fly flew up my nose during the process.   Counting things and noticing patterns in the possibly unpatterned has always been part of my wonder of the world and my way of holdin
2 comments
Read more

Singing as the Darkness Lifts 16/10/2023 (7)

Singing as the darkness lifts 16/10/2023   This morning I cannot determine what the outside world smells of. The air is cold and the stars that are still in the sky are blurred by clouds. When I step back inside the house it seems to smell of toast even though there has been no toast this morning.   So much has happened since the last time I blogged. I completed the second part of my coaching course with ‘In Good Company’ which took me to the halfway mark for the taught element. This felt like a real milestone to me and there was a wonderful feeling of pride when I could see how far I had come and how much I was learning.   I have learned a lot about myself since starting this blog in September and I have much to thank the course for when it comes to this. One of my key thinkings is that if I am going to be a great coach, then I should be able to coach myself when I am stuck. By working through the thoughts and feelings and the gap between my goal and my present state I ha
Post a Comment
Read more

'Sisters at the Snooker'

Singing as the Darkness Lifts 19/02/2024 Episode 24 Podbean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air seems to smell of egg nog. Inquisitive, I sniff again. Later, I realise the scent is lifted from my body and is from my shower gel. I wonder how many scents are mingling around me. Alt Text for today’s photo tells us this is: “Two women taking a selfie”, but as me and my sister like to see it this is... “Sisters settling in for the semi-finals at the 2024 Welsh Open”. This was my first time at the snooker and I remember learning most of what I know about it from watching it at my granddad’s house when I was young. It was in black and white in those days and frequently viewed without sound, but I remember the joy of a 147 break and the peaceful way my grandad watched it. When we were walking to the venue, I said to Katie, “I’m really looking forward to seeing a 147.” And she replied, “That’s not gonna happen sis. It’s very, very rare. Although it wo
Post a Comment
Read more