Yesterday (Saturday) I felt under the weather and it
showed I maybe was not at my brightest around the house. While Marion spent the
afternoon preparing for Christmas, I essentially was mopping around, doing some
desultory clearing up, and listening to the capitulation by Boro at Ipswich. I
was put in my place this morning while listening to Desert Island Discs. For
those foreign readers this is an interview programme on BBC Radio. It is based
upon the premise that the interviewee is marooned on a desert island and has to
pick eight records as well as a luxury and book for company. It enables the
interviewer, the very effective Kirsty Young to ask probing and personal
questions, but in a conversational rather than confrontational manner. For UK
readers I urge you to catch-up with this on I Player.
Today’s interviewee was Justin Welby, the Archbishop
of Canterbury. He is a man that I have admired from afar and so was extremely
interested to hear his views. Well I learnt a very interesting lesson from him,
when he discussed the impact of personal tragedy on his life, and how tragedy affected
other people. He coined the phrase “Attack the Day”, simply this means to
approach each day in a very positive manner. Particularly those potentially sad
anniversaries of a death use the day to celebrate that person’s life, tell
those amusing anecdotes, and recount the good times. I felt this also had a
personal relevance in the light of Saturday for me.
On Saturday I had let the day take me over, and so
the depression that I felt just multiplied and fed on itself. Using the
Archbishop’s dictate I should have taken hold of the day by the scruff of the
neck, got up to my elbows in pastry, cheese, and bacon and “attempted” to make
some canapés giving Marion full rein to her criticisms. It is always better to
try rather than sit on the side-lines. So over the next year I shall try to “attack
the day”, I will not always be successful but it should be interesting, not the
least to those of you who will have to eat the canapés.
I am writing this listening to Leonard Cohen and even
he is making me happy. Marion quoted the line – “You tell me that you like handsome
men, but for me you make an exception”. Says it all really.
Thanks for the recommendation - I found the program on line and will have a listen. You are not the only one needing reminders to "attack the day"... especially after weeks oppressive grey skies.... and it is only December! Visiting Hillary in her equatorial locale is looking more and more like a very good idea:).
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