Day: November 14, 2022

The hand upon my tiller

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Come back to me,my sweetheart
Don’t leave me all alone.
Come back to me,my darling
I can’t believe you’ ve gone.
I’m crying ‘cos I’m feeling blue again.
I’m crying’cos I’m falling like a stone.

Oh, let me tempt you with my beauty
And my voice forever young.
Let me tempt you with my spirit
My laughter and my songs.
I’m crying ‘cos I never did you wrong.
I’m crying ‘cos with you I do belong.

11I thought maybe I’d follow,
To see where you have gone
But there’s a hand upon this tiller
That is not mine alone.
I’m crying ‘cos I wrote this old blue song.
I’m crying ‘cos we’ve been apart too long.

The hand upon my tiller
The mystery of the dark
The unknown one who lives in me
And sings like a skylark.
I’m singing ‘cos I wrote you a new song.
I’m singing ‘cos the cat ain’t got my tongue!

Shame and distress of illiteracy in Britain

By Mike Flemming copyright

Many people will never get to that stage. Those who are functionally illiterate can’t read for practical reasons. Emails, payslips, train timetables, road signs, letters: these basic aspects of adulthood appear to them like hieroglyphics. They can’t even read to their own children. But there is another tragedy: they can’t read for pleasure. From the greatest works of literature to the subtitles of magnificent foreign films, their life is culturally impoverished.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5330cbd8-638f-11ed-9ccc-9d160947f622?shareToken=baa5dbf7c45519e6a35f97bb991f64e

In the quiet garden

Down the slanting, new laid garden path

I saw the young wood pigeon in the bath.

We rarely went down there in recent years

The bird was not afraid, he stood and stared.

Then having splashed in joy, he flew away.

I miss my quiet garden and its peace.

My heart is overflowing with this gried

What’s the point of living, keeping safe?

When we shall no more feel love’s sweet embrace.

Laughter might be an effective medicine

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/well/mind/laughter-may-be-effective-medicine-for-these-trying-times.html

While the long-term impacts of such a practice remain unknown, Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at University College London, said that laughter has also been shown to reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and increases the body’s uptake of the feel-good endorphins.

There also appear to be cognitive benefits. Watching a funny video was tied to improvements in short-term memory in older adults and increased their capacity to learn, research conducted by Dr. Gurinder Singh Bains of Loma Linda University found.