
Teaches us is that small things matter, and we are all connected to a bigger system. O

Teaches us is that small things matter, and we are all connected to a bigger system. O

1 Do not stop your car to read this sign.Thank you
Houseplants and the world of green-
She forgot the humans in her life
Hysteria turned her life to dreams
She became both King and Queen
By noone could she be seen
Yet in the mirror she would preen
To no man she’d be a wife

How to pack a suitcase when you never wear a suit
However did we pack ,when we had no kindle books?
How to go on holiday on the perfect route
I sometimes wore a sandal, my sister liked a boot
We were not so worried by perfection and our looks
Nor how to pack a suitcase when we never wore a suit
If you play a cello then never take a flute
Don’t take any sandwiches unless you have a cook
How to go on field trips when the your anger is acute
If you feel the stress of life, why not become mute?
If you have a caravan, is it overlooked?
How to pack a suitcase when you never sawed a suit
If you only take one bag,, you seem to me astute
Don’t take any rifles it’s illegal to shoot rooks
How to go on holiday on the perfect route.
Make sure you wear your wellingtons if you walk through a brook
Take some stolen credit cards , if you are a crook
How to wear a suitcase when you never wear a suit
How to grow on holiday, slurp the perfect soup

Annie Laughton, the neighbor of Mary Brown, widow of Stan , the almost world famous logician, came out of her oak-panelled front door and paused in her double glazed white plastic porch deliberating over whether her teal color 7/8 length wool coat was the best one for her to wear in the frosty smog covering Knittingham and the River Quaint.[Now breathe]
She decided a full-length raspberry maxi coat would be wiser however she did not take her own advice but wandered next door, to see what Mary was doing.
Mary was reading some book reviews.
There is a new type of illness, she told Anne.
Almost flu.almost depression, almost measles……almost happy
Surely you either have measles or not, Annie mumbled.
Not so, Mary answered.That is Aristotelian logic; nowadays we use fuzzy logic.It’s a degree of indefiniteness or its opposite.
This is why Trump got elected, Annie cried.We want it simpler.apart from Leonard Cohen who wanted it darker and so it has been for him.He died!
Well, fuzzy logic is not so hard, Mary whispered.
Any logic is hard, Annie replied.Prehistoric man had no logic and look at us now.Are we happier?Or we wiser?
You seem a bit moody, Mary told her.By the way, I love your new coat.Where did you get it from?
I stole it from the cloakroom at the Cricket Club, Annie teased her thoughtfully.
Are you not worried the owner will see you? said Mary anxiously.
No, it was in Newcastle under Lyme! Annie cried
But it is still both a crime and a sin.Mary retorted logically
Actually, I got it from Lands End, Annie said triumphantly.They had a big sale on.Because it was a warm autumn.It was only £6,788.09.
My, that’s cheap, said Mary.
My pension is £189 a week so how long will it take me to pay off the credit card? Annie wondered.
If we ignore interest and assume you pay £100 a week it will be 16788/100 which is about 168 weeks or 3 years.Can you live on £89 a week for 3 years?
No, I knew I should have stolen a new coat but I lost my nerve.
I am still wearing my old clothes, Mary boasted.
Yes, I can see all the moth holes, Annie said humorously.Your darning is pathetic
I know, Mary said.Stan was good at darning.
Well, he can’t do it now, Annie informed her logically.Well. he might darn God’s tablecloth but not your skirts and jumpers.
God’s tablecloth is perfect, said Mary.It lasts for eternity unlike our clothes
Are we going out?It looks so cold.Why don’t we stay in and teach Emile to thread a needle?Annie pondered
Do you believe that a cat could ever learn that? Mary cried.
O ye of little faith,cried Annie.With God all things are possible.
Your argument has only one flaw,Mary cried.We are not God.
And so say all of us

While Mary sat in the kitchen on a large pine chair looking at Hotter’s latest shoe catalogue,Annie was creeping up the garden path in a pair of turquoise suede elegantly heeled shoes matching her teal tencel culottes and matching blouse.Round her neck was a large lump of amber on a gold chain handy for beating off muggers or lustful men
Despite the heat she was in full splendour with golden beige tinted moisturiser from Langone of Lyons on her lovely complexion,pink eyeshadow from Yves St Current and dark brown boot polish as her mascara had run out and she’d not been out for a while to buy more
Annie ran the last few yards and darted like an eel into Mary’s 1970’s kitchen.
What on earth are you doing,dear? Mary asked her.Those shoes look unsuitable for leading anyone up the garden path.Mind you,I do like them
Oh,I’ll explain,Annie said huskily.
I told that therapist across the road I was living with you.
What exactly do you mean by living,Mary asked anxiously.
Well,he said yesterday that anyone who lives alone must be lacking in some way.Except for him of course as he had full analysis with Alfred Zion.
You mean Wilfred Bion,Mary told her.
Zion,Bion,what’s the difference?
It shows your lack of education,Mary told her.Not that education nowadays makes much difference when almost anyone can get a 1st or 2.1.After all would you pay £90,000 for a third class degree in Aeronautical Engineering?
That’s not quite what I would have done, said Annie.A degree in flirtation and pleasing men would be more up my street.And cooking of course although I once did have an interest in Hebrew and Aramaic.
It’s not a way to progress in a neo-liberal economy,although reading the Hebrew Bible is always interesting.Personally I prefer that to the New Vex-a man.The stories,the love songs,the action.Mary’s round eyes gleamed with intellectual life and a bit of languorous lust
How about God? Annie asked her.
He seems to have changed as he related to his people.But he was a friend despite being an abstract concept.Though one could hardly call him a concept as he is inconceivable.
Mary’s voice faltered as she was stunned by her own articulacy and wondered what she might say next that could offend millions around the globe.
You should write a book,Annie said kindly.
I think I am ill-equipped to write about God.And ,also ,I am saddened to see how his own people have been treated.I can’t dwell on it over much as I already feel weak and weepy.
Why what have you been doing,asked Annie.
I have been sorting out clothes to give to the hospice shop. I’ve got a big bag
full already and 2 bags of newspapers and rubbish of various kinds which somehow creeps into my bedroom… tissues,cotton wool, old hairbrushes.I am hoping to get it nice and neat before my sister comes to see me in August.And no doubt she will not be happy even then.She’d like me to buy a small new house with a lovely bathroom and kitchen. But I don’t want to leave my neighbours behind.If I won the lottery I could get the neighbours to move as well.Love thy neighbour etc
And now I realise I have far too many pans despite burning several.But it’s a big decision for a woman who was famed for entertaining friends with scorching Beef Vindaloo and lemon mousse that tasted like rubber.Giving that up is a big wrench.
Why can’t you carry on, asked Annie.
Carrying on is precisely why I can’t do it.Now I am a widow the wives of my former colleagues and my own women friends are afraid I will steal their husbands.
Emile miaowed in ecstasy as any talk about the love lives of his family were always intriguing.He was hiding as usual behind the stone flour bin.
Don’t you see,said Annie.If we pretend we are living together then you can mingle with men without suspicion.
This is beginning to sound like a spy story,Mary told her.And do not drag me into a character part in the play based on your romantic love for that psychoanalyst.
He looks ugly and boring to me.
Oh,that’s just a projection,Annie told her.You are defending yourself against acknowledging how much you long to lie in his arms and let him smother you in kisses.
Well,said Mary,I see you have been reading Freud for beginners again.
Or is it Freud for Dummies?
Mary recalled how nice her dummy used to taste when it was dipped into a jar of malt and codliver oil.Maybe that is the answer,she thought.
I’m going to Mothercare,she called as she ran out of the house in her green trainers and denim trouser suit.See you later.
Annie sat in the kitchen wondering how soon she could see the psychoanalyst again without being accused of sexual harassment.Even old age has not deterred her from seeking a replacement for dear old Stan.A few tears ran down her cheek and Emile jumped out and sat on her knee.
I saw your soul like that of a wild bird
Someone other guided me to act
Deep inside my voice had been unlocked
I sang the psalms and then a lullaby
Not aware in thought that you would die.
I fed you with a teaspoon the mashed fish
From a plate as good as one might wish
Like a little child you tried your best
You smiled at me and gazed like one who’s blessed
You sat up with a brighter face at last
Then lay back and God knows all the rest
Oh, don’t go yet ,my darling,I am here
The floor of heaven came down among my tears
Made of sumptuous satin, golden,dear.
For a little moment it hung low
Then it rose and took you in its glow
I saw your soul like that of a wild bird
Taken by the Power who spoke the Word
A sheet of tears fell down from my closed eyes
It’s hard ,so hard when those you love must die
My washing will not dry laid on the hedge
But I stand here while nurturing a grudge
I rarely feel one so I must retain
The nasty feeling and the horrid pain
Yet since it hurts me,I must be a fool
The errant friend will turn into a ghoul
I’ll hear her footsteps from my ancient bed
Till she enters carrying her head
Oh God lift up my ruminating curse
Let me have your grace or I’ll get worse
I do not wish to have a bitter heart
Grudges turn to dread; it’s hatred’s art
For if I learn destruction and its ways
Cruelty will have the final say
Will you pass the toast?
It depends how fast I’m driving.
Could I have some more butter?
Well you could, but I don’t know if you will.
Will you pass the jam?
No I only pass the cream.
Could you pass the examination this afternoon?
Only if it’s on the M25.
Could you pass the parcel round?
In theory yes. Why would I?
It night break the ice at Christmas
That’s all very well but will it melt
Have you open the newspaper yet?
I shall have to iron it.
I hope you won’t do that to the butter.
Who has heard of creased butter?
Is it something like greased lightning?
No it’s more like pleated thunder.
But the pleats can’t be permanent.
Few things are permanent and that is what is so cheering about life.
I have made a hundred mince pies.
When did you learn to count?
When you began to steal them.
I wonder if that would work with children?
Do you think children could make mince pies?
Not unless you like them raw.
Could you make the bed today?
I ll have a look at the instruction leaflet.
That’s what you said when I wanted to start a family.
Unfortunately it was in Hebrew.
If you had made the bed before we got married.
You’re just so lazy you want even fly to Hebrew for me
Is it modern or ancient?
It’s the same country whether it’s modern or ancient.
You need to put a watch on your tongue.
Why, do you want to time our kisses?
Well it is vital.
Is it one of the vital signs?
It depends what you are judging.
I’m wondering whether to leave our marriage.
Where?
I have a feeling that we don’t listen to each other.
What?
Time is nearly up
When?
I thought we could try free love
I suppose once the divorce comes through.
After meeting with other mothers with similar experiences, one woman, who was Indian, said it had not been noticed she was haemorrhaging because of her skin colour. One woman was told to “be more careful” when she bled on the floor, another was told by a midwife “if we gave pain relief to everyone it would bankrupt the NHS”.

George Bernard Shaw put it like this: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
The hospital has got some new wards.
The corridor is wasted on traffic
Here’s a bed with a screen

What a wasted space is a corridor
Like a bullfight without any matador 1
We can have three commodes
They won’t come to blows
What on earth is the hospital waiting for?
We don’t need a bedpan these days
Like we don’t need a church for our prayers
The old can wear nappies
They keep babies happy.
Just clean them all up once a day
Patience don’t need their own bathroom
A porta loo has very few fumes
The porters won’t like it
But I don’t think we’ll fight it
As long as it’s not shown on zoom.
https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/wellbeing/redress-the-balance-being-steady-on-your-feet

There are three components to balance. The first is the visual system, which shows us whether we’re tilting. Then the vestibular system in the inner ear sends information to our brain about the motion of our head in relation to our surroundings. Thirdly, proprioception is our body’s ability to sense its location, movement and actions.
“People with ear problems that cause dizziness […] are more likely to have balance issues”
People with ear problems that cause dizziness, or with joint problems or muscle weakness are more likely to have balance issues. If you suffer from dizziness, see your GP to find out the reason.

Exercise goes a long way to helping you stay steady on your feet
But there’s a lot you can do yourself to improve physical strength. If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game. One study found that a group that did 32 weeks of resistance training improved their ability to stand on one foot by 25 per cent and another group that did 32 weeks of aerobic exercise increased theirs by 31 per cent.
” If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game”
null
Otherwise, improve your balance by walking, cycling or climbing stairs – this will strengthen muscles in the lower body – or by practising yoga, pilates or tai chi. Or simply practise balancing on one leg – hold onto a chair to begin with, if necessary.
Read more: Sex and ageing: Fact or fiction?
Read more: How to protect your hips
Keep up with the top stories from Reader’s Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter




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Reader’s Digest is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards, please contact 0203 289 0940. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit ipso.co.uk
There are three components to balance. The first is the visual system, which shows us whether we’re tilting. Then the vestibular system in the inner ear sends information to our brain about the motion of our head in relation to our surroundings. Thirdly, proprioception is our body’s ability to sense its location, movement and actions.
“People with ear problems that cause dizziness […] are more likely to have balance issues”
People with ear problems that cause dizziness, or with joint problems or muscle weakness are more likely to have balance issues. If you suffer from dizziness, see your GP to find out the reason.

Exercise goes a long way to helping you stay steady on your feet
But there’s a lot you can do yourself to improve physical strength. If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game. One study found that a group that did 32 weeks of resistance training improved their ability to stand on one foot by 25 per cent and another group that did 32 weeks of aerobic exercise increased theirs by 31 per cent.
” If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game”
null
Otherwise, improve your balance by walking, cycling or climbing stairs – this will strengthen muscles in the lower body – or by practising yoga, pilates or tai chi. Or simply practise balancing on one leg – hold onto a chair to begin with, if necessary.
Read more: Sex and ageing: Fact or fiction?
Read more: How to protect your hips
Keep up with the top stories from Reader’s Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter




null
SIGN UP
Enjoy all the latest stories, tips, news & advice

Reader’s Digest is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards, please contact 0203 289 0940. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors’ Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit ipso.co.uk
Our music is a late Beethoven string quartet.
Although I can’t see you,I know
You are listening; the architecture of my heart
Is structured round this form
alone.I sit here dreaming hearing the bows
as they most beautifully cause vibrations
sending the depths of love through the air;
as also do the strong yet gentle bells ringing
on the collars of goats on a far away mountain.
I know it’s your music I heard it
when I first looked into your shadowed eyes
and knew who you might be.
A pebble is tossed languidly into a lake
yet ripples spread out across the world.
Such deliverances as we find will only
link us further,as we dance,the elegant dance
of the knowingly brave
who never give in,
but will always keep in step with the world
as it turns unseen past flashing silver stars
until its time has come.
Yet the music we create remains for ever
floating through the air,
like perfume of these late roses
as I walk down the garden
and into the intolerable green newness of this tangled wood,
which startles me with its violent wistfulness.
Oh,come now…I hear your footstep on the road.
It’s the wind sighing eloquently,
knowing you have gone away
into the dark and the deep.where new life is formed
and I wait for you,fierce yet kind, with tender love.
I offer my heart to the world
and the music takes
The sin a child is born to is not hers;
For mother’s body’s sacred with its grace.
The sin a child is born to,it is ours
Yet ,at a baptism will the priest declare:
Out ye demons,leave this infant’s space.
The sin a child is born to is not hers
The infant naturally speaks in tongues of fire.
The Spirit moves eternal in its trace
The sin a child is born to,it is ours
The path we learn to walk ‘s already there
The rules and laws were written with no haste
The sin a child is born to is not hers
A child born now is marked by Iraq War
A child born now, in paranoia’s traced.
The sin a child is born to,it is ours
Oh,look upon the infant’s holy face
Beatific vision is there traced
The sin a child is born to is not hers
The sin a child is born to,it is ours
Leaving Elham driving South to Hythe
Driving by the stubble through the smoke
As if the very earth was all aflame
The Saxon cliffs provide a steep old road
By the shore the sea was teal and glowed
The hinterland was barley, sun and light
The crops up in the North were never rich
For us Northern people , such a sight
Now the Channel Tunnel is nearby
Motorways with lorries either way
Yet I remember Dover,Deal, and Hythe
The little woods where children used to play
ÎThe Saxon cliffs are wayback from the sea
The Saxons would be startled, could they see
I have walked the silent paths of grief
Since I made my choice to care for him
I have slept on beds of cold dead leaves.
I do not want to claim that death’s a thief
Although my heart’s dear light and joy have gone.
I have never felt I was deceived.
I have learned that human life’s too brief.
I have learned by sorrow I’m undone.
I have sifted earth and what’s beneath.
I have felt the dark emotions seethe
While I have been mocked by cruel sun.
I have learned the geography of grief.
I wait on earth for senseless life to cease
Or will a fluttering wing make chaos come,
Change my heart and give me a fresh lease?
Catastrophic grief can make us dumb
Into our hearts we drag the ice that numbs
I have walked the silent paths of grief
I have slept on beds of winter leaves
The shops look all the same to me.
plastic human models with no heads
are placed in the windows
showing us how we might look
if we bought the latest “fashions”.
“
People walk, by dropping paper and cans
some look at me,most don’t
I’m invisible now ,I’m a ghost.
I haunt my familiar spaces
the library green and the path by the river
The phone shops tempt us with large notices:
Just £39 per month for the best of all,
the latest,the new maps and locations
faster access to email and photos.
Look ,here I am,another selfie.The only beauty is a pigeon in the sun
and a black man with gentle,luminous eyes
smiling at me as he sweeps away the paper
tossed down by the blinded people
who jabber beside the coffee shop.

From Finland to the Phillipines
Egypt to Xanadu
From the North Pole to the Netherlands,
I love only you.
That isn’t very Christian
Nor would it please the Jew.
So if I must be good,my dear.
Then I willl love two.
When I get more holy
And know where the virtues be
I’ll be even better then
For I will then love three.
When I get dark, old and grey
And soon will be no more
I’ll make Jesus happy,
For I shall love a score.
From Alaska to Andalucia
Berlin to Borneo
If God spares me much longer
I’ll love ninety four!
;

I àm glad they have found something that’ might help. There is tremendous amount of anxiety now. This may have a very bad effect on people mostly people who will never get it.What I have found distressing is that most older people do not have any hobbies or personal interests and sit watching the television for Hours Is it at all possible to try to find some kind of intellectual or artistic stimulus that you can practice before you get to be too old. Writing short stories or poems which will help you even if they are not very good quality.Going to art classes again it helps you whether or not you are any good at art and makes you observant when you go out as you can wonder what colours you would use to paint the sky which has such a variety of colors in it at different times of the day.It’s a very good idea to keep going for walks even if they are very short because it helps the blood social ocean and more blood will go to your brain.Even gossiping will help the brain but don’t take them to court for anything.That will not help your brain in the long run.What can we do ourselves rather than relying entirely on the hope for scientific research is a positive step. And whatever happens to you when you’re old you’ll find it very beneficially if you could write about it even keeping a journal or writing matters to your relatives instead of sending emails.It’s rarely too late for something good to happen know that because it’s what I have done myself.Don’t wait do something.
With a biro scribble down the lines
No Fountain pen,no Rorsach blots, no nibs
Lots of paper needed every time.
Words are are hewed from rock the’re never glib
Laptops message easier to write
Yet they use no muscles,axe nor line
No hands are wrung no paper pierced,no fight.
The brain is severed from the hand unkind.
If there is a written script it sells
It conveys it’s vision through the hands, the heart
It’s not just to the brain but every cell
Heal yourself by feeling not by charts
Walk about with pockets full of pens.
Every word on every line makes sense