Tag: Creativity

Awaiting Reply

You know when I found that note last year – the one that told me I owed myself money – and I had no idea when I wrote it or why? I was reminded of that just a couple of weeks ago, when I started yet another new notebook. Not a personal one, like the one I’m scribbling the first draft of this post in, but a work one with its own pen secured at the side. Yes, its own pen! You know what that means – no more frantic searching when you need to jot down an email address or phone number. Let me tell you, an attached pen is very much a luxury in my line of work. We have a whole box of these books in our office, each with the incorrect branding on the front cover – so they’re just sitting there, empty and (as far as I’m concerned) fair game.

I wasted no time in claiming one for myself, and such is the fast pace of the university careers world that I had to rush it into action immediately. No date. No title. No context. Just a list, seven words long:

“Waiting/Awaiting reply/Approved/Not approved/Withdrawn”.

Nope, no idea. I’ll tell you one thing, though – looking at it reminds me of my online dating attempts!

Mason

Leave The Laundry ‘Til Later

Mum excitedly texted me the other day to tell me of one of the brand new joys in her life:

“I’ve discovered podcasts!”

Now, she can be late to the party with certain things. She once famously (or infamously) predicted that Clean Bandit would be big after hearing them on the radio, three years after they’d actually started having hits. Louis and I still haven’t quite let her live that down – it can be all too easy to pull her leg, bless her. This time, though, I resisted the considerable urge to do so, because I absolutely understood her enthusiasm. I could feel the energy in those three small words, the same energy I felt myself a few years back. It sounds like a cheesy cliche, but discovering podcasts was like unlocking a brand new world, such is the sheer volume of content that there is to unearth. In fact, I reckon that if there’s a topic that doesn’t have its own podcast yet, it probably isn’t worth knowing about.

For a long time, I wasn’t getting into them quite as much as others were. Lara has always been fond of audiobooks – most of what she reviews on Instagram is listened to rather than read. I once asked her if she found them difficult to focus on, as she’d invariably play them while doing things around the house, writing an essay or – more recently – working on a lesson plan. She assured me there were never any issues, but I was sceptical, and that scepticism extended to podcasts as well. I was convinced I’d be far too busy sorting out my washing to take in what was being said. I was wrong. If anything, the reverse was true, and my washing tends to take a whole lot longer than it really should. What can I say – Lara always knows best, doesn’t she? I should never have doubted her.

I will say that I often cherry pick what I listen to, so to speak. There’ll be some podcasts I never miss an episode of, and others I just tune into now and then depending on a particular subject or guest. Whatever my approach on any given day, I know that I won’t take my headphones off without first having learned something or laughed out loud (even alone in a quiet flat). Let me leave you with a few of my favourites – don’t just take my suggestions, though. Do your own digging and you’ll definitely find something you love just as much:

The Dave Berry Breakfast Show – Absolute Radio

Help I Sexted My Boss – hosted by Jordan North and William Hanson

Crushed – a podcast about unrequited love, hosted by Margaret Cabourn-Smith

The BBC’s Desert Island Discs – hosted by Lauren Laverne

Bring Back V10s – a Formula One podcast covering stories between 1989 and 2005, hosted by Glenn Freeman

Mason

Full Band Setup

In life, we can long for lots of different kinds of company. It can be platonic, physical or romantic, depending on your situation, and there are lots of different far-reaching branches of each type. What I’m looking for right now comes under the ‘platonic’ umbrella – specifically, company of the creative kind. I’m not talking about someone who’s an ‘intellectual equal’ or anything like that. I run a modest blog read by a modest (but loyal) handful of people, so I’m hardly one of the great thinkers of our age. In fact, I’d say that a lot of my attempts to say something profound have fallen a little bit flat, to say the least.

Nevertheless, I can’t deny that it would be nice to have – for want of a better term – a sounding board of sorts. A person, or group of people, who’ll listen to my daft ideas and gently guide me in the right direction without judgment. They might even offer up some of their own, so that I can return the favour. I went to that writers’ group a couple of times, yes, and I was made very welcome on each occasion – but there was something missing. I was surrounded by brilliant minds relating brilliant ideas, but I still didn’t feel completely comfortable for some reason. Perhaps it was difficult to relate to people who were double my age and had spent a life cave diving in Mexico, fascinating though that was. I also wondered if they’d find it tricky to relate to my 26 year old online ramblings, so I ultimately never presented anything to them. Overall, it was a very different experience to one of my Creative Writing workshops during my degree.

Harsh? Maybe, but I can’t help feeling that I need peers in that arena too, just I’d want friends or dates my own age. It might be time to give serious thought to making Third Time Enabled a group project again, and resurrecting the full band setup, as I’d always envisioned. I wonder if Will, Emily or Alex are busy at the moment? Or perhaps I should press on writing the lyrics I’ve promised to show a friend of mine, even though I hate them with a passion in their current draft form. There are a few options to consider, as you can see…

Mason

Pretty Pictures

Believe it or not, a toddler did not bring these pebbles home from playgroup. They were, in fact, painted by me during my lunch break with the team today – if I was being kind to myself, I’d call my approach abstract. There’s a ladybird and a tree in there somewhere if you squint hard enough, you know. Perhaps they serve as irrefutable proof that my talents, if any, lie firmly in words and not in pretty pictures. Needless to say, none of the rest of the team were quite as heavy-handed, and their work was considerably easier on the eye!

Art therapy as a whole, however, is something I’d recommend to anyone, even after just one hour. While the results might have left something to be desired, there’s no question that I felt more relaxed than I had done in some time. Even if you don’t naturally gravitate towards paint or marker pens, don’t be dismissive (as I initially was). Give it a go and you might just be surprised by how much lighter you feel. To be honest, I think we could all do with experiencing that sensation a little more often in this day and age.

Mason

Is Here Now

A lyrical analysis of Oasis’ Be Here Now, originally written in 2019

Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now, on 21 August 1997. It was met with significant widespread anticipation, and went on to become the UK’s best-selling album of 1997[1] as well as its fastest-selling album of all time[2] – internationally, it also proved a sizeable hit. It was initially given an enthusiastic critical response, with several reviews consisting of unanimous praise. Over time, however, Be Here Now’s sales and supporters dwindled and it has been retrospectively seen as excessively ambitious, too long and overproduced. In 2018, NME described it as “a rock folly, a coke-fuelled monument to ‘90s excess.”[3]  It is cited as the album that prompted the decline of the wider Britpop scene, but it still produced three UK hit singles in ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘All Around the World’. The latter remains the longest track ever to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart, indicating both the scale of the music on Be Here Now and Oasis’s colossal commercial appeal.

Noel Gallagher – the group’s main songwriter – had been inspired to create songs that “escaped the strictures of orthodox rock composition”[4] and were “Bigger, Louder and Longer”[5]. In addition, the success Oasis had achieved by the time Be Here Now was written and recorded meant that they were virtually entirely unrestricted by deadlines or budgets. The decadence evident during the album’s production may have influenced its lyrics, although they largely display the same typical Oasis elements of arrogance, relentless optimism and melancholy.

Be Here Now was released following Labour’s landslide victory at the 1997 general election, and this developed a feeling of positivity that had existed for some time beforehand, fostered by events such as the aforementioned political changes as well as cultural landmarks including “Euro 96 and Britpop in general.”[6] ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, Be Here Now’s opening track, has been described as “more rally than song”[7], and is an example of how many lyrics exist “to propose ideas about life and the world.”[8] It progresses with an authority and forcefulness that is difficult to deny, conveying this most notably in the chorus; “all my people, right here, right now/d’you know what I mean?/yeah, yeah.”[9] The first part seems to cultivate a sensation of togetherness and unity among band and audience; in addition, it reinforces the reputation of Oasis as a working-class band of the people, since Liam is singing to “my people”. The listener is thus part of the story, allowing the band’s message to gain momentum. In the rest of the song, this is used to encourage the listener to brush off life’s setbacks and approach everything with confidence. Through lines such as “get up off the floor and believe in life/no-one’s ever gonna ever ask you twice”[10], they are subjected to a degree of ethos in the lyrics, since the narrator is evidently attempting to convince the listener of their own personal strength and inspire faith in their message. It has been noted that the song’s chorus provided a particularly apparent “note of hubristic confidence”[11], linking back to the aforementioned arrogance that featured in Oasis’s earlier lyrics. Looking deeper at the words themselves, we can establish that there is use of both perfect rhymes and family rhymes. In parts of the song, they almost seem to alternate; for example, “step off the train all alone at dawn/back into the hole where I was born”[12] is swiftly followed by “the blood on the tracks, and they must be mine/the fool on the hill, and I feel fine”[13]. These lines, varying in their rhyme style, are separated by standalone ones – in this case, “the sun in the sky never raised an eye to me”[14], which helps to establish a pattern running through the rest of the song. This format, along with the repetitive nature of the chorus and the steady AABCCB rhyme scheme in the verses (the pre-chorus is ABBCC), can potentially make the song easier for a listener to memorise, thereby increasing the effectiveness of its message. The video develops this, showing Oasis performing the song in an apparently post-apocalyptic world while helicopters fly overhead and a crowd gathers. Smoke grenades are thrown, adding colour and chaos to a grey setting and bearing a resemblance to the uprising and sense of fearlessness encouraged by the lyrics.

‘Don’t Go Away’, on the other hand, is much more personal and introspective in nature. Its lyrics take the form of a plea to a loved one not to abandon the narrator. It opens with “a cold and frosty morning/there’s not a lot to say/about the things caught in my mind”[15], immediately setting a solemn scene, establishing a clear sense of pathos, and succinctly illustrating the narrator’s frustration at being unable to properly express their inner feelings. Its production was supposedly an emotional experience; Liam claims to have cried while recording his vocal, saying that “I had to go away and sort myself out”[16]. The emotional angle is reiterated notably in the lines that lead up to the chorus – “and I want to be there when you’re coming down/and I want to be there when you hit the ground.”[17] When the chorus begins, the aforementioned plea fully manifests itself; “don’t go away/say what you say/say that you’ll stay/forever and a day.”[18] As well as desperation, a sense of loss is also apparent: “me and you, what’s going on? All we seem to know is how to show/the feelings that are wrong.”[19] Such lines suggest an emotional vulnerability that is at odds with the resilience and defiance evident in other Oasis songs; on Be Here Now alone, ‘Don’t Go Away’ is preceded by ‘My Big Mouth’ (“I’ll put on my shoes while I’m walking slowly down the hall of fame”[20]) and ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’ (“’cause baby, after all/you’ll never forget my name”[21]). In rhyming terms, the lyrics employ more examples of perfect rhymes, and more evenly so than ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’. The scheme can be established an ABABCDD, at least in the first two verses; “damn my situation and the games I have to play/with all the things caught in my mind/damn my education, I can’t find the words to say/all the things caught in my mind.”[22] At the end of these, the words “coming down”[23] are sung after a pause, separating them on their own line and disrupting the flow of the pattern, although much like ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, the consistency of this method can again allow the song to stay in the listener’s mind.

The video matches the melancholy theme of the song, while also using more surreal elements. It depicts Liam singing in a house and caught in moments of deep reflection while the rest of the band appear around him, and an orchestra play in a desolate and blue landscape. The visuals are likely to attract attention, but they all seemingly serve to isolate Liam and what he is singing, which can in turn provoke thought and reflection among listeners.

‘All Around the World’, however, is inherently optimistic and the album’s most blatant display of grandiosity. This orchestra uses strings and horns to create a juggernaut of positivity and convince the listener that everything will be right in their world; “all around the world/you’ve got to spread the word/tell ‘em what you’ve heard/we’re going to make a better day.”[24] Such a message can be interpreted as another attempt to inspire more confidence in the listener, albeit in a manner that displays less attitude than ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’. Its lyrics are even more consistent than those of the aforementioned two songs; certain sections are repeated numerous times (“yeah, I know what I know/it’s gonna be okay”[25]), and the verses contain a series of identical perfect rhymes in an AAAA pattern, followed by AAAABB in the pre-chorus sections. In addition, “please don’t cry, never say die”[26] features an additional rhyme, with an internal one occurring on the same line.

The music video for the song emphasises its positivity – Oasis are shown performing the song in a yellow spaceship while travelling through a surreal fantasy world, apparently inspired by The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film. The jovial tone and bright colours of the video effectively compliment the lyrics, placing Liam firmly at the centre – he and the rest of the band are dressed in white suits, thereby rejecting darker attire, and he and Noel exchange light-hearted glances, abandoning their usual seriousness and revelling in their spectacular surroundings.

The relative extravagance of Be Here Now’s music and videos extended to its promotional materials. The album’s cover featured Oasis standing around a swimming pool at Stocks House, Hertfordshire, surrounded by various props; the pool had a Rolls-Royce lowered into it, and the items included a calendar displaying the album’s release date. It is believed that this was included to equate buying a copy on release day to participating in “some kind of historical event”[27] – the album’s title may convey a similar idea. Indeed, customers who purchased it at HMV stores were given a certificate confirming they had “been there then”[28], emphasising the perceived magnitude of the occasion. On the album’s supporting tour, the stage set replicated some of the cover artwork items. A Rolls-Royce grille was used as Alan White’s drum riser, and the band entered through a red telephone box, preceded by a ringmaster who walked the stage to enliven the audience.[29] Despite such ostentatiousness, the band themselves often donned more casual attire in keeping with their working-class reputation, remaining a degree of relatability to the audience despite the nature of Be Here Now’s music and retaining the image for which they are best known to the public.

Mason

Bibliography

The Official Charts Company. ‘End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/end-of-year-artist-albums-chart/19970105/37502/

BBC Newsbeat. ‘Sorry Adele, Oasis are still the album chart record breakers’. Accessed 6 November 2019. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34919975/sorry-adele-oasis-are-still-the-album-chart-record-breakers

NME. ‘Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now’ – Was It Really That Bad?’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/oasis-be-here-now-at-15-was-it-really-that-bad-770068

Harris, John. The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock. London: Fourth Estate, 2003.

Dorian Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’ – the toxic legacy of Oasis’s Be Here Now’, The Guardian, 6 October 2016. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/flattened-by-the-cocaine-panzers-the-toxic-legacy-of-oasiss-be-here-now

Eckstein, Lars. Reading Song Lyrics. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010.

Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

MTV. ‘MTV Oasis Uncut Documentary’. YouTube. 24:35. Posted by Whenallwozkool, 4 August 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evCXwh0vcNM

Oasis, ‘My Big Mouth’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

Loud and Quiet. ‘Don’t just blame the cocaine for Oasis’ Be Here Now – it was kinda Richard Ashcroft’s fault’. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.loudandquiet.com/short/dont-just-blame-cocaine-oasis-now-kinda-richard-ashcrofts-fault/

Oasis. ‘Oasis – G Mex Arena Manchester Full Concert December 1997’. YouTube. 1:49:35. Posted by headshrinker666, 18 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-ylUkGV2Y&t=168s

[1]‘End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997’, accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/end-of-year-artist-albums-chart/19970105/37502/

[2] ‘Sorry Adele, Oasis are still the album chart record breakers’, accessed 6 November 2019. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34919975/sorry-adele-oasis-are-still-the-album-chart-record-breakers

[3] ‘Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now’ – Was It Really That Bad?’, accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/oasis-be-here-now-at-15-was-it-really-that-bad-770068

[4] John Harris, The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock (London: Fourth Estate, 2003), 334.

[5] Harris, The Last Party, 334.

[6] Dorian Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’ – the toxic legacy of Oasis’s Be Here Now’, The Guardian, 6 October 2016. Accessed 6 November 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/flattened-by-the-cocaine-panzers-the-toxic-legacy-of-oasiss-be-here-now

[7] Lynskey, ‘’Flattened by the cocaine panzers’.

[8] Lars Eckstein, Reading Song Lyrics (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010), 10.

[9] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[10] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[11] Harris, The Last Party, 338.

[12] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[13] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[14] Oasis, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[15] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[16] ‘MTV Oasis Uncut Documentary’, YouTube, 24:35, posted by Whenallwozkool, 4 August 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evCXwh0vcNM

[17] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[18] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[19] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[20] Oasis, ‘My Big Mouth’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[21] Oasis, ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[22] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[23] Oasis, ‘Don’t Go Away’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[24] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[25] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[26] Oasis, ‘All Around the World’, from Be Here Now, Creation Records, 1997.

[27] Harris, The Last Party, 341.

[28] ‘Don’t just blame the cocaine for Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now – it was kinda Richard Ashcroft’s fault’, accessed 6 November 2019, https://www.loudandquiet.com/short/dont-just-blame-cocaine-oasis-now-kinda-richard-ashcrofts-fault/

[29] Oasis, ‘Oasis – Live G Mex Arena Manchester Full Concert December 1997’, YouTube, 1:49:35, posted by headshrinker666, 18 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N-ylUkGV2Y&t=168s

Beyond The Wall Of Smiles

Remember that writing group I referred to recently, in one of Winchester’s coffee shops? I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t been in a little while. To tell you the truth, work and other stuff – which you’ll find out about very soon – have been taking it out of me a little bit, and there’s the small matter of an ongoing Grand Prix season to consider too. I’d feel uncomfortable sitting at a table of writers knowing Martin Brundle was on his grid walk at home. Most of my Sunday afternoons between March and November are very antisocial.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about the group, though. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about what I wrote last time I went, in the notebook Liz gave me a couple of months ago. It seems pretty apt to share with you, talking about delaying going back to things. “Describe the scene,” they said, as I reached them that morning. “Describe everything you see, hear and feel in as much detail as possible.” Believe me, that was easy enough:

“The coffee shop is alive with the thrum of conversation, and music blasts throughout, but when I enter I know what’s in store. Beyond the wall of smiles at the counter, a trio of disapproving faces awaits me. My only hope is that when I reach them, they’re distracted by their writing, too immersed to even notice my arrival – but they aren’t, and they do. And they haven’t even started, because they’ve waited for me first. Curse my lateness. Turns out I didn’t know quite how long being ‘on my way’ would take.”

Mason

A Craig David Day

A lot of my posts start with a title, even before I have any idea of how to build what follows. I often have a starting point at the very least – the end of a thread which I can use to find my way through the rest of the labyrinth. Sometimes, though, that thread deserts me, and beyond the title there’s absolutely nothing. Consequently, a lot of the titles stack up in my Drafts section, left there to gather dust with no context whatsoever. I came to this blog today with the intention of writing something completely unrelated from scratch, but that was before I opened my Drafts and saw a trio that was too odd not to share with you. What do you make of these?

“A Craig David Day”

“The Only Escalator In Aberystwyth”

“Even My Computer Is Getting In On The Action”

It’s like they get weirder with each one (I honestly have no idea where I was going with the third). As you can see, I chose the first as the title of this post. Not only is it the snappiest of the three, but it’d also go straight to the top of any alphabetical list, which is always handy for a blog jostling to be noticed among a zillion others.

“7 Days” is an absolute tune too, of course…

Mason

One Sentence

I’ve referred every so often in these posts to writing prompts, or words and phrases that might make good ones. I then ask myself whether I’ll ever use them, but I don’t. If I’m honest, every time I mention one, I know full well it won’t see the light of day again. I don’t know whether that’s because of laziness, a lack of confidence, or the absence of a good idea, but whatever the case I don’t push it. It’s in those situations that I wonder what I’d write if I was put under pressure to come up with something, as I have been on occasion. Two weeks ago, I was tested in exactly that way when I attended a writers’ group at a coffee shop in Winchester.

It’s a place I’ve been a loyal customer of for a number of years now, but until that day I’d had no idea that they met in there. I approached them tentatively, notebook and pen on my lap. Unlike some of the others – including an ex-diver working on a memoir about his time exploring underwater caves in Mexico – I had nothing to share, because this was my first week and I needed to establish the lay of the land. Don’t get me wrong, I was still an active participant, but I kept relatively quiet, only dropping in the odd nugget of feedback here and there. This back-seat approach paid dividends, because it quickly allowed me to feel comfortable around the others and in what I was getting myself into. It wasn’t long before I was scribbling away without a care in the world, which is where the aforementioned prompt comes in.

“What I want you to do,” said the lady leading the session, “is to find the last message you sent on your phone, take it out of its original context, and use it as a starting point for a piece.” All I’m going to do now is present you with the line I found on WhatsApp, and the two-person dialogue that evolved from it. It’s amazing what you can manage when you’re given a little nudge in the right direction. In fact, I think it was enough of a nudge to convince me to go back again soon. Make of this what you will…

“Luckily, I won’t need it today, because I’m busy over lunch.”

“What are you so scared of anyway?”

“What am I scared of? What am I NOT scared of? This is huge!”

“It’s a coffee and a chat, and then you never have to see her again. My mother always said difficult conversations are best had quickly.”

“Or not at all?”

“Oh, come on!”

“It definitely will be difficult as well. She’s hardly the kind of person you can make small talk with. Everything’s either world politics or high culture, and there’s a time and a place for that.”

“Yes…”

(a beat, then the same character speaks again)

“So why did you agree to marry her then?”

Mason

Mountain Goat

I’ve come to realise that with all of the recent job-related excitement in my life, I have neglected Dracula somewhat. In fact, I don’t think I’ve opened it at all since I last wrote about it some weeks ago. As I said in that post, it can be a tricky book to get into, even if you’ve read it before as I have. That means that I could be forgiven for being reluctant to dive back in, and in any other situation, maybe I would be. I’m yet to have a DNF in this book club yet, but if any novel were worthy of one, Dracula is surely it. Having said that, though, I will finish it – and when I do, I’m certain I’ll have seen it with fresh, reinvigorated eyes, because this new job has made me feel like a new man. And I’m only three days into it!

Yes, any link this post actually has to books or book clubs might be tenuous to say the least, but stick with me for a minute. Ever since I was offered my role, I’ve felt physically lighter. It’s amazing how much weight this has lifted from my shoulders – all that pressure to find ‘the next thing’, whatever that may be, is gone. If I were able-bodied, I’d be skipping around like a mountain goat. As it is, I’m still in the wheelchair and fairly static, but my life is finally going places, and so is my mind. For much of the last year it’s been foggy, and I’ve struggled to see the wood for the trees. Dad told me that things were far worse for the people of Ukraine, and while that might be true, everything is relative – remarks like that certainly didn’t help me at that time. Happily, things look a bit brighter again now, and I’m full of enthusiasm. My eyes are wider and my head feels clearer, and I think that’ll benefit not only my work, but also my personal life.

I’ll enjoy my solitude again – it started to bother me while I was unemployed – but in addition, I’ll feel better about mixing and mingling with others. If you’ll indulge another flimsy link to literature, I think there’ll be dividends where my creative pursuits are concerned too. When the book club started and I was still getting together with Lara and Nora, I’d often be the one keeping them waiting as I finished the last few chapters long after they had. Whether it was laziness or lethargy, I don’t know, but this time I have a feeling I won’t be dragging my feet. Instead, I’ll be surging forward with my head held high. I’m hoping the text’s density might not irk me quite so much along the way, but as we now know, that might be a promise too far…

Mason