Sensible vs Sexy

Below we have two young women, both in the same precarious situation, that is out in the rain, and both toting a brolly, but each with a very different approach.

The first woman has adopted the common-sense approach: she is sensibly if somewhat tawdrily dressed, and with a terrible sense of colour coordination and the inevitable dirty trainers. In fact, so sensible is this lady that she has taken the precaution of bringing with her a spare umbrella, just in case the first one comes to grief and she is left unprotected in the rain. It means of course that she has to lug around a garish oversized brute of a brolly, looking as though she stole the awning off a fairground stall, but what is that beside the feeling of security she has thus equipped with two umbrellas? All backpackers should note - as they trudge up the precipitous slopes of Mount Everest or Mont Blanc or even St Michael's Mount, as this woman may indeed be intending to do judging by the rather large rucksack on her back - that their climbing kit is not complete unless it includes two brollies! So take your cue from this 'sensible' woman.

Sensible Woman

Now we come to the not-so-sensible woman, the sexy woman, as I've named her. Just one glance at her tells us that this lass definitely has the full kit, but is it the right one for these weather conditions? Once again it is raining and once again the lady in question is sheltered by an umbrella, though there is no back-up brolly in this case. And yet by some cruel trick of Nature it is only raining under her brolly and nowhere else! However, that aside, her outfit cannot be faulted for its practicality. She won't have wet clothes to change out of when she gets home and she will have the satisfaction of knowing she did not let anything come between her and Mother Nature. Not to mention that her sense of colour coordination is excellent. A white umbrella crowning her pale body - clarity and purity in one! Thus attired (or unattired), she is always ready to venture outdoors at the drop of a hat. Sexy she is but is she not sensible too?

Sexy Woman

Well there you have it, my dear readers. Two women, two lots of rainy weather, and two different attitudes. Caution and common-sense versus the bold and the bare. Which is your preferred approach? Which ticks all the boxes for you? Answers on a postcard, please.

See you in my next post when I get to grips with another burning issue of the day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

So out goes the Year of our Lord 2010 and in comes 2011. And for me it's been the usual mixed bag, with nothing exceptional or outstanding, or put another way, it's been no great shakes. But, having said that, it hasn't been a bad year either. There have been some good moments and some not so good moments and very few downright bad moments. In some ways it has been less than I had hoped for and in other ways it has produced some unexpected welcome outcomes. I've had bust-ups and knock-backs but also some worthwhile new encounters. But no demises and no sad losses. I would have liked it to be better but it could have been much worse. In matters of the heart, it's been a bit disappointing but nothing that cannot be remedied with a little more effort on my part. There is still all to play for, as they say, and I have expectations of the coming year, hoping that what proved unattainable in 2010 will be more amenable in 2011. Only time will tell.

I have learnt some lessons from the past twelve months and I go into the new year on a changed course, a new tack. I only hope for a favourable wind to fill my sails and take me forward. I'm at an age where I have no illusions about what life has to offer in general and what it is likely to offer me in particular. And, like most people, I nurture hope in my breast and I have dreams in my head and, health and fate permitting, I look to fulfil them in the coming months and years, be it in full or in part, at least while I still have a pulse! In fact, though it may seem paradoxical, partial fulfilment is preferable to total achievement, as the former allows scope for more and serves as a spur to greater effort, as well as enabling us to dream on. And when all's said and done, that is the stuff of life... hopes and dreams. When we have neither the one nor the other, we may as well lie down and die!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Christmas now gone



The traditional image of Christmas


And so another Christmas comes to an end and we head for the new year. For the moment decorations will stay up, the Xmas tree keeps its place, and the Christmas atmosphere still holds sway. And what went up for Christmas will do just as well for the New Year's celebrations, marking once again the transition from one calendar year to another.

When I was a lad I could hardly wait for Christmas to come round. Now I'm more grown-up than I'd like to be and Christmases seem to come and go all too quickly in rapid succession. But there it is, there's nothing to be done. It's part of the rhythm of life.

This year's Christmas has come in the middle of an economic downturn, with a gloomy forecast of what we can expect in the coming year, and with high unemployment and huge cutbacks in social services and state investment. Amid the usual Christmas cheer and partying, there is fear of what the future holds and the financial austerity that lies ahead.

For all that, my local supermarket is always chock-full of shoppers when I go and the end-of-year sales have drawn the usual stampedes of frenetic bargain-hunters. But that may be just an anomaly. No doubt I'm not taking all the socio-economic factors into consideration. No doubt. Still...

Anyway, I will leave it there. After all, this post was just an excuse to put up a pretty Christmassy scene: snow, snow-man, Christmas tree, sparkling lights, a brilliant star, and the warm glow of houses in the background... you know the stuff. All very pretty, peaceful and perfect!

In the Grip of Winter

Scene through the trees

Days short and cold, nights long and colder. White snow and grey ice on all sides. Chilly winds blowing hither and thither. Gloomy skies end to end. Sun a distant memory. Warmth a distant feeling. That in short may be the winter that lies before us. I dare say there will be days when the sun will pay us a brief and diffident visit, but it will not linger and it will not warm. It will be essentially a visual thing, but its appearance will nevertheless be welcome. It will be a ray of sunshine in a bleak and foreboding winter's landscape. And the sky might even turn from its now dirty grey to a clear cheery blue. Something to remind us of the all-too short summer which never fails to disappoint at these latitudes in spite of the global warming which is apparently upon us. It would seem that the more we are threatened with global warming, the colder it gets in this part of the globe! No doubt the boffins can explain this in suitably scientific language. Whatever the case, last year's winter was harsh and this year's winter promises to be harsher still. As a child I loved the snow and was not much bothered by the cold. Now, many moons removed from childhood, I cannot cope so easily and I would rather be sweating than shivering, though I dislike both. Yet, for all that, there is a certain wondrous quality about snow that leaves children open-mouthed and impresses itself upon grown-ups, be it favourably or unfavourably.

White lies the green field now

For my part, I love to watch snow coming down and I love to see it blanketing everything and I marvel at the eerie silence it creates. It may be an oft-repeated truism that it creates a magical scene, but it is none the less true. What I don't much care for is a snowfall that is of short duration, falls mainly at night when we're all abed and quickly turns to ice and slush the following day, which frankly is just a nuisance and little else; in other words, when we get all the inconvenience of it without any of the beauty, harsh though this beauty may be. In such an instance, I would rather not have it at all! Either it snows 'properly' or it should not snow at all! That's how I look upon it. No half measures, thank you. But this is what it tends to be here down south. More a token snowfall. No doubt those in other parts of the country who have more than their fair share of the stuff and where it lingers for days, if not weeks, on end, would chastise me for my levity and shallowness, but there it is. Still, the winter is yet young and we may yet get our sustained snow and sustained chaos and I may yet have cause to eat my shallow words!