Another damp and dull day...

... brightened like this colour-enhanced hydrangea by a surprise phone call from a Blip friend. Not an old friend, although we are both mature in years it has to be said, but one met virtually and in real life through Blip. A lot of reassuring things were said - how I wish I'd written them all down! Hope you get that prosecco Sue - drink a glass for me.
Now what on Earth am I going to dredge up for my big M tomorrow? And what shall I say that I haven't already during my time here? Hmmm...

Africa is orange today for the first time in ages.


Old friends, old friends
sat on their park bench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today?
Sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years
silently sharing the same fears

Time it was and what a time it was, it was
a time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you.