Questions

It has been a day defined by sleep, or the absence thereof. 

I woke at about 4am, tried to get back to sleep, failed, got up about 4.30 and got stuck into the strong black stuff. I think I had been dreaming, or thinking, or both. 

Then about 7.30am I fell asleep for the best part of 2 hours. 

The rest of the day was a struggle to stay positive (with some success but not a lot) and avoid getting grumpy (much more successful). 

It was a bit too cold still for beach walks or gardening, but we had no more snow. Just the biting wind from the Arctic. 

One of my domestic chores took me over to Burntisland, so I got my Blip at the harbour. You can just about see a huge seal close to the quayside. 

Work caught me out on the way home. One of my old “cases” crossed the street in front of me at a traffic light. She’s Latvian, and has lived here a long time. 10-15 years I think. She has two children who have lived all their lives here. 

She had been told she would not get settled status here because she had gone back to Latvia for a couple of months a few years ago to help take care of her sick mother, leaving the children here. She was worried about being forced to leave. 

Her children speak a bit of Russian (the grandparents’ first language) but no Latvian, and that’s what the schools use. From memory, she was not even sure if the children would be entitled to live in Latvia and go to school there.  

Anyway, the pink faced racists watching the BBC and reading the Daily Heil won’t worry about that kind of trivia. 

Sometimes I just get so sad about the misery inflicted on people for no good reason. Other times I skip “sad” and just get angry. 

But at night, when all the world's asleep
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please (Won't you tell me)
Please tell me what we've learned?