Busy days on Sackville Street — ten minutes after Shari left, Bruce arrived, is here till tomorrow. Bruce was my invaluable tour guide on our trips to Italy: Rome and environs, Florence and environs, Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast — and to Madrid and Barcelona and Nice. He booked the airbnbs and the trains, planned our itineraries, and guided me to the greatest art. I was a lucky tourist. After his stroke a few years ago and then of course the pandemic, our travels have been curtailed; we had booked a trip from Venice to Vienna and Budapest for early April 2020, cancelled, not rebooked. Sigh.
It’s cold. Cold cold cold. And we are all resentful, because though it’s the normal temperature for this time of year, two days ago it was warm warm warm. Winter. Phooey.
And the world is too much with us. I don’t know anyone who’s not preoccupied with the horrors going on over there. The great fear is that the hideous atrocities now being committed by Israel – so much greater in proportion than the hideous atrocities committed by Hamas – will lead to renewed antisemitism around the world. Islamophobia too. My daughter reports that a Muslim friend is afraid to wear her hijab now because she has been verbally attacked, twice.
It does feel like the end of days, that we are drowning in ugliness. How insane of the human animal to spend limited time on this earth hating and murdering. Must remember the other side, kindness, generosity, openheartedness. It’s there too. The media is a lot to blame here, focussed always on the nightmare.
And I am focussed on my book launch next Monday; with various impediments visible at the moment, I hope for the best. I woke in the night to fret and fume, and then, through the darkness as I flailed about, a voice came, saying clearly: Everything will be all right. I felt it as warm arms encircling me. And then I heard Bob Marley singing it. It may be a cliché, but it helps to keep positive, like that. So I will do my best to obey the voice and focus on the positive.
Everything will be all right. Hard to believe right now. But let’s give it a try.
PS. Your Daily Smile: my latest reel on Instagram.
3 Responses to “reassurance”
The pink top you’re wearing and the pink tinged glasses look very good, Beth. You are channeling Dame Prue Leith.
Had to look up who that is, Chris. She’s ten years older than I am, but she does wear interesting glasses … Thank you!
Everything will be alright.