Autumn at Riverbend

Sitting under a tree in the autumn sun and reading a chapter in my biography "A Burnt-Out Case", written for me by Graham Greene.

What a great idea! Poland's foreign minister proposes forming army out of the Syrian men arriving in Europe

 

Poland’s new foreign minister has proposed forming an army out of the Syrian men arriving in Europe which could then return to their homeland to fight for freedom.

Witold Waszczykowski said it would be better to send them rather than for Poland to send troops to the Middle East that were needed to “guard the borders” at home.

“If there are hundreds of thousands of young Syrians coming to Europe then we can create an army,” said Mr Waszczykowski during an interview for TVP, Poland’s public broadcaster. “Can you imagine a situation when we send an army to fight in Syria while hundreds of thousands of Syrians sit and drink coffee on Berlin’s Unter den Linden and watch us fight for their safety?

“They can go to fight to liberate their country with our help,” continued the minister, who took office on Monday following the victory of his conservative Law and Justice party in last month’s Polish general election.

Taking a sceptical stance on the motives behind Syrians coming to Europe Mr Waszczykowski also added that the “young men disembark from their rubber dinghies with iPad in hand and instead of asking for drink or food, they ask where they can charge their cell-phones.”

Read the full article here.

 

Albert Einstein was right!

Planning their honeymoon

A day at the beach

Having dinner out with your friends

Out on an intimate date

Having a conversation with your bestie

A visit to the museum

He was right!

 

A "Riverbend" morning

As I dangle my feet over the side of the bed on this cold (although not yet frosty) morning, I discover another reason for wanting to relocate to warmer climes: to not have to put on socks.

It's no longer just the boredom, déjà vu and ennui, the wondering how life might be different here or there, of recalling Dante's lines in The Inferno, "In the middle of our life's journey, I found myself lost in a dark wood"; it's the simple fact that it's getting harder every morning to reach the tip of my toes to slip into those (un-)darned socks!

In the meantime, the routine continues: besocked, I walk into the kitchen, switch on the kettle, and make my first cup of tea for the day.

Cup of tea in hand and my sock-clad feet inside a pair of wellies, I wander down to the horseshed to get a large helping of feed pellets to scatter amongst the wild ducks by the pond.

Then another scoop of wild-bird-mix to take to the large flock of galahs, cockatoos, and parrots waiting by the birdhouse.

And then it's already time again for another cup of tea ...

This could've been me!

 

 

I've met a few Mr Simpkins in my time but I never aspired to follow in their footsteps.

Instead, I used the bit of parchment that suggested that I had qualified as an accountant as my passport to travel the world. Some 7,300 days nett and fifteen countries later, I finally settled down.

I did squash a few eclairs but I don't have 2.4 children nor do I keep a budgie although it's probably fair to say that I'm a total social failure.