Chris Simpson writes:
Most people, when they meet up, in these turbulent times, comment on how they are so badly used by life and politicians in particular, and what on earth is the world coming to?
The answer is relatively simple. It is not the ‘world’ it is the people in it and the glib way they (meaning us) misuse the earth and all who try and survive in it from elephants in the Kruger Park to humpback whales searching for krill on the edges of the Arctic.
We mutter and say ‘something must be done’ when firstly there are too many of us and planet earth grows top heavy, and we don’t really know what we are doing to the world and each other.
In England I notice that the daily news bulletins get to be basically boring monologues supposedly to activate our senses and they act as if our very souls are crying out for this information.
On the other hand… I am sick of word storms information and the assumption that we all need vast chunks of it fueled by the media circus.
And for Cathy and I over Christmas, delighted in the gorgeous site of a Kingfisher fishing off the bows of ‘Seasons’ as if that was all there is to life, and in his case and so many… just continuing doing what he does best.
So where did Covid come from and what of the world actuations as to who and why it rolled across the earth. It is not just us. You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, promised by Jesus and lived out by the truth two thousand years ago.
The Maya forecast the world Pandemic in the 16th Century… and it came horribly true. The thing about the Pandemic was, is, it touched us all and life will never be the same again. I noticed in England that it certainly had its upside.
In six months I shall be eighty (heaven help us) and many commented on the fact that so many of the old values came uppermost. I have a long memory and recall my Dad in RAF blue looking down at me in my cot. We had little to go on but were none the worse for that and the old values were forever there to lean on.
Having said all that, down I went this last year with a pneumonia type infection with a liberal dollop of Covid. Not a lot of fun I tell you. It produced visions and hallucinations and there were those who didn’t think I would make it through.
It was awful and it is better but has not left me yet.
So, after a superb concert at Ripley, North Yorkshire (when I realised I had been on the road for 50+ years) I figured it was time to slow down. I have been partially successful in this and have put together the DVD of Ripley which I think is very alright and a double CD of songs you’ve never heard before.
Then we are doing a few dates in my beloved Holland next Autumn. That will be quite something to do and I hope I (and we) make it through to then.
But one thing for sure… Covid in all its mutations has not finished with us yet.
Stay safe and well.
With much love to you all.
Chris, January 1, 2022.
Painting by the late great Hans Veen, 2011.