Extendable table and the world

Street lights dimmed by the rain and gentle mist welcomes the night of rain and cold. This is England, muddy, rainy and where we are. Our dining room table has been banished to an early grave, well we did buy it second hand and we have had it for 20 years. I remember the day well, my brother arrived, expectedly, and was witness to the boys and I collecting the table from a lady emigrating to New Zealand. £ 50.00 and we had a table and 8 chairs. Chairs that have sat so many of those we love for so many years.

On Friday we extended the new dining table Susan bought for her birthday, not a common old table, this is a solid table made of walnut. We also have a matching coffee table, real posh. It has taken 6 months to extend this extendable table and well worth it, ample space for at least 10 people to eat in comfort. The lady has an eye for quality and I can only blame Lady Vivienne for the dip in our bank account. Now we need more chairs!

A funny thing happened at Hobbycraft last week. As I arrived a lady was struggling to park her Range Rover into two bays I watched her have three attempts before being satisfied it covered both bays, there were two open on either side of her but she was determined. 

I went in to buy something’s Susan wanted for her new passion, home crafting. Please do not ask I am only the messenger. While browsing the shelves I overheard the above lady asking the store assistant if they had any other globes, you know the kind, a globe of the world. He said they do have a bigger one and he offered to take her to it. She was very pleased as she thought the one she had found had too much blue in it. He agreed but did point out that was the sea and the other coloured areas were the countries. Well maybe the bigger one has more countries in it, she said, and they headed off to the bigger globe. I do fear she was disappointed. Be interesting to know what others gems of information she has stored in her quite extraordinary mind. 

Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

There is beauty in the written word if written well. Our minds create a unique image of what is being described, everyone will imagine this slightly different and if the words tell the story well, we are taken to another place. 

Raise your words, not your voice. They say the pen of mightier than the sword, time, has proved that without exception, the written or spoken word will ultimately resolve all conflict. I think about all the problems and wars that are raging around the world and know that it will be the peace agreement, written by both parties that finally end the killing. 

But let us get back to words, poems, books and phrases of wisdom written by authors, some in our generation and some from many years ago. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder was written by Rumi, a Persian Poet.

The rain represents calm logic and the thunder represents the unreasonable. These words paint a picture of understanding and we reflect on the value and strength of what the words say to us. I have thundered in the past and now feel slightly silly, maybe I was not too sure of what I was discussing and did not take the time to listen or I was just being an idiot.

I know the value of words. I know how I write things and the tone I use conveys a multitude of messages. 

Would love to have your views and thoughts.