"Your life is an occasion. Rise to it"

Karmacat

Oh Cheri! Did you ever read the Philip Larkin poem about Toad Work?

Why should I let the toad work
Squat on my life?
Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork
And drive the brute off?

Six days of the week it soils
With its sickening poison -
Just for paying a few bills!
Thats out of proportion.

Lots of folk live on their wits:
Lecturers, lispers,
Losels, loblolly men, louts -
They don't end as paupers.

Lots of folk live up lanes
With fires in a bucket,
Eat windfalls and tinned sardines -
They seem to like it.

Their nippers have got bare feet,
Their unspeakable wives
Are skinny as whippets - and yet
No one actually starves

Ah, were I courageous enough
To shout Stuff your pension
But I know, all too well, thats the stuff
That dreams are made on.

Erm, then it gets bleak. The above isn't bleak for Philip Larkin!

Anyway, you'll be shouting "stuff the pension" soon enough, and creating your own, much more abundantly, I think. I hope I will be too.

My list today: done one hour, washing machine is finished and bed is changed, found out how to save an open office doc in pdf, v simple, that'll do me rather than fiddling about with Word 2000 for now, printed the instruction leaflets and my ticket for Grand Designs.

I've got some post to open, then I'm going to do a bit of cleaning. The vacuuming didn't get done - I picked the worst of the bits off the carpet, I'm not kidding when I say I'm a !!!!!!. Mind you, I was taught this by my mother, its all her fault :rotfl:

MrsMoo2U

Love that poem KC, thanks for that. I have just printed it off and put it above my computer. I love poetry but must admit I have never really read Larkin. Must have a look at him. I am currently hung up on Rabrindraneth Tagore after hearing Martin Sheen (the american one) reading My Country Awake My current favourite is Dungeon.

turfy6

Love the poem KC enjoy your time in the garden Im off there too in a mo.;)

Karmacat

Glad it struck a chord! There's a few more verses, which give a twist to it, but these are the ones that seemed appropriate. If you just see the surface of Larkin, you see a real fascist, but the neuroses and the pain, to me, are just pouring out of him - along with some wonderful poetry.

I'm finished with paid work for the day, going to have a cup of coffee :eek::j Oh I know how to live life :beer: and then go into the garden. I might take the coffee *into* the garden actually - nowhere to sit yet, but thats a small point

rtandon27

:wave:
Hello KC!

Popped in to report the 'positive' inroads to you my favorite positive person xox:kisses3:.

Have been following the past few weeks - and inwardly inspired by your inroads - but not much to report on a personal front as work took over lol.

But today - have taken the inspiration from your inroads - and on the first day of our holiday, OH & I have both been busy on the 'to do' list, which has become the 'do now' list! So...

1. yummy simple food cooked by OH, using our stores
2. budget conceptualized for next month now to put it into excel
3. upstairs hoovered - wall to wall carpet is terrible stuff!
4. patio furniture cleaned & oiled & ready for use
5. back garden weeded & patio baskets trimed back and watered
6. freecycle parsnips and carrots cleaned and ready to use
7. 2nd load of laundry today in the machine (4th since saturday - 2 folded & 1 put away)
8. 2nd load of dishes in the dishwasher
9. and best of all - an entire pile 1 foot tall pile of paperwork sorted through and ready to be filed!!!!!

My treat this evening will be to explore the new L1DL which opened up 2 towns over and see if there are any bargains to be had - a real treat as now that we've discovered the beauty of on-line shopping we never go to the stores!

Just one question KC - what's a facinator??? - sounds like some kind of crystal, but not sure how it goes with your fabby & chic wedding outfit? - perhaps on a chain or pinned in your hair???

XO

boredofbeingathome

Karmacat wrote: »

Glad it struck a chord! There's a few more verses, which give a twist to it, but these are the ones that seemed appropriate. If you just see the surface of Larkin, you see a real fascist, but the neuroses and the pain, to me, are just pouring out of him - along with some wonderful poetry.

I'm finished with paid work for the day, going to have a cup of coffee :eek::j Oh I know how to live life :beer: and then go into the garden. I might take the coffee *into* the garden actually - nowhere to sit yet, but thats a small point

My favourite poem of his is, An Arundel tomb:D

Karmacat

RT, thats amazing! What a fantastic list! If I've inspired that, then I feel very humble good for you two for doing it all! I feel very positive at the mo, its true

Bob - must read that, Arundel isn't *terribly* far away

Well, I did take my coffee out into the garden, and I took my garden gloves and my loppers as well, plus a couple of binbags. I've been at the ivy for over an hour now - and you can only just see the difference :rotfl: the thing is, there are so many layers to the stalks and strands and rootlets, it must be four feet thick along maybe eighteen feet? Awful, it has to be tamed.

Still, my fingers have had enough of those secateurs... and I'm *hungry* :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I really feel like I should do something else tonight tho.... ug, and I've just looked at my to-do list - I might check on tatcobank, as I want to finish my direct debit to them and not lose the dratted money, but thats about it on there.

The thing I really feel like doing is working on the little chest-thing my sister gave me recently - men usually keep screws and whatnot in them, the ikea thing, y'know? I'm going to paint/varnish it, and use it to keep jewellery in I had a little contretemps recently with my mum, who thought I'd lost a bracelet she gave me - I hadn't, I just couldn't *see* it in the jewellery box I got when I was 15 years old so its something that would make a big improvement to my standard of living - I'd be able to pick out jewellery *much* more easily, which would encourage me to wear the stuff :D:D

boredofbeingathome

I just liked the imagery in it- I must have been soft at some point.

My favourite poem of all time- would be Gray's, Elegy written in a Country Churchyard. I like to visit places, so i suppose that is why i enjoy these poems. I do have a few other favourites as well.

I expect you could also guess that i like, 'Frost at Midnight,' by Coleridge

rtandon27

Karmacat wrote: »

RT, thats amazing! What a fantastic list! If I've inspired that, then I feel very humble good for you two for doing it all! I feel very positive at the mo, its true

lol - don't worry we are still slovenly at heart - :rotfl:- nothing actually got picked up for the hoovering - just went round it!

and just googled facinator - have now done the transatlantic translation & equated it to 'headpiece'

good for you attacking the ivy - sometimes plants just need a good hacking back!!!

gilligansyle

Loads going on here.

Made me laugh about the hoovering, I have a little handheld thingy that is used for biscuit crumbs etc. so that makes me very lazy about getting the hoover out, but when I do, I don't put much effort into it. If my sister hoovers, the carpet *really* knows its been done, and cowers in defeat for quite a while.