Reasons to Be Cheerful...

In suitable manner, I came across a number of Levalet art works around town this week and although others have been removed, I did find a few from this Odyssée collection that have resisted. The theme of the Odyssey seemed most relevant to see out 2020. Countless times this year, I have wondered if we too have actually lost our way or quite simply lost the plot. I did think that the Covid crisis would enable us to reassess the way we live; how we behave towards one another and every other living being, how we treat the space we occupy - the Earth - and how we use our time here. We might have pondered over all of these considerations to a greater or lesser degree and made changes here and there, but often in the aim of returning to 'normal' and 'getting life back on track'.

But surely this whole event has pointed out how our way of living, for many of us at least, was in need of a re-evaluation and that it was already in danger of being derailed, sooner or later? Yet for all that has happened, many of us still have not learnt much. Finding direction in life - or rather a new way of living - appears to be getting more and more complicated... You might as well ask an alien to point out the right path to follow...

Or Mickey Mouse. After all, most of us seem to think that our existence is going to roll out like a Disney film - happy, safe and secure. Yet there is no certitude of that, or the contrary for that matter, especially in 2021. Besides, some things are all the better for being unpredictable... Likewise, we assume that our lives will offer more and better - an assumption that means that we are no longer able to actually take stock of what we do have and be grateful for it. So as this new year is about to unfold, I will continue to draw up my own list of reasons to be cheerful. Here is Ian Dury's in his 1979 song; Reasons to be Cheerful: Part 3.