Don't take it for granted

There was a time when younger son worked at a posh hotel in St Albans, a city the other side of London. One time he came back home by train - I expect his car was out of action as it so often seemed to be. (All the AA patrols new him well, he broke down and called them out so often.) Now, there is a direct train from St Albans to Brighton which passes through London, crossing the Thames on Blackfriars Bridge. The views of the river, both upstream and down, as the train crosses the bridge are very good and YS expressed surprise that he was the only person admiring these views. I pointed out that many of the other travellers had seen the view so many times that there was no interest in it for them and they just took it for granted. I knew the feeling as I crossed that bridge twice a day on my way to and from work.

I hope that I never reach the stage where I take for granted the view from our house. I find it fascinating to see the changes of the seasons - and even of each day. Take, for example, these two pictures. The first was taken yesterday evening at about 9.00 while the second was taken only about five minutes ago.





But it is even more important that I never take the Old Bat for granted. This was brought home to me in a message from Les, Tina's husband. Tina has been a friend of the Old Bat since they were in Guides and is one of a group of five who, over the years, have got together on about a monthly basis. Tina was diagnosed recently as having a brain tumour and the prognosis is, frankly, not very good. Les's words: 'To the men I would say, treasure your wives and do not take the days for granted'.

Amen to that.