21 July 2008

Experience

I have not padded through the Taj Mahal,
barefoot, listening to the space between each footfall, picking up and putting down its print against the marble floor. But I
skimmed flat stones across Black Moss on a day so still I could hear each set of ripples as they crossed.


Above - Words from another Yorkshire "pudding" - the poet and broadcaster - Simon Armitage. They have been in my mind a while now. I think they say to us that what matters is not the headline things we do but how we experience things. Here's my variation...


I haven’t shaken hands with a President or a Prime Minister but I have seen a mother wren feeding her babies in the nesting box up our garden.
I haven’t scaled Everest with sherpas but I once found a bleached white sheep’s skull in a Derbyshire field.
I haven’t had a backstage pass for The Rolling Stones or Coldplay but I have marvelled at a canopy of silver stars from a pitch black Irish lane.
I haven’t surfed off Bondi Beach or Hawaii but I once saw the world’s sharpest rainbow arching over a Hebridean bay.
I haven’t been to The Derby, Wimbledon or a Grand Prix but I have held a clutch of home-grown new potatoes in my hands. I haven’t had my name splashed across national newspapers but I once bought the filthy beggar outside “Spar” a cheese sandwich and a can of beer.
I haven’t learnt to speak several languages fluently but just last Monday night I followed a wiggly hedgehog all the way home up our city street.
I haven’t dined with dukes or princesses nor have I ever swum with dolphins but once I saved myself from drowning in a distant ocean when there was no one there to hear my gulping cries for life... only those salty waves and the treacherous current...

5 comments:

  1. Hi YP...there's a special mention of your blog over at mine. You sound pretty darn brave and accomplished to me all right.

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  2. Three cheers and a big red rosy apple! Love your spuds! And there's another thing you do, too YP, that you didn't write down - you bring pleasure to your blog readers, and remind us that small, everyday achievements and pleasures are as important, if not more so! Cumon', let me tickle your tummy!

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  3. You go to the heart of the matter and are wiser than you probably give yourself the credit for.

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  4. Hi Yorkshire Pudding...I'd be grateful if you could pop over to my blog again. Hopefully I've put the record straight. Thanks muchly!

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  5. I completely agree with the sentiment, but I'm really impressed by the fragment of Simon Armitage's poem you reproduced. I think that's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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