October, 2026
Every time I have a wash, a shower or brush my teeth, I think how lucky we are to have clean running water. It was good to see an advert on T.V. where lots of children were telling people to save water and how to do it. Let’s hope many listened.
We all value our sight and cannot imagine what life must be like for those who can’t see. I have often marvelled at Braille which enables the blind to read. Louis Braille was 3 years old when he picked up his shoemaker father’s Awl but the tool dropped and Louis was blinded in one eye; later an infection caused loss of sight in the other eye. Louis was born in Paris where he attended a school for the blind. In 1821 Charles Barbier, a soldier who had invented for military purpose a system of night reading using 12 embossed dots, visited the school and Louis saw its potential. After a great deal of hard work, Braille was born and in 1827 the first Braille book was published, enabling the visually impaired not only to read but to write, read music and even do mathematics. What an achievement!
Have you noticed how many people call the same things by different names e.g. bread rolls are batches in Nuneaton, baps in Hinckley. I always call crumpets Pikelets. Then there are Runner beans, string beans, kidney beans all the same bean but with many names. My children and subsequent generations call the recreation ground the park whereas we call it the rec. Each to his own I suppose!
We are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread The sun, the earth, love and friends, our very breath, are parts of this banquet.
Marie Cove