Quiet Time

Quiet Time ©

By Michael Casey

I’m sitting in my chair all wrapped up against the cold, the washing is scattered around the house on all the radiators, I’m in warm clothes, outside I can see the bare bush branches move in the wind. I’m glad I’m inside and not exposed to the raw cold, I haven’t put the radio on, so far this morning I’m all alone in the silence. It does feel different, all I can hear is the humming of the central heating, or is it the PC at my feet.

Now some writers will continue with a slow process of explaining what they see with alliteration galore, for me life is more a game of Ping Pong, especially with a Shanghai wife, and 2 daughters. Serve, Return, Serve then Return. Or is that tennis, or is it alley as they used to call a variant of squash in Ireland. The seminary was over a high wall next to my aunt’s cottage in Killarney, 21 Saint Mary’s Terrace, you can find it if every you get to Killarney. My aunt is long gone, 30 years and more.

Now Silence does make a difference, ask Paul Simon, there really is a Sound to Silence. Stop what you are doing, if you are in an office stand on the desk and say you ae going to do an experiment, a prize of a four pack of Stella Artois to the winner. Now for 10 minutes can everybody be silent. I know if it’s an accountancy office they are already as silent as a grave, I once temped in one such place, before unemployment followed by Arthritis came a calling, though I did have an interlude as an Esol English teacher for a year.

So Let There Be Silence, which could be a poem, instead in that second I’ve decided what I want you all to do. Just be silent for 10 minutes. No phones, nor computers, no chatting, no lusting at that boy over there, you know the gay one that you don’t know is gay. No eying up that girl, the girl with the big personality, who’d love you to ask her out but you think she’s not in your league. Anyway SILENCE.

After 10 minutes break the silence, and Micky I really don’t want you to break wind, that is not the sound of silence, just ask Paul Simon, he shops in Aldi you know, all the best people do. So now did it feel good? Ok now you can all write down a few words about the silence. Where did you go to my lovely when you are alone at your desk, if we paraphrase Peter Sarstedt, where did you go and did you feel anything? And no I’m not talking about playing footsie under the desk.  

Then you all read out your words, and take a vote. The winner gets the 4 pack of Stella Artois, and if you cannot decide just send it to ME. So what does this all prove? That you are idle people not doing any work, all you do is play games? Maybe. Or it illustrates the fact that when we get off the merry go round of Life we can see and feel things differently. No need to pay 100s to a Life Coach I’ve just taught you all for free, apart from the Stella Artois which I expect in the post.

We all do need time to look inside ourselves and find our soul, our soul Micky, not anything sounding similar, just our soul. Having spent decades in computer rooms I had plenty of waiting time, especially on a weekend night shift. So if you want to become a Writer, then get a job working too many nights, perhaps be a security guard, I did 14 years of nights myself. So assuming you are not a moron you will have plenty of time to play spiritual hide and seek, or alley or squash.

You may just spend your night shift playing games on your phone, but 40 years ago games on phones, or even the phones did not exist. So you can listen to the ghetto blaster all night, and we did, or you can develop an interior life. Is this important?  It is because as we age friends come and go, jobs come and go, even girlfriends taken back to the office in the middle of the night even they come and go.

Not unless you marry one because you have to or because its true love, carpet burns included, but that never happens in USA nor Russia nor Germany nor any of the other of dozen places where you are reading this from. You need to have rooms in your brain and in your heart for you, for your friends and for your family and for your love or lovers, depending on how much like a rabbit you are.

If all you are is a vacuous self-serving person then who is going to help you when you are down, who will be the good Samaritan. Who will say its Micky, we have to help him, you remember Farty Pants himself, its Sarah we have to help her. Why?  Because whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren you do to me.

Or in plain language, they used to make us laugh so much I peed my pants. In a way that’s the answer to everything, if you can make people pee their pants, then when your hour of need comes they will come, just as Dr Watson did for Sherlock the other night. So today I’ve filled this quiet time Friday the 13^th Jan 2017 time with some words to feed our souls, soul Micky soul SOUL, you really need to get a hearing aid MICKY.