TASHY HEARS

STREETS OF LONDON

The Christmas week update and I pondered what to upload. Should it be a traditional carol, a Christmas song or something a bit different. It is a fact that there will a fair number of people spending all, or part, of Christmas alone; I am one of them. I will be at my daughter's midday Christmas Day for lunch and some present opening, stay well into the evening and then, most likely, not see anyone else until going to my son's for the evening on the Wednesday.

Alone I will be, lonely I will not be. It is a fact that too many people associate being alone with being lonely and, although in some instances that is correct, it is also untrue in very many cases. I think, as you grow old, you must expect that friends will be fewer, and have their own family while your own children have their own little families to be with and enjoy. Having said that, I know I am lucky. I am fit, I can easily amuse myself for days by being creative in some way, I can take a walk and I can read or watch some television, unlikely unless it is sport and then only any form of skiing or cricket.

The first ten years of my working life were spent in an office in the City of London. I would sometimes stay up late in town and, on my way home, initially by underground later by mainline train, I would see the homeless, the poor and the drunks and druggies. The homeless and poor had, and always will have, my deepest sympathy. Normally we do not become homeless on purpose nor do we set out to be poor. It is a cruel fate that life can toss at us. The other two groups I find it more difficult to sympathise with although I know many people say their addiction is an illness not a wilful choice. I am not an expert in the workings of the human mind, I haven't even got the hang of mine, so I can't comment. I just find it difficult to understand how spending what money you might have on drink or drugs can seriously be a conscious decision for a member of the human race.

Which brings me, after a bit of rambling, to my choice of song for this week. If you have been in London, or probably any other big city, at night you will know the characters in the song. It is quite simply beautifully evocative. The man taking an hour or so to drink the one cup of tea he can afford, the old lady carrying her home in 2 carrier bags and the old soldier with his memory fading as much as his medals are sights I have certainly seen.

Listen, think and see what help you could give with time or money. Merry Christmas

The song is called “Streets of London” and was, apparently, first recorded in 1968, the year I began working in London. Mother didn't request but my comeback continues.

Hear it is