BLITHE BLOGGER OR BLITHERING BORE?

That’s for you to say, of course. If you like my burrow, please add your nugget and come again. If you don’t, that’s not my problem. As the founding father of Gestalt therapy, Fritz Perls, put it:

“I do my thing, and you do your thing.

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations

And you are not in this world to live up to mine.

You are you, and I am I,

And if by chance, we find each other, it’s beautiful.

If not, it can’t be helped.”

If only lots more people in the world felt that way……

As a lifelong writer with some national newspaper experience, I can see both sides of the currently rather tetchy relationship between national staffers and us bloggers out there in the blue. They feel threatened, and some of us – not me – feel jealous. I’m sure it will all settle down in time, as interactive journalism is obviously the up-and-coming thing. Much more fun, too, if it’s handled with good humour and common sense.

Which are two of the qualities I hope that I – and you – will bring to my blog. Not easy, I know, in these fraught days since 9/11; all of us feel anxious, indeed rattled, a lot of the time, and cultivating one’s own garden isn’t easy. That’s what I hope to do here, though. I’m elderly now, with growing health problems, so conserving as much peace of mind as possible in whatever time I have left is important to me. I increasingly think back to my earlier life and the experiences I’ve had, and although I haven’t got the energy or the concentration to embark upon a full-blown autobiography, I would like to share some of my memories, tastes and interests with you.

It’s likely to be a bit of a rag-bag, so be warned. And welcome to my burrow.