Will Always Be Playing
All my life - well, ever since I could read, which is very nearly all my life - I have found the last few sentences of A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner very moving. My copy's a very well-read 1960 reprint with my name written in it by my mother.
At the end, Christopher Robin knows he's growing up and is telling this to his bear, Pooh.
"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."
"Never again?"
"Well, not so much. They don't let you."
And the book ends:
So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.
I was thinking of this today whilst walking in Golden Acre Park, just outside Leeds.
Beautiful autumn trees:
There were children playing under the strange little bridge which doesn't have a stream under it.
The Communist used to play there in the 1930s. I used to play there in the 1960s. Olli used to play there in the 1990s.
There were children hiding in the rhododendron bushes.
The Communist used to hide in those bushes in the 1930s.
I used to hide in those bushes in the 1960s.
Olli used to hide in those bushes in the 1990s.
I like this kind of thing.
Now then, tomorrow I'm setting off with Silverback to travel to Manchester Airport - he's flying to his winter home in Florida for six months. Then I'm continuing to Wales to spend the weekend at my favourite Park Hotel, Tenby (have a look at their snazzy new website). One of the actors whom I work with, Sonia, is in a play, Reminiscences of Childhood, at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, and I'm going to see it.
We've had some really great times with Silverback this summer and a fantastic holiday in Italy, and I wish him a wonderful winter with Debby and Dennis who helped us to have such a fantastic time in Florida last December.
And I like to think that, although Silverback will be in sunny Florida and we'll be in rainy Leeds, somewhere in Tuscany there'll still be Stephen, Silverback and me, looking at views like this.
At the end, Christopher Robin knows he's growing up and is telling this to his bear, Pooh.
"I'm not going to do Nothing any more."
"Never again?"
"Well, not so much. They don't let you."
And the book ends:
So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.
I was thinking of this today whilst walking in Golden Acre Park, just outside Leeds.
Beautiful autumn trees:
There were children playing under the strange little bridge which doesn't have a stream under it.
The Communist used to play there in the 1930s. I used to play there in the 1960s. Olli used to play there in the 1990s.There were children hiding in the rhododendron bushes.
The Communist used to hide in those bushes in the 1930s.
I used to hide in those bushes in the 1960s.
Olli used to hide in those bushes in the 1990s.
I like this kind of thing.
Now then, tomorrow I'm setting off with Silverback to travel to Manchester Airport - he's flying to his winter home in Florida for six months. Then I'm continuing to Wales to spend the weekend at my favourite Park Hotel, Tenby (have a look at their snazzy new website). One of the actors whom I work with, Sonia, is in a play, Reminiscences of Childhood, at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, and I'm going to see it.
We've had some really great times with Silverback this summer and a fantastic holiday in Italy, and I wish him a wonderful winter with Debby and Dennis who helped us to have such a fantastic time in Florida last December.
And I like to think that, although Silverback will be in sunny Florida and we'll be in rainy Leeds, somewhere in Tuscany there'll still be Stephen, Silverback and me, looking at views like this.
posted by Daphne at 6:51 pm
4 Comments:
What a beautiful post.
It's good to have a bit of sentimentality now and again and those beautiful autumn trees to me perfectly complement the sentiments of your words.
Lovely thoughts....
If you'd like to come and see us on the way home, just let me know, Daphne.
Yes lovely ending,been with my about the same time but longer if you see what I mean.
We have a family beach where my Grandparents used to camp to help collect fossils for the museum with their paleontologist friends,Mum went there all her life,I did and so has my daughter.
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