January 2020
I am sitting in a cafe watching life go on around me. Outside a dog is barking at no-one in particular, his nose dipping to the football at his feet. He wants to play, but he’s on a busy road and I’m worried about what’s going to happen to the ball, to the dog.
I return to my screen and try to write, try to condense the events of the past few years into a few pithy and compelling sentences, but all I can think about is the Buddhist idea that right now is the only thing that really matters, and how ‘our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow’.
Right now, I am unemployed after taking redundancy from Bath Spa University. Right now I miss my job, teaching Creative Writing to young people who are excited, puzzled, worried and curious about the world. Right now I have landed back in my home town of Frome in Somerset, and I live in a new flat after signing a one year lease. Right now I have a one year lease and no job.
I pause and look up from the computer screen. It’s dark outside and the dog has disappeared. I hope he’s gone to play in the park, his owner throwing the ball high and far so he runs with his tongue hanging out, his joy flying and ears flapping.
I look down at the screen again and type…
Right now I’m writing, and that’s all I ever really wanted to do. So, this is a beginning, and everything else can evolve from right now.
