Yesterday
Grey sky, driving rain, the wind blowing so hard that it wrapped my sodden clothes around me as tightly as bandages.
I heard them before I saw them: 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.'
About ten knee-high children were hoarded together under the platform shelter with a group of grinning adults around them - a collection of middle-aged parents each similarly dressed: blue cagouls, grey back-packs, jeans trailing over track shoes, their eyes catching mine.
'If you're happy and you know it, shout 'I am.''
'I am!'
I too must have once had this ability to be so ecstatically happy to order.
One man, a father, smiled determinedly in my direction. There was something evangelical about that grin, something too earnest, something that made me glance downwards at the railway track.
An overhead cloud released a fresh torrent.
'I am!'
'Louder!'
'I am!'
I walked further down the platform until I was out of earshot.
I heard them before I saw them: 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.'
About ten knee-high children were hoarded together under the platform shelter with a group of grinning adults around them - a collection of middle-aged parents each similarly dressed: blue cagouls, grey back-packs, jeans trailing over track shoes, their eyes catching mine.
'If you're happy and you know it, shout 'I am.''
'I am!'
I too must have once had this ability to be so ecstatically happy to order.
One man, a father, smiled determinedly in my direction. There was something evangelical about that grin, something too earnest, something that made me glance downwards at the railway track.
An overhead cloud released a fresh torrent.
'I am!'
'Louder!'
'I am!'
I walked further down the platform until I was out of earshot.
posted by Clare Dudman at 8:01 am
5 Comments:
So it wasn't just me getting drenched then?
Yup, obviously a national thing.
Got it here today. The rain and wind that is. Saw no one doing the "let's be positive" thing: actually, saw men in shorts and trainers as I wore a Barbour and huddled into the hood, trying to escape the rain. Strange. Very strange. Call in Dr Who, methinks...
What I found strange was that although it looked quite wintry, it was, for much of the time, quite warm.
Oh dear - the evangelism of a parent in thrall is a terrifying thing to behold indeed ... ;)
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