Reasons to be cheerful
Not only are the best things in life free, as legend has it, but because there are so many of them and while they are often so fleeting, we run the risk of not remembering them, or worse, taking them for granted. But we shouldn’t.
This hit me just now late in the evening, when Ian Dury’s 1979 pop hit, “Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)” came over the radio making me fast-rewind and replay scenes from a very satisfying day. Made all the more pleasurable by some otherwise easily-forgotten little freebees.
The day started with the best possible wake-up call known to man. Or woman. When two intensely friendly people found themselves thrust together in a sun-filled bedroom with curtains billowing in tropical breezes and with nothing better to do than rouse each other slowly, gently and lovingly.
Then there was a splendid moment of anticipation as Jeff prepared a hearty breakfast and I blended a devastating alcohol-free tropical fruit punch. Using a recipe from a Jamaican bartender in Port Maria who swore it was a secret he’d shared only with two people before me. Namely, Noël Coward and Ian Fleming – who created James Bond.
Shortly after that, proving some best free things also arrive unexpectedly, Jeff was in his favourite horizontal TV viewing position, “ooh-ing and aah-ing” over a live cricket match being played in South Africa as part of the 2003 World Cup Series.
Now I’ve always enjoyed baseball, and since Jeff introduced me to the drama of European Champions League football I wouldn’t miss any match involving Manchester United but until today he hadn’t managed to sell me on cricket.
Quite frankly he must be one among very few Americans who have even figured out how the game is played but judging from his reactions and contrary to what this cricket novice thought, it seemed just as exciting as any of the other sports he follows.
Intrigued, therefore, I snuggled up against him on the sofa and after hearing him explain what “short mid-off” and “silly mid-on” were, drowsed off.
I don’t know how long a cricket match lasts but when I heard someone presenting the “Man of the Match” award it was already dinner time. Which called for me to make a light seafood salad and Jeff his never-shabby rum punch.
Duly noted and recorded here as “Reasons to be cheerful, (Parts 9 & 10)”.
