There’s been cutbacks – NO fireworks after we’d belted-out ‘Red Red Wine’ and the lights went off

I think , with the help of the Japanese , I have found the answer .

Not to the big babies – the meaning of life or the meaning of death or why bad stuff happens or will we see our loved ones again or why grief strangles us

but

to what to do if you are feeling a bit sad or a bit low or your mind is doing cartwheels but not in a happy way

and the answer is…..karaoke ( or in my case singing along to a well-know tune ,with other people , but managing to stay slightly off the beat and out of tune )

So this week , because I am missing my kids , a friend died too young , it was the anniversary of the July 7th bombings, my hands are red raw ( this happens every summer – so I should be used to it by now ) , another friend’s daughter is proper poorly in hospital and the yearning for Rosie is particularly strong , I got stuck in

On Wednesday ,it was with my students at our Open-Mike-Beach-Party-Karaoke . Did OK with ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘Summer Holiday’ ,but struggled with ‘Frozen’ ( shouldn’t have been in there anyway .)

On Thursday , it was with Burt Bacharach at the Meunier Chocolate Factory . Burt wasn’t actually there , but about 8 extremely talented performers belted out his numbers .’Say a Little prayer’ , I sang to Rosie

On Friday I rested my vocal chords

On Saturday John and I joined Ali,Astro , Mikey and the rest of UB40 in Kew Gardens for a 3,000 strong singalong .We all then tried to get on the 65 bus .

I feel a bit more empowered to cope with my sadness today