Storm, mulling and ready made slogans

From the archive. Just a leaf, a symbol of introspection. Although leaves have been flying past the windows all day, one at time, to use an expression of Auden's, "on urgent voluntary errands", the majority, held by still vital juices, have remained on the branches. It is a persistence reminiscent of  the great storm of1978, when, by supporting the force of the wind, like sails, the leaves contributed to general devastation. The forecasters missed that one. Determined not to repeat the mistake this time round, they  spare us no detail of impending disaster.

A time for mulling over favourite subjects. For example, how little we still know about physics, dark matter, dark energy, anti-matter, multi-universes, that sort of thing!  I read reports of scientists studying particle behaviour in The Hadron Collider, and imagine for a moment, a breakthrough moment when in a gap in the fabric of this universe we glimpse for a moment, some one rather like you or me looking back at us, laughing.

Time also for the odd beef. Current one: ready made jokes and slogans. Worst of the lot the current fashion for variations of the wartime poster, "Keep Calm". What mindless creatures are we reduced to!