Spring Cleaning

The old man is on a mission.

Eighty is no special number — leastways not until you choose to give it significance.

Spring cleaning is just a routine task — until it triggers.

‘Clear the decks’ — the order — was never the captain’s call for tidiness.

The decks must be prepared for action.

That need for action had been clear for some time, but it’s the sorting & binning of forgotten campaigns that made his mission real.

To Hell with retirement.

To Hell with old endeavours and past pursuits.

To Hell with time-wasting trivia when he has so little time left.

Nothing scares the family more than the old man on a mission.

Steady on, old chap.

But he will insist.

He does not think younger minds are less capable.

He does not think he knows all the answers.

He does not think his is a lone voice.

But he does think, and read, and question, and knows he still has more to give.

And, he insists, what a time to be alive — a time to give.

So now he ventures into a campaign — even as others think him foolish.

He understands (at last) the difference between governance and execution.

He will direct the action, encourage the actors, maybe even suggest the lines, but not expect too much.

He is a bit like my Dad.