Sober October Day 23

Travelling again, away from home
Too long away
Hotels and trains and big nights out
Don’t replace a morning cup of tea and a smile
Sat in coach one, headset on
Shutting out the world
Moving on to another town
Where they don’t know how to make tea
My head is clear, as the landscape moves
Shoulders shiver
Learning how to relax
Survival instinct kicking in
Darkness descends, inside the tunnel
I try to ignore
The continuing chatter in coach one
Will go quiet before too long
Two hours, I turn down breakfast
Just a black coffee
Amazed at my own willpower
I already ate in London

The little girls across the aisle
Go silent as they munch
Croissants with bread and jam
I would brush my teeth
Industrial landscape mingles with abandoned countryscape
Modern victim bypassed
Concrete islands with metal interconnect
Electronic departure boards fly by
I switch to Spotify

Where has October gone, sped by in a haze of reality
I was born to it, really.
Reality is only any use if you make something of it.
Squeeze every last ounce out of your allocation.
Open your brain wide and catch every last drop.

“It is totally forbidden to smoke on the train thank you.” Someone has been naughty. Had enough of reality. Reality is being caught smoking on the train.

We are in France.
Big productive fields, fallow now
Birds flock
Forest replanted

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