Life at the End of the Tunnel

Boris Johnson is back. We have a Prime Minister again, who can paint pictures with words, give us hope and jolly us all along with a few cheery bon mots.

Whatever your political persuasion I think we can all agree that Boris Johnson is a very skilled writer. A writer is an artist that uses words to paint a picture in your mind. Having a Prime Minister with such skills can be quite manipulative and it will be interesting, when we have the benefit of history, to look back and see whether we were pushed in the right direction.

Before he came on the screen to lead the much anticipated daily briefing the news anchor said, “We hope that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will discuss ending lockdown and at least give us some hope of  life at the end of the tunnel.”

Life?

I know we have become a nation obsessed with death but surely it’s meant to be light.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

I shouted at the TV.

The breaking news jingle cut my rant off and the holy trinity of medicine, patient and science appeared on the screen. Patient appeared breathless but that could have been excitement from the birth of his xth child.

He went on to paint a beautiful word picture. He transported us to one of those mountain tunnels in the Swiss Alps. We’ve been driving under the mountain very slowly and we have just gone past the peak. If we keep a steady pace then soon we will be close to the end of the tunnel. We will be able to see green grass, blue sky and little animals bouncing around at the ends.

Aha. There is life at the end of the tunnel!

I shouted at the TV again.

But, he continued painting, if we move too fast we will get to another mountain and we will have to use another tunnel.

I like climbing mountains. There’s life on mountains.

I know that’s irresponsible of me. Not everyone is capable of climbing a mountain. I might not be capable of climbing it but when you are talking about being stuck in a place with no life then mountaineering sounds like a challenge worth taking.

I had to take a step back and remember that there is life in the tunnel too. It might be smaller. No bunnies and deer frolicking on the grass verges but mice, rats, bats and several insects can be found in these places. (I hope)

Looking for these small signs of life is what has kept us going, so far, in lockdown.

Yesterday was the first day of the Japanese micro season of Peonies bloom (Botan Hana Saku)  and we have two goldfinches nesting in our garden.  There is life in the tunnel, you just have to look a bit harder for it.

Satta Mountain Pass by Shotei Takahashi