Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?
Quick, said the bird, find them, find them.
Find who?
Them.
And so we’re off to follow the yellow brick road to the botannical garden in Sri Lanka…and our necks are strewn with garlands….with squealing breathy voices and rough pushy people…and cameras flashing in our faces and jibber jabber jibber jabber. OH.
The Bridge on the River Kwai filming just left the premises and we are mistakenly takenly for being movie stars. Dad must have been Alec Guinness…or maybe William Holden.
That was fun.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
That’s putting it mildly.
So we’re off to find the wizard!
As we climb off our camels somewhere in the MIddle East, to watch tubs of coca-cola being stomped on with bare feet in a huge vat…excuse me? Is it then put into bottles? Oh well…..but wait! A scream!
We are ‘spotted’ and hords descend on us, reaching to touch and grab and my father shouts ‘STTTOOOPPPP!!!!!’
And as the filming of ‘Exodus’ has just wrapped and we were mistaken for Paul Newman and family… (WHO is Paul Newman?) a touch of fame and quite discombobulating, but exhilerating hooplah…
Deep breath, re-grouping and then,
Go, said the bird, for the leaves are full of children!
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
And drifting down a Bangkok canal in the heat, aromas sweet and sour and pungent and you name it, wafting and swirling and ‘EEEEEEEEEEEOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!’ followed by boats racing in our direction at a breakneck speed and arms flailing, fingers pointing at US….again?
‘Tarzan’s Three Challenges’ !!! Well that sounds like fun. Are we one? Dad seems to look like every movie star..this time Jack Mahoney ….and who are we????
Doesn’t matter.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Oh Hollywood.
And thank you, TS Eliot.