Wednesday 10 August

 Another to us British hot day. Before it got too hot this morning did some tidying in the garden.Because I am reluctant to hose the plants it is looking rather forlorn and sun baked. The forecast is for it to get hotter tomorrow.

The crews of the grain ships leaving Ukraine must be nervous that one side or the other will stick to their bargain. When I was at sea as an officer on a tanker I can recall how nerve racking it was when the ship was arrested in Indonesia. There was a dispute between the governments over what 50 odd years later I cannot recall. We were stuck in port with armed guards on board. Eventually we were ordered to leave. The crews of the grain ships must be feeling just as nervous. You can read about my tim3 at sea in my semi autobiographical book Tales From The Sea by Edmund Gubbins.

I was struck by the analysis that given the Russian invasion of a democratic sovereign state Ukraine China believes they have the green light to invade Taiwan. Is it no coincidence that these countries are free democracies where their citizens are at liberty to criticise the government and vote them out. Both Putin and the Chinese leader cannot abide anybody disagreeing with them to the extent of killing their opponents. All most people want is to be left to get on with their lives and to speak freely when they do not think their leaders are looking after their interests.

I wrote a poem for my creative writing class some years ago called:

Tinamenne Square

Blood red, the flags flying above the Hall of the People

Where Nixon met Mao

And saved the world!

Blood red the sun shining on the flagstones

Of Tinamenne Square

A red halo around the monument to the people.

Red on the spot where a man alone

Like Canute forbidding the waves

Defied a tank.

Above the gate to the Forbidden City

A portrait of Moa smiles down

Benevolent as a grandfather.

All people are now equal

But the people are pushed aside

Black cars carry the great and the good

Speeding along the street

And the flags flutter blood red in the breeze.

We are all free

But policemen photograph every face

As they emerge into the square.

There is no God, says Mao

While people queue four hours

Shuffling in awe struck unison

Passed the body of their old leader.

And blood red the flags fly above the square.

By the museum the clock ticks

Counting the days, minutes, seconds

Until the rest of the world will descend

And maybe pull back a small corner

Of the veil that surrounds the peoples land.

And Mao smiles down

Grandfather to his people

More equal than the other animals

In the biggest farmyard in the world

And the flags fly blood red

Above Tinamenne Square

Published in a book of my poems A Golden Age and Other Poems by Eddie Gubbins available from Amazon.