Gone again....🤨

 

Tonight, ruminating once more on how quickly our time together flies by, an ancient memory emerged, ushering me back to a time of innocence and simplicity, putting my thoughts perfectly in words.

 I was probably eighteen years old, working in a launderette in our town. Extremely entertaining elderly gentleman visited with me almost every day. Narrator of tall tales, one of his many stories stuck with me all down the years. 

It goes like this; Pat Flanagan worked with Iarnrod Eireann and his most important task was to write a report at every station. Pat went into fierce detail, his accounts long and tiresome, so much so that his supervisor asked if he would abbreviate them, make them more concise. 

Pat did as he was asked to do, his next report sharp and succinct; ‘Off again, on again. Gone again. Flanagan’. 

Could have been written for us.

‘Just before a friend arrives, I like to sit and watch and wait - and listen in anticipation for the footstep at the gate - for once the visitor has come, time hurries on, the moments fly - there’s hardly time to give a welcome and it’s time to say goodbye’. (Patience Strong)