A Train Called Time

A Train Called Time

When I first heard the theme for the week, my thoughts immediately turned to Johnny Cash. Folsom Prison Blues is a classic song and the “Man in Black” an icon.

I was once lucky enough to spend a few days in the city of music that is Nashville, happily ensconced in the company of locals. They were an eclectic bunch of characters, all with the vocal chords of a CMA nominee and the storytelling ability of a National Enquirer journalist. We gathered each evening in a honky-tonk bar, a short stroll along a darkened alley from the famous tourist magnet that is Tootsies Orchard Lounge.

One of the gang was the son of a Nashville treasure. Whilst his mother was toast of the town as host of a primetime radio show, he spent his nights staring into the bottom of a whisky glass in an endless search of a way out of her shadow. His chiselled good looks and musical prowess not providing him with enough ammunition.

The evenings had a formula. Everyone, including the waitresses but excluding me, would take it in turn getting up on stage and singing a country classic. We’d buy beers. We’d tell stories.

Johnny Cash featured quite often. To me he was a legend. To the good folk of Nashville, however, he was a laughing stock. Bumbling through performances and forgetting lyrics. Ill health was not excuse enough for the embarrassment he had become.

Time is cruel, and it takes no prisoners.

It’s also the train that keeps rolling.

Something I must keep reminding myself of as I battle to balance the work/life scales.

Today

If I dream of a perfect tomorrow

I can forget the troubles of today

I’ll count the hours, minutes and seconds

 Until I throw it in a bin marked yesterday

After a restless sleep a new day emerges

Though its promises are broken without delay

There’s no sunshine and no fluffy bunnies

 Guess I’ll throw my rose-tinted glasses away

So I trundle through dreaming of tomorrow

And fall into bed with a sigh of dismay

 For my future became a little shorter

Seems I’ve wasted another brand new today

Thank you for reading,

Fiona