Simple Pleasures.

No, not a blonde girl, I mean taking my boots off at the end of the day and drinking red wine in quiet contemplation. It’s a time for reflection and as I sit and rub the dog’s ears, my mind scrolls through the day’s events to review what went well and what could have been done to greater effect. I consider also that which has yet to be done, what tasks I have not completed or even started, which people are awaiting my attention, relying on my efforts to satisfy their needs.

My reflections turn to the future for I am soon to be divorced from the Army Bitch, finally to be free of her constraints and demands. I will need to do something else, find another way to feed the mortgage monster, but also find another way to define myself, for a man is surely defined by the way he earns a living and I will no longer be able to call myself a soldier, dubious honour though that has been.

Friends in similar situations have embraced the corporate world, found jobs in the City, started successful businesses, and stepped out along another wage earning career path. But that is not where I see my horizon. I am not much interested in the trappings of financial success and wish now to pursue my own ambitions.

I want to be a writer, have always wanted to define myself not by the money I have earned or the deeds I have done but by the words that I assemble into prose. I have been an army whore for long enough and as I review my day and realise that no one is shooting or even shouting at me, I can call it a success.

I am not especially fond of Bob Dylan’s music but sometimes a salient philosophy is found in unexpected places:

"What is money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

Hopefully, my day will be filled with the simple pleasures of words and wine.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Trouble-W...