Coffee shops and trains. Good places for writing though I don't always write. Sometimes I look out the window and dream, or watch the other customers or passengers and imagine their lives. There is an entire family over there, of Chinese people. What brings them to Ireland? Maybe they've been here a long time. Ireland is much more multicultural now. When my mother was growing up it was different. Oh how modern we thought we were when I was young. I'm sure each generation thinks that, and appears old fashioned to the next. 

What a gift to the world music is. Imagine people long gone hearing exactly the music you can hear now. As I rested today I heard the sounds of jazz from the street. It is a beautiful connection between the generations. Our tastes differ, but no matter, there is plenty of variety. From classical to jazz to rock and pop. Sometimes what you enjoy depends on your mood. There is something nice about discovering new sounds and sharing them with like minded people. It's whatever floats your boat. Some people have music as a gift. Others prefer to listen but it's something most of us enjoy.

Surprisingly accepting that you are an ordinary person brings Joy. Once you realise that being ordinary is ok it frees you. There is less pressure on you to achieve, to be better, you can be happy just being yourself. There is also great joy to be had in appreciating the simple pleasures of an ordinary day.

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Often it is the unsung heroes that deserve the most credit. Their qualities of courage, caring and showing up every day to do their bit are more to be admired than the high achievers more celebrated exploits. I love the poem Elegy in a country churchyard by Thomas Grey in praise of all the unsung heroes who were born to blush unseen and waste their sweetness on the desert air. To me, however, God sees and values the efforts of us all. Maybe what is precious in his eyes are the small acts of courage and kindness carried out by Ordinary people every day.

There are seasons to our lives just as there are seasons to the year. Not everyone lives through them but most of us do. Getting older we enter the Autumn and winter of our lives when we reap the rewards of earlier efforts and also face losses. It can be a time of slowing down and reflection. People mellow. Things that once seemed important now don't. In some ways there is less pressure on us especially around what people think. We may have to let things go, perhaps through bereavement, health issues or even just slowing down. Perhaps we are happier with what we have and take things for granted a little less. Our time becomes precious. Grandchildren arrive and with them both joy and an awareness of the passage of time. Autumn and winter can be gentler times in our lives.