National Making Life Beautiful Day.

 National Making Life Beautiful Day.

When all is said and done, life is stunningly beautiful. All around us things look as though they may be spiralling out of control and all we seem to be subjected to is a constant bombardment of tragedy, disaster, suffering and pain. It may be within us to stop the rot at some point because there has to be a moment in our lives when there have to be redeeming features, light at the end of the tunnel and just breathtaking beauty wherever we look.

The trouble is, of course, that most of us have become more or less conditioned to bleak news, grave tidings, fatal accidents, maudlin news that doesn't promise anything at all. We take it for granted that the day will pass with some incident that is just tinged with sadness and misery. But then we look outside and our perceptions of life around us may change according to the kind of day we've just had. Nobody should underestimate the importance of remaining cheerful, happy and upbeat. In adversity there has to be light at the end of the tunnel. It stands to reason.

Throughout the day, we've always experienced those contrasting moods which can shape our whole outlook on life. Outside, summer is trying hard to make up its mind since both rain and sunshine are dominating our agenda. We're in the second week of June and we should be packing our suitcases for a well deserved holiday in the sun or looking forward with enormous anticipation to a whole sequence of outdoor music festivals, football's Euro 2024, the emotionally calming summer games of cricket and tennis while absorbing everything in life that is simply beautiful.

Yes folks, it's National Making Life Beautiful Day. You knew that all along because we'd consulted social media and they'd confirmed something that we might have privately known anyway. Out there in the big world you're convinced that things will always be perfect and flawless. Besides, look at those astonishing parks, recreation grounds, gardens, spectacular waterfalls, lakes, ponds and rivers, the beauty and divine diversity of the flora and fauna, the fecundity of plant life, fabulous flowers, the perpetual prettiness of the English countryside and those overlapping folds of blissful greenery that look exactly like the postcards we normally see in souvenir shops.

There is so much to admire about the beauty of life. In those cosy, spiritually rewarding villages the size of a chocolate box, vicars still cycle around meandering and twisting country roads and farmers still protect their cows, sheep and lambs with an affectionate yell of encouragement. We look out across the majestic trees that have been there for as long as anybody can remember, their foliage of leaves and branches, gently waving in delicate time with the rest of nature. 

And over there in the distance are the neatly drawn thatched cottages and the electricity pylons that look like those fine, upstanding guards who stand sentry at Buckingham Palace every day of the year. Then, there are the now familiar wind turbines which just seem to whirl around indefinitely by busy motorways, oblivious to humanity. In a way though, they look as though they belong to both Britain and the rest of the world. You can't help but think that at some point some visionary road planner had that light bulb moment when wind turbines would be thought the most appropriate feature to catch your eye on a long journey.

Summer, it goes without saying, can always be guaranteed to give us the biggest lift to our spirits when wintry darkness just left us feeling both grim and pessimistic. The first rosebuds and those wondrous revelations of cherry and apple blossom may already have come and gone. Spring spends a brief holiday before bowing deferentially to a long summer vacation. And then everything bursts into life, the peacock plumage of begonias, laburnums, nasturtiums and petunias unfolding their multi coloured delights.

Then we open up our door to our gardens, digging out the secateurs and lawnmowers, pruning the white and red roses displaying their gorgeous grandeur and mowing the grass lovingly. Then we disappear back into our sheds to check up on the welfare of long forgotten packets of seeds, bags of compost and manure hiding away discreetly in the corner of the shed before taking their place in the vast outdoors. 

It is at this point that we suddenly discover the forks, spades and shovels that have to be employed, for allotment sites may have felt sadly neglected during the winter. So there you have it. National Making Life Beautiful Day. It has lot to commend it. This is the ultimate recommendation to those of you looking for the simple joys of life. It's there you know. If you keep looking you'll find it.

We must not forget of course the birds, regularly and constantly serenading us with the sweetest melodies. Around here we have our natural wetlands, an outstanding haven of grebes, Canadian geese, energetic ducks and the most glorious swans one of whom gave birth recently in our local wetland paradise. It is all too easy to dwell on the business like earnestness of our lives when a day's work has to be completed in order to pay the bills. There are the trains and buses that have to be caught, deadlines that have to be urgently reached, children to be doted on and nurtured, educated at some length, shops to be visited and shopping transactions to keep us alive and well. So let's hear it for National Making Life Beautiful Day. Seize it now. Savour and relish it. It's there for you in all its magical magnificence. Enjoy it. It'll always be sweet.