With you

We are the invisible, inaudible throng in the room

with you,

murmuring, beckoning, shouting, demanding

instant attention.

We are all more important than that person in front of you,

your child, your partner, your parent, your colleague, your friend

with the empty hands.

We are the silent directors of every situation.

With you

as you eat one-handed. 

(Honoured guests at the table)

With you 

in the loo.

(Nobody can bother us there)

With you

tugging your sleeve at school

and when you get home.

(There's no getting away from us ;)

With you

at work, feeding you vital information.

(We have so much to tell you)

Barking orders

(Action it now!)

With you

in bed, wheedling for just one more minute,

one more hour in our blue lit world.

With you 

at your waking yelling, 

'Catch up! catch up!'

With you

as you walk your muted child

(earphones guarantee that)

with the empty hands

outfacing in a buggy.

With you

in your Pilates class calling,

'Urgent! Urgent!' from your bag.

With you in the cinema, theatre, concert hall

glowing in your lap.

With you 

as you collide on the pavements.

(haha)

With you 

as you walk, eyes cast down, across the road.

With you

as you drive, 

flashing and pinging from the passenger seat

(we'd rather be in your hand -

or balance us on the steering wheel why not?)

With you 

wedged tight into your neck

if your hands are unavailable.

With you 

in that one brief, unoccupied moment

(it's scary isn't it?)

'Check! Check!'

'Look down at us.'

Not up at that boring person

with the two empty hands in front of you,

your child, your partner, your parent, your colleague, your friend.

What have they to offer?

Can they play endless games, 

sing any song,

find you a mate,

'Swipe! Swipe!' 

(we have thousands to show you -

some of them real!)

feed you News! News! News!

tell you the capital of Burkina Faso,

(go check - you need to know NOW. It's so funny!)

give you the latest celeb gossip,

show you comical pets,

their cute children,

(even when they are asleep and all unknowing

that the world is peering in)

their better clothes,

better make up,

better bodies,

better food,

better homes,

better gardens,

better holidays,

better friends?

'Shop! Shop!'

(you can have it now!)

'Talk to us!'

'Tweet! Pin! Snap! Blog if you still do!'

Made a cake?

'Gram it!'

'Scroll! Scroll!'

We made cakes too!

That road will never end.

We are with you.

Not sure you are there?

We'll show you yourselfie.

'Smiley face!'

And if we die,

(you might drop us in the bath)

and we cannot be with you?

What then?

How will you survive?

What will you do

with your silent empty head,

your two empty hands?

Hello caller.

This is the operator.

Trying to connect you.

Someone will be

with you.

Summery summary

Remember how cold and wet it was in June?

And how much one longed for a bit of warmth to bask in?

Well ha ha ha.

We got it.

That's 114º F.

In the shade.

Not so much basking weather,

as

lurking behind closed shutters

hanging wet towels at windows

freezing towels as compresses

and rediscovering the joys of Uno weather.

Because if you did venture out

it was so blindingly bright

and pulsatingly hot

that even being sensible in the shade

wasn't an option.

There was a lovely pool,

but only one sun umbrella.

Don't be deceived by that cloud.

It never even attempted to shield us from the sun.

The box moth was thriving though.

There were hideous clouds of them

being enjoyed misguidedly by the tourists

in lavender fields.

But these murals were unexpectedly lovely.

And being awake early one morning

I heard a roaring sound and to my astonishment

saw this -

Since returning to a land of wholly acceptable variants 

on normal summer temperatures

I have been grateful for the ability to think, move around freely and sleep.

The grandchildren had meanwhile surely grown 

more than a week's absence could have made possible.

One of them having clocked up his first year

in the blink of an eye.