Googling round the internet, looking for information on the Iranian film 'The Apple', for a film season I was planning, I came across that delightful news story from yesterday's CNN that you may have seen in the Metro:
"
Drunken moose finds itself stuck up a Swedish apple tree", and though I
know it's the season for funny drunken-on-fermented-fruit animal stories, this really
is the funniest I've read. Not the least because of the footnote about Johansson's enterprising 11 yr old son:
'Johansson's son, Gustav, who is about to turn 11, made sure to take lots of pictures of the ordeal.
"He is saving up to buy a PlayStation so he thought he would take pictures that he could sell," Johansson said.
CNN purchased three of Gustav's pictures.
Which goes to show that there's nothing wasted in this world, if you've an eye for an opportunity, even if it takes the form of a drunken moose up your tree.
Well done, son of Johansson; enjoy your playstation, thank the Moose and carry on 'creating a way'.
When dawn came the day after it was freed from the tree, the moose had not yet left.
"When I went out for the newspaper, it was still laying there on the ground, sleeping. By the time I left for work, it was walking around the neighbor's yard on very shaky legs." Johansson said.
"Today the moose came back and walked around the yard," he added. "I think it likes it here."
That moose keeps amusing me, trotting round its new home in Sweden, as I tootle around doing my filing in Finchley. The power of the tale lives on, and enhances the everyday things.
And I guess that's one reason why people like a bard in the house. It can make a special occasion even more memorable and turn an ordinary day into a surprising one.
It sometimes surprises me, actually, when I perform in different venues and businesses, how universally applicable a poem or a tale can be.
There was
Time Management International, who gave a standing ovation, the National Occupational Therapy Managers Conference, who had wondered what Change Mangement had to do with poetry till they realised that poetry is about dealing with life and there was a meeting at the House of Lords, after which Lord Brennan kindly invited me to dinner in The House and the UN rapporteur incorporated one of my points into a her final UN report. At least I like to think so!
So I'm encouraging ambitious businesses and educational initiatives to get excited and book a bardic presence for their conference, party or classroom within the coming autumnal weeks, especially since National Poetry Day draws nigh on October 6th.
The value of a good tale lives on in the hearts of the hearers, as the Swedish moose lives on in Finchley North.
When Tom Giannini architects held an Open House Party with bard and flamenco guitarist, to share the quirky and memorable nature of their design solutions, they were thrilled with the way the thank-you letters and the business opportunities came in after the party and all of them mentioned the Bard.
So don't miss an opportunity
In or out of a tree
to enjoy yourself and be memorable
for all the right reasons!
Prices start for as little as £300
Call 07849 641 899
and make the bard make the difference
to your inspiring goals.
