Dear LPG,

In the light of all the serious things that we are undergoing with the Covid-19 experience I thought it would be a good idea to lighten the mood if possible, and with this in mind I would like to focus in on the fact that, while there are so many national celebratory days in each of our years these days, perhaps there is one which might make you smile. 

Did you know that today is recognised, amongst many other events, as National Limerick Day?  I am sure that many of us came across Limericks at School.  They were popularised by a man who I knew as a poet called Edward Lear and I, for one, remember the days when nearly all youngsters were taught to recite whole chunks of poetry as part of the curriculum.  I was never that good at anything when at school and, back then I found learning chunks of poetry off by heart hard work but looking back ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ is now one of my favourite poetic images.

I took a look at the life of Mr Lear on line when writing this and learned that he was much more than a poet.  He was well travelled and also celebrated for his drawings of animals and birds.

This is one of those celebratory days which does not fluctuate a bit one way or the other each year because it also commemorates the birthday of this very gifted man.

So I have left a few links that might bring back a few memories for us older ones and I hope that they will take you away from all that we are most probably still working our way through in todays’ world, in the hope that the memories might provoke some readers to escape what is happening today and smile for a short while…

SD, Deptford

SD found us some limericks…

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… some of Edward Lear’s more celebrated poems…

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…and a little about his life…

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