What to Do When You Can’t think what to Write.

Well you can write about how you feel now that you can’t think what to write.  It is a whole huge topic in itself.  At one moment one’s head is full of ideas pressing upon one another to be the one honoured to be the topic chosen by the author to grace a piece of blank paper; and then one finds they have all slunk away and hidden in the deep recesses of the mind refusing to show themselves at all. However there is nothing like making a start in filling the blank page, as the writing process has a habit of loosening up those tightly hidden corners of the mind and popping out a topic.  Of course there is nothing like having a topic which makes your blood boil; that is the time when the words begin to flow freely.  And so let me tell you about a parish council meeting I went to a few months ago.  It was about new housing in our village.  Once it was a small village but from about forty years ago it expanded rapidly but still managed to keep its charming character and community spirit.  The meeting gave the impression that at most five houses would be built in the next five, or was it twenty years?  This seemed like good news.  Apparently the District Council was concentrating building in the bigger towns around us.  What good news this seemed, but it soon became apparent that none of these plans were fixed in stone.  If the government decided it wanted more housing in our area that is what they would get.  All the consultation of the villagers was ineffective and probably a waste of time. I know that people need houses and life must change around us but I do so wish they would not patronise us and waste our time on “consultation.” It is as if the lion would consult the wildebeest before killing him, a wholly insincere action on the part of the lion.  I sometimes wonder if we have ever had true democracy in this country!