Today’s song is ‘You’re the One I Want’. This song was performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John for the 1978 film version of the musical, ‘Grease’. It was written and produced by John Farrar.
‘You're the One That I Want’ is one of the best-selling singles in history, having sold over 6 million copies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France alone, with estimates of more than 15 million copies sold worldwide. In the U.S. the single reached Number 1 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ and on July 18 was certified Platinum for shipments exceeding 2 million copies. It was already Gold by April 12. It also topped the ‘UK Singles Chart’ for nine weeks in the summer of 1978; some months before the film had even been released in this country. As of 2018, it is still the fifth best-selling single of all time in the U.K., where it has sold 2 million copies.
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There are certain people in this world that one would find hard to not have as a regular feature in their life. I am not only referring to soul mates, spouses, loving family members etc. All of us would miss such significant others from our lives. Neither am I talking about best friends who are always there for us, come hell or high water!
The people I refer to are those folks we consciously think about infrequently. They are the ones who enter and pass through our daily lives and leave it, without much conscious thought from us that they'd been here at all. They are the ones whose significance in our daily lives form a greater part of us being happy than ever truly registers in our mind. These people are our bedrock of humanity; caring clocks of our daily happy hours. They appear in our lives and alter it with an impact of compassion and influence that improves our character and overall sense of wellbeing. They are the ones who make our days all the brighter for the small things they do that mean so much to us.
We find them all around us and could not walk our road without bumping into them. If I were to stroll down the Main Street of my village in Haworth this morning, I would pass a woman (whose name I know not) who will give me the broadest smile I am likely to see in a month of Sundays. We have never spoken, apart from exchanging the time of day, but merely observing her cheerful passing brightens up my day immensely.
Most times I meet my allotment buddy, Brian Moorehouse, I will often find him in the process of giving some sought after advice or a helping hand to another Howarth citizen. Whenever I meet up with another artist friend of mine called George Bowden, he will warmly shake my hand, even though we see each other regularly as we live in the same village and we have known each other for the past six years. The mere warmth of his handshake says to me ‘It is lovely to see you, Bill’.
Such people are in the main, ordinary people of unpretentious nature, and whose overall behaviour provides extraordinary secret benefits to the disposition we carry forward towards the remainder of our day. In short, their very presence in and impact on our daily lives make us feel happy, welcome and wanted individuals. They immediately place acquaintances at ease in their company and unknowingly bring good things into the lives of others by simply being who they are and doing what they naturally do.
A few Facebook friends come to the forefront of my mind, although there are literally dozens whom I could mention in this message if time allowed.
Anne Lister is a veritable Mary Poppins who visits numerous people of ill health and always brings with her cheerful smile, a pot of her delicious marmalade. Facebook friend, Joseph Newns is a profound Christian, whom along with Mary Anderson, never fail to remind us of the goodness in the world. Facebook friends, Linda Sippio and Elaine Craven constantly keep us abreast of the many social injustices which society should constantly guard against. Facebook friend, Terry Balwinson, never fails to make me laugh with his jokes and quips on his Facebook page every breakfast time, and he remains a constant reminder to all us ageing citizens through his hard daily runs and his soft piano playing that life and culture can continue at sixty plus and that there is no need to resign our old bones to the rocking chair of mounting senility. I would greatly miss some beautiful classical music pieces if I could no longer access the pages of my Facebook friends, Jovanka Banjac and Bill Whitfield. I turn to their Facebook pages every time I seek a relaxing background. Should ever I start to think that I am perhaps doing more than my fair share of this or that, I remember the daily life of Facebook friend, Janice Jagger, who works ceaselessly and with good heart from dawn until dusk, every day of her life, loving, caring for and providing any comfort she can to her poorly partner and soul mate, Colin. Janice reminds me so much of my lovely wife, Sheila who tends to my every need from the first to the last moment of my day. Love oozes from their bodies and Colin and I remain so lucky to be blessed by their daily presence. Facebook friends, Matilde Antunes, Lynne Dransfield and Chand Mahtani each represent women whom I could so easily have loved in another life had fate and circumstances collided with our destinies in a different form.
I also refer to the many hundreds of people who have helped me survive six cancer operations, three years of fortnightly blood transfusions, two six-month periods of chemotherapy, twenty sessions of radiotherapy and many months of illness confined to my bed and home over the past seven years since I was diagnosed with a terminal blood cancer that leaves me without an effective immune system to fend off new illnesses. It is their prayers and constant moral support that has sustained me throughout this difficult passage.
I ask that anyone I have failed to mention in this lengthy expose of goodness that daily surrounds us, please forgive me; otherwise my list of Facebook friends and others in my daily life who mean more to me than I can ever adequately express would be never-ending.
The person I specifically dedicate my song today to is Mary Forsey from Waterford, the Irish county of my birth. Mary keeps me daily in touch with my beloved Ireland, and in particular, the village of my birth, Portlaw, and surrounding areas with her marvellous photographs she regularly takes on her daily rambles.
Thank you, Mary, for being my Facebook friend and for feeding my body and soul with the seasonal delights of your marvellous photography and the beauty of my homeland. When I next visit Portlaw in 2020 (God willing), you will be the very first person that Sheila and I will seek out to show us some of the rarer beauty spots. God bless you, Mary, and thank you ever so much for being my Facebook friend. Bill x
Love and peace Bill xxx