Sadness is a storm.
A clap of thunder,
As you howl and wail,
Yet through it all,
You still prevail.
Nothing withstands
The heart of the tempest.
Ominous clouds loom,
Lightning flashes.
Light still gets through.
It gives you a glimpse,
Of hope pure and true
All’s well once more,
With the subsiding of the storm.
.
I recently discovered an old phone in an antique shop and realised that today’s kids wouldn’t recognise the sound of the dial turning.
It got me thinking about the other sounds that have disappeared with the advent of new technology. Have a listen to these sounds and try to work out what they are.
When she was eight, Betty fell in love with aeroplanes. She watched them flying over her house every day, she devoured books about them, and she begged her parents to take her to airfields where she would persuade pilots to take her on rides above the clouds.
Betty must have been a very persuasive person, because she also talked a young Navy pilot into giving the whole family flying lessons. And when I say whole family, I mean it: Betty flew her first plane solo when she was just twelve years old. She might have been a tiny daredevil, but she was so scared her mother would scold her for doing it that she kept it a secret for a week!
Left and Left Behind
One very common one that we shall start with is a word that you use all the time without ever thinking about it being a contronym. This is left, which can mean “gone, departed” or “still there, remaining” . If you have gone, then you have left, but if everyone else except you has gone, then you are left!
