“My vegetable spirits are soaring.”

The Poem

Being Boring - Wendy Cope

'May you live in interesting times.' Chinese curse

If you ask me 'What's new?', I have nothing to say
Except that the garden is growing.
I had a slight cold but it's better today.
I'm content with the way things are going.
Yes, he is the same as he usually is,
Still eating and sleeping and snoring.
I get on with my work. He gets on with his.
I know this is all very boring.

There was drama enough in my turbulent past:
Tears and passion - I've used up a tankful.
No news is good news, and long may it last.
If nothing much happens, I'm thankful.
A happier cabbage you never did see,
My vegetable spirits are soaring.
If you're after excitement, steer well clear of me.
I want to go on being boring.

I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,
If you don't need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I've found a safe mooring,
I've just one ambition in life: I aspire
To go on and on being boring.

The Beverage
Wine At A Wine Tasting

Why does wine taste so much better when you’re tasting it in a tasting room? I bought two bottles of some Virginia trash grapes. I am sure they are actually terrible. But in the moment, I was convinced that these were quality wines that I would want to drink again, in quantity. So I paid for them. And I’ll drink them. And hopefully, I’ll remember being at a lovely wine tasting in the hills of Virginia instead of complaining about how bad they are.