My father would often use the phrase “it would make a cat laugh” when the ridiculous or absurd was said or happened – usually reported by the media and quite often related to politics but not always. I have used it on occasions,simply by means of our close association though I cannot recall it being in general usage but perhaps that is down to how long ago it was! I picked up the phrase which is after all how all catchphrases are propagated or handed down. A certain newspaper columnist is wont to comment, “you couldn’t make it up”; dear old Terry Wogan often used to ask “is it me?”. Another one that comes to mind is “I’ll go to the foot of our stairs”. There are many others, some are more modern ones which I am not so familiar with.

Anyway, don’t laugh – but something happened, or was said, several weeks back and I thought to myself that it would make a very good topic for my next blog. I decided a very good title would be ‘a cat would laugh’ then, would you believe it, I completely forgot what the substance of the  blog was!. If an idea comes to me I usually try to scribble a few words so that I remember it when I sit down to work at it. This time I didn’t get round to it and the topic is firmly stuck somewhere in the retrieval system of my mind.

Using various different thoughts I tried to trigger recall but failing. I did get to wondering whether God laughs. We know that good things please him, that some things displease Him and others cause him to despair; we know from the the Scriptures that Jesus used humour often, although it was not the type that today’s stand-up comedians would use. Perhaps the closest instance I can think of is ‘Yes Minister’ where the words themselves are not funny but the humour lies in the manner of delivery, timing and facial expressions.

So dear reader, I must continue my quest to recall what I was going to write about, and perhaps I have left you wondering! Wishing you all a Happy New Year.

Pam