On reflection, the post title should probably be: “The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse” by Charlie Mackesy — with a segue to Twitter… O-o” 😉

But not too O-o in this case, I think, and with plenty of 🙂

I feel a little remiss in not having mentioned this wonderful book by Charlie Mackesy here earlier, as I was given it last Christmas and found it delightful.

It’s  an ‘inspirational’ book of combined text and illustrations, centered on the journey of four chance-met companions. Yes, you guessed it: the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse, encountered in that order. The four are probably best summarised by author and artist Charlie Mackesy in his introduction:

“The boy is full of questions, the mole is greedy for cake. The fox is mainly silent and wary because he’s been hurt by life. The horse is the biggest thing they have ever encountered, and also the gentlest. They are all different, like us, and each has their own weaknesses.”

Together (in the best epic tradition, too), they go on a journey. The book is about the journey and about friendship, about being together and learning from each other, and also to know ourselves. It’s full of wisdom, and beauty, and kindness, encapsulating some great insights without being saccharine. A few I particularly like include:

“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”

“Nothing beats kindness,” said the horse. “It sits quietly beyond all things.”

“The greatest illusion,” said the mole, “is that life should be perfect.”

Imho, “The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse” is well worth reading at any time, both for the words and the illustrations, but may be even more worthwhile in our current times.

And that Twitter segue? Well, that comes from the fox:

“To be honest, I often feel I have nothing interesting to say,” said the fox.

Tbh, that is often how I feel when on the river-in-spate of opinion, information, images, interactions, and spam that is Twitter!

Then again, on the other hand, like the four characters of Charlie Mackesy’s book, I feel I’ve met some very special people via Twitter, and seen fabulous images of places, artefacts, and people that might never have crossed my horizon otherwise:

“Sometimes all you hear about is the hate, but there is more love in this world than you could possibly imagine.”