Our friend Tim was confessing to enjoying ‘Flanders and Swann’ songs. Songs that he learnt as a child he still remembers word for word. Their humour is still appreciated by folks ‘of a certain age’.
Their repertoire included ‘The Hippopotamus Song’. The hippopotamus is presented as a happy creature; the song celebrates the joy of hippos and mud. I enjoy the refrain:
Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me, follow
Down to the hollow
And there let us wallow in glorious mud
Tim’s hippo is a creature from a distant land that wallows in mud and makes you smile.
Wife-Rachel and Daughter-Jo have recently renewed their annual membership of ‘Africa Alive’ that’s a couple of miles down the road from us. Their website describes it:
‘Wide-open spaces, extraordinary animals and big adventures! With 300+ animals, 75+ habitats, and wild moments all day long, Africa Alive brings the African savannah to life in Suffolk.’
Rachel and Jo will visit for a few hours, wander round the animal enclosures, enjoy the meercats, monkeys or mongooses, (mongeese?!) visit the café, and return home having had a pleasant afternoon together.
Rachel and Jo’s hippo is a creature to be observed, enjoyed and learned about from a safe distance.
Our friend Lynn tells many stories about her life in South Africa. Some of them involve hippos – visiting their neighbourhood, on the golf course, on the beach, in the car park. They were unpredictable wild animals to be avoided, left alone, treated with caution.
Lynn’s hippos are not Tim’s hippos of fun in an old song, or Rachel and Jo’s hippos of interest in a protected environment, but hippos of personal reality and potential danger.
This morning I’m musing on big hippo issues – war, pornography, racial prejudice… recognising that for some these are viewed lightly, a potential source of fun… for others they’re to be observed with interest from a protected distance… for others they are a dangerous daily reality to be avoided.
(The ‘Hippopotamus Song is on YouTube: Hippopotamus song)
malcolmsmusings.org 
I’m with you, Malcolm, and my musings include thinking about how AI contributes to war, pornography, and racial prejudice. Each day, my concern deepens with artificial intelligence’s increasing actual and potential harm to youth. I want to yell, “Parents! Protect your children.” With that in mind, my March posts break down this complex topic in lay terms, and I hope the information helps people make informed decisions. Your posts remind me of Proverbs 3:27-29. Thanks for all you do!
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