THE SILVER LINING

There once was a man who lived in a place called England. In England it was always cloudy and it almost always rained. Day in and day out. Hard rain and soft rain. A drenching drizzle that never ends. But it always rained in England. And up above his head the clouds were thick, dense and grey, and this made the man very downcast. So he walked with stooped shoulders and a hunched back through his day, always looking down and never up, avoiding the depressing sight of the dark, thick clouds up above. So he lived for all of his life until he was an old man, grumpy and moody, living in a cold, dark and wet world of clouds and showers. And he never once dared to look up, for it was dark and overcast up there, for certain. And all of his days were cold, and dark, and miserable. But one day, the sun broke through the clouds, and its glint caught the corner of his eye. He looked up at the sky for the first time in a very long spell, and saw the most beautiful silver lining on a lovely, fluffy cloud above. It was the prettiest sight he had ever seen, and it filled him full of hope and wonder. He smiled to himself as an old man does, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, the sun came out and brightened up his day. He walked up straight again and faced the world with sunshine in eyes. Every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.