Once upon a time…
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Advent week 3…
The smallest steps, the most ordinary steps, the dusty steps…
Stop twice, look thrice, over death… random raw life is alive.
Stop twice, look thrice, over death… random raw life is alive.
Be still and know, a comforting labyrinthine path, listen…
When all around us is distracting, there is something eternal going on.
When all around us is distracting, there is something eternal going on.
Waking from sleep we might hear a small voice,
with fresher eyes we might see child-like wonder.
with fresher eyes we might see child-like wonder.
Wait, be still… divine warmth might not glitter but,
the briefest moments can lead to magnificent strides.
the briefest moments can lead to magnificent strides.
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My third week following some Advent reflections from Brian Draper. I have to say again I can heartily recommend it if you so feel inclined!
Week 1, Week 2.
Week 1, Week 2.
It seems a long time since Monday when I took a trip around the block.
...I'll go with Brian, but I fear it's another distraction from the void that is all around us. As I say, I'll go with it today Brian, I will go out around the block at lunch-break, into the rough urban industrial Leicester, something I have not done for many months. I will follow the reflection... I will suspend disbelief...... ...Not a 'pleasant' walk but perhaps that's not the point. Yes, I will keep going - not much of an option there. I have become (re)acquainted with Psalm 23. Much of the terminology is lost on me I'm afraid (perhaps I'll google it in due-course). But I did find some words briefly comforting... Alas, the harsh wind, the dusty streets, the raw lives, the sad failed industry that I passed was more haunting than the verse. Curiously the encounter that caused me look thrice and stop twice was the open doors of a funeral services. Though the industrial doors stood the usual polished black vehicles but more strikingly also stood rows and layers of wood look coffins perhaps 50 plus... this stood out for me amongst the random raw life that passed around me, Asian languages, cigarettes, white vans, dusty roads, personal business, wheeling and dealing, city streets and rows of coffins. I will allow it to rest in my mind...
Brian’s posts also introduced me to this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS7gEykFMD8
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It’s Mini Meat Pie time!! again!
Oh yus!! It’s Granny Annie’s Mini Meat Pies!
A bit of a tradition on the days leading up to Christmas – It seems every Christmas I remember from Cornwall included these mini marvels! But take my word for it they don’t hang around, soooooo morish – ansome me lover! From what I recall, this is me mum’s recipe with a few twists.
Here’s the recipe from other years: Mini Meat Pies!
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Advent week 2…
A Joy and Wonder that flows from our own sense of release,
a startling revelation of ancient beauty…
An infectious smile at the heart of life that changes everything,
might slip through our fingers like mist…
Embrace it “the Joy of true life is your strength”,
it flows through us and from us…
Recognise that you are part of the beauty you see…
but look, what joy! Why now, Why me?
With a view of spring, accept and appreciate your wintering…
It’s natural, it’s physical… it’s wondrous…
———
This is the second Advent post, as I follow this year’s seasonal musings of Brian Draper. I can heartily recommend sharing his reflections if you so feel inclined!
It’s probably different for you but for me, Advent is not a nice “happy daze”, “everything will be alright” jam! For me Advent might be about waiting for stuff, pausing before, refocusing, stirring the sediment, brushing away the tarnish…
Yes we all recognise fleeting glimpses of beauty in our lives, we try to capture it in photos, stories, and other creations. I usually fail to hold onto it, share it and feed off it. I struggle to hang onto beauty in our world…
I thought [tweeted] this week that “even the most rotten in nature has a beauty to it, I struggle to find beauty in the rot in humanity…”
and “as my human rot is recognised, I aim to nurture the sprites of joy and wonder that shoot and grow towards light…”
Suspend disbelief might be a way forward.
Never would I have imagined as a child in the 1970’s, as I absorbed questionable traditional Carols (with a Cornish Methodist twang) that I would be singing them to children in Sainsbury’s in Melton Mowbray and turning with a tear in my eye as they wished me a Happy Christmas with smiles that would light up the darkest of hearts!
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Advent week 1…
‘the Word became flesh’ and walked the earth…
Walking, respond physically to ancient ground beneath our feet…
From my head to my fleshly heart…
Gratefully “Like a craftsman, planing wood, to the glory of God…”
Each step like a candle burning in the night…
Sharing grace… sharing gratitude…
Learning to walk again, easier than you might think…
Love came down at Christmas…?
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On yer bike!
I try and keep cycling posts to a minimum, ‘cos riding a bike is just a way of getting from a to b and should be normal but…
A friend of mine asks… How many drivers pass too close to people on pedal cycles?
I do not use major city roads so am not ideally placed to comment but in my subjective experience about 1 in 5 do pass too close when passing people on bikes. 1 in 10 pass very dangerously close. I film all the 7miles x 2 commutes I do ever weekday – I’ll check when I have time! But 1 in 10 is too many! Fine for fit, strong, attentive ‘cyclists’ but for the average person in the street that could pop to the shops on their bike, the traffic is not acceptable. Forget getting the kids cycling!
Some academic research is interesting if you’re that way inclined.
When you are on a bike and are experiencing dangerous driving, occasionally it takes superhuman discipline to not get very angry!
I agree with the below, on any ride into town:
- some drivers will pass dangerously close.
- some drivers will overtake prematurely.
- some drivers will cut in too soon.
- some drivers will follow too close behind cyclists.
- some will drive at inappropriate speeds.
- some will use phones or hair brushes etc while driving.
- there are also the instances where drivers deliberately menace, bully, or antagonise other road users.
It takes significant concerted tolerance, concentration, and both physical and mental strength to stay safe cycling regularly on Britain’s roads.
That’s why I believe separating hard-fast motor vehicles from mortal vulnerable people on bikes is what’s needed if the healthier* option of cycling is to be encouraged.
One might ask… Why do we not care about other people’s wellbeing? Why do we only think of ourselves? Why is illusory personal gain so celebrated?
Yes there are laws and new ones can be created or perhaps existing laws might be actually enforced. There will always be bullies, there will always be the uneducated, there will always be ignorance – we need laws and education to help with this. But also we will always be ‘people’. We are faulty, but we can aim to be healthier people.
On our roads, all I ask is for a little consideration…
- consideration of ourselves.
- consideration of what we are doing
- consideration for others (might naturally follow).
All I ask is for a little consideration, but perhaps I ask for too much.
*healthier: much has been written on the benefits of increased cycle use, on personal, community & economic levels – google it – cycling is good….
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Advent… what are you waiting for?
OK we all do the calendar thing – well those with kids in the house probably do.
But what can ‘Advent’ do for us? …and I don’t mean the Religious, candley, purpley rituals – although they have their uses.
Waiting at the lights, waiting in line in Alidil, waiting… I have to admit it, I am working on it but, I am not very good at really waiting… finding extra patience and tolerance… and over the coming month it’s likely that we’ll be waiting in a Christmas-infested queue, a seasonally longer queue at the pumps or tills, or just waiting for it all to be over!
The period Advent is about waiting… from Latin adventus, arrival. Waiting for the arrival of something…
Entertaining the experience of waiting for something. Finding a chance to slow, stop, and consider our place, can be a gift! Stop all the clocks…
Perhaps we might use the experience of waiting this December as an Advent reminder.
Back in the day, the Jews were waiting for a Messiah.
What are you waiting for?
PS: Have you eaten all of the chocolates behind the doors? …and it’s not started yet!!
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Chilli bread
On a 45 year-old’s bday, one might receive a ‘baking stone’ and a home baking book of recipes… and lo it came to pass…
Those who know me know that the girls often have a home made pizza on a saturday, the dough bashing and proving is therapeutic and I recommend it.
Now our pizzas are stonebaked! and it worked really well, no more soggy botts, but crispy! Thanks inlaws!
I also find bread making therapeutic, better than kicking the dog.
And the first recipe from my gift of Gino D’Acampo’s ‘Italian Home Baking’, has been:
Filone All’Arribbiata (Spicy Loaf with Chilli and Paprika).
But my version, using ‘erps and spice brought back from Italy by the folks (‘cos I’m all out of paprika).
Makes 1 loaf
225g strong white flour
100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
7g fast action yeast
210ml warm water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp spice ‘erb mix: flakes of oregano, chilli, garlic mix.
Nice… with strong cheese and cider!
Thanks all.
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Quality beer and nuts…
Everything and anything, the whole wide world, at the touch of a button! brillyunt!?
I recently saw a post about a small church (remember them?) in north London. The local library(remember them?) and community centre was threatened by budget cuts and the church was discussing plans to offer space for a new library in their new church development.
Like many small towns, the population there is growing and more facilities, are needed – not fewer. As might be expected, the church is looking to increase its “community involvement”. Community Centres, Libraries, Churches, Health Centres and the like, are vital places where people have traditionally found information, help, succour and strength. These places have in the past been vital assets for community integration and interaction.
All that happy-clapping, rainbow guitar straps, hearty singing, and WWYD stickers etc came later. I’m told that originally “churches” (or synagogues in bible daze) were central places in communities where families (remember them?) might help each other, where widows, orphans, strangers etc might be ‘looked out for’. The church would administer and manage support and help for those in need. Over the last 100 years the government took over looking after the community’s heath, education, and wellbeing. What was the church to do? Sing another hymn? Also note that back in the day, “families” were not the 2 adults & 2.4 children of today (or even the growing 1 & 1.2 of contemporary life) – The fully functioning “family” was the grandparents, parents, bob’s ur uncle, aunties, brothers, sisters etc.
But now, you can get everything and anything at the touch of a button?
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” King James Bible. or “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?” The Message Mark 8:36
Yes we can and do get ‘loads of stuff’ all online… or you can get everything at the uber-store… indeed you must get everything… ‘cos “every little helps” and “mum’s gone there”…
However it might be my age, and yes the Aldile’s do have some great deals but…
If I want a quality, value for money, bit of beef (and a chat) I go to the butchers…
If I want quality, value for money, fruit & veg (and a chat) I go to the green grocers…
If I want to browse for quality (and value for money!?) brain fodder (and a chat) I might go to the library…
If I want quality beer and nuts (and more importantly a chat) one might go to the pub…
If I want quality insight and support of well-being (and more importantly a chat) one might go to a church…
Real people, real places, and real life!?
March 2017 – again the BBC called me asking about my experiences of ‘riding a bike’ in and around Leicester … Read more here from March 2017: People on bikes again
August 2016 Again, BBC Radio Leicester called me “Do you think Leicester’s a model cycle city… yet?” #CycleCity Leicester
May 2016 Again, BBC Radio Leicester called me “What do you think about proposals for more cycle lanes…” #CycleCity Leicester?
October 2015 BBC Radio Leicester called me “What do you think about proposals for more cycle lanes…” and stuff…
Jan 2014 I was asked by the BBC “What do you think about cycling on pavements…” and stuff…
Nov 2013 I was asked by the BBC “Did I think cycle infrastructure was a good idea?”
Riding a bike:
- You will save money.
- You will get fitter and be healthier.
- Over time you will start to see the world differently.
Where it’s available, I always use segregated cycle ways – vehicles and bikes don’t mix.
It took a year of cycle commuting to realise this.
With political will it is possible to separate people on bikes and people driving motor vehicles fully where speeds and volumes of traffic are not safe to share. “Safe to share” requires less than 20mph (measured not the limit) and less than 2,000 PCU (passenger car units) per day. See http://rachelaldred.org/writing/20mph-2000pcu-using-it-for-local-campaigning/
Where sharing is needed, people on bikes need protection;
- better law enforcement (strict liability, stronger penalties for dangerous and careless driving, more enforcement).
- better in infrastructure (slowing speeds, making junctions safer). Cyclists need far better design, implementation and maintenance of segregated facilities, especially at junctions.
- better vehicle design.
Onwards!
