FINDING YOUR RIGHT PLACE

I am properly prepared. I am off walking – not too far, but the point is not distance but enjoyment. I have a need to liberate myself from the “assumption of everyday life”. I have a drive to escape from being a voter, tax-payer or any other of the roles I am forced into. I will cease to be identified by my salary – or my golf handicap (neither of which I have, but people make assumptions, and usually the wrong ones).

I have a desire for Nature to be my teacher and I aim to learn of my special quest in life, to go in humility and simplicity. My aim is not to earn a living but to earn happiness. Thus, my main motive is curiosity – what’s around the next bend, and to explore the mystery of names on a map, until I get to the point where the great door that doesn’t look like a door, opens, and I UNDERSTAND.

In 1986, a botanist named Oliver Rackham wrote “there are four ways in which landscape is lost – the loss of beauty, the loss of freedom, the loss of wildlife and vegetation, and the loss of meaning”. It is the last of these that is the most difficult to measure…

The “emblem” of my walk is a river. It’s not an Amazon or Nile or Indus, but it’s MY river and I want to know it well, in all its moods. I want to know how it sounds, its moods and how it looks after the nature alongside it. Like the Aborigines of Australia, I shall walk my own songline.

So, two to three weeks in autumnal sunshine and I shall be as a new man; relaxed, happier and certainly much more knowledgeable. 

Until I return,

Peripatetic Scribe

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

Even at 72, I still say it’s never too late. Never too late to change. To change and accept new challenges; to change in order to grow. The body may no longer be what it was even 5 years ago, but the little grey cells are still wanting their collective voice to be heard.

I enjoy photography (and have had some modest success), but my passion remains (and will continue to be) words.

I find that now I write best when my hours are lived close to nature; I like to watch the sun rise and set so I may mutter my ‘heathen’ prayers to the God I know. I like to watch the moon spread her silver over my head, the fields, the water, and there is no smell that increases my energy levels like that of the small border between sea and land.

Thus, I am encouraged to write how and what I really think and what is more important I can do so without remembering that the world about me contains insincere idiots, religious fanatics and unpleasant moralists…

For more thoughts from a new life – keep reading.

Until next time,

Peripatetic Scribe

Remember, remember…

I have been travelling.

I started outlining this article sitting on a beach, a waterlogged shoe of unknown age on one side of me, a child’s plastic potty on the other. I was one of those “what the hell am I doing here?” times, when the traveller really doesn’t know why or where…

A blinding glimpse of what should have been obvious hit me. The traveller today needs one thing above everything else – STAMINA!

So let me give you some things to think over.

Remember when the traveller could expect porters not hijackers? Remember when hotels were built and finished before you arrived? Remember when key unions were not on strike either at your departure point or arrival point? Remember when the weather was reliable? Remember when you didn’t have to plan your trip like a military operation? Remember when the sea was clean? Remember when you were a person not a sheep, herded in airports, railway stations, museums, restaurants along with your fellow sheep? Remember when you knew what your money would get in other currencies? Remember when you confidently expected everything to go according to plan, rather than thinking it a miracle if everything doesn’t go wrong?

Dear reader, those days have long gone – and what is sad is that we will NEVER see them again.

Until next time,

Peripatetic Scribe

A 2015 MESSAGE

It has become almost standard practice for a Head of State to get dressed up in his/her finery, go on television and spout “words of wisdom” about how “good” the last year has been for “people in general”, and to paint a glowing scenario for the following year.

I am NOT a Head of State, nor do I wish for any level of power or authority, but I cannot resist writing my “message”.

This short post is primarily aimed at the 500 million people living in the European Union. It is short and to the point…

You, ladies and gentlemen, live in a system that is designed to cause tension, political as well as economic. It has been designed to make every one of you as near equal as possible – even though it is an impossibility and perhaps even dangerous. It aims to make nationalism a thing of the past – but in effect does just the opposite. Why? Because when things go wrong it is a natural human trait to blame someone, usually someone from “outside” you community.

I will say one thing:

It is NOT your fault – it’s the design of the system

I wish you all a happy, peaceful and trouble-free New Year.

Until next time (another year older - and a little wiser)

Peripatetic Scribe

TOUCHING THE PAST

I have noticed that an unusual phenomenon takes place as one gets older. I can remember vividly things that happened 50 or more years ago, but ask me what I ate at the weekend and my mind is a blank! Selective forgetfulness? Or merely that my mind ignores the trivial…

So, some four years ago, I started a hunt for a long-forgotten member of my family. I was especially interested in my great-great-grandfather on my mothers’ side of the family, as it was rumoured he was a clever man with his hands. Evidently, he had been a glass-maker; a specific type of glass – stained or coloured – used much later by far more well-known glass-makers, such as Lalique.

I have managed at last to track down this long-distant relative as well as some of his work. It seems his work was of high quality, and was much in demand by both the “upper class” and the church. I have been able to photograph some of his work and I must admit, it does have an ethereal tenderness to it; tremendous depth of colour and feeling, so as it is getting near to the Festive Season, I felt it would be the right time to share it.

In all honesty, I cannot say he did everything on the two windows above, but he is on record as having contributed significantly to that on the upper left hand side.

So, in the spirit of being able to “touch the past”, I wish everyone seasonal greetings, and may 2015 bring you peace and good health…

Until next year,

Peripatetic Scribe

  

ETIQUETTE FOR THE AVERAGE MAN

This blog post is not what it seems…..

Not a year passes without an election somewhere in the world. The senses of voters everywhere are inundated with false promises and honey-coated words, which, once the individual enters office, are rapidly forgotten – like frost disappearing under the sun! Thus, this post is aimed at helping the ‘average man’ overcome the ravings of those who wish for power.

Not only should we be extra wary of the promises and the honey-coated words, but also avoid the temptation to be in fear of those who have or seek, power. It’s so easy to be swayed by rhetoric, and to comment favourably on how brightly the sun shines out of his butt.

Don’t be tempted – consider these questions; ask them and if you don’t get a favourable answer to them, you’re not living in a democracy!

What power do you have?

Where did you get it?

In whose interests do you exercise it?

To whom are you accountable?

How can we get rid of you? Because if we can’t, we are not democratic.

Democracy is not something someone does if we vote for them. It’s what we do at home, at work, and with others…

Wherever you may be, do consider these views – perhaps it may help you live in a more open society.

Until next time (and still asking questions),

Peripatetic Scribe

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

I felt it was time to give you a summary of my thinking as outlined in many of the blog posts I have written, so here it is:

BE WHAT YOU WOULD SEEM TO BE....

Or, if you would like me to put it more simply:

Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what might appear to others that what you were, or might have been, was not otherwise than what you would have appeared to them to be otherwise.

Clear?  Excellent...

Until next time (and just as clearly),

Peripatetic Scribe