A journey with no destination

The title represents my ideas for this blog, namely that I don't have any, but will just meander and see where it takes me.

Actually, just as I am half way through that sentence I DO know what I am going to write about.  I met up with Brad and Angelina on Sunday for our friend's daughter's thirteenth birthday party.  I remember when she was this high, and so it was lovely to also be part of her journey into teenagedom.  I can only hope she remains as she is today, and that is bright, funny, balanced and a lovely young woman.

Anyhow, to link back to the title, squirrel moment now passed, Brad and I were discussing a book we had both just read called Tuesday's with Morrie.  If you have not heard of it, probably shame on you, and if you have, no doubt you enjoyed it as much as we did.  The premise is none too promising; a young man, and old man who is dying with a very sad wasting-away type disease, and a regular Tuesday meeting where old man imparts his wisdom to young man.  The beauty is in its simplicity.  Morrie was a philosophy teacher, so did have some good and well crafted thoughts, but in essence it was about how he turned his condition into a positive thing, and on the way, how he gave some interesting words of wisdom.  Love your family and friends, show compassion, give back to your community, look for the good in people, searching is unhappiness, that kind of thing.

Now, the book was sold to us as a life changing book.  When able to reflect on it for a while, the person who recommended it thus did accept she may have over-sold it.  Having said that, it was a very interesting and enjoyable read and it has made me think about things, particular in my current work situation.  If you have not yet read it, and are able to read, then I would definitely recommend it, as long as you open the book with modest expectations.

Only other news is slightly sad in that I found out on Friday that a good friend and colleague at Starfleet has decided to cash in his chips and has resigned.  I hope to catch up with him to see what his plans are, but as a work colleague he will be sadly missed, and as a friend hopefully we will keep in touch, but us being men, probably not. 

We are off camping in our little white box for a long weekend starting Friday, and a better antidote to city working I cannot imagine.  I absolutely completely and utterly cannot wait for Thursday evening.

What is wrong with the world, and what is right

Go on, ask me what I did at the weekend. Go on, you know you want to.

Well, the answer is that we spent a lovely day and night at our friends' house up north, in Newbury. Then on Sunday we went to a caravan show. Now I have talked before about caravans, and feel the need to do so again.

After my last article, Mori conducted an exit poll from the blog in question, and of 17 people interviewed:

- 0.1% were very very satisfied
- 0.2% were very satisfied
- 1% were satisfied
- 98.7% were don't know.

As Vic Reeves said, 84.6% of statistics are made up on the spot. It may have been someone else.

We managed to buy not a lot really, but the kids had great fun running in and out of a hundred caravans and motor homes (oh yes, motor homes too) and we did have a fantastic picnic made by our friends which included tortilla (Spanish omlette, not triangle crisps) rolls, which were absolutely delicious and up there with the now extinct Worcester egg salad baguette with extra black pepper.

Whilst up north, I was discussing with Thoughtful about the use of "so", since I have noticed since starting this blog that I want to start a lot of sentences with the word. Check yourself today, I bet you will want to say "so" a lot of times to start a sentence.

So, anyway, we were also discussing life, and the things wrong with it, and in summary our three things wrong with the world are:

1. infinite lives on video games.
2. people don't play enough cards.
3. people don't darn socks anymore.

Infinite lives give a false sense of security, and stop people taking responsibility for their actions, and therein lies the problem. Dropping litter is about many things, but not least that the person dropping their fag packet, empty Tennant's Extra or crisp packet knows that they won't have to pick it up. If they dropped it in their own home, sooner or later they would.

Cards is about odds, what others are thinking, and strategies. It makes you think about cause and effect (if I throw the king, will they want it), odds (based on what they have thrown out, and what has already been laid down, the seven is the safest card to discard) and strategies (if we let them win, we might get some tonight). Everyone needs these skills to be an effective member of society, able to contribute positively and to work effectively with their friends, colleagues and family.

Darning socks is about mend and make do, repairing rather than replacing, having a sense of maintaining and looking after your possessions. These skills have been rather lost in our "throw away society" and while the obvious parallel are material things like plastic bags and old TVs, it does go deeper in to a mental attitude that pervades through society that sometimes blinds us to the real value in things.
For those with a keen eye, I am happy to acknowledge that this sock darning sentiment is actually one of Walander's views on life, with meaning expanded by me. Don't want any accusations of plagiarism. Especially if they are true.

Have a good Monday and see you again tomorrow.

Caravanning

This is a subject in the same category as morris dancing and flower pressing. We all know someone who does it, but it is never spoken of in polite company. Well, today is the day to break that taboo, and I am the man for the job.

My name is Scobi, and I am a caravanner. There, I said it. I can expect a great reduction in readership just by uttering that one sentence.

So, why am I 'van and proud? Well, I guess it comes down to kids, family, electrical devices (or lack of) and time. The kids love going 'vannin' coz they get time and space to run around a lot, do stuff like getting muddy, making camps, riding their bikes, exploring streams, and generally keeping themselves occupied, and very much enjoying the freedom to do what they want without an adult in tow. Now, this is really good for parents as well. If the kids are occupied, then the parents can suit themselves, and that usually involved egg baps, tea and cake. And a couple of hands of Canasta. Or just chatting. Or just sitting (see previous post). So since a family is made up of kids and parents (without getting in to any "nuclear family" debates), this all adds up to being good for the family.
Next on the list is electrical devices. We have a fridge (keeps the beer cool), a cooker (cooks stuff), lights (helps to see stuff) and even a water pump and water heater (warm water is good for other stuff). Other than that, we are devoid of any twenty-first century devices. No TV, no phone, no laptop, no broadband (although these last two can be accommodated on most sites these days) and no little chores round the house to see to. Bliss. All we have to do is empty loos and waste water, and fill up the water barrel once a day or so. Even the latter two go away on a "fully serviced site" and I have just bought the gizmo that plumbs the water in to a tap so I don't need to fill up water, and a long waste pipe to plumb straight in to the waste hole on the pitch. So now all I need to do is empty the poo poos. At this point I ought to digress and discuss poo poo. Most people are probably cringing slightly at this point. If they are eating breakfast, lunch, tea, supper or a midnight feast, they may even be gagging slightly. But, no need dear readers. A bit of blue stuff (organic of course) in the tub turns it all in to harmless and odourless slop, which makes the emptying thereof not nearly as yucky as you would fear.

So the final benefit for me is time. Life is busy, and oftentimes all I want is to step off the bus for a while, and 'vannin' is just that. Stepping off the bus, taking a bit of time to think and talk and sleep and eat and drink and generally slow down. Your life 'vannin' is filled with either thinking about or actually doing one of the following:
- drinking
- eating
- washing
- sleeping
- thinking about where we can go out for half a day, just so that we can see some of the area, but really just so we can come back again and carry on doing what we were doing before we went somewhere.

So, finally, I wanted to clear up a few myths.

Myth 1: caravanners are boring
Well, what one person thinks about another person is always subjective. My experience is that there is no-one more boring than someone who thinks they are interesting.

Myth 2: We hold up the traffic.
I really don't understand this one. Wherever I go with my 'van in tow, the roads are always clear in front of me.

Myth 3: camping is cooler
We have camped on and off for 20 years. We loved camping. But we didn't find it cool spending 2 hours to setup, 2 hours to break down the camp, getting cold, having uncomfortable nights, and generally having a high hassle/fun ratio. 'Vanning solves most of the hassle, but takes away none of the fun. In my opinion. Which we have already concluded is subjective.

If anyone is converted, unconvinced of nauseated by this blog, please leave me a comment. Make it polite, and try to spell all the words correctly. I know, that last comment was nasty, and not befitting the calibre of reader I am attracting, for which I apologise.