Journeys of life....part the first

There was a curious radio program today which suggested that young people should not travel overseas.
I think the thesis was that basically you are "too young to appreciate the experience" and, more than that, you might be ruined and never learn to settle down.
I will get to that later on (part the fourth perhaps)
But as a boy it was wonderful to grow up in West Cumberland  ( the Western Lake District) we used to go to the beach at St Bees (where my Dad had lived as a boy  and my Great Uncle and Aunt still lived ...he had been both the bank manager and a lighthouse operator....!) and then we stayed at Braystones...just a bit further down the coast. Coastally beautiful!
How we swam I don't know as it was the Irish Sea, by Australian standards it was probably colder than even the south of Tasmania.!   As I reflect, I realise that at least one of our holiday 'houses' probably did not have electricity nor running water (we used to go to the Well to fill buckets!). But I think we got up at 6 or 7 spent the day at the beach, picked mushrooms, built sandcastles, swam...caught crabs, picked cuvvins...( a sea snail which you picked and soaked and cooked...Yum! [let us not however begin to think about the discharge from the Windscales Nuclear Reactor...which meant that Sellafield was discharging waste water which may or may not have been tainted by nuclear waste....might explain why I have three brains!]...but we enjoyed them...Cumbrian escargots)
The main picture above is of the wonderful Campsite that the Scouts developed at Ennerdale. Many of my holidays as a teenage boy were as a member of that organisation. I am really happy that I had the opportunity to be both a Cub and a Scout.
The formal campsite, but also rough camping in fields and on mountainsides was very enjoyable. And is etched very deep in my memory.
For all these childhood holidays I am really grateful.

With bated breath

We are all waiting with anxious anticipation to see what information Immigration Supremo, Kevin Andrews, is going to reveal about Mohammad Haniff that justifies the continuing revocation of his work visa.
Haniff appeared on 60 Minutes last night some what at pains to protest his innocence ( a little too 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' for my liking but perhaps I am as tinged with xenophobia as my fellow compatriots (here)).
One thing we can be sure of, if there is nothing forthcoming from Andrews, who can hide behind the excuse of confidential information.....then we can be pretty sure there will be no apology.
In fact this feels like the same sort of 'no-apology' land that we have visited before.
The protestations that no apology is necessary because he has acted within the law only stands up if evidence is presented that shows that there was indeed niggling doubt about Haniff's soundness. We wait in vain.
It begs the question about what the right way to act is. Ethics 101 tells you in tutorial one that there is huge difference between what is legal and what is right. Holy Writ tells us recourse to the legal system is the last resort and things should be settled before that stage....Andrews should know this since he is one of the klatsch of Christian politicians (instrumental you may remember in overturning the Territory's euthanasia legislation) who seek to have their faith-voice heard. I find his recent action strangely lacking in Christian character.
So I wait with baited breath for the information....and will not hold the same breath for the apology that Haniff deserves if he is, as he claims, a coincidental player.

Closer to reality

I do apologise, dear reader, if in my enthusiasm to re-establish my blog on a regular basis that this week's entries have been unduly long and serious. Part of the art must be in trying to work out what is appreciated by you and having been away for six weeks I have to get back into the rhythm. So, hopefully, I am getting there.

This week I am slipping back into it slowly...at times this process is easy and at times it is not so easy.

• I have begun intensive reading for the course on Jungian analysis I am doing this semester, and in reality during normal times most of the reading tends to get done in one intensive  rather than evenly spread out over the 50 or so days. The great disadvantage of doing it very rapidly (and PTL I can read fairly rapidly) is what to do when your head starts to spin because the neurones are firing with joy at all the new information you are absorbing. And of course it takes a while to assimilate it. So this has disturbed my sleeping a bit.
• I have tried not to begin work before I actually go back next week. This temptation is difficult, but I have succeeded. Yesterday  I met with my friend and colleague, who has also been on extended leave, to chat but also to discuss how we were feeling about getting back into it. Both of us had been very tired before we left and we knew that things would need to be different when we returned. Will they be?

  When J asked me about this I said we would need to see what happened next week! I think this is a good thing, as I was actually quite anxious about coming back before I went away...if that makes sense. It would seem to suggest that I am a little less anxious about it. 

• This time last week we were in Kuala Lumpur  and a week before that in England. It came as something of a shock yesterday to realise how quickly it all slips away.
• I was brave enough yesterday to look at the credit card bill.  Verdict: a little bit worse than I had hoped but not as bad as it could have been! So that would seem to be as it should be!
• And this weekend  another birthday. I delight, in a way, about getting older; but also wonder where the fifty four years have gone. If you know perhaps you could tell me!

New experience

We are having extraordinary experiences that we would just never have in our short stay in Rome.
It raises lots of questions about everything to do with life, culture, church and art.
Here near the Lateran Basilica, a huge concert is happening. The noise, as noise does, dominates everything.
It was amazing to me that amidst all this the side Chapel of the Holy sacrament is kept for silent prayer...and it is palpable. Today, however...the harsh culture of the world closed the front door of the basilica. It seems strange to me that in Rome of all places a majore religious building can be subordinated to decadent pop-rock culture. It is difficult to think that in Cairo, Jerusalem, Bangkok or even sleepy old Adelaide, people's religious sensibilities would be so readily trounced