Today, Wednesday 27th June 2007, I walked round the neighbourhood at about 3.30 p.m. Not surprisingly, some school children were on their way home.

Yet again there was, at least, one noisy gardening tool being used at at time when some people might be having their afternoon nap.

I came across one man using a pair of shears manually to clip a bush. I stopped to congratulate him on the quietness of his work.

He agreed with me that some people do not consider their neighbours. Some retired people have all week to use their noisy tools but wait till the weekend to disturb the relaxation of those who have been working all week.

Quietness is a wonderful thing that most of us do not fully appreciate till we lose it.

Tim Henman eventually won the match against Carlos Moya after the usual emotional see-saw. The last set went to 13-11 games. The crowd were ecstatic as you might expect.

Today, Tues June 26th 2007, I walked round the neighbourhood at about 2 p.m.

There were no bones in sight. I noticed quite a few small cars driving around. Perhaps the country is beginning to take global warming seriously.

As it happens, today was quite cold. Henman is playing Carlos Moya at Wimbledon as I write this. The score is 6 all in the final set.

I came across a great quote today:

“Happy people plan actions, they don’t plan results.”

Denis Waitley, speaker and author

In other words focus on doing what you plan to do and let the results take care of themselves.

Success is doing what you plan to do whatever the results.

However since so few people do what they plan to do,your results will be outstanding if you do what you plan to do.

We have some control of the results we achieve by what we do but we have little or no control of the results achieved by others.

Certainly I cannot control the results achieved this afternoon by Tim Henman. However, he has just won a game and leads 8 games to 7 in the final set.

The Wimbledon crowd are cheering every good move that Henman makes and groaning in sympathy when he fails to win a point.

I’ll tell you the result of the match tomorrow!

Today, Sunday 24th June 2007, I walked the local route at lunch time. It was drizzling.

A dog barked as I passed the house where I used to live in Kevington Drive. It was swiftly told to shut up even though it was doing a great job of warning of the approach of possible danger.

Later in Clarendon Way, I spotted a bone on the pavement. It looked like a dog’s toy but I wasn’t sure.

Earlier today bones were discussed on BBC1. Emma Orr represented the pagan point of view.

She believes that the bones of humans in museums should be returned to the countries they came from and buried there. She thinks that even if the bones are thousands of years old they should still be respected:

“Most pagans believe that spirit imbues the body and is part of it whether you are alive or dead”.

Some pagans want all bones to be buried and to become part of the natural cycle. But some, including Emma, agree that scientists could learn what they can from the bones first.

One archaeologist believes that we can learn a lot from bones. Others would prefer them buried. However one man was so worried about the bones being buried that he offered his own head to be shrunk after his death and given as a bequest to a museum.

Obviously most people do respect dead bodies and they are usually buried with great care rather than being taken to the local rubbish dump. The question remains a difficult one.

Tonight, Sunday 17th June 2007, I took the short neighbourhood route. I carried an umbrella as it was drizzling down.

I only saw two other people – a man and a woman jogger. Nothing of note happened.

However, in the USA today, Lewis Hamilton won the US Formula One Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes.

It seems that every one loves Lewis except possibly double world champion, Ferdinand Alonso, who had been complaining that Lewis received preferential treatment from the team they both race for.

Many are seeing Lewis as an inspiration to all those who have a dream. His impossible dream of being a World Champion seems to be becoming reality in his first year racing in Formula One.

This is practically unthinkable but he is now ten points ahead of
World Champion Alonso. If he can achieve his dream, why not the rest of us?

However, dreams without discipline are possible but only dreams which are followed with discipline and focus can become reality.

Today, Monday 11th June 2007, I walked round the neighbourhood at midday. Nothing much of note happened but before I left for the walk I heard an interesting discussion on ‘The Wright Stuff’ about how to turn naughty kids into nice kids.

An expert gave advice to Louise who phoned in to complain about her son and daughter (9 and 7 years old I think). They constantly fought and made any outings a misery because the parents had to constantly tell them off.

The expert told Louise to tell the kids that they if they had to be told off three times they would be taken straight home and the outing would be cancelled. This was a rule they must follow.

The expert insisted that the parents must keep their word. They could then relax at home and save money on the trip!

They would also train their kids to follow rules and to respect and believe what they said.

I am sure that a major factor in success is doing what you say you will do or plan to do whether it involves other people or just yourself.

Not only kids need to learn the power of rules. Recently a Danish football fan attacked the German referee at a match between Sweden and Denmark.

The referee immediately walked off the field and cancelled the game. Sweden were awarded a victory and Denmark were fined.

I don’t think any fans from Denmark will attack a referee for a long time to come. If more referees took similar action, football games would be trouble free.

Today, Sunday 10th June 2007, was a memorable day as Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula One race in Montreal, Canada and moved 10 points into the lead in the world championship. His rookie career has astounded the racing world.

I walked down Eltham High Street last Saturday and was amazed by the customer service of one of the young women in W.H.Smith’s.

I bought 3 packs of VHS tapes with labels which said buy one pack, get one free. However, there was no fourth pack to give me my second free pack.

She felt this was unfair and rang downstairs to ask if there were any more spare packs. She was told no but rightly surmised that the person downstairs had not even bothered to look.

She sent her serving partner downstairs to look and he came back with several packs. She then packed the tapes but was not satisfied that the bag was big enough and repacked them in a bigger bag.

She explained that she believed you should treat the customer the way you would like to be treated. I agreed and referred to the words of Jesus – love your neighbour as you love yourself.

I offered to write a testimonial for her if she needed one. I doubt if she will. I reckon she will get promoted fast!

If Sir Alan were to look for another apprentice, he could do a lot worse.

Tonight, I walked round the neighbourhood at about 11 p.m. The air was fresh and cool even though the air in the house was hot.

No one was about apart from a couple of dogs who barked at me.