Today, Wednesday 27th February 2008, I took the long route round the neighbourhood.

The sun was beaming down a warm light and the flowers were responding. As I walked up Wimborne Avenue, I spotted what looked like a small dead bird on the pavement.

As I came closer, I realised it was a small fish. It was grey with spots of blood covering its little body. It was truly a fish out of water – a sad sight. Perhaps a bird had dropped it.

Unfortunately, many of us live lives in which we are the fish out of water. We may have ignored Aristotle’s great advice about how to decide our vocation i.e. match our talents with a service that people are willing to pay for. This way, buyer and seller both win.

I walked on up Clarendon Way. I passed a lady who was using her mobile and enjoying the conversation. This is fairly safe in an area like this but in some parts of the country using a mobile or ipod is a big mistake.

An American Colonel, Geoff Cooper, once worked out a colour code to help people keep safe. When you are in condition white you are in a victim state i.e. you are relaxed and not aware of any potential danger. You could be reading the paper or thinking about your holidays. Being in condition white is only OK when you are at home.

Whenever you are out of the house you should be in condition yellow i.e. relaxed but aware of what is going on around you and not distracted by your mobile etc.

If you see a potential problem like a large dog that is not on a lead ahead of you, go into condition orange i.e. be aware that you are facing a situation that might turn out to be dangerous.

If the dog, starts running towards you growling, go into condition red and take action i.e. run away or pick up a stick to help defend yourself if it becomes necessary.

I was once amazed by the way a BBC photographer and film maker, Simon King, dealt with a cheetah that was foaming at the mouth. The cheetah came running towards him. He stood still and kicked the cheetah in the throat with his front foot.

That is what it looked like to me. Simon, who should know, said he planted his foot on the cheetah’s chest and pushed her away.

The cheetah moved on to attack his colleague. He immediately went to the help of his friend. What amazing courage, presence of mind and compassion for another human being in trouble.

Both men had to have seven rabies jabs. The cheetah, sadly died of the rabies virus.

Today, Sunday 17th Feb 2008, I walked the short route round my neighbourhood. It was another sunny spring type morning with the sun rapidly melting the frost from last night.

Few people were about. One man was spinning his walking stick but he did not spin it for long. Our culture is too repressed to allow this when spectators are present!

Some do not want to be the centre of attention. When I was about four years old I climbed under the table when everyone there was singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in my honour.

However, in modern Britain with its celebrity culture, many people crave fame and riches and do not realize that these usually arrive after years of hard work developing a skill like singing or speaking in public.

Even professional gamblers have to study for hours a day in order to turn chance into probability.

When I was a teenager people asked if you wanted to be a teacher or doctor etc. For a time I wanted to be a general in the army.

Today, many teenagers do not say: “I want to be a doctor etc”
They reply “I want to be rich and famous.”

I did 70 abdominal curls and 70 leg raises when I returned from my walk. I have not done such exercises for several days and have noticed the difference. Muscle has been turning rapidly into blubber.

As in most things, some effort is necessary to achieve a state which you can be happy with. I also did some double nunchaku work and found that most of my moves went successfully without injury to myself!

I hung from a bar in gorilla fashion but not for long. It is not easy to measure how long you hang. I probably need some clever timing device to both measure the time and to give me the motivation that comes from knowing accurately whether I have improved or not.

Maslow stated that a basic human need is to feel that we are making progress. At least, I no longer climb under the table when people sing ‘Happy Birthday’!

Today, Thursday 7th February, I took the short route round the neighbourhood. It was a warm, sunny day.

As I walked down Berens Way, I waved to some friends and then saw a fairly large fox crossing the road near the roundabout at the bottom of Berens Way.

As I approached the roundabout a smaller fox came out of a garden on my side of the road. It looked at me for a few seconds and then went back into the garden.

I looked into the garden as I passed and saw it at the top of one of the flower beds. It looked back at me and crouched low as I passed.

This week, life has gone fairly smoothly. Last week and the week before, my car battery had gone dead just as I was about to leave to take my martial arts class at the Crofton Halls.

Fortunately, other instructors were available who could take the classes. I discovered later that the battery going dead was a blessing in disguise.

The electrician, who checked out the battery, smelt petrol and discovered that, when the engine was switched on, a fountain of petrol sprayed out from one of the pipes linked to a pump.

One spark while I was driving might have set the car on fire. If you smell petrol check your tubes and pipes. Don’t rely on your garage to discover a leak. Mine didn’t!

Some clouds then have silver linings!

Today, Monday Feb 4th 2008, I took the longer neighbourhood route. It was a really pleasant cold day but the sun threw a warm light downwards so long as you kept out of the shadows.

Scotland lost to a young French team yesterday in spite of the cross of St Andrew painted in the sky by the vapour trails of two jet planes.

In the end it comes down to who wants to win most and is willing to work with urgency and energy throughout the eighty minutes of a game.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the New York Giants defeated the favourites, The New England Patriots. The theme of the game was ‘Who Wants It Most’.

Three incidents showed that the Giants wanted it most. In one incident Eli Manning was almost sacked but struggled free to throw the ball.

In the second incident Tyree jumped high to catch the ball and held it with one hand and his helmet as he came crashing to the ground.

In the final minute or so of the game Burress caught the ball for a Giant’s touchdown. Apparently he had been playing with a sprained ankle for months.

Determination, desire and a superb defence and offence won the game for the Giants. Above all, they looked like they wanted it more!

Today Sunday Feb 3rd 2008, I took the short route round the neighbourhood at about 10.30 a.m.

The first thing I noticed was the twittering of the birds. I had watched a program called the ‘Ten Pound Poms’ last night which described the two year stay in Australia of British immigrants who only had to pay ten pounds to travel to Australia so long as they stayed two years.

About a quarter of those who went returned to England. They were the ‘whingeing poms’. However, some of these went back again to Australia – ‘the boomerang poms!’

One lady described her joy in hearing the birds in England tweet and twitter. In Australia, they only croaked and cawed!She also loved the green grass and flowers of England’s green and pleasant land.

Unfortunately, yesterday’s rugby match when England lost to a courageous Welsh team did not provide a great memory for English fans. England had the game in the bag at half time but allowed the Welsh to gradually come back into the game.

As their belief in a draw and even a win grew, the Welsh played with a frenzy and passion which gave them their first victory in twenty years at Twickenham.

By the end England had lost their belief and the energy which goes with it. The world cup finalists had also lost the ferocious determination to win which had marked the second half of their world cup.

The Welsh had flopped out of the world cup after the pool games and sacked their coach but now the dragon was back and flying around Twickenham! The sweet chariot had disappeared!

However, in the evening, Amir Khan, the boxing star from Bolton, restored faith in English sport by beating the former world boxing champion Gairy St Clair.

He won all twelve rounds of a tough and exciting fight and he did not let St Clair off the hook. Amir can now visualize a world title belt in his house and realizes that all that stands between him and the realization of his dream is ‘hard work’.

This afternoon, Scotland play France. As I neared home, I noticed two white vapour trails crossing each other in the blue sky creating an image of the Scottish flag. Maybe this is a good omen for the match. I’ll let you know the result in the next blog!