Motivation Today

Tuesday 6th April 2004 Ask the Way?

A short way into the walk today I was asked the way to the main road. Cars were visible going down the road through the trees and the road was close. The man could have answered his own question but it is natural to want to get confirmation from another human being.

A couple of hundred yards further on, I was again asked the way by a lady who wanted to know where the clearings were. The clearings were only yards away and she had been there before. Perhaps we should be more confident that we do know the way ourselves.

We don't always need to keep asking some one else. We could, perhaps, have more confidence in our own remarkable brains.

Near the Willett memorial a lady had brought her horse off the bridle path so that she could stand on the bench to help her climb on to the horse. She was having trouble but did not ask for help. Maybe she felt too embarrassed.

Later I met the Volunteers who were fitting a ramp to the board walk by Flusher's Pond. One of them suggested I jump across the gap between the board walk and the ramp.

"Maybe fifty years ago!" I replied. The gunge was still on the pond but there was no point clearing the exit route as the gunge had been blown away from the exit by the wind.

Several more young lambs have been born on Tong's farm. I walked guiltily past thinking of the lamb mince in my freezer.

The Eurostar went past as I approached the railway which borders the edge of the Hawkwood Estate.

Later I met J and we had a good laugh as usual. She told me off for not knowing more about the birds in the woods. We disagreed about most things as usual. She was glad the parakeets no longer appeared to be around. I was sorry not to have seen them.

Thursday April 8th 2004 Stay Hungry

Apparently the Eurostar is now hugely in debt. The French shareholders have replaced the mainly English directors with an all French board. This won't do them much good as the creditors will probably take over soon and appoint their own people

I met T on my way into the woods. We discussed the new semi-starvation diet now emerging in California. If you stay hungry and cut back 50% on calories you way well live 10-20 years longer and thus be able to make more of a difference to this world.

Later I met B who jogs regularly through the woods. I mentioned this site to him so if you are reading this - nice talking to you this morning. B could remember the time when there was an anglers' club who used to fish regularly in the pond.

The green gunge is still there. I might get round to taking a photograph of it before it all goes. You will then know what I have been going on about.

Later I met R, B and C, B (the wit) and another gentleman who mentioned his visit to a cash dispenser. The young man in front of him could not accept the way the world is. He complained that the dispenser would not produce f...ing £5 notes. He stormed off giving the offending maching a V sign! So much for education, education, education.

Thursday April 15th 2004 God and evolution

I met B again yesterday. He suggested I put this log in reverse order so that the most recent account comes first. I may well do this or have two logs so that people can choose which way they want to read it.

B also suggested that I mention more about the history of the words. There are for example fascinating facts I was not aware of myself. In the 19 th century there was a double murder at the warden's lodge. He was found dead outside the house and his wife had died inside.

The culprit was a burglar. The house is still isolated although it is near the main road.

Today I met J on my way out of the woods and we had a fascinating conversation about God and evolution. J asked me about some of the religious experiences I had been through.

I had mentioned these to him before. I told him about the time I had been teaching in a boy's prep school in Hertfordshire. One night I read a book called The Ring of Truth about the Bible. It mentioned God sending His Spirit into our hearts crying out 'Father'. I immediately felt a powerful but joyful sense that God was my father ( as He is of us all). I felt incredible love and joy and could not stay in my room

I rushed into the park where the school was and noticed that every colour was unbelievably intense and colourful. I felt at one with nature and ready to do whatever God told me. However, in spite of this and similar experiences, I still wondered about why there was so much suffering in the world. J felt the same when he saw some small bird vulnerable to the ferocious attack of a larger one.

On the other hand, neither of us could believe that this universe had come about by accident and that humans had evolved solely through evolution. J mentioned that the chances of the universe being the way it was were as slim as the chances of an aeroplane dropping a load of bricks to the earth with the bricks forming themselves unaided into a house.

Tuesday April 20th 2004 The Scarlet Pimpernel

Today I met R and B (the wit) near the tunnel under the railway. Bill always wears a suit and tie as if he is off to an official function. I told him that he reminded me of the Scarlet Pimpernel who also paid much attention to his clothing.

Bill looked at me suspiciously as if I was taking the mick although I wasn't. I have always admired the Scarlet Pimpernel - a man who was content to appear a fool whilst doing amazing heroics in private. I don't think Bill was convinced as he threatened me with his umbrella and I threatened him back with my walking stick which was longer!

We had a good laugh as usual.

The lambs on Tong's farm have been gambolling all over the place this week. There was a gang of three lambs rushing everywhere. Two of them would sprint towards a cement block over two feet high and leap on to it. The third lamb bottled it and as if to make up for its lack of daring sprinted off in the wrong direction.

It has been raining steadily recently and the gunge is largely gone from Flusher's pond.

Friday April 23rd 2004 New world

Today I was pleased to meet D for the first time. He brought me up to date with the bird life of Petts Wood.

He had binoculars round his neck so I asked if he had seen may birds. He replied that not much was going on today. I asked what birds could be seen in the woods and he gave me quite a list. There are tree creepers. These are small birds that walk or creep up trees from bottom to top looking for food on the way.

There are black caps - small grey birds with black 'caps' on their heads. I think I saw one of these later.

Nuthatchers, swallows, magpies and parakeets are in there. The hobby is also in the woods. It is a small bird of prey that has the skills of fighter ace.

I mentioned some pigeon feathers in the field by Flushers Pond. He suggested that these might have been taken by sparrow hawks which are bigger predators than the hobby.

I had been unaware of all this bird life going on for years but was glad to learn more about this new world of birds.

Of course, we also have the woodpeckers and the peacocks at Tong's farm. I saw one of the peacocks standing on top of a gate surveying its world. It looked magnificent. It gave its unique cry as I walked past.

Monday April 26th 2004 Exotic sounds

I could hear the peacock's cry long before I reached Tong's farm this morning.

It sounds vaguely like a cross between an owl's hoot and and a cat's meaow - eeeOWOOOoo-eeeOWOOOoo-eeeOWOOOoo

The weather was beautiful like a mid summer day - too hot for me but everybody else seems to love it.

I commented to one man that I was looking forward to winter.

'You've got a long wait', he replied.

Tuesday April 27th 2004 Chase the tiger

Today I met C and B and R. We discussed cruelty to animals.

R mentioned an incident when he saw two boys chasing after and teasing a cat. Their cowardly, bullying treatment of the cat annoyed him.

"Would you do that to a tiger?", he asked.

Surprisingly there was no reply from the boys. Maybe R had made them think.

Many of us tend to treat powerless people or animals with less respect than the powerful. There is a lesson in this story for many.

Tuesday May 5th 2004 Watch those snails

I found a snail on a dustbin lid today and was reminded of my meeting with R over the weekend. He mentioned an incident similar to the tiger incident from last Tuesday. He saw two girls throwing snails on to the road where they were likely to be run over and squashed.

R asked the astonished girls how they would feel if he picked them up and threw them into the road. I am not sure what they replied if anything!

Sunday May 9th 2004 How to avoid old age?

When I passed Tong's farm today, the wheat that had been sown only a few weeks ago had begun to sprout.

What you sow, you reap. It doesn't take that long before the reaping!

I later met R. He told me that he had found out the secret to avoiding old age.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Die young".

But R did not favour suicide. I mentioned the Captain of the Titanic who had gone down with his ship.

R said he would have been over the side with a life belt. So would I.

Monday May 10th 2004 Not so frisky lambs

Today the cement block lambs (mentioned on April 20th) were at it again. This time they were playing king of the castle. One at a time they jumped on the cement block and after strutting around for a while jumped off. However, they are now heavier and did not seem quite so frisky as before. One lamb tried to jump up but could only get half way. At least he tried.

All the other lambs are now fatter and less frisky. They are beginning to look more like their parents and are spending more time lying down and sleeping or eating. They only rarely leap and gambol about the field.

Sadly, human life, too often, follows the same pattern. Humans, too, lose their youthful enthusiasm and get up and go and become too sedate and comfortable before they too go the way of all flesh.

Sunday May 16th 2004

I met many friends today in the woods. First was T one of my star martial arts students. He had just returned from France where he loved the people.

I asked the usual question about the frogs legs. He didn't eat them since he had seen them cut from a live frog. The rest of the frog was then thrown away. He also felt that snails simply tasted of garlic and you might just as well dip your bread in garlic and eat that.

Suitably disillusioned I continued on my way and met K and M who had been to the same property seminar that I had. Unlike me they had paid to go to the follow up seminar and had bought a flat to rent. The speaker at the first seminar had said that only 6 out of all the attendees would take further action. He was right.

Buying property takes bottle especially if you have to go into debt to do it. But it is of course OK to owe the bank 20 million so long as you own 100 houses that you can sell for 70 million. However, not every one can handle the worry of owing money even it is only for a short time. Or, even if they can handle it, their partner can't.

Later I met J and showed off my new knowledge of the birds in the woods. Last time I had met her I knew nothing. I think she was impressed although she didn't show it!

The weather has been hot and dry today after a long cool, wet spell. I might have to mow the lawns again. I mowed them on Thursday morning.

Friday 21st May 2004 I'm still 21

I met the warden in the woods today. He was on his way to cut down a tree that had fallen down across the path by the railway. He pointed out that it is very difficult to predict which trees will fall down in the woods. Sometime a healthy looking tree will come crashing down while a dead tree stays up.

Later I met R. He had some beautiful poems with him written by a pilot and a machine gunner who had died in World War II. The pilot described how flying high in the clouds made him feel like he was touching the face of God. He died aged 19

The machine gunner died aged 21. His poem or a poem about him describes how a hundred years from now he will still be 21. He may have missed out on all that life had to offer and all the pretty girls but he would still be only 21.

My cousin, Chris Wales, also died at 21 when something failed on his Fleet Air arm plane . He was the only son of my uncle Charles and Aunt Ann. They never got over it until the day they died many years later but he will still be only 21.

Recently R has told off some youngsters in a park who were throwing stones at ducks swimming on a pond. As you might imagine, he received a mouthful of verbal abuse in return. He would quite happily have thrown them into the pond. As a judo man he could easily have achieved this!

Monday 24th May 2004

Flushers Pond is completely covered in the green gunge or leaves and other detritus which fall from the trees surrounding the pond. I have now given up trying to clear the pond. It would be a case of fighting nature.

Even the Viking heroes found they could not fight nature. They too became old and died like everyone else. The green covering over the pond looks pleasant enough although I still prefer the look of clear water.

Today I went out early into the woods to avoid the summer heat. I met a fellow cricket enthusiast who like me looks forward to the last day of the New Zealand v England test. New Zealand have already been beaten easily by Kent (the county I live in) but England are having trouble and the game is still in the balance. England did win easily in the end.

I also met a lady with a bright, cheerful dog. "He wakes me up at 5.30 a.m for his breakfast of weetabix", she said. The weetabix is obviously doing him good.

Sunday 30th May 2004 Till death do us part

Again I went early into the woods. Today I met a new friend I shall call P as I don't know his real name. We started discussing old age and death. Many old people no longer want to live either because all the people they love have passed on or because they can no longer do what they love to do or because they are in constant pain.

P mentioned a couple who had been married for sixty years. One of them died in the morning. The other died in the afternoon. When life seems empty of love the desire to pass on is strong.

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Walking in Petts Wood and The Hawkswood Estate Page 13