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So I was getting into my car and this bloke says to me: "Can you give me a lift?" I said: "Sure; you look great, the world's your oyster, go for it." Tommy Cooper Success is doing what you plan to do whatever the results. John Watson |
Walking in Petts Wood and The Hawkswood Estate Page 22
Monday 8th August 2005 Interval walking I returned to the woods today after a four week break with the 'flu. I tried the interval walking which I mentioned on page 21. It made the walk more interesting because of the changes of pace and it may have done my fitness some good. A walking program for an absolute beginner could be: Step 1. Warm up: Five minutes of walking at 3.5 mph. Step 2. Speed up and walk at 4.0 mph for 60 seconds. Step 3. Slow down and stroll at 3.0 mph for 75 seconds. Step 4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 five more times. Step 5. Finish with five minutes of walking at a comfortable pace to cool down. The August blackberries were just beginning to show. They were fairly ripe in the more sunny parts of the woods. When I got home I noticed some blackberries in my front garden which were far superior to anything in the woods. There is a lesson there somewhere. Often the treasure is right under our nose. We need to appreciate what we already have. Tuesday 9th August 2005 Use your watch! I did another short walk today with some very loose interval walking. I must take a watch with me next time! The lady farmer was clearing weeds on Soldiering field. I said "Still at it?!" She replied "It's my hobby!" Quite a few sheep had been sheared. They were doubtless glad that it was a sunny day. When I arrived home Lizzie, the cat, was lying spread out in the sun on the mat in front of my desk. She alternates between sun and shade and seems to enjoy the variety. Thursday 18th August 2005 Read those books Today, I took my car to Orpington to get a puncture mended. The place was crowded out when I arrived. The mechanic asked me if I could come back in two hours. There is an incredible wealth of knowledge available in the libraries and book shops of the world. All this knowledge is right at our fingertips and yet we are too lazy to read and absorb this knowledge. Very few people read books after they leave school or college. What a waste! Thursday 25th August 2005 Walk twice a day to lose weight Recently, I've read that one of the best ways to lose weight is to walk not once but two or three times a day. At the moment I walk once a day and am not losing weight! Fortunately the test match with the Australians was rained off at about 3 p.m. and I was able to leave the television set and get a brief walk in. In fact it was more like a jog or shuffle through the woods. Thank God, the weather is turning colder. I look forward to winter! Thursday Sept 1st 2005 Appreciate not working! It was a pleasant sunny walk today. I passed a cyclist who was looking a little guilty as he approached the Willett Memorial on his bike. Cycling is permitted on the nearby bridle path but no where else. He got off his bike and sat on the bench near the memorial. When I reached Soldiering field I saw a young man on the bench with a pint can of beer or cider at his side. "Nice day," I said "Nice day not to work" he said, smiling. His words made me remind myself to be more thankful that I was now retired and had no pressure to observe regular working hours. I could take a walk in a beautiful wood whenever I felt like it. Wednesday Sept 7th 2005 Old Friends I reached the woods much earlier than I had for a long time as my sister managed to get to work earlier. After I dropped her off, I headed for the oracle of Delphi and met up with Nora, Bill and Reg and the owner of a dog called Lucy. My apologies to her for forgetting her name. Bill and Reg were on form as usual and managed to crack one or two jokes slightly less feeble than mine! It was good to see them all again. I said something like "I'm surprised to see you all still alive!" Not a very tactful remark; but I don't think the group fully absorbed what I had said or assumed it was just another feeble joke. Most people who walk in the woods in week day time are either unemployed like the man I met last week or retired like myself and over the age when death could be a surprise. Later on I met Joyce and her dog Jo Jo. We leant over a fence and gazed at the sheep as we chatted. A pleasant occupation. Being slim, she enjoyed the late summer weather. Thursday Sept 8th 2005 The Fight for the Ashes Today the last of the 5 match Ashes series against Australia begins. England have only to win or draw to win back the Ashes after about twenty years. The whole nation is poised to see what will happen. I am having trouble tearing myself away from the TV to go for a walk. Tuesday Sept 13th 2005 The Ashes are won On Monday 12th Sept 2005, England regained the Ashes after over 16 years. I stayed pretty much glued to the TV all day. At first it looked like the Australians might actually win. Some of them believed in achieving the impossible. The winning of the Ashes by England shows once again that nothing is impossible. The Australians have been at the top of world cricket for years. They have had an aura of invincibility during this time. Most of us have faced obstacles that we thought we would never overcome. Fierce determination, persistence and belief were needed to beat the Australians and the same qualities are need to overcome bad habits and other obstacles. Thursday 22nd Sept 2005 I went for a short walk today. I was soon passed by two cyclists who should not have been riding on the narrow path I was on. They are supposed to ride on the bridle path. I do have some sympathy with them, however, as I too would love to ride through the woods on the smaller paths. Bicycles are supposed to damage the paths but I am not sure why. I think my size 12's which support about 19 stone are more likely to damage the paths! Perhaps I should be grateful that heavy people are not banned entirely from the woods. There was a notice up today warning dog owners that local kidnapping gangs have been at work. Pedigree dogs are at most risk. Even cats are being stolen in the area. Tthe dogs I saw today looked like old mongrels. The gangs will surely leave them alone. Saturday 24th September 2005 Leaflets instead of bombs Today, my walking was done on the streets of London and the platforms of the Underground as I headed to a Choikwangdo martial art seminar at Harrow Leisure Centre. I was surprised to see so many people travelling on the railway after the bombings of July. There were more police about and more vocal admonitions to keep your packages with you. At Charing Cross, after some hesitation, I gave out several Christian tracts to people on the platform for the northbound Bakerloo line. Most people accepted the tracts with a smile. When I got on the train, however, no one in my carriage accepted one until I neared the end of the carriage. At this point, once the first person had taken one, the rest followed suit. My brother told me that I was infringing the privacy of the travellers. I replied that, at least, I wasn't blowing them up with bombs. I also asked if saying hullo to someone was infringing their liberty. I don't think so. One could go on. Is giving hungry people food infringing their privacy? Is giving people a leaflet which might contain priceless knowledge infringing their privacy? How many people would complain about the infringement of their privacy, if they were offered a thousand pounds? My leaflets might be far more valuable! Enough said. My brother, God bless him, is incurably sensitive to the sensitivities of others and will not raise his voice in case he disturbs some one else. This kind of consideration is wonderful but in some cases consideration must give way to other overriding factors. My return home was less eventful although I did not enjoy walking on cement rather than the pleasant paths of Petts Wood. Sunday 25th Sept 2005 I trod these paths today. I do not appreciate this privilege enough. I met up with Reg and his dog, Poppie. I had seen them both, yesterday, on the platform at Petts Wood early in the morning. Reg mentioned that Poppie was usually given a piece of toast by one of the railway men. Unfortunately, he was away yesterday and she missed her toast! Today, Reg was chatting to a friend who owns a yappy Shiatsu. These are small, cute looking dogs that used to guard the monasteries in Tibet. She did not miss an opportunity to bark at whoever came close whether human or animal. Tuesday Sept 27th 2005 I met up with David and Jesse, his dog, today. Sadly JC, a really sweet natured dog, had died recently and was missed by both David and Jesse. As I left the woods, today, a big, burly labrador rushed up and greeted me. He sniffed all over me including my feet and then lumbered on after his master. As I drove into my garden, back home, Lizzie, the cat, rushed towards my car. I slowed down to avoid running over her. When I got out of the car, I foolishly expected her to rush up and greet me like the dog in the woods. No such thing. Cats are not like dogs! She turned away and looked away from me as if totally uninterested. Sunday 2nd October 2005 I took the long route today. The sun was shining but there was trace of humidity. No fewer than four people commented to me that it was a lovely day. Later I met up with Betty, Chris, Bryan and Inge at the oracle tree. We cracked a few jokes. I had picked mine up from David Rosam, I think. A new zoo keeper killed a fish which jumped up and bit him. He threw the dead body into the lions enclosure to get rid of the evidence. The next day two chimps bit him and he killed them both as he defended himself. He threw the bodies to the lions. On the third day he was attacked by some hostile African bees. He mashed them up with a spade and, you guessed, it threw their bodies to the lions. On the fourth day a new lion was allowed into the lion's enclosure. He asked the other lions what the food was like. They replied: "Recently the food has been excellent - we've had fish and chimps and mushy bees!" Monday 3rd October 2005 Before heading off for my walk today, I read this encouraging tongue in cheek news from Martin Avis' ezine: "Highly funded scientists have come up with an amazing revelation. Some folks at, I believe, the University of Vienna, have completed a study that has proven that walking in woodland or forest makes you feel better. All I can say to that is duh! They say that they have found that the trees give off aromatic vapors that have beneficial health and mood properties. I say that they should get out more." Tuesday 4th October 2005 Acorns and Sheep I asked them what the little bullet shaped nuts were that had started dropping on my head in some parts of the woods. Ian picked up one from the ground and explained that it was an acorn. He added that the squirrels were chucking them down. "Deliberately?" I asked. "No", said Ian patiently. "But the nuts are quite soft." "They didn't feel soft to me," I interrupted. "They would feel hard if dropped from a tall tree," he conceded. "Yes," I agreed. "If a baby weighing 16lbs was dropped on your head, you might die!" "The baby wouldn't be too happy either," commented Sam, "although, on reflection, babies are pretty flexible." As I walked on, I remembered a great saying from Jimmy Brown, the internet entrepreneur. "If you wanted to get to the top of an oak tree would you start climbing or would you sit on an acorn and wait for it to grow?" Too many of us would sit on the acorn and wait for things to happen instead of taking the action that leads to results and to climbing the tree of success. More memories came to me as I walked past soldiering field. I spotted a sheep that was hobbling along at the rear of the other sheep. I was reminded of a school trip in the Highlands. My good friends, Sue and her husband, Trevor, were in the school minibus with me. As we drove along, Sue spotted a sheep that was hobbling along. Being a person of great compassion, Sue immediately asked Trevor to get hold of the sheep so that we could help it. Trevor reluctantly climbed out of the minibus and started chasing the sheep through the heather. Trevor is very tall and lanky and a good runner but the lame sheep took off at tremendous speed. Trevor never got close. But the sight of him rushing after the bewildered sheep will stay with me for the rest of my life! The sheep probably thought it was running for survival. It just shows that if our motivation is strong enough, we can ignore all handicaps and injuries and really get moving. Monday 17th October 2005 Push Your Limits Today I bumped into a couple with two large Alsatians almost as soon as I had entered Petts Wood. The lady said she was surprised to meet someone who was not afraid of Alsatians. In fact, I normally have considerable fear of Alsatians but I had already met these two before and I knew they were pushy and tended to swarm all over you but were not likely to bite! My mother, on the other hand, was totally fearless. She moved in on an Alsatian that was barking loudly and agressively and cuddled him as if he were her pet poodle. Amazingly, he responded in kind and starting showing love and affection! I told the couple that I had been talking on Saturday to ex-legionnaire from the French Foreign Legion who believed strongly in pushing both people and animals to their limits. One of his favourite sayings is: "If you never are shown that your limits can be pushed, you will never know how far you can really go." This ex-legionnaire also has an alsatian but he is not content to leave it in the back garden to eat bones. He trains it and pushes its limits. It can now jump ten feet walls! The acorns are beginning to drop faster and more often as winter approaches. I sat on the bench at the end of Soldiering Field under the oak tree for a while today and could hear and see the acorns landing on the path and bouncing into the field There were several sheep clustered near the fence which was nearest the oak trees. I could hear crunching sounds as they chewed. Perhaps sheep enjoy acorns as well as grass! I practised some kicks on the way home and received a free shower several times when I connected with a tree whose leaves were laden with rain. Thursday 20th October 2005 Conkers I met up with Sam, the Warden, and Darren, the volunteer, today. They had just pulled down a dead tree using a winch from a vehicle. I accused them of cheating by not just pulling it down themselves. Sam invited me to join them in doing that next time. I should learn to keep my mouth shut! I seized the opportunity to ask a few questions about chestnuts. The wood produces a lot of sweet chestnuts which are much loved by the squirrels and some locals. But there are a few horse chestnut trees that produce the harder, more leathery horse chestnuts which are better known as conkers. Conkers have fewer spikes on their outer shell than the sweet chestnuts. They are also poisonous. However, they can be treated in ways, which bring out their medicinal rather than their poisonous properties. Some say the game of conkers came to the UK along with William the Conqueror. However, British settlers in France have taken the game back to France with them and are enjoying games and even organised conker competitions with the French. In return, the British play the national game of petanc. We discussed the fact that the Vikings used the pith of pine trees to make flour. Perhaps this was the secret of their strength. Darren believes that the primitive food and drink of earlier times or primitive cultures increased both their physical and mental strength. There is a tribe on an island off New Guinea who have outwitted an open cast mining company that broke their promise to avoid damaging the environment. They also dealt effectively with the New Guinea soldiers who had been sent to protect the miners. Using a primitive kind of crossbow, they overcame the soldiers taking their weapons. They blew up the vehicles of the mining company and used the ones they did not blow up for themselves. The miners have given up and gone. The natives run the vehicles on coconut oil and park them at the top of slopes which they have built by their houses so that the cars can be jump started. The natives have also set up an electrical supply system which is far superior to that of the soldiers. Their brains are clearly working well. Perhaps their primitive diet is responsible. Sunday 23rd October 2005 Kindness To Animals There were quite a few people in the woods today around lunchtime. I met J and JJ her dog alongside Soldiers' field. You can call it Soldiers' field or Soldiering field. J told me of an incident in the 1920's when she was a girl in Cheltenham. Her dad had brought her up to hate cruelty to animals. When she saw man beating a horse which was pulling his cart for him, she screamed at him to stop. A small crowd soon gathered and the man desisted. Word soon spread of her kind and brave deed and when her dad came home he told her that he had heard about this girl who had had the courage to tell off a full grown man for ill treating his animal. How many of us have the courage to confront people who are mistreating their animals? More sweet chestnuts had fallen on the paths than last Thursday. No wonder Americans call Autumn, The Fall. It is a highly appropriate name.
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