An Update

Hello Everyone

It sure has been a while since my last blog entry. Reading back through my posts over the past year it almost seems like there could have been some unconscious force going on in my brain. To have chucked my job in, to have got rid of all my belongings, to have given the keys back to my landlord. To have lived for a while in a Ford Transit van. Madness. And yet now I am more than happy with my lot - with this caravan with its own shower and cooker and fridge. With the porch awning outside where I can store the kid's play equipment and the microwave and a little table and chairs.

And this contract that I started that was only to last three months. Well it was extended another three months, and again another three months so now I remain in gainful employment until the end of October. So the mobile caravan mechanic's course has been put on hold for a while but it is still my intention to complete this course and try my hand at a new occupation. Now it is true that life is full of little surprises and one such surprise for me was the enthusiasm for IT that this new contract has reignited in me. To spend more than a few weeks at one place - and to get to know the folks you work with; to feel part of a team. And to implement a solution that improves the way those around you carry out their daily work - all this is good and leaves you feeling proud and valued.

Now, since I am working in one place each day now - it occured to me that I could both get fit and save some money at the same time. So I purchased for myself a mountain bike. Each day I cycle five miles to work and five miles back from work and this amounts to an hour's exercise each day while I save the train fare I would normally pay. I am the stubborn sort so even when it is raining I will get my hiking water proofs out and cycle through the rain. It is not pleasant, but a victory to be sure when I arrive at work. Already after a couple of months of this cycling I have noticed my body is stronger and getting fairly lean. I have always enjoyed exercise but a couple of years ago, while skiing in Switzerland a little too fast for my ability, the balance was lost and the body tumbled and the knee was broken. The knee injury takes many months to heal and I was unable to run but the consultant suggested I could cycle. And indeed he was correct since the hour's cycling each day has no adverse effect on damaged knee.

In this blog of mine I am able to see that many people from many parts of the world have read my postings. I wonder what the readers think about the events of the last few days in England. The vandalism and the looting and the violence - shocking news broadcast around the world. How is it that in the poorest parts of the world where people struggle to find enough food each day to survive they can still live within the rules of their culture - yet here, where the youngsters have their phones and their handouts and their bricked accomodation and their parks and libraries and all those good things - how can they commit such despicable acts of destruction? I have no answers to this question but can only feel proud of the police and the government and the citizens that got together and showed great strength and courage to bring everything back under control.
Peace