Three Men in a Boat

Redundancy affects us all in different ways.

Once many years ago when I was first made redundant, the wife wasnt talking to me, I had crashed the car and they called me in that same morning to give me my P45.

Talk about waiting for buses and three come along at once.

Meet Bob, one of the Shotokan black belts at High Wycombe dojo

"Bob Davis, 35 years in PCB design, specialist in PADS and Cadence, looking for permanent, contract or sub-contract design work".

Meet Brian, my neighbour an iSeries Technical Support Analyst.

Meet Chris, my son's football coach, a materials scientist/engineer

Do you know anyone whoworks in their business sector?
Do you know anyone recruiting at the moment?
Do contact them if you can help - click on the column on the right (CVs) and open up the Word document, or drop a comment below.

Thanks.

For Cousin Carol

Carol Royle 1950 - 2009 a much loved sister, cousin, wife and friend

We said goodbye to Carol today. She chose this poem to be read.

Dry Your Tears

You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left,

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her or you can be full of the love you shared,
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday,

You can remember her and only that she’s gone or you can cherish her memory and let it live on,
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what she’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Chinese New Year

My inspiration comes from people I speak to; people I know, people I don't know, in the latter case they are a fount of stories and life experiences.

So, talk to someone you normally wouldn't talk to , go to a different shop, bar, coffee shop.

This is Chinese New Year so go up to a Chinese person, clasp your hands and say - SHIN KNEE-N HOW!

Attached is a Chinese Event in Wycome this week-end if you are
wondering what to do in Wycombe this Sunday. 1 st Feb.

Saludos to my Uncle Jim In Canada, the most mature blog reader and Lin for her New Year Card. And for all your feedback on some of the stuff I have written.

All I can say is..in these difficult times - take a different perspective.

Embrace the poor, embrace the dispossesed, embrace the homeless, embrace the jobless
For in their despair, in their longing, in their grief
We find ours. We find ourselves.

Look to the weak and not the strong.
Look to the humble and not the mighty.
Look on the face of despair and not the fair of face.
Look to the wind-wise willow and not the stiff stout oak.

For in our weakness and humility, in our despair and yielding we find ourselves.

Gong xi Ba cai

Boys and boats

We'd run and skip and jump
Past rocks and cow pats and muddy bits
To find the place, the point to put
Our boat in ,
our stick
our flower
our blade of grass.

And watch it bobble and burst
And bounce and dive and sink
And disappear beneath a bridge
and catch sight

Where, where, where?
A joy, a shout, there it is!
it’s in front
Mine's first
Mine’s winning!

And as that brook bubbled and burst
past boy-made dams
and time-worn barns
We ‘d rush to the edge and stop!

Barbed wire keeps little boys out.

To catch one
last glimpse,
one hope,
one fear.
Our little boat of hope disappear
Over the edge of the world

I look up and scan the mighty sea
How will it fare over there,
that little boat of hope?

Stay a while and listen

In ancient times, there was a man who wanted to make a fine cart. But, instead of learning how to do it form experts, he shut shimself up at home and worked at it. Despite the time and effort he spent on it, the cart was useless. This chinese idiom means to make a cart behind closed doors or to work behind closed doors; divorce oneself from the masses and from reality; act blindly. It is also used metahhorically to mean being too subjective and disregrading the rest of the world.

古时候，有个人想造一辆很精巧的车子。他不去学习别人制造车子的实际经验，却把自己关在家里冥思苦想。费了很多功夫，车子虽然造好了，但是推出去却不能使用。至于我们现在所说的“闭门造车”，则是形容不顾实际，也不吸取别人的经验，一味主观地杜撰瞎造的意思，好比关起门来在家里制造车子，而完全不考虑门外的实际情况和实际需要，结果就不合规格，不能适用。

闭门造车 (bi men zao che)
【翻译】To build a cart behind closed doors
【释义】关起门来造车子。比喻脱离实际，只凭主观办事。
【例句】正所谓天外有天,人外有人,与其自己闭门造车,不如让大家来帮我们一起想。
【近义词】拒谏饰非、独断专行
【反义词】集思广益、群策群力

Rain on my window

Ever stare out the window
and watch the raindrops
drip down the pane

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

Ever notice how one drop joins another
and another and forms a bigger drop

Follow the drop as it drips down the pane
As it trickles like a tear.
As a river bursts its banks

Some days are awash with emotion.
With sadness.
With grief

Thoughts drip drown
like rain
on
the pane.

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

Make not your thoughts of sadness and loss
Make them of joy and being
Dream not of what should be
Dream of what
you
have
and
hold
in
your


Heart

(Image supplied by www.photoeveywhere.co.uk

Why do people think....

Why do people think of death
When they are close to life

Of a loved one lost long ago
As if yesteryear were yesterday
And there was here
And they were here

Right now
Beside us
For just
one
moment

Those thoughts come flying in
Like sky-high seagulls screaming
And suddenly

A thought
A place
A time
Brings tears to eyes
And with a sigh
We remember them

Why do people think of death
When they are close to life