It’s funny to be back. The tension of the last three weeks has been acute and I keep wondering when I have to start packing or walking or be polite to strangers again. I find it hard to relax and I am finding it to difficult to sleep. I don’t really feel much like sitting …
July 2014 archive
Jul 23
Day 23 – Walking with the End in Sight
Jane and I have walked 265 miles from Ambleside to Oxford. We were given a warm welcome at St John’s College in the heart of Oxford. The walk has taken us over three weeks to complete and at times we have been close to exhaustion, when the high hills and the extreme heat proved to …
Jul 22
Day 22 – Dis-Content Management
Some people find it hard to say “sorry”. For my part I spend a good deal of time apologising. I find it saves time. It takes an act of grace to say “sorry” when you are wrong. It takes even more grace to say “sorry” when you are not sorry in the least… – The …
Jul 21
Day 21 – Post Script
We recently sent letter to our ZANE donors soliciting support for its clubfoot programme. To remind you, ZANE has been party to transforming the lives of 400 children by correcting their clubfoot conditions; we are embarking on another 400 operations this year. We are hugely proud of this work which is making a real change …
Jul 20
Day 20- (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction I refuse to believe we are merely walking plumbing machines. For much of my life, I have been searching for something, a way of making a difference and a means of finding some purpose within the chaos. I have no idea why I am driven to seek while others seem …
Jul 19
Day 19 – All’s Fair in Love and Dinner
A Salty Tale Some time ago, our daughter Clare asked us to supper on the spur of the moment. There was no special occasion – John was away and it was just a last-minute thing. Her three sons were there, and we ate chicken and drank some wine. Just for the record, we eat informally …
Jul 19
Day 18 – Witch Hunts, Fit as a Flea and Modern Termites
Salem In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” his plot recreated incidents that occurred in the 1700’s in Salem, Massachusetts. In short, there was a witch hunt that only ended after all those who looked odd and had rumours circulating about them had been executed. Now to today’s Westminster. There is to be an “investigation” into allegations …
Jul 17
Day 17 – Sent from Coventry
We have now flogged through Coventry in a heat wave. I suppose I wasn’t really surprised to hear warnings in the media by the authorities that it was unwise to go out in the sun! How nannyish is this and what a silly waste of money? What have we come to when the authorities lecture …
Jul 16
Day 16 – Beyond Our Ken
So Ken Clarke’s ministerial career has ended. I knew Ken 35 years ago when I was a simple back bencher. Ken told me once that he loved Westminster so much he would have to be carried out in a coffin. I hope that does not happen soon. Ken was very kind to me on one …
Jul 15
Day 15 – Derby, Death and Lust
We are not too keen on south Derbyshire. Sorry, but it ain’t a patch on the beautiful north. Today we faced vast expanses of scrubby grass randomly blotted with humungous clumps of elephant eye nettles. Fine fun if you are a flea but a stinging misery for us. The farmers who grow their miserable crops …