Putting your best foot forward
April 22, 2012 | 
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When I stop to consider it I can’t help but be amazed at how many talented and passionate people there are in my life and such a variety of topics including poetry, writing, internet radio, software entrepreneurs, international business women, technology evangelists, singers and, as I realised today, a barefoot evangelist – Dr Stephen Bloor, or Barefoot Steve as I prefer to call him.
I have known Stephen since school and knew then that he was a passionate individual but it was good to be reminded of that today. With his background as a podiatrist Stephen was already immersed in the subject of feet but he has pursued the barefoot approach to a logical conclusion and now lives his life in bare feet; I’ll never forget the first time I saw him walking in the street in the pouring rain in bare feet.
Today Stephen opened a barefoot trail at a local country house, the first created by the National Trust and led by Julie Hanson, a National Trust Ranger. The Western Morning News newspaper has a report on it here.
The photo above is to emphasise the point Stephen made today, barefoot doesn’t mean calloused feet. Stephen lives 100% shoe free and the bottom of his feet are as smooth as a foot dweller like me.
The biggest impact of today was a comment Stephen made about how going barefoot makes one so much more aware about the environment – appropriate given that today is Earth Day; it was something I was acutely aware of when walking on the barefoot trail.
I thank you Barefoot Steve and, more importantly, my feet thank you.
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Divine Woman on Divine Women
Once again the BBC has excelled itself and produced a fascinating series by Bettany Hughes, an excellent educator/presenter. I love it when the presenter of a show is also an expert in the subject.
Barefoot in the Park
Well barefoot in Godolphin anyhow.
Following on from the success of his barefoot walk last year at Trenow, I see my friend Steven Bloor is putting his best foot forward in another groundbreaking venture.
Steve has been helping with the first National Trust dedicated barefoot trail around the grounds at Godolphin.
So, if you are near Goldolphin on April 22 or after, look out for the trail and why not give it a go.
Steve can be found on Twitter and also has an informative barefoot website.
FOOD – Blog Action Day 2011
If there was a recurring theme during our trip to the States it would have to be an over abundance of food. Meals on the whole came in large and larger. It’s not just the US though where we often find ourselves with more than we can eat in a sitting. I am the first to admit that, when scrapping food off a plate at home that my first thought is, “maybe i should get a composter”; what I don’t often contemplate is how other people would give thanks for even the scraps from my table. Today I have to ask what about the people for whom there is no food – no one likes to think about famine, it’s not nice and definitely not pretty.
While I recently became unemployed, I am very optimistic about securing a job. What helps with my positive attitude is that we haven’t got to worry about eating. We may have to shop more at cheaper stores and think carefully about when to buy local but it’s not a question of whether we can eat. Now there are many people who struggle in this country to feed themselves but ultimately the food is here and it is a matter of our doing something locally to help. What is more shameful for us all has to be how many people are in places where the food just isn’t there.
Through a simple accident of geography I was born in the West and consequently have immediately benefitted from that. I was about to write that “food is not a right” but then i thought, “Yes it is, but it is everyone’s right”. I firmly believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to help others. I am not going to preach in this post about what I think should or should not be done, goodness knows I have enough trouble figuring things like that out for myself. What I do ask is that you watch the attached video and think yourself about what you might be able to do.
As I am writing this as part of Blog Action Day I will include some links that enable you to give most immediate help and a quiz to provide some facts about hunger.
Give in the UK and abroad through the Disaster Emergency Committee
While the appeal in the following Food Quiz is aimed at American readers I believe it’s worth trying as it raises some surprising facts about hunger.
Thank you for reading.
Phil
Chinese lacquer – a haibun
Recently I have begun a periodic de-cluttering of our small cottage. Collecting a couple of boxes I began sorting. From two separate boxes came two related items. In one I found a pen that I had put for safe keeping and not used in some while. The related item was a notebook, the pages turned to haiku I wrote the day in March 2003 when I first received the pen.
It is a Parker pen, it’s surface a rich red Chinese lacquer. It is one of the most beautiful I own and also the most valuable. The pen does not have a high monetary values, I gauge most of the worth from it’s brief history.
I was once a regular on a website site called Pentrace, for people interested in fountain pens. Amidst the many fountain pen collectors were a smaller group who delighted in using pens in their collection to write letters (snailers we called ourselves). Together we formed a collection of correspondents, writing to each other, sharing with others who had every reason to use fountain pens to reply. I got to know some of the members and would look forward to receiving letters almost as much as I enjoyed writing them. It wasn’t unusual for the first words I spoke to be on arriving home to be “is there any post?”
Over time I found that there were a small number of correspondents whom I wrote to more than others. Fran was one of then and Cheryl another. It was Cheryl that the pen and haiku related to. I formed a friendship with Cheryl, someone for whom writing with pens both vintage and modern was a delight. I knew Cheryl spent time at home but we never discussed illness; it came as a shock when there was a sudden announcement to say Cheryl had passed away.
In time the opportunity came about for members of the pen community to own one of Cheryl’s pens. The pen I received was one she had used in writing to me. I rushed home the day the pen was due to arrive.
parcel opening
reading Cheryl’s last letter
while holding her pen
I spent quite a while just holding the pen and could not bring myself to fill the pen with ink. I cannot recall how long I spent in rememberance before I felt I had to at least try using it.
my deceased friend’s pen
ink dripping from the dipped nib
tears filling my eyes
Blogging by dictation
Image via Wikipedia
This is going to be the first entry on my blog that I’ve written using dictation software. I’m very surprised at how fast Dragon NaturallySpeaking can produce the text on this rather old HP tablet computer. The processor on this tablet is a Centrino Pro, not the top end of the recommended list but it works quite fast; I do have a memory booster working in the background, currently configuring itself, which does mean the occasional space is missed in this text. The memory cache is working on an SD card which does not cause as many problems as the memory stick I tried in my netbook with this dictation software.
I am also very surprised at how well the software understands me. I have tried dictation software in the past with what I thought was a good microphone, but it did not work as well. I did train the software previously but I have to admit it was not a full blown “expensive” dictation program. As always the word expensive is relative, if something works really well the price you pay can seem much more reasonable, as in this case. While this is a single chip processor I would very much like to see how quick it operates on a deal chip or more device. Unfortunately, the only device I have with two chips in it belongs to my wife now I don’t fancy wrestling out of her hands.
I’m very much enjoying the luxury of dictation which gives me an opportunity to do other things at the same time as write this blog post. Speaking and having the text appear on the page already makes blogging feel so much less onerous.
Another advantage of having this dictation software is that it means I am using an old favourite tablet once again. Picking up this tablet today maybe realise how heavy it is compared to my netbook tablet by Asus. I can bear the weight and can’t get used to using Windows XP once again if the trade-off is this really easy method of writing.
I’m not sure if it’s me, but I have a problem talking on the telephone, either I talk over the person at the other end because I cant tell when they have finished speaking, or are going to speak again or all thoughts leave my head. Being able to dictate what I want to say, as if I was on the telephone, but being able to edit it and then send it to someone can read it at their leisure seems an ideal solution for me. Whether it is an ideal solution for other people, I will have to let them decide.
The copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking that I’m using is version 11, which is currently most up-to-date version available.
Small Stone Blogsplash – we need your help…
Kaspa & Fiona have taken over my blog for today, because they
need our help.
They are both on a mission to help the world connect with the world
through writing. They are also getting married on Saturday the 18th of
June.
For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking people across the
world to write them a ‘small stone’ and send it to us using this form. You can also post the stone on your blog, or facebook or on twitter using the #aros hashtag.
A small stone is a short piece of observational writing – simply pay
attention to something properly and then write it down. Find out more
about small stones here.
If you’re willing to help, we’d love you to do two things:
- Re-post this blog on your own blog any time before June the 18th and give your readers a chance to hear about what we’re doing. You can simply copy and paste the text, or you can find the html here.
- Write us a small stone on our wedding day whilst we’re saying our vows and eating cake, post it on your blog, and send it to us.
You can find out more about our project at our website, Wedding Small
Stones, and you can also read our blog at A River of Stones.
We also have a July challenge coming soon, when we’ll be challenging
you to notice one thing every day during July and write it down.
Thank you for listening, and we hope we’ll be returning from our
honeymoon to an inbox crammed with small stones, including yours.
Kaspa & Fiona
HMS Flake 99: Amphibious ice cream van spotted floating down the Thames | Mail Online
I grabbed this post while using the phone. Why it caught my eye is because my grandfather started in the ice cream business over 80 years ago; Uren’s Ice Cream continued until my father retired about six years ago. Though we never had a van like the one in the above article.
Flora Day
Once again it was a great day to see a communal spectacle, groups of friends and family wandering about the town of Helston.
There is a lot written about the tradition of Helston Flora Day for example in Wikipedia here, so I don’t feel the need to add or repeat it.
The official site of the Flora Day Association has only bare information on it’s site but that’s probably because they sell a printed guide to the day.
The photos above come from some grab shots of first thing in the morning with Helston Band heading up the 7am dance and then the colourful greenery and costumes of the Hal-an-tow, a shot of the crowds in Cross Street waiting for the 10am children’s dance, the Cornish flag that is held above a large group of very able singers who meet after the 10am Children’s Dance to sing in Cross Street and then a few shots of the mid-day dancers – which included my brother Nigel and his dancing partner Michelle in the 5th and 2nd from the end photos, (4th from the end is my cousin Peter and his wife Ann, their son Andrew is the younger trombonist in the blue jacket 6th from end).
