Of Colours and Discovery

I went to a cover band gig on Saturday night in Swindon.
(I was there visiting friends)
The band was called The Noughties (because they covered rock and alternative songs from the 2000’s)

So essentially (no offence to those who live in Swindon), a nondescript pub (among thousands in the UK) in a nondescript town, there was a band from another nondescript town (Bristol) who jammed their hearts out!!

They played such rad covers from songs by Incubus, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, and the list goes on.

And there we were, just a small crowd. Probably only 20, if that. watching this cover band.
But they rocked hard!
The frontman and the rest of the guys played the songs as if they were their own.
With passion and conviction. I loved it!

They weren’t there just to pass the hours. (It seemed as if they were playing for a massive crowd.)

it got me thinking:

1) Grateful for their passion.
2) But also, how much do cover bands get paid? I mean, they came in from Bristol (about an hour away) to jam for us. The pay must be worth it to drive all the way to play for about 2 hours for only 20 people.
3) I don’t think it’s a feasible income if they played for two nights every weekend in a month – however, whatever their pay, whatever their motives…

They were talented
I appreciated their effort. They were so into it!
I love it!
Dancing (rocking out) throughout the set.

A thing I like to do as a year comes to an end is to take stock and see what I have done and what I may have achieved. And just look back (and forward) with gratitude and take any lessons with me into the new year.
I also like to look at my “aspirations list” (new year’s goals) and see how I did.
I see I only travelled to “one new” European city this year. (That’s okay. Not trying to sound like a brat. Haha!)
Lisbon, Portugal, was a treat!
This year, I have reached my saving goals, even tried new recipes (yes, I wrote that down)
Achieved my cycle goals. Read 20 books.
I want to do a bullet point month-by-month highlight reel of the year:

JAN
– First day of the year was with the Armstrongs and Steffens
– Then I saw the Masters (both Orpington and Cape Town ones) on the first weekend of January. Dodging pigeons and marvelling at a brilliant visual display.
– Lovely run in St Albans on a snowy surface
– Looked after my dad after his procedure.
– Ran EVERY DAY in January (at least 5km per day)
– Pub with Arran
– Electro darts with Lucy
– Hanging out in Woburn Sands with Charlie and Hayley
– A winter run with Sean
– Clint took me for a curry
– Maintenance on Oakwood’s kitchen floor

FEB
– Hannah’s 30th
– Epic winter ride with stunning sunset
– the pretty butterfly I saw on the ground at Oakwood
– Bongo Bingo (80’s theme!)
– That long run in St Albans (those old ruins)
– Mountain biking Swinley Forest
– Seeing Dennis Mingo in London (and going to the Magic Circle)
– Walking London with Lucy and watching Mousetrap
– Jeremy Loops

MAR
– Hosting Chris and Andrea (and Sparky) here in Wokingham
– A little St Wins reunion seeing Peter Butterworth
– Glorious Lisbon! Seeing another European city. Enjoying the half marathon. Exploring the city. Meeting up with Nibs and going on that rad bike tour, despite the wind and rain.
– Seeing Danielle and Derek
– ERCA training
– Outdoor team training celebration bonfire
– Spring bike rides…
– Seeing the new life spring up in my flower bed
– Seeing the Masters.
– My two-week SA trip (I actually forgot about this) until now, lol…

APR
– SA sunshine and wildlife and beaches and some quality time with family.
– Easter sunrise service and run in Henley
– Visit to Dad
– Exploring the “board walk” near Winchester
– Wrexham promoted to the Championship (Haha, yes, I just wrote this down)
– A ride to Windsor…
_ enjoying the long days, warmth, and blue skies…
– A SUP session in Henley
– Drink with Arran at the new H&W epic summer garden in Crowthorne…

MAY
– Another SUP…
– That long walk with Lucy between Henley and Marlow.
– A visit to the Steffens. Ah, seeing the sea.
– The spontaneous Hundred Reasons gig at the Royal Albert Hall with the Masters. Upgraded to a box!!
– Chris Speed Series #1
– A spring ride
– Katie and Tom visited, A picnic by the river.
– Seeing Danielle and Derek. A swim in the sea.
– The pretty colours over Oakwood, as the season is well underway!
– The baby Blue Tit that flew into my kitchen. Little God moments.
– Rapid Relays
– The Pixies
– The hike between Folkestone and Dover.
– The flowers that popped up in my courtyard. The colours add joy to the day.
– A ride, a walk, explore runs… long days… call for more activity…
– Chelsea, conference league winners! 🙂
– Another walk, why not? To Sonning.
– My first silent bookclub.
– Maryann comes to visit.

And we haven’t even reached half way yet…

JUNE
– 1 of the month, seeing dad for a cool braai.
– And before that, remember seeing the Kingfishers, two days in a row. God smiling at my joy 🙂
– Endure 24 (This one was colder and wetter). Love my running club though.
– More SUPS, club runs and silent book clubs.
– What to do with all this day-time? Haha
– SUP with Oakwood peeps
– Catch up with Riana in St Albans, visiting my dad,
– The most epic massive birthday ride with Bryan. Super stoked with that. (Did my longest ride ever on my Birthday.)
– Another visit with Riana. A walk from Jared and Kayla’s.
– Farewell drinks for Will (at Oakingham Belle)
– Slip and slide fun at Oakwood.

JULY
– Started the WED AM club runs. Small attendance, but good crew!
– Summer rides continue
– Visit of the Toti gang – weekend on the Jurassic Coast – Old Harry’s Rocks and Durdle Door.
– Babysitting (hosting) Connor for a week, whilst he did work experience. Took him to Swinley, mountain biking.
– Staff SUP session at Horseshoe.
– Fun night of drinks and food with Laura and Giorgio
– A spontaneous ride with Will
– Visiting Katie and seeing Ard Matthews
– A run recce on my mountain bike
– A walk with Hannah around Horseshoe
– Dinner with Dad in Harpenden and then an amazing few days in Northern Ireland – seeing the Giants Causeway and some of Belfast.
– Rides, paddles and walks. 🙂

AUG
– I thought that was going to be a quieter month…
-But the little things added to a FULLer few weeks.
– A run along the Great Walk in Windsor. Followed by a walk near Magna Carta (the sunshine would not let me go home early)
– A lonely Saturday morning walk (or was it a Sunday?) but seeing the Cormorant up close was special.
– Followed by a sunny bike ride.
(I am aware that some weekends go by where I don’t speak to a soul.)
– The church picnic where someone sunk my paddle. How does one do that??
– Club run around Dinton Pastures
– Seeing Andrew Dicks
– Seeing Katie and Tom – spontaneous sunset session sipping on wine, taking in the glorious evening.
– The Chelsea game – before that, Kurt Cobain exhibit with the Masters
– A graffiti walk in reading and writing postcards with the volunteers in the PUB.
– Taking Arran, Will and Laura on my 7km SUP loop.
– A walk in the Cotswolds with Jess and her bro
– the mega distance SUP between Henley and Marlow (haha, I got really sick after that. some bug from the water??)
– But the adventure was epic!!
– Thurs 19th – put the edges around my 3000 piece puzzle!!
– My flower garden looking so vibrant (I am thankful for those small joys)
– And that God gives me the eyes to see things like that
– Epic solo cycle adventure in the New Forest with my tent
– Seeing the marvellous sunrise on that trip. wowzers!
– Rad Sun cycle with Dave from Finchcoasters.

SEPT
– A night with the Armstrongs
– Zoe and Isaac’s wedding. Nice to have been invited. (Felt honoured that with the invite, she said I was an influential part of her life.) The joy and honour of my years as a youth pastor. (I did feel a little spare at the wedding. Hate going to weddings on my own. Makes me sad.)
– My highlight of the year was the cycle in France with Nick. What a jol! For real. Some good hills. Quality time. Great views. Loved it! (it’s becoming an annual trip now.)
– Wolf Run with the gang. That was fun, again! And that braai that followed.
– Puzzle session with Hannah
– A cycle with Hannah too
– A walk with Joanna in Coventry.
– An amazing 10km run with Sean in the Chilterns. (I hold fondly to the running memories I have with him, Wayne and I.) Good times!

OCT
– A run with Julie, on the first Thursday.
– A visit with the Armstrongs. (Love that Swindon is quite close.)
– Visiting Danielle and Derek after sooo long. That was nice to see them again. Got to do an epic bike ride down there too, to these abbey ruins. Was pretty cool! Was actually giddy with that little discovery.
– The pretty autumn colours… lovely evening skies…
– The stunning autumn colours at Cliveden (National Trust.) I was so impressed by that place. wow!
– Drinks with Ria
– A big walk around Pinkney’s Green.
– The first stretch of the North Downs Way with Lucy. A good 10 mile walk! (Farnham to Guildford)
– Football meetup in Guildford with the boys from “Dash for Cash” – stoked that Man United beat Liverpool. haha! (I remembered feeling so alive having to ride in the rain to the station.)
– A late October cycle. Ah, that low-lying sunshine and the colours of the autumn sky.
– Both Hannahs came around to help with my puzzle.
– Such a cool Halloween night with the Thorpes (Bob was in London for the rugby.) Great to see him again and then we went to go check out Mark De Lima’s beer shop – 3000 jars of beer. That was amazing!

NOV
– That epic photo exhibit with Lucy, followed by a long walk across London to have cocktails and a meal at The Alchemist, followed by theatre: Peter Pan and Wendy.
A pretty rad day!
– Enjoying the autumnal colours of Novmber: rides, runs and walks
– Progress on the puzzle
– The remembrance day run with the club. I like that 11am silence. It’s hauntingly moving.
– The Bush gig with Nick and Brett.
– A fun (res) staff outing to Ikea. How we laughed. Love our team!
– That epic long run in the Chilterns by Henley. Loved it. Thank you Alltrails.
– Sunday roast with the Armstrongs
– A brief snowfall one morning whilst setting up at work. Friggen cold and beautiful at that same time.
– Went to Cantebury with the Steffens. My first mulled wine of the season. Loved that I stumbled into the cathedral by accident. FREE entry. Beautiful interior!
– Christmas tree up!
– Completed my puzzle! WOOHOO. A month before my deadline 😉

DEC
And then I just look at how Dec is looking:
Pints (and half pints, haha!) with friends.
Time with family.
Christmas parties.
Christmas markets.
Winter lights
the joy of the Christmas season.
And end of year flight.

Dear Jesus, you know this already, I feel sincerely blessed.
Thank You.
I don’t take any of this for granted.

I made it. I caught the earlier train.
Out of the capital, one doesn’t need to search for a seat.
There are plenty from Wokingham and from Reading.
I arrive in Paddington,
I go underground to ride the Underground
The number of people escalates massively!
(Hello London)
All the seats are taken, and people stand so close. Under another’s arms, in someone’s breath. Rush hour is here.
I get to my destination. Wembley Park.
Now I know why the trains were so jammed with people.
England are playing Serbia (They always get drawn the “easier” opponents. The FIFA corruption. Ha!)
I walk to my gig as this swarm of people shuffles to the stadium.
(A few hours later)
I head back home,
caught in that crowd (Darn, I timed my exit badly.)

We are herded into the Underground.
Thousands of people, making their way back home.
All these lives in one place (every person carrying a story.) How that topic has been covered so often already…

People wear headphones to hide away from the noise of the people around them.
Escaping from the noise with noise. (the irony)
I finally get “above ground” and board the train from Paddington to Reading.
The train is packed!!
For 40 minutes, I have to stand in the aisle.
What are all these people doing on the train now between 23h00 and midnight?
Maybe a lot were coming back from the game (that’s commitment. On a weeknight, to head into the City.)
Or maybe somewhere coming back from the gig I went to. (Although I didn’t see any people wearing Volbeat or other band t-shirts. The usual gig attire)
Or maybe people are going home after work. (At that time? Wow! And they do that every day? Double wow! Life can be a hustle, I guess.

Then I board the last train (phew) from Reading to Wokingham.
Just a 7-minute journey.
And there are about 12 of us on the entire train of two or three carriages.
So quiet.
The contrast is deafening and even lonely.

We had a bit of a staff outing at Ikea this morning. Dreaming up some interior decoration ideas, etc.
As we wandered through the brilliant display rooms of Ikea,
I think so many things…

1. The team that does all the layout and interior decor are just so brilliant! I’m truly captivated by it all.
2. And I am not the only one. All those customers browsing, dreaming and consuming. (Marketing is clever!)
3. Then I think about the terrible waste problem we have. So here are people at Ikea, redecorating their homes, but what are they gonna do with their old things?
Take it to the tip (the rubbish dump)? Landfill upon landfill…
4. Is there still a war going on between Ukraine and Russia? YES! And here are people just casually getting things for their homes. Life is weird. 😦

This morning, as I drove to the mechanic to drop my car off,
I drove by a field of sheep grazing. Even in the rain, that scene looked picturesque:
White woolly sheep on a lush green field.
I wondered if the sheep “have feelings.” As in, do they prefer grazing on a sunny summer day as opposed to a wet winter day?
Are they thinking as they chew the grass and stand in the rain, I wish the sun were out.
Do sheep have the sort of thought power and reasoning? Haha!
(I wonder weird things.)

Sometimes my life feels like I’m living in different world’s simultaneously.

They merge into each other.  Or sometimes I step from the one to another.

Right now, I have three worlds:

1. Puzzle
2. Novel
3. Normal life

I enjoy my usual day to day.  On a sunny day especially, or when I see the 🍂 autumnal colours, or hear the birds overhead, I have a “pinch me” moment.  Glad I get to do this.

Then there are days when I want to stay with my jigsaw puzzle… a world of 3000 pieces.  Its a slow burner… but I’m enjoying the journey…

The Peter May book I’m reading, The Chessmen is enjoyable.  It describes the scenery well.  The story is intriguing.  Some days, I stay in that world longer.

Or when I’m “in one world” I find my mind thinking about the other…

This little life 🙂

In Bracknell, there is Mill Pond.  I like running and riding by it.  There is something calming about it.  Actually a lot of thoughts come to mind:

The proximity of the dual carriageway means that one can hear the traffic too.  But if you are still long enough, you can tune it out…

And even if you can’t, its a great metaphor for life.  There is a battle between noise and stillness.  Both demanding our attention.  Which do you let win most often?

I saw a pair of swans gliding so quietly and slowly on the water. They looked so peaceful.  There is something about that picture.

Then I like the sad irony that this pond sits right next to a McDonald’s.  The irony, humans flock to a “junk food” place hoping for a quick fix… whilst the birds flocked around and on the water… could bring a deeper fix.  If only the people were more aware.

The pond also reminds me of how calming it is to look at water.  And the whole sitting and just looking thing.  People often are just rushing from place.  Loads of benches, have no sitters.

Then as I thought about the title of this blog, I thought of the song by Blindside – There must be something in the water.

“I know you’re pulling me under but I’m back again. Now there’s a storm in my eye. You don’t scare me anymore. Come now, come spirit of thunder, hold me again.”

(Maybe there is something for you in that song.)

I’m engrossed by the book I’m currently reading.  It’s full of action.  I keep wanting to jump back into the pages and find out what is going to happen next.  Isn’t it something that we can “carry a whole other world in our hands.”  After (or even before) a busy day, there is an escape […]

A book and a backpack (a parallel world)

As Friday the 5th, 17h00 came around, I was so excited. My leave had started!

The first night in Swindon, with the Armstrongs. Great friends, great food, great conversation, and always sharpening my perspective.

Zoe and Isaac’s wedding on Saturday was just so stunning! So full love love. To see their declaration of their love for one another. To see the joy and sparkle in their eyes. Just so wonderful to witness. The speeches, by everybody, were so heartfelt.
And the location, Hook Norton, oh my gosh, like a postcard!

Sunday morning in St Albans, doing some odd jobs for dad. Nice to see the old man.

Then, Sunday late afternoon, I got to the Masters, the big adventure, to begin the following day:

We made it to the Ferry in Portsmouth (from Orpington) in the nick of time (no pun intended).
Nick and I were so grateful to be on board. We did originally wonder how we would fill the 6 hours across the channel. The time flew by as we played (boardless) Scrabble and Monopoly Deal.

La Havre was a surprising treat. Not just a port town, but the epic waterfront gave us the best surprise. An incredible sunset! Wow, that colour in the sky! Magnificent!
I loved just looking out at the bay that evening.

Tuesday gave us a 48km detour. Woah! That was heavy going. A day of 79km riding ended up being close to 130km. But getting to Honfleur, eventually, was worth it. A lovely seaside village. Sitting in that “square” with the marina and restaurants and buzz of people; that was nice. That beer felt worth it!

In the week, I liked cycling the quieter farm roads, through quaint farm villages. In a way, over the distance, time stood still, as we cycled 10km at a time. Sometimes, we rode in silence for ages, just taking it all in.
(Hopefully, some of my posted photos captured the essence of our surroundings.)

Rouen was a cool city to explore. (Reminded me of Paris in some ways). As with most European cities, there are two sides: the dirty, less well-kept sides and then the “tourist hubs” and cobbled streets. Walking around a lot that night was great to see the place from two feet. Giving our cycling legs a rest. It was quite rainy that night! (Thankfully, we didn’t experience that whilst riding.)

Thursday, our last day, was a big distance again.
I did struggle with the last 35km cycling against the headwind. With my panniers, they caught like sails, so it was hard trudging through that wind, with depleted energy.
So when I finally got my cider (the only one of the week) and our last drink of the trip, I remember sitting at the restaurant in La Havre, warmed by the sunshine penetrating the windows, gazing out at the kite surfers. At least fifty of them were playing on the waves. (Those choppy waves we felt later on the Ferry crossing. Oh my!!)

We did it! 350km in 3 days, exploring the Normandy region of France.

Other things that come to mind, I liked our little espresso stops and the cute cups they came in.
I liked our random lunch stops, eating baguettes, sitting on the grass, looking out at some view.
I boiled water on my mini stove to make tea and coffee on the last day. I liked that too. Our bikes rested against a church as we sat there, warming up.

Friday afternoon, a bit of rest and doing my washing at home.
And then Saturday, another full day with the Kerrins and Masters and Wittings, as we did the Wolf Run in Leamington Spa and had our usual “after the wolf run” gathering / braai.

Sunday morning was a slow start; Sean and I (and Amy on her bicycle) walked to Wayne’s to visit.
I always like the “walking culture” of England.
The moody weather also allowed for a slower-paced day. A perfect ending to a lot of activity, exercise and people.
Sunday afternoon at home, I just chilled, pottered around and sat on my sofa mostly. Bliss.
I am rested. My heart is full,
Thank you God for another great adventure.