05/11/2016 – Its been a while and the years go by

Its been a while and the years go by

I started writing this blog at 39,000 feet travelling above the earth, this beautiful planet that we are raced to live upon. Anyone who flies, be it for work, pleasure or even actually flies planes themselves, it is a wonderful experience, solitude, even with 2,3,4 or 500 people on board with you, you are nearly 5 vertical miles above the earth. Until recently, isolated from everyone, but now you can use emails, social media and call people on the ground below. The age of communication has surpassed all our wildest expectations.

But do we really need to have that? It used to be about the only place on earth (well, actually above the earth) that you could truly be “alone” and “uncontactable” Businessmen paying the high First Class prices can now be driven from their office to the airport use the office facilities in the Private lounges, transfer to the aircraft and resume running the business from the business suites on aircraft…. sound good? I used to travel for business every month and would always make sure the outbound journey was total relaxation, having done all the prep work before leaving the office. The return journey always seemed to be spent on the laptop and before the advent of the laptop, writing up notes.

Nowadays travelling is a pleasure, be it on an aeroplane, a ship or a train. Relaxation, taking in the ambience, or maybe the scenery, be it the countryside, the earth from above or the oceans. For me it is a pleasure these days and plan to continue flying to all points on the world. Life is too short and there are a lot of places to see, find and explore.

The world has become a very small place, the advent of easily available cheap airline seat mean you can get to the USA or Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, and even South America in less than 24 hours. I want to walk the Great wall (or part of) I want to cycle various countries across the world and Europe, to fly in a balloon across the Australian East Coast, Bungee jump off the Aucklands Greenhithe Bridge.

I was not aware that the first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the 250-foot (76 m) Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, by David Kirke and Simon Keeling,^[4] both members of the Oxford UniversityDangerous Sports Club.^[5] The jumpers were arrested shortly after, but continued with jumps in the US from the Golden Gate Bridge and the Royal Gorge Bridge (this last jump sponsored by and televised on the Americanprogramme That’s Incredible), spreading the concept worldwide. By 1982, they were jumping from mobile cranes and hot air balloons.

Clifton Suspension Bridge  is also famous for the first attempted suicide on 8th May 1885, by  Sarah Ann Henley a very interesting story, which for anyone who has walked over the bridge is really quite remarkable.

Am trying to make sure I cycle 40 miles a week, with my work I find I am cycling most of those miles on  Saturday and sometimes I push up the miles on a Sunday. We have a new “club” The Odd Balls Cycling Club. We cycle, but not too seriously and always stop for breakfast. We also take on challenges, the most recent was Coast to Coast, Margate to WsM and it was completed by 6 members in 23 hrs and 50 minutes. Any cyclist can join our club,  facebook “Odd Balls Cycling Club”  Twitter Odd Balls Cycling  website:  Odd Balls Cycling

We never leave anyone behind and always finish together, “not everyone likes hills” So if you like cycling, check us out, its all for fun, and its not about finishing in the fastest time……………… its about finishing and having fun

 …………………… Not taking cycling too seriously

I was cycling recently on one of my weekend routes, I have started driving to my daughters (25 miles away) on a Saturday morning and then cycling home later on. This particular day I had started back in the afternoon (they live in West Wick) out via Wick St Lawrence across to Puxton, up to Sandford and then take the Strawberry Line, through the old Winscombe Halt and up through the tunnel to Shute Shelve. At Winscombe Halt I spotted an elderly couple sat on a bench, I felt I wanted to stop and chat so as I approached I asked if they would mind me asking a few questions, I was interested to know what they were doing there, was it a regular stop for them and more importantly their age. What a lovely couple 92 and 89 used to live in South Wales and now live in Winscombe, every day they come out walking and sit on the same bench, as I recall they have been married over 60 years!

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What a lovely couple we spent a good ten minutes talking about life, their new life in Winscombe, loving the slow pace of life and the quietness, the ease in which they can walk and be in the beautiful countryside that is now the old The Strawberry Line Details of the Strawberry line Yatton to Cheddar  The Guardian Travel The Guardian Travel

My passion now is cycling, it has overtaken Golf, and even to some extent my passion for Manchester United, but not, being part of our Sunday football family watching my grandson play junior football. Jason and I are planning to do the Eurovelo15 in 2017, but that is another blog.

This coming year 2017 I will pass my 62nd birthday and I am fitter than I have been in my entire life, I cycle, I used to run and jog. I am influenced by various people. I eat healthily, don’t smoke and drink very little. Vitamins, supplements, Water Ginger, Lemon, Honey we have to look after our bodies. I decided that I wanted to live as long as possible and to do that you have to look after your bodies. To live life as long as possible, what does it take?

Diet, Exercise, Belief, of course you also need good health, which is promoted by diet exercise, belief. we all want to live as long as possible and yet “Life is too short” it is a saying we hear a lot and say a lot, and “The older you get the quicker it goes” I think they are both age related but the latter certainly applies as you get older. The reason I used the Title to this blog, and of course the question that springs to mind is “Is that it?” What does happen after this life ends? of course none of us “know” but many of us believe that there is another wonderful life after this one. Of course no one can know if there is, but what a lot of people have is the belief that there is. Many people believe that if you really believe something then it will happen, it will come to pass. But, can it really be that influential?

Belief in what people see and belief in what people saw. We all believe what we want, and we all disbelieve what we want, we are influenced by logic? But does logic sometimes not apply, things happen that beggars belief… the person that has been deaf all their life can suddenly hear? and then there are things that we know are impossible but our eyes tell us something different, alternatively our eyes tell us hat what just happened is impossible? is there an answer? and there is logic again, logic says NO it is impossible and yet our eyes disprove that?

It is all relative because what one person believes another does not necessarily follow.

We are all different and we all see and hear things differently, believe or not? Belief or not?

Our soul? I believe we all have a soul or should I say “I believe I have a soul”

What is “our” soul? We know that it is not tangible, it is not a living organ within our body, so what is it?

Our soul is something unique to humans or so we think.

People often say we are a body with a soul, I like to think that we have a soul surrounded by a temporary body.

A carrier in this life to protect and nurture our soul, on this part of our journey through “life” As again, I believe there is a “life” after this human life, I am not sure what form we would take, or I would take, because we eventually leave this body form and our soul goes to a new life a new existence. It always goes back to the same thing Believe Belief

I am not a lifelong believer, in fact it is only in the last 15 months that I have started on this “believing” journey. I am but a mere beginner, but the belief is getting stronger every day, and I am learning every day, my thirst is being quenched each day and every new day there is another thirst, I guess I am living a “Groundhog day” every day there is more to learn :-)

Food for thought