Skip to main content

SF 2

This sort of community living in a hostel is something fresh for me. This morning I made my usual journey to the bathroom which is a shower, not the rest room which is the toilet, which you don’t do much resting in, when I saw rest room I imagined a group of people relaxing after a tough day but it was just me not resting. Anyway back to the bathroom which is the shower. I strip to my fine shower physic and look into the cubicle and before me is a disappointing sight. Where the empty shower tray should be is a shallow pool of used water. I could tell it was used because all of the different coloured hair floating lazily in the pool. This has gone beyond the odd pubic hair this is like a hair revolution below me. So I retreat in search of another shower which I find successfully.
The common room here is a bit like the United Nations with people from all over the world. There is the man who always wear’s cycling lycra which he designs himself. Then there is a man with tattoos who is a very cool looking guy, Australian, Austrians, and Japanese and of course English. You can sign in for dinner for $5 which is ok and very cheap. Spent dinner last night with a guy from England and another chap from Canada all of us over 50 which I did not think would happen, I presumed everyone would be under 25. The Canadian travels regularly to England to see the industrial towns of the North of England. We sat talking about Belper and Stoke on Trent. The whole experience is a bit like a camp, which will only mean something to a few people.
Many conversations are a bit like where is john? Oh he is off to LA today then to Las Vegas Fiji, New Zealand a month in Australia. Have you seen Jenny? oh she is off to Yosemite then the Grand Canyon, afternoon in LA the then to Central America to do the ipie chepy trail and then The Black Country Museum in the West Midlands. I am joking about the last one. Some of these people often do not seem to know how to get their clothes on the right way round but are capable of travelling the world without too much trouble.
So for someone who does not often go farther than Walsall it is a fresh experience for me but how people do this for months on end I do not know. And I am not sure how many travel experiences you can go through before they all merge into a stew of travel. How does bridge experience stand out from another one skyscraper from another who did you meet on what continent? My new thinking is travel experiences should be like expensive well cooked meals, separated by time and beans on toast.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Response To Bishop North

A while back Bishop Phillip North spoke to New Wine and caused a bit of a reaction one of it was a Tweet to my millions of followers. In response I had a phone call from The Church Times asking for a quote because I serve in a poor parish, I declined and said I would put a more considered response on my blog, so here it is with a link to The Bishops full talk. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/4-august/news/uk/there-s-a-future-for-the-church-if-evangelicals-put-the-poor-first-bishop-north-tells-new-wine 1.      One of the issues the church does not recognise is the exportation of people , talents and money from parishes like mine to middle class parishes which is draining and demanding on leadership. For 10 years I thought I was building a community, then it dawned on me I was building people up to go to other places. 2.      Bishop Phillip talks of abandonment of the poor: I think it’s more complicated than that. When ...

Tokens of Trust

Tokens of Trust by Rowan Williams I have been deeply jolted to the importance of the role of trust in my life and the cost when trust has been missing. Many years ago I spent a long time at the top of a cliff roped and secured being encouraged to abseil over the edge to the bottom a number of feet below. No matter how much my highly competent friend encouraged me to trust him and the equipment, I could not. During the same period of my life it was my job to service the fire service turntable ladders, which meant climbing 100 feet to the top of them. This I did many times never without a sense of anticipation, trusting the mechanics and workmanship that had been carried out. But it is with people where trust is cashed out or held back, reaping rewards or crippling relationships. I think the book has jolted me to understand my role as a professional truster  As a stipended priest I am called to model to, and with, my community my profession of trust. As I reflect upo...

LA 1

just arrive in LA. let me tell you the difficult bit of travel always seems to be getting from station to hotel on public transport. arriving at the hostel/hotel i discover i have lost a sandle i must have had them 5 years. i was trying to be cool and straping them the back of my rucksack. im thinking of lobying Birmingham city councuil to plant palm trees on the Tyburn Road they transform the landscape and we could all listen to Hotel California in the 67 bus. room is not ready yet the loby is trendy and has a young feeling abut it hope the room lives up to the entrance. now let me see i have two priorities 1 find a church 2 find where the womens voleyball is playing tomorrow better get a shower first