Step forward...World Para Athletics come to London

I've done a bit of volunteering in my time.  Not much, just a little bit.  I've bored everyone to tears with tales from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, planting Poppies and unplanting them again at the Tower, marshalling at the Tour de France and most recently I helped a poverty charity during the General Election.  In the last week I've been a volunteer at the World Para Athletics Championships in London.  You can get a bit arrogant, or elitist about volunteering, so when I was offered a role at the Uniform Distribution Centre my heart sank...after all handing out uniforms to other volunteers hardly sounded exciting or glamorous.  But how wrong can I be, how much humble pie can I eat.  I learnt more about people in the two weeks than I think I have in the last 56 years.  I need to capture these memories before they fade.

I was with a team of people who inevitably came from so many walks of life that I have never really encountered before.  Ethnically, culturally, socially, intellectually and emotionally there was a complete cross-section of the population.  I had to quickly learn that my experience of working in a lively, robust environment does not work well everywhere...even when your making a joke about blaming others for something that has gone wrong (incorrect size item in a bag) does not go down well in a 'no-blame culture' and amongst people who have higher levels of sensitivity than me. Helping people who did not have the same grasp of the tasks turned from being a bit of a chore to a challenge to something I got real satisfaction from.  Working somewhere I have no power, no authority was an experience for a few shifts, and helped me enormously to understand how people who have to do that all the time feel.  Having conversations with people who have such a different background, different beliefs and different outlooks on life to me was incredibly invigorating and life-affirming.

I discovered that some people have no concept of their body size - enormous people asking for small uniforms and vice versa; people who have genuine body issues; people who, for whatever reason, are miserable; people who are happy and positive again for whatever reason; people arrive looking for a fight even before they start; people who think they deserve to be treated like a VIP because they area volunteer; people who are so chilled and relaxed you warm to them immediately.

Having handed out all the uniforms, I was moved to the practice track where you are exposed to athletes from all over the world.  Many from some of the poorest countries on the planet.  All are disabled in some way.  Yet here they are titans...their achievements remarkable.  More importantly, they are people just like you or me...the same hopes, fears, the same need to be acknowledged as a person.  I was shifting the throwing frames (the stools they sit on and get strapped into for when they do shot-putt, etc).  Each one is individually made...and when you come from a very poor country that means made out of scrap metal possibly badly welded in the back streets of a dusty town..yet the athlete has overcome the challenges and made it to the competition.  Phenomenal.  Chatting with the athletes, being careful with my humour to engage them was immeasurable fun and challenging. Doing something worthwhile for these people was fabulous.

I came away exhausted after long, emotionally, intellectually and physically demanding shifts...but it was like walking on air.  The best thing I've done for a long time...and I hope the lessons have been firmly embedded in my psyche!

2016 (part 1). President Elect Trump and Me

Gosh, I didn't write much last year did I?  And now I assume I'm talking to myself, though bizarrely as I logged on, Goggle flashed up some statistics suggesting I'm the most popular I've ever been.  I've seen that before - the less I write and say, the more people like me.  I won't take it to heart.

I wonder what I did in the last 365 days?  That was the whole purpose of the blog...a sort of aide memoire, particular when I turn into a crumbly and can't remember which way to put my pants on.

So since August I must have done some stuff.  No doubt plenty of cycling...in fact last year I clocked up 5000 kilometres.  That feels very good.  A lot of commuting, and some fun rides were had.  Of the long ones, I still feel that the best was the solo cycle Exeter to Essex...really rewarding in terms of scenery and satisfaction.  London to Amsterdam was not so much fun, it being wet, windy, flat and mostly boring scenery, but I did enjoy the company very much.

My social media efforts have mostly gone into Ello, and you can see my efforts here.  I'm very pleased, perhaps proud even, of the photographs I've been taking, and will continue to put more effort into it.  Facebook has also loomed larger as it has given me a much needed platform to vent my spleen about Britain, Europe, social injustice and a whole load more - I'm not sure if it works if you click here.  Try it, and let me know.

In August a friend rented an old double decker London bus (Routemaster for the bus spotters amongst us) and turned the upstairs into a sort of life size Monopoly board.  Bit hard to imagine, but as the bus drove from Monopoly destination to Monopoly destination, we played inside with giant dice.  It was done in memory of her brother.  Brilliant fun, but probably you had to be there!

Should I mention the interactive, audience participation murder mystery Sherlock Holmes event at Madame

?  Probably.

How about the visit to friends in Cheshire, living very close to Jodrell Bank, the famous radio telescope.  Some of us went out for a cycle ride and we were all supposed to meet at the café at the telescope, but we never quite made it.  This differs from when I was a little child and my grandfather drove us all the way there from London (can you imagine that in the 1960's?) to discover I was too young/small to enter; evidently a bit of bargaining by Mum got us in that time.  I was a little sad to miss out this time.

We drove down to Poitiers for a wedding...friends' children.  What a beautiful city it is.  Well worth the four hour ferry crossing from Newhaven and five hour drive.  The happy couple had met at my old school and the bride was the neice of someone I was at school with.  Does that make sense...so we had a mini-school reunion, and a photo of many generations of Bancroftians.  Whilst on the subject of school, I was 'elected' the next President of the Old Bancroftians Association, a post I take up in April 2017.  So from the time of the truly disastrous American election until his inauguration, I share with Trump the dubious title of President Elect.

Anyway, here's a photo of me with Obama, for no reason other than we were in the States for the New Year and he was clearly pleased to see me (picture in honour of now living in a post-truth world)

Where the Christmas Trees come from

The Boy has spent his summer working in Norway, as a chalet boy.  This involves cleaning and cooking for guests from every corner of the known world.  All this will stand him in good stead for the future.

We decided to visit as neither of us had been to Norway before and it seemed like a great idea to visit him in a world that he enjoys.  We thought we would take in a trip that would encompass as much of Norway as is feasible in the week we had available.

We flew to the lovely city of Bergen, and spent the afternoon in the UN World Heritage Area of Bryggen.  This is the very old and pretty part you see in all the holiday brochures.  By coincidence shortly before we left, the subject of the Hanseatic League had come up....a name that we both vaguely remembered form 'O' Level history days.  Fortunately, all was explained in the Hanseatic Museum...it was a trading league run by the Germans and had its own set of rules and regulations that put it above Government control.  No wonder Elizabeth 1st expelled it from England.

At this point it should be noted that TCM was heavy with cold.

The next day we took a ferry to Flåm, which is where TB has been working.  It was a beautiful five hour journey along the coast and fjords.  Unfortunately, TCM was feeling pretty rough and slept for all but an hour of it.  The scenery was as beautiful as expected...really very magical.  What was also amazing was how quickly the boat docked and undocked at the various stops along the route...some of which appeared to have no more than a dozen inhabitants!  I can't imagine the UK supporting such a service.

Anyway, we arrived at Flåm which is famous for its railway (one of the most beautiful and steep in the world) and because it gets something in the order of 300 cruise liners every year.  That's a lot of ships and an enormous number of passengers.  Still, it remains largely unspoilt.  TB and Norwegian Girlfriend put us up where they are staying, and also took us round to see some of the sights...fabulous views from the heights looking down the fjord, the best goat cheese making village in Norway, the smallest stave church, and through Europe's longest (maybe second longest now) road tunnel to Borgund where there is the best preserved stave church in Norway.  TB cooked for us, a meal we shared with the Japanese guests, but not the Israelis who had gone elsewhere to eat.  The guests from Qatar cooked for themselves...see what I mean about guests from all over?!

We took the mountain train and then changed for the rest of our holiday in Oslo.  It too was a five hour journey through some achingly beautiful countryside.  Curiously, the teenager who sat opposite us thought it appropriate after five minutes to show us a picture of a knife that's band because it will kill you instantly.  Oh. 

By this stage, I had taken on TCM's cold so both us were feeling miserable as sin.  We had a few days seeing the sights and museums of Oslo - The Folk Museum (tick v.g. - essentially not a lot changed from the 1100s through to the 1800s), the Viking Ship Museum (wot! they didn't actually have horns in their helmets), The Fram Museum (Amundsen's exploits finding the North West Passage and getting to the South Pole - evidently he didn't realise he was in a race, he just got on with his scientific expedition), the Kon Tiki Museum (excellent...he was a nutter, but fantastic stuff) and the Art Museum (we saw The Scream whilst the Chinese tourists didn't really want to look at it, rather just have a selfie with it).

And then we went home.  Sadly, we weren't at our best so didn't get the full benefit of our Norwegian adventure, but I'm sure we will next time we visit.