You know the kind of day when you don't have a lot arranged and not too much to do and then the door keeps going, letters need attention, e-mails need to be addressed, the phone keeps ringing and by the end you feel as if you have been pulled through a hedge which is rather a strange phrase because I don't know of anyone who has ever been pulled through a hedge although there was an initiation ceremony at one secondary school I know of where new pupils got thrown into a thorn bush.
Well yesterday was one of those days. Nothing major just a continual flow of that most famous word "stuff."
Had a skype call with American friends and they said it sounded like Piccadilly Circus around here. I said it was more like Clapham Junction and then had to explain what Clapham Junction actually was.
I thought the American equivalent might be something like Grand Central Station (that's in New York). Our friend said it was more like Philadelphia Station. That reminded me that many years ago we travelled from Grand Central to Philadelphia on the train.
As the doors to our train opened we were confronted by a number of people on their knees staring at the floor. At first I thought this was the coming out of a secret sect who no longer wanted to be secret. Or perhaps there was a crazed gunman on the rampage. I got even more worried when they told us "please don't get on the train yet."
There was a simple explanation. One of them had lost a contact lens and they were all searching for it! It was rather crazy though. After all how do you drop a contact lens on the floor of a train? More to the point how do you find it before the train starts off and the guy has to get off? Does this constitute an emergency? I think they found the lens and we were able to get on safely.
It wasn't the only strange journey we had on American railways back in the day. We got on the metro from JFK Airport into the heart of Manhattan in the bad old days when travelling there could be hazardous. We got into a carriage, the doors were locked and we had an armed cop travelling with us.
We got taking to him. "Do you know the Jones family from Roth-er-ham" he asked as if we were expected to know every single person in the UK. I had never been to Roth-er-ham (he extended the name). Come to think of it I still haven't. I asked him if he had ever fired his gun in anger and he changed the subject very quickly.
On another occasion we were sitting and having a glass of wine in Sonoma Valley in California when a local said "Are you British. You must know that John Lennon guy." On this occasion I think I thought it rather fun to reply "I certainly do. I was the inspiration for a number of his songs particularly the on entitled Why Don't We Do It In The Road." Actually that particular song was written by Paul McCartney but as usual attributed to both McCartney and Lennon.
* * *
Re-wilding. It's become all the rage. In Hethersett, areas of the village are being designated re-wilding areas.
There is a lot of support for re-wilding and I fully understand its importance but a few questions have arisen.
Can we ensure that re-wilding doesn't obstruct views for motorists at road junctions, roundabouts etc?
Is re-wilding partly responsible for the high levels of hay fever we are currently experiencing and which regularly start me off on sneezing fits that can last anything up to 20 sneezes and leave me a complete mess?