Hokey Cokey Entanglement

It was a strange weekend in that on 2 separate occasions, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday, I was taking part in the Hokey Cokey. On the surface of this ‘I noticed a plastic bag blowing about in the wind today’ event, you may quite easily pass on by and continue on your endless search for answers about yourself and your universe. Now, just to let you understand the magnitude of this coincidence, the last time I ever did the Hokey Cokey was probably when I was at school. Although I have no explanation or theory of how or why these coincidences happen other than they do and quite often enough have very little importance in the grand scheme things. Or do they? Is there somewhere in the superficiality of life a hidden depth of wisdom locked in some entanglement of all things? Physics has produced some inspirational musings about how significant the insignificant can be, and certainly things that have happened in my life can also tell a tale of how a flip of a coin radically change the course of my life. Perhaps coincidences like these are a shadow or ripple of a more significant event that has  happened or is going to happen in a far off part of space where entire worlds are being obliterated. Or perhaps life in a all it’s magesty has evolved into some new and wonderous form.

 

To Social Network Or Not

How many different emails addresses do you have? How many social networks do you belong to? How much of your day to day life do you spend updating your online status or posting blogs or uploading pictures? Are you becoming a servant to an internet audience?

There is a new movement that has muscled it’s way into our everyday lives and it is hiding in the infra-structure that we call the internet. Each day it eats away at a bit of our lives, unnoticingly invading and making itself at home in our daily activities. You know them well and yet are not aware of its cunning intrusion into your life. You accept them willingly without question like a virus spreading its tentacles of influence and eventual residence within you.

What is it that drives us to so openly welcome this change in our lives? Is it our deep yearning to be noticed and be on center stage but be secure behind the wall of a keyboard and mouse. It’s so easy to step back into the shadows of obscurity and the safety of our electronic identity.

Fence

Friday, 6 new fences arrived from Walton Garden Buildings. If you are looking for the cheapest fence panels around then you will get what you paid for. Weather forecast for Saturday morning was sunny and clear, so no excuses for not doing the job. The best part of putting up new fences is the taking down of the old. 2 ways of doing this, either an orderly dismantling of and breaking up of each long piece of wood so that it can fit the back of my car or pretend that you are the incredible hulk and just smash those puny fences and then clear up the mess afterwards. I leave it up to you to figure out which methods that responsible father and 18 year old son chose.

By mid afternoon I had returned from the local dump, disposing of a carload of wood and found by dear wife in the mood for doing some long overdue gardening. Let’s hope she continues it, it’s great excercise and extremely therapeutic. We both used this as an opportunity to clear up a lot of rubbish we had in the garden too.

Looking back at my weekend and I can see how the sands of time drift swiftly pass the bottleneck of the present and leaves one with a fleeting taste of the past. Friday  after work our whole malaysian sindicate went to a friends house to celebrate not only Ashleen’s birthday but also a guy called Amit.

Little Ash showed off wonderfully on the tablas, making me feel very proud of her and little Arjan finally succeeded in switching the porch light on and off and shook with excitment of it all.

Saturday morning I had already left the house at 9 to meet Ashleen and her mum so we could watch Planes at the local cinema.  Surprisingly I got very emotional throughout the film, is this what fatherhood does to you? We followed Planes up with Turbo, an animation that had only just been released and I know that Ash really wanted to this. After the film we ate at Chiquitos and then went back home to Greenford for a few hours.

In the evening myself, my wife and Arjan  went to KDP. Arjan got an opportunity to walk to his hearts content. No furniture or other obstacles to get in his way. Such great joy in seeing him spreading his wings.

Arriving home at 11 at night, I was committed to taking some pictures of the Orion Nebula in the early hours of Saturday morning and instructed my wife to wake me up if she noted that the sky was clear. See my other blog Cosmophotography.wordpress.com.

Sunday, my wife, Arjan and I were invited around to Vals for a fantastic roast she had been slaving over.

The Neighbor

I live in a Cul-de-sac and have always tried to be as pleasant and amicable to all the neighbors around me. Is this not the nature of all Cul-de-sac residences. But for some reason the woman at number 10 has recently been giving me grief and I cannot figure out why. It surprises me in the first place how many neighbors wish to keep themselves to themselves. All, I guess have their stories to tell and I am sure, in time,  I will give you my version as i see it. Anyway, she appears to be a single parent and I rarely have any contact with her. When I first moved in I remember saying hello to her but she retorted with an obvious blank response and so it continued year after year. When living in a Cul-de-sac, there are those that at least try to make an effort and there are those who just could not be bothered. Number 10 falls into this latter category. It was only last week that whilst chatting to our number 13 neighbor that number 10 came and interrupted us in mid conversation and gave our neighborly neighbor a right mouthful. It was  surprise to see her utter something let alone bleat vulgarities at us. All our children were with us and I without thinking paced after her to give her a mouthful myself. Who in there right mind and has any level of tact or decency acts that way in front of children. She sped away, refusing to acknowledge asking her to explain herself.

As she disappeared into the safety of her car and retreated away, we all obviously change our topic of conversation to all that had just ensued.

Days pass and I arrive home one normal afternoon and I see her at her doorway glaring at me with eyes that could kill and as I close the door of my car and make my way to the front door of my house, she mouths some words to me that I can neither hear or understand. I ask her quite politely “”Pardon” at which point she shows me the finger. Shocked, I say to her while I am walking, “I beg your pardon, that is extremely rude”. She then blurts at me “You rude, you rude and shows me the finger this time with each hand. I desist from replying and make my way into my home. Neighbors. I suppose all neighborhoods have their fair share of colorful characters and I guess i am actually lucky to have any neighbors at all.

 

Reunited

I met my long lost cousin and son-of-cousin this last weekend and my family inevitably appears to be expanding at the same rate as the universe. My sister did yet another perfect hosting that was was received with much appreciation from all. Thank you Jane for all your efforts and I will avoid at all costs that phrase “Hostess with The Mostess” since I consider my sisters hosting abilities as beyond a mere mortal phrase.

 

No Obstacles In My Way

Travelling to work this morning, although uneventful, was filled with unexpected rejoice as it occurred to me how the roads were so clear and virtually all the lights were in my favor. The Holy Grail for most commuters and envy for all white van drivers. Who, I ask, who in the history of man invented this concept of getting from A to B like a remorseless canon ball. Does it rear it’s roots from some primordial instinct inside us that nominally hides itself behind mild mannered eyes, only to become apparent once behind the controls of our urban tanks? Or perhaps we have been unknowingly indoctrinated to obey the subliminal orders form the engine that drives both our society and economy. The thing that really strikes my sense of reasoning is that this mindless behavior overflows inextricably into the activities that we consider our leisure and so we take off our hats in respect for that gradual demise of the quiet drive in the country.

So next time you want to get from your A to B, perhaps leave A 10 minutes earlier and switch on your favorite piece of music and relax and enjoy the world see and navigate. You will arrive at your B both content and prepared for whatever the world desires to throw at you.

Fifty

After all my 50th birthday celebrations my life returns once again back to normal. All the joys that a family can bring were given with warmth and generosity. And I thank all my family for making me so much a part of their lives. Virtually everyone has asked me, and I am sure this must happen to most of us who cross over a numerical barrier, how does it feel to be 50? The obvious answer is absolutely no different to being 49. But I hesitate to answer with such brevity and instead resort to a deep contemplation not of the past, as one might expect, but of what the future before me holds. My first concerns are quite rightly my family who all appear to be going through some sort of transition phase in their lives. So I will dutifully support and guide them with whatever abilities I have. Secondary to this I eagerly wait for a clear sky this autumn so I can reunite my childhood interest in astronomy with the autumn of my life. I suppose that one thing that has changed in me is a calmness has descended on me and so allows me to rejoice in the positives of life rather than be asphyxiated by the calamities that fall in front of me. My father is now 78 and continues to astound me at what we are all capable of. He has started a Tai Chi class which he partakes every Monday morning, he experiments with with cooking, trying out new recipes and he has taken a leap into the world of macro-photography. I’m looking forward to this weekend when we can experiment with taking pictures of life found in his garden..

So, yes, life has changed a bit, even though I know interval of change is miniscule in granularity. Psychologically I appear to be stepping back from a painting of a busy London family life and with my chin held with my 2 fingers and a thumb, I stare contemplatively until a clarity shines through.

When I’m Cleaning Windows

Today, I decided to live up to my life mission statement, ‘always try something new’, so I joined the Ukeholics, a ukelele ensemble where I work. I bought my ukelele with case for a bargain £10 and I will join my other ukeleleist in a couple of weeks time for our first rehearsal.

2013.09.19 Dad Shows Me My First Magic Trick

Last Sunday I was at the Gurdwara for an evening of prayers with the family. While sitting down to Langar I spied on a satsuma on the dinner table and wondered how my little 16 month old son would react. Would he even be able to comprehend what I was doing or understand that this world we live in is made up of more sense rather than nonsense. How developed has his mind grown. I have certainly noticed definite cognitive processes form since he has been back from his holiday in Malaysia. He has become very focused on a toy car carrier which not only has flashing lights and a little girl singing songs, but is accompanied by a little truck that fits inside. And the brilliance of the toy maker had also designed the little truck to have flashing lights and sound. My little boy spent an entire evening putting the truck in and then taking it out, driving it around on our living room carpet and then back inside the carrier again.

Man can be proud of landing on the Moon, formulating theories about how our universe works and cure the sick but among the great endeavors that firmly define as different from other animals is we can be proud of watching our children grow.

Anyway, back to this magic trick. I placed the satsuma in the palm of my hand and passed my other hand face down over the top of it. Clasping the satsuma in my upper hand and withdrawing my lower hand away , the satsuma vanishes before your very eyes. My son showed every evidence of shock and surprise and looked up at me with wide eyes as I showed him the trick again.