Retreat or Advance?

For some months I've really enjoyed Carly Fiorina's autobiography, Tough Choices. It's a fascinating personal account of a remarkable woman in a male-dominated culture who eventually became the Chairman & CEO of Hewlett-Packard. It was Carly who oversaw the daunting but ultimately successful merger between HP and Compaq in the face of massive criticism. I was inspired by these words from her most passionate speech in defence of the merger:

'To simply say no (to the merger) without offering an alternative plan is to ask the people of HP to give up their vision, to put their ambitions aside, and to settle for less than this company is capable of achieving. The people of HP don't want to rest on the legacy of this company. They are determined to build on it... This is a choice between taking the hill and charging ahead or retreating and starting over. This is a choice between embracing the revolution that is changing our industry or attempting in vain to preserve the status quo. This is a choice between leading and following.
During another time and place, at the dawn of another era in computing, a woman named Grace Murray Hopper offered a piece of wisdom that applies to us today. Grace Murray Hooper was not only one of the first women software engineers in America, she was also a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. One day she was asked why she liked to be in the middle of the action at sea rather than docked in safe waters at home. She replied, "A ship in port is safe. But that is not what ships are built for."
HP can sit idly in its port and watch the rest of the world go by. It can choose the still waters of inaction over the rough waves of competition. But that is not what Hewlett-Packard was built for.' [Carly Fiorina, Tough Choices, p.259]

Anti-procrastination-inspiration!

Just before Christmas I was flicking through books at W.H.Smith's in Milton Keynes when I cama across a book on drawing containing some fascinating quotes. The following quote, by the author Tchaikovsky, really challenged me. I had to write it down in my notebook whilst on the lookout for over-zealous shop assistants!

'We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavouring to meet it half way, we easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient and believe that inspiration will come to those who can master their disinclination.'

Music that inspires - 9

Carole's asked me to put a Christmas wish-list together. It's so hard to think of things - but I'm hoping that a member of the family might take the trouble to order the DVD Cinema Paradiso from E-Bay. I've been wanting to watch this film for a few years, now. Having read the reviews, I'm sure it will go to the top of my favourites list when I have! I've already fallen in love with the music. How does Ennio Morricone do it? See what you think:

Music that inspires - 8

I haven't posted here for some 5 months so it's about time I did something. I've just noticed that my last video from Jane Eyre is not available anymore, so here's another with a romantic theme, a clever collation of scenes from the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet with the amazing Olivia Hussey. The raw emotion portrayed in this famous tale of forbidden love is intense. I challenge you not to be moved by this sequence, especially with Barratt Waugh singing A Time For Us in the background. I can't listen to this song on my iPod without being profoundly moved!

Quotes for living - 7

Shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.

[Lester Louis Brown]

Saturday morning at home....

Carole and I have been spending some precious time together today. Mark's at work, Matt's doing his tennis coaching, and John's playing at a gig in Camden, London. We finally re-hung the photo of Carole on her wedding day on the bedroom wall, and then made a coffee and sat down together to watch the final episode of the BBC's production of Jane Eyre. I find the following scene so moving (I apologise for the Spanish sub-titles!). Jane's wedding day had been so traumatically interrupted. She ran away, but now - many months later - she returns to find the once majestic Thornfield Hall in ruins. She learns the whereabouts of Edward Rochester and makes her way to his new home....

Nature red in tooth and claw...

...so wrote Tennyson. And I had a vivid demonstration of it this afternoon. I took my friend, Ian, for a walk over Ampthill Park. Whilst walking along the footpath around 'The Rezzy' (a small lake), a wren started churring frantically and a young rabbit ran down the path straight towards us. My immediate reaction was, "stoat!" and, sure enough, a stoat appeared, bouncing down the path in pursuit of the the rabbit. The rabbit turned into a gap in the scrub right by where we were standing, now closely followed by the stoat. Moments later there was a pitiful scream and we saw the stoat with the rabbit in a death-grip. Seeing us, the stoat dropped the rabbit but returned moments later and dragged it through the large mesh fence and into the long grass.

15 minutes later, and a few hundred metres to the west of The Rezzy, we heard more frantic squeals and looked up to see another stoat chasing after a rabbit. It brought it down less than 5 metres from us. We moved closer and the stoat bounded several metres away, characteristically sitting up on its haunches to size us up. It then moved closer...and then further away continuing to regard us quizzically, giving us cracking views. After a few minutes we moved further back, allowing the stoat to bound up to the rabbit, grasp it, and carry it away with ease.

Incredible. I've never actually seen a stoat catch a rabbit before, and today I saw 2 kills within the space of a quarter of an hour almost at my feet. What is it that they say about buses....?!

Music that inspires - 7

Here's a very different piece of stirring music...this scene from Casablanca always brings a lump to my throat. Is anything threatening to drown out important things in your life? Stand up and confront it!

Confronting darkness

This blog has been a means of marshalling my own thoughts regarding life, particularly with regard to fostering and maintaining a spirit of adventure. So I can't resist sharing the following words towards the end of Simon Barnes' book, How To Be Wild, which have really challenged me:

'Let us go back to Reepicheep, the gallant martial mouse in the Narnia books, and his intervention in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when he and his shipmates are confronted with the dark island. And as the horror of the dark island becomes clear to everyone on board the ship, they all seek to turn tail, save, of course, Reepicheep, the only person of the company blessed with a tail:

"But what manner of use would it be ploughing through the blackness?" asked Drinian.
"Use?" asked Reepicheep. "Use, Captain? If by use you mean filling our bellies or our purses, I confess it will be no use at all. So far as I know, we did not set sail to look for things useful but to seek honour and adventures. And here is as great an adventure as ever I heard of, and here, if we turn back, no little impeachment of all our honours."

Pearls from Eden

During our visit to the Eden Project last week, I enjoyed reading various pearls of wisdom inscribed on the tables outside the restaurant. Here are a few for you to ponder:

'Life is like an onion. You peel it off, one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.'
[Carl Sandburg]

'If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a happier world.'
[J.R.R Tolkien]

'Never eat more than you can lift.'
[Miss Piggy]

'Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will, sooner or later, have to find time for illness.'
[Edward Stanley]

'Slow down, wash your own salad, and improve the quality of your life.'
[William Young]

'Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.'
[Groucho Marx]

Seed thoughts....

We had a brilliant week in Cornwall, including 2 visits to The Eden Project which was incredibly inspiring. It's hard to believe that it's not even reached its 10th birthday yet! The photo is a picture of me next to The Seed which was lowered into the inner core of The Core Centre last June.

WHY

....did architects, artists and the Eden team talk day and night for many months before committing pen to paper?

....did they decide to create a vast chamber at the centre of The Core building?

....did they take over a year searching every quarry in Cornwall for a 170 tonne lump of solid granite?

....did a sculptur take over a year meticulously carving this ancient piece of Cornwall into shape?

BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO PLANT A SEED RIGHT THERE:

....a giant stone seed weighing over 70 tonnes.

....a seed carrying nature's design blueprint.

....a seed to honour growth and understanding.

....a seed that pays homage to working with the grain of nature.

....a seed that will serve as a reminder to us all forever.

....maybe to encourage respect and a duty to hope for the future?

Music that inspires - 6

And here's something for you to listen to and be inspired by in my absence: Gabriel's Oboe, from the film The Mission. When we were married, Carole walked down the aisle to Handel's, The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba - a great piece of music. But I have to confess that the most moving entree by a bride that I have ever witnessed was an East End wedding when this was the music chosen....beautiful and majestic!

Off on holiday

Carole and I were married on the 26th April 1986 - the same day that Chernobyl blew up! For our honeymoon, we spent a week in Devon and a week in Cornwall. Whilst in Cornwall we visited the beautiful little port of Mevagissey. The proprieter of a gift shop there presented us with a little pottery mouse that we still have to this day (though it's battered and lost its tail after 20 or so years of children playing football in the living room!). We're off to Cornwall for a week tomorrow morning, and we'll be staying at Hemmick Bay (in the photo), just down the road from Mevagissey. I've not packed my swimming trunks!

"He is not here. He has risen!"

Good Friday

How do you react to this photo? It makes me feel a bit sick. An electric chair. A gruesome implement of undignified execution.

How many of us would wear the image of an electric chair like this around our necks?

And yet so many of us wear a cross with little thought of what it represents: torture, agony, thirst, public shame...

And they crucified him (Mark 15:24).

Music that inspires - 5

The recent unrest in Tibet has reminded me of another situation that's not been reported in the media for some time.

I've been listening, once more, to Walk On, my favourite U2 song. It's inspired by the example of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese National League For Democracy. She felt constrained to leave the comfort of an academic life in Oxford and return home to her native Burma, leaving her husband and son behind. She won the democratic election in 1990, but was placed under house arrest, and her movements have been severely restricted ever since. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Even if you're not a fan of U2, listen to the lyrics on this song - they're really inspiring!

Before you listen to the song, ponder this overview of Aung San Suu Kyi's periods of detention (from the Wikipedia website):

Periods under detention

• Arrested - July 20th 1989. Placed her under house arrest in Rangood under martial law that allows for detention without charge or trial for three years.
• Released - July 10th 1995. Released from house arrest.
• Arrested - September 23rd 2000. Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest.
• Released - May 6th 2002. Freed after 19 months of house arrest.
• Arrested - May 30th 2003. Following the Depayin massacre she was held in secret detention for over 3 months before being returned to house arrest.
• May 25th 2007 - house arrest extended by one year.
• October 24th 2007 - reaches 12 years under house arrest. Solidarity protests held at 12 cities around the world

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can’t steal it
No they can’t even feel it
Walk on, walk on...
Stay safe tonight

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can’t sell it, can’t buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Home... hard to know what it is if you’ve never had one
Home... I can’t say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the hurt is

I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme...

Adders about!

This adder was one of seven that I found this morning during a walk in the Maulden Woods area. The eye isn't clear, which is a sign that it's getting ready to slough its skin.

Surprised By Joy

Earlier today I came across this short video about C.S. Lewis' journey to Christian faith. I didn't know about the journey by motorcycle that he and his brother made to Whipsnade Zoo (not far south from here in Ampthill) for a picnic, and how it was a part of this journey to faith. Lewis later wrote:

'I know very well when but hardly how the final step was taken. I went with my brother to have a picnic at Whipsnade Zoo. We started in fog, but by the end of our journey the sun was shining. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and when we reached the zoo I did. I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. It was more like when a man, after a long sleep, becomes aware that he is now awake.'

Quotes for living - 6

Staying with the theme of mountains - and it's a good excuse for another of those stunning mountain photos - Simon closed his presentation yesterday evening with a quote from Eric Shipton, the famous British Himalayan mountain climber of a former generation, and something of a statesman for Mount Everest. It was Shipton who discovered the first abominable snowman footprints back in 1931 in the snows beneath Everest. Have they discovered any incontrovertible evidence, since, for the existence of the abominable snowman....not yeti!

Here's the quote, from his book Upon That Mountain, published in 1943:

'He is lucky who, in the full tide of life, has experienced a measure of the active environment he most desires. In these days of upheaval and violent change, when the basic values of today are the vain and shattered dreams of tomorrow, there is much to be said for a philosophy which aims at living a full life while the opportunity offers.

There are few treasures of more lasting worth than the experience of a way of life that is in itself wholly satisfying. Such, after all, are the only possessions of which no fate, no cosmic catastrophe can deprive us; nothing can alter the fact if for one moment in eternity we have really lived.'

Beyond The Void

'The climber who cut the rope!'

That's what he's famous for! And, this evening, Andy, Paul, Simon & I went to the Bedford Corn Exchange to hear Simon Yates as he told the story of his life as a mountaineer. He earned his nickname whilst on a climbing expedition tackling the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes with his friend, Joe Simpson (the photo above dates to this expedition in 1985).

We listened as Simon shared the story of that climb in a remarkably understated way. He and Joe had reached the summit the previous day and were now making their way down the precarious slopes when Joe slipped and broke his leg badly. Simon made the decision to try to save Joe by tying together two ropes and gradually lowering Joe down the mountain one agonising, strength-sapping length at a time. Simon was using a metal device to form a brake on the rope. The knot wouldn't pass through it and, so, whenever the knot was reached, Simon would tug on the rope and Joe would find a purchase on the snow or rock, relieving the tension so that Simon could undo the knot and re-tie it on the other side before letting out the rope again to it's full length. Then he would make his way down to his friend and begin the process again.

That evening a blizzard blasted the mountainside, but the friends continued to slowly make their way down the mountain. But as they continued, Simon suddenly found that Joe wasn't responding to his tugs to give him some slack so that he could undo the knot. He waited and waited. The blizzard meant that he couldn't see or hear anything. The rope remained taut. Simon had made himself a 'bucket hole' in the snow but, after an hour and a half of holding on and taking the weight, he found himself losing his strength and in real danger of being dragged off the face of the mountain.

There was only one thing he could do...and Simon became 'the climber who cut the rope.'

The next morning, he came across an ice cliff over the void of a crevasse, and it became obvious that his colleague must have been danglinging over the cliff with no opportunity of getting a hold on the mountain face. He called into the void, but there was no answer. Joe must have fallen to his death. Simon made his way back to base camp and spent a few days there recovering.

A few hours before breaking camp, he heard his name being called and looked out to find Joe making his way towards the tent. He had survived the fall and had spent three and a half days dragging himself down the mountain in a superhuman effort for survival. He was in a very bad way, but they managed to strap his leg in a foam mat, get him on a mule, and descend the mountain before getting him to a hospital in Lima where he responded to treatment and lived to tell the tale.

And, boy, did he tell the tale in his book, Touching The Void, which was later made into a famous film. Andy & Simon have both read the book, and told me how Simon's perspective, shared this evening, had put a totally different light on it. Fascinating!

It was an inspiring evening. I've always thought that mountaineers are a bit crazy. I suppose you have to be to a certain extent to attempt some of those kinds of feats. Hmmm - I wish I'd have been a bit crazier in my younger days, now!