How I pray, yes I pray that I won't get lost or go astray (George Harrison)

Inner layers - spiritual values, deep fears, hopes, goals, fantasies, secrets and so on. 

Gulp. And, deep breath.

That picture was taken by Jacky as I braved the terrors of the London Eye. For some reason I'm okay on roller coasters, but I resisted this activity when we lived in the UK for good reason - I hate roller skates, gondolas, Ferris Wheels, bungee jumps, skateboards, sky diving...(I realise there are elements of abdicating control linking these non-pursuits).

When she asked this time, though, I felt some empathy for her needs and thought, okay, I'll do it for her. After all, how bad can it be? Sure. 

And that picture is the result (I'm holding the seat for a reason). Look at my eyes. Enough said.

Deep fears. We all have them. Yes, even me. I'm a nervous flyer, that's my big one. My deep fear: I don't want to die in an air disaster.

I get through it by keeping an eye on the prize. I get through it by meditating and medicating.  

Spiritual values. This has been a tricky topic over my 60 years. After an upbringing involving baptism, Sunday School and a confirmation in the Anglican church, my faith was tested by my mother's death. I struggled for many years to reconcile that with a God who loves me.

Then, 26 years later, my dad died and my faith was restored. Does that strike you as odd? There were just too many signs that He was working in a mysterious way and I 'saw' my parents reunited. That was intensely beautiful, and way beyond my understanding.

Since then I have enjoyed the spiritual world via Woodford House's chapel services and taken a very emotional communion in Westminster Abbey. Buddhist philosophies interest me and sustain me. When we lived in the Middle East, watching true Muslims living the Koran also gave me hope. Which leans nicely into...

Hopes and goals - these centre around living as fulfilling a life as possible. I need constant challenges in my working life and this drives my ambitions - to live different places (my love for English life is well known), to live deliberately, in the moment, not worrying about where my maple leaf will fall. I want to front only the essential facts of life. I do not wish to live what is not life, living is so dear.  I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.

Fantasies and secrets - given those hopes and dreams, I really don't have fantasies. Sorry. I had them when I was a preteen, but then teenage boy fog, married life, fatherhood, and empty nest syndrome stepped in. Reality! What a concept (to quote Robin Williams).

Secrets? Of course we all have these and they have to remain intact. If I revealed any here they would cease being secrets, wouldn't they.

Secrets have nothing to do with my brand, while an argument could be (stuffed and) mounted that the rest of the inner Wozza, does indeed, add a considerable amount. 

I'll leave you to connect the dots.

Next (and, phew, last) - core personality - my essential self.

Love and peace - Warren

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined (Henry David Thoreau)

Rachel Joyce, who wrote The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, really understands my September 2004 quote.

Harold Fry goes (increasingly) confidently in the direction of his dreams and by so doing repairs his marriage, recaptures his life's purpose and brings a satisfactory closure to his friend's life via (spoiler alert) an amazing death bed scene that I found profoundly moving.

Phew - yes - a long sentence! It's all true though.

Given to me by a colleague, ...Harold Fry is a lovely story that I can cheerfully recommend to the blogosphere.

The basic concept is that Harold Fry gets a simple idea in his head - to not post a letter but keep on walking past the postbox to see an old colleague who is dying of cancer. Think Bruce Springsteen's Hungry Heart (I took a wrong turn and I just kept going).

The walk becomes a pilgrimage of sorts because it's pretty much the length of England (map is down below).

Living the life you've imagined sounds easy. It should be easy. It's not though, it takes work and dedication and perseverance. And compromise.


Harold comes to appreciate this during his long walk. He's become trapped in a still life -the opposite of a moving image. He can't bust out of his reality because he has failed to cope with the death of his son and a marriage which has drifted into nothingness.

Deep stuff? Well not really. Rachel does a great job keeping the story on track by writing in a simple style, which is almost childlike at times.

Anyway that's not quite what I wanted to focus on. I kind of wanted to talk about those covers.


I don't really like any of them much. 

The copy I read had the first cover - pair of shoes and the bird. The shoes are relevant but not the bird. I do like the sepia browns (is that even what sepia is? Maybe not but you get my drift).

I've arranged them down the page in the order of preference. The first covers typography does appeal - homely and idiosyncratic-the opposite of the last heavily stylised cover.

Interesting how enigmatic they are as a bunch. In two of them Harold is seen only as a distant figure who's the opposite of dynamic (yes - that's appropriate to an extent), but I don't think I would have picked up these books in a bookstore, which is surely the point.

I'm not sure what the green stylised hills on cover three are about either.

Nevermind. If you're looking for a quick, pleasant book to read - there it is.

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. Danny Wellbeck? Really?

Try to see it once my way, everything zen.

Dad continues to make some progress with physio and is still in North Shore Hospital. The football season is finally over in NZ and I had my first Saturday sleep-in today, since about April. A good feeling.

The Pittsburgh Steelers got off to a good start today - beating the Titans in the first game of the new season 13-10. Santonio Holmes was again a hero (and Hines Ward nearly a villain). Do you remember that catch to win the last Superbowl? Check back through the blog. It's worth it. He caught a touchdown pass today in great fashion. Wahoo! He's still my hero.

This is the 101st post on this weblog. Pretty cool huh. I'm quite pleased with its evolution over those 100 posts. I wanted to mix up the mundane day to day stuff with other things and that will continue throughout the next 99.

I'm re reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again. This will be the fourth time I think. I dip into it from time to time but only three times have I completely reread it. Immediately I was struck by the following passage:

"What's new?" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow.

This pursuit of trivia is why I haven't bothered with Twitter (well named though, isn't it?). Its 'what I am doing right now?' premise is guaranteed to deliver an endless parade of trivia. It's not for me and even Facebook doesn't hold that much appeal really. I know Keegan has jumped off the social network site Facebook with no regrets.

The latest Guardian Weekly ran a comment column on the world's microblogging culture and the dawning of the age of interactivity. It made some interesting points - that this technological/emotional/cultural revolution is driven by a belief that constantly interacting with others is an inherently worthwhile activity.

The last word goes to the great great Henry David Thoreau who wrote in Walden - "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing to communicate".

Love and peace - Wozza