Winning by collaboration

I watched the women's Olympic cycling road race this afternoon and it was exciting. I am beginning to understand the tactics needed for winning a cycle race and the collaboration needed.

In running races you aim to get ahead on your own and reach the winning line as fast as you can! A long cycle race requires a different approach. This is because of slip-streaming. A cycle can go 25 % faster (or you need 25% less energy) when you ride in the slipstream of the bike ahead. When you ride together as a peloton then the group slipstream means that the riding is easy for the whole group.

In Sunday's race the three women, a Dutchwoman, an English woman and an Russian broke away from the peloton and formed a chain gang - a cycling manoeuvre where they all help each other by sharing the hard riding at the front and so all equally benefit from the slipstream. This involves rotating the lead in a continuous manoeuvre as the front rider peels off and joins the back. It works with small groups but three is the minimum number of riders needed to make it work effectively. The women who had made the break had to help each other to ensure that they stayed ahead of the main group - if they failed to collaborate then the bunch would have caught them up. They could only stay ahead by collaboration. Of course in the last hundred metres the sprint started and then it became each one for themselves as they raced for medals. 

Racing cyclists compete as teams, supporting each others strengths. In this way the climbers will push the pace on the hills and the team will try to ensure that their sprinter gets to the front at the end.  The team can also set the speed of the main peloton and hold it back if they want to stop others from catching up their team member who is in a break away group ahead! Most cycle races are team events in which each member of a team has a part to play to ensure that one member of the team wins for them all. Of course with such complex tactical race planning all sorts of things can go wrong. The most well thought out game plan can fail due to those things that cannot be planned for such as punctures, weather, crashes, and the behaviour of other riders.

It seems to me though that the collaborative approach needed for winning a cycle road race can teach us a very  important lesson for life.

Olympic opening ceremony

I liked the opening ceremony. I didn't expect to. I was cynical about the possibility of meaningless froth and ephemera. But the whole thing was entertaining, fast moving and with deep and profound meanings about what it is to be British and what we value and cherish. Danny Boyle's interpretation of history was stylised from Hobbiton to the dark satanic mills of Mordor in a few minutes! The transformation of fields to asphalt was fast and dramatic.  It was amazing spectacle due in no small part to the scale of the performance and the sheer number of volunteers taking part.The humour was integral - and what other performance could possibly include Her Majesty, James Bond, Mr Bean, J K Rowling, Kenneth Brannagh, Evelyn Glenny,  Simon Rattle, Paul McCartney, a fleeting image of Cumbernauld (from the film Gregory's girl) and the Arctic Monkeys?! The suffragettes appeared as did CND. 
 
It praised the National Health service and meditated on remembrance in dance to the hymn "Abide with me" 
 
There was Beckham on a speedboat and the inventor of the World wide web, and to carry the Olympic flag Daniel Barenboim and Ban Ki Moon among other worthies.  There was great beauty in the way the torches lit individual copper kettles which then lifted to be transformed into one vast cauldron of flame - inspired!We sat at home in front of the TV and munched though a huge box of Strawberries. It was a great night. 
But not everyone thought so...

"RUGELEY MP Aidan Burley caused outrage tonight during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, describing the spectacle as "leftie multicultural c**p" on social networking site Twitter. As the show began, a tweet from the Conservative MP's official account read: "The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen - more than Beijing, the capital of a communist state! Welfare tribute next?" Another tweet followed shortly afterwards which said: "Thank God the athletes have arrived! Now we can move on from leftie multi-cultural c**p. Bring back red arrows, Shakespeare and the Stones!""

How welcoming?

How welcoming is a church?

Most churches have the word welcome on their notice board.. But “Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community” in the USA has a welcome sign that goes beyond what you would expect. I think they got together and had a brainstorming session to list who Jesus would welcome to his house - Here is what it says:

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.
We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.
We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.
If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.
We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!

(see the hymn "All are welcome"  - "Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live....) 

 Image courtesy of zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The spirituality of sailing in a schooner

I have just returned from the wonderful experience of sailing on a schooner down the coast of Norway from Aalesund to Bergen. Sailing in a tall ship is an adventure involving physical challenge, learning, adventure and personal self discovery. It can also be a spiritual experience.

By spiritual I do not necessarily mean religious - in our society today spirituality is used to describe all the many things that bring increased richness to our experience of life. 

What then are the aspects of sailing on a big boat that bring spiritual experiences?

Firstly there is the experience of living in close proximity in community with strangers. Life at sea is a simple life - there are limited luxuries and limited space. Living in such a way increases our self awareness and our awareness of the needs of others. Tensions may emerge on a long offshore stretch as there is no getting away from the other people on the ship but this also can be a time of personal growth. I think it is sad that living in community is not part of the normal life experience of many people as social isolation and individualism have become the norm.

Also involved in the process of building community is an experience of teamwork and recognition of each others strengths and weaknesses. A team has to be built to master efficiently the hauling and sweating tasks that the crew have to do. For a ship to sail well the crew have to work as an integrated whole and this takes discipline and practice.  Working on common tasks and learning new skills can also be a point of growth as people learn and fail and grow together. We laughed and cried as we tried to master the bowline knot, practising again and again the "round the tree and down the rabbit hole" manoeuvre but knowing that we had been discouraged from using that childish narrative!  

We frequently stared blankly at the lineup of ropes on the pegs as we were trying to carry out an instruction as we were unsure which rope would adjust the right part of the rigging. But as time went on we all mastered the knots and learnt which rope did what. A great sense of self worth is created when you are successfully able to master some simple task that a few days earlier had been closed to you. On a complex large ship you know there are many more tasks which you have yet to master and which may require years of practice before a confident competency can be claimed. We watched in awe as the captain manoeuvred the seventy foot schooner in close quarters, often surrounded by obstacles to come neatly alongside the quay in just the right place. Such seemingly effortless skill takes a lifetime of practice to achieve.

There is also plenty of time on board a boat between the periods of intense activity for more reflective times. There is time for good, deep and meaningful conversations to take place which are often drowned out in our lives at home by the noisy intrusion of the radio and TV. Perhaps most important of all there is the opportunity for sitting on deck and staring out into the open ocean and meditating on the vastness of creation and the smallness of our own place in it - and when we start musing like that who knows where it will lead. It certainly helps you put the concerns of day to day life into a healthy perspective. 

For more information of where I went and the schooner I sailed on see  http://www.schoonersail.com/

Sailing in a schooner...

This "poem" was written mostly by me but with help from other members of the crew, to remind us of sailing along the Norwegian coast from Aalesund to Bergen.

Sea Fever or
If William McGonagall had sailed on Trinovante he might have written...

I must go down to the sea again: to the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by
So I searched with Google on the Internet and found Schoonersail
I booked a plane, packed my wellies and set off on the adventure trail

The stores were packed the crew arrived and off we went to sea
To sail the coast of Norway on the schooner Trinovante
Captain John steered the ship with an arm that was strong and true
And first mate Su whipped in the crew and did the cooking too

Hauling and sweating the halyards gave us biceps like King Kong
And we felt a sense of achievement when we didn't get things wrong
The ship sailed like a racer, speeding past the land,
And the crew learned the ropes to become a disciplined band

The sails went up, the sails came down and we tacked to and fro
As they went up we heaved and hauled and up we watched them go,
But when the fishaker was dropped it descended from on high
And engulfed the crew in sail cloth obliterating the sky

Able seaman Julie then cast a line over the stern
And within a minute a place in history did she earn
For every time she dropped her line she caught a fine big cod
and she only had a mackerel line not even a fishing rod.

At last the end of the voyage drew nigh and Bergen hove in view,
All thoughts turned to going home and the jobs we had to do,
But in our dreams our schooner home ever more will be,
Roaming under sails (all put up right!) upon the wavy sea. 

Love letters to the public transport system

I don't know what the PC way is to describe a one man show when the performer is female - whatever it is the performance by Molly Taylor which I saw at The Macrobert on Thursday was superb. 

It was an hour of talking - and originating from Liverpool Molly knows how to talk. The story line was linked masterfully by public transport and described incidents in her own life including highly personal stories of love and loss. There was a beauty in the honesty of the monologue and an exuberance from the ordinariness of it all. Yet there was also real passion for travel and the way that travel is taken for granted when we rely on it for many parts of our normal lives. She also related the stories of others whose lives had similarly been changed through journeys or encounters on the public transport system.

Molly started this project with a quest to find the drivers who had made the journeys possible that had helped her to arrive at the right place at the right time to meet someone special. In a sense it was a reflection on fate, chance, design and providence in our lives.

Co-incidences happen frequently as if certain events were meant to happen.  As a Christian I recall that Archbishop Michael Ramsey said "when you pray then co-incidences happen" and George Macleod said "If you call that a coincidence, I hope you have a very dull life,"

Molly Taylor's show Love letters to the public transport system will be on at the fringe in Edinburgh and is recommended. 

Image courtesy of Adam Hickmott / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Pensioners and drug addicts

I met with a lovely older lady today in her house. I will call her M. M lives on a modern social housing scheme with small houses and flats designed mostly for older people.

Quite a number of the flats are occupied by single young men and women. They are drug addicts and alcoholics who are housed here. Many have a small dog who accompanies them on their regular walk down to the pharmacy to collect their methadone. Because of their addictions some of them are quite confused at various times. Other times though M finds them sociable and friendly neighbours. They spend their days walking around with their dogs and sitting in each others flats. 

There have been incidents - one where a flat was set on fire because the occupant was too stoned to realise what he was doing. But there has been no crime or violence.

This last weekend there was a tragedy in the neighbourhood. One of the young men ( probably in his thirties) threw himself off a footbridge onto a road below and was killed. His wee dog sat on the bridge barking all night. It seems that the lad had heard some distressing family news and in his drug influenced state of mind he took his own life.

Reflecting on this poor guy she said she would often stop and talk to him and though he would sometimes be all over the place in his thoughts, at other times he would be just a nice but lost young man. He was sensitive to the fact that whenever he walked past an elderly lady most would hold their bag close to their body with both arms showing in their body language their fear of attack. He admitted to M that this really distressed him as he loved his own granny and these ladies were just like her. M said to me that all these young people are all someones child. It is so sad. 

What is the good news for these people. I have seen the good work NA (Narcotics anonymous) can do with people who are trying to kick their habit and stay clean. They use the well-proven techniques of AA using peer support.  Society's only answer seems to be to give them prescription methadone - and is that really a solution? I wonder if we can be good neighbours to these young people or will we walk past on the other side.

Image courtesy of Victor Habbick / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"Do not feed the trolls" theatre review

The programme introduced the new play Do not feed the trolls at the Macrobert youth Exchange drama festival like this:

"Inspired by our ability to revel in the misfortune of others, Do not feed the trolls is a provocative and darkly entertaining piece of theatre that celebrates those moments in life when you just can't help but crush the soul of your fellow human being."

Internet trolls are those who use the cloak of anonymity provided by the net to be abusive and bullying to others, often seeking to provoke and hurt just because they can and who derive pleasure from causing such suffering.

This was a lively, moving and often very funny play. It involved a contemporary exploration of morality in terms of how you should treat others. It revealed how the new types of relationships that can be formed through the Internet can destroy normal standards of behaviour. The play asked when is it OK to laugh at another persons misfortune. Why are the most popular videos on You tube of people falling over. How far is it legitimate to go in this sort of trolling/teasing /bullying in a group when you think you can all take it. The play explored the limits, revealing that everyone has a limit when they become vulnerable. Who defines the boundaries of behaviour in the contemporary world? Are there ever acceptable levels of cruelty?

The biggest bully in the play was the text projected on to the back of the stage which interacted with the characters as an anonymous author in a chat room.This was a scary individual that never revealed his/her identity - was it a member of the group or was it an anonymous stalker/groomer/pervert? He/she knew many details about the individuals and was able to confront them with all the things that they most wanted to hide about themselves. 

The play ended after a challenging climax of revenge with all but one of the characters laughing together at you tube videos on the Internet. Whilst they enjoyed the real life enjoyment of laughing together they ignored and became unaware of the irrelevant chat room voice trying to provoke a reaction by being more and more unpleasant in its challenges to them. 

As a piece of theatre lasting just over an hour it was outstanding. Well done to the Macrobert theatre groups and the students studying contemporary performance practice at the Royal conservatory of Scotland. And thank you to the National theatre of Scotland for promoting the festival.

Theological student...

The principal of the theological college was interviewing a senior student, asking where he would like to be sent for his first ministry. 

The student replied, somewhat boldly, "Oh,  anywhere but Newcastle." 

"Why not there," the principal asked? 

"You know," the student answered, "that's my hometown -- and we all know that a prophet cannot be honoured in his hometown." 

The principal ended the meeting by remarking, "Don't worry my friend, nobody is going to confuse you with a prophet."

The Aleph by Paulo Coelho

I have just finished reading "Aleph". Like all Paulo Coelho novels this contains a new age sort of Roman Catholic spirituality in a story of personal discovery and exploration. Coelho is very popular throughout the world becasue he taps into a longing for religion lost and spirituality that touches the real problems of today. The problems that Coelho addresses are the self centred problems of the middle classes who spend their time and money searching for meaning in many and varied aesoteric ways rather than the problems faced by the poor and suffering in their struggle for survival and acceptance as members of the human race.

The novel is predicated on a belief in reincarnation which is hardly mainline Catholic or even western teaching!

Though I don't accept much of what the author writes he does have some great quotes that are full of wisdom and insight about life and the human condition. Here are a few examples:

"To live is to experience things, not sit around pondering the meaning of life."

"When faced by any loss, there's no point in trying to recover what has been; it's best to take advantage of the large space that opens up before us and fill it with something new."

"I remember the many occasions on which help has come from precisely those people whom I though had nothing to add to my life"

"Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second [at the end of life] and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life. Paradise is being able to say at that moment: I made some mistakes but I wasn't a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do."

"Travel is never a matter of money but of courage."
"Life is the train, not the station."

The Cut Glass Bowl

I do not usually read short stories but last week I read "The Cut Glass Bowl" by F Scott Fitzgerald. 

It is a masterful short story set in the nineteen twenties.

It contains within it one of the best insults I have seen in a long time.

An ex lover gives a young woman a cut glass punch bowl for a wedding present after she has rejected him to marry another.

He said "Evelyn I'm going to give you a present that's as hard as you are, and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through."

The story explains how the bowl is pivotal at various points in her life - and its influence is always malevolent.

The picture is not of a cut glass bowl with its sharp edges but of a normal salad bowl!
Image courtesy of John Kasawa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net