Archive of November 2010

November 28

A Quaker on the run?....

For a couple of weeks I have not felt ready to engage with the other Friends at my local meeting, which is definitely challenging, but not necesssarily a bad thing or something to be ashamed of.  It is almost a commonplace thing for Quakers to complain of the company they seem bound to keep, at least amongst those Friends whom I tend to respect and socialise with.  So attending a couple of Meetings outside my local area has, perhaps, been good for me spiritually.

I was led this evening to check the accessibility of a couple of testimonies from Quaker Faith and Practice and was pleased to find they were indeed available, and furthermore that [[Quaker Faith and Practice]] is readily available and indexed online.  The first passage concerned the idea that the person you f8ind the hardest to get along with is the very one you are likely to be confronted with at Meeting, perhaps.  I think it is the one referenced here.  Secondly I was concerned abotu conflict in a wider sense in my life and after spending the majority of my time in Meeting today eventually found this reference, which lists the three key skills as "naming", "listening" and "letting go".  I am awfully ashamed to notice that these are my greatest weaknesses and areas in which I am so unskilled they are virtual anathema to me.  The last feels simply like "dying" as far as I can relate to it... which is pretty dire!

At least I am, perhaps, attemtping the "naming" of my own internal struggle?  For what it is worth perhaps this could represent a first step?

On a tangent, but relevant in terms of my curiosity and exploration, I am trying to discover next how these "testimonies" (I think that is the correct term) come to be placed into QFP... I believe one possible route is as testimony after a member has died.  I am almost certain Yearly Meeting is involved.  But beyond that the matter remains opaque to me - one thing is for sure in being a Quaker, it is all out there but you need an enquiring mind!

11:42 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,
November 22

Legal Insanity - F***k the system

Parental Responsibility – supporting statement (Father's)

I am writing with regard to the enclosed application form, £200 fee, and supporting letter (Mother's).

This is to advise that I wish to register my parental responsibility, as a father, for my daughter Isabel. I believe that under The Children's Act (1984) and since my daughter was born after 2000 (and I not married to her mother), then (despite my name as father on the birth certificate) this is required. Though Isabel's mother is the nominal primary carer we are effectively co-parenting and would both wish to assert my right to parental responsibility.

I have attended a magistrates court and spoken with a duty solicitor in attempting witness of the form. As a result I was referred to the Family or County Courts. Having made numerous calls for assistance on the procedure I have been assured that posting the form, a cheque in sum of £200 court fees, and these letters is appropriate. I have also followed the notes for guidance on the form, and so they are unsigned (though both supporting letters are).

I believe that in the event of her mother's death there could conceivably be legal issues and wish to ensure that there are none. I have been assured that writing and enclosing a fee should be sufficient in light of the fact that this is something desired by both of Isabel's parents and indeed by Isabel herself,

Yours Sincerely

 

Paul Wrighton

(One pissed off Father of Isabel Eleanor Amelia Wrighton)

 

 

 

 

03:12 AM | 0 Comments
November 07

Daisy reveals her lineage

It was not so long ago I posted pictures with some excitement of the new tandem, acquired at the start of the summer holidays.  It took a little while to get everything sorted out for active and regular riding, because the logistics are more than twice that of two bicycles really and you feel as though everything is really very new, even to an experienced rider. Perhaps in large part that is because my riding partner (called the "stoker" in tandem parlance!) is returning to cycling after a gap of many years.

There is a very obtuse link with the reading group book selection here; since "When we were Romans" is written as the first person narrative of a child and this point of view transforms the way we see the adult storyline shown to us (I shall blog this separately and the jury is out as to my opinion and comfort with the device, one famously employed in "the Story of the nighttime....".  I really want to check if it was employed much prior to recent times!).

But back to Daisy....  And by now I hope you realise that we have (sadly?) developed the habit of referring to the tandem by this name.  Then again we do not even have a manufacturer to name the thing by, although we have discovered she is highly unlikely to be a Santana brand and is very much of the seventies era cycle technology but souped up with added components to keep her going as time went by.  She could have been a Crestline, according to "tandem-geek" (a helpful member of a USA cycling forum).  She might, I suspect, have rather humble origins.
There is a host of new terminology that comes with tandem riding, and it can rapidly start to dazzle you as you find out more.  Turning to wikkipedia for tandems I learned just now that there is a "four bang technique" which can be employed in aligning one's pedals to apply pressure in a different way to the drive.... Even more scarey for me as the "captain" is the prospect of commencing cycling with the "stoker" clipped on to help me to get underway and clip in my cleats!  I am not sure we shall ever get that advanced, it is still quite a big step for me to contemplate open, MBX style toe clips for my partner to trial.... and for the forseeable future anything less than the "one bang per cycle" technique is strictly for when we suffer transmission derailings, and not anything I intend us to explore just now.  Stoker may be the one to decide any moves on this score...

I am reminded directly of the Raleigh "Palm Beach" which was my first bicycle with gears (Sturmey three speed, of course!).  It is particularly noticeable in the crank sets, which are both driven on the right side (very old fashioned, for a tandem) and in the frame fittings and handle bars.  Also the seat posts, and I can tell right away that the wheels are not original to the bicycle as these big fat ATB tyres have literally two or three milimeters clearance from the forks, particularly noticeable on the rear wheel which is always the more crucial and stressed and appears to be slightly out of true.

So I rather see Daisy as a seventies Disco chick who never quite glammed herself up and moved on, she still loves to get out there and make the moves but has had to concede to modern times and lose her tank-top and flares!  And what do I want to do?   Well if I can find her road tyres, new wheels, and sort out the derailing drive with some sort of tensioning or anti-jump plate (we mashed up her original and had to cut it away with tin snips!  A bit like losing her platforms!  If I can do all that and we can find the time to get our technique and fitness to a level where the six speeds and maxi-drive do the trick, then she'll yet wow them on the dance floor again!  And if we get to that level, I shall take my partner to the Herne Hill Velodrome for the "ride of her life" and see if she can make it up the wall and hit thirty on the flat, a taste of what track riding would be like for her, it would be such a thrill!

05:13 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,