Thought for the Day

As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol half an hour ago:

How easily we fail to appreciate progress. In twenty-five minutes time I will be eight miles from here posting a copy of this thought online so everyone in the world can see it.

'What?' says my younger self. 'Are you completely mad?'

And my great-grand-parents ask how I can get eight miles in twenty five minutes with a fifteen minute walk to the station.

'What's a station?', ask their grand-parents.

Progress. Regularly unnoticed. Often good.

But sometimes it comes at a cost and we have to discuss that.

Nempnett Thrubwell is a place every radio contributor should be required to pronounce in their audition piece. There, as we heard earlier, developers have observed the possibility of harnessing the energy from a life-giving ball of burning gas 92 million miles away. Some of the villagers say, 'Not here, thank you.' A solar farm would be ugly.

Who are the custodians of beauty standards? Is energy that is almost free more or less beautiful than attractive green fields while the houses are warmed by the coal from distant mines making others' homes grubby?

The psalmist reminds us that the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. That mountains and fields praise their maker and rivers clap their hands. The psalmist probably didn't have to watch the local sparrowhawk eating a pretty collared dove on my lawn the other day.

It's tough holding faith, beauty and reality together. Tennyson, creator of the expression 'nature red in tooth and claw' included these lines in the same poem:

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.

Beautiful words.

Selling Things 3

...who still have a maintenance contract with me for my old boiler, they ask why I left, if I realised it would be cheaper to come back and who did I go to. They even doorstepped me yesterday and asked me to come back. No, pleaded.

When I explain that I don't care about price much and what I don't want to do for a few years yet is talk about changing they look confused (because of course I have a record of changing although only once in 27 years). If I do change again it will be to go to green electricty, which is more expensive.

Why do my bank try to sell me household insurance or quote for my mortagage? Why do they invite me in for a financial review to do this? They are a bank. Keep my money. Isn't that enough?

I like finding things for myself. One salesman got lucky with me once. The rest. Go away unless I want you and then make it easy for me to find you.

Quite a short rant really. Couldn't get the energy together.

However I notice Lloyds Bank have sent me another rewards offer. They will be hearing from me.