Noah!

I like this site, Operation Noah, which I found today. No, I'm not into religious conversion. There's plenty of wisdom to be had but in matters of God I remain agnostic. I just like the comparisons between Noah's crisis and ours.

In The Vanishing Face of Gaia, James Lovelock refers to the future British Isles as a possible ''lifeboat'' for survivors and refugees of climate change. An ark is better: more purposeful and the outcome more hopeful.

And I liked Ann Pettifor's Thoughts for the Week (I was trying to remember the Ann who regularly did awful Thoughts for the Day on BBC Radio 4. Ann(e) Atkins - that's the fella! No. No comparison really).

And I want to find how to do one of these origami Arks. The art of Japanese paper folding has always been fascinating.

And I like the slogan; Faith-motivated, Science-informed, Hope-driven.

And they appear to be big on bicycles.

sciatica II

The answer to last Tuesday's quiz was; (b) Osteopath.

From a patient's perspective, I'm still unsure what the difference is. Last time I had a body part requiring expert tweaking I was sent to Physiotherapy. As I recall, they didn't do very dissimilar things to my leg. Chiropractors, I think, are almost wholly an American invention; there they are permitted to adopt the title of ''Dr.'' which can be misleading especially as they're associated with human physiology and therapy. It can be open to abuse; probably why I was thinking quackery.

The osteopath was very good; in fact, it was better than going to the doctors. I had to pay ''at point of use'', mind, a thing that we British don't have to do in the NHS. Of course, we still pay but not ''at point of use''. As a result, without going into the politics, it's hard to know if you're getting ''value for money'' with the NHS, whereas you do know, almost immediately, with ''at point of use''. And I think I got it.

With the GP, no matter how nice they are, you get the sense of time-urgency. Sure, they have so many patients stacked up in waiting, they need you in and out in around nine minutes flat. I don't know what that costs you per hour but ''value for money'' you sense about 50 pence a pop. The Osteopath gave me a full 45 minutes. In that time we discussed my recent medical history, a brief explanation of sciatica, a physical and diagnosis, the therapy itself, including deep massage, a practical instruction in stretching exercises, a look into a totally unrelated complaint (as I had time left on the clock), a discussion on the recession, job opportunities, allotment gardening, being an osteopath, keeping active, and where I could park my bike safely if I ever needed his services again. If he'd offered to make us a nice cup of tea while we sat down to listen to a long-playing record, I couldn't have felt less rushed.

Don't get me wrong; I think the NHS is very important to a civilised society. But you can't help wondering if it's really working all that well.

nerve centre

My continued falling out of love with the WWW is recently exacerbated by a bout of sciatica. I find sitting upright the least comfortable activity at the moment. This appears to be a green ailment as cycling seems to offer relief whereas driving is agony, compounded by the sense of feeling hopelessly trapped and helplessly confined. And as far as walking goes, the poison is in the dose.

Looking it up on the WWW, as you do, I find I need the services of a physiotherapist/osteopath/chiropractor for a bit of leg pulling. What the difference is I don't know but I fear one of them might be a quack. However, my main concern is if they have somewhere safe to chain the bike.

The causes of sciatica are varied, the most likely being sitting awkwardly in the same position for too long - the old WWW again, probably. It's a relief that I'm not in regular employment right now or I'd have to take time off as most of modern office life in the knowledge sectors requires the worker to sit all but motionless in front of a keyboard and screen. I recall earlier times as a trainee/apprentice engineer working pretty much exclusively on a drawing board and being able to vary the height and inclination which enabled me to spend some time sitting and some time standing, at will. Not to mention the stretching and twisting which occurred unconsciously as I moved around the large board, and between board and desk to pick up and replace instruments. Okay, I was younger then but I never suffered a work-related illness in all those days.

What have we done to ourselves in the interest of progress and efficiency? The whole thing's a cock-up from beginning to end. Not to mention the fact that when the computer system fails, either by system crash or power failure, productive work stops immediately and we all look to each other like lost little children in a shopping mall.

Computer dependence will spell the death of civilization. Ouch! - now really I must go stretch my sciatica...

putting away childish things

I've been reading James Lovelock's latest, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning (from the library, of course, part of my ongoing curb the consumerist in me project). Boy, the future looks grim. If I understand it correctly, ''saving the planet'' is futile and we should instead adapt and survive. I'm all in favour of that, far more than saving stuff. This is a book I will recommend to everyone.

Part of the message is the future scarcity of land for food production. Is it a coincidence that there is now an increase in home food production? Apparently, in some urban parts, allotments and smallholdings are in such demand, there's now a ten year waiting list for plots. As the climate heats up and the population increases, food will become increasingly expensive due to demand and the reduction in food imports. Home produce will probably become even more significant to feed the predicted 100 million people in the UK.

This morning we walked the dog along the lane which leads up to Ciren. Park, the Earl Bathurst's estate. It takes you past several polo fields sometimes used, I believe, by our royal princes. There's several of these fields and they cover quite a big acreage of perfect, flat turf. I'm afraid all this will have to go under the spade, I joked, before realising it might not be far from the truth. I wondered if they still had polo fields during the war and the ''Dig For Victory'' effort. A different age, though. Every dog has its day.

love & work (& music)

It's been a while since I wrote anything. I've been occupied building a wardrobe for daughter using only reclaimed materials; a bed, two redundant wardrobes and a set of redundant shelving units. It was a complete success: I found a renewed interest in woodworking and home-building that has long been missing. I may get on with the rest of the house with a view to selling: we need to get out of this place, it's not right for future endeavours. Already a plan is shaping up. We need to face the future with greater self-reliance and more diversification than before, to work more for ourselves than for other people.

During the last recession when I was out of employment, I found an old stereo system of mine and set it up in the garage; a turn-table, an amp and a pair of tall speakers. Digging out my abandoned vinyl collection, I rediscovered old forgotten favourites such as Taste, (feat. Rory Gallagher), Southside Johnny, and Slim Harpo.

Times and tastes change, yet I did a similar thing only this time with an old laptop, a wi-fi plug-in, and some amplified speakers. I'm rediscovering Late Junction and World On Three - perfect listening for woodworking with hand-tools. Mind you, I had to clear the garage for safety reasons first - hopping around the garage detritus holding sharp objects was getting a bit dangerous, and boring - and found Craig Charles' Funk & Soul Show ideal accompaniment for that. Happy days!