'I like to reminisce with people I don't know.' 
Steven Wright

thought it was relevant to yesterday's class X

The wise man in the green chair

There is a green chair and facing it is another green chair. On one side sits a very wise man and he is smart and clever at what he does. For five years he has met once a week with the woman sitting in the other chair. At first she was reluctant to talk to him about the inner most things and they fenced backwards and forwards until at last she began to trust him. That was a long slow process but he was patient as he had seen this process many times and that was part of what made him wise because he could see she was frightened. Once she started to talk about the deepest and darkest feelings he could shake them out carefully in the sunlight that slatted in through the dusty blind and they examined the various ideas and feelings. She talked of times in the past that were murky but when they were shown up to the sunlight they lost some of their ferocity and she grew calmer. They were not always strictly speaking alone in the small room as shadows and spectres joined them from times gone by. After a while she began to know that anything could be examined and the clutter of her mind began to ease and her fears to grow less. The spectres of others spoke too in their own way and their ways had seemed cruel and thoughtless but those too in the sunlight had meaning and they shared those meanings and both began to understand. She would always arrive half an hour before they were due to meet to compose herself in readiness and prepare to make the most of the sixty whole minutes. Often she would shift on the green chair upset at what was hovering between them - the unspoken that had been given words and although at first it frightened her the very wise man sat strong and patient and did not let anything phase him. At first he was strong enough for the both of them but over the five years she began to see the power in her own strengths and to trust in herself. At first he talked of boundaries and containment and she felt boxed in like a wild thing but as he trusted in her so she could trust in herself. Slowly she saw an emerging wisdom in herself and she began to dare to have hope. This did not seem to be misplaced and over time things shifted both inside her head and outside in her world and she began to share the world with others not cower inside the prison of her own mind. When he said he was leaving she did not panic and did not thrash around in misery but they accepted the ending together and turned to face it knowing she could now continue to learn alone and when he had gone she did so and she continued to choose to move forwards and onwards. She chose the strength of the light and not the fearsome darkness. Because he had been such a very wise man she continued to thrive and he had done his work well. She bumped into him years later and suddenly he seemed small and almost defenceless and although he was still wise she could see his humanity and out of his green chair he seemed more or less on the same level as she was and she marvelled at how that could be so. She smiled to tell him how well she was doing and then they went their separate ways to their separate lives.

Choka

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Where to find a dark sky?

Juliette's post on National Dark Sky Week reminded me of the visit of Comet Hale-Bopp back in 1997.

I was living near Pontypool at the time, and could just see the comet out of my back door, a slightly elongated vague smudge in the blurry orange night sky. This was nothing like the pictures on the television, so I got in my car and drove to the top of the nearest almost-a-mountain to get away from the sodium glare, pulled off the road onto the sheep-tracked moorland, pointed the car in the direction of the comet and sat back to enjoy it. And it was indeed much better than from the town - it clearly was a comet. I tilted back my car seat, opened the windows, unwrapped the fish and chips I had bought on the way up the hill, and pushed the radio button.

It was pretuned to Radio Sweden (surprise?!) and there was a programme about the break-up of Abba, and specifically the subsequent career and life of Anni-Frid (Frida). So I sat there enjoying my meal, watching the comet, and reminiscing about life in Sweden. Abba was big when my daughters were little, and of course at home they sang in Swedish, not Ameringlish.

But the real point of this story is that a couple of days later I visited friends near Llangranog, on Cardigan Bay, where the wind blows straight in from the Atlantic. No factory chimneys between there and Newfoundland. And the view of the comet over the sea was stunning, spreading in an arc across the night sky, a whole life removed from my view while listening to Abba.

And that's what the Week is all about. It is impossible to describe such a magnificent night sky - you must be there and experience it. And with the muck we pump into the air and the totally unnecessary upward light pollution from our towns, houses, offices, roads and factories, most people will never have the chance of that experience.

Grab it while it is still there! A comet isn't necessary - there is more than enough magic and beauty in the Milky Way. Enjoy!

Shifting Space: National Dark Sky Week

Shifting Space: National Dark Sky Week

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