Some people just walk across
Zebra crossings.
I have to be extra-careful as a wheelchair user. I crossed from the riverside of Portsmouth Road, last week. One lane of traffic was completely empty. The second Lane contained an approaching car in the distance. I had plenty of space and time, I crossed the Zebra stripes. Midway across, forward across the second lane.
WOAHHH!
The speeding, illegal racer, swerved around me!
I survived. Just.
An able-bodied human being would have maybe managed a quickened-skip. Not in a wheelchair! I have been panicking each time, since.
This is fortunate, as I then find myself behind a pedestrian on the pavement who doesn’t even break step as he crosses a zebra-crossing with a stupid, blind confidence. I halt, fortunately.
I mostly read relatively recent ‘thinkers’, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, George Orwell, and Albert Camus. I love them, regularly find myself agreeing strongly with their point of view. However the world has evolved so greatly in my lifetime (the past 37 years). I was born in 1984, but Sartre had died in 1980, Camus 1960, and Orwell 1950.
I have long known that all had pre-dated me (Orwell had used my birth year for name of his futuristic novel ‘1984’).
Things have changed, and things remain the same. Many, many examples could be cited, but perhaps the most obvious is the most recent. I would love to read of their opinions/views on the recent Global Pandemic of Coronavirus. How may their existentialist philosophies be applied to this situation? There are not two sides to this war. Who is benefiting from the suffering? Or, ‘What’ is benefiting?… Unless there is a mysterious, silent, evil beneficiary, somewhere, humanity must remain at ease, content that somewhere, at sometime, somehow humanity will feel a positive, equating benefit!
Of course it may be argued that we already have. Just consider how ridiculously fortunate we all are, to be here. We were all born from our families, the fortunes of which could be traced back through history.
Ups and downs
When you are cross, angry with yourself, or sad, frustrated and down… STOP
Recognise how positive things will be, or feel. Things balance.
Fact.
Accessible route!
I typed the above brief note, as I journeyed back from ‘a favourite’ (one of many favourites - http://independentcoffeeshops.blogspot.com/p/fleet-st-press-coffee-on-edge-of-city.html)!
I had left The Fleet Street Press Coffee, journeying back towards Waterloo Bridge. I was just by the Aldwych, when I stopped, recognising that I was surrounded by roadworks, in central London, but accessibility had been considered EVERYWHERE. I state confidently that this would not have been the case until very recently. I remember detouring for what-seemed-like miles, in years gone-by! Bravo Sadiq!!
Slowly, as years-go-by, wheelchair accessibility is becoming more and more common!
I finish writing this in Surbeanton (http://www.surbeanton.com), suddenly one of the best songs ever is playing. Jeff Buckley was the greatest.
RIP Jeff
His cover of Leonard Cohen’s song, melts me
Hallelujah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4
East African coffee
I have known for a long time that I’m a fan of African coffees. I dearly love their more vibrant, exotic tastes. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was how it began for me, however I have only recently recognised a similar vibrancy to the taste of Kenyan coffees. I need to look on a map, to check. They are neighbouring countries! This explains how different beans can obviously taste depending on the climate the coffee beans are cultivated in. I have long known this, but now I must research more (Somalia coffee). Rwandan coffee is tasty, but geographically I think this country is further afield…
When I have done some more research, I will let you all know!
I have updated my CV and my MiniFolio of Work Examples. I try and update my CV annually. I discover with embarrassment that my MiniFolio had not been updated since 2017 (FIVE years). I do not want to give excuses, but I realise that 2019 was an eventful year for me involving broken bones and three surgeries, then 2020 and onwards, the whole globe has been obsessed with Coronavirus. The two files can be found through the links on the side of this page, and below…
Hello, I was knocked down on a zebra crossing in 2013. There were barriers either side so you couldn't just swing in at an angle you had to turn 90 degrees in doing so you looked to your left onwards and then turned into right. The motorcyclist came from nowhere. In my experience motorists don't stop at zebra crossings even if you stop and wait to be ushered across. I don't trust zebra crossings.
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