The Pennine Why!
The Pennine Way. What do I want from it? There’s the question! The real question, however, there are so many answers it’s hard to know
Swans and tea bags. the Pennine Shakedowns 5
As Scruffy and I walk along the gravel path theres a swan standing on the edge of the undergrowth to the left. The bank is
Cruise!
Or elegance and eloquence! Last year my wife asked me if I’d like to go on a cruise for holiday this year. My first reaction
The Pennine Way Shakedowns 4 Rain
There is rain in the forecast, and it sounds to me like it’s raining as I wake. I do like the sound of rain when
The Pennine Way Shakedowns 4 Me and Scruffy in the Downs.
In all the times I’ve been walking and hiking I’ve never been out on my own before. I’ve done days and made it quite clear
The Host. What does it mean to be Human?
In my opinion, Stephenie Meyer might be one the best authors out there. She has the ability to end a story properly that few can emulate. Whilst her stories are predominantly love stories she really does examine some great themes, we all know Twilight and whether we love or hate it, the way she ends all the loops and themes is just so right, or the love between torturer and tortured in ‘The Chemist’ is just so ‘right’.
However, the topics she deals with in the host are worth serious discussion and philosophising as any story or film as I have enjoyed, or endured for that matter. Let me explain
The Pennine Way Shakedowns 3. The Wolf in the Dawn
A while later, after we have broken camp and are headed of for the day along the North Downs Way, as we pass a dark pine forest that I pass the observation to Troy that the wood is very much like the one that Little Red Riding Hood had to traverse as she went to find her granny. Kings wood is full of several types of woodland. The dense chestnut coppice that we had camped out in, open deciduous woodland or the bramble infested oak lands we also passed. But here it was the dark pine woods that attracted my attention. I expressed my thoughts to Troy who did little more than humour the doddery old fella.
Until that is he exclaimed, ‘there’s wolf in that tree!’
The Pennine Way Shakedowns 3, the Devils Kneading Trough.
Its 12.30pm, half past noon. Troy and I sit above the Devils Kneading Trough, just taking in the View. It has to be said its spectacular. You can see for miles from here. To the South you can see the chimneys of Dungeness Power Station and Romney Marsh with the wind turbines turning gently and endlessly. I love blades turning, whilst a windmill will always be my favourite, I ‘m ok with the turbines too. Closer we can see William Harvey Hospital on the outskirts of Ashford. As we continue clockwise there’s the villages of Brook and Wye, both of which we shall walk through later before heading up the other side of the valley to Kings Wood where we will be spending the night.
All those suffering with Anxiety are Narcissists
Wrong! Sorry, the title was just to get your attention. But as with any human characteristic, there’s an element of truth to it. Let’s investigate.
So, lets begin with a definition. What is a narcissist?
According to Mr Google, narcissism ‘is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance’.
Put simply then a narcissist is someone who has an overly inflated sense of importance and needs to have everyone and everything around them, focussed on them. They need to be the centre of attention and struggle when this is not the case.
This is probably why the word has such a bad rap, a real air of negativity.
Seas of Grasses around the Church
We can see the church behind the houses, the stone tower rising above the roof tops, a stone tower with a smaller stone tower on the nearest corner. As we approach, we can see the entrance to the churchyard is through a passageway beneath a bedroom I suspect. You don’t see that every day. We squeeze alongside a car before we make our way through the passage. Briefly the light dims before we emerge into a typical churchyard scene. Except it isn’t typical. There are no walls to this churchyard, its bordered by the backs of houses. The churchyard is the view from kitchens and dining rooms of houses, all old and varied. Quaint, in every respect, so nostalgically traditional that you look around to see where Mrs Marple might be hiding.