Our Material World

It's raining today, which is good, because it's been dry. But this means that our neighbourhood garage sale day is confined to... well, garages. That also means I won't be taking a spin around the streets, but rather that my bike (acquired in this manner last year) will stay in the garage. That's probably also a good thing because, truly, I already have more than enough material goods for my needs. Mostly, I look for what might be useful/fun for my grandsons. One year I found a wooden rocking horse that's been well used ever since. But I also found a fancy grater which has only been lifted down from its high kitchen cupboard once.

Before I get to the main thrust of this post, can we go on a little diversion? Thinking this morning about what I wanted to say, I remembered the days when I used to call my bike my 'camel'. The term originated in this way:

In the early '60s I took a ship from Durban to Venice, travelling up the East Coast of Africa and stopping often. My girlfriend and I took a day trip from the Suez Canal into Cairo. In those days the tourist trade was minimal and we were lucky enough to go into the pyramids and see them standing in all their awe-inpsiring glory in the midst of desert rather than right on the fringe of the city. Also we rode camels.

A couple of months later the two of us took a two-week cycling tour of Holland to see old places and tulips. We started in Rotterdam. The first day was spent riding around the cobblestoned streets of that city. Next day, to put it mildly, we were more than reluctant to get back on our 'camels'.

Okay, so here's what I've been musing about all that surrounds and supports me in my life in a purely material way. How aware am I of what I have? Do I truly appreciate the comfort and convenience? And does it, perhaps, make a difference to the grand scheme of things whether or not I'm more conscious and appreciative? On a purely practical level, it must do, because surely appreciation leads to caring. I try my best to create a good atmosphere in our home, so maybe this is a new step that I'm ready to take. And now, looking around my study, I'm thinking I'd better go do some furniture polishing!

p.s. Blogger was down yesterday, said something about 'mean time'. As you know, I'm always interested in what's going on with our English language. I'm observing some words that didn't used to be split, are now two. For instance, the above, but I've also noticed an increasing tendency to write 'can not' instead of 'cannot'. On the other hand, some words that used to be two are now one. Fascinating!