Wondering Pilgrim

How to Recover from the ‘Flu…

… when you get to convalescing, that is, after the fever breaks. Order some nice Perth winter sunshine (about 18ºC) following a rainshower that leaves everything fresh. Find a (dry) wind-sheltered possy over looking the Indian Ocean. Buy a nice hot chocolate from the beach kiosk that just happens to be open for your convenience. Enjoy for as long as it takes! Let the sun soak right through those weary bones!

PC Blues

No – not political correctness – personal computers. Like the little girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when they are good they are very, very good; when they are bad they are horrid! (Incidentally, how PC is this old nursery doggerel today?)

Our more frequent thunderstorms saw the need to replace my desktop tower recently. Ten days after purchase it was flashing red lights and beeps and refusing to start. Pulling out my oh – so- slow laptop, I was able to check some online forums and ascertain that the sequence of beeps meant an overheated CPU.

I rang the helpline and confirmed that this was so – they would arrange for a technician to visit and fix it. Oh but the part would have to be ordered first. Eight days later the technician arrives with the wrong part – the interstate helpline had sent different instructions to what we had discussed. “Sorry, the part we need is not in stock. I’ll put through an order and it should be here in five days.”

That was yesterday. Already the PC has been acting as a paper weight for longer than its lifetime crunching 0’s and 1’s – and it’s not even a month old. I am assured by the technician that the replacement part is superior in quality to the original and that this problem should not recur- which kind of begs a question, doesn’t it? Why not install the better quality part before sale in the first place?

Why didn’t I insist on a complete PC exchange? A cross between dealing with the devil you’ve already got to know to some extent and forbearing to upload all your custom software again.

The days of the stylus and clay tablet combined with the neck-top computer are attractive right now!

Returning from the blogging desert…

I discreetly upload this bookmark to acknowledge an urge to emerge from the blogging desert. Life events and preoccupations (including computer crashes) have seen this blog vacant for a while. The frantic blogaday of 2011 gave away to blog no day for several months in 2012 – a spectacular promise of fireworks that fizzled out in the rainstorm.
Resurrection is a recurring theme of my life’s vocation, so we’ll see what comes of this. The stats kindly provided by WordPress at the touch of a button reveal a steady flow of traffic on old posts, many of which i had forgotten I had written.
To those kind enough to follow this blog – thank you for your forbearance and patience. I’m working on a return!

Receptive Ecumenism

Just spent a wonderful weekend helping host a visit to Perth by Professor Paul Murray of Durham University. “Receptive Ecumenism” is his forte. It is about opening heart and mind across the traditions that identify the diversity of the Christian story yet also divide and fragment its unity. We stand at a time in history where correctives such as programmes, councils and committees seem to lack energy and impetus. The spirit of receptive hospitality, invitation and immersion in the possibility of enrichment by the other is stirring. Great stories, examples and possibilities.

Travelling the Ancient Mediterranean

Ever wanted to travel the ancient Roman roads, working out the cheapest or swiftest journey by foot, donkey or trireme? What’s the most efficient route from Eleutheropolis to Olisipo? Which time of the year favors a sail across the briny? Look no further than ORBIS. You can travel back in time and set up your own travel agency!

Refugees in the dark over security checks – Eureka Street

This article touches on a huge source of anxiety among refugees on bridging visas and living in communities such as ours. A High Court challenge is a flickering sign of hope that our Kafka-like systems will find an inch of redress. The toxic political polarisation that soaks our our waking moments, however, will take something more.

Refugees in the dark over security checks – Eureka Street.

Why keep saying sorry?

Sorry Day commemorations in Wellington Square, Perth, were significant but low key this morning. The usual annual crowd of 3000, comprising school children and business folk, is not as accessible on a chilly Saturday morning. Even so, about 100 folk gathered at the Sorry Pole listened to speeches from Sorry Day leaders, Noongar Elder Ben Taylor, and WA Govermor Malcom McCusker. Traditional dance and a cleansing smoking ceremony accompanied the planting of the “sea of hands” by all present. Coffee and hot dogs completed the occasion.

A letter in today’s paper asks, “Why keep saying sorry? Isn’t once enough?” It is important for our nation’s healing to keep remembering the Prime Minister’s apology to our indigenous people’s for the harmful policies that all but destroyed them as a culture and a people. Many still live with the legacy of the disintegration of family and identity, revealed in over-representation in prisons, poor health and reduced educational opportunities. To say sorry is not to keep on begging forgiveness, but to express the desire to work together in building adequate redress. Saying sorry moves beyond self indulgence in regret and remorse to the frank acknowledgement that things are not good and we want to act to make them better.

“Sorry” is what grammaticians might describe as a “past continuous” concept – the action begins at a point in history and continues on. It does not rest until redress is complete, and there are 50 plus recommendations from the Sir Ronald Wilson “Bringing Them Home” report to parliament that are yet to be implemented.