Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Such a kind gesture
Despite all the aggression, the wars in the world and the hectic lives we lead, It's reassuring to see that there are still people around who will go to no ends of trouble to help you and make you happy. Well, I am fortunate enough to have had a conversation with just such a person, who would help with the simplest thing...if it's important to you, he will help if he can.
My partner and I have it in mind to visit a village in the Chiltern Hills where reputedly they have a Snowdrop Sunday. Snowdrops are one of her favourite flowers and to go and see some would just make her day. Well, it occurred to me last week that the best time to see them must be soon and we should go. But as I could not remember the date of the event and with the seasons bringing the flowers out early, we should take care not to miss the flowers at their best. On the other hand we don't want to get there too early. The journey to this village is around 40 miles each way from London, so we would combine it with a walk and a full day out.
15th century Almshouses, Ewelme, Oxfordshire
However, I wanted to check on the progress of the snowdrops and with this in mind, decided to phone someone in the village. I searched the web for Ewelme village, a most wonderful village with a superb church which houses the 15c tomb of Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey Chaucer and almshouses. and luckily found the phone number for the local vicar ....so I phoned him up.
There was a stunned silence from the vicar when I asked him if the snowdrops were out yet. Eventually he said "Well we have a few snowdrop heads appearing in our garden." I thought we cannot intrude on his privacy, but surely there must be swathes of snowdrops around the church. So after another pause, he confirmed there may be one or two. But I was expecting hoards of them....enough to celebrate with a Snowdrop Sunday.
Snowdrops in the churchyard of 11th century St Botolph, Swyncombe, Oxfordshire
"Ah," he said. You want Swyncombe Church, in the village just up the road. If you hang on a minute I'll give you the phone number for the vicar of Swyncombe." He returned to the phone with the number and then said "If you can hang on another minute, I can maybe find their circular which gives the date of Snowdrop Sunday." He returned to apologize for not finding it, but if I give the other vicar a call, he will help me. I thanked him for all his trouble and we had a nice chat, he is from Ireland and I'm from Scotland. But I did not have time to make the other phone call as more clients for Alexander Technique lessons would be arriving soon, so I decided to leave it to the next day.
The following morning I was working with a client and the phone rang. My receptionist took the message and passed it to me when I had finished. It read, "The vicar of Swyncombe has rung to say that Snowdrop Sunday will be the weekend after next on 11th February and the flowers will be fully out then." So the vicar of Ewelme who I had spoken to must have got my number and passed it to the other vicar.
It's so touching and heart-warming that there are communities and people around who will do anything to help you, on something as insignificant as confirming when the snowdrops will be in bloom so we can make our special trip. So we will be there, to hear the local musicians and see the Morris Dancers....as well as the snowdrops.
So I make a mental note to myself, to do something for someone today, no matter how trivial, to help them be happy.
:-)
