Camino (the track, path or journey)

Last Saturday I was part of an interactive art installation at Leigh Beach as part of the Leigh Arts Trail. The task was to move large quantities of dry sand from the beach onto the mud flats to form a sand labyrinth; visible and sanctified for a time and then reclaimed by nature through the tide. The project was spearheaded by Miss Joanna Hartle, a woman of many talents, but with a particular penchant for art and nature together.

The creation of the piece began at 4.30 AM, and I admit I wasn’t there for that, but I participated by ferrying sand, laying it down and walking the Camino (as well as eating the bacon sandwiches!). Jo wrote a blog about the whole process which you might want to browse: http://www.naturespacecreative.com/camino-days.html

(photo credits to: Jo Hartle, Dee)

Since last Saturday I have been ruminating on the Camino:

tierra sagrada (holy ground, sacred space)
When people walked the Camino they responded in various ways, but most people remarked that it had ‘been special’; helped them gain perspective or just a bit of peace. In a way this seemed a bit strange; all we had done was move some sand from one part of a beach to another. It was a public beach, there was nothing special about the weather or the location; but through all our toil in the early morning we had created something special. This got me thinking about other ways we can create places or times to find peace and a bit of perspective...

camino: the track, the path, the journey
There came a time when I got to walk the Camino for myself and I noticed several things. It is important to state the obvious at this point: the Camino route is a metaphor for life’s journey. The first thing I noticed was that we all walked the same path, but had quite different experiences - shaped by our choices, like our footwear (or lack of). Barefoot enabled sensations such as heat and cold, rough and smooth which augmented the overall experience of light and movement experienced by other path-walkers.

Secondly, as I walked along the paths I found my feet fitting into the footprints of previous walkers of the Camino. Sometimes these were other people’s footprints, people who had already been here and moved on; maybe those who have apprenticed me on my journey. But sometimes I realised with surprise that my feet were fitting into my own prints, imprinted when I had been creating the piece. It reminded me of those times when you find yourself in exactly the same situation as before, but the circumstances feel quite different.

aguas turbias (muddy waters)
This week has been full of contemplation regarding the past, present and future of my journey; from pints of cider with old flames to scary Careers talks, and promising looking PhD offers that then fall through. Similarly with the Camino, some parts of this journey are easier to walk than others; some areas were near flooded, walking them was messy and progress was slow, but an entirely necessary part of reaching the end goal; sometimes we had to stop to repair the banks of the Camino as it broke under pressure, other parts of the path were easier to traverse. Isn’t life just full of this same wonderful variety; hard times and times when the going is good, of smooth paths and muddy water!

¡dejar su impronta! (Leave your mark!)
If you go back to Leigh Beach now the Camino will be invisible, reclaimed several days ago by the tide. But its mark lasted several tides, and its imprint was still visible 24 hours later!
Several hours of blister inducing digging completely erased; but I am sure the effort was worth it if only for the journey I went on. Thank you Jo for inspiring us to do something great!

Just in case you are wondering; I submitted that culture essay, yesterday. It took many more bacon sandwiches, lively debates and early mornings to knock it into shape. Interesting, as opposed to essay relevant, cultural comments on my trip to Germany coming soon...

Aachen (Dom + Kultur) part 1

As some of you may know last month I went to Aachen, Germany on a work placement in the Cathedral as a compulsory part of my Masters Degree. I really enjoyed myself and I learnt lots of things; not all of them directly related to Cultural Heritage. Now that I've been home for two weeks it’s about time I wrote my experiences up in the form of an essay which critically reviews the placement and what I learned. 

The trouble is, it is tedious! 

Like really boring!

Like I've started writing a blog to avoid writing about it. I've also been working on a detailed paper model of the Cathedral (see below). 

When I've been running in the opposite direction from the essay writing I've been trying to work out what the blocks are to writing up the experience. I kept a diary the whole time, so I already have 3,000 odd words to say on the experience. And it wasn't as if everything from the people, to the weather and the workplace weren't beautiful.
It’s not even as if there’s nothing to say about Cultural Heritage, it was everywhere.
The problem is finding interesting things to say, about the things they want to hear, and (the problem for this essay in particular) in a structured format.

As time has passed I've managed to get some ideas down on paper but its taken an entire bar of emergency chocolate, a bacon sandwich, three cups of coffee and several trips to London to get me this far! I wonder how many more trips to my favourite independent coffee shop (Utopia) I’ll need before I eventually hand the work in? Just as well the deadlines totally flexible!

 

The Five Ages of Man, and cars. (1st blog)

Hello World!

Well after about a year of people suggesting I ought to blog I've finally caved in. Props to Jonty Roland and Elle McAllister for suggesting it; and Marika, Gabriel, Will and Jo for being considerable inspiration.

Just in case you didn't know who I am my name's Bec I'm 22 and I'm currently living in Essex.
I'm polishing off my MA in Cultural Heritage Studies at UCL. All sorts of things about the world seem really interesting to me, but I'm particularly interested in people, how they think and behave. I also like to travel and have adventures.

But most of all I like telling stories and analysing social situations. So that's probably what you will find on this blog as time goes by. I'm currently supposed to be writing up my recent work placement in Germany, but this is proving worthy procrastination (maybe I'll write about it on here sometime, only the interesting bits obviously).

Today I wanted to tell you about a revelation I had in the car.

I am currently learning to drive and for several months have referred to 4th gear as 'Aunty Fourth'. Why? Because 4th gear has always struck me as an economic, sensible gear that keeps things turning over and running smoothly but it doesn't actively do much or have much power. Today I realised most of the gears could be anthropomorphised into members of a gear family:

First gear - first gear is like the baby in the family. When a baby screams grown-ups react pretty quickly. Similarly first gear has quick effects in actually getting the car up and moving. But it only does that first bit, once you've moved a few seconds down the road it becomes useless. On the journey of life we require new gears that enable us to move faster, more efficiently and with less rumbling in our engines. But interestingly in life, as with gears, when we come to have to do something difficult we often revert back to childlike behaviours; just as in cars you do manoeuvres in First.

Second gear - Second gear has got the energy of a small child. Its quite active, you use it when you want to weave in and out of residential areas and at times when something is to be negotiated. Its quite a powerful gear but you'd soon run out of puff if you did the whole journey in second. (I have to say I don't really understand why we need second, other than for turning corners, thoughts?)

Third gear - This is my favourite gear. (I often get told off for not moving into fourth on time, but I just love third!) Third gear is the teenager or twenty-something. Third is the gear for accelerating onto the carriageway, for physically getting somewhere.
Its a gear that does something.
Sometimes its not the most efficient gear to be in, and maybe we ought to be coasting a bit more, but with third you get stuff done.

I've already described 'Aunty' fourth but where does that leave Fifth or Reverse Gear?
I've had very little experience with fifth but when I've used it it just seems like an even more chilled out gear than fourth. What do you reckon?
Where does fifth fit in this family tree? I was half tempted to make 'Reverse' old-age. It would fit with a plethora of witty literary references and yet the voice of my conscience (my Mum!) leaves me feeling that actually old people do make positive contributions to the world in often quite active ways. And they do not always go against the current of younger generations either.
So where does 'reverse' fit in this system; does it stand for those little life crises we have, where it feels like we're going the wrong way but somehow we still manage to reverse somewhere useful?

And what about my love for third, will it wane with age such that by my mid-30's I prefer to drive in fourth?

Will I ever pass my driving test?...

Stay tuned for answers to these questions and more (reviews of cafes, interesting foreign escapades, social action projects)...