Travels in U.K.

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I’m visiting friends and family.

Typical English countryside walking.
Liz, the mum of my boys.
Elodie my brother’s granddaughter and already into books.
Brother Andy building a giant playroom. He’s missing renovating houses.
Skalextric!!! At one end with soft toys and computer games. All for his three grandchildren, obviously.
Creative Poppy my granddaughter following in the footsteps of her mum Alice.
My eldest son Ben and Poppy’s Dad
Gina one of three good friends from University. She introduced me to Liz.
Piccadilly Circus. London
Nelson’s column London.
Brian my first supervisor when qualifying as a social worker. He deserves a medal as I’ve known him forty years.
London double decker.
Poppy, my granddaughter, with her mum Alice who kindly put me up when in London.
Like it? Japanese style.
Poppy modelling a dressing gown from India.
The new household cat at Alice’s is actually friendly.
A picture to share with Kaveri and Radhika. We’ll fly in a plane like this on our trip to the U.K. in two years.

The travels in the U.K. have so far included: London, Derbyshire, Yorkshire … next Bath and Trowbridge before a big leap to Italy.

My house in Hebden Bridge.

Doing our LEVEL BEST

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Jill and I, top row and left, led our team of managers of the Kirklees government section that provided services to disabled people, in the 1990s.

Disability Services included day and residential centres, equipment and adaptations to their homes, WORKLINK to get integrated employment, daily meals, care at home, social work and housing.

I have very fond memories of our time together and the dynamic team we created that made a difference in so many people’s lives.

We were fortunate and known for a programme of work (LEVEL BEST) to be able to involve disabled people in telling us what they wanted from the services leading to a series of innovations, including ….

– information service

– advocates to help people understand and get the services they needed

– community based daytime activities

– integrated housing

– disabled people’s electronic village hall providing access and training to computers

– a shop selling equipment

– accessible transport service to the wider disability community.

…and a conference to pass on our learning to other organisations.

We were a wonderful team, at a special time who found ways to do things differently .

Thanks guys.

Footnote

LEVEL BEST was a campaign of different methods such as: a reference group, market research panels, public meetings, interviews, to involve disabled people in telling us what they wanted from a reorganised public service. It led to a business plan and fundamental reorganisation of the overall service.

After footnote

That was thirty years ago. Unfortunately the money available to provide such services is reduced and demand has increased. Political priorities change. People are however continuing to provide essential services in difficult circumstances.

Phew

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Todays team gather for an important job
It’s a long way and tight tight tight.

Left a bit, straight, right a bit, wiggle it in and out….

Home at last.

You wouldn’t believe I’ve experience of reversing up narrow Yorkshire streets, often between parked cars.

This was so stressful.

I’ve got the Ambassador into the garage before, but not just after I’d spent a small fortune on having the car re-sprayed and renovated.

Makes one nervous.

Well it’s done and now I can go on holiday.

Our beautiful tree

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Years ago I returned from a trip to the U.K. to find the tree outside was decimated. That’s maybe an exaggeration but I was shocked. As the taxi pulled up I could now see most of the front of the house.

A branch had broken and MAnjula had had the tree trimmed. Not quite pollarding but a shock nevertheless. It was like a no 1 haircut.

What had happened to our tree!?

It’s now recovered and dominates.

It’s a beautiful tree that we both loved. The Indian way is however to hack them back. Its a process that needs managing.

Today

A couple of branches had come loose in a recent storm and so it needed a trim—— carefully supervised to ensure they didn’t go too far.

I didn’t want the same hacking so both SB and I supervised and approved each branch to be cut.

Micro-management in action.

The security guy from the local school doubles as a tree chopper. He did the duty. Later we’ll have someone do a more precision job with a circular saw.

There was a keystone cops element to it.

Thankfully we didn’t pull down any of the wires

Manjula once declared her wish to be reincarnated as a tree as it supported, protected and sheltered people. That’s just like her

I think our strong beautiful tree was in her mind.

We now have symbolic trees in our life, in the house, the car and our real beauty outside.

Here’s another one … Just inside our main door.

Metamorphosis Ripple effect.

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The newly named ‘Radical’ needs protecting from the sun, rain, trees and other animate and inanimate objects.
First stage: waterproof cover found after the third attempt. Dont ask.

Nothing is straightforward, it’s India.

The old velvety inside of the roof, sadly couldn’t be retained.

Sowbaghya aka SB gave it to the paper collection man as scrap.

Next …

… job is to clear the garage and obstacles (plants, furniture, two wheelers) from outside, to make the drive drivable.

I’ve accumulated so much stuff.

In my defence, I have lived here the longest in my whole life. That’s fifteen years.

One step closer.

I leave for the U.K. in two weeks and plan for radical to live there. Given the regular downpours we’ve had she should have moved in previously

I’m well suited to India.

I’m expert at putting jobs off.

Growth post trauma

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I like this edition from Maria Popova…

“A person is not a potted plant of predetermined personality but a garden abloom with the consequences of chance and choice that have made them who they are, resting upon an immense seed vault of dormant potentialities. At any given moment, any seed can sprout — whether by conscious cultivation or the tectonic tilling of some great upheaval or the composting of old habits and patterns of behavior that fertilize a new way of being. Nothing saves us from the tragedy of ossifying more surely than a devotion to regularly turning over the soil of personhood so that new expressions of the soul can come abloom.”

John Gardner on the Key to Self-Renewal Across Life and the Art of Making Rather Than Finding Meaning

We’re multidimensional and can grow in any number of directions. As I’m continually tangled in the survival of life’s challenges especially the grief that knows no name, I like this perspective. To me it links with the Buddhist concept of feeding the seeds, it reflects there is choice and opportunity in making ourselves what we want and need to be.

It’s no accident that I’m reflecting on this the day after Kaveri has returned to school. She represents a bountiful section of the new garden..

I wish MAnjula’s presence and attentive love was physically with me to help with the gardening. We’ll all manage together, in this new chapter.

The family grows

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No not (just) the car.

It’s important to recognise and realise how much my adopted family here in India as helped me survive the most difficult years in my life.

Sowbaghya is so critical to my life here in Mysore

She’s project managed and coordinated the rejuvenation of the radical red, that is now attention seeking in and around Mysore and Srirangaptnam

That’s the tip of the mountain of help she has been.

Sowbaghya is important to me and has kept me and the business going.

Thank you Sowbaghya for all your help.

I firmly believe that grief is always with us but becomes more manageable as we fill the space around it with important valued people and ‘things’ we do.

The next member of the family, everyone knows, the irrepressible Kaveri. Grief manager extraordinaire.

I can’t begin to list what she does for me.

She makes me smile (and cry.)

She’s cool.

She’s a big thing.

Our mini team is complete with Kaveri’s ‘sister’ Radhika, a wonderful young woman.

I look forward to witnessing her develop and we growing together through the years.

Oh ….. Trishalla and Eregowda, have been a great support through difficult and remembering times, you’ll have to wait to see where that leads.

A special mention for: Sarvesh, Vasanth, Satish, Tanuja and their families.

We’ve all worked together to cherish and continue Manjula’s radiance through our projects: events, school, community meals, creativity days, supporting Kaveri, and making Manjula’s garden in the park.

Not to forget our guests who have become family and my very own DNA family folks in the U.K. and Canada

Ina, our every-year guest who was a big buddy of MAnjula and now me, in front of the banner created by other guests.

There’s not only humans in my family…