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In Sanskrit, the same word means sage and silent one.

SO TRUE?

CONSTITUTIONAL

Rain. I get emotional about delicate natural items.
Lavender was the first thing to affect me this way, years ago now.
Today it is acorns.
Acorns. Yes, they are heroes. From tiny ones, great oaks. This we know. Acorns are natural celebrities.
But what about the cup that holds them? It has a name. The cupule.
Whereas acorns go on and do mighty things, the humble cupule just carries the acorn to the playing field, letting the glory go to its passenger. Nature's taxi driver. The parent who ferries kids to and fro, endlessly, thanklessly, but with pride in the act of giving.
The cupule sets me tearful for its own amazing beauty. The way it perfectly holds its acorn. The sheen of its dish. Perfect in form, and beautiful therefore. And miraculous. Water and sunshine made this thing. Millions of them form and fall. Forgotten things. Unnoticed. Supporters. The cupules on the wet tarmac set me appreciating all the world's supporters. Those gentle beings supporting the glories of others. I feel quite emotional about this.
I remember and give thanks for those who have held me, supported me, stood aside for my growth and progress. I stand, holding a single cupule. Tears and rain run down my face.

A CUSTOMER SERVICE MANIFESTO

• By customer, mean person.
• A living, breathing person whose greatest need is always love.
• Love can be given in any job, but none more readily than customer service roles.
• The world closes functional benefit gaps - what is left is emotional. Hence -
• Love is the ultimate propositional differentiator.
• When love is given, love is also received
• What better job could there be?
• Thus there is a reciprocity of benefits for customers and staff in giving extraordinary service.
• The free flow of love can happen but not when censored.
• The very people organizations struggle to get to deliver extraordinary service are the very people capable of huge, extraordinary, world enhancing acts of love, expressed outside the work place.
• Leaders, go figure.
• To obtain extraordinary service, a leader must remove the censorship which an organization places in the way of the free flow of love.
• The greater the removal, the more extraordinary the experience.
• The greater the pressures censoring free, loving expression, the drabber the experience.
• Design can happen momentarily and individually. Routines and consistency are forms of censorship.
• So are systems, soft and hard - but where they are essential the dwellers should be the builders.
• Money is the greatest censorship of all.
• The truly great service leader will keep money out of it as far as humanly possible.
• Expert guidance in these matters is impossible. Only hearts that will open can guide what censorship can be tolerated. Expertise, professionalism, consultancy and advice are themselves all forms of censorship.
• Amor vincit Omnia.

"Laughter is the shortest route between two people."

Victor Borge

HORSING AROUND

As a concerned eco warrior galloping through the countryside in my Chelsea Tractor, I am always looking for sustainability ideas.

Here's one.

Horses.

Step one. Eat them.

Step two. Take all horse related acreage and turn it over to vegetables.

Smile. You have saved the planet. And made a major contribution to the war against anthropomorphism.

ALL AT SEA

Boats are she.
Everyone knows that.
But when you are out on the water, every other boat is he.
"He'll pass astern of us."
"He has right of way".
Odd.

PIES

Most people are like pies.

There's the crust, and the filling.

Of course you can't see the filling at first. You have to break the crust.

Sweet? Savoury? Not worth the bother?

You never know till you try.

This weekend, aboard CYLESTA, with George and Fraser, two ace crewmates.

A time of:

• deep-cod psychology
• mackerel fishing
• pizza
• dolphins
• light airs
• unseasonal sunburn
• intrepid off the bow diving
• land haze
• easy going boat handling
• Muscadet
• Rockfish
• chicken antics
• laughter
• superb company.

NO SEX PLEASE WE'RE BRITISH

A young friend of mine has dropped her boyfriend.

"Why?" I ask, "he seems like a nice guy."

"Yes, but there's a darker side".

"Ooh, tell."

"I caught him using porn on the internet."

I laugh. "No? What, him and most of the entire human race?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a vast part of global internet usage."
"It's disgusting."

"Have you used it?"

"No, of course not."

"Then how do you know it's disgusting?"

"What's disgusting is him looking at other women like that."

"Then why didn't you make him some porn of you?"

I may have lost a friend. If looks could kill, I'd be in the crematorium.

The odd thing to me is how British this is. In many other parts of Europe my comment would be like saying to someone if you don't like your man going down the chippy for his lunch, why not make him a pack up?

We've a long way to go.

CONSTITUTIONAL

While Scots in their millions take their constitution into their own hands (perhaps) I take mine into mine.

Mid September and the air wraps me warm, like a scarf.

Long tailed tits are busy zipping about, almost as though it were a second spring. Likewise goldfinches. I speculate on their purpose.

In the north wood two buzzards cry to each other their soulful song from the top of the tall Ashes. Cry, reply. Cry, reply.

A fat sycamore leaf falls. Brownish yellow, though the predominant foliage colour is still green. There are still butterflies, falling like leaves, except upwards. Reds, browns. greys, the occasional white.

I pace with controlled breathing. Four in, four out. Almost synchronized with the buzzards' calls. And when I can no longer do four in, four out, after slowing to preserve this rhythm, then three in, three out and I speed to a stronger heartbeat, feeling its benefit in my whole body, knowing I will breathe better, eat better, think better, sleep better.

ARRIVAL TIME

I've heard it said many times that life is about the journey not the destination.

That metaphor tends us toward striving, reaching, advancing.

I wonder if we wouldn't be better thinking of it as a constant set of destinations, each arrived at with the anticipation and relief of a destination reached.

Here we are.

Home at last.

Nowhere else to go.

Time to appreciate this.