The Salt Path

I

Back From Australia by John Betjeman

Cocooned in Time, at this inhuman height,
The packaged food tastes neutrally of clay,
We never seem to catch the running day
But travel on in everlasting night
With all the chic accoutrements of flight:
Lotions and essences in neat array
And yet another plastic cup and tray.
"Thank you so much. Oh no, I'm quite all right".

At home in Cornwall hurrying autumn skies
Leave Bray Hill barren, Stepper jutting bare,
And hold the moon above the sea-wet sand.
The very last of late September dies
In frosty silence and the hills declare
How vast the sky is, looked at from the land.

https://allpoetry.com/Back-From-Australia

I wanted to recommend The Salt Path by Raynor Winn again.  I have read it twice now, it is such a good read.  And I have found a photo of a path in Cornwall to head this blog. Its from Col's photo gallery, of course.

Apparently the book began when she wrote an article for The Big Issue about the backpackers walk she and her husband, Moth, took after they had been made homeless and jobless, and her husband had been given a terminal diagnosis!

Yet it is in no way a depressing book - quite the opposite.  And I plan to put her next two books into my next book order. Col does the Amazon order online.  I would be interested to know if they stayed in Cornwall, having walked the coastal path. It is such a lovely county - well conveyed in the Betfeman poem above - and full of early childhood memories for me.

Our Bible student, with whom we spent Wednesday afternoon, has just re-read Neville Shute's "A Town Like Alice".  It is years since I read it, but I guess I should read it again.  It is a book that sweeps you along.  It was made into a successful movie too.

The News goes on being tragic, as no lessons have been learnt, not even from the horrors of two World Wars. 

Bea and I were talking about war today, because she is giving a talk this afternoon which  will include the subject of Armageddon.  I was wanting to let her know what the Bible says about it, as there are so many misconceptions.

For example, some - maybe many? - believe that it means the end of the world.  Whereas the Bible tells us it is the time when Jehovah puts an end to the present wicked system of things on the earth. And after Armageddon, the restoration of the whole earth to the paradise of peace it was always meant to be will begin.  

So it will in fact mark the beginning of the real life, the life our loving Creator. Jehovah, always intended for us.  It is urgent  that we listen to Him now, as Armageddon is imminent.

My shoulder has improved - but now my right leg is very painful - a legacy from those childrens' chairs at the Conference!