Thursday 12 August 2010

No more faffing

I have been watching Julia Bradbury walking across Britain, following Alfred Wainwrights Coast to Coast walk. 190 miles from St Bees in the Lake District to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire. At the start of every programme you can hear a short narrative by Wainwright, a few pearls of wisdom which I repeat here.

'One should always have a definate objective. In a walk, as in life, it is so much more satisfying to reach a target by personal effort than to wander aimlessly. An objective is an ambition, and life without ambition is aimless wandering.'

These words have really struck a chord with me. I have had a few days just lately where I have been wandering aimlessly, and I don't like it. Sometimes I cant decide what I want to do when I get up in the morning, and waste the day by faffing about. When I go walking my target is to fill the whole time I have available, I set myself a finish time and never come back early. I need to start applying this principle to other aspects of my life, I need to plan my days a bit better, and stick to my target.

This morning my plan was to go to Hull, find a shop in George Street, and check out some maps. I also had a hankering to do some walking. So I walked to Winteringham, got the bus to Hull, free with the pass, found the shop, and did the same journey back in reverse. Total walked 11.56 miles. It was a lovely day, sunny and slightly breezey. I'm glad the wind was blowing in the opposite direction when I passed this combine harvester, ha ha.

Right what is my target for tomorrow? If the weather is fine I will do a walk locally, a bit more of the Viking Way, or if it is raining I will stop at home and make three more shopping bags. Then if it stops raining I will dig up two bushes in the front garden, and replace them with two new ones that I have been growing in pots. So from now on, no more faffing :o)

6 comments:

  1. Oh dear I'm very good at faffing:) I had a habit of writing a daily to do list which I then stopped doing. This week I started my daily to do list again and it's been great as I feel as though I am achieving quite a lot. Any jobs I don't cross off I put them on tomorrow's list:) Love the Quote♥ Must write that down and display it somewhere prominent!

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  2. I seem to spend a lot of my time faffing. Hoep you don't lmind but I copied the quote and will print it out tomorrow. This made me think of a poem I found a while ago. I have put it onto my blog. Hope you get the chance to look at it
    http://piggiesheaven.blogspot.com/2010/08/slow-dance.html

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  3. i watched the programme too, it has inspire dme to get walkign again, have just got a back pack to carry my 1 year old so will be heading out next week.

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  4. Ah! The art of faffing!! I am an expert at it!! And of course Wainwright was correct... some of my life is aimless wandering... but I find a little aimlessness is necessary once in a while - the key, I suspect, is in keeping the faffing down to the minimum. Well done you for finding the quote... Very apt!

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  5. I usually divide my time by the weather - rotten - I stay inside and nice I m out in the garden, walking.
    Have just found your blog and I m really enjoying it. I dont walk as far as you but I ve been thinking, heck, why not. Thanks for the inspiration

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  6. Glad you enjoy your walking, Anon. Ten miles sounds a long way, but it isn't. It's a walk to town and back for me. If you want to check the distance of a walk, go to www.bikehike.co.uk You could start a notebook logging your walks.

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