Driving Home

I'm  Listening to a book by John Adair called 'The Art of Judgement'.

In it he quotes CS Lewis who said that it is impossible to experience 'hope' and think about being hopeful at the same time.  It reminded me of Schon's (1991) learning model which compares reflecting  'in action: and reflecting 'on action', two parallel processes.  This is either through active experience (by touching the kettle), or learning through contemplation ('don't touch the kettle!')

I though that this was true of many experiences in life, such as humility.  You can't be humble, and think about being humble at the same time.  Also fear.  It is difficult to feel fear, and also contemplate being fearful.  Adair notes that it's like eye direction.  You can't concentrate on look forwards and backwards at the same time.  

Waiting by the traffic lights on the inner ring road I noticed that as my lights approach the change from red to green, the behaviour of the cars turning in opposite lane in front of me becomes predictably more erratic.  They speed up to the extent that they are really taking the corner at some considerable rate as they jump lights.  I smiled at the irony that traffic lights are a safety device that actually intensifies the risk for these drivers.  As the light changed and I drove forward I heard the horns behind me of many cars  negotiating the congested road they had just joined.

Cycling yesterday through the country roads of Harborough district I notice that the council had put up a sign on every gate saying 'No Fly Tipping'.  I was reminded of the cartoonist Gary Larson (Farside) and thought that this sign could also be erected in a local restaurant where a 'fly' waiter secretly rubs his two pairs of hands as he  receives a tip from a grateful customer of a pile of rotting fish bones.

My attempt with help from Cartoonstock