Friday, March 23rd .....

I’m a great believer in synchronicity: the feeling that ideas or situations come together as if pre-arranged. Some people say that when one door closes, another opens to explain how on the day that a person resigns from his job, another one, even better, becomes available. Or the extraordinary occurrence that when you scratch your head wondering how to solve a particular problem, the phone rings with a person you have never heard of offering the perfect solution. A bit spooky - like deja vu.

At Giant Steps, this happened so often we began to talk of a guardian angel and I suppose that’s how the idea of a guardian angel watching over took hold in our culture. And I guarantee that other cultures have similar ideas.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I would attempt to learn a few phrases of a Japanese which would be invaluable on our forthcoming trip (that’s an example of irony; the only time I tried to communicate in Japanese was ludicrous). However, I got hold of a couple of phrase books and I am trying to learn one or two every day. One promises that if I can learn 100 words, I can express 1000 ideas. Sounds good.

I decided I would also attempt to write a poem about it and here are the first few verses:

In the wilds of far Tasmania, it’s rare to hear the chatter
Of jolly Japanese jabbering about things that really matter
In this typical selection of the Tassy population
It’s English that we speak like the rest of this great nation.


If we all could choose a language that we use to tell our story
And we all chose something different, conversation would be gory
To concentrate on English is a sensible decision
That means that what we want to say can be said without revision.


But when we go to foreign lands, we’re faced with much confusion
The natives there don’t speak like us – I’ve come to that conclusion.
Next time I go to distant climes I’ll sort that out, by jingo
By learning how the natives speak, and speaking in their lingo.

Instead of saying Good Afternoon, I’ll say Konnichi-wa
And sumimasen, kudasai and Mo tabemashita ka?
I’ll cause a stir where e’er I go, they’ll stop me in my track
To hear me speak like natives do, and slap me on the back.


As you can see, there is a bit to go yet but back to the synchronicity – On TV I notice that Stephen Fry’s Planet Word is being shown and the first episode talks about the different languages and how hard it is for some people to learn any language but their own. I suppose it’s stretching things a bit to call this synchronicity but I’m going to do so anyway.

NOTE: Konnichi wa – Good afternoon
Sumimasen – Excuse me
Kudasai - Sorry
Mo tabemashita ka – Have you eaten yet?