The End to End is, I’m sure you have realised, a very weather dependant activity. By Day 26 we had encountered most of the types of spring weather for which Britain is familiar. I had adapted to these to some extent. I’d taken off wet clothes in car parks, I’d got wet through to my knickers, I’d been nearly knocked off my feet by wind and so on. There was quite a lot more to come of course.
Weather has always been a subject of conversation in our household and not just because we’re British. I never knew so much about weather until I married Bob. This morning I managed to notice for the first time the barometer that he’d put up on the wall about five days ago. It’s the same one we’ve had in each house we’ve lived in together and probably still has the same dust on it. Weather forecasts are a bit of a ritual with us. Folks should be silent during weather forecasts, more silent than in church even. I always enjoy a good weather forecast. There’s an art to it, a technique, a performance: more so than even a sermon because anyone can fall asleep during a sermon.
Day 26 of the End to End was notable for being windy, which is arguably the worst weather for LEJOG as it makes the going hard. Today, one year later, there’s rumours of rain in our little valley but none has actually fallen yet. It is generally a wet part of the country, which is why it is home to a chain of reservoirs. However, at the moment it is very dry and a moorland fire a few miles away has been giving the firefighting services a hard time for several days.
We might like to think of weather as being outside of our control but more and more evidence for the human influence on our climate makes that view unsustainable. Look to the weather and you look to the world.
From the remembered gospel
In the midst of the storm, Jesus said ‘Peace, be still’.
Storm stiller, as the clouds gather I see the world change,
light and dark patches run across the landscape.
In these days, across the blue sky, fewer aircraft leave their trails.
The main road is quieter and the birds are easily heard.
This changing world needs to hear your encouraging voice:
‘Peace be still’.
Quiet us, calm us, sustain us,
but most of all may we hope that it is possible to live simply that all may simply live.
JAL: 26.04.2020 in Longdendale