3 weeks in my quests are nicely pottering on. Quest 1 reading a chapter a week of the wonderful :" A History of the World in 100 Objects" is a treat. I have read my share of history books but I have never come across one like this one... it simply invites you in. Neil MacGregor who has written it is obviously in love with both history and with his museum ( yes, he runs the BM) and I am in awe of his talent of sharing his passion! Today, after having read 3 chapters I will go to the British museum and see these first 15 objects covering humans from the very beginning from some 2 million years ago up until 4-2000 years ago when we build the first big cities and societies. I have learnt that back then there were cities in 4 areas of the world. 3 of these were build on a structure of central control and power and war and 1 was peaceable. The last one in the Indus Valley was a large city state with as many as 40.000 people in a city - not much social inequality detected, few weapons were found, no fortifications and no central monuments of buildings to glorify a leader. It is nice to see that there are alternatives how to chose to build our world.
Quest #2 which will se me bake a different cake each week obviously get more followers than #1 and I truly appreciate all the applause and willing eaters of my cakes :-) It is wonderful with such help and support!
And Quest #3 visiting one of England's Nature reserves a month came off to a great start last weekend when I spent 4 days in the Lake District in Buttermere. What a beautiful place - as quaint as it's name suggests, and I loved camping out, loved the amazing fell walking, loved the pubs and their beer - in short I had a wonderful time. I have never been camping alone before and I must admit it did get a little bit boring in the evenings. So if I go off on my own again I will have to think of things to do. Maybe I should bring a little cooker, since preparing a meal will make for a lovely pass time...?
... And then there is the Quests of the quests, which I suppose in essence is what it is all about: The challenge of actually getting these things done. It is already proving a fine reminder for me on a weekly basis to pull myself together! But there are certain challenges: First of all I realise I was maybe a wee bit quick defining them and some pondering on their definitions might have been helpful... Could I for instance have included bread in the baking, since a cake a week already after 3 weeks seems a lot - Thankfully there are always lots of happy takers, so maybe that's ok - it's just that I really like baking the bread too, and it is a lot of work doing both especially if I am travelling in the weekend....
And the nature reserves... well, I should have certainly thought about that one... some of these areas are on the outer Hebrides and places like that, where even goats are scarce. And could I go to the same nature reserves more than once, or would that be defying the purpose? Did the original gail seeking "questers" refine their goal on the way? Or did they simply set out to find the gail or the Holy Land, and then along the way stumbled on a war or a dragon or damsels in distress which too them off track?
Well, so far, after 3 weeks, I intend to stay on track! 20 weeks of quests laid out so far ahead of me - with only a couple of Christmas weeks exploring the Canadian wilderness of interruption.
