I really loved reading this Chris. The pull to theatre and the arts particularly resonantes for me as I am a performance maker by trade. I do lots of other things but that always seems to draw me back, and find its way back to me. Though actually I think there is a lot of crossover between deep creative arts practice and permaculture design practice do maybe that isn't so bad? xx
Thanks Liz, for kind comments. Yes, I would agree with you on the crossovers. I found that my work in stage design was good preparation for permaculture design, with the text as a parallel to the landscape, the deep reading and analysis leading to synthesis and evaluation. Thanks again.
another lovely piece Chris, diolch. Also one of many past hats, my favourite these days are the 6 coloured ones! I wish I'd known about them 35 years ago, some trajectories may have been different.... but then again, maybe not. Love the PDC picture!!
Thanks Wilf. There are a few more hats that I didn’t have room for such as painter and then machine programmer and operator at Signs Workshop, a good one because I never needed to wear that hat outside work hours. Support Worker for Fforwm Ieinctyd Datblygiad Gynaladwy (Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development) although part time, spilled out everywhere…
This resonated so strongly with me Chris - so many hats crammed on my head and my late husband's over the years until a cancer diagnosis shocked us into doing what had been our plan A. Why do so many of us get seduced / persuaded / bludgeoned into abandoning our dreams to do what others see as more 'sensible'? My husband lived for 17 more years (with a prognosis of 7 - 10) but died 15 years ago. I love the life I live now but often wonder what would have happened if we had been braver earlier.
Thanks Sue. I’m sorry to hear about your husband. My wife, Lyn, has had three lots of cancer now and is off for a brain scan in a week or so. Not easy. Yes, I too wonder what would have happened if I’d just stuck it out and accepted financial limitations and the like but lived a life I believed in from the very start of my adulthood. We’ll never know and can do nothing really other than accept and live with whatever unfolds around us and maybe try to steer a bit. Thanks again.
Brilliant piece, Chris! I enjoyed it so much – all the more for having had my own intersections and learning curves with and at Coleg M-D, having to learn BTEC jargon etc. (PGCE I was spared, but voc D32s and D33s came along to swallow up time and effort with little meaningful reward.) We coincided for a while I think on the Performing Arts course. In the end I actually taught something (Eng Lang/Lit) for which I was qualified! As you probably know, Keith Jones (who gave me my first proper full-time job) died very recently – a benign presence, from an on the whole friendly time that changed as the coleg got sucked into bigger structures and management became more & more remote...
D32/D33 Aaargh! I’d forgotten about them! Obviously I’ve repressed more than I’d realised…I found most of the staff to be very nice, supportive folk, with only one or two exceptions. I loved having Mair Tomos Ifans as my boss and was very disappointed when she left but she was fulfilling a dream of being warden on Enlli so fair play to her. Thanks for the kind words Ben.
Wonderful, Chris! I hadn't known your career trajectory after Aber and it is all fascinating, particularly the self-analysis between 'hats'. However confusing it may have been for you, the path seems to have gone the right way, everything you describe as lived experience going to make up the complex and impressive person you are now! Gwaith da!
I really loved reading this Chris. The pull to theatre and the arts particularly resonantes for me as I am a performance maker by trade. I do lots of other things but that always seems to draw me back, and find its way back to me. Though actually I think there is a lot of crossover between deep creative arts practice and permaculture design practice do maybe that isn't so bad? xx
Thanks Liz, for kind comments. Yes, I would agree with you on the crossovers. I found that my work in stage design was good preparation for permaculture design, with the text as a parallel to the landscape, the deep reading and analysis leading to synthesis and evaluation. Thanks again.
another lovely piece Chris, diolch. Also one of many past hats, my favourite these days are the 6 coloured ones! I wish I'd known about them 35 years ago, some trajectories may have been different.... but then again, maybe not. Love the PDC picture!!
Thanks for sharing and writing Chris, nice to hear more about your life beyond permaculture
Thanks Wilf. There are a few more hats that I didn’t have room for such as painter and then machine programmer and operator at Signs Workshop, a good one because I never needed to wear that hat outside work hours. Support Worker for Fforwm Ieinctyd Datblygiad Gynaladwy (Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development) although part time, spilled out everywhere…
This resonated so strongly with me Chris - so many hats crammed on my head and my late husband's over the years until a cancer diagnosis shocked us into doing what had been our plan A. Why do so many of us get seduced / persuaded / bludgeoned into abandoning our dreams to do what others see as more 'sensible'? My husband lived for 17 more years (with a prognosis of 7 - 10) but died 15 years ago. I love the life I live now but often wonder what would have happened if we had been braver earlier.
Thanks Sue. I’m sorry to hear about your husband. My wife, Lyn, has had three lots of cancer now and is off for a brain scan in a week or so. Not easy. Yes, I too wonder what would have happened if I’d just stuck it out and accepted financial limitations and the like but lived a life I believed in from the very start of my adulthood. We’ll never know and can do nothing really other than accept and live with whatever unfolds around us and maybe try to steer a bit. Thanks again.
Brilliant piece, Chris! I enjoyed it so much – all the more for having had my own intersections and learning curves with and at Coleg M-D, having to learn BTEC jargon etc. (PGCE I was spared, but voc D32s and D33s came along to swallow up time and effort with little meaningful reward.) We coincided for a while I think on the Performing Arts course. In the end I actually taught something (Eng Lang/Lit) for which I was qualified! As you probably know, Keith Jones (who gave me my first proper full-time job) died very recently – a benign presence, from an on the whole friendly time that changed as the coleg got sucked into bigger structures and management became more & more remote...
D32/D33 Aaargh! I’d forgotten about them! Obviously I’ve repressed more than I’d realised…I found most of the staff to be very nice, supportive folk, with only one or two exceptions. I loved having Mair Tomos Ifans as my boss and was very disappointed when she left but she was fulfilling a dream of being warden on Enlli so fair play to her. Thanks for the kind words Ben.
Wonderful, Chris! I hadn't known your career trajectory after Aber and it is all fascinating, particularly the self-analysis between 'hats'. However confusing it may have been for you, the path seems to have gone the right way, everything you describe as lived experience going to make up the complex and impressive person you are now! Gwaith da!
Aw shucks, Neil, many thanks! Amazing how it took me over forty years to get back to where I'd wanted to be right at the start. Duh!
Often the way, Chris!