Janathon Day 11: on adopting a patron saint

Janathon Day 1: Walking 8.9km, time 1hr 50min, Weather grey and windy

When I set out each day I have no idea what I am going to write about; and the fact  I found something yesterday does not mean I will be so lucky today. When I leave the house my head is empty - there is no plan - all I have is a hope that I will see something and make some connections. Somedays I do not have a route, other days I will follow familiar paths, mostly I make the decision on which way to turn when I shut the front door.

Today for example I thought I would walk south but with a complicating rule that if I passed any pathway, twitchell or alley I would follow it. The game was to keep an internal sense of direction but with an element of randomness.

Mostly I was walking down roads, passing uniform houses. Nothing to write about apart from how quiet such areas can be in the middle of the day. I did however pass a mad woman who was talking furiously to herself or the world at large (I don't know which). I did the British thing of looking straight ahead,not getting involved. Such encounters are mildly unsettling

I also passed quite a few schools and playgrounds, but I was walking through residential areas and so there must be quite a few kids.

Until today I had no idea there was a school named after St Albert the Great (nor even that there was an Albert who was great). When I got home I looked him up and was impressed not only at his scholarship in systematising Aristotle, arguing for the coexistence of science and religion, and teaching Thomas Aquinas but also the fact that he was know as the 'boots the bishop'. When he was Bishop of Regensburg, out of humility,  he refused to use a horse but instead walked everywhere.

This suits me perfectly. I am also walking around my neighbourhood with humility (because I know there are a number of people putting in a proper athletic effort and running many miles). 

I think I will adopt him as a patron of this enterprise