Prayer for Peace

Lead me from Death to Life

from Falsehood to Truth

Lead me from Despair to Hope

from Fear to Trust

Lead me from Hate to Love

from War to Peace

let Peace fill our Hearts,

our world, our Universe

Peace, Peace, Peace

 

That prayer was taken from a pile of brochures given to me by Ann Farr from the Pax Christi Foundation. I met this courageous lady when I went to see Icon for Peace and Reconciliation at the Chapel of Unity, Coventry Cathedral. Ann had just returned from a charity mission in Palestine and had given a talk about the situation in the West Bank. We’d a wonderful afternoon discussing the plight of the Palestinians.

This unique icon is a large colourful sacred painting  made by the monks at the monastery of ‘St. John in the Desert’, near Jerusalem. It is dedicated to Pax Christi, the international peace movement. It depict stories from the Bible and saints of both eastern and western traditions, linked by the theme of peace and reconciliation.

And yesterday was Remembrance Sunday.

In heartfelt remembrance, of all those, the whole world over, who have fallen in battle

and are still falling…

At 11am, I sat silently thinking and saying a prayer for the sacrifices of both men and women, now and in the past, who had lost their lives so that I may enjoy my freedom. The silence represents the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, when the guns of Europe fell silent. This Wednesday too I will be joining the 2 minute silence at work.

Later, in the afternoon, after the rain had stopped,  we stretched our legs at our usual haunt. Babe spotted this lovely, fluffy Blue Tit, busy grooming himself. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that Babe was able to get such a a lovely close-up.

I then saw this beautiful Grey wagtail  running up and down the roof of the visitor centre. He was busy hunting for insects that are basking in the sun. We’d a lovely time playing hide-and-seek with this cheeky bird.

We walked through the woods. The smell of fungi, rotten wood and leaves was very overpowering. We saw different species of fungi scattered all over the place. They were doing well this year. Even our favourite Fly Agaric managed to sprout another one.

As we were walking, we were also serenaded by bird songs. The foliage was still thick and we were unable to spot any of them. But not this cute Long-tail tit. He was there observing us, observing him. I just love that adorable look.

On Saturday, CC and I met for our usual monthly noodle fix. We spent our time scrolling down the menu, debating on what to choose and ended having the same as before. It was hilarious. We enjoyed slurping our meal. washed by gallons of Chinese cha, watching the world below us passing by. We came out fully recharged and ready to tackle the crowd.

This week have been a very busy week for me and my colleagues. We had taken and had to learn extra roles that was previously done by 3 colleagues who left after the ‘r/destructuring’ process. I have been assigned the European Documentation Centre publications and doing the Headings report. More headaches and adjusting to c__p in-house classification schemes for me. Apart from that, we also took turns in doing the induction programmes for a new colleague, AM.

I also managed to check out the poster exhibition on the first floor of the library. They were hosted by the Undergraduates Scholarship Scheme (URSS) which gave the students the opportunity to be directly involved in research at the University.

URSS has helped these students get involved with research from photochemistry in biomolecules to Shakespearian performance. They will be developing their knowledge of academic research and acquiring valuable transferable skills which would definitely help them in their studies.  Well done to those taking part.

The goldfinches are still hanging about on this tree in front of our casa. I hoped the seeds will sustain them for a long time. It is very comforting to see them feeding and listening to their lively twittering before I leave for work in the morning.