Recognize your coincidences (part 1)

Recognize Your Coincidences...

I finally have the tablet working, which was generously donated whilst on the journey, and think I can connect it to the smartphone by way of Bluetooth, so my keyboard just grew exponentially, and has made two finger hunt and peck possible … Thank you Claude, you have been a wonder and inspiration! So, without further ado, a little story to attend to the remarkable sequence of events that have accompanied me on the trail so far.

This little story is about taking the time to recognize your coincidences, something that is not always easy to do when in the hubbub of daily existence, but for which much must be said in favour; and how patience in all things allows for the natural unfolding of events to come full circle.

Firstly a little back story, literally, for it concerns my back, and the fact that for many years it has had the tendency to go out, having damaged it when I was a young man throwing 20kg sacks of potatoes around when working at a greengrocers in my teens for an after school job, and later, after a motor cycle accident left me incapacitated for several years.

When it goes out, I am usually laid up for several days, 10 Days to two weeks normally, so it was with consternation and a little distress that I found myself lying in my tent in the middle of the French countryside with my backout for 3 days and nights unable to move.

Trapped in the tent, outside Fere-Champagnoire

I lay between two crops one of wheat and the other rapeseed, and the farmer had come to checkout who this stranger was. He had been very helpful and kind, but I was determined not to let a silly thing as a back problem defeat me on the journey after 750km, so he agreed to let me stay there and I simply lay on my back with the most tremendous thunderstorms raging overhead, just outside Fere-Champagnoire.

The farmer had given me excellent directions on how to make town, which, after 3 days I had managed to do, albeit gingerly, but with numerous poems and some good rest under my belt. The back wasn't good, and I found rest at a small hotel in town who agreed to allow me to pitch the tent in the back and use the facilities while I mended a little. This I did for a couple of days, thank you Astrid, and the 'Hotel de Paris' , in Fere-Champagnoire.

Kittens at Hotel de Paris, Fere-champonoire

After a couple of days recuperation, a blog post, and some important parcels sent, I decided I should try and make the next destination. In some regards the back was better when the pack was on even if carrying 25kgs is not the recommended recuperation for such injuries, as it provided some excellent lower back support. So on went the pack and off I trotted on the trail towards Orleans, along the Seine.

Connantre, Champagne-Ardenne 

My first port of call was, Connantre, and the Library, where I met yet another wonderful librarian who

Eglise Saint Martin, Pleurse 

helped me greatly. The light came back with the sun and I ambled on to a Templar church, Saint Martins, and pitched my tent after some good conversation with the locals, who again helped me greatly. It was there I began to have doubts as to whether I could continue, But Nogent-sur-Seine beckoned the next day, and it housed the Camille Claudel Museum, which I had ardently wished to visit.

Eglise Saint Martin, Pleurse 

After packing up in the morning, with my neighbor kindly bringing me coffee with several sugars to get me on my way, I headed the 20+ km to Nogent-sur-Seine, making it just before the thunderstorms broke overhead. I arrived on a Sunday, when most shops were closed, but managed to pop into a little local supermarket whose kindly owner allowed me to charge my phone beneath his awning as the deluge descended, and gave me directions to the local church.

After a brief charge and a deluge of colossal proportions, I headed to the church. This is perhaps where a second little aside might be handy, as it concerns a Catholic Saint named St Roch, who wears a cockle shell as his emblem, something I too do given the association to the Camino St Jacques, which I am currently on.

Saint Roch , Nogent-sur-seine 

When I first arrived in Gallerie-Ephemere, a place I have mentioned in a previous blog entry. It was mentioned by the artist in residence there that I looked a little like St Roch as I came down the drive way, and of course I was oblivious to the meaning or association at the time, but later learned of his exploits and laughed at the obvious similarities. The same weekend I arrived in Nogent-sur-Seine, St Roch was being celebrated in Thuin, Belgium. The place that houses the aforementioned gallery. To be honest I was unaware of this at the time, but later the connection seemed apt. For as I walked into the Church in Nogent-sur-Seine, on the left of the main alter was a stunning statue of St Roch, and I was somewhat flabbergasted and decided that I was in the right place, recognizing my coincidence.

So, I simply decided to stop in the church, realizing that perhaps the connections were too coincidental to simply be coincidence. I waited quietly for about 30mins, when a Hungarian gentleman joined me in the church, and who it turned out worked as a translator, and whose French and English were impeccable. We were soon joined by a Portuguese gentleman who spoke no English and my French is sketchy at best, but the Hungarian gentleman was able to swiftly translate the fact that I looked for some accommodation that evening to rest a little. He was brilliant and immensely helpful, and after a brief and jovial conversation took me to the priory, where I met Didi the Catholic priest from the area, who immediately offered me assistance, a shower and lodgings. It was a wonderful gesture, and I stayed in Nogent-sur-Seine, for the next 3 days, gathering strength and solace, along with taking the opportunity to go to the museum.

Priory, Nogent-sur-seine 

In that time Didi and Glory, the two Catholic Priests of the parish were absolutely gracious hosts, and I have to thank them for their hospitality and care. Without their intervention I doubt I would have been able to continue.

Camille Claudel Museum, Nogent-sur-seine 

Whilst in the museum I had noted a work entitled 'charity', by Alfred Boucher, and it was mentioned at the time by a fellow observer, whilst I admired it, a title by the way that seemed apt given my pilgrimage, that there was a larger work in the park close by, by the same artist, and so I had decided to see it before leaving.

'Filial piety ', Alfred Boucher, Nogent-sur-seine 

The next day I said my farewells, although it was a little disconcerting not to be able to say thankyou and farewell to the Portuguese gentleman who had brought me to the priory initially, for he had been absent since the initial meeting.

I headed to the park, which I found with some wonderful direction from some locals, a tour guide, and others along the way who all spoke to me in English, which in itself was a little peculiar, but for which I was deeply grateful. The park was closeted away in a little corner beside the museum and a school, and I entered a small gate to a marvellous statue of 'filial piety', by Alfred Boucher. It truly is splendid and well worth the time if you get the opportunity.

After some time with the statue it was time to leave and as I wandered down towards Gustav Flaubert's residence and away from The city I noted a gentlemen with a cane walking towards me, we spoke briefly, and he too spoke English well, so we talked about the fact that we both had staffs, and both were fishermen, and had bad accidents from which we recovered, a lady came down the street and chatted with us, also in English, as if it were beautifully timed, at that instant out stepped the Portuguese gentleman from the house in which the three of us were having a joyful and animated discussion. I am not sure who was more surprised, he or I, but we met jovially, and it was the perfect opportunity to say our farewell to one another, and indeed Nogent-sur-Seine.

The residence of Gustave Flaubert, Nogent-sur-seine 

We each melted away, down our separate paths, and somehow the entire stay had come full circle, and it seemed the very best of ways to say farewell, to what had been a stay of immense import and recuperation for me, without which the journey may not have continued.

Nogent-sur-seine from the bridge

So, in passing, try to take the time to recognize your coincidence's, for although man may think in terms of cause and effect, and work particually, creation thinks in meaningful ways, and God works in waves.

;)