Carrying my History in Thousand Million Microbes

I was called up for jury service the other week. It was a letter with a demand that I show up at the county court, and a threat that if I didn’t show up I would be fined some obscene amount of money. I showed up only to be told to go home and someone would phone and interview me over the phone. Over the phone? I don’t like over the phone conversations all that much. I like to look people in the eye and read faces and body language. I’m not an expert but it is better than just a voice.

I’d gone to the courthouse armed with a kindle and a downloaded book to see me through the waiting around I thought would happen. I would have preferred to have taken my knitting, but it was a sock on four double ended needles, and maybe two normal needles would have gotten through security, four might not have. As it was I was directed to the reception desk and avoided passing through being scanned.

I have watched too many crime TV programmes and too many criminals seem to get through security checks with their 3D printed plastic guns, or they have someone on the inside and the gun, possibly not plastic, is hidden in the toilet cistern. Yes, I know. I need to be more discerning about what I watch and slip in a whole lot more wholesome TV.

I have been watching the Netflix series ‘Lost in Space’. It’s nothing like the original series. I am into the final season. The Robinsons and company have crashed on a planet and are being chased by robots. Don was caught and the robot didn’t kill him but scanned him. Apparently, the scan revealed all the places Don had visited. The science of it all actually sounds convincing. Every place we go we pick up stuff, microbe stuff from where we walk and what we breath. We carry with us, so ‘Lost in Space’ science tells us, a history of our journey from birth to death. Unfortunately, Don has visited Alpha Centauri where they are all headed to start a new life. Now the robots know where to find them.

In leu of being scanned by a robot, I will tell you where I have been today. You might want to lie down and fall asleep at this point.

I was out on the patio watering my veggie pots. I am delighted to share with you that the beans are making an appearance.

The washing went out on the line. The weather forecast on my phone assured me it wouldn’t rain. Who worries about a 2% chance of precipitation? Yes, last peg up, a jaunty walk through the back door and it poured with rain.

I collected the blue recycling bin and the foodie bin. We had gardeners in sorting out the tree roots that making the paving stones uneven. I almost tripped over at the lack of the usual ups and downs along the front path.

I caught a bus to town and walked to a friend’s house for a time of prayer and worship. I have to admit that I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. I have had dentist appointments and teeth extractions and the remaining gaps have swallowed up my confidence. She has a jigsaw on the dining room table that has been there for a while. Only patches of sky, grey buildings and green trees remain.

I took bottles down to the recycling centre at the bottom of the field. A child, one of a group on scooters, had fallen over and grazed an elbow. The rest of the croup told him to man up. Who was I to suggest first aid in my back yard?

I crashed through the jungle out back to rescue the sycamore tree and fill the brown bin to the top. The gardeners had given the tree a short back and sides. It didn’t take much effort to fill the bin. The bin collection is tomorrow so I hauled that around the path. I knew there were three snails in the bin bravely climbing to the top. They were small snails and the last time I had tried to move a snail I had crushed the shell, so I was wary of helping them. An hour or two later I shared my concerns about their safety with my husband and he went out armed with a credit card and a rhododendron leaf and scraped them gently off the inside lid.

Those are the physical places, but life isn’t just about the physical journey, is it?

The mind has had its own journey and there are monsters lurking behind corners. Some of them I faced off with and they ran away. Others stood their ground, and I did the running. I will tackle them tomorrow maybe. Me and God.