M J Johnson
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Books
    • Niedermayer & Hart >
      • Reviews for N & H
      • The Prologue
      • Sample the Book
      • Animations
    • Roadrage >
      • Reviews for Roadrage
      • Roadrage Sample
  • Contact Me

Synchronicity

13/3/2013

2 Comments

 
PictureMr Handel's House at 25 Brook St
Many years back I read Memories, Dreams, Reflections by the great psychiatrist C G Jung and Aniela Jaffé. I recall coming across the word synchronicity, which Jung used a lot and had spent many years researching and trying to explain. Here's how my dictionary describes the word - synchronicity - the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection. Jung seemed to suggest that these moments are a result of the multifarious underlying patterns constantly being thrown up by the universe (or multiverse or whatever) and which we remain largely oblivious to in our conscious lives. I've personally always felt we're far more interconnected than we 'think' we are. Anyway, don't panic, I'm not about to go into a great philosophical waffle. I think Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe summed up my feelings on the subject perfectly when he said, "Everything is both simpler than we can imagine and more entangled than we can conceive."

A few years back the actor/director Robert Rietty did a series of Sunday afternoon radio talks. My wife and I really enjoyed listening to the true stories he recounted. I recall one involved a Jewish couple living in Israel shortly after the war. The wife had felt compelled to take in a refugee child who had just arrived in the country. Her husband was angry about this as they were not wealthy and could barely support themselves, let alone look after a child who was badly traumatised after escaping the Holocaust. I'm probably not recounting this story exactly as it happened, but if memory serves me right, the wife heard the child exclaim "Mutti!"  She rushed in to find the child looking through her own family photo album and pointing at a photograph of her sister who had died in one of Hitler's extermination camps. She had unwittingly taken in her own sister's child.

Last weekend was our thirty-third wedding anniversary and we headed off to London  for a fun day of 'museum action'. We took in the Handel Museum and the Foundling Hospital Museum (which of course Handel was a great supporter of). It was a lovely day, and visiting a museum with my wife Judith is a bit like taking a walk through woodland with a springer spaniel - the enthusiasm is tangible! On the train up to London we had briefly discussed what had happened concerning a request I'd received last December from a member of the Dunvant Male Voice Choir (near Swansea, South Wales) to reprint a blog article I'd written. They'd asked if they could use it in their annual choir magazine. It had been about my old English teacher at Gowerton Boys' Grammar School, Gilbert Bennett, who'd been at one time Vice President of the Dunvant Choir. After emailing the article off as requested I hadn't heard anymore about it.

So, to the point: I hardly if ever look at visitor books and my wife invariably does. However on this occasion, I did and she didn't. We were at the Handel Museum on Saturday 9 March. The last entry in the visitors' book was from the day before, 8 March, and it read:

I love singing the Hallelujah Chorus - Happy memories of Gowerton School and Ebenezer Chapel, Dunvant - K M, Dunvant, Swansea. (I use initials but the full name was given).

At such a coincidence, I think all one can do is nod the head, smile and say to oneself, "The world is indeed a weird and wondrous place!"


2 Comments
Justin Thomas
15/3/2013 02:36:13 am

High Martin. Keith Millward is my step mum's nephew. I attended Gowerton Grammar from 1969 to 1976. My Dad, Alan Thomas attended there in the mid 40's.

Regards

Reply
Martin Johnson link
15/3/2013 09:05:03 pm

Hello Justin, The world is such a small place. The last person I would have expected to find in the visitors' book at the Handel museum would be another Gowerton boy! I was a little bit ahead of you at Gowerton. I arrived in 1966 and left in 72/73. We used to live in Gurnos Road, Gowerton but then moved to Penyrheol, Gorseinon. I'm still in touch with one or two people from school, but very few, as I've lived in London/South East area since I was eighteen. Up until last November when my mother passed away I returned home frequently - so I doubt I'll visit as often from now on.
Thanks very much for contacting me and for your info about KM. The internet is marvellous for connecting with people.

Kind regards

Martin

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    Amazon.com
    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    Amazon.com
    Picture
    Available in paperback and ebook:
    Amazon.co.uk
    ​Amazon.com
    my read shelf:
    M.J. Johnson's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)

    M J Johnson

    You can join Martin on
    Facebook
    If you'd like to subscribe to this blog, click on the RSS Feed button below

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Books
    Family Matters
    Film
    Historic/Factual
    Might Raise A Smile
    Miscellaneous
    Music
    Niedermayer & Hart
    Places Worth A Visit
    Roadrage
    Tea 'n' Coffee
    Theatre
    TV Stuff
    TV Stuff
    Wales
    Wilhelm & Laszlo
    Writing

    Archives

    April 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    June 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.