This week I went to Birmingham for a couple of days. It’s been a while I haven’t taken a crosscountry train, which always brings me much pleasure and, I don’t know why, some very deep thoughts.

First, after reading “The remains of the day” by Kazuo Ishiguro, I would never allow myself reading book on the train anymore, but just to absorb as much as I can the ‘restrained beauty’ of the UK countryside landscape.

I am quite aware it would take a far wiser head than mine to answer such a question, but if I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say that it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart. What is pertinent is the calmness of that beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, of its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it
- The remains of the day, Kazuo Ishiguro

Second, the more I observe my mind, the more I see how just going to a city few hundred miles from London could significantly affect its function. Without the familiarity of the surroundings, my mind seemed to turn into an alert state, always in the watch out for people and things outside, both for safety and curiosity.

Birmingham, to me, is like a country of itself, so much diversity and cultural differences. And, even though it’s not as crowded as London, it has its own ways to remind you that it’s deservedly considered as one of the most dangerous cities in the whole UK: from the sirens on the roads several times at night, to even the look and manner of strangers in the station or on the main streets.

Strangely enough, it made me appreciate much more the familiarity of everyday life, where my mind knows what, when, and how to carry on with my schedule that has become so familiar. Because I guess that’s necessary for it to really think about stuff in a deep and meaningful way.

I guess this is pretty similar to how Trevor Noah describes his life in the hood (a very poor area in South Africa) when he was young, in his famous very worth-reading book “Born a crime”. In short, it’s like:

If you let life carry you always where it will, you would never be able to think, really think.

Anyway, the 2 days of working intensely with the team was so productive that our director had even proposed immediately another 2-day gathering together before the summer. I guess that fact could really show how powerful it is to be in a room together and keep discussing about the important stuff. We still regularly meet on Zoom/Teams, but nothing could compare to such satisfied feeling most of us confirmed after the 2 days. Except that, it’s quite exhausted to be honest, and I had to dedicate the whole Wednesday just for recovery.

However, to me, what is most memorable is actually the dinner where we had a chance to listen to the two old men (one is our director, and one is CEO of a survey company) telling few interesting stories of their life:

  • from the surprise that they both were in Boston at the time people there celebrated the end of the famous ‘curse of bambino’, but in two very opposite ways: one was living there and happily drinking lots of alcohols on that day, while one was lying down in a hotel, suffering from food poison while the whole city was partying;
  • to memories of their childhood going to the stadium to watch rugby with their daddy. Because of these sweet memories, the CEO of the survey company, Roger, even became a semi-professional rugby player himself, and now a very respected referee.
  • and the comparison between the zipcode in the US and postcode in the UK, with their interesting origin of being invented by women who had to take the delivery job while all men went to the World War.

I don’t know, the more I live, the more I wish to listen to these old folks, who seem to have lived their life to the fullest — with travelling, with their successes, but most importantly, with their pure loves for sport, for their family, and for what they do.

I remember reading somewhere that we now seem to lose our ability to tell stories. I’m not sure if it’s generally true, but at least for me I can confirm it. And that’s why having a chance to listen to them talking over the dinner is so much of pleasure and values to me.