Blog September 2026
Brief Encounter
“That’ll be £15.34, love.”
(I was in our local shop, buying sundries.)
“15.34?” I mused. “I wonder what happened in 1534?”
She finished my transaction silently. Then suddenly said, “I’m going to find out”..
She thumbed through her mobile phone and came up with:
“A new pope. Lots of exploration in the world. King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic church….”
“Leading to the start of the Church of England and all that that entails,” I added.
“Perhaps it’s best not to know,” she concluded. We were both laughing when I left the shop.
Let’s see – what was involved in this transaction?
- Aware that we were in an empty shop (rare!), easy to chat, not preventing other customers.
- A common language.
- Understanding the math involved.
- Her ability to pick up on a vague throw-away comment.
- Eye to eye contact.
- Time available after the transaction
- Comparing past learning about what we knew of the period.
- Willingness to learn more detail
- A developing bond that enabled us to share our ignorance.
- A change in an expected routine (I only needed provisions, she was only there to sell them.)
- Corporate curiosity
- No suspicion on either side – we were instinctively noticing in each other: here is an honest person.
- A possible change in how we looked at the rest of the day.
- A growing bond between two people within the same community.
- And, of course, the ability to sense when the listener has had enough.
All this happened in about seven minutes!
What else? Surely there’s more.
Why am I telling you all this? Because I was trying to understand more clearly how a normal person-to-person encounter could differ from a purchase in the growing number of shops that only have paying machines. Would all those tiny instinctive communications occur when facing a machine? Or with eyes glued to a mobile phone? If not, are we losing our ability to talk to each other?
In each encounter with a human being, we are using far more than body language, vital as it is. Our communication just occurs by instinct, developing all the time we interact with other people. Without it we can’t build community. Without trusting and loving each relationship, we can’t strengthen integrity, the truth that we know we must change, and the right corporate choices to do so. Are we passing it on to the next generation?
In a few days we begin a Week of Prayer for World peace – all faiths and none are involved. It starts with us right here. Maybe it happens in seven minutes, leaning over the counter sharing, growing together, and laughing about a subject that didn’t take us anywhere. Maybe it is happening through you, and one of your throw-away conversations.
Any Brief Encounters you’d like to share?
Zucchini Pickles
I’m reminded of John’s old story of a man who forgot to lock his car when going to church. When he returned, he was too late: there was a giant vegetable marrow on the back seat. This recipe comes from the time, decades ago, when Brother-in-Law tried his hand at gardening one year. He ended up being far more successful than he ever could have imagined. Hence the plethora of zucchini recipes that cascaded into my index card box.
(An American cup is 8 fluid ozs. Measure liquids and solids by a cup this size.)
10 cups thinly sliced zucchini/courgettes/summer squash. (thoroughly scrubbed, skin on). This will fill a litre-sized measuring jug twice.
2 large onions thinly sliced.
2 ½ cups cider vinegar
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
½ teaspoon celery seed
In a large pot bring vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard, turmeric and celery seed to a simmer. Add zucchini and onions. Don’t worry if there isn’t much liquid…while cooking, the zucchini will contribute just the right amount. Simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, until the vegetables become semi-transparent. Store quickly in sterilised jars (that is, jars you have rinsed out and put upside down in a hot oven.)
I halved the recipe and got 2 jars and a bit of juice. The juice is good in salad dressings.
Verdict: surprisingly good, surprisingly easy, and surprisingly quick. (I made it with Michelmas bread after choir rehearsal one evening.) I wonder if the pickles will be this crunchy by Christmas time? A delightful addition to a turkey sandwich.
Michaelmas bread with pickles, and Baron Bigod, probably the best British Brie there is.
Comments on last month’s Blog: Story Telling.
–That’s my kind of salad (minus the bacon bits!)
–Loved your August blog. Another success! Thank you for your many positive comments!
— Linguists are pretty well united in claiming that our Language differs from the communication system of all other species. We use Language to tell stories, and we can tell stories because we can distinguish between the unseen before and the unseen after from the seen present.
— Fascinating your theme of storytelling. The old villages were full of stories. I witnessed the next generation in the eighties as they apprenticed their skill – feeling their way through the success or failure of structuring, timing, etc. Now a faded ability.
