There have been many coincidenses that have arisen. Perhaps I’ve subconsciously sought them out, or recognised them when they arose due to a heightened awareness, but there’s a bit more than that, almost fate.
For a start, there was the meeting with the lady on Lummi Island and her three cups of tea philosophy. Then came the Three Cups of Tea book and finally the North West Tea Festival.
Three Cups of Tea: There’s a guy called Greg Mortensen who went to climb K2. His failure to do that, lead him to the greater success of building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan for boys and girls. His book outlines the problems that area faces and how those problems matter over here. He also writes of how cups of tea are an essential part in sharing understanding and getting resolution to problems.
His advenure lead to the creation of the Central Asia Institute (CAI) and their fund raising activities through www.ikat.org and www.penniesforpeace.org. I suggest that you visit these guys and see what you can offer by means of help, because they really do effect your lives, despite the distance.
Next was the discovery that my departure date coincided with Seattle’s first tea festival, the NW Tea Festival to be precise. Serendipity was certainly serendipitidoodahing in my favour.
“Hello NW Tea Festival person. I was thinking of starting my Tea ride from the footpath (Sidewalk) outside the first ever Starbucks down at Pike’s Place Seattle, I like the contradictions, but I see you have a tea festival, any chance we can do something together?”
“How do you like the idea of being the closing ceremony?”
“Pardon?”
“We see you riding off into the sunset, as being symbolic of the word of tea being spread far and wide”
That’s some serious symbollocks, but for some free tea I’ll happily play along and I bet I’ll actually enjoy it.
So, on Sunday 5th October, feel free to come down to the Seattle Centre (near the Space Needle) where there will be tea related frivolities aplenty and at 3:30pm, I’ll mount up and ride off with my teapot into the distance.
Then…once out of sight…head for home.
Unfortunately a 3:30pm departure would mean a journey not worth making, probably reaching Portland at best. So, with symbolism intact, I’ll curl up, cosy in my own bed, ready to start out for real on Monday morning.