Waiting for the builder
Published: Thu, 12/05/13
I studied the play 'Waiting for Godot' as part of my drama
degree in the 1980's. My parents actually saw the first
production in London, apparently half the audience left at the
interval. My parents were made of sterner stuff and stayed to the
end, but were not sure afterwards that they should have done. One
critic famously summed up the plot as. "Nothing happens,
twice!" Two tramps wait for Godot and, well I don't want
to spoil it for you if you don't know or can't guess.
Becket's play is now regarded as a classic and a recent London
revival with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart was considered a
major cultural event.
Earlier this year I thought I was taking part in some updated
version of this play. Venetia and I were finishing off an
extension which my sister and brother in law had had built. We
were doing the fitting out and decoration. We were supposed to be
on that job by June but in fact the project was so delayed that we
didn't get started on the extension until September. Even then
there were various things the builder needed to finish off and for
the first week I would be told, he is coming today to do a certain
job or other. And.... he wouldn't come. The next day the same
thing would happen. If it hadn't been for the actual bricks
and mortar that someone had obviously built into a structure I
would have begun to think that this builder was a figment of
everyone else's imagination. Perhaps Sammual Becket got his
original inspiration from waiting for a builder to arrive. It
wasn't that this guy wasn't a good builder when he did get
on with the job. I could see that he was, but he could never keep
a promise to be in a certain place at a certain time. A complaint
that is often made against builders, not altogether, it must be
said, always unfairly.
One way of marketing yourself is to find out what annoys people the
most in your line of business and guarantee not to do it.
Sometimes that is easier said than done, especially when your
reliability depends upon the vagaries of weather, suppliers, other
tradespeople, planning and building control bureaucrats etc.
(although it is easy to make these things excuses as well.).
I am applying this process to teaching Stav as a Martial Art. As I
wrote on Tuesday the first guarantee I will make is no children in
adult classes. The second one needs to be no unnecessary
exercises. Conflict situations do not get resolved on the basis of
who can do the most pushups, muggers do not commit their crime by
ordering you to do 100 sit ups or give me your wallet. Yes, there
is plenty of movement and activity in a Stav class or course but
all of it is geared to learning or practicing the skills and
awareness you need to work with the web and understand the five
principles. So no working up a sweat just so the instructor can
show that he is the fittest, meanest, hardest dude in the room.
Time and energy is too valuable in a serious class to spend on
exercises that belong in an aerobics class (does anyone do those
any more?).
Classes continuing Monday evenings in Crewkerne and I should know
in a week if planning permission has come through.
http://www.somersetstav.co.uk
regards
Graham
PS I would be interested to know what your preconceptions of a
martial arts class are likely to involve. It would help me put
together the promotion for the class in Crewkerne as well as my
courses. Let me know if you have any thoughts on this subject.