What now?

Life in Crosby goes on, things have gone back to normal – and naturally people ask what now? – nothing?

Well no.... stopping Sainsbury’s proposal may have been the starting point but it quickly became apparent that it can only be the first part of the objective, and everyone has rightly said something needs to be done to improve Crosby Village. We hope this will be a new different proposal from Sainsbury’s, along with a load of other local community and local council driven initiatives, giving us a village centre that works for everybody.

The speed and pressure of the Planning process for Sainsbury’s made for an exciting and fast moving summer, with the highlights of the two Planning Committees making ‘half time’ (0-0) and ‘full time’ (1-0) for the Community vs Supermarket contest. But that match is over and the next phases will naturally be slower. It is harder to keep plugging away without the threat of imminent demolition, but a sound strategy for progress is steadily coming together.

Totally separately, tonight I took my son (6) to his class round the corner at Waterloo Judo. They have a great bunch of teachers and a great new building. I know very little about Judo, but can see watching the class what a great all-round discipline it is. Having only recently discovered this centre - http://www.waterloojudoclub.co.uk/ I would recommend it to anyone with kids, especially those needing a bit of physical action in a really positive, disciplined environment.

Walking home with my exhilarated, exhausted little boy I thought what a brilliant place Crosby is to bring up a family.

Back home I have just looked up a definition of Judo on Wikipedia – see below - and an extract here... "The way of gentleness….. it is the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances.” As I said, totally separate, but I can think of at least one big business that could learn something here.

Meaning of Judo

Judo: "The way of gentleness".

The word "judo" shares the same root ideogram as "jujutsu": "jū" (柔?), which may mean "gentleness", "softness", "suppleness", and even "easy", depending on its context. Such attempts to translate jū are deceptive, however. The use of jū in each of these words is an explicit reference to the martial arts principle of the "soft method" (柔法 jūhō?). The soft method is characterized by the indirect application of force to defeat an opponent. More specifically, it is the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances. For example, if the attacker was to push against his opponent he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing his momentum (often with the aid of a foot to trip him up) to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling). Kano saw jujutsu as a disconnected bag of tricks, and sought to unify it according to a principle, which he found in the notion of "maximum efficiency". Jujutsu techniques that relied solely on superior strength were discarded or adapted in favour of those that involved redirecting the opponent's force, off-balancing the opponent, or making use of superior leverage.

The second characters of judo and jujutsu differ. Where jujutsu (柔術 jūjutsu?) means the "art", "science", or "techniques" of softness, judo (柔道 jūdō?) means the "way" of softness. The use of "dō" (道?), meaning way, road or path (and is the same character as the Chinese word "tao"), has philosophical overtones. This is the same distinction as is made between Budō and Bujutsu. Use of this word is a deliberate departure from ancient martial arts, whose sole purpose was for killing. Kano saw judo as a means for governing and improving oneself physically, mentally, emotionally and morally. He even extended the physical principle of maximum efficiency into daily life, evolving it into "mutual prosperity". In this respect, judo is seen as a holistic approach to life extending well beyond the confines of the dojo.