My confession is…I am weird. Let me explain: I was with some friends, once again, socialising yesterday evening (and what follows is part of what was said, and is used with their permission, as I don’t want anyone to think I secretly records friends’ conversations….), and I was told I was weird.

Accusation #1: I was told I was weird. Why? Because I hug trees! I asked this person if they had ever seen me hug a tree, and they replied in the negative, but went onto explain that I just seemed overly interested, in their words, in trees!

I agreed with them, about being concerned with trees and plants, and forests, and said I think on a small island, like Britain, we need to protect our natural spaces. They had never seen me hug a tree, but assumed I had, and do.

‘It’s weird not to be weird.’ John Lennon

Truth? I am concerned about ensuring plants, and trees and wild animals are protected. I enjoy wilderness walks, deep into forests or ‘climbing’ up to mountain-tops, or even walks in city parks. Nature is wonderful! And, that may have given them the impression that, sometimes, I hug trees. Well, sometimes….especially when no one is about, I do! Mea culpa.

But, I concluded by asking this friend, if tomorrow morning he would get up extraordinarily early, gobble down a quick breakfast in super-fast time, drive through miles of congested roads to work, sit in a cubicle and work hard all day, and repeat the journey through traffic albeit in reverse in the evening? He nodded. And, I said, ‘And you call me weird?’. He got the point. We all laughed

‘I was always fascinated by people who are considered completely normal,  because I find them the weirdest of all.’ Johnny Depp

Accusation #2: I was told I was weird. Why? She mentioned that, when I lead hand-fastings and other ceremonies, I usually wear a dorchau pen (Welsh for ‘head wreaths’), and that’s true. I do so, because it’s part of an early tradition (amongst Celts, even some Christians still, and some Druids (then, and today}); it is expected; and it gives serious weight to the event, declaring it to be a special event; a sacred event, in sacred time, in sacred space. It might look odd, but it ‘works’. I admitted I looked odd. Mea Culpa.

Now some of my friends, some Christian, some Celtic and some Druids wear a dorachau pen or the equivalent sometimes, and they don’t look weird. It’s awesome, really, to see them dressed up and enjoying themselves with a passion. But, to that friend. Yes, I looked weird.

But, I concluded by asking this friend, if her pink hair was natural? I laughed. she laughed. We all laughed. She got the point. And, I said, ‘And you call me weird?’.

‘Blessed are the weird people – poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters and troubadours – for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.’  Jacob  Nordby

Accusation #3: I was told I was weird. Why? The cockney friends who were present said that I speak, ‘too posh’! What they meant was that that I generally sound the letter t in words, and they don’t. The absence of such sounds in words, noticeable in ‘Estuary English’ is called the glottal stop. My cockney friends don’t sound the letter t mid-word, and I do. I even sound the t-sound in the phrase glottal stop, and they didn’t. They speak with an ‘Estuary English’ accent, and I speak ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP). This caused all of us to laugh a little. I then did my best cockney accent, which they said was so bad that I sounded like Dick Van Dyke in the Mary Poppins movie. Mea Culpa.

They mimicked me, and I said they sounded like Prince Charles with constipation. And, I said, ‘And you call me weird?’.

‘I am weird, you are weird. Everyone in this world is weird. One day two  people come together in mutual weirdness and fall in love.’  Dr. Seuss

Need: So, weird maybe?  But, give me weird people, with their authenticities, and their unique ‘corners’,  even their oddities, every  time. Never be brow-beaten into following the crowd at the expense of your own uniqueness. The world needs more weird people with a passion to make music, create art, make things, serve people, tell jokes and make people laugh, to open up the corner shop, and to do a myriad of awesome things in their own way. Wonderful.