Front row far left, Dennis Smith, back row second from right, Mr. Barlow, third Trevor,
fourth Mr. Cunnington, second from left, Billy Ware.
Mr. Barlow is a Derbyshire firefighter, Mr. Cannington is a Nottingham firefighter and
Trevor is a Nottingham paramedic. I was hanging out in the city centre one day,
sightseeing, when I saw Mr. Cannington, dressed in heavy gear and with a serious look
in his eyes, riding in a fire engine that was rushing to a fire somewhere. He had the eyes
of a true professional.
In May, I took my kendo bogu and spent two weeks traveling from Nottingham to the
northern region of the country. Leeds, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Edinburgh,
and Glasgow, in that order. I practised with the kenshi there. This allowed me to get
along with some of my fellow kenshi, and I agreed that I would make another round trip
in June.
I could not go to Liverpool for the first time around for some reason, so I really wanted
to go in June. That's because I'm a big fan of the Beatles.
Thirty years ago, my first time in Liverpool, the city was dingy and not very clean. It
was somewhat run-down. At that time, Trevor would have been a nidan. He was still a
young fellow, 31 or 32 years old. This photo was taken around two months after I met
Trevor. Everyone had left kendo now except Dennis and Billy. At that time I didn't
expect Trevor to become a 6th dan.
It's not related to Trevor, but I found something interesting and so inserted it into this post.
I stayed at the University of Newcastle guesthouse and when I looked out of my
second-floor room the next morning, there were students playing cricket in the park.
Across the pathway, there were cows grazing on grass. It was a very unusual
sight, so I took a picture of it, but even if it's a bad one, the illustration is more
interesting, so I've inserted it here. It was a memorable scene for me. It's a true example of
the mystery of England and the human beings' coexistence with animals.
This is the sixth in a series of eight articles written by Ozawa Hiroshi sensei (Kyoshi 8 Dan). Kindly translated by Matsuda Kazuyo sensei (Renshi 7 Dan).
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