Summary

The Adventures of a Solitary Soul - H. J. Sharp

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Dream 7 - Becoming a good Householder

And then there was a big gap during which I completed my education, went into employment, realised that I would not get far unless I obtained higher qualifications, and so set about obtaining them largely by private study while working in industry. I became a materials engineer, concerned with what one made from what and how, the interaction of material, process, end function and economic viability. In the field of plastics, I became particularly interested in the several interacting variables determining behaviour, stress, strain rate, temperature and passing time. I found that one could demonstrate the behaviour of many materials using three dimensional models.

The application of intellect to all this was probably one of the main factors in determining that I became a complete materialist, believing in nothing that could not apparently be "proved", in spite of the occurrence from time to time of strange happenings which bore no relationship to the so-called rational world of the materialist.

One such occurrence was around 1941, when I was living in a converted chicken hut in the woods in Fordingbridge and cycling some 40 miles each day to and from work. I awoke one night around 2.00 am. There was a loud noise outside. It was as if a large animal was crashing around through the vegetation, circling the hut and howling in a most unearthly way. I thought of the walling banshee. The noise was so loud no one could have slept through it. It eventually subsided and all went quiet. I fell asleep again and eventually woke as usual around 5.00 am. I went outside expecting to see a lot of damage, but there was nothing, no evidence of anything unusual occurring during the night.

Another strange experience was through a fortune teller. He had been hired for a Christmas family gathering in Liverpool. He told me many things and I concluded that what he said could have many interpretations. Considering what he said many years afterwards, he could have been said to have described my future career and the environment in which I worked. Of particular significance to me, however, was the fact that he said I would soon meet a girl called Marjorie. When I did I was to hold on to her because she would transform my life. I met a Marjorie the next year, but nothing came of it. Some years later, however, I met a girl called Joyce and was driven impulsively and irrationally to decide that I was going to marry her. I hardly knew her. Six months later we decided to get married and so she took me to the local vicar to put up the banns. Then for the first time I discovered that her name was Marjorie Joyce, but she preferred to use the name Joyce. As a result of our marriage my life most certainly has become completely changed by her and our daughter, Christine.