End of year musings

Adhisthana, July 2019

I've been spending a good deal more time with the Buddhists over the past year. My idea of finding a group of people with the same values and outlook as myself has paid dividends, because as well as finding the people I was looking for, I've found that my ability to deal with the world, friends, colleagues and family has noticeably improved. It may be a coincidence and would have happened anyway with my change in personal circumstances and solitary living, but I prefer to believe that it's the Buddhists, and a combination of the people and the meditation.

I meditate at the Tuesday meetings, but also at home most days too. I can't put my finger on how or why it helps, and I'm pretty sure it's too incremental to notice day by day, but looking back at when I started nearly four years ago, it's different. I'm different. It's better. I know for certain that I can deal more satisfactorily with difficulties in the workplace and elsewhere, I seem to be emotionally stronger, and I have already made friends that I know I can rely on for wise counsel as well as friendship. Within the Triratna Buddhist movement I have found an environment where I feel safe to be myself and where it is possible to talk about things that really matter which are almost impossible to address satisfactorily elsewhere.

So at the end of this year, which has been such a disappointment politically, but in which my personal life has improved beyond all my expectations, I look forward to leading a even better and more fulfilled life in the year to come.

Brompton cemetery, London, September 2019

The blog is back

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Gardens, April 2019

It's nearly Christmas, and as Lola II announced when I arrived for my latest visit, "There's something wrong with the blog - I think it's broken!" It's true, but I haven't had much time to sit down and mend it until now.

Life has mostly been good, apart from the difficult patch at work, which has now been fixed enough to be getting on with. It's been difficult since my change in hours, but even before then it has been quite disappointing to work in a place where my personal qualities are not only unappreciated, but pretty much unwelcome. I don't have a great deal of respect for my colleagues either, and it probably shows. Enough about work.

Since I last wrote I am still chasing payment for the teaching session I delivered, and which I was promised would be sorted out before the event. I have also hosted house guests for a weekend, been to Munich for a weekend, performed at our end of year concert, hosted a film night for the Buddhists, played three badminton matches, organised a badminton tournament, and attended the best gig I can remember (Banco de Gaia) at my new favourite local venue, Temperance cafe. You will notice that I do not mention sending Christmas cards, which I have entirely failed to do this year. For the couple of people who read the blog and would normally expect a card from me: please assume the normal greetings, and maybe next year?

Then I came to London to go to a recording of one of my favourite podcasts, The West Wing Weekly, together with Lola II and Mr M. The West Wing was an American series depicting life in the US government, ran for seven seasons in the early 2000's and was one of the most wonderful things on TV ever. I'm not the only one to think so, because a couple of years ago there was enough enthusiasm for the series to generate a weekly podcast (The West Wing Weekly) where in each podcast the hosts reviewed and analysed one episode, inviting guests who were actors, directors, producers, writers and others who were involved at the time. The podcast is reaching the end of its run, and one of the last recordings took place in London on Wednesday. The venue was packed to capacity, and we had a great time.

While in London I also met up with old school and university friends, went to an exhibition at the British Library about Buddhism and another with Lola II at the National Gallery about Leonardo da Vinci's painting 'Virgin on the Rocks', and attended the Christmas Gulloebl Film Festival showing of The Muppet Christmas Carol. London is so busy and so crowded; I like it less every time I visit, while still appreciating all the wonders it has to offer and the amazing diversity of its resident and visiting population. At the same time I have never been so unimpressed by our nation's choice of leader, and the future that faces us all with such immense national and global challenges ahead.

And on that note I will sign off for the holidays. Here's hoping for better times ahead!

What I've been reading

According to Queeney
by Beryl Bainbridge

"In 1764, the great Samuel Johnson, irascible genius, unparallelled wit and the toast of all society, is plagued by ill health and has become jaded with his bickering dependents. Suffering from a bout of melancholy, he accepts an invitation to the table of Henry Thrale, a wealthy Southwark brewer, and his vivacious wife Hester."

Not bad, but suffers from the writer's 'cleverness' in introducing nobody at the start so you have to work out for yourself who everyone is and what their relationships are. In some books I can imagine this is a intriguing and interesting conundrum, but I didn't enjoy it here. And most of the characters are unpleasant, which always curtails my reading pleasure.

Bambi
by Felix Salten

narrated by B. J. Harrison

"Friend Hare is brutally slaughtered as gunshots reverberate throughout the meadow and pools of blood stain the daisies. Death is everywhere - even in the trees. One of the saddest moments occurs when two lone oak leaves ponder the afterlife before tumbling to their demise from bare branches."

The above was written by a reader on the website Goodreads (which is what I use to track my reading, and also supplies the link to my current reading in my blog sidebar on the right), and it is spot on. The Disney film is what most of us know about the story of Bambi, but the book is excellent, and doesn't shy away from the more bloody aspects of life and death in the woods. In contrast to the focus on gore, Bambi reaches full maturity with no more explicit intimacy than seemingly platonic love for his cousin. But I think there's a sequel...

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
by Anita Loos

narrated by Patrice O'Neill

"Lorelei Lee and her friend Dorothy barrel across Europe, meeting everyone from the Prince of Wales to 'Doctor Froyd' - and then back home again to marry a Main Line millionaire and become a movie star."

A cracking little book which never references its title at all, nor does it provide the famous line about diamonds being a girl's best friend, but still manages to convey every nuance that those two quotations contain. A difficult book to narrate: I think I missed out on some of the spelling mistakes that couldn't be conveyed in the audio format. Short, sweet, and all ends happily.