 |
| FBL and Lola I, Eastnor Deer Park, October 2026 |
The volunteering I'm doing here is a role I haven't done before. They don't need me in the kitchen, so this time I've been in the Studio, which is the nerve centre for connecting the in-person retreat at the Centre with the online retreat via Zoom. It all started in 2020 - before the pandemic there was no such thing as an online retreat - and has developed into quite a sophisticated and complex technology hub, with at least five different systems capturing vision and sound, sharing it with the online participants as well as recording and live-streaming via a YouTube channel and simultaneously creating a web page with links to everything of importance.
With all this complexity it is extraordinary that they are so confident in my skills that I step in with barely an introduction, and so far I've held it all together without a glitch. Except at one point when Zoom disappeared and returned after a second or two with all its settings in a tangle. I put everything back as best I could, and luckily it was during a period of meditation so everyone had their eyes shut and probably nobody noticed, but it was unsettling. We discovered afterwards that there had been a site-wide network problem.
It's now a bit later in the week, and of course my confidence and optimism was slightly misplaced. The retreat focusses mainly on the subject of Death, and they're keeping the room very dark which means from where I'm sitting I have to work quite hard to tell what's going on. At one point I thought the session was finished, so I closed everything down only for them to start up again. Now there's a bit of techie sticking plaster needing to be applied.
I had a couple of days off and one day spent helping in the kitchen, where I took up my regular role of responsibility for the restricted diets. The usual cook who takes over just once a week on that day is known for his poor skills when it comes to the special diets, and the next day sitting at dinner with one of the recipients of my cooking, she complained that he had really outdone himself with the disgusting nature of yesterday's meal... at which point I interrupted to say that I had been the producer of that abomination. I have to say that although the vegetables had been steamed a bit too long, I quite liked it. Anyway, she was suitably apologetic about her outburst, as was I about the cooking.
The retreat centre is very close to where FLRM and FBL live, so on one of my days off I met them for lunch and then we walked in Eastnor Deer Park, which is notable for having a bit of the Berlin Wall, and also a 19th century obelisk at the top a hill. The weather was astonishingly warm and sunny given that it's nearly November, and there was hardly anyone about even though it was half term, and it was a lovely walk. They are well.
It's now my last day in the Studio, and there have been a couple more notable incidents. We have one person off sick today, so I was on my own in the Studio control room when, for the first time, the leader in the shrine room forgot to turn on his microphone. The only way I could remind them to turn the microphone on was to go in there and make my way to the front. I mentioned before that the theme of the retreat is Death, and as well as the windows being covered and the lights off there were loads of people lying on the floor. I'm pretty sure I didn't tread on anyone but I could see almost nothing and it was touch and go.
Last night everyone on site was invited to do some chanting outside around the burial mound of the founder of the Triratna movement, and a 'special surprise' was promised. The team I'm in were referred to as the 'technology gods', but our efforts to stream the event to those online were hampered a) by the cameras not really working in low light conditions and b) the nature of the surprise, which turned out to be some slightly pathetic fireworks. The sparklers were good; they should have stopped there.
 |
| October 2026 |
No comments:
Post a Comment