On the brink?

Beautiful fungus, Worcestershire, March 2025

When I returned home from our Jolly Holiday (back in September) I discovered that since the boiler was serviced the previous Monday there had been no hot water or heating in Lola Towers, and UJ said she only noticed the previous day - she's been going to the gym and showering there. I panicked slightly and left a voicemail message for the boiler servicing company, then found the boiler manual. It was a very challenging document, but eventually I diagnosed that the boiler had simply not been turned on again after its service, so I did that, all seemed well, so I left a second message for the boiler servicing company, apologizing for the first.

With my two-week retreat coming up I had to squeeze a lot of stuff into a few days - contacting optician, roofer and plumber, voting in a local election, giving blood, Muscles the personal trainer followed by a massage, going to see mum. I contacted a book dealer recommended in Hay-on-Wye to see if they would be interested in dad's collection of books. We reckon there are about 400 to 500 of them. I also spoke to my coach for the Diabetes Prevention Programme. We had 20 minutes, which was fine given that I know all about diabetes and what I should or shouldn't eat, but I imagine it's completely inadequate if you don't already know all that stuff.

I also have more praise for my Local Garage. When the car broke down and I took it to the garage in Malvern, as well as fixing the problem they mentioned that the pressure in one of the tyres was low. I didn't do anything about it there and then, but knowing that I would be driving to south Wales and then the car would be immobile for two weeks, I didn't want to risk a slow puncture. Local Garage checked both front wheels (I couldn't remember which one had the problem) and didn't find anything specific, but took off both tyres and re-sealed them again and refused to charge me anything. This was the fourth time they hadn't charged me for work (previously they topped up the oil, changed a headlight bulb and replaced a bent wheel) but this time I managed to persuade them to take some money for their 'tip jar'.

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I've just returned from the two-week retreat to find a flyer from the local Green Party. Along with short pieces about our new roundabouts, fly-tipping, a demolition project and what the county council is doing about flood protection, there was a small notice letting me know the government's current recommendation is to store food and water and get a phone battery pack for 'short term interruptions to supplies.' I'm still not accessing any news beyond my local town, so this has come as a bit of a shock. Things seem to be getting worse out there.

Gloucester via... Worcester?

Love the bird, Gloucester Cathedral, September 2025

Here's Lola II again, continuing her account of our trip. We've spent two days in Hay-on-Wye, and we're now off to Worcester for the day... or are we?

Day 3

As we headed away from Hay, we looked forward to Jolly Holiday Stage 2 of 3. Lola I won a Buddhist auction of a guided tour of Worcester by a friend of hers who lives there. But an hour into our drive the car started juddering. We couldn’t drive above 2000 rpm which was fine downhill but tougher accelerating up. [There was a welcome distraction when we had to pause whilst a truck brought a full skip from someone’s front garden over a high garden hedge onto his vehicle.]

Fun fact - we were near Malvern four years ago on a similar break, Lola I’s car broke down and she took it to a random garage she found online. They were lovely, fixed it on the spot and saved our holiday. Well, guess what. We encountered our difficulties once again near Malvern! The challenge was remembering which garage it had been, 208-ish weeks ago. As luck would have it, Lola has only ever written two Google reviews so she was able to work out which garage it was, call them, and we limped there. I got to be Hazard Lights’ Monitor a little bit between indicator use.  

They had said on the phone that they were very busy, and yet they worked on it while we waited. What great service. We ate our leftover bread, cheese and tomatoes as a late breakfast and spent the rest of the two hours sitting in reception doing personal admin, so time well spent. And by chance, when we had called our Worcester guide, her son was unexpectedly off school ill so postponing wasn’t quite the inconvenience we anticipated. 

The carillon is still in working order

Next stop, several hours earlier than planned, Gloucester. The Museum of Gloucester had a fair mix of things to see - downstairs were dinosaurs, fossils, the Romans and upstairs were a whole heap of things from grandfather clocks to furniture to clothes. The “world-famous” Birdlip Mirror wasn’t there - on loan or being repaired? The Roman tombstones had a recorded explanation (love a button) but unfortunately I couldn’t hear it over folk music being played. The Gloucester Tables Set was good - the oldest complete backgammon set in the world. Then it was time to drive to our AirBnb.

As luck would have it, Gloucester’s Heritage Open Days are on while we’re here, so lots of free events to choose from. We convened our planning meeting for the next couple of days in the garden until the sun went behind clouds, and then had supper and a quick game of cards. 

Day 4

This morning Lola I had a Zoom meeting and so I headed out in town to a Craft Collective - a shop displaying a variety of art and craft from a number of people. In return they take it in turns to staff it. Once Lola I joined me we visited a church that had a free concert by the Gloucester Dementia Choir which was fun to hear. On our way to the Cathedral we crossed paths with the Gloucester Pride parade. 

We timed our arrival for a Cathedral tour perfectly. In addition to us there were two men who kept talking to each other throughout, and parents with two kids, both dressed as Harry Potter. The guide had a rough start - confusion over numbers, disturbance from someone moving furniture, an enormous clap of thunder and then she had to stop completely whilst someone started saying a prayer from the front who was clearly untrained in the best use of a microphone. Once she got going, she was great. 

Gloucester Cathedral, September 2025

Gloucester Cathedral (GC) has a rich history. In 1216 there was a rush to crown nine year old Henry III before French Louis could take over the crown. As a result the coronation took place in GC, the only coronation outside Westminster Abbey since 1066. Some old headdress of his mother was used to make a makeshift crown. Apparently the new king fell asleep during his own coronation. 

A hundred years later, King Edward II was a rubbish king and was murdered in 1327 to get him out of the way. He was buried under a plain stone in the cathedral, but KE III felt aggrieved that his father didn’t get a proper tomb and so built him one. He also banished his mother because of her involvement in his father’s murder so she lived out her days in relative comfort away from Royal circles. When Henry VIII was ridding the country of monasteries, he turned the original Abbey into GC because KE II was buried in it, rather than destroy the building. And so we have a lot to thank Mr Rubbish King for. 

And it doesn’t end there! In the 2nd World War people were certain that GC would be be bombed so they removed the enormous, mostly medieval, stained glass windows, labelling each section to help with its reconstruction once danger has passed. Unfortunately it was stored in the crypt and the damp meant the labels deteriorated. They ended up having to do their best to reconstruct it, using a picture postcard. How fortunate the Cathedral wasn’t bombed, eh? Unfortunately, because we had the two mini Harry Potters, the rest of the tour was focused on the cloisters and the films. It is an impressive space, and the guide seemed to be as much a fan of the films as the children. 

Next we headed into the docks and the National Waterways Museum. My favourite fact was that, when building the canals, the navvies used heavy puddling boots and sticks to pack down the clay. In rural areas it may have been done by herding cows along the canal. Our AirBnb host, Andy, used to be a vicar and preached in the Mariners Church so we added that to our itinerary, only to find it closed an hour earlier than publicised. 

A short break in a café with board games and then home until we came out again to see The Life of Chuck in The Guildhall cinema. It was alright. I wouldn’t really recommend it but it was interesting, so maybe if it comes on telly... 

Day 5

We had a leisurely start, packing up the car and then walking into town for our 11am city tour. Our guide was very good and very patient when one of the group stole his punchline of a real miserly man in Gloucester being Charles Dickens’ inspiration for Scrooge. Another of the group was VERY vocal in her distress at the thought of a bishop being burnt at the stake, and having to stand there for an hour in January before the fire got going. 

[Editor's note: At this point I whispered to Lola II "I wonder how she'll feel when she finds out how Jesus died?"]

There was also a circular conversation between her, the guide and another woman about a mural in a church. None of them were really putting their finger on what the other was saying. In these situations I sometimes intervene to help clarify, but this roundabout was going faaar too fast. 

Rebuilt in 1455, the most complete surviving example of a medieval courtyard inn with galleries in Britain, Gloucester, September 2025

There are an enormous number of interesting sights when you’re shown them. We really love a tour. The rain mostly held off and we headed to our next appointment with a Sunday roast. By now it was pouring with rain as we drove on to the Nature in Art art gallery and sculpture park. What should have been an 11 minute drive doubled in length until we stopped following the location on Google Maps and input a postcode they say to use on their website.

The Nature in Art place was beautiful - several rooms of paintings, drawings, ceramics, glass, paper cutting - all plants or animals or scenery. I took a few photos before seeing the sign telling us not to. Outside were sculptures of all types in a smallish garden. We headed in when it began to rain again and made the 1.5hr drive back to Leamington. I’m now on the train to Marylebone and looking forward to hearing what Mr M has been up to…

And that was our latest Jolly Holiday. When we put our heads together and looked at diaries, the next time Lola II and I are both free to meet is towards the end of November!

 [Note: all photos in this post were taken by Lola II, except the one with her in it.]

Nature in Art, September 2025

Partying and Promming

The Royal Albert Hall, August 2025

A while ago I wrote about replacing a bent wheel on my car - fun times. Well, just to complete that particular anecdote and give credit where it's due, I managed to drop the car off for an hour during the Folk Festival so they could change the wheel and swap over the tyre, and when I went to pick it up they wouldn't take any payment. They will have my loyal custom for the rest of my life (at least until I no longer have a car).

I've been having quite a varied time since the festival. I had a birthday party! This hasn't happened for at least 30 years, so quite a significant step in my journey towards self-worth. I found a local vegan café that I hadn't been aware of before (but will definitely re-visit) who prepared some buffet food, and I created a playlist of party music that Muscles my Personal Trainer described as 'hard not to dance to' but in the event it could not be heard over the chat. There were 16 local guests who seemed to be very comfortable with one another, and it was a lovely occasion. I'm not sure I can be bothered to do it again, but then again having done it once it might be easier next time, and maybe I'd hold it at a weekend and invite people from further afield.

Next day I went down to visit mum and took her to an appointment with the nurse at her GP's surgery, where she knows everyone and they all know her. She is doing her own form of GRUHI, and managed to interest one of the GPs in dad's old-fashioned mercury sphygmomanometer and five boxes of his old medical textbooks, some dating back to the 1950s, which we took to the surgery. So that's another shelf of books dealt with.

From there I went on to Lola II and Mr M's house - they are on a mammoth tour of north Japan in a camper van that they have named Alan*. They aren't coming back for another couple of weeks and so my job was to make sure the house is still standing and water the plants while having a weekend in That London. I feel very pleased with myself that although I filled two days of the three I was visiting, I kept one whole day free of commitments, which has allowed me leisure to write this blog post among other things. But I did go into town on the other two days and visited the Bank of England Museum, went to the Proms with a friend from school, and visited the North London Buddhist Centre for meditation and a couple of talks.

The Proms was interesting - my friend is a London resident who has played the clarinet since school (that's how we became friends) and is part of all sorts of musical activities, some of which date back to those schooldays. [I found it amusing that some of our contemporaries are still singing in what was the Youth Choir, now named 'Youth Choir Veterans'.] Anyway, she invited me to the Prom which started with a piece I'd never heard but very much enjoyed ('Chairman's Dance' from the opera 'Nixon in China'), and then a piece that I'd never heard but was OK (Rachmaninov's 4th Piano Concerto). His 2nd was such a banger that it was never going to top that. After the interval was something that I'd describe as frankly awful (Berio's Sinfonia), which included voices (wailing and speaking as well as singing), and not much that was tuneful. A lot of fans made it clear that they were there for the pianist and then left in the interval - they probably got the best deal.

* Alan Touring (geddit?)

On the home front

Harcourt Arboretum, March 2025

I was out in the garden hacking down the jungle as usual when I heard voices from over the wall where the wisteria grows. There were a couple of gardeners, hired by the neighbour, and I asked them if they could possibly deal with the huge amount of wisteria that was coming at me over the wall - I've got enough on my plate dealing with my own wisteria going over the wall in the other direction. So maybe that will be sorted before next year, if I'm lucky.

My car needed an MOT and service recently. I've been going to the same garage in Leamington for more than 20 years, and they've always gone out of their way to be helpful. Simple things like listing what's still OK at the moment but might need dealing with soon (like low tyre tread), along with doing small jobs if I just turn up at any time they're open - checking tyre pressure, topping up oil, replacing a bulb - and they never charge me for these little jobs.

They highlighted that one of my wheels is a bit out of shape. It's not an MOT fail, just something that I might like to deal with. But I'm not going to deal with anything on my own, given that I don't even check my own tyre pressures any more and couldn't tell you where the dipstick is, let alone where to stick it for dipping. Saying this, I can still change a wheel for the spare if I have a flat tyre, and I really ought to get one of those magic jump start devices, size of a video cassette with two leads, chargeable by USB, which is an astonishingly useful invention.

So, the out of shape wheel. One of the garage guys told me about a business that exists just for sourcing spare parts around the country. So I fired up their website, put in the registration number of my car, asked for an offside front wheel, uploaded a picture and sat back to wait. Two quotes came in - one for £300 (of which £50 was delivery) and the other was £180 (delivery just £10). So I followed up the second quote with another picture just to be on the safe side, and they replied with three pictures just to make sure it was the right part, and my garage said I could put them down for the delivery address, and it arrived within two days and it will be fitted this week.

Other stuff - I went to a 60th birthday garden party at the weekend, with somewhat variable weather but lots of very old friends. Well, 60-year-old friends anyway. Some success with GRUHI too - I got rid of a bookcase and even made a small amount of money by selling DVDs. It's going to take a very long time to empty the house if I continue at this rate.

And now I'm at the Warwick Folk Festival during the set-up period, back in the Comms room surrounded by radios ready and waiting to be issued, at the request of Radio Man who said that Tuesday was really busy and he found it difficult to manage tracking the radios as well as all the other things he needed to do. So far I have issued only three radios, and one of them was to him. I have done a bit of setting up and tidying and organising, and hopefully my Joint Deputy Venue Manager (Comms) will turn up soon and we'll talk about shifts and cover and then I will go home.

Mostly difficult stuff going on

Hlf, September 2024

Recently I visited mum and realised that I'd left one job so long that her email client (Outlook 2007) was going to stop working in less than a week - Microsoft no longer consider it secure because it's so old, and will prevent it from accessing her emails. So I swapped it for an alternative client, and the best part was that I also managed to upload her stored history of emails and her address book, which took a very long time but made me very happy to have achieved it. Then on the next visit I discovered that the new client was also blocked, and I managed to wrestle it to the ground and unblock it, but at the cost of losing all the emails that had arrived within a period of five days. Initially I thought I'd lost the whole Inbox and all the Sent items too, so losing just five days felt like a win.

I managed to go to the RSC to see The Merry Wives of Windsor. Whenever I go there, which is very seldom, I always vow I should go more. It's top quality theatre on my doorstep, so I don't know why I don't. And the roofers and my new glasses arrived on consecutive days in an expensive week. While the roofers were working I did a session of pruning in the garden - only three bags full, much more is needed.

Another thing that's been going on is renewing my car insurance. Over the years I have chosen to use a local broker for many of my policies - car, household, landlord insurance - but it has been well publicised that prices for insurance are rising. Generally what happens is that the broker gives me a quote, I go online and find the same cover at a lower price, and up to now they have managed to reduce their quote to something more acceptable. This time the renewal quote was £200 more than last year and when I went online the lowest quote was £170 less than this. I don't always choose the lowest quote, but the most common amount was still about £150 less than the broker, and they couldn't or wouldn't go anywhere near matching it. I don't quite see how they are going to survive on the High Street.

I've also been on retreat, which went very well - it was aimed at people who don't necessarily know anything about meditation or Buddhism, and so a) was much shorter than the heavy-duty retreats I've been attending and b) was at an introductory level in terms of teaching. But I chose it because it focussed on a topic that I've always found difficult, so I thought that starting from the beginning again might be useful. It was, but not in the way I expected. It was lovely to see people finding something they'd been looking for without knowing it, and to remember what I was like when I went on my first retreat at this centre when I didn't know who I was or what I wanted either. I've come a long way and all for the better.

I was going to carry on northwards for a weekend in York so arranged to drop in on H+B on the way. The York weekend had to be cancelled, but I went to H+B anyway, and talked about dismal things like the Office of the Public Guardian, Enduring Powers of Attorney, Executorship and Probate. But we wandered round the garden too, and admired the brickwork and freshly painted frontage of the house, and marvelled at the flat upstairs which is up for let at an eye-watering monthly sum. H is well, looks good, but is feeling his age (aren't we all). We agreed that the main thing for the avoidance of excruciating administrative entanglement is for H to remain alive for the time being, which thankfully he seems happy to do.

A big event is tiring

Adhisthana, August 2024

I love writing this blog, but I also have a very full life which I enjoy, so I'm not exactly complaining about the lack of time to sit down and write. But I've been meaning to write this for ages - the details may have escaped but impressions remain.

I was a bit less than halfway through my volunteering at Adhisthana when I had the weekend off and went home. After that, I did have another half day off when I visited Former Land Rover Man and Former Bee Lady who live quite nearby - this trip only interrupted by the fact that my car battery was completely dead. Luckily the retreat centre has all sorts of useful gadgets, including a special jump starter for car batteries which was impressively effective. FLRM and FBL were on good form despite FBL's broken wrist. I brought a cake for us all, which was kindly declined because a walk was planned to a place where I was promised cake, only to discover that cake was completely sold out. So we happily ate some of the one I brought.

Apart from that little excursion I worked solidly for eight long days, and sadly only a couple of hours of that were in the kitchen, because they have now recruited more permanent kitchen help. Setting up the barn for meals and drinks involved a lot of moving furniture, food and equipment; setting up rooms as dormitories meant carrying about mattresses, duvets and pillows, and there was lots of preparatory cleaning. 

I found out about all sorts of secret cupboards and storage spaces within the grounds including 'the silos' and 'the swimming pool' (which actually is a swimming pool). Every room was occupied, sometimes in excess of what they normally held - for example, the yoga studio was set up with 14 beds - so I was moved out to one of the cabins used for solitary retreats. It was a beautiful spot with the added bonus that I didn't have to get in line for the showers. 

Then as people started to arrive I was put on reception together with four other people, which I enjoyed a great deal. But my main job throughout the weekend was at the drinks and toast station in the barn - toast at breakfast time and drinks at morning and afternoon tea breaks. This wasn't very tiring work in itself, but the standing up and the long hours and the cumulative effect of working so hard meant that I became more and more weary as the week went on. 

Obviously there was a big team working behind the scenes to stage this event, and we were all wheeled out in front of the masses at the end so that we could be properly thanked. Then, as usual, when it was time for me to go everybody on the team gets to tell me how lovely they think I am, which as ever was pleasing but difficult to sit through. The nicest comment was that it felt as though I'm someone who lives and works there but gets to go away for long periods.

My car wouldn't start again when I was ready to go home, but it was booked in for a routine service anyway the next day. After some thought I decided to drop it at the garage rather than take it home, and it was a good thing I did because it didn't start for them next morning. A new battery, and everything's fine again.

Lola II tempted me to meet her in Banbury the next evening, and we talked non-stop for about five hours and sorted out a lot of admin for an upcoming event (of which more later no doubt). Unfortunately we didn't keep an eye on the time, and while I was only 15 minutes away by train, Lola II's journey home turned into a bit of a marathon. The next day I was off to see mum, and we had a very successful time sorting out all the business that has arisen. 

Since then I've been on a walk with a friend, then another friend came to stay for Saturday night and a really interesting musical event in a local community wood,  I've donated blood, had my boiler serviced, had a first consultation with a Personal Trainer, been to the optician (new glasses are truly eye-wateringly expensive), attended two of my online study groups, played board games, played badminton, and attended Buddhist groups in person (twice). In between all of this I was catching up with all the stuff that had been left unattended while I was volunteering. I think I've nearly caught up, but it feels as though I might easily have missed something.

Summer at last

Adhisthana, June 2024

UJ returned from her trip back home late in the evening and I was away to the retreat centre first thing next morning, so we didn't meet. Apart from her outstanding command of English degenerating a little to just being excellent, she seemed to be very well and made supper for me a few days later when I got back. Most of the time, however, we operate separately as she works during the day and barely emerges from her room until late evening and I am usually doing something else by then. We watch TV together by appointment.

I had just two days back home this time between stints at Adhisthana. One of my tasks within this period was to get the car through its MOT, which it managed on the second attempt after failing because of a seized rear brake calliper that also damaged the brake disk. That day also contained my board games group, which I continue to enjoy a great deal. 

The following day I spent with Lola II in Oxford - we had plans for several things to do as well as going to the Weston Library for its latest exhibitions, but we ought to know by now that after we've set aside time for talking there's often little time for anything else. We managed one exhibition, which was about Franz Kafka. I learned that he had a full-time job in insurance and only wrote in his spare time, he never married but was engaged three times (twice to the same woman), and he died in 1924 of consumption, outlived by his parents.

Then back to Adhisthana for my last week, and all of a sudden I had too much work to do, so there are a couple of threads dangling that I might have to deal with from home. Those last three days also included perfect weather, a summer solstice barbeque and a retreat for classical musicians, which led to me finding out that one of the women's community plays the flute. I managed to remember to take my clarinet and a book of duets, and we got together to play one evening.

The end of any service to the Adhisthana community is marked with modest celebration that includes snacks at the morning tea break and a round of 'rejoicing' -  many people gather and anybody can chip in and say something nice about you. I find it difficult to endure the attention, despite all the lovely things that are said. They also gave me presents - I asked for perishables only (nothing that I have to clean or dust), so I got a bar of chocolate, some incense, and a 'voucher' for any Adhisthana retreat in the next year.

So then it was home again in time to prepare for a visit by The Bursar and The Quiet Man. The Bursar was planning to run in the Leamington Spa Half Marathon on Sunday but hadn't done enough preparation, and The Quiet Man is having time off due to injury, so they didn't run but both came to visit anyway. The weather was probably too hot for comfortable running but perfect for showing them the beauty of the town, having an ice cream and sitting in the garden.

A different blog

Adhisthana, April 2024

One of the main things I'm doing in my volunteering job is blogging, for which I do feel well qualified. It's a relatively new development for the retreat centre, having started a monthly blog just this year. So I can start my week by wandering around the site taking pictures of the spring flowers on a morning when the sunshine makes everything look its best. Or when the mist adds atmosphere to the burial mound.

The text content of the blog is more challenging, given that I'm not there all the time and not integrated into the community well enough to know what exactly is going on that's blogworthy. But there are people to ask, and my first attempt seems good enough. After it was published on the website I posted links on Facebook and another online site, which is quite complicated and has the potential for mishap, but again I think I managed it without incident (57 'likes' and counting).

This month behind the scenes there's been a lot of new technology, updating cabling from the 1980's that links all the buildings and should make it possible to maintain and manage the heating system in a 21st century way. And there's a big project to install rooftop solar panels - when I arrived this week the scaffolding was going up.

I discovered I had a flat tyre just at the point when I'd offered to give someone a lift from the retreat centre to the station at the end of the week. Luckily someone else was on hand to provide them with a lift, they caught their train, and it wasn't too late for me to get to a garage after I'd changed to the spare tyre.

Back home, my music group went ahead on Saturday and despite knowing how tricky the sax pieces are I still didn't bother to practise. But it will be fine. I did two sessions in the garden, weeding the paving and cutting back shrubs in the fine weather, but there's more to be done there. On Bank Holiday Monday I drove to see friends in Nottingham for the day, and on Tuesday I had another appointment at the orthodontist and a blood donation, which was unexpectedly dramatic when my donation continued at the squash-and-biscuits table. I was fine but my trousers and fleece were liberally spattered and I think some blood ended up on the biscuits too. It was spectacular, but it's the first time this has happened in more than 50 donations so probably unlikely to recur.

Back with a bang

Rivendell, July 2023

Back from my latest retreat and it's taken a while to get around to blogging, although I managed to dry the tent before a week had gone by. Part of the reason is that I went back to Mr MXF asking for a different task - the previous one was too complex for me to fit in between all the other things I'm doing, so it took me an hour or two to remember what I was supposed to be doing and then I had to stop to do something else, and then had to go through the learning curve again. So he's now given me something much easier that's rather fun to do, and so I spent quite a bit of time doing it last week.

But back to the retreat. It was in Sussex so I made a few stops along the way: staying with Sister D, a delicious Ethiopian lunch in Shepherd's Bush with her and Lola II, and then staying with my friend from primary school who lives in Worthing. Arriving at the retreat I set up my tent and reported for the briefing about what my responsibilities were. The main jobs were at the start (welcoming people), and at the end (organising the clearing up). Two team members did all the cooking and another was the creative inspiration for the team - she used me to fetch things and hold other things while she made beautiful objects for the shrine.

There wasn't all that much for me to do in the way of organising because there weren't any complaints about sleeping arrangements or snoring, nobody had forgotten to bring anything essential, and everyone seemed to be getting on pretty well. I was just thinking that this was quite an easy job when the news came in from the team that manage the property that a local water main had burst and there would be no running water for an indeterminate period. That certainly gave me a few things to do, with their help - they supplied bottled water, hand sanitiser and wet wipes, and we organised buckets of water from the pond for flushing the two outside toilets. Within the team we decided that if it continued beyond one night we would have to send everyone home. Thankfully the water was back after 24 hours and everyone survived.

The programme for the retreat was similar to last year. On the last full day we were all given a packed lunch and sent off to spend the day outside. I had some organising to do in advance of the clearing up task, and when I finally got out I decided to do something that was not entirely within the spirit of the retreat, which was to head for the local tea room for tea and cake. It was a lovely walk, and very fine tea and cake, but my rule-bending backfired on me when the caffeine withdrawal headache appeared the next day, and I suspect the tea was not as decaffeinated as it should have been. 

My misfortune continued on the drive home with heavy rain and horrible traffic on the M25, and then there was a loud bang from the nearside front of the car while I was south of Bicester on the M40. In the pouring rain, with a headache, I determined that steering, suspension and brakes were still performing as they should but I came off the motorway to finish the journey just in case. So it took ages. My wonderful garage was still open when I arrived and diagnosed a broken coil spring (now repaired).

UJ wasn't at home when I arrived - she was back in Ukraine for her father's birthday. I thought I'd go to the Buddhist Centre the next day for their regular monthly women's morning, but the activity was too raucous for my post-retreat sensitivities so I ended up sitting quietly in a corner. Then Sunday and Monday were set aside for meeting my cousin and her son who were visiting from Seattle, first in Regent's Park and then at mum and dad's, and then UJ returned next day. Not the recommended approach to easing oneself back into everyday life after the peace and calm of a retreat.

Today I've had two lots of dental experiences. The orthodontist is going to order a whole new series of aligners to replace the ones previously supplied, presumably because my wayward teeth aren't aligning themselves as they are supposed to. Then I experienced a new hygienist who sprayed my face liberally with water while her assistant sucked my tongue and cheek into her poorly-wielded suction tube, and then gave me even more work to do when brushing my teeth. I am not impressed, but feel that I should at least give it a try.

Also not impressed, April 2023

Retreat

Adhisthana, October 2021

I've been away on a lovely retreat in the Herefordshire countryside. Because the retreat centre is situated close to where Bee Lady and Landrover Man live, I arranged to drop in on them for lunch before the retreat started. 

I was all ready, packed, sorted, had bought some chocolates as a present for BL and LRM, and was on my way home from a vaccination shift when the car started to sound odd. I stopped, about a mile from home, and discovered that I had a puncture.

First I was cross, mainly with myself, because the garage had pointed out the state of my tyres at my MOT but said they probably had about two to three thousand miles left in them and it was two thousand miles since then. Then I pulled myself together, opened the boot and had a rummage. It's been a very long time since the heady days when I considered myself even slightly competent at manual tasks - with relative wealth comes the ability to delegate unwanted tasks to paid help. Anyway, there was a wheel, a jack and various other bits and pieces including a gadget that turned out to be for getting the fancy bolt covers off the bolts, and the special shaped anti-theft lock nut, so I knuckled down and got started.

No fewer than three people stopped to offer help, and I expect more would have done so except that when the third one turned up I was having a bit of trouble getting the wheel off, so he did it for me and then put the spare on and tightened the bolts and recommended his preferred tyre place in town. Except that it was now 5.02 p.m. and they shut at 4.30. Kwik Fit, however, was still open even though they shut at 5, and I asked them very nicely if they would mind helping, and they did. So I gave them BL and LRM's chocolate, and wrapped up some flowers that had been in my house for a week or so to give to BL and LRM instead.

Bee Lady and Former Landrover Man are very well, and living in a new place with different walks, so we had lunch and did a walk and it was lovely. Then on to the retreat which allowed me to turn off all electronics for nearly a week - no social media, internet, email, nothing. It was like taking life and pressing pause. My only responsibilities were to try and keep and eye on the time and turn up for things like meals and talks, but if I hadn't even done that it would still have been fine.

Coming home and plunging straight back into the modern world after that sort of break can be jarring, so I didn't turn the phone or computer on for a day, but manage to get jobs done in a meditative way, like more pruning, laundry, cooking. While I'd been away Glf had finished the pointing, which looks very fine and makes me happy that there's only one job left in the first round of the LTRP - decorating the porch and downstairs hall.

And then I turned all the gadgets back on, but tried very hard not to go down some of the rabbit holes that suck time out of my life, and I've done quite well so far. I have another retreat booked (at a different centre) in November, to top up my level of chill.

Rain and tofu in Malvern

Lolas with Elgar, Malvern, May 2021

'New Normal' has begun - Lola II and I have been on holiday. We made it all the way to Malvern, only 14 months after the trip was supposed to happen.

Not without incident, though. Lola II's car has been playing up for a while, refusing to start unless a magical incantation is performed (and the accelerator is pumped). My car, usually so reliable, had a bit of a fit just as I drove into the town and started beeping an error on the dashboard, coughing and refusing to go faster than 30 mph. I called my garage friends back in Leamington and told them what the dashboard said, and they reassured me that the car was still safe to drive, and the fault would need diagnosing using the computer-aided diagnostic system that all garages use. So we ignored all of that and had lunch with Mr M before sending him south to visit his mum and then stay at Lola Towers until we returned.

From the comfortable Airbnb accommodation I called a local garage who seemed very friendly and agreed that if I called in first thing next day they could at least find out more about the problem, and if it was a quick fix they could probably sort it out on the same day. So that's what I did - leaving Lola II asleep I arrived at the garage where they diagnosed a problem with the spark plugs and/or leads and/or coil pack. I formulated all sorts of backup plans involving Mr M coming to fetch us and me leaving the car and coming back for it by train, but changing the plugs seemed to fix it and I drove off, only for the fault to recur before I'd reached the end of the road. After changing the other two parts as well and driving round the block to double check, I got the all clear. 

Lola was up and ready for action when I got back so we went out for breakfast and then into town, where we visited the very helpful Tourist Information Centre, wandered around various quaint shops, and followed part of a walking trail around the town. Unfortunately the day was wet - it didn't rain all the time, but there were regular showers and it was cold. Despite this we learned about the Malvern Spring Water and Water Cure businesses, the Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce business, and the various eminent personages associated with Malvern including Edward Elgar, C. S. Lewis, George Bernard Shaw and Charles Darwin. And there was hot chocolate and cake, of course.

On Saturday we finally managed to attend the tofu cookery course that we'd booked in January 2020 and had to put off at least twice. Before Covid there would have been six people on the course but it had to be reduced to just four, and we weren't allowed to share any food except what the teacher (Lizzy) cooked. We cooked and tasted different types of tofu cooked and flavoured in many ways - sweet and sour, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Middle Eastern, soy and ginger, braised, fried, scrambled, and fish-flavoured using seaweed then battered and fried. We tasted that last one with chips and peas at the end of the day, and it was better than the real fish and chips I'd had in a fancy pub the night before. All the dishes we cooked had to be taken away with us, and there were lots! You can see all the plastic tubs in the background of the picture below.

The weather was still not good on Sunday, so we decided not to head for a walk on the hills but went to an English Heritage site instead - Witley Court and Gardens, which was one of the most interesting I've come across. It started out as a Jacobean mansion, and was enlarged several times by subsequent owners to reach the peak of opulence between 1850 and 1885. It remained as a lavish stately home until it caught fire in 1937, after which the owner deemed it too expensive to repair, sold off all the furniture and artefacts that weren't damaged by the fire, and then sold off the house and land as well. It has remained a ruin except for the gardens and the restored fountain but there is quite a bit of photographic and presumably documented information about what it looked like and who lived and worked there in its heyday.

It has a very similar atmosphere to all the Roman and Greek remains I've visited, or the monasteries destroyed during the Reformation, because you're essentially asked to imagine what the various rooms might have looked like based on not much more than brick walls. In this case, however, it's much more recent history: we know for sure which rooms were used for what, and there are photographs. We joined a guide who talked about the life and wages of the servants below stairs and took us through the service areas. It was all really interesting, and we would have also had a lovely walk around the grounds except that I got really cold sitting outside for lunch (inside was forbidden) and then it started to rain.

Our first 'proper' holiday since the pandemic started, and a great success. Here's to infection rates dropping, lockdown lifting and more of the same.