(Saturday night)
Tomorrow's treat - bike ride and lunch in Coulombiers, or Lusignan, or paddle down Le Clain to Poitiers. just need a paddle. and a canoe.
11.30 the eve of my 100th day. I wonder what I'll be writing here tomorrow night. All snug and cosy in my caravan, a proper bed made - two sheets! all I need now is a duvet - wait til winter comes, Aden playing on the phone, and NA beer and a fag, feeling very happy and snug, if a bit short of company. Chatting with Christos about his circuling of Naxos with Lukas Schmitt, in 3 days! Stopped where I had my lovely sigularia stifouda in Aghiassos on my 2nd or 3rd day on Naxos. Belle said I should aim for 180 days, so I've plumped for my 66th birthday (it's a bit more than 180, but not too much) unless the zombies attack. Bobbins calling my caravan an eyesore. I said I'm going to paint it brown with leaf shapes superimposed - as close as I'll get to my own wood! She said o alright then. And it will be more hobbit like with my hobbit stove and chimney, and then there's the composting toilet - Andrew very keen. He should talk to Stuart about Simpson projects.
Hector (colombian at Poitiers uni studying philosophy, friend of Daniels) joined us for med and supper. They were all late, so I started without anyone, then Andrew and Delyth arrived, then Suzanne and D and H, no Rebecca - they'd all decided that med was at 6.30 but didn't share this with Andrew or I. I didn't stop it until 7pm so they didn't miss anything really, then got a dead leg sitting in half lotus for 40 minutes so fell over and cracked my foot loudly when I tried to stand up. Andrew quite fed up with Rebecca's passive aggression - his phrase - and general difficuteness. She doesn't like communities (she said to me) and is very unhappy / dissatisfied with her meditation - I think she's discovering how painful it is to let go, and how difficult. We had a long chat over supper, a good one I think. She's having trouble with the mantra. Where I was when I fled to Greece and a similar situation - painful break up with her partner of several years; she was probably driving him bonkers, as I was Pol. Now she's having a go with us.
I have to work 25 hours a week, or pay 18 euros a day. Seems to be plenty to do. Keep a timesheet. And write my Fire Safety Procedures document.
Battery nearly dead - time for bed.
Sunday
I seem to have used an entire bottle of gas (£23) since Tuesday, thanks to my leak. Resealed it this morning (Sunday) and there doesn't appear to be any smell / leak now, but I suspect that may be because there's no gas left to leak.
Rebecca decided to treat us to an introduction to meditation (for Hector's benefit, who joined us last night and seemed perfectly happy). She advertised it as 'short' - it was anything but, and really quite distressing - 7.15 is not a good time for a lecture on anything and especially not from someone who spent the previous evening telling us she was fed up with meditation and was thinking of giving it up! I thought of getting up and leaving (as usual Rebecca arrived last) but I didn't want to scandalise anyone. At the end she asked me to read something from The Cloud, so I went to Chapter 47 and read a particularly apt paragraph, about stressing and making an effort in prayer (not a good idea!).
Spending the morning reading all my manuals for the solar power system. Be good if knew what a volt was. Maybe I should ring Joe. It's rather a grey day again, although the radio implied it could be hot (18C), so not overly tempted by a ride out for lunch. Delyth says there's a very nice auberge in Coulombiers where I can eat meat.
Andrew's says Laurence is very pleased I'm here and sends his love, which is reassuring.
Sun's out. It's 12 o'clock, time for med.
Rebecca made it on time (twice today) which is great. After med I asked them if they'd like to join me for my treat night out, Delyth declined, Rebecca up for it. But the Auberge in Coulombiers is closed Sunday night, and the only other one I found open was a grotty looking Portuguese restaurant, so I picked the Les Routiers which said it was open 24/7. Rebecca bailed out (no veggie option likely, ditto Daniel) but then Andrew said he'd come which was nice of him (and Delyth). I made a start on the solar panel (unpacked it and stood it against the wall, and put batteries and bits in the back of the Astra so I can hook it all up in the dry and see if it works, and charge the batteries, before fitting it all in the caravan, or, thinking about it, just leave it like that, as a giant battery charger and carry the batteries across to the caravan each day). Meditated together and finished singing the Magnificat which was nice (I skipped Delyth's singing lesson to do the solar Pv - catch the next one). Then Andrew and I went out - Les Routiers shut at 3pm, the Latina was shut too - so much for the interweb - and we went into the centre ville of Vivonne and had a very nice meal in a much nicer little bistrot. Andrew drank rose, and I drank 0% Jupiler which was very nice. Onion soup, escalope Savoyard and creme brulee, and lots of fresh wild garlic but the French call it bear's garlic. Andrew had a nice goats cheese salad and a calzone pizza, which he said was nice. It looked like a giant Cornish pasty. I explained about the treat (my 100 day celebration) and drinking generally and we talked a lot about Bonnevaux and personnel 'issues' and he said I could have a week in Naxos if he and Delyth could go and see their daughter in law in the Pyrenees. Deal!
Home to bed at 10:30 after a very nice jolly evening, sober and happy. I've done a spreadsheet of hours worked and daily charges to date, and I'm pretty well even, which is good. As I've only done odd jobs so far and there's a lot more I can be doing, it shouldn't be a problem to find 25 hours' work a week.
And I've found the perfect spot for my composting loo - behind the caravan, between it and the wall - out of obvious sight, but plenty of room. No shortage of building materials (my salvaged wood for a start) - just need a supply of sawdust/wood shavings. I can use the loo seat from the caravan. Look at some designs on the web. Especially for the bin. It'll be really nice. And an outside shower with black bag water heater on the roof, next to the loo, maybe.
And Andrew keeps saying (and genuinely meaning I think) how glad he is that I'm here, and how pleased Laurence is too. I think I may be a grown up, with surprisingly useful experience (like living in ashrams, school at a monastery, Findhorn and intentional communities generally, running a company, and just being 65, not 25). And being practical, and quite antsy about time keeping and sticking to rules, and being straight. Delyth said something nice about me to Andrew - that she noticed me checking myself, that I didn't just fly off the handle. Helps to be sober. I told Andrew about the CoOp debacle (and hence no almshouse).
and i realise i should have told him that i wouldn't, couldn't even, be here, if i hadn't started being sober back in october. could not have faced the incongruence in myself, being here, would not even have gone up to london to see laurence on just this day. probably would still be living / dying in sweffling.
What a lovely day.
Tomorrow's treat - bike ride and lunch in Coulombiers, or Lusignan, or paddle down Le Clain to Poitiers. just need a paddle. and a canoe.
11.30 the eve of my 100th day. I wonder what I'll be writing here tomorrow night. All snug and cosy in my caravan, a proper bed made - two sheets! all I need now is a duvet - wait til winter comes, Aden playing on the phone, and NA beer and a fag, feeling very happy and snug, if a bit short of company. Chatting with Christos about his circuling of Naxos with Lukas Schmitt, in 3 days! Stopped where I had my lovely sigularia stifouda in Aghiassos on my 2nd or 3rd day on Naxos. Belle said I should aim for 180 days, so I've plumped for my 66th birthday (it's a bit more than 180, but not too much) unless the zombies attack. Bobbins calling my caravan an eyesore. I said I'm going to paint it brown with leaf shapes superimposed - as close as I'll get to my own wood! She said o alright then. And it will be more hobbit like with my hobbit stove and chimney, and then there's the composting toilet - Andrew very keen. He should talk to Stuart about Simpson projects.
Hector (colombian at Poitiers uni studying philosophy, friend of Daniels) joined us for med and supper. They were all late, so I started without anyone, then Andrew and Delyth arrived, then Suzanne and D and H, no Rebecca - they'd all decided that med was at 6.30 but didn't share this with Andrew or I. I didn't stop it until 7pm so they didn't miss anything really, then got a dead leg sitting in half lotus for 40 minutes so fell over and cracked my foot loudly when I tried to stand up. Andrew quite fed up with Rebecca's passive aggression - his phrase - and general difficuteness. She doesn't like communities (she said to me) and is very unhappy / dissatisfied with her meditation - I think she's discovering how painful it is to let go, and how difficult. We had a long chat over supper, a good one I think. She's having trouble with the mantra. Where I was when I fled to Greece and a similar situation - painful break up with her partner of several years; she was probably driving him bonkers, as I was Pol. Now she's having a go with us.
I have to work 25 hours a week, or pay 18 euros a day. Seems to be plenty to do. Keep a timesheet. And write my Fire Safety Procedures document.
Battery nearly dead - time for bed.
Sunday
I seem to have used an entire bottle of gas (£23) since Tuesday, thanks to my leak. Resealed it this morning (Sunday) and there doesn't appear to be any smell / leak now, but I suspect that may be because there's no gas left to leak.
Rebecca decided to treat us to an introduction to meditation (for Hector's benefit, who joined us last night and seemed perfectly happy). She advertised it as 'short' - it was anything but, and really quite distressing - 7.15 is not a good time for a lecture on anything and especially not from someone who spent the previous evening telling us she was fed up with meditation and was thinking of giving it up! I thought of getting up and leaving (as usual Rebecca arrived last) but I didn't want to scandalise anyone. At the end she asked me to read something from The Cloud, so I went to Chapter 47 and read a particularly apt paragraph, about stressing and making an effort in prayer (not a good idea!).
Spending the morning reading all my manuals for the solar power system. Be good if knew what a volt was. Maybe I should ring Joe. It's rather a grey day again, although the radio implied it could be hot (18C), so not overly tempted by a ride out for lunch. Delyth says there's a very nice auberge in Coulombiers where I can eat meat.
Andrew's says Laurence is very pleased I'm here and sends his love, which is reassuring.
Sun's out. It's 12 o'clock, time for med.
Rebecca made it on time (twice today) which is great. After med I asked them if they'd like to join me for my treat night out, Delyth declined, Rebecca up for it. But the Auberge in Coulombiers is closed Sunday night, and the only other one I found open was a grotty looking Portuguese restaurant, so I picked the Les Routiers which said it was open 24/7. Rebecca bailed out (no veggie option likely, ditto Daniel) but then Andrew said he'd come which was nice of him (and Delyth). I made a start on the solar panel (unpacked it and stood it against the wall, and put batteries and bits in the back of the Astra so I can hook it all up in the dry and see if it works, and charge the batteries, before fitting it all in the caravan, or, thinking about it, just leave it like that, as a giant battery charger and carry the batteries across to the caravan each day). Meditated together and finished singing the Magnificat which was nice (I skipped Delyth's singing lesson to do the solar Pv - catch the next one). Then Andrew and I went out - Les Routiers shut at 3pm, the Latina was shut too - so much for the interweb - and we went into the centre ville of Vivonne and had a very nice meal in a much nicer little bistrot. Andrew drank rose, and I drank 0% Jupiler which was very nice. Onion soup, escalope Savoyard and creme brulee, and lots of fresh wild garlic but the French call it bear's garlic. Andrew had a nice goats cheese salad and a calzone pizza, which he said was nice. It looked like a giant Cornish pasty. I explained about the treat (my 100 day celebration) and drinking generally and we talked a lot about Bonnevaux and personnel 'issues' and he said I could have a week in Naxos if he and Delyth could go and see their daughter in law in the Pyrenees. Deal!
Home to bed at 10:30 after a very nice jolly evening, sober and happy. I've done a spreadsheet of hours worked and daily charges to date, and I'm pretty well even, which is good. As I've only done odd jobs so far and there's a lot more I can be doing, it shouldn't be a problem to find 25 hours' work a week.
And I've found the perfect spot for my composting loo - behind the caravan, between it and the wall - out of obvious sight, but plenty of room. No shortage of building materials (my salvaged wood for a start) - just need a supply of sawdust/wood shavings. I can use the loo seat from the caravan. Look at some designs on the web. Especially for the bin. It'll be really nice. And an outside shower with black bag water heater on the roof, next to the loo, maybe.
And Andrew keeps saying (and genuinely meaning I think) how glad he is that I'm here, and how pleased Laurence is too. I think I may be a grown up, with surprisingly useful experience (like living in ashrams, school at a monastery, Findhorn and intentional communities generally, running a company, and just being 65, not 25). And being practical, and quite antsy about time keeping and sticking to rules, and being straight. Delyth said something nice about me to Andrew - that she noticed me checking myself, that I didn't just fly off the handle. Helps to be sober. I told Andrew about the CoOp debacle (and hence no almshouse).
and i realise i should have told him that i wouldn't, couldn't even, be here, if i hadn't started being sober back in october. could not have faced the incongruence in myself, being here, would not even have gone up to london to see laurence on just this day. probably would still be living / dying in sweffling.
What a lovely day.
Comments
Post a Comment
Say anything you like. I do.