Jean Christophe has come with Luigi (his son) to inspect the tree. He actually saw the tornado (unlike us who were right in it).
Belle says email her 4 times a day until I'm better.
The problem I think is that drinking or not drinking here just seems normal. It definitely wasn't normal on Naxos, or, for me, in Swefffling/Framlingham. No particular urge or effort required here, either way, so my guard drops.
Suddenly very grateful to be here, leading this strange life.
Took Mary to the Station at 2. She's given me Benedict's Dharma, with Patrick Barry's translation of the Rule.
Talked to Felicity and Joe (she's paying him a flying sans-children visit) and Aden, and I've booked a flight to Hanoi in October/November - Lufthansa to Munich, Singapore Airlines to Singapore, and then Singapore again to Hanoi. Takes 20 odd hours with layovers, but it should be fun. Organise blahblah car to Paris.
Didn't get round to meditating until we all met in the Chapel at 6.15. We sang Praise Him! Praise Him! with great gusto (since we all knew the tune). Sorted out and sent Stuart the corrected sample. Now need to crack on with the book proper. I've promised Facebook there will be printed copies by end-June. And e-books.
Made myself a late but delicious supper with the cheapo pork escalopes I found in Super-U. Thomas wasn't tempted. He's given me a load of his music, mostly a bit rocky, but some nice old stuff too (Piaf, Brel, Greco) - need to explore and see what I like. I've tuned the radio to Cherie, it's 'pop-love' - their term, but jolly. I was listening to it the other day in the car, and a whole series of songs were about je cherche la paix et la bonheur and verite, hardly a je t'aime to be heard (the Greek equivalent would have been s'agopo every other line). The lyrics sound intelligent, but that's possibly the limitations of my French. All the girls seem to have quite light voices, like KT Tunstall or Lily Allen, not Francoise Hardy or Eartha Kitt. Nice, but all very much the same.
Timetable, restrictions, boundaries, rules. Today was a real day off - no communal meals, meditation (apart from the evening) and not doing very much apart from taking Mary to the station. It was nice, a real holiday, but it was nice to have a proper med in the evening with all the psalms and special antiphons for Trinity. The tree that fell down had three trunks. OOOerr.
Years ago, in Wefan, before I started working at Top Trucks, I wrote myself a timetable (I was in a a bit of a state at the time) - meditation, yoga, exercise, writing, meals, blah blah - and recoiled in horror; not a minute of freedom. Now here I am, with barely 10 minutes to call my own, and I love it. Not drinking helps. Meditating when I feel like it doesn't really happen. So a day off is nice, but as much to show me how this structure is so enlarging. Read the Buddhist commentary on the Rule - 'one always commits oneself before fully knowing what one is committing to'. As Belle says, you just have to do it, and then find out why. In a a way a bit like my experience on Naxos - talking to people about my idea for the land, I found myself saying things I'd never thought about before, that I wouldn't have thought about if I hadn't flown there, and seen the land, and met Aspasia and Mixailis and Costa and Manoli and Lee, and just been on the island for a week. Talking to Eleni and Lee about Naxos being a giant funghi, and Eleni being one of the mycelia, connecting me to all those other mycelia.
(The Cherie DJ sounds exactly like Antoine de Caunes who used to do Eurotrash on Channel 4 years ago. Actually Thomas sounds a bit like him too, with willowy girlfriends to match. And he's got Jean P Gaultier on as well only its Philippe not Paul - I think it might really be the same guy- he does the weather).
Felt quite pleased with myself. I didn't have a glass of wine with my lovely supper (a splash from the end of the carafe to deglaze the pan) or a drink with Thomas. I fessed up to him about yesterday and my headache this morning. Haven't emailed Belle four times as she suggested, but it's not such a bad idea. I wonder how many days there are to my birthday?
Belle says email her 4 times a day until I'm better.
The problem I think is that drinking or not drinking here just seems normal. It definitely wasn't normal on Naxos, or, for me, in Swefffling/Framlingham. No particular urge or effort required here, either way, so my guard drops.
Suddenly very grateful to be here, leading this strange life.
Took Mary to the Station at 2. She's given me Benedict's Dharma, with Patrick Barry's translation of the Rule.
Talked to Felicity and Joe (she's paying him a flying sans-children visit) and Aden, and I've booked a flight to Hanoi in October/November - Lufthansa to Munich, Singapore Airlines to Singapore, and then Singapore again to Hanoi. Takes 20 odd hours with layovers, but it should be fun. Organise blahblah car to Paris.
Didn't get round to meditating until we all met in the Chapel at 6.15. We sang Praise Him! Praise Him! with great gusto (since we all knew the tune). Sorted out and sent Stuart the corrected sample. Now need to crack on with the book proper. I've promised Facebook there will be printed copies by end-June. And e-books.
Made myself a late but delicious supper with the cheapo pork escalopes I found in Super-U. Thomas wasn't tempted. He's given me a load of his music, mostly a bit rocky, but some nice old stuff too (Piaf, Brel, Greco) - need to explore and see what I like. I've tuned the radio to Cherie, it's 'pop-love' - their term, but jolly. I was listening to it the other day in the car, and a whole series of songs were about je cherche la paix et la bonheur and verite, hardly a je t'aime to be heard (the Greek equivalent would have been s'agopo every other line). The lyrics sound intelligent, but that's possibly the limitations of my French. All the girls seem to have quite light voices, like KT Tunstall or Lily Allen, not Francoise Hardy or Eartha Kitt. Nice, but all very much the same.
Timetable, restrictions, boundaries, rules. Today was a real day off - no communal meals, meditation (apart from the evening) and not doing very much apart from taking Mary to the station. It was nice, a real holiday, but it was nice to have a proper med in the evening with all the psalms and special antiphons for Trinity. The tree that fell down had three trunks. OOOerr.
Years ago, in Wefan, before I started working at Top Trucks, I wrote myself a timetable (I was in a a bit of a state at the time) - meditation, yoga, exercise, writing, meals, blah blah - and recoiled in horror; not a minute of freedom. Now here I am, with barely 10 minutes to call my own, and I love it. Not drinking helps. Meditating when I feel like it doesn't really happen. So a day off is nice, but as much to show me how this structure is so enlarging. Read the Buddhist commentary on the Rule - 'one always commits oneself before fully knowing what one is committing to'. As Belle says, you just have to do it, and then find out why. In a a way a bit like my experience on Naxos - talking to people about my idea for the land, I found myself saying things I'd never thought about before, that I wouldn't have thought about if I hadn't flown there, and seen the land, and met Aspasia and Mixailis and Costa and Manoli and Lee, and just been on the island for a week. Talking to Eleni and Lee about Naxos being a giant funghi, and Eleni being one of the mycelia, connecting me to all those other mycelia.
(The Cherie DJ sounds exactly like Antoine de Caunes who used to do Eurotrash on Channel 4 years ago. Actually Thomas sounds a bit like him too, with willowy girlfriends to match. And he's got Jean P Gaultier on as well only its Philippe not Paul - I think it might really be the same guy- he does the weather).
Felt quite pleased with myself. I didn't have a glass of wine with my lovely supper (a splash from the end of the carafe to deglaze the pan) or a drink with Thomas. I fessed up to him about yesterday and my headache this morning. Haven't emailed Belle four times as she suggested, but it's not such a bad idea. I wonder how many days there are to my birthday?
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