As an act of contrition, and by way of amendment, for my sin of last night (I've got to that bit in Benedict's Rule where he discusses misdemeanours and punishments - Chapter XXV) I'm going to keep silent today. It'll probably do me some good, if I can remember to stick to it, and everyone else might like it, if they notice. I should probably confess to the Prior. I'll try and ring H later and see how she is. And confess to her, if she hasn't already figured it out. And of course, I've confessed to any of you who are reading this. Enough fucking confession!
I think I fell asleep (with everything switched off) before midnight, didn't set an alarm, and woke up at 6.45, which is probably the best night's sleep I've had since I arrived. I did think of skipping meditation, but went in the end. Katherine Jarvis didn't and started banging every door in the house half way through before I think finally going out for a walk. There should be a rule about it (moving around during meditation). Perhaps the Prior didn't give her a briefing. She's a fellow smoker.
I'm going to try running the fridge off the electricity all the time. It doesn't work as well as it does off the gas (maybe it's run out of refrigerant) and seems to draw a lot of power all the time - the inverter fan is roaring away, but I need to sort it out, or repair it, or get another fridge. Try an ordinary fridge running off one of my plugs (a new eco one) and see if it is any better. I may just have to empty it and turn it off when I go to Naxos.
Leaving the washing up water in the bowl, as long as it's not too dirty / greasy, seems to work very well. It does have lots of detergent in it. I'm going to have breakfast outside in the sunshine. And Jacques is right - I am smoking too much, and I need to take exercise, and do my Babbel lessons every day. New day, new me.
Too much salt in my porridge, again. I keep measuring it and 'adding a bit for luck' - should try taking off a bit instead.
Spent the morning re-arranging my solar panel (now leaning against a wall, much safer, and on its side so less prone to being blown over by the wind) and trying to figure out where all the juice is going. I think my fridge is knackered (the electrical bit anyway, the gas fired half works beautifully) or I've made some basic wiring mistake - I seem to be charging my battery from two directions at once, which may be confusing it a bit. Turned various switches on and off, and eventually switched off the mains charger which was getting very hot, and after a bit everything seemed to go back to normal.
Skipped lunch - the French are here today in force, having a picnic, and then went and had a go at finishing off the bathroom after helping Thomas move a bed and a mattress up to the gatehouse. He's made it look really nice, just oiling the floorboards and really cleaning the walls. All he needs now is a composting toilet. All anyone needs really. Anyway, after 2 hours restoring a very old French light fitting and shade, and creeping around in the attic trying to find the dud connection, I finally got the shade up and the light working and Andrew said how nice it all looked. My clever electricity detecting screwdriver seems to work - no shocks, not many sparks, and only tripped the fuse once. It did seem to be telling me something was live but there was no way it could be but I couldn't figure out why. One way or another I'm really being quite electrical these days, which was not previously my forte.
Sausages and baked beans for supper, and delicious baked aubergines and courgettes in ginger, garlic, oil, tamari, cumin and something else. And lovely Jacques bread.
Very French meditation at 12.15, very simple. Nice. And I spent a couple of hours catching up on my babbel lessons - all about young love and telephone calls. Nearly finished A Shadow in the Wind, which is really good, but about 5 unhappy love affairs and several violent deaths. Spain is dark (or has been in the last 100 years).
And so to bed : 22:05. Must ring Harriet.
I think I fell asleep (with everything switched off) before midnight, didn't set an alarm, and woke up at 6.45, which is probably the best night's sleep I've had since I arrived. I did think of skipping meditation, but went in the end. Katherine Jarvis didn't and started banging every door in the house half way through before I think finally going out for a walk. There should be a rule about it (moving around during meditation). Perhaps the Prior didn't give her a briefing. She's a fellow smoker.
I'm going to try running the fridge off the electricity all the time. It doesn't work as well as it does off the gas (maybe it's run out of refrigerant) and seems to draw a lot of power all the time - the inverter fan is roaring away, but I need to sort it out, or repair it, or get another fridge. Try an ordinary fridge running off one of my plugs (a new eco one) and see if it is any better. I may just have to empty it and turn it off when I go to Naxos.
Leaving the washing up water in the bowl, as long as it's not too dirty / greasy, seems to work very well. It does have lots of detergent in it. I'm going to have breakfast outside in the sunshine. And Jacques is right - I am smoking too much, and I need to take exercise, and do my Babbel lessons every day. New day, new me.
Too much salt in my porridge, again. I keep measuring it and 'adding a bit for luck' - should try taking off a bit instead.
Spent the morning re-arranging my solar panel (now leaning against a wall, much safer, and on its side so less prone to being blown over by the wind) and trying to figure out where all the juice is going. I think my fridge is knackered (the electrical bit anyway, the gas fired half works beautifully) or I've made some basic wiring mistake - I seem to be charging my battery from two directions at once, which may be confusing it a bit. Turned various switches on and off, and eventually switched off the mains charger which was getting very hot, and after a bit everything seemed to go back to normal.
Skipped lunch - the French are here today in force, having a picnic, and then went and had a go at finishing off the bathroom after helping Thomas move a bed and a mattress up to the gatehouse. He's made it look really nice, just oiling the floorboards and really cleaning the walls. All he needs now is a composting toilet. All anyone needs really. Anyway, after 2 hours restoring a very old French light fitting and shade, and creeping around in the attic trying to find the dud connection, I finally got the shade up and the light working and Andrew said how nice it all looked. My clever electricity detecting screwdriver seems to work - no shocks, not many sparks, and only tripped the fuse once. It did seem to be telling me something was live but there was no way it could be but I couldn't figure out why. One way or another I'm really being quite electrical these days, which was not previously my forte.
Sausages and baked beans for supper, and delicious baked aubergines and courgettes in ginger, garlic, oil, tamari, cumin and something else. And lovely Jacques bread.
Very French meditation at 12.15, very simple. Nice. And I spent a couple of hours catching up on my babbel lessons - all about young love and telephone calls. Nearly finished A Shadow in the Wind, which is really good, but about 5 unhappy love affairs and several violent deaths. Spain is dark (or has been in the last 100 years).
And so to bed : 22:05. Must ring Harriet.
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