No Rules Apply

(Some thoughts from September)

Walking in the Rudding Park of Harrogate is an experience that I wish for everyone. It makes ones heart mellow and open. This is the magic of the English parks - it is like the countryside but with the ease of the city. No need for Wellies and Barbour jackets.

I had some time while waiting for Lama Jampa to come back from our Buddhist centre in Harrogate where he was giving interviews and while walking, I started thinking about those people who didn’t  have an access to green, open spaces. What is it like to be in prison? Recently I read an essay of Charles Dickens on Manhattan. It was a very unflattering piece of writing - unflattering for New York (as well as for Dickens, but that’s not the point) and there was a passage where Dickens was visiting one of the local prisons. From his questions and the answers of the wardens it came clear that the prisoners didn’t have any exercise at all. In fact many of them never even left their prison cells for the whole length of their sentence. Prisons in the States haven’t improved too much nowadays. Unlike in U.K. where, I read today, prisoners will be allowed to have mobile phones in their cells. It is believed that they will greatly benefit from it. I am sure many other people will do too!