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Slow train coming

  The space is pervaded with green, with the chirping of birds and the sweet smell of pollen. We are in the countryside of Dordogne, and it would be difficult for anyone to find a more idyllic setting. In general, I try not to read the news, especially here, but whenever I do, that idyllic image is replaced by another one: the slow train, picking up speed downhill. The machine engineers are incompetent and instead of stopping it and repairing the faults with care, they keep on loading it with coal. Its lights are on in the darkness; they illuminate only the small patch in front, so the passengers could see the end, but only in a fashion.  Why are we in a such a hurry to destroy our civilisation? Do we have so much that we are bored with it? There was this boredom in the air before the epidemic in 2020. I had the feeling that people, especially the young ones, were waiting eagerly for something to happen. Anything. Just not that day after day boredom. They were trying to shake it off –
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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!


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