Month: April 2018

Never let it be said that the Old Testament is boring. It’s actually a rip-roaring journey in which all features good and bad of human nature are displayed. Chapter 17 of the first book of Samuel is devoted to the epic duel between David and Goliath the story so powerful it lives on in symbolism today. I have written my conclusions beforehand so if you are allergic to going through quite a chunky portion of the Bible you are hereby absolved.

I was called to think about this  account. Goliath was a huge man, suitably dressed in armour with a sword and challenged anyone to fight. When David appeared before him, a slight figure of a man half his size lasted not take kindly to him. Saul agreed that David should fight because of his faith and dressed him in armour but David was so uncomfortable, he took them off again. He went to a stream to collect some stones. Facing the content of Goliath, David said he came in the name of the Lord and he will deliver you into my hands. Was this brave talk, foolhardy talk or did he know something.

We are told that the stone was slung and struck the Philistine on the forehead and he fell down on the ground whereupon David took his Sword and cut off his head.  I found this whole story very comforting because I am going to undertake a huge task, mentioned yesterday in my diary, which will involve being arraigned against a multitude of companies all who will gain or think they will gain from the dreadful 5G. It is the moral qualities of those who stand up to these psychopaths that is being tested, plus of course their faith. Strength itself will not work. It is doing your bit and allowing providence to work  in its own way. The new website is going very well www.5Gexposed.com and is growing from day-to-day. Goodness knows how many references that will happen at the end of the exercise. Maybe 2000 may be more.

Last night I ordered a new design for a flyer from someone in India. This morning it was delivered, return for correction, and delivered an hour later. I find that if things are meant to be, they go well. This was no exception

 

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokohand Azekah. ² Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³ The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.^[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels^[b]; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.^[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.

⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah.¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[d] of roasted grainand these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance^[e] from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. ⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LordAlmighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath^[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

⁵⁸ “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.

David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

 

This morning at 10 o’clock there was a combined service with Farringdon which is an adjacent village to Paulton. I would like to tell you that it was necessary to walk across the field to the church and that would have been so romantic. The fact is that there is a single track path that leads to an extremely small car park where we fitted in only with the greatest amount of goodwill.

There were about 30 of us and on this occasion we were treated to the sounds from a makeshift band including guitar, harmonium and I think an electric piano.

The sermon was a trifle long, but Guy was particularly inspired on this occasion and discussed how Jesus used symbols and pictures to get the truth across. Jesus was stating his place in the universe which was the “true vine”, God being the husbandmen or the vinedresser. If you  listen to the words in John chapter 15 which are quite strong.

He says “I am the true Vine. My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch joined to me that does not bear fruit. He trims every branch that does bear fruit. Then it will bear even more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain joined to me, and I will remain joined to you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain joined to the vine. In the same way, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain joined to me. I am the vine. You are the branches. If anyone remains joined to me and I to him, he will bear much fruit. Without me you can do nothing. if anyone does not remain joined to me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and dries up. Branches like those are picked up. They are thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain joined to me and my words remain in you, ask for anything you wish. And it will be given to you.

We could say that Jesus is really labouring the point without actually repeating himself mechanically. It is clearly very important. Perhaps it was a hot day when he said these words and his disciples were losing concentration, who knows. Without me you can do nothing? That is strong language indeed. I will have to think about that one.

The word ‘abide’, an old-fashioned word, means to dwell in me in other words in Jesus or to be joined with me. What I drew from the sermon was Guy’s comment that we don’t have to have goals in the way that normal people think because if we are joined to the vine growth will happen automatically and our lives will be fruitful. People in those times had no Internet, and no technical communications so the choice of an image of the vine must have struck very deep. It certainly did with me, particularly the idea about not having goals- in other words something ‘out there’, when we’ve got it all in ourselves. Heaven is not somewhere out there beyond our reach; we can create the circumstances of heaven while we are still in the body though that suit of ‘clothes of light’ may not fit very well. We can but aspire.

It’s funny that Jesus mentioned pruning and it may be that the so-called crises in our lives are where extraneous material is removed so we can see things much clearer. I know this happens during funerals where people’s own fear of death is revealed and they often go through a crises. In a way, this is given in order that someone may grow.

*****

Full steam ahead to prepare for the AV9 conference starting on Friday. I have to prepare a leaflet to reasonable professional standard. I use People per hour.com where you can find people willing to work straight away. I found a person who I will give a try to from India no less and will see what he comes up with. The problem is that although people can speak English they cannot think English so you don’t get the nuances that are really required. I have a great benefit that the web host that I rely on I have known for 20 years.  I can ring him up at any reasonable time for some small thing where I’m stuck and he is glad to oblige. Try that with a large company let alone a company in America. There’s a lot to be said for the phrase “it’s not who you know it’s what you know”.

What possesses this man to have such a disfiguring tattoo? What self-image must he have when everyone will recoil from him? This is a person who’s taken on an identity that is not human. God bless him as I would say to anyone who is trying to find their way in life that he has chosen a  difficult path.

However, this picture is much more terrifying.  5G is the biggest con ever to be perpetrated on the British public. It is being sold on the grounds that you can download films in a few seconds. What they do not tell you is that 400,000 unsightly masts will be situated in the UK both in country and city areas. What they do not tell you is that the biological effects of even low doses of microwave or high frequency radiation is carcinogenic, causes health problems, sleeplessness, irritability, and is especially dangerous for children.

Why you may ask I telling you this? Because I have decided that enough is enough. The wavelengths emitted by these transmitters correspond with those of the human brain and by adjusting the frequencies, brain activity can be interfered with. In World War II, fluoride was used by Hitler to subdue people as indeed it is used for the same purpose in the USA now.

Once the scheme is operational in 2020, ( trials going on in Gateshead as we speak) the powers that be will have complete control over our minds and we can say goodbye to many aspects of the mind, to free will, and to independence of thought. It will be ‘game set and match’ and they will be in control. I have therefore decided to start a campaign to raise awareness. I’m not the only one but I’m fairly good at organising when I get going so the next few days will be very eventful.

Today was a dizzying 9°C, the usual blanket of cloud, with a rather cold wind from the North. Just what the doctor did not order.

Every week I get a journal called “The Week” which is a summary of the interesting news happenings  in the media particularly the newspapers. There is a regular column that I always turn to first. It is entitled “It must be true – I read it in the tabloids”. There are normally three stories and this is the shortest one in today’s edition. “Three years ago, Dylan McWilliams was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in Utah. Last July, he was mauled by a bear while camping in his home state of Colorado. Last week, he completed an unlikely trilogy by surviving a shark attack while bodyboarding in Hawaii. The fish, thought to be a tiger shark, left teeth marks that needed seven stitches. McWilliams, 20, thinks he just has a tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, adding: “I don’t blame the shark, I don’t blame the bear and I don’t blame the rattlesnake“.  How’s that for a laid-back attitude?

*****

A rainy day for the most part. More psychic readings to do in the morning, one for someone in Spain, another one for a confused student in Germany. People don’t seem to believe that I require no information from them. All I need is a first name of the person as an identifier and then a question. That is all that is needed to establish the contact and off we go. Without any trace of modesty the German person that I did the reading for just said “you are amazing”.  I like hearing things like that because it means you’re not wasting people’s time.

*****

Francoise came back from her painting class in Timsbury and we decided to go off to Bread and Beyond, my favourite ‘go to’ place for teas and self indulgence, Chewton Mendip, BA34LJ. If you want a really first-class light lunch with splendid meat pies and cakes to die for not to mention home-cooked bread this is the place to go to. Alice, the grande dame in charge, gets up at 2:30 AM to start baking. No wonder she looks tired at closing time at about 4:30 PM but bless her she goes on.

On the table were some cards advertising an art exhibition featuring the use of various types of paper, called “Art on Paper”. We decided on impulse to go for this reason. GPS is very useful when you are not very knowledgeable about whether the place is and tells you how long it will take you to get there. The Andelli Art Gallery is a converted house and has been so for four and a half years, owned by a delightful and vivacious couple who decamped from Crouch End, no less, in London. It was a delight to speak with people who were on our wavelength and the conversation was fast and furious.

First we met Andy from Wales. By coincidence, Alice, who runs Bread and Beyond is also from Wales, knows him, and she lives close by. The couple go quite frequently and partake of the splendid meat pies. Ellie his wife then arrived and we had 20 further minutes non-stop high speed conversation about a dozen different things. It is lovely to speak with people who can think on many levels and I do miss this in Midsomer. Its like you have to wake people up first.  They as refugees from London could not bear the thought of going back but instead visit as tourists and we do the same. The gallery has frequent visiting artists. They decided not to have a gallery in Wells because that would have cost between £20,000 and £30,000 per year in rent and who wants the pressure from that. Their home is more than sufficient to display 50 or 60 paintings.   I was enchanted by the whole, and immediately signed up for the next private viewing and said we looked forward to seeing them in a couple of months.

*****

Most of my readers will be familiar with the so-called chemical attack where Assad for some mad reason apparently decided to attack his own people. Russia Today revealed that witnesses saw no evidence of an attack, no victims, no chemical weapons. In other words the whole thing was a complete lie. The Douma (that’s the town)  witnesses testified to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Netherlands. Multiple witnesses and participants in yet anaother fake White Helmets video testified at this obviously staged gas attack in the Syrian town as well as how the online video productions supplied to Western governments and media were part of the same “provocation” that Moscow had warned about in advance.

What did the BBC do about this? Did they report it? Not on your life. The BBC are as about as independent as a dog on a lead. They are controlled by, in order, Israel, who if you criticize their war antics in even a minor way they will complain that you are being anti-Semitic. My goodness, they keep on playing the Holocaust card time after time and people still fall for it. Secondly, we have the mighty American hypocrisy machine followed by the interests of large corporations of all colours, and finally the British government of the day. All political so-called facts announced by BBC News are skewed by the need to under no circumstances upset the mighty, the wonderful, the great controller of America, Israel.

You think I’m exaggerating? I wish I was. Try becoming a senator in the USA without swearing allegiance to Netanyahu. Look at the way his last appearance in Congress was preceded by 15 min of applause. They didn’t dare not applaud him but did so in a Psychophantic manner.

BBC produces propaganda, and the alternative press and people like Russia Today and Press TV present the news. Simple as.

*****

On the other hand, the Young Musician for the Year is now playing on BBC Four. A few years ago would have been on BBC2 so BBC four is now the only bastion of quality left.  We sat in front of the fire watching the TV and it’s nearly the end of April. I hope somehow sometime this weather will actually warm up.

I was brought up on Winnie the Pooh and I enjoyed sitting on my father’s lap enjoying the well-known stories which I knew word for word. It was an innocent world animals with their various personalities, Roo, Tigger, Christopher Robin, and the star of the show Pooh Bear himself.

How times have changed, for better for worse is a matter of discussion but when 10-year-old girls become so self obsessed they want an operation to correct suppose defects in their vagina, I think we can say the trend has mostly been downwards. Facebook has been rearing its ugly head about the integrity of treating the Facebook member as a cash cow and utilizing them for supposed financial benefits. I am continuing my association with it as an experiment and start my day with deleting the half-dozen or so skimpily dressed young ladies who recommend a site of their friend who is probably even more skimpily dressed and prostituting themselves, taking advantage of the loneliness and needs of their opposite sex. I am told that these recommended friends are stunning, humongous, amazing, every word you can think of and now I just read the first word and block.

Through some sort of mysterious algorithm I have accumulated quite a number of friends, 1,384 to be precise as of today Friday, 27 April 2018 at 10:26 AM.  Why am I doing this? I think it is partly the novelty and the intrigue that you might just come across without knowing it a friend of a friend who turns into quite an interesting person. This is actually happened on one or two occasions with good conversations but more interestingly I have befriended and been befriended by people that I knew 30 years ago and still have something to say together.

Are these people friends in the sense that I would like. The answer has to be in the vast majority of cases ‘no’. I was reading an article in our local newspaper, well actually a national newspaper, the ‘i’. Short for independent but that went bust in its printed form anyway. The article was entitled “you can’t put a price – or a time limit – on friendship”. I would thoroughly concur with that sentiment. Mark Twain was realistic. He said “the holy Passion of friendship is so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring nature that it will last a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money”

It is mildly disappointing when someone befriends you to discover that there was an ulterior motive. Shortly after my move to Somerset a chap who really did have lots in common with me started a series of conversations. However, after three or four meetings he broached the topic of investment in properties with a guaranteed percentage of return, I think it was about 7%. I realised that he had been grooming me as a friend so I would part with some money. Now, the scheme may have been excellent but the subterfuge was not appreciated.

But anyway, back to the article again. I think people have become dissociated in their relationships, I mean their personal relationships. I’m not talking about a work colleague that you befriend for the sake of having a more pleasant time at work I suppose I’m talking about a buddy, a confidante, someone who you talk to without fear of being judged, someone who does not watch from the outside but rather identifies with your inside.

I think it’s asking a bit much to have a friend that completely agrees with you in every aspect of your life. I have friends that I discuss psychic things with, friends that I discuss gardening with, friends and I discuss 9/11 type stuff. If I were to introduce them to each other, they would not necessarily get on very well. When all said and done, it’s all about wavelength. When I went to the men’s group, the Christian men’s group, last evening in Frome there was no dissonance, no awkwardness, none of this ‘getting to know you’ chatter. We all believe in the same thing so there is no need to impress anyone or ask the normal chat up type questions, off you go with your favourite chosen subject..

I don’t think the quality of friendship depends on the amount of time you spend with someone though I think overall you need a certain amount of time to get to know someone. The article referred to above suggests 50 hours to become casual friends or 200 hours to move into the close friends category. However, this research was conducted by the University of Kansas who defines four levels of friendship – acquaintance, casual friend, friend, and close friend to which I would add one category “soulmate”. Soulmate is someone with whom you can sit without the necessity of actually saying something because those of you that believe in the aura and the energy fields and in the power of thought will know that you’re talking to the other person anyway but not using the rather gross method of communication where the brain changes thoughts into sound waves, these are projected through the air via the mouth, they are picked up by the ears of the other person and translated into meaning.

Direct is best.

With regard to the research above, if this was conducted exclusively using citizens of the United States as an example I would question its applicability to other parts of the world. The United States is country of extraordinary opposites. We have some of the greatest minds, and yet the majority, the vast majority, have been rendered almost stupid by the continual influence of chemtrails ( do your own research on that one), put fluoride in the water ( used by Adolf Hitler to calm down people in concentration camps), junk food and an unceasing flow of mental from the media. I think you have to work far harder to get friends because if the acuity of the brain is less, probably due to the amount of hours spent on social media, the level of empathy diminishes.

A friend is someone that you can rely upon at all times, who is constant, and who has known you for a minimum amount of time perhaps a couple of years. The Christian would recall the hymn “ what a friend we have in Jesus” and although we cannot see him, his spirit is with this and that’s as good a stabilising thought as I can offer, He is the still small voice admits the passions and the foolishness of mankind. I remember the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson “keep your friendships in repair” be they utilitarian or personal. To ambitious people I say “be nice to people when you are on the way up because you might meet them again on your way down”.

I find many of the more thoughtful people in my life don’t have many friends, but the friends they do have are good ones. When you come to think about it, a handful of friends is quite a lot.

As a result of my membership with the local men’s group, we get to hear about other groups in the area one of which is in Frome. This evening they are holding a men’s curry night and here is the advertisement:

Speaker: Dr John Bradshaw.

John, a committed Christian, grew up on his family farm in Zimbabwe. He shares his inspirational story – from when a booby-trapped land mine exploded in his face causing blindness; subsequently obtaining a PhD in Computer Science from Cambridge University; his path to becoming the only blind Headmaster in the world of a ‘normal’ school – the top girls boarding school in Zimbabwe; he now lives in Sherbourne.

I very much look forward to this. Most people stop studying altogether when blinded but he goes on to get a Ph.D. and becoming a headmaster.

later…..

There were about 40 of us men gathered together in the social Hall of Frome Football Club. After a do it yourself buffet of three different types of curry the speaker took to the floor. What is the best way to introduce a speaker? So many times I’ve heard people say “this speaker needs no introduction” and then go on to introduce him or her. I have heard chair people forget to introduce someone, give out endless notices, introduce a speaker at far greater length while people fret. I think two or three sentences just to help the audience to tune in and get their mind away from everyday things is ideal.

John decided to go into the Army to experience things he would not have experienced otherwise and decided to go into the engineering Corps. This was in Zimbabwe by the way when Robert Mugabe was in full flood. He spent his time defusing  bombs. One day, something did not look right, something behind an anti-tank mine. The “Something” blew up in his face and shrapnel went into his eyes. He was protected from greater damage by the far bigger anti-tank mine that if it had gone off would have blown a hole six-foot deep and there wouldn’t be much of him to bury. Luckily, a person passing in a light aeroplane landed at an airstrip 200 m away and John was quickly taken to the hospital at Harare

.As luck would have it, the chief eye surgeon of the whole country was there having decided to take one of his six days doing general duties in the accident and emergency Department that particular day. Equipment at that time was nothing like today but they managed to draw the shrapnel out of his eyes with magnets but both eyes deteriorated to nothing because what the doctors could not take out was the sand that was blasted into the eye. The deterioration took about 10 years so he had time to prepare for blindness. He is now totally blind.

I found strangely pragmatic about the whole thing. He said that although he had his up days and down days he never felt alone. Another stroke of fortune happened when after the accident he decided to go and study at university and a complete stranger gave him a sum of money enough for five years study at university.

Prior to that, he had owned a farm with his father in Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s forces came along and told him that he had two hours to get out. After some negotiation, they got was extended to 24 hours. He said that there were 12 different types of vehicle volunteered by the neighbours to help him move. They were told that at five o’clock the following day the doors would be locked and if they were still inside they would be imprisoned for trespass. He had his father lost the whole farm. Shortly after the accident his wife separated from him and went back to Africa.

He spoke of having lost count of the number of operations he had. He had had nine corona implants and 60 operations over a period of 10 years. After the accident he volunteered to be a headmaster of a school in Zimbabwe a post he held for some years. A retired headmaster in the group asked how he managed without sight and he said he had a wonderful PA and he mainly concentrated on giving support to the teachers and students. He said that people in Zimbabwe go to church in great numbers and talk openly about Christianity whereas in England, this does not happen nearly so much. He felt he should leave the Christian life openly so that others can see it, living in the light so to speak

He said that only with Jesus help can you join the dots and that he gets most comfort from reading St John’s gospel and Paul’s letters, I’m talking about the new Testament. He said that the main benefit of the accident was that he ‘made me be myself’ though what he described as a “heavy boot” was necessary in his case.

He was asked whether he had asked the question why did all this happen to me and he answered in the negative saying that we have to figure out how all the particular unfortunate event can be used to develop us as individuals. He described himself as a simple man and gave the analogy of having to trust your guide dog and go wherever it goes.

After numerous questions we were asked to pray for Bryce who was going to Ely Cathedral to be questioned over three days about the possibility of becoming ordained. He was a young chap with long hair and I thought he would be absolutely ideal to reach younger people with the Ministry.

I went along to that evening to meet a group of complete strangers but there is such a thing as the ‘wavelength of belief’ and I just turned up and started talking to people as if I were with my own group or in my own backyard so to speak. People were very open and one Came up to me, called Andrew, who has an allotment in Bristol. he said the allotments were in poor repair for the most part and I asked who manage them. Apparently the local council manage them or try to manage them but alas there is no one on-site, no committees, so tenants do more or less what they want. I think my allotment in Midsomer Norton / Radstock is one of the better ones if not the best in the area. Please notice I am preening myself here but we are full and everyone is doing a great job. We do not do politics at all.

One of the positives of modern technology is that we can have a word with someone without having to physically go and see them. In the time of Samuel Pepys in the 17th century, there were no such things as telephones and people used to meet in coffee houses to exchange gossip. Now, we have more information  and channels of communication than we can possibly handle and it behoves us to be sensible and selective. For all its faults, I find the Skype platform more useful than not. It does not have to be used to discuss trivia.

Here is an example of a conversation I had today

Brian: I rather like the idea that we are all a computer projection and don’t exist in so-called reality. The problem is, where does the soul come into this.
Friend: I think its similar to that analogy. The universe is made of matter which is essentially energy. What we perceive via physical senses is an illusion essentially. However everything is derived from consciousness and is holographic and can access the whole. We are defined by our degree of restriction between the two absolute poles of togetherness and chaos and the universe reflects this
Me: So it’s a continuum then between togetherness and chaos but I suspect the tipping point is not 50% between as far as our future is concerned
Friend: Each individual unit of consciousness is defined by its degree of separateness! Each choice and action we make will overall determine our fate. We are all trapped in the wheel of reincarnation – there is a way out but requires right mind, right action, right choices. Our karma by restricting other people’s freedom entraps us.
Me: It’s a bit like continuous assessment for a degree. That seems very fair to me otherwise St Peter who sits on the Pearly Gates would be very busy. the system runs on auto.
Friend: There is no judgement – we are who we are (There is always potential but this can be lost in the noise) – unfortunately through many many lifetimes we are now living in a world that reflects each and every one of us – we all contribute but now there beings that want to capture us and use for their ends.
Me: A good argument for a Teflon aura without any ambivalence
 I guess it’s the damage you cannot see which gets you
Friend: Time to get away to a new Blue Planet but any physical place will still end up the same via entropy. Will start as paradise and devolve . However with some momentum and understanding and actions going to a better place could be stepping zone out of physicality.
Me: “The incredible lightness of being” I find very tangible lightness when I have done good and affected someone else’s energy field by releasing their burden. I think we have to live in this lightness space all the time and then we fill ourselves with hydrogen as in hydrogen balloon and then we will naturally float up when the time comes for transition. it’s the continuous effort or continuous understanding or continuous focus
Friend: Yes – I think experience tells us that helping anyone gives good feedback and pulls us towards unity but its dynamic – I don’t think many in the western world now really understand the predicament we are really in. My student’s wife is having their third child but he is now 2 weeks late – I said he clearly doesn’t want to be born and who can blame him – upset a few people! He will be born I’m sure just awaiting for the right position of the planets

I think the solution to loneliness or more commonly alienation is to maintain continuous threads of communication with people even though you don’t speak with them all the time. It is a matter of discipline, and not slipping into self-pity. We are all hot wired to be in relationships with other people and when we are deprived of this on an involuntary basis our psychology suffers.

*****

We went to see an older lady today, actually 93 years of age who although suffering from arthritis and oedema in her legs was extremely independent, who drove a car, and wanted her garden done front and back. She told us that she still had a hedge trimmer but could not use it because she was not well enough at the moment. I gave her a quote for a job, trimming and mowing front and back, and we agreed a deal. She was very straightforward, and told us that she had had a wonderful father who water up to be honest and straight with people and never lie. She clearly loved her father very deeply and said he was one of the best. This sort of encounter motivates me to be a better human being or should I say keep being a good human being. I must not judge myself ( see above).

This weather doesn’t know what it wants to do. We’ve had a continual grey blanket over the sky for the whole day with spits of rain. I’m definitely a creature of the sunshine and when we next see this strange orb I shall strip down to my shorts to get a blast of Vitamin D boosting sunshine.

Being a sole trader, I can charge as much or as little as I feel like with a  gardening job. Today I was asked to quote for a job which was very rightly in the “jungles cleared” descriptor in my advertising.

This, believe it or not, is a garden. A very nice but eccentric lady wants me to clear it all so she can walk around if she feels like it. She also claims that her neighbours are infringing on her garden. With some difficulty, I fought my way through the nettles in the bushes to the centre of this wilderness and found that the fences have collapsed. Is this the sort of job that I wish to contemplate, even though it has every conceivable disadvantage.

What are the main disadvantages?

First, it is not just a little bit overgrown but thoroughly great with nettles and brambles at head height.
Second, the whole thing is on a slope which makes traversing the whole thing is very dangerous unless you have the right shoes.
Third, there is no access. You enter the garden through a set of steep concrete steps. There is no exit at the bottom and no proper exit gate at the top. Everything must be taken up the steps.
Fourth, the road outside is a narrow lane, far too inadequate to accommodate a larger van or truck.
Fifth, the recycle is about 5 miles away from the job so it means return trips. My voluminous Volvo is large enough to accommodate a coffin but even then, many journeys will be required.

How do I quote for this? I work out how long it would take if the ground was level and access was easy. I then work out how much longer would be required given the circumstances above.  My estimate is to increase the price by a factor of three.

Non-gardeners will say, “tut tut, that seems a lot”.  They will have to go on tutting. Unless you actually tackle the job you have no idea what is involved. I shall give the customer the price tomorrow and tell the then in the nicest possible way to take it or leave it.

*****

I had a lovely time this evening giving remote readings to people, both of whom were in Spain. I love doing readings using Facebook messenger because people have a record of my words and they can refer to them later. It is a natural distraction to have a client with you in the room and I do far better readings if I have not met the person and don’t know anything about them. Such is the world of psychic readings. Long may they continue.

 

My faithful TomTom GPS has seldom let me down traveling in Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, parts of Europe, Ireland but in this fairly remote corner of Somerset it met its match. But more of that later.

Today we decided on a real break from the exigencies of everyday life and decided to go to one of the largest car boot sales in the UK, the Cheddar car boot . I have written about it before but every time I want to say something different. When we arrived about 10:30, all the car parks book full as was the first auxiliary car park. Those that have not been there before have no idea of the scope and size of this event . You can get more or less anything you want including antiques, vegetables, all manner of children’s toys, second-hand clothes, a variety of tools that would make the average engineer stare in amazement and a variety of power tools that may or may not work.  If you’re thinking of buying any sort of power tool, ask the person when they last had it working. Do not buy if you see rust because it means that it’s been left around forever.This picture does not give an idea of the huge number of stalls a raid on a field. If I tell you that if you walk up and down the aisles without stopping it will take you about 50 minutes that will give you some idea. It is very noticeable how many Polish and Russian people attend. You get absolutely every type of person with all levels of income coming along because you can get bargains for upwards of £0.20 especially when stallholders don’t want to take the stuff away with them again.It was good to be told what these objects were (mild sarcasm here) but never say to yourself that you’re not going to buy something because inevitably you will. Francoise bought a wonderful cooking book for £2, I bought some offcuts of bacon for £1.50 and a huge wedge of cheese for £1 which was delicious. We always go to our favourite stand run by an old lady selling marmalade which is always of brilliant quality and we watched the amazing selling ability of the man in a huge lorry converted into a meat sales counter cum refrigerator. He piles item on item, put a chicken on for good measure, and says “who will give me £20 for that”. Chinese and Indian takeaway owners love him. Francoise turned up at our rendezvous point with a trampoline, very ruggedly made and in good condition for £2.

Off we went to our next port of call which is the local garden centre just down the road BS27 3RU. I noticed an extra feature today, there was a group raising money for R S P B the Royal Society for the protection of birds and the children were given a chance to hold an eagle. I suppose if you attract children, you attract parents with the money.We then went off to the Cider barn, my favourite leisure time drinking ‘establishment of all time ‘where if you are abused when you come in the door that is the sign that you are welcome as a customer. One of the staff, Jason, (this is his colleague pictured)  warned the other member of staff that I was a troublemaker and should be watched. That means that I have been accepted. They do the most wonderful local raw ciders and be not deceived by the fact that it is rhubarb cider, after the second pint you will tend to see two of everything.It would appear that Jason the manager works seven-day week and how it does it I don’t know but everybody loves him and it gets wonderful reviews from trip advisor and Facebook, link to the latter here.

Finally, off we go to Wookey Farm Open Day, a Dairy Goat Form, farm shop and eco-site with camping all rolled into one. It is now that my image on the top of this diary becomes relevant.  I did not even set my GPS to the shortest route which normally takes us on the highways and byways particularly the latter. We drove so close to the place that we could see it and there was a ford. This was a sizeable stream which chose to run along the road for about 40 m. I would say the average depth was 2 feet with some nice chunky rocks standing out here and there. My Volvo is a chunky piece of kit that I did not particularly want the bottom torn open by a fine piece of Somerset stone. We had to make a detour of about 4 miles.

When we arrived, all was forgiven. Here were an entirely different set people, young children utterly un-spoilt by the inhibitions of city life, concerned and caring parents, home-made cakes that was so popular that they almost ran out when we arrived at about 2 PM. I will show you some pictures of goats. The children were allowed to walk around with the young goats on a lead.  I met a young man who was responsible for all the recycling of plastic at the Glastonbury Festival and we talked a lot about the illuminati and I was able to discuss the difference between dark light, and the light of love. My remarks were met with interest. He recommended I buy a book by Alan Moore in three volumes called Jerusalem. One volume is about 700 pages so I see there is an audio version which I can tell you must’ve been a labour of love for three volumes. anyway, I’m going to do a photographic exhibition now; most of the pictures speak for themselves.

So I thought I’d just leave you on a high note. It is so lovely to be with real human beings, and not one mobile phone did I see being used.

I am a member of a prayer group whose headquarters is in the south of France. I decided to offer my service for free psychic readings to them and the organiser of the group forwarded my offer letter to everybody without any amendments. This evening I had my first request. I know that psychic readings of foreign objects to most people but if you really want to torture yourself with your comfort zone do visit my site.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I consider the further ramifications of the Windrush refugees from the Caribbean who have settled in this country for 40 years and now find they cannot return, or they cannot work in the hospitals where they worked or even be treated by the NHS.

I wonder what mess the Home Office will make when they suddenly have to process the 3 million people from the European Community who wish to stay in the UK. I do not see how they can investigate each person in any depth, accounting etc and my guess at the moment as they will allow everyone to stay who can prove they have lived here for longer than five years but with the absolutism of Amber Rudd following on Theresa May who knows.

Today, a gardening job for a lady from Denmark who has moved here through choice and has bought a house. She definitely doesn’t want to go back to Denmark and as for my Francoise she literally has nowhere to go. The three of us toiled away in the garden for about three hours and then had to stop due to rain. I am scarifying a fairly small lawn on the property about 4 m x 6 m and you would not believe the amount of moss and muck that comes up. It’s like a carpet. I reckon that l when I have finished it will fill three of those large bags that building supplies such as sand arrive in. If I remember, I will photograph a pile when I finish next Monday.

This evening, amazing storms with high winds, lashing rain, thunder and lightning and at the same time in the distance you can see a lovely red sky with the setting sun. Nature has certainly provided us with some variation.