Something to celebrate, something to mourn

by | Dec 21, 2019 | Latest Post | 0 comments

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The person who inspired me to keep this diary was Samuel Pepys. He wrote his diary over 10 years and amassed over 1 1/4 million words. The most famous long novel is War and Piece by Dostoevsky , which consists of 587,287 words. So far in a little under three years I have written 612,157 words. I can only admire Samuel Pepys’ tenacity. He had only a quill pen and candlelight. I use speech to text dictation and even then it is quite a discipline to keep this going. Samuel Pepys had a full-time job which was very demanding, and equally demanding social life if I can call it that and he still found time to record his activities.

On the other side, I find I’m getting so electro sensitive that I cannot even hold the computer mouse. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wireless mouse or a wired mouse. It makes my hand cramp up so the less I touch the mouse, the better. Such is technology.

****

And now to today.

Well blow me down, the sun is actually shining this morning and we are off to Glastonbury for the winter solstice. This time, friends are coming to pick us up so we will be chauffeured.

We arrived early, but found many more people than normal and although I like the people I dislike crowds. At midday, there is a tolling of bells followed by a ceremony which this time was concerned with the minute of peace which was planned to be at 9 PM on this very evening.

I fell into conversation with a chap who had been living in a tent for the past two years. I commented that when things go pear-shaped, he will have less to lose than others. He was unsure about this but recommended a book called ‘Always Coming Home’ by Ursula Le Guin, a recent publication which is into its sixth printing. Lyric and luminous . . . a major imaginative vision – The New York Times Book Review An appealing book as well as a masterly one . . . The future world she has created here is awesomely complex – Newsweek The effect it has on the reader is hypnotic . . . Le Guin has chosen a most original way to reveal this imagined land – People.
I have just (22.46 on 21.12.19) ordered it on Amazon Prime and it will  be with me 23 Dec.

We did not linger long. We always do the same thing after such events in Chalice Well. We walk along the top of the town then turn left right down the high road which I consider is unique in the UK, if not in the world. There are so many very interesting shops. The first stop is the health food shop which is as close to heaven in shop terms as I can think of. We then go down to Burns the Bread and had some delicious freshly baked pizza or sausage rolls. We then go to the community rooms for a tea or coffee. Finally, we go to the goddess centre and sit there for half an hour and meditate. We then go home because by that time we’ve had enough.

On the road between Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet we saw enormous bouquets of mistletoe. They seemed to be on old apple trees. What a delight. In general, the Somerset levels were flooded and it was difficult to tell the difference between a river and a fully flooded field. I really hope this rain stops otherwise the farmers are going to have a very difficult time. On the other hand I also feel for the people in New South Wales, Australia, especially those in Sydney who are having to put up with record temperatures and dreadful fires.

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