Category: allotments

The death of a spouse, a Zoom meeting on Joy

A day of death and joy

After a morning attending to domestic things I decided to go and perform gardening work for one of my clients who I knew had lost her husband a couple of weeks ago. I see plenty of videos and TV on people suffering in hospital but not so many ‘beginning to end’ stories. The widow told us in detail what happened with her husband

His wife Valerie said:  My husband started to feel unwell and was vomiting on the Wednesday so she told him to go back to bed and rest to see if the symptoms improve. When they did not she called the doctor’s surgery in the afternoon and a doctor came along.  He arrived without announcing his identity and examined him for a few minutes and said that if the problem gets worse he should call to surgery. 

Valerie was not happy with the diagnosis and called 999. The two women paramedics turned up 20 minutes later and decided to take him to hospital straight away, which was the RUH in Bath.

The nurse phoned on Thursday morning to say they were going to do tests. The nurse called again 4pm Thursday afternoon saying they have not been able to perform any test as there was not enough of an  interval between the vomiting to put in the tubes. There was nothing they could do so the only option remaining open was to make him comfortable.

Valerie and her son were invited to stay as long at they wanted. Valerie went with her son Thursday evening and they stayed with him until he passed on the Friday morning. 

Valerie was glad that she had been able to stay with him up to the end .

We did a good job in the garden and afterwards I went to thanks her and get paid.  I stepped up the level of service a bit and set that if she ever needed anything she should call. I said that as a coach and therapist I was very used to dealing with people who had passed, so we were not embarrassed or anything.

I meet my opposite in driving

So I was in a car park waiting for my partner to finish her shopping and I noticed a woman adroitly parking her car in one of the bays. She parked it right in the middle with only a deviation of a couple of inches. Me being me I had to tease her about not being perfectly parked. I admitted that I hated reversing in two parking spaces. At this point her eyes lit up and she said she loved reversing, and preferred it to driving forward. I laughed and said that we were definitely diametrically opposed.
Such gems come out of nowhere in an instant

A Time In The Working Man’s Club

Radstock has such a club populated almost entirely by guess who, working men, self-employed you name it they are there and as this was a Friday evening there were more of them and the laughter was more raucous. There is a great spirit of comradeship between working people with an emphasis on teasing each other, or as Londoners would say ‘taking the mic’. If you can’t take jokes against yourself then don’t come in. It is a dream of mine to have a big social organization of which a Working Men’s Club could spontaneously form itself in a pub somewhere. People could use the time together to swap useful information in other words gossip.

We were there to celebrate the gardening job and being paid. I had my usual half of Guinness and a double house whiskey, Françoise had a soft sparkling drink. Although I do not know many of them by name I get a friendly nod and smile from many of them.

My allotment in full bloom

I do not take any active part now in the allotment management that I used To run but I went there to strim my plot and I could not help being overwhelmed and moved by the profligacy of nature. How brilliant nature was in creating its many forms. The pictures below give just a small impression. If we only inhabit supermarkets how come we see plants in their full glory.

A zoom call on joy

I went home via a fish and chip shop that had on offer a very substantial piece of cod with very fresh chips. They were cooked in fresh batter, you can always tell. This was the Friday evening of the Scientific and Medical Network who have a virtual pub. It is theoretically the summer break but people missed it so much that a summer program was organized so there was no break.

There is a lot we can say about joy but I found a little piece that pretty much sums it up.

Don’t aim at joy.
Joy is dynamic. Joy is life.

You cannot find joy. There’s no path.
In fact, joy finds you when you no longer seek it.

It’s true.

If you seek joy, it’s because you don’t possess it.
If you let it find you, it’s because you trust life.

And remember,
not needing joy is a joy in itself…

During the session there came a time when we were invited to break into groups for more discussion on things that were joyful.  The host was a bit uncertain about the number of people per group, and suggested 10 people.  I who have had more experience suggested four people.  I said to the group that due to the subject matter that would not be enough time. Anyway, we went into the groups and sure enough at the end we found that we were all barely getting into the subject before we had to close.

I told everyone that you do not know what you know until you tell someone. That’s a little bit of a riddle but I found it to be very true over the years

A new experiment in hospitality – Sunday lunch

To my informal service in the old Methodist Church in Radstock. There were about 16 of us and we met for the service, hearing a talk about how Saul converted into being Paul. The Pharisees of which Saul was one felt that they were doing right thing in persecuting Christians and it took the ‘Damascus moment’ when the Spirit of Jesus said Saul Saul why are you persecuting me? Saul did 180 degree turn and worked enthusiastically for Jesus and eventually died for him.

I enjoy meeting in small groups and we had a  sub-group of 5 of Us. Even shy people can start to speak their mind in a small group even though they can take time to get going.

I came away from the meeting enlightened and invigorated. The essence of spiritual power is Joy and freedom of mind even though the circumstances around us do not give us much scope for optimism.

At lunch time we went to visit a new initiative run by the local council where a two course lunch is offered to members of the public who may or may not be able to afford to eat. It was done on a trial basis of once a month and may be advertised as say the first Sunday of the month or the last Sunday of the month. There was music in the background. All tables had been decorated with spring flowers, at the food was simple and straightforward. As it was the first occasion I would always make allowances but in future there needs to be more coordination of staff. At one point the chef had to came out to take our order.

There should ideally have been an actual waiter but meanwhile a young boy who must have been about 10 years of age did his best to run around and serve everybody. We sat at a table with a young lady who worked as a bar in a local public house joined by her mother at a later time

The atmosphere was very good and I took the opportunity of speaking to one of the town councillors about new ventures and that we should not expect perfection the first time but if you have the same spirit then the events will take on a power of its own and it will grow of its own accord.

We spent a lovely afternoon on the allotment. I did a session of mowing, the first of the year, up and down the borders of the plots and Francoise dug up some leaks and we put up a trellis. Although it was only a few degrees centigrade the work soon made us warm and I took off my outer garments because I was sweating.

I was depressed to read that a hotel called the hotel Beresford in Newquay had been overtaken by refugees. It was a Shearings Travel company hotel and we had hoped to go there for a bit of rest and Recreation but now it looks as if it is not possible.

How many thousands of refugees or so-called refuge do we have to take before the country explodes in Anger?

In the midst of a mini heat wave – heart transplants

We are due to be about 38 degrees today Tuesday 19th July. Such temperatures are more normal in Australia where you can have such events lasting for 6 weeks and no one thinks twice about it. We are strange in the UK in that we cannot cope with temperature fluctuations. It is not the end of the world, it is not indicative of climate change (climate changes all the time in case you did not know), it has nothing do with ‘Zero Carbon’. The zealots do not know what life would be like without carbon dioxide. We would all be dead. ‘Nature’s fertilizer’ as David Bellamy said.

So, a day to catch up on my diary writing. As I write at 10 am the heat is creeping in and making me slightly breathless.

I had an unpleasant job yesterday. I had to give someone notice on the allotments that I run. Annoyance turned to frustration to anger on my part. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I realized that the person concerned had no interest in the welfare of anyone else but himself. I was told a long time ago that I will bend but I will never break. How true.  I am waiting for a blast of objections, or perhaps denial. I had to deliver the news to them – he and his wife. I wrote a 6-7 page judgement and put it through the door yesterday.  I wish people would consider the results of what they do. Some people have to learn the hard way.

Great article about organ transplants. In a nutshell, consciousness is transferred.

Another case is an 18-year-old girl who received a heart from an 18-yearold male musician who played the guitar and died in a car accident. She could never play music before, but now all she wanted in life was to learn to play the guitar. “I felt it in my heart,” she said. “My heart had to play.”

You can read the whole article here.

The Kingdom of Fire

 

There is something about fire, any fire except when life is in danger, that intrigues and fascinates me.  Yesterday was the great fire of our allotments.  I am  having trouble finding software that will allow me to stitch the videos together to make a coherent picture so until that time, you will have to make do with looking at stills.

As I may have said before, the main thing is to get a good heat and then put on green material no matter how damp on top. We have had a lot of rain recently so a lot of smouldering was needed. However, the fire burnt so well that when I went along today, Sunday, I found that the bulk had been reduced by about 50% . I paid attention to the remainder by using my air blower and I hope that when I go along tomorrow, Monday, it will have burned down to almost nothing…. but then these things go at their own pace.

We had a good sprinkling of helpers, thanks very much everyone, and we could have done with some mulled wine and BBQ sausages but with the current covid paranoia the mood was not quite conducive.

I am electing to rest, today Sunday so this diary is not as complete as I would like. It is after all the seventh day. Tomorrow, Boris will be coming out with yet another restrictive announcement about a virus that does not exist being measured by a test that does not work.

 

ZOOM meeting with my allotmenteers – Germany in the early 30’s

Although many people are now used to the ZOOM technology, a number are not and we had 18 of the 56 allotment holders gathered together this evening for our first ever virtual AGM. Most of the conversation was quite ordinary but important because people like to meet others in a social setting and I think people are missing this at the moment. We asked everyone how well their vegetables grew and this was useful for newcomers.

If anyone wants to take part in this type of meeting remember that what seems to you as background familiar sounds are automatically amplified to the same volume as the speakers. This is called automatic sensitivity control and it makes sure that people with less strong voices are heard. Hearing children in the background can be annoying for others so if that is going to be the case then mute your microphone while others are speaking.

We used the poll facility which means people can vote on things for example in our case ‘do people want any more manure?’ 13 people said yes and 4 said no. Anyone can see the results so it is a very satisfying democratic thing to do. I always circulate the meeting video afterwards. It is useful for those who genuinely could not make the meeting but would have liked to attend. The problem is, where to store 500 MB of data in an accessible form. The lower grade plans of ZOOM allow the storage of 1 GB and you have to pay quite handsomely to have more. I save material on my websites which normally have quite a lot of file storage attached.

The rate of dystopian news about Covid increases as the government gets more and more mad inputting these arbitrary and ridiculous lockdowns or circuit breakers. People do not understand that the ‘Government’ are deliberately trying to depress people so that when the magic bullet comes along, the vaccine, people will do anything to get free from the obligation – as they think it – to wear masks and behave like performing animals. Today I added 24 news items and I don’t mean the mass media but articles of substance.  Keeping up with the news is a bit like surfing, you have to keep ahead of the wave and this can only be done by continual learning of what things are all about.

I know it is difficult for people to comprehend this, but in the UK at least we are similar to the situation that pertained in Germany in 1933 when Fascism was rising and people did not want to believe it. That is probably one of the reasons why the Germans are taking this current so-called crisis so seriously. They see this is a smokescreen for something far more insidious. I see it as the permanent entrapment of our souls and  the termination of the human being as we know it.

Second ZOOM meeting, lots of good feedback and thanks

There is no question in my mind that we are hard-wired to communicate together, especially if we have something in common. In my case, it is fellow Red Pill people who see the world in a different way. Yesterday I sent out 24 invitations to attend a ZOOM meeting. We ended up with 11 people including a very interesting and dynamic lady from California who wanted to buy land and grow food. Somewhat remarkable conversations ensued and I took the decision to record the whole event which took 846 MB, quite a chunk of the 1 GB of data storage allowed for my level of subscription. If I want to have 10 GB I have to pay £30 a month to ZOOM. I’m not prepared to do this so I’m going to give everyone a chance of viewing the video and then delete it next Wednesday when we make the next one.

I thought of streaming the next ZOOM meeting to the grand British public because it’s all very well sharing stuff that we already know – mostly – but it’s another thing to reach out to people who are not really aware of what’s going on. One of the most shocking things is the misallocation of nurses, the complete cancellation of operations (cancer goes on growing) and why oh why are dentists closed? Are they afraid of what the government might say? What about the people in pain? What do they do? This government has been an utter disgrace and I hope that they are made aware of the deficiencies sooner rather than later.

Another lovely day today. We were at the allotments and one of the committee, Will, had ordered a load of manure which he was busy wheeling to his plots. He wants to be dig-free by next year so this is the year to enrich the ground. Almost every plot is in good condition except one or two older people who should have given up their allotment some time ago but hang on and do the minimum to avoid being kicked out. It is very dry here in England at the moment so plenty of watering is needed during this critical spell of growth. Our lawns are already suffering and going dry.

We have recently bought a blender which can either be used for vegetables or fruit. My stomach is playing at the moment so I’m very much enjoying the zero effort of absorbing a rich nutritional mix of fruits both frozen and fresh. Last night I got so disturbed that I didn’t get to  sleep until about five in the morning. I was in pain, and suffering from a bloated stomach all night. My intention is to reduce the intake of food and indeed wine and tempting sweets that you can by in the supermarkets that have far too much sugar to do me any good. Today, so far so good as I write at half past nine in the evening.

We suffered from ‘the claps’ today. Everyone walked down the road and met together and started clapping at eight o’clock. In my view there have been completely conned by the government and BBC propaganda and have no idea that the nurses are standing around doing nothing having been allocated to COVID wards from other wards that should have been busy with  doing operations.  Incidentally it is quite shocking to read of the effects of the lockdown on people. In California they had a year’s worth of suicide in four weeks and has been a marked increase in the amount of child abuse not to mention depression and alcoholism. It just shows how little those who rule over us care about human beings.

We are considering making long term plans for food growing and storing. I don’t know how long we will survive without electricity because that does drive the sewage and without sanitation I think life could become unpleasant. I wonder if we should get a pot and dig holes in the garden. If the government has its way, our lives will never be the same again. Nevertheless, when I serve others I’m happy and fulfilled so that is what I intend to continue to do.