Taplow - The Big One

After much umming and ahhing ... I finally decided to get my Tokubetsu Gohonzon at Taplow on Saturday. First obstacle to overcome was to get up a bit after 5am .. wouldn't have been so bad but I was knackered from the night before and still feeling a bit rough ! Anyway .. in the end, we got there at 10am .. an hour before we needed to, though it was nice not to be rushing around for a change.

As usual, I tried to sit near the back out of the way but got ushered forward as those receiving it were near the front. Funnily enough, out of approx 200 people there in the morning, I ended up sitting next to Fiona, one of four people who I practised with in Boston all those years ago !. Also getting theirs from this area were Don, Hannah, Jenny and Bex who used to be here. As usual, it was a simple ceremony which suits me just fine .. can't be doing with fuss !!

As it turned out, I could have got a lift back about 1pm but decided that if I was going to go all that way, I'd try to get my moneys worth !! So I managed to get into the district leaders meeting in the afternoon, which I was pleased I did as it was a pretty good meeting (I'll try to post some key points up when I've de-cyphered my scribbles) .. And that was it .. got home about 7.30pm, cooked some quick pasta and then TV !!

Only negative of the day really was that I didn't get the butsudan to hold the gohonzon ... I really can't afford it but decided to get it anyway but the one I wanted wasn't there and won't be until the new year so not sure what to do at the moment ... something else to chant about huh !!!