With all the dampness and recent rain, it was great to be able to travel down to Knebworth for the Mens Regional Buddhist Summer Course. Pretty good turnout from Nottingham with only one or two of the regulars unable to make it. Feedback was that it was a really great meeting and well worth the long journey and I'd have to agree with that .. especially the lecture by Robert Samuels which was probably the best lecture that I've heard yet and which clarified that this Buddhist practise is about battling our own inner negativities every day and to win in our lives, whatever that means for each of us. He emphasised that it's not about being 'nice' and 'peaceful' but involves a daily challenge to live our own 'human revolution'. He also emphasised that the practise is not just about chanting but about encouraging others too .. not even necessarily to practise, but to encourage people to believe that they have what we call 'buddhahood' in them .. ie their own best self .. to encourage them to challenge their own lives to be happy ( not a great word but meant in a 'not grinning stupidly' way .. ).
Anyway .. great day and like most others, I suspect, I went away redetermined to strengthen my practise.
A few days after that I went over to Lincolnshire to see my Mum .. which was pretty relaxing as she lives in a village so all quiet .. birdsong and all that. Had an hour in Boston .. or Bostonski as the locals are calling it. What a dead looking place it is now too .. lots of 'pound' shops including one called 'It must be stolen' !! Ironically, the most interesting bit now is the once almost dead area of West Street which seems to have sprung up a basic tapas bar along with several Polish grill places and cafes .... Will probably try to pop in one one time.
Last night was also the second in the Jazz season at Bonington which was pretty good .. probably around a 7.5 out of 10 ... Much of it was a bit low key and one tempo'd for me but they did end up with a few excellent tracks including a version of Horis Silver's 'Song for my father' ... Interestingly, they had a female drummer... wasn't too sure about her until near the end when she seemed to relax and played really well .. seemed a bit stilted for much of it though but that could have been the style that they wanted perhaps. All in all a good night though and I managed to keep the whisky intake to a reasonable level ;)
