I was really looking forward to going back to the Samye Ling a couple of weeks ago after not being able to go there due to the pandemic for a couple of years. But the best laid plans ... it turned out there was a rail strike on the Saturday I was due to travel. I contacted the Samye Ling reception because I tried to book about four days from the Wednesday, when I reckoned the train schedules would be back to normal. They said no. They said I had to be attending the course and the Drupon Rinpoche, I know, is a stickler for folk going to all the sessions.
So I don't know what the score is there now. Few people use the Samye Ling like I used to. I don't generally go there to be part of a course, but to meditate on my own. I could have done this for the several days I was going, in fact, I'd prefer that. But whoever was on the reception seemed unresponsive to this. If the Samye Ling aren't going to let me go down there for simply meditating .... well, that's too dumb to contemplate. As it is, I haven't been there for two years and I've no great desire to go there right now when the winter is upon us, but .... I idea that the folk now running the Samye Ling aren't going to let me go down there to sit beside the river is laughable. When the Springtime comes around, I'll work out a way. At the moment, it's not as if I'm plagued with visitors at home.
The meditations, as ever, continue to develop in baby, baby steps. Wherever I am, as long as I keep meditating. I need to get my times up, but it looks like I'll have quieter weekends from now on in, with more time at home.
I need to take the book I'm trying to write more seriously or it won't be finished for years. But I'm very happy with the way it's going. Just need more time with it. That's the problem. I don't have enough time to do all the things I want to do.
The photies are before and after shots of the allotment. I dug all the bare bits over a week or so ago. Looking forward to spending winter afternoons in the hut and lighting fires!
