Catching Up

14 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Catching UpHaving a weekend at home has given me chance to catch up with all the things that get left behind while I’m up in Bristol with Bumble. So today has been a day of making good all the missing posts on my blog, washing all the clothes from the holiday, not all fun stuff I’m sure you’ll agree.

But it’s also been great to be able to chant in front of my Gohonzon. I enjoy, if that is the right word, chanting anywhere, as you may have seen from my Chanting in the Dark post. But I have to say that having the Gohonzon in front of me does seem to make it more relevant.

Now that may sound a little trite, but I imagine the same might be said for people praying in church, rather than by kneeling next to their bed. I think it is probably more to do with the focus of my practice, rather than any inherent power in the scroll itself.

Anyway, there is a certain satisfaction in getting the chores up square. It was also nice to be able to sit and watch the Tour de France live without feeling guilty. But given the choice, I would choose spending the weekend with Bumble over doing the washing, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear that.

And Relax

13 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

And RelaxFollowing yesterday’s cancelled meeting, I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about the group meeting planned for today. For me, not knowing about a situation is often far worse than the reality turns out to be.

We do work pretty hard, as a team, to keep the wheels of the company’s IT systems well oiled. Sometimes it involves out-of-hours tasks, simply because we can’t do admin in the middle of the working day, sometimes it is a fire fighting exercise, when a website decides to go AWOL, or a hacker decides to try his luck at breaking in.

So when the governor told us that we were going to have our group meeting, and cover the discussions he had with the other department yesterday, a million questions started whizzing around my brain.

The meeting was to be held in a nice quiet local hostelry, so at least the environment was pleasant. But then their Wi-Fi wasn’t working, so we couldn’t go through the discussion points as we had no access to our back office systems. It was a fairly quite, but very tasty lunch, but the questions remained.

So cutting our offsite visit a little short, we reconvened in the boardroom back at the office to hear what Guy had to say. I don’t think I was the only one wondering what he had in store for us. So when it turned out to be a case of miss, or lack of, communication, we gave a collective sigh of relief.

Lesson learned, there is little or no point worrying about issues that it transpires, don’t actually exist. Pointless getting stressed about an imagined set of circumstances, and less than productive to try to second guess the outcome of anything, given little or no information to go on.

We do need to improve our processes, hone our interdepartmental communications, and fine tune our planning strategies. But as far as the worrying was concerned, it was a sad waste of time and effort. I must try harder next time, to remember the lessons of today.

Nice lunch though!

Biting My Tongue

12 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Biting My TongueCommunication is the key to resolving issues, whether that is in a domestic or a work environment. So when we heard that there was a meeting planned for this morning, to iron out some issues between us, the IT team, and another department, I was looking forward to putting our point of view across.

Unfortunately, for reasons unknown at present, the meeting was cancelled, so the opportunity was lost, for the time being at least. Whilst it is not in my remit to resolve such issues, it benefits all concerned if they can be addressed and some form of compromise reached quickly.

I guess I will have to bite my tongue until we get another opportunity to meet. But I’m also hoping that the issues and the feelings that they generate will not escalate in the mean time. A little wisdom, courage and compassion on both sides will help prevent that happening, so fingers crossed that all three are in abundance.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

11 Jul 2012 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , ,

Rain, Rain, Go Away - © Bridget Lemin 2012With the Meteorological Office reporting that June has been the wettest on record in the UK, I imagine that many of us are getting pretty cheesed off with the lack of a ‘proper’ summer.

Recently Wimbledon and now the London Olympics both rely quite heavily on reasonable conditions, so it will be interesting to see how the authorities cope with the unseasonal rain.

The economy could do with some fine weather too, the UK tourism industry needs a good summer to turn a profit, but the outlook looks rather bleak. Even our own holiday was not without a couple of days of rain, as you can see.

But we should all remember that life, in the form we know it, would not exist on Earth if it were not for water. Only weeks ago we were being told that there was a water shortage and that hosepipe bans would be with us all summer. For the poor weatherman, having to spread the news of doom and gloom each evening, it can’t be much fun either.

In the news today, the Environment Agency have issued a report, stating that the Government should plan for more ‘extreme weather’ brought on by man-made global warming. It cannot come as any surprise, we have been releasing increasing amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere for decades, and we all know the connection between cause and effect.

But as with all things in life, this is all part of a longer cycle of events. Remembering back to my childhood, the sun shone every day during the school summer holidays, it was always roasting hot during exam times and the Wheel of Life will turn again.

So let’s look on the bright side. As someone once said, there is no such thing as bad weather, just a poor choice of clothing. Whilst I sympathise with the poor souls who are watching their homes get ruined by flood water, we actually need the water. So like the Boy Scouts, be prepared, carry an umbrella, and remember that every cloud has a silver lining.

You Have My Support

10 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Apple TreeAt the back of our office, there is a small grass area surrounded by a wilderness of brambles and wild flowers. Last year, someone planted a very small apple tree which has a short piece of aluminium tubing next to it as a support.

Over the winter, and indeed into much of the spring, the tree was doing a very good impression of a dead twig. No leaves, no signs of life at all. But with the slowly rising temperatures, and all the rain, it has sprouted and is growing nicely.

The aluminium stake is only there to help the tree survive the worst of the weather, the wind and storms. It does not help the tree to grow, it is so loosely tied to the developing sapling that it does not influence it in any way, it just stands there and offers support when the tree needs it.

That is how we should be when we offer support to someone. We are not there to influence them or to change the way they are growing, just to provide additional strength when times get tough. We must show compassion when they go through growing pains, have wisdom to help them overcome their issues and use our courage when they lean on us.

Being their support brings it’s own challenges. We have to accept the path the the person we are supporting decides to take, whether it would be our choice or not. We must listen to what the person is saying, but not try to influence them or provide conflicting view points. We also have to have the strength to resist the forces that would otherwise cause us both to falter.

That is the role of a support. It’s not an easy role, but it does bring it’s own rewards. In time, like the tree, the person may in fact become stronger than us and no longer want or need our support. But the joy in seeing them grow and become strong is reward enough for the task undertaken.

When Reality Bites

09 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

When Reality BitesAfter a wonderfully restful, not to say enjoyable week away, it was time to return to the coal face and get back to reality. But with fully recharged batteries, the usual Monday morning drive wasn’t so bad after all. The weather was kind, the traffic was light and the chanting along the way, more than effective.

Getting back behind my PC was not the trial it might have been, the team had done a good job of minding the shop, and the usual pile of emails was not as high as it might have been. I was straight out of holiday mood and had my business head on.

Routine, at work, in life in general and as my practice gives me a solid structure with which to take on the challenges that life presents. Whether that is something as trivial as getting over the first day back at work after a holiday, or some of the more important problems, my practice helps turn the poison into medicine.

Slightly Sad Sunday

08 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Narrowboat Bumble - A Goal For The FutureSo that’s that, the holiday has been and gone. After all the planning, all the talking, packing, organising and travelling. After a really wonderful week afloat, during which we all got on like a house on fire, as expected. After all those fun times, going through locks, under lifting bridges, dodging all the other narrowboats and picking beautiful places for the evening mooring up. Even after all the sunshine and rain, it’s over.

I’ve always been of the opinion that it should be obligatory to have a week off after each holiday, just to give you time to get back into the swing of things. Sadly I doubt that any political party will ever table such a motion, even though it would be a great vote winner.

For me, the day started very slowly. Bumble managed to sneak out of bed without waking me, which is quite a feat as I am rather a light sleeper. By the time I got downstairs, she had already had her breakfast, started the washing and was cleaning and tidying, I felt rather ashamed that she was doing it all on her own.

I was keen to help, and did so by cracking on with the gardening jobs. The wet weather had done a great job of watering the runner beans and Steve and Andrew, the next door neighbours, had done the same with the tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Sadly, as I’m sure a few of you have also found, all these wet conditions have been perfect for our little slug and snail friends and they had munched a number of plants. The peas in the trough next to the front door hadn’t escaped attention, so I replaced the victims with the spares still growing in the greenhouse.

I also retrieved the hanging baskets from next door. They had been moved so that the boys could water them more easily, but with the weather being the way it has been, they admitted that the baskets hadn’t need watering at all.

Bumble’s bike needs some TLC after her son Sam had borrowed it recently. The crank bearings need replacing, but despite administering some gentle violence in trying to remove the pedals, I was unable to get to the guilty parts, so it will need a visit to the bike doctor to get repaired.

B had also been running out of steam early in the evenings last week, and we had discussed the possibility that she has an iron deficiency. So with time running out, we set off to the farm shop, to buy some liver, and see if that might help. En route we stopped off to buy some brioche which we had eaten toasted with paté at the Dusty Miller.

In all the rush, Bumble forgot to buy the liver, but we did have a lovely meal of toasted brioche and paté, with the obligatory salad, for dinner. After clearing up and taking a quick look through the photos on the PC, we decided that we were both pretty pooped so opted for an early night, after all, Monday mornings start pretty early when I have to drive back to Ringwood.

So a slightly sad Sunday, with both of us suffering a little from land-sickness after being on a moving boat for a week, and missing the tranquillity of canal life. But it’s nice to be home again, and as we all know, nothing lasts forever, does it?

I do have it in mind to buy our own narrowboat at some point and sail off into the sunset. So some sweet dreams to end the holiday, and a nice target to aim for in the future, now all we need to do is make the causes for the effects we want to see.

A Delightful Detour

07 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Mom and BumbleSo the holiday is nearly over, the boat was returned to the marina first thing this morning, everything transferred to the cars and the account settled. It’s always rather sad when you have to say goodbye to those you have shared time with, but we had planned to take a detour to my Mom’s on the way home, so still plenty to look forward to.

The satnav decided to take us on the scenic route to Sutton Coldfield, rather than opting for the motorway, but even driving on the A roads felt like we were flying, compared to the sedate 4mph of the last week.

The weather was kind, the day had started bright and sunny, and the rain managed to hold off until after we were on the road. There were a few heavy spits and spots as we made our way around Wolverhampton, through Cannock and then on via Shenstone to the town of of my birth, Sutton Coldfield.

Bumble had been to Sutton before. On Mother’s day we brought her Mum Jill to meet my Mom Margaret, but this time we approached the town from a different direction, so there were other landmarks to show her.

Surprisingly, considering it is over five decades ago, the maternity home, Oakhurst, where I took my first breath, is still standing. Nowadays it is a rather swanky set of luxury apartments, but the exterior hasn’t changed from that I’ve seen in the photos all my life.

Amazingly, today, Bumble and I have been going out for six months. In some ways it seems as though we have known each other for longer, in others the time has just flown by. But we are, naturally, still learning about each other, so showing her a little more of my history and background was a lot of fun.

Naturally, my Mom made us feel very welcome when we arrived. She had cooked a nice lunch, and even though I’ve eaten at some top restaurants over the years, Mom’s cooking always tastes the best. I’m sure you know what I mean.

After lunch we went out into the garden, where Mom showed us apples on her new tree and some beautiful flowers growing in pots and in the garden itself. Being in her eighties, Mom can’t do some things around the place, so Bumble and I moved some bags of compost and the bench up to the top of the garden.

The sun shone beautifully and Mom and B sat on the newly positioned bench to chat, while I took photos to remind us of the day. It is always great to visit Mom, but living so far apart means that it doesn’t happen as often as I would like.

With the journey back to Bristol still ahead of us, and with Bumble keen to check that the house and the new lodger were safe and sound, we set off just after 5:00. Again the weather was kind until we got near to home, then the heavens opened.

Suffice to say, we made it home in one piece and everything was indeed ship shape and Bristol fashion when we arrived. With things back to normal, the holiday really is over, but with a combined total of over a thousand photos, we will remember it for a very long time.

The Race Is On

06 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

St. Alkmund's Church - WhitchurchBy close of play tonight, we had to back within minutes of the marina, ready to hand our trusty craft back first thing in the morning. As though to amplify the sadness that we all felt as the week afloat came to an end, the heavens had opened and it remained that way pretty much all day.

Donning our wet weather gear, we made our soggy way back towards Ellesmere, leaving time to stop off for a walk into Whitchurch. Strangely, though we were getting soaked through, it really didn’t matter. So by the time we moored just outside the town, we were all, apart maybe from Steve, keen to make our way along the route of the closed Whitchurch spur.

It really was very wet. I was wearing my ever present shorts and a cagoule, but by the time we had walked down the high street and found a quaint little cafe, I even had puddles in my pockets and my wallet was soaked. An alternative meaning to money laundering.

The cafe, Percy’s Coffee and Curious, was a fantastic little place. The hot coffee and toasted teacakes went a long way to warming and reviving us, and the collection of interesting antique items soon made us forget the rain. We stayed long enough to dry out a fair bit, but Steve had had enough of traipsing around the town, so set off back to the boat.

After a focussed expedition to find sausages made from ‘happy’ pigs, and the procurement of some properly muddy organic potatoes, we stopped off at St. Alkmund’s Church. It is a truly magnificent building, both inside and out. The stained glass windows are stunning, and although I have no particular feelings for the religion it houses, it is hard to not be impressed with the architecture.

Bumble was absolutely in her element. Her love of architecture means that she spends more time looking up at buildings and not enough time looking where she is going, hence the extensive history of sprained ankles. But we were all happy to share her enthusiasm in such an atmospheric place. Even the cleaning lady’s vacuum cleaner couldn’t dampen our admiration.

The walk back proved a little too eventful for comfort too. Apart from the fact that we were, yet again, soaked through, down to our unmentionables, Sue failed to negotiate a rather rough section of the path. She tumbled, rather gracefully I thought, into the biggest, muddiest puddle you have ever seen, and had to be hosed down when we finally made in back on board.

Steve, all snug and dry in the cabin, made a fine job of turning our purchases into a magnificent meal of bangers and mash, more than welcome after the moistest of mornings. Then, after getting things all ship shape again, it was time to brave the elements again and get ourselves back to Ellesmere.

The day had been strangely pleasant, despite the rain. We were back close to the marina, so all set for handover in the morning. Once you are soaked through, you can’t get any wetter. If you can come to terms with the slight discomfort, it really isn’t bad at all. We had seen a beautiful church, explored a delightful market town, and because of the weather, we had the place almost to ourselves. A truly fitting last full day afloat.

On Reflection

05 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Hurleston LocksI could actually feel the holiday slipping to a close today. Navigating back towards the marina, even though we still had another full day left, was a rather sad journey. Of course it did give us the chance to see all the sights of the outward leg anew, and from a different viewpoint.

The combination of the weather and the economy has made the canals rather quiet. And going back up through Hurleston locks was rather quicker than it had been yesterday, coming down. In fact we saw very few other people, other than the lock keeper.

In life, we rarely, if ever, get the chance to retrace our steps. Seldom do we get the chance to look at people and events from a different viewpoint. Circumstances change, people change and the effect of these changes distort the perception of past events.

But we can all relive our successes, and our failures, by playing them back in our mind. As I have changed over the last few years, I can now see the joys and sorrows in a new light. At times it is almost as though those things happened to another person, in another lifetime, and, given the chance, I might have done things differently.

But I remind myself, that every thought, word and deed I have had, said or done, have brought me to this point. Spending these last few days, in such close proximity to such lovely people, in such idyllic surroundings convinces me that my path is moving in the right direction.

Given the chance, I would not change a single thing, if the outcome would alter the situation in which I now find myself. Sometimes it is more important to concentrate on the present and the future, than to allow oneself to dwell on the past. The past is gone, we cannot rewrite our history, but we can, and we should, make causes to create positive effects on our present and particularly our future.

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