Petersfield ...

Weekend off and more document downloading, signing, witnessing and posting needed to liberate the long awaited proceeds from the relentless expansion that is bungalowville, childhood home, long abandoned in favour of foreign wandering, City lights, rugged northern landscapes ... even the nearby market town just over the county border for a while ...

Three choices of Post Office, none very close (though research was patchy) ... Winchester too big and busy, Alresford already explored a little, leaving Petersfield and a bus ride through the narrow lanes of West and East Meon ... in the Square the Post Office, with Kyle, young Californian, greeting customers wearing a Polynesian style neck ornament (photo-op missed) and there to train customers in using the new machines, ready to displace human employees ... in this case easing the task of sending the documents safely on their trip to Taunton ... almost in time to run for the return bus, though Petersfield wanted more exploration ... and three hours was more than enough until the next bus ...

The Physic Garden right in town is a little jewel and a wander through reveals a philosopher advertising his availability with a sweatshirt logo declaring Atheism ... an open goal for the blogger and indeed philosophy ensues... Colin claims the logo is a riposte to the Square Jehova Witness folks who appear to have offended him by their public proselytising ... after the philosophy, a wander round the mix of small chain stores, arty crafty organic independents, the very helpful Library, complete with WiFi and toilet, not to mention books and information. .. a cafe for a coffee and cakey lunch ( neither much in evidence at the School, for health reasons) ... a little light rain after the sunshine ... the return bus with the same characters as the inbound trip ... an early alighting at West Meon and a walk through the woods and fields ... to find more cake to go with afternoon tea ... a good  connection with Giordano ... an internet session linking up again with Irene who has taken on the task of connecting work party folks through e-mail and Facebook ...

Tomorrow perhaps a bit brighter ... summer has turned rather damp in recent days ...

Deeper Brockwood ...

Things quiet down after the busyness of work week ... a week mostly spent in the kitchen, feeding the gardeners, room cleaners, fence painters and whatever else the international brigade was doing ... a change of pace midway to swap shift with Bob meant some fresh air and sunshine in the garden and the Grove, clearing brambles ... and speaking of sunshine, a highlight one evening was a very powerful talk from Paco, a doctor from Leon, erstwhile teacher at Brockwood and sometime researcher into vitamin D, specifically D3 ... with compelling evidence about the effects of D3 deficit, caused by limited body exposure to direct sunlight ... his success with treatment with very high doses of D3 supplements on a range of diseases ...

The week was celebrated Saturday evening with a DIY cabaret, including sketches, songs, piano performance and the OHM choir well known to visitors to Stanhope circles over the years ... interesting not least for the return to national groups, or language groups anyway, after the week transcending such old fashioned behaviours ... Spanish being the second most spoken language here at the school at present, what with folks from Mexico and Argentina as well as Spain itself ... and all Anglophile, not so common on the Costas ... Paulo spoke of our casual arrogance in his insightful blog last year ...

Guest Helper is the new designation, though the chef role continues along with learning life in the kitchen ... and observing teams and their dynamics as personnel vary ... fascinating to see the usual dramas playing out at a more sensitive level ... certainly less shouting and cursing than other commercial kitchens experienced as a waiter, though maybe times have changed too ... that was some time ago ...

A day off Thursday and a lovely visit from a dear friend from the past and maybe eternally ... a nice change of pace, lunch at the Centre and a long walk through the woods and fields with sunshine and showers ... the typical British Summer and a metaphor also for the relationship! 

Reflecting on the question of Tribe and is this mine, as Wednesday is booked for the train trip north ... where other parts of tribe lie ... daughters, of course, though geography is not crucial to maintaining that connection, since heart connection is of the non-local field ... Place and whoever is around there maybe? Anyway, Stanhope has been that place for a while and calls quietly again ... whether the Retreat House is still for sale, who knows? Let's see next week ...

At the School ...

The second part of the Brockwood stay is a work week at the school ... the students are on holiday and there are jobs to be done ... which we will find out about tomorrow ... today is arrival day and the short walk from the Centre means an early look round .... the simple single en suite room in the courtyard, usually student shelter, is less luxurious than the one at the Centre, but quite adequate and peaceful ... depending on the neighbours, of course ...

There is also WiFi, which will enable the blog ... with luck and some technical advice ... somehow these things are not always as easy as one might hope ...

At lunch, Ernesto and Vanessa from Madrid (she is French), Danielle from London (also French), Alfonso, avid Peregrino, from Spain and Cesar from Mexico ... conversation mostly in English ...

Other folks turn up, from Andorra, France, Argentina, Germany ... even Newcastle. ..

Next day ...

To work and a new role ... chef ... well third assistant anyway ... the team is led by two Japanese women and a very tasty lunch for over 50 people is produced in time ... looking set for the week in the kitchen and appreciating the opportunity to learn how to  cater for large numbers  ... before that is a ten minute silent meeting at 7 am ... following the rhythm of the students, who sometimes need persuading of the benefits of the early start ... after breakfast we all spend half an hour cleaning the house ... as do the students when they are here ...

In the afternoon a dialogue on the question of violence. .. then a long walk ... much needed after spending the morning indoors on such a splendid summer day ... and still musing on the best course of action between cooking responsibilities here and the chance of another week with the K tribe and dear Richard's funeral in Stanhope on Friday ... initial enquiries on travel and accommodation not propitious ... though a trip north is next, since daughters need visiting ...

Transcending polarities ...

As human beings are invited to line up with increasingly polarised positions ... left and right, rich and poor, and the middle ground becomes a wasteland, reflection and refusal to play the game may offer a new and transcendent reality to explore ... not necessarily an ultimate reality or even the ultimate reality, but one less palpably preposterous ... this blogger is decreasingly convinced that consensus reality as promoted in the mainstream is worthy of attention ... especially as energy flows where attention goes ... best hold it in sceptical awareness ...

These weeks in Spain have been another kind of reality, sharing metaphysical speculation with Susie and Russ ... the trip to the DUK  (for new readers the D has stood for Dis but feel free to read it as Damp, Drizzly and so on) was a day long lesson in the madness of mainstream reality, with visits to various hell realms en route ....

The Estepona to La Linea bus stops right outside the house and the trip to Gib airport is seamless, as is check-in at the modern and small airport ... the other benefit of using Gib is the free bus trip to Malaga Airport, along with free food and drink, when the Rock alongside the runway is invisible due to mist ... which happens ...

Malaga has a very modern and large airport, which is tricky to navigate in normal circumstances, let alone the abnormal ones prevailing with the transfer and rescheduling ... wandering around the bowels of B zone in search of Gate B39, with little human assistance, was a kind of nightmare ... preceded by a long queue to re-check in, another to be body searched, shoe-less ... eventually relieved by discovering Gate C39 was hosting our assortment of mostly Brit expats and tourists ... though a Slovene couple were facing onward journey complications worse than most ... and finally flying north 6 hours late, with a very modern and friendly crew (female captain, two male cabin crew) doing their best to placate the discontented passengers, many looking for compensation claims along with the goody bags ... Gatwick arrival is its own dystopia, with long queues, black uniformed border guards looking sinister alongside the logo balancing threat with insincerity ... "Welcome to the UK Border" ... automated passport control rather questions the ethos, but this Luddite heads instead for a stern human, who kindly permits re-entry to the country of birth ...

Two trains later and the last bus from Petersfield to Brockwood Park long gone, it's a taxi and the first philosophy of the journey with Joe, intrigued by his regular trips to the Krishnamurti Centre and the School ... arriving just in time to gain entry before bedtime and an hour after the front door was locked ...

Breakfast breaks also the philosophy fast with lively conversation ... Brockwood again feeling like home ...

Internet limited to one terminal and blog downloading postponed until wifi found ... maybe at the School ...

Fascinating conversations ensue ... Vijay and Briggite, Delhi residents and active in the revival of a retreat centre in the Himalayas. .. an invitation too ... Steve, chased out of Belfast 30 or more years ago by homophobic gunmen, now a Multi-faith Minister, still mourning the passing, two years ago, of his husband ... Adiba,  founder of a meditation drop-in for busy City types at London Bridge ... Ducica, guest-helper from Slovenia and translator of K into Slovene and Croat ...

Home alone ...

Into the last week in sunny Spain, exploring practical and theoretical aspects of mutuality ... much discussed in Stanhope as a way forward as the state withdraws from provision of social care and isolation amongst the elders increases along with their numbers ... Brit and other expats not immune to these trends ...

So, in Life School, these weeks in Torreguadiaro have been a great opportunity ... today the practical lesson for your blogger: to free the retired home  owner and carer for six rescue dogs to have an outing to Marbella ... and whilst the dogs are quite self-sufficient, with access to their own well fenced run, this is fire season and extra vigilance is required ... especially since the house is surrounded by scrubland ...

Whilst social media has the potential to broker these opportunities, more targeted platforms are required ... maybe built on DAPPs from Blockchain to escape the corporate capture of current peer to peer products ....

Meanwhile, being home alone (albeit with six four-legged friends) means some exploration of morphic resonance and the habits of Nature ... Rupert Sheldrake develops the theory tentatively but persuasively. .. resonating with an insight some years ago, which went thus: If a Thought is Something and not Nothing; if Energy cannot be created nor destroyed; maybe each thought throughout time is out there, in a non-local field, ready to be re-assembled in  contemporary forms as a New Idea ...

Sharing such ideas on FB reaches a wider and more responsive audience, which is also offered the mutuality holiday opportunity in Spain ... with some interest already .... and, after FB posting fast, validates the illusion of a self known as Steve, who mostly holds it lightly, though still grateful for friends and family responses ...

And since it is commonly observed that pictures of cute dogs and cats attract more attention in this virtual world than philosophical speculation .... here are some pics of today's companions ...

Surprise at Sotogrande ...

Having finished Alan James' brilliant book on Buddhism (one of the more resonant isms if one has to choose) an hour's  stroll through the shallow housing estate in the sun, an alternative route to escape the car dominated local infrastructure, is rewarded in the shady Centro Comercial with Rupert Sheldrake's "The Presence of the Past" nestling innocently amongst the €4 potboilers ... maybe the second reading will reveal more understanding ... the first felt right, but, like Bohm, the scientists, albeit radical ones, can be challenging for an untrained brain ...

Anyway, the cool, quiet, courtyard cafe inspires a little writing along with the Sheldrake gift ... and slipping the tablet into the rucksack enables it ...

The rhythm of these days in Torreguadiaro varies little in the warm sunshine that is the norm for July ... well, hot sun as it rises, but cooling breezes make it pleasant and seeking shade from time to time helps too ... the holidaying slaves, starved of Sun and determined to maximise exposure in the short time available, have a different rhythm, slathering sunblock on pale skin and laying out to toast themselves ... rather risky from both the chemical and direct sun, perhaps?

Early walk along the beach to Laila's 8 am opening cafe, for caffeine boost ( the lack of which at the Barn Retreat was accepted but not continued) ... to the house for conversation, then longer walk ... some shopping ... maybe a call to Russ in his bus along at San Enrique ... more conversation, a dip in the pool, a short stroll to keep the legs happy ... and reading, of course, generally abandoned on the pilgrimages, whether for the sake of weight and volume reduction or to leave the mind free to wander, who knows?

These optimistic "urbanizations" around coastlines worldwide appear unconcerned about inundations, maybe short-term thinking, maybe seeing rising sea levels as gradual and sometime in the distant future ... certainly not anticipating the tsunamis anyway ...

As far as the local urban encroachments are concerned, it seems the illegal developments are in the firing line from the regional government ... one rather drastic way to reduce the over supply of housing hereabouts ... and another worry for ageing expats, already suffering from declining health, drooping pound and Spanish officialdom not always willing to learn English ... not to mention rumours of DUK breaking away from the EU sometime soon ...