After 24 hours afloat a swift train from Portsmouth to Petersfield and a longish wait for the bus to Bramdean leads to a taxi and Brockwood's favourite driver, Duke, waiting for a pre-booked passenger also heading to the K Centre ... quite confident that the mystery customer will be happy to share, the pack goes in the back and Duke continues his snack, apologising for eating chicken ... explains the situation to David, who arrives a little later ... a long term K student, part-time editor of the books, sometime Buddhist, organiser of visit of HHDL to CERN for discussions on deluded search for smallest particle ... wonderful source of information over 3 day stay, including filling out the K and Rosalind story mentioned in recent posts ... scandalous news reports in response to slanderous Radha Sloss book (yes, it would be libel if proven untrue, but accuracy sacrificed for linguistic elegance) ... contemporary observation from American insider, "young people in love", and Mary Zimbalist, "she seduced him", suggest the love affair happened and explains subsequent actions of "a woman scorned" and a "husband cuckolded" ... no need to prolong a potentially gossipy story, maybe just to affirm K's humanity and his teaching that it is the message that counts, not the messenger ...
Bluebells blooming beautifully, sunshine and showers releasing delicate, elusive perfume, trees leafing, The Grove enchanting ... while in nearby fields muckspreaders are releasing stronger agricultural smells, herbicide sprayers a sweet, slightly sickly scent ...
Cast list of guests and staff include Maria and Alvaro from London, he from Colombia now a bus driver, she from Grandas, where coffee was taken a couple of weeks ago on the overlong day from Berducedo to Fonsegrada ... the family house there standing empty, maybe awaiting a Camino business? Stephen, CEO of charity supporting damaged children and offering insights, hope for recovery ... services shockingly underfunded, whether examined through lens of compassion or long term costs of inaction ... Peter, retired counsellor, previously slave to banking software, starting 2 month stint as guest helper ... Kimberly, young mature student, on Easter break from duties as mentor to school students ... Hamid, doctor from Norway, via Iran, here for 2 week retreat, finding a unique quality of silence ... Chris, retired BBC producer, from London and Teesdale ... and David, of course ...
Top deck front seat bus trip to Winchester winds through wealthy villages in time for train across England ... fellow passenger, Alex, student of German and History at Sheffield. .. entertaining group of three youngish women behind, happy to share their dramas ... or oblivious to the audience ...
And so to Stanhope, one month on, the cottage warm and dry ... glad of some company ... just some bookshelves to sort out ...
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