Quote of the week in my WHSmith diary: “Gluttony is an emotional escape, a signal that something is eating us.” Whether this applies to the not-so-coy carp in the Ajahns’ pond I’m not sure, but for some of us it was certainly worth bearing in mind when the Leeds group were here – one might say they appoint themselves very well in the kitchen.
…Whilst at the retreat house they were squeezing their cars into any available space between breeze blocks and mounds of earth. With their departure however, and Mondays’ arrival of our tea-spurning builders things have changed; there’s now acres of space down there on nicely graded gravel. Please use it for parking your wheels when you come to Wesak on Sunday the 27th. And if it’s full, then carry on down the lane to the first field after the cattle grid – without trying that lazy old chestnut of sneaking back round to the front of the hill for a shorter walk.
Before that though two events of note: Next Wednesday, the Champions League final, where the Merseyside kitchen manager wishes all of the Ratanagiri-Milan-Branch a friendly defeat. And more importantly, this Sunday, the first meeting of our newly formed retreat house committee, where there will be tea but no special biscuits – which went as a gift to the two builders who finished today. As for the photo, well that’s the one other piece of news: The hut behind the kitchen is on its way back up. Although, alas, not to serve as additional kitchen storage - so please take a moment to look at those bottom items which we have in excess. Without perhaps overlooking those which we don’t:
- honey
- long-life milk
- tahini
- eggs
- soya milk
- baking powder
And of the non-food items:
- small bread baskets
- firewood
- Large Letter stamps (1st or 2nd class)
- small denomination stamps (eg.2p,5p,1p)
- larger denomination stamps (eg.£1)
- plastic rake
- pastry brush
- Ecover toilet and multi-surface cleaners
- toilet roll!
Finally, thank you, but we do have plenty of the following: kitchen utensils, toothbrushes, instant coffee, tea bags, towels, onions, pasta, lentils, spices.
