The movement of Harnham's monastics finally got under way this week. Ajahn Munindo and Venerable Nyanamoli resolutely set off into the unknown on Tuesday (ahead of the re-opening of Thailand's main airports) with a heavily revised and still very uncertain itinerary. They left just in time as by Thursday the snow was severely restricting travel off our hill. As for Ajahn Punnyo coming back the other way, conditions take time to settle down so we're still not sure exactly when he'll depart Bangkok. However we're hoping to quietly welcome him home early next week during one of our Silent Weeks when many of our greetings may be unvoiced.
Not quite so famous as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Leaning Hut of Harnham this week went the way of Nature. Users of our car park will be familiar with the erratic shed which acted as a reminder of the instability of the very ground beneath our feet. In a past life the shed had served up at the main house as the monastery's larder but had been reborn over the Summer when it became a store for Kusala House's decorating equipment. But the final stage of the guest house's development required that the shed break-up once more and vacate its position ahead of the upcoming car park surfacing work. Residents and guests happily laboured outside in heavy snow and a blizzard to clear the whole area and were later to be seen at the nearby frozen Bolam Lake sharing scraps of food with a mass of hungry swans, geese and ducks: it may have been cold outside but clearly there's been lots of warm feelings within.
