NEWS and MUSINGS

As we were driven up the motorway after landing I remembered Khun Ting telling me how when she first came to England and was being driven to Nottingham she asked why all the dead trees were being kept. After Thailand it did look a bit bleak but happily as we neared Warwick the sun came out and although of course it was quite a bit colder than we had been getting used it was still quite pleasant. But as we all know now more change was on its way and this last week it's been bitterly cold and snowed heavily. Under the Photos tab you will also find an album of pictures of the Forest Hermitage and Wood Cottage in the recent snow.
The week began on Monday with a trip back to where I lived as a child for my mother's funeral. She was 92 and died on January 2nd. On Tuesday I managed a prison visit and on Wednesday I went to London for an evening with the Imperial College Buddhist Society, which was very enjoyable. The following evening I was supposed to go to Warwick University Buddhist Society but the snow had arrived and the narrow and winding lane in which we live was pretty treacherous, so it was decided rather to be safe than sorry. On Friday the lane was passable and a coach-load of girls from King's in Warwick visited for an hour in the afternoon but for our evening sitting only three people turned up. On Saturday morning we were driven at some speed to Warwick University to receive alms from two groups of students. It was pretty different from recent pindapaht in Thailand and admirably some of the students insisted on removing their footwear to stand in the cold and sleet and very generously put food in our bowls. On Sunday afternoon we had a meeting of our committee at which we first welcomed two new members, Elizabeth and Prang. We have been wanting to do a few repairs and decorate and brighten the place up but I'm afraid we're going to have to reconsider because the news from the Treasurer was not good. In brief, recent income has been nowhere near what it costs to run our operations. We went on to talk at some length about what might be done to improve the financial position. The £145,000 debt on Wood Cottage of course remains a major burden.