I wonder who it was that traveled from Exeter St. Davids to Redruth on November 17th 2003. It wouldn’t have been me, I was in America at the time. And anyway only today did I set eyes on The Story of English, which is where I found the rail ticket, used as a book mark.

Tickets and travel arrangements have been occupying me these past days as I prepare to travel to the Netherlands on Monday. Much kindness has been extended by my Dutch hosts with reassurances that people speak English. All the same I’ve written instructions and maps to ease my way once I’m in the country.

English. A common language, what a gift. What a history! Now my eyes have been opened wide I can hardly put the book down.
Perhaps I’ll take it with me on Monday.

The Frisian for cow, lamb, goose, boat, dung, and rain is ko, lam, goes, boat, dong and rein. And the Frisian for ‘a cup of coffee’ is in kopke kofie. The similarity between Frisian and English, both with strong Germanic roots, emphasizes how close English is to German, Dutch and Danish. The Germanic echoes in all these languages betray their oldest and deepest roots. And it is no accident that the Dutch, for instance, often seem to speak English with as much ease as the English themselves. The evidence of a place like Friesland (an area in The Netherlands BTW) suggests that if that linguistic cataclysm, the Norman Conquest of 1066, had not occurred, the English today might speak a language not unlike modern Dutch. From The Story of English, p. 55.

For centuries, the epic tale of the Monkey King’s journey of enlightenment has been an omnipresent part of Chinese culture, delighting young and old with its heady mix of adventure, mystery and magic. Now, East meets West in ‘Monkey: Journey to the West’, a new production that reinvents the legend with a thrilling combination of music and action.

Manchester International Festival, 28th June – 15th July 2007. The world’s first international festival of original, new work. Good for Manchester.

Ah, remembrance of the Halle Orchestra one sweltering July evening at the Bridgewater Hall.

Yes. Well done Manchester O city of so very many memories.

On the eve of Midsummer’s Day, many bonfires used to be burnt all over the country. This was in praise of the sun, for the days were getting shorter and the sun appeared to be getting weaker, so people would light fires to try and strengthen the sun. Woodlands Junior School, Kent

It’s mid summers day, the longest day of the year. Certainly felt like a long one to me.

Walking back from meditation this evening there was a certain sadness in the air. Even the grazing rabbits appeared subdued and the young ones were not scampering in their customary way. Soon the nights will be drawing in and in no time it will be February again.

Happy Summer solstice all the same.

Imagine my delight when this wonderful statue came to visit last evening. It stands 20 inches high and was found in a dustbin. A genuine 1950’s Bugs Bunny statue standing in the classic double teapot stance, hands rolled up and placed on hips.

As a younger monk I was pulled up for double tea potting while trying to get across a point to the head cook. There is also single tea potting, if the point being made is just a minor one. I was completely unaware of this stance and have since wondered if it helps get the point across more forcefully, or not. I have my doubts.

It was too good an opportunity to miss. A practical joke in the rabbit infested garden. Many of us saw the funny side…

The talk around these parts is of rabbits. At this time of year they are wrecking havoc in the gardens, the young ones especially. As one monk put it, they are eating the flowers before they have a chance to grow, let alone blossom. One solution is to flush them out by a whole team of us trawling through the larger garden in a row, sending them towards the garden gate. The gardens are fortified but there are always the adventurous few who find their way in. It only takes one or two baby rabbits to get inside the fences to make for sad and frustrated gardeners.

The garden across the yard from where I work has been the site of much cunning, both on the part of rabbits and the garden caretaker. This morning the second of the three inside the garden was caught, by hand! Two down and one to go. We do use live traps as well as basic stealth by the way. The fencing within the garden is only temporary it being used to flush out the bunnies into open lawn and when there the determined caretaker hurdles the back wall and chases the culprit(s) out of the open gate.

Last evening, just at the crucial moment, one of the cats just happened to wandered through the open gate subverting the current operation. No amount of sweet talking would turn that cat around.