Inside the Ethics Committee. Program 1. Treatment decisions for people who can’t give informed consent. Who decides and how?

I listened to this the other day, the full transcript or the….

I made a list today oh boy!

I hear a Beatles song coming on…wasn’t it ‘I heard the news today’ from A Day in the Life? Yes, I looked that one up just yesterday. Something about holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire and the Albert Hall. Amazing what you learn about those old songs. I’m no happier and a bit wiser for knowing the connection between Blackburn and the Albert Hall. It’s interesting to know what the source of my youthful singing and humming pleasure was. A newspaper article about holes in the road and how much material it would take to fill them, enough to fill the Albert Hall.

Anyway. I made a list today and worked not so much through it as around, up and down it, now it’s a scribbled out mess. I resort to making lists as a last resort. I find lists basically oppressive but necessary just in order to remember what needs to be done. When there is a lot to be done. Like today. Already I see how disjointed my thinking has become as I write. Lists do it to you. There is help at hand though. Here’s how to stop making lists and get a life.

Go ahead take a look, there is life after lists. A more fun loving one.

For your information I’ll be away from the monastery for a couple of weeks from Wednesday. First stop Telford Buddhist Priory and then onwards to our temple in the Black Forest in Germany. Posting might become irregular, or they might not.

Time to take a long look and allow the sight to enter in. Memorial Photography.

Yes, I have taken photographs of dead people. And yes, there is an odd macabre feeling about the practice. No, I do not regret having taken them.

When there is no place
that you have decided
to call your own
then no matter where you go
you are always heading home.
Muso Soseki

OR

When there is no person
that you have decided
to call your home.
Then no matter where you go
you are never alone.
Mugo

Just a different way of saying the same thing.

This sheep herding operation stopped me in my tracks this morning. Once again I was in my beloved Lake District. This time to pick up a monk left there two weeks ago, to rest. I was being navigated by a TomTom satellite navigation gadget. It did so well, talking me along remote roads I’d never have been able to negotiate without stopping every few miles to check a map. The road I particularly liked was the one over the fell from Grasemere to Great Langdale valley. I’m fairly sure this is a flock of Herdwick sheep by the way.

During a brief walk in the Langdale valley, in the fine rain that is so dear to my memories of hiking in these fair hills, I found myself addressing one of the sheep directly. Nice coat! I exclaimed, a spinning wheel flashing before my eyes. There was no answer, of course, however they do seem to smile. They are certainly not at all like other sheep who skitter away when humans are close. These just kept on grazing grass, undisturbed and unperturbed as I passed by. I see their fine coats are less used for knitting yarn and more carpet and loft insulation material!

Herdwicks are a dual-purpose breed, but are primarily raised for their hard and resilient grey wool. Their fleece is primarily suited to use as carpet wool; these carpets are sold under the auspices of the National Trust. The wool is also an excellent natural insulator – it is possible to buy sheets of fireproofed wool to fit as loft insulation.

Thanks go to Janet who bought the TomTom originally, and to her family who donated the the machine to the monastery following her death.