Only 9 rounds this morning. Decided to work on santosha, the yoga practice of contentment. I was hoping to do it in the rain for practice, but the rain stopped. Unlike the socially-sanctioned activity of jogging, yoga attracts some attention.
Me in my outfit!
Only managed 15 rounds yesterday. I was kankered, as Mark says. Still, I had woken up unfeasibly early and been into town shopping. Today I will just see how many I can do – and tomorrow, rest. It has been quite a leap, to go from my normal practice of 2 or 3 half-arsed rounds * to 24 fairly full-arsed rounds! Or should that be “whole-arsed”?
I’m doing this with my whole arse.
When I was 17 I had a sew-on badge on my jeans (remember those? **) which said “kiss my” followed by a picture of a donkey. My dad was considerably less than gruntled about this. But then he was rarely gruntled about anything I did at that age.
Today we have nothing planned! But tomorrow Holly is going to do the Race for Life. We have sponsored her to the tune of £5 – the proceeds go to Breast Cancer research.
(What sort of tune does £5 make nowadays? A short one, I’d imagine).
* Note the determinedly British spelling
** the badges not the jeans!
It’s raining here in Leicester, the Midlands, England. Yesterday (when it was sunny) we took some photos of me in my gear. I will now try to upload one of them to this blog. … Nope, I’ve scutinised all the functions and I can’t see how to do it. The Husband is still in the Land of Nod (as we used to say) so he can’t help.
I guess the Land of Nod ought to be a country where everyone agrees with each other. Probably get a bit dull after a while.
Desperately dull.
I’m rambling a bit today. The daughter has a boyfriend staying over, the son likewise has a friend staying. The two pairs do not get on very well.
Not sure if there’s a CND stall today. If there is, it will be wet!
Enjoy your wetness.
TTFN
Still waiting for my Welcome Pack for the plinth. I guess it’s only been a week since I heard, but what a week! I feel as if my life has been turned around totally: this thing seems to have acted as a catalyst for many things. I am going to the CND meeting on Monday to talk about it. Today I bought a red top (Oxfam, £1.99) and Anna gave me a gold waistcoat. Grand!
If anyone knows where I can get a pair of orange or yellow trousers (must be stretchy or loose) without spending a – well, a leg and a leg – let me know).
Have decided to go and stay in London the night before – perhaps at the Sivananda Yoga Centre in Putney.
24 rounds at Steve’s house today. Found it very tiring to do it at that time of day – but I need to get used to it as I’m up there at 1!
Enjoy the – erm – evening.
Yes! Did 21 rounds of Salute to the Sun today. Hard work
Forgot to say – did 18 rounds (about 1/2 hr with rests). Joined by Pam (who also did 1/2 hr), Louise and Jean. We are hoping others will join us as the weeks progress.
- for the fool hath said in his heart, “There is no rain”.
Great day yesterday visiting Derngate House, Northampton. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh ( who invented the antacid tablet, though not, as many people think, the raincoat), it’s a miracle of smoothness, light, pattern and love. (I’ll deconstruct this phrase in a bit).
Present were: Pattie, driver, friend of Steve. Steve, who is – well, Steve. Or preferably Stephen. Jan the Numbers. Self (Lizzie the Pink). Pattie and Jan are both Scots, which gave rise to a few “Scot-based” conversations, centring on The Corby Exodus and Presbyterianism, not to mention Ian Rankin. Though I did mention him – he’s one of my favourite authors and not, in my view, to be mentioned in the same breath as Alexander McCall Smith.
The house is great. It was inhabited by a couple called Bassett-Lowke – and he seems, for an industrialist, to have been something of a Good Egg, dallying with the Fabian Society and messing with egalitarian notions – the kind of character you might expect to find in a D H Lawrence novel. The house is called 78 Derngate, which in itself has a kind of poetry, don’t you agree?
Go and see it. Go today.
www.78derngate.org.uk
Smoothness, light, pattern and love: all the surfaces were smooth and polished, though in an organic rather than in a flashy way – wood was polished, painted surfaces lacquered etc.
Light – the house could have been quite dark except that walls and screens were punctured in a very Islamic way to let in the light
Pattern – again, the Islamic influence shows, esp in one room. You felt you would like to inhabit these rooms, to sprawl on the sofa and read or just think.
Love pervades the house – love of light and pattern, love of space, love of form. Charles Rennie Mackintosh didn’t spout bollocks about these things – he just did them. Long may he be appreciated.
Seriously – go and see it. Worth seeing and, unlike the Giant’s Causeway, worth going to see.
www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID
For those of you in Leicester, I’m in today’s Mercury – a really good picture which makes my teeth look a lot better than they are!
www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk
(See picture in later post)
The shortcomings of Mark’s filing system came up in philosophy yesterday (we could have spent the whole session on this but wisely decided Not to Go There) when I asked if I could have custody of the Group File. The tutor, who knows Mark of old, as they say, suggested that I should not let him get his hands on it. I concurred. I discussed this with him this morning. “Your filing system”, I quipped, “is a piling system.” Oh, how we laughed.
Conversation with Anna last night about minibus to London and what I might wear. I think some of us will make a banner which I can show during my rest periods, since there is nothing to tie it to up there.
Seen some videos on youtube of the Plinth. Looks great. I think Antony Gormley’s approach to it is brilliant – open-minded and enabling, not restricting. As for those who apparently say it’s boring – it’s not meant to be entertainment.
But is it art?
Mm.
Going to Northampton today, to Derngate House which is a repository (if that is the word I want) of something or other by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Now that’s art. Isn’t it?
Enjoy the day. I know I always say that – but it’s true. I mean, it’s true that one should enjoy the day. It’s the only one there is!*
TT
*By which I mean that the present is the only reality, not that there is no future!
