Temple Cloud

I started working on Project Change My Brain back in January.  As most of my problems are to do with the way I think with the left, verbal side of my brain – worrying for decade over possible meanings of things people have said – I decided to spend more time on non-verbal relaxation.  I would try to learn yoga.  I would spend more time colouring, and listening to instrumental music. Finding a yoga class turned out to be harder than I had expected, as there is no longer one in the local Village Hall, and the one I saw advertised in a studio in Shepton Mallet that I pass on my way to work wasn’t currently running.   I did enjoy colouring designs to make greetings cards: a big, bear-like dog for a greetings card for a friend, a tree-stump for a condolence card, a semi-abstract Egyptian-looking design of two facing figures for my wedding anniversary. Listening to music had seemed straightforwardly relaxing.   I don’t take recreational drugs, but I love the hallu...

November may be carnival season in Somerset, but for PDB11 and me recently, it has been climate protest season.   The placards that PDB11 made in the summer (on one side, his reads ‘There Is No Planet B’ and mine reads ‘Climate Crisis Is Still Here’; on the back, both read ‘There’s No Economy Without the Ecology’) have been getting plenty of exercise, mostly mounted on walking poles. A fortnight ago were Extinction Rebellion’s Insure Our Survival protests outside the offices of companies that insure fossil fuel companies.   PDB11 went to one outside Howden’s Insurance in Bath on Friday (while I was at work), and we had both meant to go to one outside Tokio Marine in Clifton on Saturday, but didn’t make it. Last Saturday we went to a Christian Climate Action silent prayer vigil in Bristol Cathedral, under the poignant Gaia sculpture .   PDB11 commented to an attendant at the cathedral that compared with some of the things and events that have been installed in cathe...

November is carnival season in Somerset .      The Somerset County Guy Fawkes Carnival Association carnivals begin in Bridgwater on the first Saturday of the month, and yesterday evening my friend took her children to the Shepton Mallet carnival , with a flask of hot chocolate and some sandwiches, as her children aren’t keen on the burgers sold from the vans.   The carnival circuit starts in Devon in September , but these illuminated processions in Somerset in November take place to commemorate Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament .   On a completely unrelated note, at the start of December I’m going with my mother, PDB11 and Doom Metal Singer to listen to one of the Carnival Band’s Christmas concerts.   Their lively performances of well-loved carols like Angels from the Realms of Glory , less well-known carols like Dancing Day and the desperately sad Coventry Carol , (both of which I had seen mentioned in The Children of Green Know...

At the start of this month, I resolved to walk as far as I could, every day that I could, health and weather permitting.  After all, there were bound to be days when it was pouring with rain and maybe even thundery, or when I was so tired that I needed a break, so I would need to make the most of the good walking days. Wednesday 12 th June was an extremely good walking day.   I had done only a little walking – just 8 miles delivering election leaflets around Ashwick and Benter - on Tuesday, so I was ready to get out for a proper day of exploration on Wednesday, exploring the Monarch’s Way path further north.   Sadly, the more northern reaches of the West Mendip Way were starting to be far enough west of my home that accessibility on day walks was becoming a difficulty, but the Monarch’s Way , which follows the escape route taken by King Charles II after being defeated at the Battle of Worcester, moves further east as it goes north here, coming nearer to the Chewton ...

When I started this walk, I wondered whether I should schedule a rest day each week, preferably (especially as I’m a Christian) Sunday.  It isn’t that I think Christianity is about adhering to a fixed set of rules, but, as Mandy’s sermon last weekend said, it’s important to rest intentionally, instead of just keeping working until you collapse. At that time, though, I really didn’t feel that I needed a rest.   I had only just begun my walking challenge the day before, and I was still full of energy.   Walking didn’t feel like a chore that I needed to rest from, but a holiday.   Also, I didn’t know how long good walking weather could persist for, so I wanted to make the most of going walking on every clear day that we got, before torrential rain and thunderstorms – or extreme heat – set in. As my first week wore on, though, I noticed that I was slowing down.   From 20 miles on Saturday 1 st June, and 18 (because I took time out to go to church) on Sunday 2 n...