My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

A domestic morning – A Dummy’s Guide on staying sane

70 cm in length

I seldom spend money on myself but I made an exception and bought a hot water bottle with a difference. I find it a relaxant to have a hot water bottle against my spine at night. This one does the job. If you think this is a bit bizarre, why not try putting a hot water bottle as I have described and see if it makes any difference. NB Any resemblance to a snake is purely coincidental.  I got it from Amazon for £16.

I rise to view a wonderful clear morning with the sun shining behind the clouds which are scudding across the sky in grand formation. Here is a lovely rendition by Cat Stevens ‘Morning has broken’ with lovely imagery.

I don’t know what prompts me to watch more Al Jazeera news about Gaza. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, two of the hospitals have been surrounded by Israeli troops and none are functional anymore. How can they be without electricity, water, food. I noticed rallies all over the world including Cape Town, a town where I stayed for some months in my South Africa period.

I remember a sign at the airport saying ” you will leave South Africa, but South Africa will never leave you” that was an inspired statement and how true because of part of me would love to go back. Unfortunately you cannot ‘pop’ to somewhere 12 hours away by plane. I somehow think my long distance travel days are over. I have been to USA at least 30 times, and to South Africa at least 20 times. Those were the carefree days of travel

I am partly an enthusiastic cook especially when it comes to Sunday lunch but I am partly a reluctant cook when it comes to learn about new things to eat. However, I recently I created a vegetable hot pot which basically consisted of anything that had not been eaten, bits at the bottom of the fridge cut up and slow cooked. I add plenty of herbs, salt, rich gravy, and leave it bubbling away for a couple of hours and then if you want some meat or fish with it, then that will add something. The hot pot is not the most original idea in the whole world but it certainly fills me up and I’ve had no Ill effects to date.

Bland – yes.   inexpensive – yes.   Filling – yes.    Nutritious – mostly yes.

I topped up my spirit by listening to Julius Reubke – Sonata on the 94th Psalm performed by Richard Gowers. You might want to check our a Youtube channel Beauty in Sound, curated by Richard  McVeigh.

A well organised sheltered living estate

I was waiting for my tyres to be serviced in the local tyre garage so I decided to wonder around and poke around in odd corners that I hadn’t investigated before.

This is an estate for retirees with about 40 units just off the top of the High Street in Midsomer Norton. Sometimes I don’t need to meet the people in charge to know what the quality of service is. This was a notice in the warden’s flat which is I think the best monthly newsletter I have seen. I have not looked at the website but it looks to me as if this residence  is one of a chain. I wish all units were as well organized as this one. The poster above shows the services and when they will be offered, it talks about parking, about events and it talks about how they can be contacted both locally and nationally. The roads were very clean and tidy so ‘well done’ whoever it is . I suspect that good central management attracts good wardens.

The Annual Midsomer Norton Carnival

This is happening this evening at 7.30 . I feel the same as I felt when we attended the Frome Carnival. I may be a snob but I found the vibes rather low. It is good for kids but after 6 or 7 years we are going to give it a miss.  We have two ZOOM meetings, one each, so that is more important plus I need to write my diary before the next tranche of inspiration arrives tomorrow.  PS You have guessed it – it rained during the Carnival.

Keeping sane (but all is relative)

Mike Adams, The Health Ranger, gave seven pointers on how to manage in the current turbulent world situation.  Mike lives on a ranch in Texas, so his living circumstances are not ‘typical’ but the suggestions he makes are applicable to all.

# Discernment. We have to distinguish between fake news and real news
# Control over our emotional state,  because so many of the images that you see on the news are designed to control your emotional state and to whip you up into a rage or reduce you to fear
# You need a strong sense of self-worth to protect you against being manipulated by globalist forces
# We need to be prepared to endure not just food shortages but a draconian legislation
# We need faith in God and recognition that there is a divine plan for you and a divine plan for Humanity
# We need a self-sufficiency of faith and an ability to solve problems with limited resources
# We need resilience and recovery to enable us to bounce back from failures and losses

To listen to the full 2-hour podcast I refer you to the video I mentioned a couple of days ago

My (hopefully inspired) take on all this

The world is full of books on how to avoid depression, live a full life, manifest money, become more spiritual. I’m just going to write as thoughts come to me knowing that whatever I write, some people will be helped, while with others it will not ring a bell, and others will feel that they are sane enough not to need to read my impressions. What’s the worst that can happen? Nothing. So with that in mind I  will now tune in.

<pause>

We speak of people of having a sound mind or soundness of mind. This includes the appropriate manifestations of soundness in the judgments you make gamma the actions you perform and your reasoning for the same. Ill people will do inappropriate things during which they become disconnected with other people. A person who is confused and muddled cannot – as the saying goes – see the wood for the trees. Basic functionality is required in order that we are part of society which includes a good dose of common sense and rationality.

I cannot see a situation where everybody is solely responsible for their own condition and to ignore everyone else. It behooves us to look after each other; I am reminded of the frequently quoted gospel statement that ‘we are all members of one body’. The so-called insane person may have become separated from the rest of society by a traumatic event. I am thinking of those who hoard compulsively in their homes and you find that this was when they separated from their partner, lost a child, or some other unforeseen event for which they were not prepared. You could say that they blew a fuse.

I believe we have a duty to look out for each other and spot the symptoms of a breakdown. When a person is actually breaking down they are not in a position to help themselves appropriately and may take to drink or drugs to try and ward off some of the more obvious symptoms of loneliness and depression. Am I my brother’s keeper? Most definitely yes. The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the most famous in the New Testament of the Bible for a reason.

For the sane person, vigilance is the word. Don’t wait until you are pulling your hair out before asking for help. If you find yourself thinking thoughts that go round and round in your head and you cannot stop them, that is a sign you need some support. So-called pain killers may suppress the symptoms but they will not deal with the cause. Antidepressant pills can make you depressed. A cup of tea and a good conversation we’ll not make you depressed.

One of the most difficult things for the pride is to ask for help, if not in words then in our behavior and it is up to those of us who are conscious and aware not to ‘pass by on the other side’. We are social animals and this need for support is wired into us.

We in society stand or fall together. A chain is only a strong as the weakest link and whether we like it or not we are all dependent on each other. This is I suppose what socialism is about. We cannot separate society into two parts, the sane and the insane. Supposing the insane had a lot of money and were able to hide their condition? How can you divide up society using any but the most arbitrary criteria? You cannot just eliminate those who are not productive, the so-called ‘useless eaters’ that the globalists are so fond of talking about. The Christian believes that everyone has a value before God and has been sent into this world for a purpose.

To exclude any group of people is in the long-term tantamount to destruction because society will separate into factions that will fight each other or try to marginalize each other with nobody gaining. In the sane and the insane we see aspects of ourselves. When the so-called insane person is seen behaving strangely, when have we been tempted to do the same but have not done so due to self-control.

Since I changed my attitude, I learned a lot about eccentric people and those who do not fit in. I find that inevitably  they have an interesting story to tell. So long as they are not too aggressive, I will talk to them and hear their story. I consider many street people are far more able to maintain themselves because they have fewer possessions and when times get ready tough they will be the survivors.

Long live tolerance, acceptance, inclusivity and the wish to reach out and understand someone who is different from ourselves.



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

Standing Steadfast – describing your friends – healing – a film from Bhutan

I attended our Christian study group last evening and the topic was Israel, particularly the history of Israel going back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from 2000 BC. I don’t see how anyone can understand the current position unless you make an examination in general of the tensions in the Middle East, and when they were caused, previous incursions by Israel onto its neighboring Palestine, who set up the state of Israel in 1948, (that was funded by the Rothschilds) and who and why funds Israel today and to what extent.

We should learn more about Khazarian Jews as opposed to the regular Jews and look at the current situation stability-wise. We should remember or at least ascertain that the mainstream media are not impartial in their opinions of who did what, why and when. I am reminded of Iraq when it was said that babies were killed in their incubators. There was no supporting evidence. Now we were told that Hamas were responsible for killing babies. There is a certain similarity between that, Iraq, and 9/11, which was clearly an inside job, blaming others. As they say ‘do your own research’.   Do I recall hearing about ‘dancing Israelis’ after the twin towers collapsed?  A coincidence I am sure.

Don had prepared a very good talk from Colin Chapman’s book, “Who’s promised land?” I think it is important that everyone comes to a view on this, even if there is nothing we can do about it, but meanwhile I think we need to pray for peace for both sides.

The meaning of Steadfast

On my way out, I found myself telling everyone that we needed to be steadfast. Steadfast is one of these lovely words which stands with a dignity of itself. It even sounds good if a trifle conservative. It is almost onomatopoeic. I do not use this word often. It comes from the middle English unshakable, stubborn, resolute; firm and fixed in purpose and faith.

Steadfast applies not only to individual characteristics but also in attachment to a person or cause this has been in use since the 15th century. ‘I am steadfastly attached to the cause of health medicine’. ‘I will remain steadfast with my wife in her difficulties’.

Note it’s use as in ‘firm ‘(from the late 14c ferm) as in strong and steady. With regard to agreements legal or otherwise it is permanent and enduring . With arguments It is sound and well founded. A firm decision means that you will not change your mind and it is unconditional.

Personally I feel that to be steadfast requires no ambiguity of purpose and complete transparency at all levels. It is not something that can change from day to day based on a whim but it must be based on a set of principles that will stand the test of time.

The use of the word ‘nice’- is it laziness?

Laziness prevails in many aspects of our life unless we do something about it, and manifests in the effort we make to describe people we know. Damning with faint praise can be the use of the word ‘nice’ which is about one of the most useless words, as bad as saying ‘ have a nice day’. This is an export from America which quite frankly could be reimported so far as I am concerned. Anything with the word ‘nice’ in has little substantive meaning.

You may care to look at the etymology of this and consider the usefulness of it in current day English. Originally in the late 13th century the word meant foolish, frivolous, senseless and believe it or not from the Latin nescius meaning ignorant, not knowing. The word has undergone a transformation from timid and faint hearted in earlier times to ‘precise and careful’ as in ‘making a nice distinction’.

Now it is reserved for something more benign and generic such as, ‘have a nice day’, ‘we will go on a very nice walk’, ‘these are two very nice people’  but the early origins of this word haunt it to this day.

Be careful who you speak ill of

So when someone asks you what you think of somebody, don’t go into automatic mode but pause a moment, consider, and then give your verdict. To say that they are a ‘nice’ couple means nothing.  You will be doing yourself and the listener a favor by thinking. But first of all, think why  the person is asking you. Do they want you to reinforce their previously conceived notion of the person? This can especially apply with malicious gossip.

In this case,  it is particularly lazy apart from being unnecessary because if you choose to set aside the possible better parts of the person being criticized you do them a disfavour and it will bounce back on you. As the saying goes, ‘what goes around comes around’ and this is especially true if you don’t know who you are talking to. If you are not careful you could insult somebody’s friend or even a family member.

If you don’t know the person very well, then say so. We do not really know a person unless ‘we’ve walked a mile in their shoes’ as someone said. Maybe avoid to  speak in such a way as to preclude further contact because your prejudice – if indeed there is a prejudice – may not be based on any fact but on the opinions of others as in the game ‘pass the parcel’ and therefore does not have much value and could do a dis- service to you the speaker.

A good rule of thumb ‘Is it necessary?  Is it loving?  Is it true?

Is it not a better plan to describe a previous meeting with the person or people or couple and say what happened during the meeting for example ‘I met Mr and Mrs so and so, the local hall and we discussed the dilapidation of the building and agreed that something has to be done’ This encourages your immediate listener because it tells something of the nature of the people talked about, including the fact that they are concerned about community matters.

If you start in an objective way you may realize during your conversation that these people might actually be quite useful to society. I question the value of a subjective judgement based on feelings. I am aware that some people do not present very well but that is an interface or cultural problem not so much a character problem.

I could make out a case for avoiding giving any comment on anybody but instead we could use the following descriptors to give some sort of image of the person in question.

Before that please spare us the use of hyperbole such as

lovely, fantastic, brilliant, marvelous, wonderful, great, ‘you are a star’, awesome, incredible.

The following I consider more useful with regard to something someone has done:

‘I really appreciate your prompt action’
‘I did not expect such a good job’
‘Most people would not have bothered’
‘thanks for being there for me’

or of groups or couples:

‘I had an enjoyable time with them clearing the garden’
‘they struck me as being pleasant people who were interested in what I was doing’
‘he told a story in a captivating way’
‘after being with them for some time I felt refreshed’
‘in my time of need they were able to comfort me’

or even a comparison such as

‘he is very down to earth but she has her head in the clouds as she is an artist’. This is a tongue in cheek observation not a judgement.

In other words and I repeat, speaking badly about someone is what I call the long-term shooting yourself in the foot or maybe even the heart. It will rebound on you sooner or later in one form or another so why take the risk?

The Christian believes that there is God in everybody but alas in most of us this is shrouded by what we would call sin or perhaps the word ignorance would be a better word. I refer to it as ‘over coats’.

Question – Is it so difficult or challenging to say something positive about someone else. If it is difficult, then why is it difficult? Does the whole of life have to be a competition where we compare ourselves (who we know) with others (who we do not know).

So to return to our theme of niceness, when people say to me, have a nice day, I come back at them and say ‘why not have a nice week or month or year or lifetime’. I could also say sarcastically if I was feeling a bit bad tempered, ‘I was having a bad day until now. I now decide to have a good day’ but maybe that is a step too far ….. or it could be treated as a joke.

To record or not record?

I had a chat with someone this morning about the recording of a group session. This would be a small group. I felt that the member of the group who requested this was being paranoid. My point of view, is that I cannot write very well as I have inherited the shaking hand of my father and when I try to write, it looks like a platoon of spiders on the loose.

However we eventually agreed that if a record is made, it is in another category and especially in this high tech age, the contents could be lifted, obtained nefariously, and then used out of context. Although the chances of this happening are very small the fact must be taken into account and so some people, especially more nervous people, would prefer there to be that extra assurance of privacy. This conversation helped me to fill in,the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and so I was able to rest assured.

Sometimes it is a good idea to lift the lid off the pressure cooker.

What is healing and what is it not?

The Scientific and Medical Network runs a number of informal ZOOM events and I tend to pop in on Monday and Friday. I am getting a little bit bored with the passivity of most of the people there. The phrase comes into my mind from the bible about being a doer of the Word and not just a hearer of the Word. The analogy was given of the latter being like a man who built his house upon sand and the rains came and the wind blew and the house was destroyed.

My frustration is that it is very seldom that people on our ZOOM meetings show signs of having taken any notice of the wonderful spiritual messages and wisdom that is given out by the speakers on each and every occasion. I wonder if this is a social club for introverts. I view the world from a different platform now I am writing my diaries and I’m impatient with those who just sit back and listen. I wonder what they are doing and what they hope to achieve.

However I did hear and was reminded during the brief time I stayed with the group last evening about the law of reversed effort. In other words the more you ask, beg and beseech God to heal you the less it works because it is called by some ‘ the law of reversed effort’. If you are worried and insecure how can you be a channel. People who have healed me seldom intended to do so and they did just by their presence. The answer is to lead a good life, be close to God as you can, and the Spirit of healing come through you. It cannot originate from you although you may feel manifestations in your hands of say prickling or heat that can be the energies of the Universe going through you and burning the wires a bit.

I am doing a series of readings and healing for a whole family. To be very careful about my conflict of interest but so far we are managing and they are pleased to have me as a helper in the background as I see myself. So the fallacy of trying to heal implies something which is incorrect, that when you are not thinking about healing you are not doing it. I believe that healing comes out of people of good world all the time provided they are given respect and the circumstances are contiguous.

An evening at the movies

This evening we went to see a film called Lunana which was filmed in Bhutan and subtitled in English. It was the heartwarming story of a young teacher who dreams of being a singer in Australia but is sent to teach at a remote school in the Himalayas where there is even a yak in the classroom.

The film lasted one hour 50 minutes, the pace was slow and the scenery consisted mostly of the beautiful snow capped mountains, a small and ramshackle School and the emotional time spent by a young man who did not really want to become a teacher but in the end wanted to stay. There was minimal dialogue, no violence, no swearing, no loud music and during the time I felt ashamed of what passes for Western entertainment.

I can understand why the King of Bhutan was very careful to limit the number of visitors from abroad in what was essentially a closed country. Seeing it from their point of view, I can well understand why.

The film was shown to a packed audience in the village hall in Kilmersdon.  The film was bought from Amazon. The screen was about  5m wide and there was 6-channel sound so the whole was well up to cinema standards.  There was a wine, beer and tea bar available before the show.  Admission was £6. Membership is available.

This little village is deceptive. It’s basically a small traditional high street with a converted post office, church, a machinery repair workshop and the Village Hall. If you blink you will miss it but the population is more akin to Bath in its demographic makeup and should not be under-estimated.

The registered population is only about 600 and yet they have a Women’s Institute, an art group, a bridge club, a garden group, a village day, a village shop, a film society of which this event was a part. Around Christmas there are candles by candlelight, an advent carol service, a Christmas carol service, the usual Christmas carol service in a neighboring church. This is presided over by Reverend Clarissa Kridland of Mendip Trinity Church. The Kilmersdon Parish News has 20 pages and is very professionally produced.

This is a village that punches well above its weight. Anyone thinking of moving into the area and wishing to work in Bath or Frome or indeed Wells would be well advised to look around for a property, if you can find one



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

Throwing beloved things away – rogue gardeners – the shock of being thanked

Does my bag  need a burial ceremony?

To the casual eye, this looks like a scruffy old bag but to me it is much more than that. I bought it in Boston, Ma, USA in about 1995. It has served me well traveling to Sri Lanka, Singapore. Australia, South Africa (20 times), the United States and Canada, not to mention my travels in Europe. It has a wonderful combination of a lot of pockets as well as being light in weight so I can put my basic needs for two or three days within it,  but I have to say that does not include shoes.

If it was a friend, I would like to give it a burial ceremony or at least a ritual of some sort. I would like to give thanks to the bag for its service to me and the person who made it. To them it was just another bag but to me it was an invaluable part of my travel. Now all the zips have broken, strangely around the same time, so when I take it to the recycle I shall do so with respect. I recall a quote saying that ‘the evil that men do lives after them; the good is often interred with their bones’. This is a quote spoken by Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar. In other words, everything lives beyond its physical existence.

Rogue gardeners

Someone on a local social media site (NextDoor) warned about a rogue gardener called Peter who is driving around looking for work and probably taking advantage of older people. These predatory types that I call vultures are to be found everywhere. We have someone who comes from Frome who is a pikey. He has driven around more than once spotting that I needed a tree pruned. He is often excessively polite and uses the appellation on his shiny flyer Mr. (John Smith). Normally, you don’t use the appellation ‘Mr.’ unless there is room for doubt. What they will try and do is to take money in advance or give a quote that is very reasonable but escalates, or simply take your money and disappear always of course with an excuse.

When I was living in London in a community Living Estate, a man came around saying he had some excess tarmac and would we like some and it was only £1.50 per square meter. He was in a great hurry because the tarmac would of course set. We talked to the management and they agreed but they ended up paying £1500 so I don’t know what sleight of hand he used but they fell for it as I did.

The moral to the story dear people is that if someone comes knocking on the door it means that they are not being recommended by others and more likely than not will not have any loyalty to you or care about the quality of their work if indeed they do any work at all. An advert in the local paper, a recommendation of a friend, is a better route to go and if someone pushes you or puts any pressure whatsoever on you, then just tell them politely to go away.

25 Amazing Women in the Bible

We tend to think of characters in the Bible as a ‘man’ thing but women also took a great role. I am a subscriber to biblestudytools.com and we get regular mailouts (a labour of love on their part) . Today’s article is very good and worth a read.

The pages of the Bible are richly adorned with the stories of remarkable individuals who shaped the course of history and have become pillars of the faith – their narratives echoing through millennia as testaments to the strength of character and unwavering devotion. Immediately we can think of women in the Bible like Mary, Eve, Sarah, Miriam, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Deborah, and Mary Magdalene. But there are other women in the Bible that have only a small appearance in the Old or New Testament, some as few as one verse.

The shock of being thanked

I know that many people read my diaries but sometimes they forget that it is  written by a genuine human being, with feelings. This morning, I received a  letter from a lady who appreciated my work. I have reproduced it below. I think there is a difference between being appreciated, and being thanked. Anyone can say thank you and in a way the phrase has become cheapened but the same does not apply to appreciation which is a more in-depth; it is the recognition of the quality, significance, of people and things. Gratitude is included.

‘Thanks’ is more a matter of basic politeness when you give someone something, or exchange something of value. It is an inadequate word because I have heard people say “I can only thank you for what you have done”. This is where being taciturn and standoffish does not work. You could try giving the person a hug but in professional circumstances that would not be appropriate. After thanking someone you can perhaps tell them in what way their action was appreciated, for example because you have done this I was enabled to do that and it made my job in life easier

“I took a moment to read through the diary post that you sent. You are a beautiful writer and a wonderfully engaging human being. I am certain you brighten many a day for folks along the way. I loved the lashings of custard request, which is something I would do myself. And, the lady in the black and white striped outfit sure won a lot of awards at the hospital, or she gave out the awards and got into every photo wearing her black and white show-stealer dress!”

The Dog’s Bollocks

A friend of mine said that a particularly excoriating speech by an academician, inviting other scientists to come up with an explanation for a phenomena, was the dogs bollocks.

Again, I do not want to be accused of using phrases without doing research so off I go again to the internet, this time a site called phrases.org.uk

The DB’s – meaning.

Excellent – the absolute apex. In other contexts the word bollocks (meaning testicles) has a negative connotation; for example:

– ‘that’s bollocks’ -> ‘that’s rubbish’
– ‘give him a bollocking’ -> ‘chastise him’
– ‘He dropped a bollock’ -> ‘he made a mistake’

The reasons why the ‘dog’s bollocks’ are considered to be the top of the tree aren’t clear. It may be linked to an associated phrase – ‘stand out like a dog’s balls’, that is, ‘outstanding’, although I can find no evidence to indicate that phrase as being earlier than the ‘dog’s bollocks’. Dogs do enjoy licking their genitals of course but again, there’s no evidence that links the coining of this phrase to that. It is most likely that this is just a nonsense phrase, coined because it sounds good. In that, it would join a long list of earlier nonsense phrases, e.g. ‘the cat’s pyjamas’, ‘the bee’s knees’ etc.

I would say that historically the negative use of this word, never mind it’s use as a swear word, outweigh the positive uses of this word although its use as an affectionate compliment may be on the increase. When you know someone well, an ‘insulting phrase’ can be a term of endearment.

A friend visits

From time to time I get to meet with my friend Terry who shares with me the political and existential scenario that we are seeing in the world today. We are on the same wavelength. This means that we can finish each other’s sentences without interrupting and we instinctively know what the other person is going to say before they even utter the words.

I had set up an hour long film about the Khazarian Jews but after the first opening statement we were still talking an hour later. So if 30 seconds of the video produces one hour conversation you can see that for us to do justice to the video the total elapsed time office watching would be 120 hours. I think you can safely assume that we are a catalyst for each other.

We, as human beings, are but one reflection of the enormous variety of consciousness that exists in the universe today. Although Homo sapiens in its human form of head torso and legs is assumed to be some sort of universal standard; there may be other forms of sentient life do not follow those formula. We are a minute point in the fasteners of the universe, of which parts are still expanding at the speed of light. I find it difficult to understand what one light year is. I know that it means the amount of distance covered by light in one year, but….

Light travels 5,88 trillion miles per year. Again that means nothing to me. How can I, being such a minute being, have any significance to anybody? The answer is that we have something called consciousness which is independent of space and time and which gives us the existential markers to feel significant. Without consciousness we would just be a robot or a rock. Just to give us an idea of the speed of light, it would take us 1.2 seconds to reach this worthy satellite.

I find it incredible that people should think, in fit of parochialism, that we would be the only inhabited planet when there are more stars than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. I believe the number of stars is 10 to the power of 22 which by most standards is very large. Let us suppose that we were intercepted or at least visited by some other supposed civilizations and, being more advanced than we are, suppose they took an interest in our raw materials e.g. gold and indeed our very humanity itself. Would they not leave a visiting card?

Would these beings if they exist seek to ingratiate themselves with the poor naive human being, interbreeding in a form that would be beneficial for them since they would produce slave workers. This may sound far fetched, but if the information was fetched from afar then that would be a mere description not an opinion. (joke).

When the great prophets and teachers came visiting the Earth they always adhered to the principle of free will. We had and have a choice. We can  either use the ancient knowledge to build ourselves up into almost demigod status or we could use it to destroy ourselves. If we believe in Atlantis then we would know that the latter is possible. In a time when we can only sit back and watch the minority who have all the cards in their hands, it seems to me that our only hope is to raise the level of our consciousness. As I  have said many times before, we are conscious beings in a world of matter, in other words occupying a suit of clothes, but we are not the clothes themselves.

We may see acts of deliberate destruction and evil take place around us on a daily basis but we do not have to identify ourselves with these acts. However we cannot entirely insulate ourselves from the effects of shedding whether it be by a virus or by a thought so it *behooves us to maintain a healthy independence both of thought and of belief so that we can maintain our integrity without losing our humanity.
* behoove = to be necessary, proper, or advantageous for us to do this action

By the same mechanism of mind that enables me to write this diary day after day, so would it not be impossible for two friends to run out of conversation, because creativity is the mother of other creativity and this process will or can never stop. As I have said before – and I stand in danger of repeating myself – if you were to give away every last bit of information you had, you would end up by being more wise and knowledgeable at the end because the brain, in the act of rehearsing what it knows, will make further correlations or connections within itself and this will have no end. For this we should thank our creator.

Preparing for the future

Brighteon Broadcast News, Nov 8, 2023 – SEVEN INSPIRING characteristics of self-mastery for surviving the end times that are now upon us. This two hour broadcast will help anyone and everyone who is awake to what is going on, not what the Main Stream Media are told to tell you or withhold from you.



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

An action-packed weekend part 1

First stop, the monthly market in the marketplace of Midsomer Norton Francoise bought her usual fish order. There are no fishmongers in Midsomer Norton and she doesn’t like to rely on frozen fish.  We bought some freshly baked bread and some cheese made with unpasturized milk.

The event was fairly well attended bearing in mind the on/off showery weather (below)

I saw this advert for films, below, whilst in Sainsbury’s, an event which I had associated with a school venue in Radstock. This one is located in Kilmersdon which is a small village to the south of Bath.

Hearing difficulties for the profoundly deaf

We have a friend who has an acute hearing problem and is thinking of having a cochlear implant. Francoise has taken up her case because her family lives some distance away and cannot afford the time to go with her to her appointment in Bristol so Francoise has agreed to go along to an appointment with her on the 6th December 2023

A lady running one of the vegetable stalls at the market has a similar hearing problem and she told Francoise about a new method called bone anchoring hearing aids which is less invasive than the cochlear procedure. She had this implant about five years ago and all she needed was to re-adjust the apparatus  from time to time. She also had a newly generation hearing aid. The lady had no information about costs but this could well be a new alternative for the friend. She was very willing to chat and went so far as to give her phone number so Francoise could ask further questions.

Once again, the value of gossip

It is very impressive to see how much useful information people have and are furthermore quite willing to give. I am not a gossiper about frivolous things but I do appreciate this informal exchange of information which I think is rather unkindly called gossip. We could have fun and look at the word gossip. An Informant could be seen as someone who informs you about a particular situation, but also the connotation of a person officially assigned to seek out information that is not already available.

A blabbermouth is someone who has no boundaries and has no concept of privacy or protocol. Small talk is used as a preparation for more serious matters and just links people in who have not met each other for some time.  We talk about ‘making’ small talk which implies that it could be contrived.  Dialogue is something more serious and formal and would not necessarily take place on the street. Chinwag is just having fun but at another level is a conference is an appellation more formal in its structure. If I spill the beans, my conversation or gossip  has gone out of hand and can happen when someone is inebriated or angry.

The Cam Valley Arts Trail

This take place annually and locally . The opening times are 11 am to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. That may sound like a long time but to see 28 venues, some with many artists participating, there is no way you can do justice to all the works in 10 hours. If you go round venues and do not speak to the artists, you are wasting your time. I call it ‘pond-skating’.

We started at Camerton community hall which surprisingly enough is in Camerton, BA2 0NL if you must know. We entered the hall to find only about 10 guests so this did not auger very well however we decided to linger and spend time with each individual artist; there was so much depth and discussion in the conversation that we were there for one and a half hours and it seemed much shorter.

The first was Carrie Osborne, of WordHoards Art. She loves trees and does the most amazing lino-cuts and drawings. You feel you are actually within the trees.  She struck me as being a very down to earth and sensitive person who related well to nature.  I gave her the nick name of Earth Lady or ‘Lady of the Earth’. Her lino cuts which we did not photograph can be seen on her Facebook page.

Alas she does not have a website which in my view would be an excellent shop window for her and with more permanency than a Facebook page where she can be found @carriewordhoardsart. We chatted a bit and she does enjoy support from her husband who is a musician. That relationship will certainly not be boring and I found her to have a very strong and at the same time gentle character which means that when times get really bad, she will use her dynamic relationship with nature to survive

The second was Suzy Williams from whom I bought a work a triptych of photographs of nature and I will have to find somewhere useful to put it. Image to be inserted.

The third was Denise Dufferin, An artist whose pen and ink work I found very attractive. I asked her about doing a portrait of me as an alternative to the photograph I am now using. She said that she would do a few sketches for me and if I did not like them I did not have to proceed.

Something funny happened when I went to get my cake and coffee. I was served by a very nice gentleman and the cup in which he served the coffee I found wording perhaps coincidental or perhaps synchronistic.  One of my weaknesses is that I do not get on very well with dogs. Low and behold what am I given? A message on a cup. I teased the server that he knew about me and had planned the whole thing and of course he agreed,  with a twinkle in his eye.

I was however strongly drawn to a potter by the name of Andrew Eddleston who lives in Timsbury. His work had a special quality and he spoke with quiet authority and boyish enthusiasm which I guess arises from many years teaching the subject to members of the public of all ages and all standards. We agreed on practically everything about creativity including the fact that you can never run out of ideas because ideas come from the universe and if we learn to listen the very fact of creating an idea will produce more ideas to support it. When someone asks a question or makes a suggestion, what you say to them will help them but it will also assist your own development.

I pointed out that is why selfish people are the most miserable ones. I shared my testimony about my diaries that I have programmed my brain to give me at least 1500 words a day and when I am on form, which most of the time, I produce more than 1500 words. I found it very empowering and deeply satisfying to meet a kindred spirit and was very honoured to meet him. The whole visit was worth that one contact alone because inter alia I wasn’t just making contact with him, but in a way all the people that he has met and helped.

He teaches in Frome and has awaiting list of 92 potential potters. He shows a great love and caring and I’m not surprised that people are attracted to him and his work because he is a living catalyst. I try to be the same so I suppose we were encouraging each other. Each of his works is unique. You can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/andrew.eddleston.5/ and his email address is andrew@andreweddleston.co.uk

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We could have stayed there most of the afternoon but I did want to see at least one more venue so after having had a piece of cake and a coffee we went on to Karen’s studio in High Littleton (above). I have known Karen now for about six years since we first went to a party at her place. She and Francoise have a long history of their love of art so we turned up to see how she was getting on. www.karengeorgeart.co.uk is her site.

She has spent about four years assembling her own outdoor studio which is a story in itself. They built the studio from scratch using recycled materials, pallets, and anything that came to hand. She obtained from a window fitter windows which would have otherwise gone to the tip. The whole is about 4 meters by 3.5 meters.

I was very struck by the fact that Karen looked younger than when I met her three years ago,. Her husband Chris shared with me how he had taken early retirement from being an assistant headteacher and felt much better for it and was enjoying doing some gardening for people. I made the comment that sometimes you don’t realize what a prison you are in until you step out of it. It is very common with people whose jobs do not quite fit them for a number of reasons. So Chrus is in well deserved retirement now and enjoying himself. I wish them both all the best.

Whilst there, I had a little bit of fun with the English language when a newcomer wanted to buy a postcard while the three of us were talking. I agreed that they should jump in. I discussed the difference between interrupting, interjecting, and interfering. The only one acceptable in a group is interjection where you add something relevant to the topic.  This happens in the House of Commons when a speaker ‘gives way’ to a right honorable friend who wishes to support him.

Interrupting involves stopping the flow and usurping it for your own purposes. Interfering is meddling with the procedure itself and is probably the most scurrilous. To heckle or disturb applies more to larger groups of people where you want to destabilize the flow of the whole meeting for not necessarily rational reasons.

We then decided to go home but on the way we decided to pop in to High Littleton church hall. I bought a notebook, blanks not lines, with a lovely cover for £3.95. I had a Victoria sponge cake piece and some coffee for £2.50 which is not bad. By that time I was so full of ideas to share for this diary that I switched off significantly and we both decided that it was time to head home. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed the sunset and perfect blue skies.

There could be no more perfect evening for a firework display which we will probably go to. It is now 17.40 as I write and the firework display starts at 1900 hours so I have had time to write this entry and have something to eat as well.

Firework display at the Cricket Club

High speed movement at nights is not something that an ordinary mobile phone – camera can deal with. It will take a picture and then process it for a few seconds. You’re not going to get clarity so this picture above is designed just to give an impression of the event.

The Lions Club runs most of the firework displays in the UK and there was no exception to this at the Cricket Club just down the road from where we are. The charge was £8 per person, children free. We ignored the queues and went up via Silver Street Nature Reserve through to the side of an overlooking  hill where we found a group of about 60 people waiting to see the show.

For the first time I found walking at night a bit tricky. It was a combination of using boots that were a little bit too big for me, the darkness in what was a very muddy and wet field and also it was a slope. The combination was a bit much for me so I had to hold on to Francoise. The fireworks did indeed last about 20 minutes as we thought. They started a little bit late to let everyone in, fair enough. Next time I will go to the trouble of bringing a fold- up chair.



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

Flying at 30,000 feet – sanity – Gossip – SMN ZOOM meet

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View of the aircraft wing above the clouds at sunrise.

My Christian friend and colleague David has done it again. What has he ‘done’? He was there and present for me. As I mentioned yesterday he has to put up with my utterings and ramblings but I don’t think he realises how much inspiration is released in my consciousness when “two or three are gathered together in My Name”.   We know that when two or three people get together anyway there is a group support situation but when the spiritual side is factored in, or could I say the increase in bandwidth is involved, the whole situation can be seen from a higher  and broader perspective.

I started the conversation by saying that with flying, the clouds and turbulent weather are to be found around the 10,000 feet mark.   At 30,000 feet under normal circumstances we are above the clouds and fly smoothly. I liken this to our situation in this crazy world. The whole question is where do you position yourself?   We are told to be ‘in the world but not of it’ which is sound advice and applicable at many levels. If our souls and hearts are flying at 30,000 feet which is ideal, being a part of God and therefore part of the light, we can look down on the clouds at 10,000 feet, knowing that they are there,  but not being battered around by them. People who survived the concentration camps were more likely to survive if they had faith.

I am reminded of the adjuration ‘be as innocent as doves and wise as serpents’.  I love this analogy and I try to keep to it. You see the same thing from the innocent point of view as seen from the sky, and the streetwise point of view as seen from the ground. Notice that the text does not say either/or, it says you need to do both at the same time. So I would represent the innocent dove aspect as the neocortex and the soul, and the serpent as the normal everyday mortal mind.

Back to the cloud analogy. We have the capability of mind to either reside at 10,000 feet or 30,000 feet. This is part of our spiritual software built into us when we were born and that will never change whilst we are alive as human beings.  It is not difficult. Truth is never difficult in its key elements otherwise the coming of great teachers such as Jesus or Mohammed would be an act of sadism if it excluded those who did not have the intellectual capacity to understand abstract ideas.  Hence the simple nature of the parables. The problem is that some of Jesus’ ideas we resist on various pretexts but that is another matter.

So, as a result of having the impulse to talk to David,  I’m writing this piece which hopefully will spread some sort of light somewhere. As I have said many times before, we do not know what is achieved through our words and actions in the same way that a stone thrown into a pool cannot see the ripples it causes

The same thing applies to very considered advice I gave to someone last Friday. They were in great difficulties at work and I pulled out all the stops to offer them free service because the charity they were representing was in need of soothing balm  and I considered that giving this person advice and support was the best way of contributing to an organization because of course it’s not just about money, it’s about the way people in the various teams of this charity cooperate in harmony.

I received  no acknowledgement or thanks and maybe I never will but the point is I’ve put it out there, I’ve made the offer, and if some of the things I said were uncomfortable then so be it. Jesus did not come to win any popularity contests, and David Icke,  that worthy campaigner, says the same thing. If we predicate ourselves on what others MIGHT think of what we say we might as well forget it  because we are swimming with the river of entropy and not against it. To do anything worthy these days you have to swim against the current which requires not so much physical strength but the vision of a spiritual belief coupled with strength of character and of course, knowledge.

By coincidence I was watching one of my favorite YouTube channels by ‘Mentour’  who is a qualified pilot and talks to people in very technical terms about what happens before or during various times that aircraft got into difficulty or even crashed.   There are many parallels between the problems that pilots  had and our journey through life.  See if you can spot them.    One of them is that in cloud the pilot lost situational awareness.   They also made mistakes due to panic.

It is often said that we are our own worst enemy. The original quote is
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche said, “you yourself will always be the worst enemy you can encounter; you yourself lie in wait for yourself in caves and forests.”
Benjamin Franklin’s shrewd observation “I have met the enemy, and it is the eyes of other people.

Paul Coelho wisely said  ‘I am my own best friend and my own worst enemy. Before coming here, I was thinking I don’t deserve it, that I wouldn’t be able to meet your expectations, and that you had probably chosen the wrong candidate. At the same time, my heart was telling me that I was being rewarded because I hadn’t given up and had fought to the end’

We can see someone doing something that is obviously not in their own interests but they won’t listen to anyone else. It could be going with a partner that everyone else can see is a user. That is why we can perform as a friend best if we give people honest and open feedback.   However there is another aspect to all this. It’s no good saying to someone  who has been in difficulty  “why did you not tell me before”   when you’re yourself were not open or approachable enough to hear what they might have had to say.

Don’t forget, dear British people, our famous standoffishness and not wishing to upset someone or trouble them.  This fear is hugely magnified in this Woke age when if you say anything mildly critical or even in humor, you are going to be accused of hate crime.  I hope this ridiculous fad passes soon,  otherwise we shall all turn into retards.

The value of gossip in my view

The word ‘gossip’ is associated with the word malicious which is not accurate. I find that gossip aka informal conversation or exchange of information is a very useful way of obtaining street level knowledge that might ease your path in your daily life.  On balance I find it a very useful thing. See examples below.

The etymology of the word ‘gossip’ is interesting

late Old English godsibb, ‘godfather, godmother, baptismal sponsor’, literally ‘a person related to one in God’, from god ‘God’ + sibb ‘a relative’ (see sib). In Middle English the sense was ‘a close friend, a person with whom one gossips’, hence ‘a person who gossips’, later (early 19th century) ‘idle talk’ (from the verb, which dates from the early 17th century).

Francoise met a friend called John who had great difficulty with wax in his ears.  He went to the doctor who referred him to the nurse. The nurse told him that the NHS does not offer de-waxing ears any more. He complained that private costs were £70. When I heard about this I immediately set about finding cheaper alternatives and found one who would do a perfectly professional job for 45 pounds albeit for one ear.  I mailed this  information off immediately.  His wax is in both ears and it more or less means he’s deaf unless you shout, so I hope he does something soon and then we can invite him round to our place for coffee and a chat

John also used the occasion to tell us all the things that he did not feel comfortable with when talking to other people. For example talking to trees and getting a response from them, his talent for automatic writing and its cessation.  Wondering how to get through to higher powers etc.

She also chatted with our local egg supplier, Dee, and mentioned my cataract operation.  Dee shared that a friend of hers had had a cataract operation in Frome  Hospital but unfortunately that particular unit is now closed because they can’t find anyone to take it on.

She also met a third friend, Judith, and agreed to have a definite date for a meeting for coffee in about three weeks time.
So we have the giving and taking of useful bits of information plus setting the scene for possible future decisions all unexpected, spontaneous, at no cost, and pleasantly conducted.

How to share a spiritual perspective with people we do not know 

I find all zoom calls can be hit and miss especially when you have to fix on a title in advance. Last week we in the Scientific and Medical Network group were supposed to discuss relationships and we started off  by everyone discussing hugging and they could not be persuaded to part from this theme so obviously the needed agenda emerged.

This week we had the above title, how to share spiritual perspectives etc. For some reason the first half an hour was taken by people discussing ghosts and aliens. It took a good hour for people to actually get around to discussing the subject. You always get some unexpected gems so it’s better to wait until the end of this one and a half hour session because something someone says really strikes home but you have to sit through a lot of material which is either known already or irrelevant.

Maybe a whole session will  prove to be worth it for one phrase.

I spoke up on the title above. I found it poorly based so I deconstructed it.

How To.. Is a very mechanistic way of thinking. it is like fixing a car or how to cook a meal it’s not method it is state of mind.
Share – it takes two to tango as we say so you need the interest of the other person preceded I would suggest by their trust.
Perspective – no two people can possibly have the same perspective and if you’re going to change their perspective that is a long-term project because perspectives were honed when we were very young.
People we do not know. That is an incredibly naive statement. I would rather say come up people with whom we are not aware we have an affinity with. Who knows we may be a soul match with someone walking down the street towards us, or with the office cleaner. The whole point is to be honest and open about yourself and this will create an atmosphere where people can share their true selves.

Below are some snippets of what people at the meeting said and at this time of the evening I’m not going to do a full precis.

I would tell them (if I thought they might be someone responsive) that I am deeply interested in where people find meaning in life and would hope that it would enable them to tell me where they find meaning. It often does work.
True but isn’t it extraordinary how mistaken we can all be of each other! Maybe because we’re not properly listening but projecting our own ideas?
Yes Judy absolutely about finding at deeper meaning in life and also I often say it’s about not reducing us to mere bodies but that we are much greater than that…
Well said Roger to advocate speaking with authenticity and honesty. Personally I find that it means I am revealing my innermost self and that makes me feel vulnerable
Someone mentioned this academic article.

I have been to a large number of these ZOOM meetings and I have enjoyed each and every one for a number of different reasons, some more, some less. Sometimes I have a lot on my mind and I cannot concentrate so I tend to look at my other computer screen and multi-task. Fortunately my ZOOM image on the screen is small so no one can see what I’m doing.

Altogether then a good day.  I hope you enjoyed this diary. And this on a rainy and dull October day.