My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

List of groups that are a casualty of Facebook

No, this is not diary material but it’s something that everyone should be aware of. Its not a question of conspiracy theory but conspiracy fact. Ed.

FB is less and less likely to be a source of impartial information. I was shocked to read in a blog the list of casualties. Read the full article here.

A List of Facebook Casualties

The following list is a work in progress—and these are just the pages we know about. Make a note of the deletion dates and the page themes.

  • Collectively Conscious (915K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Natural Cures Not Medicine (2.3M followers) – Deleted on June 11th, 2018.
  • I Want to Be 100% Organic (700K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Viral Alternative News (500K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Organic Health (230K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Natural Cures From Food (120K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Heart Centered Rebalancing (3.9M followers) – Deleted a few years ago.
  • Awareness Act (1.1M followers) – Deleted in mid-2017.
  • Conscious Life News (1.1M follower) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Wake The Fuck Up (550K followers) – Deleted about a year ago.
  • Living Traditionally (570K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Organic Wellness (600K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Chocolate Socrates (608K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Earth We Are One (1.7M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Meditation Masters (2.3M followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • People’s Awakening (3.6M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Nikola Tesla (1.7M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Interesting Stories (1.5M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • The Warrior (1.7M followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Natural Health Warriors (140K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Tech Explorers (270K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Universe Explorers (1.5M followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Area 51 (1.5M followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • The Global Meditation (70K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Video Explorers (780K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Spiritualer. Com (80K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Flower of Life (670K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • EWAO (30K followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Global Freedom Movement (27K followers) – Deleted on June 19th, 2018.
  • Health & Alternative Medicine (550K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Pure Nature (1.7M followers) – Deleted on June 3rd, 2018.
  • Nature Gallery (654K followers) – Deleted on June 3rd, 2018.
  • Mesmerizing Nature (912K followers) – Deleted on June 3rd, 2018.
  • Nature’s Touch (150K followers) – Deleted on June 3rd, 2018.
  • We Really Like Animals (544K) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Nature’s Majesty (191K followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Nature Magic (33K followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Floral Photobook (160K followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • My Own Little World (1.5M followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Brighten Your Soul (100K followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Essence of Spirit (12K followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • Jesse Ventura Fan Page (750K followers) – Deleted a few years ago.
  • Exposing the Truth (800K followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Learning the Truth (1M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Latruth (7M followers) – Unpublished on June 5th, 2018.
  • Healthy Life Box (1.8M followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Food House (3.4M followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Health Awareness (2.5M followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Life And Food (350K followers) – Deleted on May 23rd, 2018.
  • Check These Things (80K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Health Care Above All (90K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Health and Healthy Living (450K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Health & Alternative Medicine (550K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Living Motivation (644K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Alternative Health Universe (420K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Natural Medicine Corner (411K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Organic Health Team (490K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Global Health Care (130K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Alternative Medicine (140K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Natural Healthy Team (190K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Organic Food Medicine (30K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Love, Health and Happiness (10K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Organic Life (25K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Lifestyle (55K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Guardian of Health (160K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Daily Health Keeper (190K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Health & Love Page (720K followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Diabetes Health Page (180K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • The Beauty of Power (170K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Nutrition Facts and Analysis (170K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Deeper Perspectives (32K followers) – Deleted on June 13th, 2018.
  • Healthy Living (1.8M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Organic Planner (1.5M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Healthy Lifestyle (1.4M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Just Natural Medicine (1M followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Great Remedies – Great Health (650K followers) – Deleted on June 5th, 2018.
  • Nature is Beautiful (1.1M Followers) – Deleted on June 3rd, 2018.
  • Amazing World (872k Followers) – Deleted on June 6th, 2018.
  • Pure Nature (425k Followers) – Deleted on June 6th, 2018.
  • Photography World (1.4M Followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.
  • World Magazine (845k Followers) – Deleted on June 20th, 2018.

You’ll notice the majority of these pages refer to nature, health, natural medicine, organic food/living. Almost without exception, the remaining pages feature words such as “freedom,” “Tesla,” “conscious,” “awakening,” “aware,” “alternative,” “meditation.”

Gee, it’s almost as if there’s a war on consciousness—but I’m just a crackpot conspiracy theorist, right?

Editor, GlobalFreedomMovement.org

 

 

 



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

An email from Mrs Fathiea Al Bitar

Just imagine my surprise when I received a lovely letter from the above lady that I haven’t heard of with an unpronounceable name.

My name is Mrs. Fathiea Al Bitar, I would have like to have a private discussion with you, If you don’t mind. Please let me know if my letter is welcome, I will tell you more about my self with my photo and why I contacted you.

Mrs. Fathiea Al Bitar

I remember many many years ago before I got used to this sort of thing, it’s called a 419 scam. For a the moment, I thought of responding just for fun but the trouble is that once you respond even once, you will be tagged as a gullible person and you will be pursued for evermore. It is almost impossible to avoid spam these days. I registered a new domain name yesterday and immediately I got a good dozen companies from India or offering to do my SEO or ‘complete web design’. They are obviously individuals. Their companies with an URL are never mentioned which means they’re going on fishing expeditions and will get a small commission if they introduce new client to a proper web development firm. So someone has paid someone else for information. This data leak has happened in spite of the fact that I’m applying for a web domain through official channels.

The 419 scam of which the above letter is the first stage is named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that outlaws fraud. The writer claims that you have won a lottery, or someone needs to get rid of some money because of cancer and their impeding death, and for any other plausible sounding reason you can think of. However in order to process your claim which of course you were not aware of, it will be necessary to pay an advance fee. After you have paid the fee and of course having given your bank details, they ask you for more and then when you finally start to smell a rat they disappear off the face of the earth with your money and there is no redress from your bank alas.

You may wonder why 30,000 people each year from America alone are conned in this way. They say that hope springs eternal and if you are let’s say of a certain age, not very used to the Internet, lonely, not able to ask advice, you are the sort of person they are after. Once you get drawn into the trap even by answering, letters get more a more seductive. The same thing happens with romances. You can get fooled into sending money for travel for people who do not exist. It’s amazing how people who are intelligent can be fooled, that is the nature and extent of human need.

From the exploiters point of view, the idea is to work up the level of trust and create a level of psychological dependency. These e-mails are not just received by English people that buy anyone capable of being scanned i.e. anyone with an Internet connection. As a scammer said recently, he knows if he meets a Saudi Arabian person he is in luck. ‘They don’t know what to do with money‘. Nigeria is not the only country to do this. Ghana enjoys a better reputation and sometimes fraudsters channel through them. There is a good article, Why do smart people fall for scams, it is written by the Better Business Bureau which is in the US but it’s not a bad site so worth a look when you next receive a seductive letter.

*****

This being the first day of spring, time to go to Glastonbury, Chalice Well to be precise, to celebrate. On the way there, I saw a lovely installation of a collection of sheep sculptures with a black sheep which other sheep had turned away from. The other picture was a sheep partly covered with snow which I found quite amusing.

We arrived about 11:30 AM and paced around and had a chat to people as we normally do. Please read my numerous Chalice Well reviews via the search box and you will find this is a very special place in its own spiritual bubble which represents society as it should be before commercialism and moral corruption got to it. It also shows how men and women can get along without fighting or comparing.

We gathered round the well and waited for the chimes of the church bell which signified the starting of the midday ceremony. This not was its usual self but it was spoiled by a two-year-old child who screamed at intervals accompanied by a doting self obsessed mother who clearly did not realise that her child prevented people from really concentrating. As soon as I saw this I retreated from the main group and went to stand on a path within earshot of the speaker but away from the worst predations of the child. I decided that next time this happens I will have a word with the mother and ask her or should I say tell her that a spiritual meditation is an unsuitable location for a screaming youngster.

an arch of branches and sticks, the scaffolding for providing structure for the new growth

on the way up to the well

We did our Glastonbury round afterwards, choosing to ignore the long queues of people waiting for coffee and cake after the event. The “round” consists of walking to the top of a high street, buying a wonderful slice of home made vegetarian pie for £2.60 at the organic shop on the right-hand side followed by sitting down and eating it on a bench outside the church and then buying eating and looking around and whatever else takes our fancy. The whole process probably takes about one and a half hours.  I discovered that there was an open day at the Glastonbury Goddess Temple and quickly repaired there followed by my wife and a friend. Various talks were being given. There was a lady applying henna which is a decoration of the hands. I was immediately intrigued by her accent that I thought was a mixture of two places. It was indeed, Boston in America and San Francisco. I should add that one of my useless hobbies is collecting accents. Can I detect the difference between English South African Cape Town and Johannesburg? After a time you can. The confusing thing is when people have lived in two places. I have even correctly diagnosed people who have lived in four places but that was an exceptional combination of listening and guesswork.

plenteous advertising

I do not often give psychic readings to strangers but I felt that this occasion merited it. I asked the lady who was doing the henna, Robyn, to give me her left hand palm upwards and I placed my hands above and below at about 1 cm in distance. What happens is that the energy field is excited or amplified, I’m not quite sure which and the various reactions in someone’s hand which can be heat or cold or pressure or prickles gives me the information I need to do a reading. I was very impressed by the balance I found between her male and female or yin and yang using the jargon. I said that her very presence encourages people to be themselves and not needing to apologize for being different.

I said that due to her good motivation to wish everyone the best, her staff would be very loyal to her. That and a few other facts I put in her direction caused her to become emotional. I love giving readings to people and encouraging them. Sometimes people with special powers are considered to be immune from the need for assurance and encouragement but if a person is different there is all the more need for accurate and non-flattering feedback. I was glad to do this.

*****

Francoise my wife went to a talk this evening on driverless cars. It was unfortunate that today a woman was reported as having been killed by an UBER car in self drive mode. There are evidently five stages of automation and the fifth one is not expected to mature until at least 2040. This is because there are a large number of problems which has to be overcome for example, wanting to turn left and the cyclist coming up on the inside. Although the automation works well in ideal conditions for example motorways, suburban streets are clearly another matter.

*****

Lots coming in by way of response to my e-mail announcement couple of days ago about of self sustainability and contributionism. I mailed out 1,180 Mailchimp e-mails to a fairly clean list of addresses. I was pleased because I only got 17 soft and hard bounces and so far about 260 people have read them. The number is slowly creeping up and I think when the opted in recipients get used to the idea the readership will be far greater. Everyone has wish you the best of luck in my editorship of this new E-Zine.  This is one of these evenings when I don’t feel tired but will probably go on till my eyes get too heavy.  22.54

*****

do you see passenger planes flying like this

Just watching a video about chemtrails entitled “they are spraying nanotechnology on us and it is now integrated into our brains”. Delightful chemicals such as barium and aluminium and titanium oxides have been sprayed in the skies since the late 1990s. Click here for a video.

Here is one reaction from the viewers:

Whom ever does not believe this is happening to USA is a fricken Idiot! The Chem. trails Spraying seems to be More now than ever! on New years eve in Riverside California(2017-8) We saw them spraying even after 3:00 Am? These Nano-Fibers are real. I have had what look like bug bites that did not want to heal on Scalp and arms.(I am out side a lot also). There will be skeptics that always will say “But why would Our Country do that to Us”? Like They (THE Government) need a reason to do anything??


My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

Theophany – timing is all – a private consultation

What a lovely word almost onomatopoeic. I heard it at 7:45 AM this morning when I was making my coffee. It reminds me of a musical instrument,  of an imagined Theophone family. The theophone is a bit like a trombone but would emit a soft, almost maudlin, tone. But I jest. The word theophany is a manifestation of God that is tangible to the human senses. In its most restrictive sense, it is a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament period, often, but not always, in human form.    So there we are, you can now carry on with your day having gained this essential gem of information. I suppose the non-religious version of the word is revelation.

For everything there is time, and there is time for everything.

This is paraphrased from the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 verse 1-8 .The actual words are

“there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down the time to build
etc. 

You can read the rest if you like.  Strange that there is so much repetition. Okay you say, I get the point, there is no need to repeat yourself 16 times. Why so? At a wild guess, because the author wanted to make the point as strongly as he could. Timing is important nay vital. I’m sure that all of us can recall a situation when we get an idea, think about it a bit and maybe put it aside, then try and put it into action and fail. You were given the inspiration for the idea but unbeknown to you it was time sensitive. We unfortunately did not have the trust to action it immediately. A small example of this is when someone’s picture comes into your head, it maybe a sign that work needs to be done or contact needs to be made. What happens?  We ignore it or put it aside. The person contacts us and then we are reduced to saying lamely “funny, I was just thinking about you”. Note to self – next time I really must do something about it.

When I think of this quote I attain a quasi meditation state which means that my degree of worrying goes down a couple of notches. We have been asking for about a year now for the trees the bottom of our allotment to be trimmed because those allotment holders near the trees are suffering loss of light. Finally, things came together, the personnel came together, and subject to agreement the trees should be down in a few weeks. There are some things that take far longer than you would wish. We would like things done instantly but unfortunately, connected with everyone that we deal with is a chain of cause and effect over which we have no control and we cannot perceive. A person may want to help you but may be hamstrung by circumstances and you just have to wait for those conditions to become propitious for your particular request.

*****

This afternoon I went to see my spiritual adviser for what I call a “fill in the gaps” session. My request of the adviser was just to listen to me. I need a counselor to be a sounding board. I find that I can get all sorts of fantasies and imaginations but I can only test them out when I speak it out of my mouth to someone else. If it is genuine, the other person feels it. If it is false, then it bounces back. I discussed my early life and the influences of my parents and although experientially it was a grim and un-remitting experience, at the same time I have to admit that it strengthened my character and gave me a degree of independence which has served me well. We discussed the sharing of beliefs especially of a Christian religious sort. The same principle applies to anything really. In order for you to open your mouth you need to have some indication of the interest from the other party. If a person has had a bad experience with someone who claimed to be a Christian, mentioning the topic will merely set them off and they will get angry at you and retreat even more. As the above says, timing is all.

Funny, this video popped up when I was looking at LinkedIn for something else. It’s about getting permission before you try to sell anything an idea or a service. Pretty simple when you know how and very apposite to what I’ve just been talking about above. I proved my point as I go along.

I think the ideal counsellor or friend is someone who is prepared to listen and empty his or her mind of all prejudices, someone who is neutral and will not instinctively take sides (in this excludes most friends) and someone who is knowledgeable enough to detect when someone is going on a false trail. I do not score very highly on the first point because the statements made by the client cause great mental activity on my part and I can scarcely find it within myself to close my mouth and let them finish what they have to say. PS you don’t have to be particularly intelligent to listen. You just have to have an interest in someone else. The reason is that when you talk the act of articulating helps the brain to function in higher gear and figure out what it should be doing or should not be doing.

This involves thinking – I recommend it.

*****



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

Heaven and Hell plus can loneliness be beaten?

It is nearly 9 o’clock in the evening and very unusually I have not found anything particularly interesting to write about so I’m going to start from zero by sitting down in front of my computer and seeing what happens.

One of the allotment tenants of which I am the chairman and secretary off the Association had to resign because his doctors told him he has a brain tumour. He has maintained his plot lovingly for years and it is in immaculate condition. I first of all asked him if he wanted to maintain it and be helped in the short term while he had his operations in the hospital but he wrote back saying no, enough is enough, and rather poignantly “I never thought I would have to write a letter like this”.

It befell me to ring up the first person on the waiting list, an affable fellow called Ron, whose father had had an allotment in the 1980s to tell him that he has first refusal on one of the finest plots on the allotments. Normally, I let people just get on with it and give them the benefit of the doubt but I do feel very protective towards the legacy of this one because of its condition so I’m going to interview the applicant on Saturday and see how much he knows about gardening. Most people who fail, do so at the first fence when they realised how much work actually has to be done. I try to help everybody physically with a couple of hours work but even that does not succeed in being the motivator to attend an allotment which on a good year can yield between £100 and £200 worth of produce from an outlay of around £20.

*****

Just a few cubic meters of spoil – now comes the boring part – getting it to the recycle

Today was pruning day in our garden and I hired my good mate William to do the heavy stuff up ladders.  Since my accident last year I have vowed not to take any risks so I would rather pay someone to do the more difficult jobs for me. Trees, both individually and in groups, have a great intelligence. If they don’t have enough light, they bend their branches towards where there is to see the light. If the conditions are not right, they do the nearest thing to committing suicide which is just dying. The mistake people often make when they are planting out their garden is not to allow enough space between trees. This is where the planting instructions should be carefully followed, particularly when different types of trees are involved.

*****

Caron on the left, sample card on the right

If I ever get the chance to instigate social change on a big scale  I would address the problem that old people in particular have of not having the opportunity to engage in conversation with others, thus enduring loneliness. With a few tweaks here and there, the vast majority of loneliness could be ameliorated. Whilst in Exmouth, I read about a lady called Caron Sprake, a former carer,  who recently designed and launched “Happy to Share” cards for those sitting alone in cafes would welcome some company. Caron, who is a champion for the elderly through her blog Caron Cares, funded the first batch of cards through a £450 grant from Recovery Devon, a charity keen to fund ideas to promote mental well-being in Devon.

Caron says “ the inspiration behind the cards was my observation of people sat alone; I just wondered how we could encourage them to share tables and start a conversation.” She adds “it is an incredibly affordable suggestion for a solution to loneliness. Elderly people are seen as a social burden, a drain on resources. People forget their contribution to our freedom and prosperity. These people were once beautiful, vibrant and useful. To tackle loneliness we need a complete change in mindset, back to the days of inter–generational living – less about what we can all have and do to reward ourselves and expecting others to scoop up and care for our elderly. We all have a role to play: individuals, business and the government”.

My own feeling is that we cannot rely on the government whatever colour it is to ‘care’ for us and that we are to all intents and purposes on our own. I think it fair that we exercise our own initiative and creativity and not expect to be waited on hand and foot. I have the instinct in me to look after anyone I see when I’m walking around in public but it took me many years to perfect the art of talking to people while making sure they are comfortable about being addressed by a stranger. I totally understand that if people are of a nervous disposition, it is very difficult for them to take the initiative with striking up a conversation so I am so pleased to see the initiative above and I pray to God there will be many others who take up the challenge of some form of community service.

I but recently acquired the Oxford Directory of Quotations, courtesy of the manager of the Bay Hotel in Exmouth. I love quotations, particularly by Oscar Wilde but the one below is from TS Eliot the poet, critic and dramatist. It is from a play called The Cocktail Party (1950)

What is hell?
Hell is oneself,
Hell is alone, the other figures in it
Merely projections. There is nothing to escape from
And nothing to escape to. One is always alone.

William Blake, wrote from his book of Thel (1789)
Everything that lives,
Is not alone, nor for itself

and from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
If the doors of perception were cleansed
everything would appear to men as it is, infinite
and
How do you know but every bird that cuts the airy way
is an immense world of delight, closed by your senses five

We tend to forget, perhaps, that the search for happiness and meaning has been going on for millennia well before the production of the printed and mass produced book and well before the introduction of social media. I feel that the above quotations are very apposite to the lady I mentioned above. How about if our feeling of loneliness is due to a misunderstanding of the universe and its limitless dimensions. If we see ourselves as just a mind and body randomly thrashing around trying to exist, what comfort is there and what security?

I find it more sensible to believe that we are an eternal spirit that happens to have a body rather than a body that may happen to have a spirit. In other words the vehicle that I live in is called the body but it is not the occupant. I think we have a subliminal urge to be free from these limitations and as a first step  it is much easier to survive in an unfriendly and inhuman world if we can ring the bells of our spirit by engaging in conversation with others no matter how imperfect the dialogue is.

On the topic of Facebook, I very much enjoyed the article by G.S.Luthra on David Icke’s site called “Social Media has destroyed the Human Soul”. The last paragraph sums up the solution neatly:

“Ladies and gentlemen, such idiocy makes no lasting civilization. Best advice, shut up, learn first, and then speak. Avoid excessive internet use. Seek human contact. You can connect with others online, but it shouldn’t be exclusive, you need physical communication. Alternatively, you can stay in solitude and develop through art, meditation, music, and books, and then apply what you learn. From that you’ll gain wisdom and experience. That is better than associating with bad company. For some, this is best, because it’s hard to find genuine friends”

*****

So there we are. Once again when I can’t think of anything to write, as soon as I put pen to paper out it all comes. My friend William asked me today whether I was keeping up my diary and I said yes. I have written daily for more than a year. I promise you something of note always happens.

And so it was today.



My Somerset Life

A diary by Brian Snellgrove

My first Communion for goodness knows how many years

Enthusiastic followers of my diary will note that I reported gleefully that I went to church for the first time for years last Sunday and decided to repeat the process today for what turned out to be a combined service with the adjacent parishes. I entered the church at 10 minutes to the hour to find an enthusiastic crowd of about 20 people talking animatedly amongst themselves. And why not say I.  I remember earlier in my life when people came in, knelt and prayed, and there was dead silence.

I sat in my preferred pew which is to the back and to the right to be greeted by a woman behind me who was complaining about her mobile phone, being unable to turn it off. She told me she was on a pay as you go tariff and she did not spend much.  I noticed she wore a hair wig; nothing wrong with that of course. However her enthusiasm to discuss mobile phone tariffs did not engage me as that was not the reason that I came, so I politely terminated the conversation.

As a previous churchgoer of many years – I should confess at this point that I am a vicar’s son-  I can’t help looking through the service sheet or booklet in this case and figuring out how long the whole thing is going to last. Fortunately, the vicar used the sheet as a framework from which he picked the main elements. My concentration span is not very great at the best of times but I’m sure with meditation or possibly with Valium this would be improved but maybe not. Meditation is a form of torture for me  because while I’m supposed to be in the alpha state thinking of love, the universe and everything, I make a list of all the things that I need to do when I finish the meditation and that ruins the whole thing. The rebellious side of me says that I actually enjoy thinking of many things at once. Whether this is productive or not is another question.

There were periodic sighs from the mobile phone lady behind me who also made a noise with her papers. She is very active but I wonder if she is happy. There are so many single women around here who have lost their husbands and let’s face it, Paulton is not the centre of the social universe, though it has a pub and a library with a coffee bar attached. That is certainly better than being stuck in the middle of the country and being a widow and there are many buses to Midsomer Norton nearby so back to our topic of loneliness a couple of days ago.

The service was a combined matins and communion celebration. The gospel was about Jesus turning water into wine as a marriage in Canaan in Galilee. Marriages are for the whole community, the whole village, not just for the bride and groom and invited guests so for the wind to run out as a complete disaster, something which would be used as gossip material for years to come. Guy, the affable vicar, attempted a pun saying it’s a ‘no wine situation’. People did not even groan but everybody forgave him because the topic of wine is of interest to everyone and the possibility of finding a reason to justify our consumption intrigued the congregation in a twisted sort of way.

Jesus performing his miracle – notice the index finger of the right hand

According to information in the Bible, about 454 litres of wine was produced by the miracle turning water into wine, the first that Jesus performed at the wedding in Cana. I note the fact that the event happened in local surroundings and not as it would be in the present day of self-seeking instant fame mentality of someone doing it on TV or inviting the media around. Jesus just did it because it was part of his nature and he wanted to make a point, possibly a symbol of the available of abundance should you believe.

The Old and New Testament warns us against abuse of alcohol but there is slightly amusing episode with St. Peter remonstrated with the crowd who said that the disciples were not drunk as it was only “the third hour of the day”. The disciples were manifesting the joy of the holy spirit. Jews were not supposed to eat or drink until the fourth hour, an hour after their prayer time.

There is plenty to say about wine or shall we say drinking  in the Bible as a whole. “Wine mocks those who use it” as it says in Proverbs, “and rewards them with world, sorrow, strife and wounds without cause. In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a Viper”. Wine was recommended as a substitute for water in the case of medical conditions but that is a weak argument have with the Bible reminding us that our bodies are temples of the living God via the agent of the holy spirit. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit who is in you whom you have received of God?… therefore honour God with your body”.  That is pretty strong stuff I think.

I think the best sort of tonic for depression or stress is a good conversation with someone who cares for you and the benefits of this compared with the effect of alcohol, often consumed in lonely circumstances, causes alcohol to be seen as the charlatan it is. I do admit that alcohol tends to stultifying our powers of reason so in the long-term, moderation or abstinence is probably a good ploy. Anyway, I better stop this Trainer sought before I hang myself.

There were 40 of us in the church of which 32 were congregants, and after some mild misgivings I decided to go up with the rest to receive communion which to remind the non-Christians among my readers consists of taking a wafer which tastes very much like plastic, symbolic of the body of Christ and then some wine, often fruit juice or very weak wine symbolising the blood of Christ. This is a bonding mechanism, or a  blessing shall we say, to remind us that we are part of the body of Christ. Catholics would say that it is a sacrament and becomes with the blessing of the priest the actual blood and body of Jesus. This is possibly going a bit far.

After the service I announced to Guy, the vicar, that I was intending to become a part of the congregation. I also offered my services to read the Gospel partly because the lady who read it currently had difficulty in reading and did not appear to have read the piece beforehand to familiarise herself with it. Please see my diary of yesterday to see further comments on delivery of the written word. She also, bless her, had some difficulty anyway and was unfamiliar with the word grim and said “grime” instead. Only a pedant like me would notice things like that enough to comment; I’m sure no one else noticed.

We had a merry time in  room at the back of the church complete with its own toilet, a serving table and seats which serve as a social area where tea and coffee and on this occasion chocolate rolls were on offer.  Lingering in the pews was a lady called Caroline who was a priest and evidently was due to leave the area to go to Westbury where she had a remix of service to younger people. I immediately detected that she was a ‘people person’ and I did my little campaign about the importance of listening, which I don’t think she needed to hear  because she was a natural listener.

Nevertheless, I don’t think it does any harm to remind people and indeed myself the benefits of just shutting up and letting people speak. Sometimes I find that if I have a problem the only way I can figure out what it is to articulate it and in the process of so doing my mind can work creatively and I see what I’m talking about. I have always said that we have 95% of useful information unprocessed, sitting around in files, and the stimulus of having to say something draws it all together. The brain after all is the ultimate relational database.

Anyway, back to Caroline.  The husband works in Bath so as Westbury is on the train line he will still be able to continue to work for that firm but they have kindly offered to let him work from home on one or two days which in some measure shows the respect in which he is held. There was no question however that he was the more introvert of the two, a more thoughtful and possibly more introspective version and she was the one who bounced around introducing herself to people.  I thought it was a rather nice mix actually.

I returned to Caroline with my cup of coffee to congratulate her in advance that I was strongly convinced that her work would go well, commenting that the area was very friendly and she would make lots of useful contacts, and instead of having a plan, just go there and listen and they will love her for it.

This is our main alternative cinema in Bath. The main one in the area is the Watershed in Bristol, a subsidised affair I think because the prices are lower, but this is the nearest

I’m very happy to report that Guy, the aforementioned vicar, is a film buff. My wife and I would have gone to see ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’, which has been well spoken of, yesterday evening but we had finished all we had to do at four o’clock.

The idea of hanging around for over two hours in the rain until the movie started at 6:30 PM was too much so we will catch it possibly this Wednesday.

As we approached the bus station, we mourned the closing of Jimmy’s, the wonderful buffet restaurant that we have used so often. Evidently they owed £114,000 in business rates to the local authority.