Day 424: Aung San Suu Kyi

So I sang... La la laaaaa. It was wonderful. Joined by the lovely Sam Chittenden, who managed to inspire me in the twenty minutes or so we actually spent chatting. We squeezed in four songs this time, including one repeat and a round that I will do with a group when it comes back to me. It's a round. Just one tune. I can do that. It was lovely.


At the end of the group, I asked I lady I'd been standing next to earlier whether she'd enjoyed it. She was beaming and said yes. She said fairly quickly that she had only been here a week. She seemed very friendly and open, so I invited her to come and join me in my post-la-la hot chocolate. We were there for two hours!

She was Chilean, brought up in Switzerland, fluent in lots of languages, here to learn English. She looked ten years younger and had a glow about her. She was very interesting. We swapped all kinds of stories and found we had a lot in common. We spent half the time in English and half in French. No discussion about it. We just swapped. I hope there's something I can do to make her stay in England juicier. She won't need much help - so open and willing to engage, I'm sure she'll make her way beautifully. And such warmth. Very grateful for such encounters. A couple of hours with a stranger and we're both better for it. And it's all situation, isn't it? She's only a stranger because we don't happen to have met before.

While talking about... something or other... I found myself saying something about how any act of aggression against another person is an act of aggression against myself and any act of aggression against myself is really one against others too, because we're putting this energy into the world and in fact it's our job, anyone who takes it on, to put something more positive into the world than that. It was entirely in context. It wasn't 'Do you take sugar in your tea, and oh, by the way...' I promise it made sense.

That really made me think, though (therefore it came through me, not from me) - what if I really acted upon that and remembered it always. Every act of unkindness or lack of generosity towards myself is in fact stealing that generosity from someone else, robbing them of the chance to enjoy it. It's self-indulgent. It's unproductive. Phew... if I'm ever tempted, this will help. I don't have to 'deserve' anything. It's not about me. It's about us. 

After all that ruminating, what better evening than with J and Mike watching a film that made me cry? It was excellent. David Thewlis got a good go in it and he was very wonderful and engaging and likeable. 

And today (ah yes, two days in one, like a BOGOF special offer at the Co-op), I was half an hour early for yoga (twat - I realise that the sign on the door has been there from long before I have, and all I had to do was read it). I was welcomed afterwards by a patient Sue and Amy, who fed me cups of tea and conversation and at lunch time, the most amazing meat-free meatball surprise. 

AND we played a board game - the Logo game by Drumond Park. The questions were great and it's surprising, sometimes, which bits of information have made it into your unconscious. For example, why do I know which car brand's logo is made up of three diamonds? Why? I've never owned a car. I'm not particularly interested in them. I've driven a few but to my knowledge, never a Mitsubishi. And I don't really watch TV. I like the word, I suppose. 'Mitsubishi'... sounds good, doesn't it? Maybe that's why.

There was a great dane in Redroaster. Big like a horse, he was. Really, really considerable in size. I was impressed. Still am. He had very blue eyes (I haven't noticed that in one before) and travelled with a terrier of equally comic proportions the other way. I wondered if their owners had done it on purpose. It worked a treat! One dog you could put in a shoe box and the other you'd need a horse box for. Only the little one barked. Good job, really. You'd have had parents scooping up their babies all over the place if the big guy had started shouting.

Much as I say I don't watch TV, I did watch The Voice and it was so cool. They were all nice to each other! None of this fake bickery shit - the judges were nice to the contestants and playful with each other. They all seemed to be having fun. I've no idea who the boy on the end is, but he seems sweet. The other three are more legendary. No surprise that all the Welsh acts end up going with Tom Jones. What an icon! And Will.i.am, with his silly, sweet face and Jessie J. Aaaahhhh... I really enjoyed the whole thing.

Thank you Katherine Balwin, Simon Scott, J, Ruth, Nicolò, Sam, Redroaster, Amy & Pete and of course Meggy, who I will miss, despite the face-biting and the inexplicable pouncing.