Just two hours, but really good for us

Wednesday, 1st July

The weather forecast for today at Canons Ashby (near Daventry, Northants) has been consistently iffy over the past week, and we awoke this morning to intermittent, drizzly rain. But it wasn't cold, and the wind had dropped, and we set off confident that we'd not let any weather stop us from having a good couple of hours at this lovely place.

The closer we got, the more it rained. It was raining hard as we pulled up at the car park entrance, and it rained even harder when Grace opened the window to speak with the young lady who needed to check that our visit was legitimate. But it stopped shortly afterwards, and the rest of our time there was spent under a cloudy, often dramatic, sky, the precipitation from which was sporadic, brief and light.

The grounds there are not expansive, so two hours - the duration suggested by NT - were perfectly adequate. We picnicked in the long grass, we strolled slowly, we sat and absorbed the tranquil beauty of the site, we took photos. It was all thoroughly delightful.

*******

Books and bodily contortions.

Tuesday, 30th June

Friday promised storms, thunder and lightning, torrential rain, floods. A yellow storm alert. This is the best it managed, alongside a slight drop in temperature behind a decent breeze. Forecasts this week suggest it's going to be much the same.

Over the past two or three years, I've tried several approaches to meditation. I have to admit that I've always been very sceptical of it. Much of what I've seen and read has seemed rather phoney. Some months ago I downloaded a couple of apps for my phone; one was a number of guided meditations, the other was several pieces of music and sounds of nature which were intended to aid one's meditations.

The sounds and music were fine, but the guides I found unhelpful. Just like the other tutorials and suchlike that I'd seen, this one was full of Indianisms that meant nothing to me - yes, I Googled them, but that didn't enlighten me. It seemed that I had to adopt a set of beliefs about my body, mind and spirit that I simply can't accept. They all required a degree of yoga, too.

I remember with great clarity my first attempt to achieve the Lotus Position. I was at University, and living in digs. My room had a very low bed, and I chose to sit on the edge of it, then lower my weight slowly onto my legs as I crossed them into the appropriate contortion. It's probably difficult for you to picture mentally, but suffice it to say that it was a rather  painful process, the result of which I honestly feared I wouldn't be able to get myself out of, such was the locking of my legs.

With that experience behind me, I have always since failed to understand why I needed to contort my body way beyond comfort in order to achieve... well, that was another thing.

It was never made clear to me what I should expect to achieve apart from aching limbs from having to maintain strange positions. I wasn't aiming for transcendence, I can and do experience mindfulness without the discipline that meditation demands. So why meditate?

Then Naomi lent me her book, and if Naomi lends you a book, you can be sure it's worth reading. It had helped her a lot, so I could be confident that it would benefit me, too.

It's my kind of book. No nonsense, no words derived from Sanskrit, no yoga or other deforming of the human frame. And the author (okay, he's got an odd, hippy name, but don't let that put you off) even gives a clear and sensible answer to the question "Why?" I won't give you any spoilers. Naomi recommends this book, and I add my own endorsement to that (though I do have issues with the use of "Bliss" as a verb.) Don't forget that Amazon lets you look into a book before buying it.

The lockdown has given me lots of concentrated time to work on my own, new book. It has the working title "Those who can't", from George Bernard Shaw's outrageous claim, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Believe me, that may have been true in his day, but today's teachers are heroes. If GBS were alive today, he would suffer GBH from those who can, and who do teach. 

When I'm not writing, I may well be playing with ideas for the cover. It's rather premature, I know, but it's a lot of fun.  I've got a long way to go with it, but the story's coming on really well. I'm just starting chapter 11.

Does anyone have a favourite?

We're off to Canons Ashby tomorrow. We may get wet, but we'll love it nonetheless!

*******

Is this "getting back to normal"? It was certainly very good.

Nostalgia bites hard, but I really wouldn't want to be boating in this heat! (The 9.3° is the minimum we've experienced inside Kantara since the beginning of the lockdown.) This was Tuesday at around noon. The max figure was 33° at 7:00 pm.

On Thursday, we arrived at Upton House Gardens at just past 1:00 pm. There was no queue to get into the car park. The control of arrivals by timed tickets was working well. The cheerful lady who ticked us off her list was the only member of staff we saw in the whole afternoon, and social distancing was maintained entirely by visitors. It was all very relaxed and sensible, and very beautiful.

A friendly sign by the hand sanitiser at the entrance to the gardens read, "We'll forgive your lockdown haircuts if you forgive ours."

That's one heck of a front drive!

There was plenty of shade from trees, and folk were picnicking, lounging, even sleeping, all around the gardens.

Understandably, house and garden both looked the worse for the neglect of previous months

Weeds were in profusion, but did nothing to spoil the views

We particularly enjoyed the way they had taken over the stone steps

A lot of the garden had been tended, though, and was really beautiful

It was a wonderful place to relax in.

The pond put us in mind of Claude Monet

By 3:30, we'd walked all the way around, and looked back at the house

from the entrance gate. Yes, it's there in the distance!

This had been the hottest day of the year so far, beating the past two days by several degrees, and, by the end of it, we were both feeling rather overwhelmed by it, despite keeping to the shade as much as possible. But it had been a really good break. Well done, and thank you, National Trust.

This morning, we booked to visit Canons Ashby next Wednesday.

(Preview)

We returned to the boat yesterday to find the temperature on the well-deck to be 52.8°C, and the nasturtiums were cooked. We didn't think to leave the cratch cover open. Sigh.

*******

Sight-seeing, and what sights they were!!

Michelle arrived at the boat around midday on Thursday, after a number of problems and postponements, the latest of which had almost been a total cancellation because of Grace's cold. But the cold was abating quite fast, Grace was well enough to enjoy some days out, and we all enjoyed three days of sight-seeing and games-playing.

We ate at The Moorings in Crick on Thursday, always a good choice, then returned to the boat for chat and games.

On Friday, the clear, blue skies called us out to Baddesley Clinton, a NT house Grace and I know well, but new to Michelle.

Saturday's weather was dull and drizzly, but we drove out to the NT's Canon's Ashby. Michelle had loved Baddesley Clinton, so we reckoned this old house would please, too.

And please, it did! After supper, Michelle drove home. Her stay with us had been a day shorter than anticipated, but a really good time was had by all!

Today, the sun's out again, and the marina's busy. Lovely!