All The Right Notes . . . But Not Necessarily In The Right Order!

Monday. 9.30 a.m. It's bright and sunny and unseasonably mild. I can't believe we'll be in December in a couple of days.

Not a lot to report at present. 

Tuesday. 5.15 p.m. Monday may have been somewhat dull (well, life at Dexter House is somewhat mundane, to say the least.) but today has been exceptional.

It didn't start out particularly well. As I've mentioned earlier, the drive to Camphill can be somewhat nerve-wracking. Normally, at a later time of day, it would take no more than ten minutes, but with heavy traffic, it can take twice as long. This morning, as usual, I drove along Strudwick Drive and onto Chaffron Way, but this beast of an H.G.V. came right up behind me. It was not a pleasant experience to have this thing looming over me, very nearly touching the back bumper of my Renault and I was more than pleased that it didn't continue following me as it turn off to the left along Saxon Street at the Eaglestone Roundabout `(also known as 'Four Bridges.')

The traffic heading for the centre of Milton Keynes is heavy along Chaffron Way, Portway and Childs Way. Crossing the various roundabouts along Brickhill Street on the way to Camphill can be quite daunting because you have to judge when there is going to be a gap and then drive forward. It's not great for me, particularly as I was run into twice when I was a home carer and used to drive around Milton Keynes between the various calls I had early in the day. Then there are aggressive drivers, who think it's fine to come right up behind you as you drive (called, I believe, 'tailgating.') Then some drivers don't seem to think you need to stop and wait for traffic to pass on roundabouts and just carry on regardless, which is probably why I got to run into. 

Well, thinking about the drive to Camphill, it wasn't as stressful as it can be, but I'm thinking, 'I thought that Milton Keynes was supposed to not have traffic problems, gridlock and similar when it was being planned in the 1960s.' It certainly doesn't live up to that promise. Some of the roundabouts really need to have temporary traffic lights at critical times of day, which would surely cut the hold-ups with cars bumper to bumper.

At Camphill there are early signs of Christmas as some of the houses have lights strung up on their exterior and on the front of the house which is directly opposite the Chrysalis Theatre, which has the cafe on its ground floor, there are lights strung across the walkways and balconies and a very large central wreath of holly and other seasonal vegetation which is ringed with lights which will only look their best when it gets dark.

The theatre workshop group met in the crypt in the theatre, because the theatre upstairs was being used by another group which came in from outside Camphill, called Phoenix Rising. The crypt is quite a cramped space, which made it difficult to do some of the exercises which we have been doing over the past few weeks, and which I am only just managing to follow.  The art space, a room along the corridor from the crypt, was used so the group could do work on designing their costumes for Twelfth Night, but then I was required to take a couple within the group out for a walk because one of them, who is diabetic, had high blood sugar and some for of exercise, such as walking, will help reduce his blood sugar. So we went out and did a circuit of Camphill and along the Grand Union Canal and past the tree cathedral which I pass on Brickhill Street and then back into Camphill.

Terrie, the leader of the group, was taking each member of the cast of Twelfth Night, into the wardrobe department and going through costumes for each actor in the play. It was interesting seeing what costumes the gang either chose or were given to wear. As this show is supposed to be vaguely inspired by steampunk it was difficult to see the connection, or am I missing the point?

After lunch,  I went with the same set of guys for yet another walk, but this time it was the reverse of the morning's group. I must remember to take a G.T.N. spray, because I began to get a slight angina attack, probably set off by the fact that we were walking much too fast, but it soon settled down. When we got back to the crypt, the rest of the afternoon was spent learning a sea shanty which Mitchell, who is a new member of the leadership group, had written, and it was great to get a chance to sing with the group. Then Terrie started work with the gang in Act 2 of Twelfth Night. The gang is given a sort of outline of each scene and then they start to improvise the scenes and the dialogue. Terrie has got a written text, based loosely on the Shakespeare text. The whole day was absolutely brilliant and I must say, going to Camphill does help my mental health and the group are so friendly and supportive, not just of one another but each other. As a result of all the walking done during the day, I managed to clock up just over 12,000 steps.

A Fun-Packed Week!?

Monday. 1.30 p.m. I'm now working on the next stage of my writing. I have a vague outline of how things will move on, but then I drive off-road and across the country to take a diversion (sorry for the mixed metaphor. I'm not entirely sure whether that is.) Story lining is something like a journey. It's a road full of pitfalls, bends, diversions and hills and valleys. A bit like life.

10.00 p.m. It's pouring with rain as I write this. Alfie had an emergency call to go out, and I had to dress to take him out, without any sort of raincoat for either of us. 

Prayer is powerful! On Sunday, Ross, our pastor, prayed that it would rain this evening because it's Halloween. If it rained, it would deter children from going out trick-or-treating. Sure enough, it rained! Halloween is not something Christians should get involved in.

Tuesday. 5.55 a.m. It's been raining all night and there seems to have been quite a strong wind. It was that which woke me up, hence putting my fingers on the keyboard and writing this.

4.40 p.m. I have just returned from Camphill. I arrived around 8.45 a.m. Because the traffic can be quite heavy, and I don't like being late, I always leave Dexter House a good deal earlier than I would at any other time of day. I walked the short distance to the Chrysalis Theatre and when I walked through the front door I found some of the gang, some of which were dressed smartly in suits and ties. I wasn't sure what this was about but soon learnt that it was connected to the Tree Of Trees project which was part of H.M. Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The whole thing was about the planting of a tree, which was part of the amazing celebrations for The Queen's 70 years on the throne. It was a tree-like structure, designed by the Heatherwick Studios, and made up of 350 tree saplings, which were in metal containers and the 'tree' constructed from recycled metal. These small trees have been distributed to charities all around Britain and one of them had been assigned to Camphill in Milton Keynes. The day was to consist of a presentation by the CEO of Camphill for a number of dignitaries, including the Mayor of Milton Keynes, Lady Howe, Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (who is the Monarch's representative in Buckinghamshire.) as well as Martha Kearney, presenter of the BBC Radio Four programme 'Today' and is a patron of Camphill Milton Keynes, along with the trustees of the charity which runs Camphill. 

The guys were instructed to be greeters to the guests and I was to be a greeter at the entrance with one of the guys, Matthew. Then, as the guests arrived, they were offered tea or coffee and, to be ushered into the main auditorium where the presentation was to be delivered. Unfortunately, Martha Kearney sent a message to say that she would be late as she was caught in a traffic hold-up on the M1, so, by the time she arrived, the entire schedule for the event was put out by around 45 minutes. 

Eventually, the presentation began and once it had been completed, the guests went out into the garden area near the Chrysalis Theatre for the tree planting and once that was over, photographs were taken. Quite a momentous occasion and no doubt be will long be remembered by the residents of Camphill and they were talking about it when everyone had left.

Before lunch, we did some drama exercises, and we had lunch and when we got back there was the usual session of each person telling what they had been doing eventually we did some work on the next production which is a version of Twelfth Night but adapted into a pantomime. I can't wait to see how this develops.

6.20 p.m. I had my evening meal a good deal later than usual. I had chicken tikka and I'm waiting for my apple and blackberry pie to cook. It takes 30 minutes to cook and I will make custard. 

It has been very windy today. Fortunately no rain. But the wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet. 

8.00 p.m. I said there hadn't been any rain today. Well, as I write this, it's really raining quite heavily. Just as well Alfie doesn't need to go out, as he would not like it. He is currently tucked up in his bed and, as far as I can tell, he's fast asleep. The wind is howling around the building, so it must be really unpleasant outside at the moment.