On Saturday, went to Part 2 of the Raja Yoga course. As is the way of these things, several people who were at the first session had dropped out, including two overly religious types, which made for a pleasanter atmosphere. Marginally more time was spent practising meditation, and some of the lecture was interesting/useful - we were introduced to the concept of 'sanskaras' which seems to relate to the standard positive-thinking-book advice of using positive affirmations to overcome subconscious thinking patterns, though it sounds more poncey to say it in Sanskrit.
While killing some time before the class I went for a wander around part of the new West Village, a housing development that's being built on the former site of Battle Hospital, along with a mammoth new Tesco. According to this piece from 2007, it's intended to be "a vibrant 'happening' place to live". Not sure about that. I've certainly seen the Oxford Road referred to as a 'vibrant' and 'colourful' area, but sometimes suspect that to be a euphemism for 'high crime rate'.
Tesco caused a certain amount of controversy while preparing the site a few years ago by felling a large number of trees that were protected by Tree Preservation Orders - and presumably then just going "Oops, sorry" when challenged. I sent them an outraged letter of complaint at the time together with my cut-up Clubcard and since then have only shopped there when there's no alternative - not that I imagine that bothers them in the slightest. There's little remaining of the old hospital buildings apart from the entrance gate, which seems to have been kept. I was, my mother tells me, born in Battle Hospital, though I don't remember it myself.
Trekked up to St Joseph’s Convent School on Sunday (via Burger King to address Ruth’s low blood sugar) to support the 3rd Annual Reading Art Exhibition & Sale. We paid our £3 to get in and spent a while browsing the exhibits, which were mainly paintings with a few ceramics thrown in. Apart from a few cute pots, didn’t see anything that particularly grabbed me, and some of the stuff was truly frightful – series of paintings of cutesy animals in clothes, sort of cross between Beatrix Potter and Sylvanian Families, and ghastly New Agey fat nymph/angel surrounded by stuck-on flowers and glitter. In fairness, I think it was open to both amateurs and professionals.
The school itself looks somewhat in need of a refurb – one wonders if the decision to accept boys as of this year, and the change of name to ‘St Joseph’s College’, is part of a drive to improve its financial position. They do have a pleasant garden out back with some mature trees, and what looked like a grotto-type area with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The exhibition featured presumably recently-produced bannerstands with pictures of boys strategically inserted.
We made our way home via the Forbury Retail Park and a peruse of Hobbycraft, where Ruth surprised me for lingering for quite a while looking at technical drawing equipment, while I hung around aimlessly feeling somewhat footsore. There are an amazing number of magazines dedicated to crafting, it seems. Was also intrigued by an entire book devoted to designs for knitted toilet roll holders. Have been vaguely ruminating for a while over the idea of taking up sewing, thinking that it would be useful to make one’s own clothes – though I daresay it takes one a while to reach the necessary degree of proficiency. May attempt to acquire a secondhand sewing machine and learn the basics – may set an initial target of making a kaftan out of an old duvet cover.
On Tuesday we duly trooped up to view Temporary Office Building 1 and were entranced by the sheer drabness of Spur K, the ‘wing’ that is to be our new home. At present it looks as though it was last occupied around 30 years ago, but apparently an express paint and refurb job is planned prior to our arrival.
No comments:
Post a Comment