Yesterday was a day that provided a great deal of emotional variation. I was moored in Tottenham, and went to the Dalai Lama's 75th birthday celebrations, and then on to Samye Dzong for Chenrezig practice in the evening. This involved using most forms of public transport in London - walking to Tottenham Hale tube station; catching the tube to Vauxhall; a bus to the park next to the Imperial War Museum - where the birthday event was held; then a bus to Elephant & Castle, and a further one on to Bermondsey. Then the return by bus to Liverpool Street, and then train to Tottenham Hale, with the attendant walk back to the boat. In the process both my Oyster card and my bus pass got a good work out.
Overnight, before going off, my boat had suffered the attentions of free runners, at about midnight, and 2am - waking me up both times, and ensuring that I was sleep deprived when I had to get up for the things I was doing on Saturday.
The birthday event was Tibetan culture, representatives of the Tibetan government in exile; monks from one of the monastries refounded in India; stalls selling Tibetan related material, food and drink stalls, and other miscellaneous stalls.
The first thing that struck me forcibly - getting there early and watching people setting up - was the contrast between the Tibetan culture, and the Buddhist sense of peace and compassion in a park setting; next to the Imperial War Museum. I spent some time trying to get a photo that would bring these two things into visible contrast, but have only partially succeeded - it was impossible to get a photo that would show the sense of contrast and compare that I felt.
I said hello to Isabel who was setting up her books - if you haven't read any of her books go out and buy them!!
Part of the variety of experience during the day was getting very hot and bothered, wandering round watching the entertainments and the people and taking photos in the direct sunlight. Isobel came up with cooled water and a lavender volatile spray, both of which came as blessed relief after the sun.
As always, the Tibetan people, religion, and culture brought a twist to my heart, but coupled with a degree of sadness. The last time I saw anything like this was in Ladakh where the Tibetans are a refugee people as they are in this country. So I was glad to see the celebrations, but sad that Tibetan culture is heading to be a splinter culture, nutured and sustained by enthusiasts otherwhere than Tibet. During the afternoon I met up with Helen and Mark who were down for the day in London, and also bumped into Lama Zangmo, the director of Samye Dzong in London. Very pleasant to meet with them and catch up to a degree.
Chenrezig puja in the evening, at the new site for Samye Dzong, which I had not visited before, so I needed to find it and a route to it. As a result I got there very early, and had time to try out the restaurant on the corner of Spa Road, which was virtually deserted at that time, but was a very pleasant meal.
By the time I got back it was some fourteen hours later than I had started out, and I was physically drained.