Getting well again

Last week I had a cold and on the way back from Britain my ears seemed to explode. For much of the time since then I have felt as if I was underwater. Not a very comfortable feeling, although my hearing wasn't really affected. This morning things have improved considerably and ts my ears are almost back to normal.

In the week I was kept busy, arriving back from my trip to Britain to a full week of meetings and events at Buddhistisches Tor as well as teaching English. After unpacking on Monday morning I led the lunchtime meditation at the Buddhist centre, but decided against attending the inter-religious meeting at the Town Hall in the afternoon to which I had been invited, on account of feeling unwell. On Tuesday I gave a talk at Sangha Evening on the Four Sangrahavastus, or Means of Unification. We intend to dedicate each of the next four years at Buddhistisches Tor to each of the four Sangrahavastus, starting this year with dana, or generosity. Next week Dhramapriya will give a talk on dana, the first of four talks on the subject to be held during the year.

On Wednesday I gave an English lesson, attended my chapter meeting, a weekly meeting of Order Members in Berlin, and spent a very pleasant evening having a meal with members of the year-long Buddhism foundation course that I led last year and ended in November. Thursday was a full day too, beginning with two English lessons, after which I spent an hour photocopying material for the new foundation course I was starting in the evening. After photocopying and before the course in the evening I had a meeting of the centre's Teaching Team. Friday and in between my round of appointments this week I managed to catch up with a few e-mails and telephone calls. I also managed to find time to buy a new netbook and begin finding my way around it. All in all a very satisfying and enjoyable week. All being well I will be fully fit and well by Monday to begin my training for the half marathon.

New Year Plans

It has been a long time since I last wrote, and I have had a couple of people expressing their wish for me to carry on writing something here every now and again, so here I am again.

I had a bit of difficulty getting back into my running shoes after the marathon - not just because I had caught a cold - more probable was the fact of not really having a big goal to aim at any more. And then the wether broke, as well as having a heap of other things demanding my time. So I kept the training ticking over, and fully intended to run the Twin Piers 10K race from Llandudno to Colwyn Bay last Saturday, but went down with another cold from which I am still not a hundred percent recovered.

Last night I returned home from a ten day visit to Britain, where I first attended the Triratna European Chairs Assembly, a week-long meeting for Chairs of Triratna Buddhist Centres, held this time at Taraloka near Whitchurch. At the end of an inspiring week of meetings, discussion and practise, I spent a weekend with my dad in Old Colwyn. He has run the Twin Piers race many time over the past thirty years and I had hoped that we might run it together this time. However, by the time I announced to him my plan to run it this year, he had already decided not to participate again.

As it turned out, I am not too disappointed that my health let me down again, as the weather was incredibly wild on Saturday and the stormy winds and rain would have made the going really tough. Instead I enjoyed a pleasant couple of days with various family members slowly getting better, and being fed extraordinarily good grub! (The sausages were of course vegetarian.)

At Liverpool Airport I was stopped at security and had 250 ml of Marmite confiscated. To be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it in my rucksack, and even so, I probably wouldn't have thought about it contravening the rules. I tried pointing out that it isn't exactly a liquid, to which the security person gently answered, it is a cream. I am happy that I packed the two large jars (500 ml) in my checked-in rucksack, which should keep me going for a couple of months anyway.

The flight played havoc with my ears on account of my cold, and they have not yet readjusted, but they are getting there.slowly sorting themselves out.

Next week I start my ten-week training plan for the half marathon again. I would like to cut a couple of minutes off my best time from last year, when I run in the Berlin Half Marathon at the start of April.