I am home, under heavy medicine, and respecting my tablets too, so it's early to bed after posting this short post...

The Mountain Stream

Mountain stream, clear and limpid, wandering down towards the valley, whispering songs among the rushes - oh, that I were as the stream!

Mountain heather all in flower - longing fills me, at the sight, to stay upon the hills in the wind and the heather.

Small birds of the high mountain that soar up in the healthy wind, flitting from one peak to the other - oh, that I were as the bird!

Son of the mountain am I, far from home making my song; but my heart is in the mountain, with the heather and small birds.

Welsh; John Ceiriog Hughes; 1833-1887

Their faces were as red as their old-fashioned phone kiosks when BT realised what a clanger they'd dropped.

For when officials were quizzed about a missing rural public payphone, they denied all knowledge of the equipment – and couldn't find the village it serves on their maps.

Embarrassed staff located Drymere only after local councillor Ian Sherwood sent them a map of the village, located a couple of miles south of Swaffham, along with a photo of the empty stand where the payphone used to be.

Mr Sherwood, a member of Swaffham town and Breckland district councils, said: "They didn't know quite what to say and promised to send a field manager to investigate. I find this extraordinary!"

He went on the warpath when he was told about the missing payphone by a villager because it was one of four rural phones he saved in a campaign against BT's threat to remove them in 2004.

"I contacted them immediately I was made aware of the problem because I thought they had decided to take it away without any warning or consultation, even though this phone is vital to the small rural community.

"Then an official emailed me to say 'We cannot find the Payphone or the village of Drymere. I have checked the records and cannot locate an area called Drymere on our map'."

After the misunderstanding was sorted out, BT revealed that the telephone equipment had been stolen – and promised to replace it as soon as possible.

Spokesman Paul Hayward said: "We apologise for all the confusion. We do have it on our maps and I really don't know what happened there.

"We do know where the village is and we were aware of the Payphone there but for some reason at that time we could not locate it."

He added: "This Payphone was the victim of a theft attack in which the whole mechanism was taken. We shall be installing replacement mechanism so that the phone box can be used again."

Final word from Mr Sherwood: "The considerate thief even wrapped the end of the wires for them. At least the phone is being put back, thank goodness."

from EDP

What a lovely song...
The Lotus Eaters: The First Picture of You

It's warm in and out
the pulse of flowing love
spread the calm to meet the others
pleasure fills with love 'til dawn

it's warm in and out
the call for sacred hours
the soft chant of new-born singing
the magic force of your feelings

the first picture of you
the first picture of summer
seeing the flowers scream their joy

can't lose this mood gentle
with summer at our ears
flood the world deep in sunlight
break into the peaceful wild

the first picture of you
the first picture of summer
seeing the flowers scream their joy
the first picture of you

the first picture of summer
seeing the flowers scream their joy

The Educated Man and the Peasant
By Troy Morash

Once upon a time, there was a young man from Bucharest who had just finished university. He was proud of his knowledge and smarts and so decided to leave the big city and make his way teaching peasants in the countryside.

Immediately he was met with difficulties. He found that people didn't take to kindly to being considered more stupid than he, for he was only twenty two and most of the people that he met were much older. If he was to teach them, he would have to prove that he was smarter. Feeling confident of his powers he made a wager with a peasant. If the peasant couldn't answer the educated man's question then the peasant would have to hand over three Lei. The educated man chuckled to himself, 'This is going to be easy money.' The entire village gathered to witness the quiz. The educated man asked the first question, 'What is the capital of England?'

The peasant answered, 'I don't know. I will give you three Lei.'

'London.' The people gasped; they were impressed. The educated man pocketed the money and asked a second question, 'What moves very fast but doesn't look like it is moving at all?'

The peasant answered, 'I don't know. I will give you three Lei.'

'The earth.' The educated man pocketed the money and asked the third question, 'What goes up in the day and down at night?

The peasant answered, 'I don't know. I will give you three Lei.' The educated man had taken from the peasant a total of nine Lei. Now the peasant was poor and his wife started to cry. However, at his turn, the peasant also wished to ask the educated man a question but if he could not answer it he would have to hand over five thousand Lei to the peasant. The educated man quickly agreed and thought to himself, 'This surely is a fool!'

'What goes in the morning with two legs, at noon with four legs and in the evening with six legs?' There was a long silence and everyone was staring at the educated man. He searched his brain for a long time but to no avail. He did not know the answer and had no choice but to hand over five thousand Lei, which was everything he had. Afterwards the educated man was curious and so asked, 'So what goes in the morning on two legs, at noon with four and in the evening with six?'

The peasant answered, 'I don't know. I will give you three Lei.'

It is said that when Buddha was first Enlightened he was asked,
"Are you a God?"
"No," he replied.
"Are you a saint?"
"No."
"Then what are you?"

And he answered, "I am awake."

To wake
is to live
To cry
is to sigh
To speak
is to heal

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