We had a wonderful party planned for this day. We were all going to get together in Nick’ allotment and just socialise together. Sadly, when we planned this, we had last year’s April weather in mind. It was warm and sunny then, as opposed to cold and wet with hail showers. I was getting really nervous about this event, so I was kind of glad that it was cancelled in the end. I was ready to just give up on the whole thing.
Thankfully, Cilla had a better idea. She suggested we should get together anyway, somewhere in town not too far from places to hide from the rain. So we decided on walking a short distance along the Thames – our patron deity – and then find somewhere to sit and chat.
When I left home, this still sounded like a great idea. And even when Alex and I arrived at Vauxhall, the sun was shining brightly. We met up with Daniel, Lorraine and Cilla, and as we set out we found Greg outside the station, waiting for us. And at that point it started to rain lightly.
We made our way to the Thames, where Time Team once discovered the remains of a wooden jetty from the Bronze Age. Offerings to the River were found there, in the form of spearheads driven into the river bank. We also watched a yellow amphibian vessel from London Duck Tours come out of the water. It looked like a lot of fun and we decided that we quite fancied doing something like that with the group.
When we continued on our way, the rain got a lot heavier. And then it hailed. Umbrellas and waterproofs came out. We watched the hail stones hit the river as we walked more quickly.
We soon had enough of this and went straight for the welcoming warm and dry of the Royal Festival Hall foyer. We draped wet coats and scarves over some chairs and collapsed with cups of tea and cakes. They have very nice honey and nut tarts at the Royal Festival Hall foyer. We can heartily recommend them. At this point, of course, it stopped raining. The sun even came out for a while.
We staid and just chatted for hours. Liz joined us for a while after her work finished. And in the end we got exactly what I wanted from this event: an opportunity to just be together socially, without trying to do anything particularly spiritual. And, as usual, just being with people from the seedgroup lifted my mood and gave me a warm feeling that soon dried my soggy soul.
Thank you guys. It’s great to be among friends.
I joined you late after a dreadful day poring over boring folders doing bureaucratic checks. It’s fair to say I was not in a good mood when I arrived. But Hilde’s feelings chime with mine in that after a while (and a bottle of dry cider)my mood lifted and I felt peaceful - as if there was a little grove in the middle of the Festival Hall. (One of) the great things about our group is a feeling that we are all accepted for what we are with all our irrationalities, intensities and extremes as well as our intelligence and good sense. It’s a rare thing in this life. I was going to write a poem but haven’t got round to it. However, the following came into my head - probably as an ending but it will stand alone:
When the lights go out over Europe
And Tamesis rises,
May I find myself with you.
Comment by Elizabeth — 18/4/2008 @ 4:23 pm