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Mark, the curator, invited some of us to visit Chedworth Roman villa in December to look at some of the new work that has been undertaken. The woods starting behind the villa up to a disused railway is part of the site but has not been open to the public before. Now paths have been laid, a platform to build an Iron Age style round house and a tiny amphitheatre has been built. It should make for a nice walk when visiting the villa.
The villa is closed during the winter but there are some lovely walks in the vicinity. Just park near the villa and follow the footpaths. At this time of year without the leaves on the trees and the undergrowth died back an altogether different view of the area is seen. Very pleasant and worth a trip.
After much discussion the committee has decided to increase the membership charges £15 for standard and £24 for family membership. This will take effect from 1st April 2005. This is the first increase for several years and reflects the increasing costs incurred booking speakers and producing the newsletter.
The places for the Patrick MacManaway workshop, to be held in April of this year, are steadily being filled, so don’t leave it too late if you are thinking of attending it. Patrick likes to give a fair amount of individual attention, ands needs enough space for some interactive sessions, so there is a limit to the numbers we can take.
Bring your own packed lunch, but we provide hot drinks and biscuits free of charge at various times throughout the day.
At the last committee meeting it was suggested that we run a workshop of our own in the latter part of the year, possibly in two parts. The first part would be to train complete beginners, or anyone who is not very confident about their dowsing, and the second part would deal with adapting dowsing techniques to deal with specific areas and problems. Topics for this part would probably include dowsing for health, “problem” houses or workplaces, psychic protection, etc.
An outdoor informal training session will probably take place during the spring at Avebury, as has been done several times before. The difference this time will be that it will be held at a weekend rather than in the week, as a number of people have had problems getting there in time after work.
More details of these will be in a later journal. [When we’ve worked them out!]
As in previous years, the December meeting was an informal get-together. Shaun gave a brief chat about various ideas the committee had had for future field trips and workshops, and asked for comments and suggestions form those present. This is how the topics for our own next workshop were arrived at, as a number of members requested help in “fine-tuning” their dowsing in these particular areas.
An interesting comment was made by Michael, who showed how a person’s energy field could be extended outwards [shown by dowsing], if the person being dowsed was holding or wearing an amulet – for example a St. Christopher medallion, or a Buddha figure, as in this case.]
One member came to the meeting rather embarrassed as she had an eye infection which gave her the appearance of having been in a fight. She had brought along a fairly comprehensive homoeopathic first-aid kit and suggested that some of the members might like to dowse for a suitable remedy. This was done by touching each individual remedy bottle while holding a pendulum which was swinging in the neutral position, while mentally asking for a “yes” response when a remedy was reached that would be an effective treatment for the member’s current eye infection at that time.
It was also suggested to the member that she should dowse herself to try to find out what had caused the problem in the first place, so that further remedies could be used to treat those imbalances in the body, and hopefully prevent further occurrences of the infection. The best place to do work of this sort is on your own, somewhere quiet, as it is necessary to be able to concentrate properly on the detailed self-analysis.
Thanks to every one who turned out on the rather cold night, hopefully you all, [and those who were unable to come to the meeting], had a good time over the festive season. Best Wishes for 2005.
From the scattered debris, no, not the scattered debris...
From the concerted debris of a legendary drinking session in Cyril's local, Le Pelican Perdu at Chiseldon Parva...
From the ashtrays' cascades of fag-ends, reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution, from the countless sacrifices we made to the gods of plenty that afternoon...
From the amazed by-standers who had borne our drunken repartee, and the bevy of waitresses who had brought our bevvies to us with black varnish on their nails, wishing all too obviously that we would just go, and compensate them with an enormous tip...
From the bottomless pit of tired old jokes and trivial fascinations with which we had whiled away the afternoon...
From among the many pints of Stoute's Pivotal Moment (ABV 5.4%) which had been consumed, one fact remained with me.
We will not outlast the Bomb, but scorpions will.
Out in the desert, Black Scorpions have been ready for the nuclear meltdown for aeons. They will inherit the Earth. Along, perhaps, with the Daleks.
It wasn't a question of whether to buy an inflatable Dalek, only how soon. Only limited stocks were available each month, according to Dr Who Magazine which has contacts in the North.
Just £35.00 inc. p&p, sturdy PVC, four foot high. Send to an address in Sheffield. Available in red, gold, silver or black. I could get one and stand it just inside the front door, to deter callers on a mission.
Or put it on wheels and take it out to see the rhododendrons.
Or half conceal it in shrubbery at the Chalice Well gardens.
The Daleks were the brainchild of the late Terry Nation and a tea-time treat, now part of the collective consciousness, but they're not a realistic consideration.
Scorpions, on the other hand, will disdain the nuclear blast and mushroom. They can sting. They can steer by the stars, detecting with ease the distant movements of Titan, the moon of Saturn. They can go without.
Unlike pelicans, they aren't readily blown off course, though some Continental ones are carrying on an existence in the railway sidings and metro stations of London.
Unlike myself, born to die out at the soonest opportunity, scorpions are survivors. We rolled out of the pub at last and made our way through the rain back to Cyril's place.
“So,” I said, “when the balloon goes up, scorpions will be larging it.”
“It's a truism of modern life,” said Cyril.
“An urban myth, applied to desert places,” said Dave.
“For survival potential what about the common wood-louse and the catering cockroach?” Cyril wanted to know.
“Mind you,” I said, “mind you, I'm talking big whoosh here, not the realignment of the magnetic poles or a few solar flares or some impossibly effete Armageddon.”
Cyril was lurching on ahead of us. “There were four rabbits on a train going through the Southern States,” I heard him say.
“No, a Rabbi, a priest, and a vicar on a train playing poker,” I corrected him.
“Was it?” said Cyril. “I'm no good with jokes.”
“Listen!” said Dave. “Listen!”
This usually means he's about to fart and bring an end to civilisation as we know it.
“What?” I said irritably.
“The Mayans,” he said. “We thought they were a dead civilisation but there are four and half million of them still doing the hokey-cokey.”
“Whereabouts?” said Cyril.
We were at his house now. As usual we gave the front door a miss. There was something dark and mechanical leaning against the inside of the frosted glass, possibly a Dalek having a lie down. As ever, the door to the kitchen was unsecured. But then, so little worth stealing.
“Southern Mexico,” said Dave. “They all have internet access.|”
“The remotest places have an Internet cafe now,” said Cyril. “There's one in Marlborough.”
“What do they speak then?” I said.
“Not Spanish,” said Dave. “Mayan, I think.”
“But they have declined to peons,” I said. “They undoubtedly know less about their ancestors than the average Croppie at the Barge who has time and leisure to study the glories of the past. Take the modern-day working¬ class Egyptian. And then we have Ludovic Kennedy and Moira Shearer in Avebury, deeply ignorant of Michael and Mary passing through the village on a daily basis.”
“I won't hear a word against Moira Shearer,” said Dave.
“She was in The Red Shoes!” said Cyril, doffing his baseball cap.
For a long moment we revered this great lady, as immortal as a scorpion. She was also in Peeping Tom, which took some courage, I imagine. Then we noticed how cold it was and Cyril tried to get some heat going in the kitchen.
He has an Aga cum Swedish mongrel log-burning effort down one wall, but none of his logs were dry, so he lobbed some kindling into the microwave. High setting.
I had never seen this done and I doubt it has the Ray Mears seal of approval, as it reeks of a kind of profligacy. But a useful wrinkle and a good survival tip.
After twelve minutes the sticks came out pinging hot. Cyril put them down on the table while he looked around for matches. We had left ours in the pub.
All of a sudden three generations of wood-lice poured out from the bark, fanning across the table like maddened armadillos just out of the sauna. Dave jumped backwards as if under attack.
Cyril leaned over the table, smudgy, gaunt, alert, dribbling. I remembered that he had been milk monitor in his day.
“Gentlemen!” he said, “proof, if proof were needed, that the wood-louse will be with the scorpion and the cockroach at the head of affairs in the post¬nuclear void.”
“Ugly things are taking over,” I said.
“None of these things are all that tough,” said Dave, “if you step on them.”
“There won't be anyone to step on them,” said Cyril.
“What about Daleks?” I said.
“That reminds me,” said Cyril. “There were three Daleks playing poker on a train going across the Bible belt, and they get arrested. The Judge says to the first Dalek, were you playing poker on the train? The Dalek thinks to itself, Davros won't mind if I tell a little lie, and he denies it. The Judge says to the second Dalek, were you playing poker on the train? The second Dalek thinks, the Supreme Dalek won't mind if I tell a white lie, and he denies it.
“So the Judge says to the third Dalek, were you playing poker on the train? The third Dalek says: Who with?”
Grey Wolf
Find your date of birth and read about your attributes. No guarantees of accuracy.
January 01 to January 11 - Fir Tree (the Mysterious) - extraordinary taste, handles stress poorly, loves anything beautiful, can become depressed at times, stubborn, tends to care for those close to them as well as helping strangers, rather modest, hard worker, talented, unselfish, few sexual relationships, many friends, doesn't want foes, very reliable.
January 12 to January 24 - Elm Tree (the Noble-mindedness) - pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, modest demands, tends not to forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but not to obey, honest and faithful partner, likes making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humour, practical.
January 25 to February 03 - Cypress Tree (the Faithfulness) - strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give but doesn't necessarily like it, strives to be content, optimistic, wants to be financially independent, wants love and affection, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered at times, can be unruly and careless, loves to gain knowledge, needs to be needed.