Don’t water the vegetables.

Hullo again.
My website has been lost for a while – for reasons I don’t pretend to understand – but now I am back in the world, sort of, virtually speaking. Not a lot has happened – but it doesn’t, most of the time: tune into the Archers every few months or so, and you can immediately pick up the story. Last week it snowed and people in the street smiled some more. I lost a day’s work. So what’s new? In Afghanistan. In the wine bars of the City. In the FA Cup. In Haiti, suddenly much much much worse.
The Goldstein quote was meant to be inspirational. I have been reading the Desert Fathers: Control your tongue and your belly. Why weren’t we given this stuff to read at school – more imaginative and relevant than most religious instruction.
Here’s a story I like:
A hermit had some visitors, and he treated then generously, giving them all the food he had. His guests said to themselves – well, he does all right, he eats better than we do at home. They were going on to visit another hermit, so their host asked them to give his friend a message: be careful not to water the vegetables.
The second hermit welcomed them and asked them to join him during the day in the work he was doing. And when it got to night, he invited them to join him in prayers. And he said, he didn’t eat every day, but as they were there, have some bread. And more prayers.
In the morning, he said, you are very welcome here, stay some more. But they buggered off.