Summer

As I sit and write this the patio doors are open wide, the flies are buzzing around, the sun is shining through and the hay fever is streaming away! Summer is definitely here…at least for the time being.

This week Dan and I went on a regular afternoon out to Rochester, as we walked past the cathedral we met a group of Buddhist monks  visiting the area. How did I know this…they were dressed in their familiar orange robes. In the hot sun the robes looked wonderful and cooling. As we went on our way we realised the monks were too following us up to Rochester castle and as we went into the castle gardens the reactions of the people there were fascinating, we heard comments such as,

“ wow is that a monk?”, “ A monk, I didn’t know they really existed!”, “What’s a monk doing here?” and “ Gosh that monk is talking on an iphone, should monks have iphones?”

Those comments made me think about how we react to things that are out of the ordinary, things that are not in our usual life experience, how we react when things we may have read about or seen only on the television suddenly meet us face to face; Do we embrace them? Are we embarrassed by them? Or are we just really curious?

When we were recently on holiday visiting relatives in Goa we had the experience of locals constantly wanting to talk to us and take our photos because we were different, the novelty soon wore off but as humans we are intrigued by difference.

So as the sun , hopefully continues to shine as we see visitors coming to our land or as we travel to another land may we truly embrace all things different, and if we are unsure of something be brave enough to ask.  The summer is often a time when we travel or encounter those from other places…enjoy the sun if you have it and the variety it brings out .

Happy summer x