9. I blushed, trying to hide my face

Silently he showed me a tiny room with a fridge and two power outlets. I plugged my SatNav in, covered it from harm and left to pass the time with Carol and Vũ. While I had been busy organising the SatNav, they had brought in their food, also offering it towards the meals which the Monastery provides free of charge to the lay public. As it was still officially wintertime the lunch was served from 10:30 am. We had left Southampton at 9:15 to get there in time.

On our arrival we heard a bell tolling, informing us that we should gather for devotions in the hall. After the monks and nuns had offered thanks and meditated, they left to have the first choice of the lunch we’d seen being prepared. The monks left first, followed by the nuns and only once they’d returned, we, the laymen and laywomen, were invited to choose our food and fill our plates following the example of the monks.

There must have been well over twenty different dishes laid out on the kitchen table ready for us to chose from, many were labelled so we knew what these Eastern dishes contained. Some were, marked spicy. I avoided those, but not Vũ or Carol. They were delighted, the Asian food they loved, prepared the way they were back home in their home countries.

The holy orders were only provided with two meals a day. A thin gruel porridge at 5 am followed by lunch at 10:30 in winter or 11:30 during British Summer Time. The remainder of their days were spent in prayer, solitude, meditation or reading, while some partook of essential farm work. However, we didn’t see any of these activities on our short visit.

The peace and tranquillity around the Monastery was profound. All that broke the silence was the chatter of the early Spring avian visitors and the frequent aircraft flying overhead at 30,000 feet.

I thought I’d waited long enough to allow the SatNav to fully recharge its battery. I went into the kitchen to check. I turned it on to see if the correct battery level had been reached.

“You will arrive at your destination at 13:06!” It shouted back at me at the top of its voice, designed to be heard above all the cabin noise whilst driving. I always set it to 80% of full volume so as not to miss its commands while driving! Everyone turned to stare at me as I held the offending voice in my right hand. On a day of silent meditation, this was uncalled for! I blushed, trying to hide as if that would have helped!