10. Time to leave for home!

In that instant, I’d seen that it was not fully charged. I gently returned it to the floor, slinking off outside. An hour later I returned, this time I removed its plug from the power supply and took it out of the kitchen, far away from the house, down in the gardens, a safe distance from the buildings before I turned it on. Result. Still not fully charged! How long was it going to take? Perhaps another hour, I’d try later.

Meanwhile, the three of us toured the gardens, taking many photos of the early Spring flowers and buds. Daffodils and crocuses were already in bloom. Daffodils in shades of white and yellow, with purple and white crocuses sprouting up among the bright green, uncut winter grass. There were sculptured stone memorials commemorating those who had died, as well as pagodas in strategic places across the lawns and rockeries highlighting parts of the formal gardens. Statues of the Buddha stood within the pagodas and scattered across many parts of the formal and wild gardens too. Tiny Buddhas also stood in shelters, easy to miss if one were not observant. One statuette even looked as if it had been constructed from metal and had begun to corrode in the outdoor weather where it stood under a huge tree, despite its sheltered position inside a carved stone pillar.

All the wooden 2-3 seater garden benches had brass plaques, I remember one, commemorating someone’s chance encounter with Queen Elisabeth. The three of us sat in the feeble winter sun eating our plates of lunch on one of these benches under the eves of the semi-circular porch that surrounded the courtyard. The guest rooms lay on the Southern aspect opposite the entrance to the kitchen with the Dammuh Hall on the Eastern side of the courtyard.

Many of the visitors went back for second helpings and desserts before the leftovers were thrown out for the pigs to eat. This arrangement felt incongruous within the setting.

“Where were these special pigs?” I thought,

“Living in a life of luxury, never to be slaughtered!”

“If there was insufficient food to serve to the guests, would we have been served pig’s food?” I wondered. How irreverent of me! Better keep my thoughts to myself, for fear I’d start the three of us laughing uncontrollably, interrupting the monk’s and nun’s day of silent meditation!

Time to leave for home!