Hot Stuff

Did the trailer for JENI AND OLLY’S WEST COAT WINE TRAIL. It’s happening first week in March on The Travel Channel, I think you may like it.
I had to cancel it twice because of the weather. Then finally we had a blue sky.
Now as the days pass, the rain has stopped, the snowdrops are nodding their heads in the hedgerow and I’ve been wondering what it is that gets me through the night.
The fact is that as I get older I realise I am wanting for practically nothing.
So what are my goals?
What do I look forward to?
Getting up is always a relief since I could have pegged it in the wee small hours.
Breakfast: Omelette, coffee made by the ‘oosbind, hotwater and lemon. Cheese on toast? The choices are endless.
Lunch: Avocado salad with white onions and basil olive oil? Three bean salad? Cauliflower rice? The choices are endless.
Supper: And here comes the biggy. Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, a little of what you fancy does you good.

For a long time I have been punishing my body until it started to scream ENUFF.
So I went and saw a wonderful Jordanian nutritionist – ABIR HAMZA GOODACRE – who is beautiful, empathetic and really knows her Artichokes from her Endocrins.
I have been doing great but I could do greater, so no drugs for the Diabetes (they make me too ill) but diet control and a couple of supplements. And since I’ve been introducing more protein into my diet I am less neurotic, less hysterical and wonder of wonders I am sleeping through the night. AT LAST. I am also aware that my body aint like anybody else’s so my days of nutritional advice have passed. This is my regime for me and me alone…..
But surely you cant be living for just your three meals a day? I hear you mumble. Well not quite.
Could it be the book at bedtime. Choosing the right novel to send me off? Well that’s certainly part of it.
Could it be the writing course in Brighton. Me and eleven people who – unlike me – REALLY do know what they are doing?
Well having a project really helps and it is honing a new skill.
And then I thought maybe its about time I admitted to my new obsession. The one activity that requires nothing other than turning up.
Take a left off St. Johns Rd, next to the antique fireplace shop, then a left into a little road WILLIAMS STREET, park up. Open the boot and unload.
My green mat, pink blanket, white towel and red hot enthusiasm.
HOT YOGA here I come.
JEMMA SMITH was a dancer, knew about Bikram, I’ve talked abouther before, but let me tell you between her and two other teachers their adaptation of Mr. Bikram’s version is more than wonderful. It rebalances. It shuts off the noise in the mind. It, incrementally, lets the body bend and stretch. One hour of total concentration and relaxation.
I try and go every day. I’ve cut down on everything else so I can afford it. 60 minutes of sweat and stretch. 60 minutes of breath and bend. For one whole hour nothing else exists except The Tree pose or The Eagle or The Cow. You name it I’ll try it. I cannot balance to save my life, but I’m told thats to do with core strength. So everyday I just try a tiny bit more. Not with a competitive thought in my body but with “Happiness” is what they teach.
Me and 8 others -max – do our stuff.
I LOVE IT.
It aint Balham, it aint Battersea it is TWells at its finest. Nobody asks my name, I don’t reveal anything. I don’t talk I just breath and let go. Wednesday nights its done by candlelight. By the time I get home I’m all loose and dangly.
My days seem longer, have more shape until it’s time to unroll my mat. I really believe that Yoga is vital for my well being. I dont think about the past, don’t panic about the future or the Vat bill, I empty my mind and even have ideas as my legs are over my head.
So finally my latest writing project is beginning to take form. Last week a writer on the course said to me, after a particular exercise, as she screwed the top onto her fountain pen….’Oooh! I love this game.’
And the penny dropped. Life really is a game. No more fighting talk. Just giving in and enjoying the ride.
‘The Game of Life and How to Play it’. Shinn’s book from 1926.
‘I now smash and demolish by my spoken word every untrue record in my subconscious mind. l cast them back to the dust heap of their native nothingness for they came from my own vain imaginings. I now make my new records through the ‘Christ’ within. The records of Health, Wealth, Love and perfect Self Expression.’
Reminding myself that the Christ energy has nothing to do with organised Christianity. But is about goodness. About generosity. About forgiveness. About Love.
And I realised that all the above is what gets me through the night. That and the old git, the dawter, all the friends flung far and wide. Not to mention CHERRY JARRATT who drums away my grief and gives me swan feathers to keep my journey gentle and serene.
With the help of the Corpse pose, ‘Savasana’ I will live until I die.