Hail, Fellow Pilgrims!

Day 2 - 2 January 2019 at 9:55am

As pilgrimages go, this daily trek is a short one - perhaps just over five minutes each way - but long enough to regret my decision not to wear a coat. I walk briskly.

Turning onto the main road, four Buddhist monks file out of the Dhammapadipa temple, which might go unnoticed were it not for the flagpoles protruding out of the front wall of the house at a jaunty angle, the large gold lettering pinned to the wall spelling its name out in Tibetan and English and the large Buddha statue holding court in the small garden. One day, I will summon up the courage to ask the monks if there is any significance to the burnt orange colour of the robes that peak out from beneath their heavy winter coats.

An advert for a local slimming club marks the spot on the bridge from where I take my photo. The invitation to change your life is temporarily obscured by my intention not to change, but to appreciate my life as it is. I take the photo and go, musing that the biggest change from yesterday is the addition of frost on the river's banks which is somewhat less than on the pavements above.

The monks are now hanging around on the other side of the road at the parking lay-by outside the pizza shop. All four have their mobile phones out, one pointing his toward the sky. I cannot decide if he is trying to take a picture of the canal bridge or is searching for a signal. They are well-wrapped up, as they generally are, with long coats and woolly hats, completely engulfing their bodies. One crosses back over onto my side and I realise they are waiting for a ride.

Almost immediately, and just as I am passing, a taxi pulls up and the monk gets inside, signalling across to his fellow monks to join him. They seem to be resisting his requests to cross the street and I turn back onto our road not knowing if they begin their pilgrimage from this side of the street or the other.

Does it matter? Probably not, but it seems somewhat funny: they probably crossed the street in the first instance to make it easier for the taxi driver to stop, yet don't then seem prepared to cross back over to save him the trouble of having to make a u-turn to collect the rest of them. I wonder why. It seems so un-monk like. But maybe their journey needs to start with a u-turn. After all, how often in our own journeys do we need to start with a u-turn in order to go forward.