Finding Beauty

Now then – I have a request. If anyone out there knows of a big fat empty space that could house Chi Chi the rocking piano, get in touch. Poor Chi Chi (see pictures) is about to become homeless and this really isn’t fair at all. There isn’t a rescue home for unwanted rocking pianos, I fear. She’s the creation of my friend Sarah Davenport (those more loyal of my readers may remember hat I first featured her in a posting from last October) and she really ought to be the vehicle to catapult Sarah to the position of international design guru – instead, she’s in danger of being burned, or chopped up, or encased in concrete and thrown from the Humber Bridge.

Chi Chi deserves better than this. She deserves to be the centre of attention; to be played lovingly; to be rocked rhythmically to the soaring strains of Beethoven, Chopin or Rachmaninov. Chi Chi needs a home. Mind you, she’s big – not for her is your average Victorian parlour (nor indeed, my modest apartment). No, for Chi Chi needs space - lots of it - and a strong floor too. Sarah is the inspiration behind ‘Unleashed’ (see http://www.inspirationunleashed.co.uk/) and her creativity will be seriously thwarted if Chi Chi isn’t cared for soon. You have been warned.

Well, this evening I’m going to the Nottingham launch of my dear friend Nicola Monaghan’s second novel Starfishing (see http://aboutstarfishing.blogspot.com/). You might remember that I went to the London launch a couple of weeks ago, but tonight we’ll see more of the local writing scene and it will be a great event for Nicola to promote the book. For anyone in the region who hasn’t heard about it, then come along to The Bookcase in Lowdham at 7:00 p.m. and get the author to sign your very own personal copy of the book. Here’s how to find it: http://www.thebookcase.co.uk/. See you there.

And finally, at Buddhism last night we discussed the difference between desire and craving. Most of us would assume these to be one and the same, but they’re not. For example – we desire food because it prevents us from starving to death, but we can crave (say) oysters or hamburgers or tripe & onions which, if we can’t obtain them, causes suffering. We can desire clothing because without it we would be cold, or (some of us) would be laughed at in public, but we crave that latest Gucci belt or Paul Smith wool suit – and this is simply the worship of graven images; the chasing of false needs. Not mind-blowing stuff I’m sure, but a distinction worth noting.

All this has taken me a long time to type because – despite carefully prising off every single key from the top three rows of my keyboard and attempting to wash out the gin – the keys are still sticky. Damn those drunkards!

Watch out for my next posting - it will be about the time I had lunch with Pope John Paul the First (and not many people did that).

No message from Horace today – I tried calling him for one, but either he’d run out of battery or he had his mobile switched off.

And don’t forget Chi Chi. Leave a comment if you can help.