Laurieston Day Three

I drove to Laurieston Village to get a signal from my 'phone to send some money to the guy working at the Engine Shed. -Though why I didn't do that from the Laurieston office escapes me now I think of it. It gave me an excuse to go leave the estate. I ended up in Castle Douglas before I found a place I could get a signal AND stop safely.

 I 'lost' my phone 3 times and as I write it is still unaccounted for. I've been taking photos with my tablet but it refused to charge yesterday (I think it might have been a dodgy socket) so I used the phone and kept putting it down in places. Now I don't know where it is, but I am confident it will reappear before the end of the week. I would be most devastated to lose out on listening to music through the phone on the car's audio system on the way home.

 How's this for irony: in the base group a guy was whingeing on about being "out of sorts" because he didn't get much sleep and got up early because of snorers. Whinge and moan he went on about it and that there was going to be a meeting about it (!!!!) I said there was no need for a meeting he needed to find a spare bed and move rooms. There are two spare beds in the room I'm sharing so I suggested he moved in as there were no snorers... There is now! I "feel out of sorts" as a result of him snoring above me in a wooden bunk bed that acts like a sound-box. I got up early but couldn't face breakfast and am beginning to fret about my phone.

  Briefly I attended a "singing workshop" but it was so far removed from my expectations and experience as a vocal coach I slipped out quite quickly. The final straw for me was the workshop leaders teaching the group "An African Song" that they knew nothing about beyond some faintly infantile (out of any context) arm and hand movements. Later, at dinner when comment was made about my exit I asked one of the workshop leaders what the lyric meant. He didn't know and said it was just "gogglegook and gibberish". I chose not to school him on cultural appropriation as he was clearly affronted by my decision to leave his workshop and had I started it would not have been conducive to harmonious coexistence. 

 The really Sad part of my day was finally getting some time with a resident and hearing his 'take' on what is happening in the community. Some of what I learned was truly heart-breaking and a little horrifying. It is interesting that some of the problems Laurieston is facing are mirrored by those of Edward Carpenter Community. I am interested by the fact that the community has shrunk significantly, whilst people wanting to join it have remained constant but their processes for accepting new members are (necessarily) difficult and proving a barrier. There appear to be serious differences of opinion about their future strategy, "principles" and "practicalities" are at war.

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