Proletariat Blogging in the Heart of (UK) Predatory Capitalism! Exploring the Interface between Matter and Perception, Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Hakka Ethnography, and All Aspects of Radical Politics, History, Psychology and Philosophy – 全世界无产者联合起来!
We met Mr John Hawks (who owns Toby the dog) who personally introduced my daughter – Mei-An to a computer screen and keyboard featuring a Minecraft programme relating to the exhibition! Mei-An skilfully navigated the challenges and completed all the tasks without a hitch and with John Hawks watching! All very impressive! We were also pleased to meet other Chinese people visiting amongst the multicultural crowd! Please enjoy the following photographs and happy learning!
Anyone who interacted, stroked, played with or threw a stick for ‘Toby’ – the resident sheepdog – was presented with a beautiful postcard of this well-behaved and genteel Sheepdog! He appears to be the pet of resident archaeologist – Mr John Hawks – the Curator of Chapter House, as he was the person who presented the postcard and seemed to know ‘Toby’ the best! Mr John Hawks has been featured in a number of articles about this very important ‘dig’ which has received a boost recently with the Priory ‘arched’ wooden gate being added to the already amply exhibition! There is much to see – such as the UK’s oldest Parliament and Lord Nelson’s Chest!
Hopefully, these random videos will assist people all over the UK (and the world) to understand and appreciate this wonderful exhibition of 12th century British history! Furthermore, we want to assist the elderly, the vulnerable and people with disabilities and difficulties to experience this exhibition ‘remotely’ – so that they are not excluded from the sharing of British history – which belongs to us all! After teaching Chinese martial arts this morning, we drove from Sutton to South Wimbledon (a distance of 3.9 miles) which took about 30 minutes to achieve! We then walked a slightly longer way around the supermarket and along the river until we reached ‘Chapter House’ – a place we did not know exactly where it was! However, the day was sunny, we were happy and time was on our side!
A friend of mine forwarded me a local newspaper article that explained that this artefact had been kept (in storage) for over 30 years at the Wandle Industrial Museum, before an expert realised what it was! Chapter House is a building in a car-park opposite a very large supermarket – but the entire grounds of an Augustine monastery lie under this car-park with only part of it currently being visible to the general public! This project requires a major input of money and expertise so that the entire complex can be excavated and enjoyed by the general public! I suspect the car-park needs to be removed and rebuilt at a higher level – so that the monastic ruins can be exposed and preserved in a safe and protected underground environment that the general public can visit. At the moment, adults and children can visit for ‘free’ with the exhibition being open only on Sundays between 11 am – 4 pm! The people that administer this project are friendly, knowledgeable and are willing to engage absolutely EVERYONE who finds their way into the Chapter House!
My mother (Diane Wyles) took both myself and my younger sister Rachel the 46 mile-distance from our then home in Tiverton to Torquay with my
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 