Oh what a night!

I intended to start by writing about the river (Rivelin), in order to put the blog title into some context. But I expect I'll get round to that before too long.

Last night I became a Buddhist. This wasn't a sudden, road-to-Damascus (Lhasa?) type event, but what the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) call becoming a Mitra.

The most unusual part is the 'Rejoicing in Merit', where someone tells the gathered audience all about your very best attributes. I can't think of any other occasion in one's life when anything like this happens. Except for funerals, perhaps, although we wouldn't be listening to that;Tibetan Buddhists may disagree.

Anyway, 'Rejoicing in Merit' - and the presents that accompany it - is such a positve event that it really ought to be more widely adopted.