Back in the West End.

Once again this year I was invited to the annual celebration in London's Leicester Square in honour of the birth of the Buddha, or rather of the baby who would grow up as a prince then leave it all behind to search for Enlightenment and become the Buddha. It's always a very friendly occasion this that the Chinese London Fo Guang Temple arranges. I love going to it and after all, as I said to my friend Victor later that day, I don't get to appear in the West End often these days.
So on Cup Final Day down to London went Tahn Manapo and I with Prang doing the driving. Of course the match at Wembley meant more traffic and so we didn't arrive in Leicester Square until after the procession through China Town was well on its way. Never mind we had time to sit and catch our breath before they returned and the main ceremony began. All around the Buddha Image in the main tent was beautifully decorated and in my little talk I drew attention to this and the obvious love and respect for the Buddha that it showed. This, I said, is what the Buddha means to us who follow him and so when we see his image and name used inappropriately it worries us. I wanted to make a point of this because sitting in front of me was the Deputy Mayor of Westminster, the very council that licenses establishments like the Funky Buddha Club in Mayfair! I think he got the message.

Afterwards we walked over to the British Museum and spent an hour or so viewing its wonderful collection of ancient Buddha Images.

On these annual trips I try to include a visit with an old and very dear friend of mine who lives in a tiny flat overlooking China Town. But he'd told me he was away and wouldn't be back until late that afternoon, too late for us to meet. We were just emerging from the underground car park to come back to Warwickshire when my phone rang and it was him. He'd just got in. So up the road we went to another car park and then for the second time that day threaded our way through the crowds and across Leicester Square. But this time it was to Newport Place and Victor's tiny flat that we went where we chatted and were entertained by this wonderful man who firmly believes in living in the present. Victor Spinetti and I worked together nearly forty years ago when I was an actor at the National Theatre and he came to direct a play composed of John Lennon's verse, and we've been friends ever since. We don't see each other often but I've kept in touch with him unlike other former friends and colleagues because I felt he understood what I'm up to, at least so far as the practice of trying to live in the present is concerned.