Harrow Brook neighbours filled the sitting room

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• 'Now I've got you exactly where I want you'

  In brief: A monk visiting his family in Chicago slips on the ice and breaks his leg. When his mother comes into the hospital room, he has never seen…

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  Like one of these monks, he was visiting his family over in Chicago years ago. I know Chicago is can be really cold, very windy, and when it does get icy, it's very, very slippy in Chicago. He slipped over and he did broke his leg, break his leg. And he told me afterwards he was taken to hospital with a broken leg. And of course, you know, they contacted his mother who lived in Chicago. And when she came into the room to see her son with a broken leg, he told me he never seen his mother smile so much. She was so happy. How can you be happy when your son's in pain and broken his leg? And she said, "Now, son, I've got you exactly where I want you. You can't go back to Thailand and and become a monk or or Sri Lanka and just disappear in some cave somewhere. You're in the hospital. You can't go anywhere. Now, I'm going to mother you whether you like it or not.

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• “Monastery” — a word from his mother with Alzheimer's

  In brief: Visiting his mother in London, who no longer recognises him, Ajahn Brahm spends two hours with her; out of the blue she says the word…

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  I was talking about this about my mother in London because she's got you know complete Alzheimer's disease two years ago a year and a half ago when I went to see her she just cannot recognize me she doesn't know who I am I I was with her for two years two sorry for two hours and just talking to her being with her she didn't know who I was although just strangely just out of the blue in two hours with all the talk she said she mentioned the word Monastery which was really weird and my brother picked up on that it was totally out of context with everything else she was saying but there was something in there just obviously uh knew that there was something monastic there you know with a person know she was with

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• The 'fearless' monk on the burning bus

  In brief: During a spate of deadly bus fires in north-east Thailand, someone on Ajahn Brahm's bus shouts “fire!”; the driver leaps out the window…

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  In Thailand many years ago when I was there about five years as a monk, that all the buses in the Northeast were very old, 'cause they just tried to use them until they could literally not to run anymore, so they're very old buses. And it happened that one bus caught fire because it wasn't well maintained, and actually people got incinerated inside. I don't know why it was, but one bus after another, it was a whole spate of these buses suddenly catching fire. I know one of the monks I was practicing with in the monastery, he was actually on one those buses, he managed to get out but I think his bowl and his robes all got burnt in the fire and he got some compensation from the bus company. That's how dangerous it was. I was on one of these buses once. As a monk they always put you in the front seat, you know why that is, so that you can stop people having head-on collisions because you've got good kamma, you protect all the people around the back. But .... There was a fire in the back and they shouted out "fire, fire," and the bus driver slammed on the brakes, you almost went through the window but you managed to stop yourself, so he slammed on the brakes, and he was out the window himself. And all the people, they rushed out of the door. And it was actually another monk with me, now as a monk we're not supposed to get in contact with women, and nuns are not supposed to get in contact with men. So there were women on the bus, but this monk sitting next to me, he didn't mind, he was out. But I was a very well-behaved monk and let the other people go out first of all, you know I was brought up in England being a gentleman. [laughter] But most of the reason why I didn't get out was 'cause my Thai wasn't that good, I wondered what all the commotion was about, 'cause I didn't understand "fire," and I hadn't read the newspapers of how many people got killed. So I just sat there quite peacefully and actually I was... I wasn't the last one out, I was the second last one out because it was another man who lingered in the back, and he looked, there was only a small amount of smoke, and he shouted out to the other people, everyone was out except me and this guy, and he said, "It's only a cigarette, it's not a real fire, just cigarette smoke." So when people heard that, they put the cigarette out, and everyone started coming in, I was sitting in the front seat, and they said, "Oh, the saint, the arahant, the holy enlightened Western monk. Oh, you're so wonderful, you had no fear," not like that the other scalawag monk who ran out and touched all of us. [laughter] That was a wonderful moment for me but to be honest, I wasn't a hero I was just stupid 'cause I didn't know what was going on.

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• Dad's 'Saturday injections'

  In brief: At 10 or 11, Ajahn Brahm makes the primary-school football team, but his father must work Saturday mornings. After kick-off he turns and…

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  that's when I was about 11 years 10 or 11 years of age You know my primary school. I managed to get on the school football team and I was so proud of getting on the school football team playing on a Saturday morning, and when I told my dad I'm on the school football team. He said you are wonderful when you're playing Saturday mornings Is it aha I have to work on a Saturday morning, and if it it eleven-year-olds? You're so crestfallen when he got on The school's he was only at school football team primary school But you felt me something and yet dad couldn't come to see you. Oh, that was so disappointing, but he had work to do So you can imagine my delight? When you had already started playing the soccer game the kickoff had already happened, and I turned around and there was my father He was on the touchline cheering me on oh that meant so much to me And then I asked him after the game said how come you managed to come here? I thought you had to work And he said yes, I did have to work But I know he was always very sick, so I told my boss The doctor had asked me to have a series of injections every Saturday morning He lied he wasn't a very honest man, but he was so kind and I'll give him that You know he was putting his job at risk to see his son play football and That meant so much to me

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