Razor blades sewn into the flat cap

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• Mum left him on the High Street

  In brief: As a child in London his mother leaves him outside on the High Street while she shops — early lesson in trust, fear and return.

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  my mother took me not to the shopping center in London those days were just the High Street

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• Dixon of Dock Green vs the new cop show

  In brief: Visiting his mother in London after seven years without TV, he watches a half-hour cop show with her and counts about a dozen people shot…

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  I went to visit my mother in London about 15 years ago, the first time I'd seen TV in about 7 years. It was like a copper movie show. I forget what it was called - not Defenders, or something. Anyways, half an hour TV show, repeated every week. As I was watching it with my mother, for giving her company, I couldn't believe how many people died in about half an hour. I was actually counting them. I got to about a dozen or something got shot and killed. I couldn't believe this because before, when I was... before I became a monk, the TV was so tame. Because I had 7 years I hadn't seen the actual progress of violence on TV, the contrast was so strong inside of me because the police show I remembered as a kid was a police show - anyone old enough might remember this - Dixon of Dock Green. Dixon of Dock Green was this London bobby in the days when they didn't have guns. If he caught a burglar, the burglar would say, "Ah, Sergeant Dixon, it's an honor to be caught by you, sir." [Laughter]. And apparently they don't do that anymore. [Laughter]. Things have changed. And no one got shot, and if they did go ever get hurt, if there was a bullet, they'd go, "Ooh, ooh, ooh." You wouldn't see any blood at all. And they'd just fall on the floor without any gore or anything.

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• Jamaica drive-in needed a concrete screen

  In brief: Visitor to a Jamaican drive-in wonders why the screen is thick concrete; locals shoot along with cops-and-robbers / Westerns — cloth…

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  Drivin movies now that they used to have I'm not sure if there's still any Drivin movies here in Perth but big screens and you go in the car and you just watch the movie however he was very um surprised to see the screen this huge screen it wasn't like a cloth screen like they have in you know Australia or United States it was a concrete scen scen really thick and it's a huge and he couldn't help asking why have they got a concrete screen you know to show a a movie for people in cars it must have cost a fortune and his host said yeah it did cost a fortune they explained why they had to build this concrete screen cuz Jamaica is a very violent ter a violent country an up country sometimes there's a lot of violence and everyone has guns and apparently this town was noted for its violence and most of the people in the town the sort of movies they like were cops and robers and and Western where there's lots of gunfights but what actually happened that when there was a gunfight on the screen that people in the cars would get their guns out and join in and if they didn't like the sheriff they shoot the sheriff if they didn't like the cop they shoot the cop a true story and the owner of this driving movie theater had gone through so many cloth screens and got all shot up by the audience that in the end he decides to bite the bullet and actually put a concrete screen up there

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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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