The hills were alive with the music of sound

༄From Volume V of ‘Goodbye Forever — The Miscellaneous Memoirs of an English Lama’ which will be published in a few years — after volumes III and IV. Volume III is due out in the Autumn of this year.

༄The hills were alive with the music of sound — and with the cinematography of light. The hills were Gold Hill, Hambledon Hill, Bird Rock, and Primrose Hill.

Khandro Déchen and I climbed them all—conversed on them all—and sat in silence on them all.

Gold Hill is in Shaftsbury — near where I lived for a while. I lived in the home of Ralzhig who was at the time the sales executive for Element Books, the publishing company who published my first book – Rainbow of Liberated Energy.

Gold Hill is a steep cobbled street. It’s nicknamed ‘Hovis Hill’ being that it is famous for having been used in the Hovis television advertisement.

The commercial depicts a young lad in 1920’s working class clothing pushing his bicycle up the hill talking about the wonderful bread that’s it the large wicker basket strapped to the handlebars. The background music is brass band rendition of Dvorak’s New World symphony.

It’s a wonderful example of illusion. One is given the idea that it’s set in the North of England because the lad—speaking from memory in an old man’s voice – has a Lancashire accent.

The music calls to mind a Northern colliery band — but music concerns America. It’s designed to make the viewer feel that Hovis is the best thing since sliced bread. I told Khandro Déchen about it as we walked up the hill and she was almost crying with laughter. I’d told the story because she had asked me if I could give a modern-day example of the world being an illusion.

“The final words were ‘It’s as good for you as it’s always been’ and the unintended irony of those words always makes me laugh.”

Hambledon Hill lay somewhat to the south of Ralzhig’s house and whenever Khandro Déchen came to visit we would take a walk to the top of the magnificent promontory.