I'm a word man myself, and haven't the visual creativity to action this plan, but I think it's a good wheeze and would love to see it followed up. A twist on this idea, which again I wouldn't be able to put into practice but would love to see done, is a virtual map of the monastery. It would need some kind of interactive graphics package... (I just made up "interactive graphics" - perhaps there's a Business Plan in it for somebody).

My concept is a set of floorplans with zoomable rooms. Some of the rooms are public spaces (Refectory, Library, Chapel etc) which might be designed by designated Higher Monks or committees thereof; and others would be the personal cells of individual monks, which they could add to and alter at will - kind of a visual home node. I dare say higher level monks might get bigger cells, or cells with a better view, or be allowed more articles of furniture. And we would need some kind of flexible zoning to allow topologically possible extensions of the monastery as it grew.

As I say, this is way beyond my ability to put into practice - but if it appeals to some RPG-oriented graphics guru, I'd love to see it done. It could be the most fabulous waste of time since they invented cave-painting :)

PS Whilst I'm on the subject - does any other monk have a visual image in his or her mind of what this place looks like from the outside? I'm not sure what this says about me or the monastery, but I visualise it like this.

§ George Sherston