A whale of a time

A very busy as usual. In fact, Sundays now seem to be our busiest day - not the day of rest it is supposed to be. However, as most of our time today was involved with church matters it seemed appropriate busy-ness. We attended Linda Carter's Praise service this morning with Sara leading some of the Junior Church. The service was as inspirational as ever and Linda did a great job. The service was not fully attended by any means and it is disappointing that so many of the normal congregation don't enjoy this type of service. Tom was due to play football at Laverstock at lunchtime today but the match was called off following the massive amount of rain we've had. This left me with some extra time to finalise the arrangements and material for this afternoon's Food for Thought service in the village hall. Sara took Mary for a ballet show rehearsal in Salisbury and Tom stayed with me. I distributed fish fingers for home cooking and cooked 60 myself. At 3 p.m. we all went over to the village hall to prepare for the service. Thanks to fantastic help and support from Linda, Richard, Steve H, Petra, Nicola, Hamish, Cynthia, Rosemary, Gillian, Klynn and Susan the afternoon went really well with over 40 attending. Sara's play about Jonah and the Whale was well received and she is likely to receive commissions to write more such small playlets for the church events. She was very confident with her audience and seemed to be relaxed and enjoying it. We had a few problems with the projector's remote but all in all I think it went well. Hamish made a great Jonah and Susan's whale (pictured above) was wonderful. Mary played the King of Ninevah which she also did with ease and confirm. We then served fish fingers, chips and mushy peas with a substantial number of fish fingers over which Susan, Dawn and us took home to freeze. I returned home quite exhausted. I phoned Mum to ensure she was okay. She had had a lovely but very tiring day with my sister yesterday and her arm was hurting her. I was intending to have an early night when Klynn phoned suggesting a pint in the Lion's Head. I went down there at around 9.40 p.m. and Klynn and Joe C joined me for a couple of pints - returning home at midnight - so much for the early night! A tiring but rewarding day.

A great win for Saints

A quiet morning. After cooking pancakes for breakfast, Tom and I stayed at home whilst Sara and Mary went into Salisbury for Mary's ballet class. Tom spent most of the morning upstairs in the family room while I washed pots and generally tidied up. I also wrote a couple of letters and dealt with this morning's fairly light mail. I raised the Saints flag (to mark Saints' home game against Walsall this afternoon) and took a few photographs of it, fluttering in quite a strong wind, with my new small Canon digital camera. I am finding it very easy to use and I can now also record video and download onto the laptop for publishing on the Internet. I am sure that as retirement proceeds I will learn, with increasing proficiency, how to get the best from all the technology I now seem to have at my disposal. Tom and I left for Southampton at the usual time of 12.30 p.m. The traffic in that city was appalling today. A brand new cruise liner, MSC Magnifica, was in dock having arrived from the builders in France only yesterday. She is destined to cross the Atlantic to Florida to take up her cruising duties. After a lunch of fish and chips in St. Mary's Street, Tom and I made our way to St. Mary's stadium where we bought our programme from Nikki. Andy from Chepstow was not there today as his wife, Sarah, is having back surgery so I had my Tom sitting on my right and the other Tom on my left. The elder Tom is also going to the Tranmere game next Saturday so we tentatively agreed to meet in Aigburth at some time during the weekend as he is also staying in south Liverpool (Woolton) not far from Malcolm with whom I shall be staying. Such a small world. My Tom will be going to Holland with the school and so will not be joining me in Liverpool next weekend. Today's game got off to a brisk start with Walsall scoring after only three minutes (see action shot of their goal taken with my new camera). Saints equalised five minutes later with a debut goal by Puncheon and by half time the Saints were 3-1 up with a brace from Lee Barnard. The Southmapton players were on top form this afternoon and a two further goals produced a final scoreline of 5-1 (goals from Lambert and Lallana). A most satisfactory performance. Saints now have a positive goal difference of 21 but still remain seventeen points short of a play-off position. The 10-point deduction at the beginning of the season is really now telling. Back home, Sara and I put the final touches to the Food for Thought service for tomorrow. My biggest worry isn't the theology or my talk (I can't call it a sermon) but rather how do we cook 180 fish fingers and 5 kilos of chips in time for the food bit of FFT? The only bit I feel confident about is the heating up of a giant tin of mushy peas! Sara assures me it will all go well. My blog for tomorrow will record whether that is the case. The theme of the talk is putting your faith in God and not being able to hide from him. I guess I am also putting my faith in Sara. As for hiding....!

Goodbye to Chris (RN)

I woke feeling much better today although I still have a headache and don't feel quite right. After a shower I dealt with writing some letters and dealing with emails and booking my car in for a service next week. . Richard C came round at 12 noon with Chris M who is off to Diego Garcia. We walked to the Lord Nelson for lunch where we had a pint each and a bar snack. Chris is off to command the naval forces in the British Indian Ocean Territory and will be away for a year. We had a really lovely lunch and this will be the last timw the three of us will be together until June when Chris comes back on leave. The pub was quite full - mainly with pensioners (we felt the youngest there) - and Roger was clearly missing Sara who would normally be serving on a Friday lunchtime. In fact Sara, who had been to Fordingbridge to have "her colours done" came in just as we were finishing lunch - she helped finish off the "healthy" bowls of chips. We had some good laughs Chris will be missed. This afternoon I drove into Salisbury to have a tyre replaced. The cost of the new tyre for a Merc. was staggering and I realised just how lucky I've been in the passed to have it paid for by the Company. Fortunately all the other three tyres were fine and don't need replacing. Tonight Sara went back to Fordingbridge to do one of her Vie parties. Tom played with his Weii and watched the Wales v. France rugby upstairs while Mary and I watched The Odd Couple, Porridge and Fawlty Towers. Sara arrived home at around 11.40 p.m.

Mission Work

I woke this morning feeling a lot better but still not one hundred percent. I spent fourteen hours in bed last night and hoped this amount of rest would make me feel better. I had no appetite and although I tried a little scrambled egg on toast was unable to finish it. I felt well enough to do some paperwork in the study this morning and Sara went off into town taking with her the domestic rubbish for the tip which she didn't put out last night for the bin men (I was asleep in bed). I went over to see the doctor this morning who re-checked my blood pressure which was now back to normal. This made me feel a lot better. I spent most of the afternoon grappling with the PowerPoint presentation for the Food for Thought service. Fortunately, Sara came to my rescue when I struggled to get the words and background to co-incide on the slides - I used to have a secretary to do this type of thing! Tonight I attended a meeting of the Deanery Synod at Sarum College. We discussed the initiative for Mission within the Deanery with a presentation from Peter O-E. This was followed by group discussions which made me realise how more progressive we are in Winterslow compared to some of the other parishes. The ballot for the Deanery Mission Project proved in favour of the Mission Aviation Project and not Stop the Traffik. I returned home just as the House group was finishing. It had been ably led by Richard and it was good to see a couple of fresh faces too - Paul H and James C. The evening ended with the usual glass of spirits with Klynn and Sara.

Feeling Wretched

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling unwell and fainted in the en suite bathroom. I am not sure how long I was on the floor but couldn't raise Sara, all I could hear was her deep snoring. Slightly worrying that I could be dying in the night and she would be none the wiser! Felt awful this morning - headache and stomach ache. I flopped around the house with little or no energy to do anything and worrying about all the prep. still needed for Food for Thought (FFT). I had very little to eat and drank mainly water. I had an appointment with the nurse at our local GP surgery at 11.50 a.m. in any case (routine check up for any new patient). Everything seemed in order except for a little low blood pressure - better than being too high! Richard called round in the early afternoon and drove me into Salisbury - first to collect some paperwork from my old company and then to drive out to the Cash n' Carry to get food and other bits and pieces for the FFT service. Richard really enjoyed looking round the warehouse and seeing all the things he could buy for domestic use. As the nurse had told me I needed some peace and rest I went to bed at 7 p.m. deciding that the day had taken enough out of me already and hoping a long period of rest in bed would restore my energy levels and leave me feeling better in the morning. How I hate being ill! One good piece of news though - I've secured two tickets (one for me and one for Malcolm) for the Saints game at Prenton Park, Birkenhead on the 6th March.

Food for Thought Prep.

Another wet miserable morning. Sara made tea for us and got the children off to school. I had a bath and enjoyed black pudding and beans for breakfast. Matt arrived to continue work on the cloakroom and made significant progress today with the tiling and installation of the new basin and toilet. I went down to the Team Office at St. John's and Linda and I prepared the flyers for the Food for Thought (FFT) service on Sunday. We had a "whale" of a time trying to get the Jonah posters just right. I stopped off at Klynn and Susan's to discuss with Susan our requirements for artwork for the service. Over coffee, she came up with some good ideas for the whale swallowing and artwork for the children. This afternoon I spent the afternoon trying to adjust the posters for FFT and learning new IT skills in the progress. Sara went off to Jenny's funeral - a really sad affair compared to yesterday's as Jenny was only 39 when she died of breast cancer leaving two young children aged 11 and 14. Sara brought Sheila J back home with her. Sara used to be Sheila's boss but like Sara and me, Sheila was made redundant by That Company. Sheila has not found work yet but is pleased to be away from her previous employment. I took Mary and Lucy C to Brownies tonight at Norman Court and called in on Hamish and Nicola. Nicola is happy to organise the music for Sunday and Hamish to act in Sara's playlet and give a testimony. I took Sheila to Dean Station to catch a train home to Swanwick near Southampton. It was nice to see her. She apparently reads this blog so keeps updated with our activities. I hope she gets work soon. Tonight Sara is working in the Lord Nelson - a bit of extra cash - and I listened to the Wycombe v. Saints match on the radio - a disappointing 0-0 result. Grimsby Town managed yet another draw at Blundell Park - 1-1. I spoke to Mum on the phone and tentatively agreed to go up for a few days somewhere between 17-21 March. Grimsby are playing Bournemouth on the 20th March so will probably go to that match. I will also try and go and spend an hour or so with David Kaye in Louth. I also spoke to Malcolm in Liverpool and again have tentatively arranged to go up there between the 5th and 7th March. Saints are playing Tranmere Rovers on the 6th at Prenton Park so I'll try and get tickets for that game. Indeed, its only next week so I hope I can get them.

Farewell to Sid Sedunary - A Titanic Orphan

Back to normal with the children back to school today. Woken at 7.00 a.m. by Sara who actually made me tea this morning. It was a wet miserable day - very cold. Matt the plumber arrived promptly at 9.30 a.m. to start work on upgrading our cloakroom by installing new water closet and basin. I left home at 10.30 a.m. to drive up to Reading to meet up with Mike R. and deliver the Reading Mainline bus company papers and to attend Sid's funeral at Henley Road Cemetery. I arrived at Mike's house at around 11.45 and he made me a coffee whilst we chatted about our respective recent work experiences and discussed the papers I had brought with me. We then went into Reading town and had lunch at a Traveller's Rest next to the Crown Plaza Hotel on Richfield Road. An excellent carvery meal for only £5 per head. We chatted some more and he then returned home on the bus while I drove up to the Cemetery for the funeral. About forty people were present at the cemetery - Sid's son and daughter-in-law, brother and other members of his family snd several from the British Titanic Society including Robert and Amanda (Robert read a tribute to Sid); Sandra, Carol, Sue, John Y, Nikki and her husband Richard. Sid Sedunary was born in 1912, the son of a steward on the Titanic (also called Sidney) who went down with the ship. Sid was born eight month's later on 4 December 1912. When he died this year he was, therefore, 97 years old - a wonderful long life. Although a native of Reading he was a lifelong supporter of the Saints and their oldest supporter at the 2003 Cup Final. We had always sat with him on his table when attending British Titanic Society Gala Dinners. He always had wonderful stories to tell and certainly never looked his age. He has today been buried in the cemetery in Reading. His funeral service was a civil ceremony with the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" and the Theme from the film Titanic played as we left the chapel. A funeral tea was provided by the family in Sid's bungalow and all the Titanic enthusiasts were invited to take a book or two from his collection - his wish was that his maritime memorabilia be distributed amongst Titanic friends. I took a lovely book of ship paintings and a book of eye-witness accounts of the tragedy. They will be lovely memories of Sid. It is hoped that the Titanic Group will meet up again at the Aldridge's Auction in Devizes in April. RIP Sid. It was good to know you.

Thinking Day

A usual Sunday - church in the morning at All Saints where Judith conducted the Parish Eucharist and Sara helped lead the Junior Church. It was good to see Judith back after her family's sabbatical. It was a lovely service and well attended too although the first reading from Deuteronomy was unexpected. After coffee I walked back home feeling I needed the exercise after so many lovely meals recently and such awful weather precluding me from any major walking or cycling - things I intend doing when the weather improves. This afternoon I concentrated on getting my articles written for the parish magazine which involved not only typing them out but some scanning and PDF conversion. I am getting quite technically competent now with no IT department available to help me out when things go wrong. Whilst I was doing this, Sara and Mary went to Romsey Abbey to a "Thinking Day" service where Mary gave a reading and did very well by all accounts. I think we all need to take time out for thought from time to time - I know I always benefit from a bit of "thinking time" during the day. It used to be during my daily commute to work. I started the evening meal of roast chicken by putting the chicken in the oven and preparing all the vegetables - Sara finishing off on her return. Tonight I went to the Choral Evensong at Farley where the preacher was Canon Chris Savage from Cambridge - an industrial team chaplain. His sermon struck quite a chord - the essence of it being that very often those in need of the church are those who think the church is only for the well-off middle classes and that we need to get down with the people who most need us through such ministries. It also remiknded me that there is now only one week before I lead the service next Sunday afternoon at FFT. After dinner I walked down to the Lion's Head and spent a couple of hours over a couple of pints with Richard - putting the world to rights, as Sara would have it!

David Bailey - here I come!

We had breakfast quite early this morning with Mary McC joining us as she had to be back in Dorking quite early this morning - croissants, cereal, fruit juice and coffee. As it is half term there was no ballet school this morning for Mary to have to attend. After Mary McC had left I wrote up the blog for yesterday and then went into Salisbury to post off, by special delivery, some Open University books for Sara's brother which had arrived. I had intended to go on to do some shopping in town but found that I had left my wallet at home. Apart from a short stop at Homebase to get a new roller for Sara's decorating project, I came home for a lunch of soup and rolls. I returned to Salisbury in the afternoon and with my retirement gift money bought two digital cameras - one a Canon single lens reflex camera for series photography - including astro-photography in conjunction with my 8 inch reflecting telescope, and a small pocket digital camera for quick and easy snaps. They are still in their boxes as since arriving back home I've had no opportunity to get them out and look at them. However, I am looking forward to using the SLR for action shots as it has an automatic fast frame system. This afternoon, Southampton recorded a fantastic victory at Carrow Road where they beat League leaders, Norwich City, 0-2. This takes the Saints back into the top half of the table again but still quite a number of points behind the play-off spots. Tonight, after quite a bit of debate, we all went to Poole to the greyhound stadium. It was a barren night with none of us having a least sniff of a win. However, it was a great night out and the children enjoyed the thrill of hoping for a big win. Track 4 came up with no less than six winners. Favourites did not seem to win and so the betting and results were quite unpredictable.

JADE - Just absolutely delightful evening!

Last day of the Winter Half-Term Holiday - so after the weekend we should be back to some degree of routine and normality. After making tea, I drove into Salisbury to attend my second business networking breakfast meeting at the Grasmere Hotel. Returning home, I felt quite energised and dealt promptly with my mail (Sara and Mary had gone into Salisbury themselves as Sara had an appointment with the doctor about her cough). I also visited the doctor in Winterslow to make an appointment for a new patient health check-up. I then did some cleaning and tidying up while Sara continued to work on decorating the downstairs cloakroom. Sara left for the Lord Nelson, where she continues to wait of tables on Friday lunchtimes. I cooked pasta for me and the children and then cleaned and tided the family room ready for Mary McC who is coming to my retirement dinner at the Jade tonight. I took Tom to his football training practice at Bemerton (Gary will bring him back) at 5.30 p.m. where I met up with Terry and Peter. We discussed what it is like to be retired - Peter is already a "househusband" and Terry would like to retire but is too young. Mary McC had arrived by the time I returned home and we chatted about recent events and old times before Richard C's daughter, Helen, arrived to look after the children. There were twelve of us at the Jade this evening - on one long table - Stuart, Adrian, Serena, Mary, Rick, Lady Gault, Derek, Hilary, Nigel, Karen, Sara and me. What a wonderful night! The food was absolutely exquisite, the company wonderful. Great laughs! These are really good friends rather than colleagues. Just as with the Claims dinner last week, there was a wonderful relationship between me and these folks. We decided that we must repeat these dinners again on a regular basis. Thanks to Facebook many of us already keep in close contact with each other. We got back home far later than expected - poor Helen must have thought we were never coming coming. Her car was heavily iced up so I spent some time defrosting it for her. Mary McC, Sara and I spent a further hour chatting before going to bed at 2 a.m. What a wonderful day.

Skating and House Group

Woke at 8.30 a.m. after a very strange dream about Tom and I going to a cash n' carry in Maidstone. I can't remember too much about it but it was quite weird. It was raining this morning and the weather never really got any better all day. I made pancakes again this morning - Mary's favourite breakfast - and spent the morning tidying up the kitchen and dealing with a few emails and "snail" mails. After a light lunch of baked potatoes, I left Sara to carry on the decorating of the cloakroom to take the children ice skating in Basingstoke. We spent two hours on the ice (again I remained upright throughout) and Mary was able to try out her new smart pink skates. I was pretty pleased with myself as I found a new confidence and was able to skate at a decent speed. The more I skate the more confidence I'll get. I have decided that I really need some better skates than the ones available for hire and will look to purchase a cheap pair. If I take Mary regularly then they will pay for themselves in saved hire fees. Afterwards we went into Basingstoke town centre to get Tom three new Test Valley School polo shirts and also looked into a model shop which supplies "N" gauge railway accessories. Tonight, after a supper of fish fingers, we had the final House Group on the topic of the Holy Spirit. We had the two Moodys, Rosemary and Dawn tonight - six of us. Next week we start the Lent Study Group with Richard leading as I am attending a meeting of the Deanery Synod at Sarum College.

Ash Wednesday - The beginning of Lent

Although a little unconventional, breakfast this morning consisted of pancakes at the request of the children! They enjoyed them so much last night that they wanted them again. It is a good way to get eggs and calcium inside them. Straight after this breakfast, Tom and I went to St. John's for the Ash Wednesday service presided over by Cynthia. Tom actually found the service tolerable because there were no hymns and it lasted for only about 50 minutes. It is always a sombre service and makes us think carefully about what and why we are giving something up (or doing something more constructive). As well as giving up chocolate as usual, I am going to try (and I do say "try") to give up gossiping and speaking ill about any person and letting people see Christ's light shine in me! We can be too judgmental in our lives and this is going to be a really hard test. However, as Christians, it should come more naturally than it does. Indeed, like any other "voluntary" organisation, it can be rife with gossip and speculation - as well as factions. My new Lenten resolution was pretty well put to the test almost immediately today when a neighbour called upon us with some personal problems. Sara was just starting the decorating of the downstairs cloakroom and I was about to start some more serious tidying up of the study. That all got put aside to help this person. Sara had to attend a Junior Church meeting and so I was left to sort things out. No problem - it gave me the chance to put my promises into action. Tonight I attended a fascinating talk on the canals of Britain at the East Grimstead Reading Room hosted by The Friends of Bentley Wood. I met a friend from Lodge there as well as two members of our church. The illustrated talk was given by a resident of Alderbury who has travelled some 4,000 miles along our waterways. He knew his subject well and showed some interesting slides of the boats, bridges, locks and wildlife of the canals. Many locations were well known to me including the famous Falkirk Wheel. Of much local interest, and something I knew nothing about, was the description of the Southampton to Salisbury Canal with photos of its remains including a lock chamber at appropriately named village of Lockerley. Having told us of its location, I think I will cycle out to it shortly before the spring foliage obscures it. Having got back home at 10 a.m. I find that Sara's cough seems to be getting worse. She does have an appointment to see the doctor but not until Friday morning. Poor dear, it must be irritating for her.

Shrove Tuesday

A relatively quiet day today. I woke up feeling quite energised and spent some of the morning dealing with niggling little tasks in the study - banking, paying bills etc. I also spoke to Companies House to try and sort out the late penalty notices and will appeal once I hear further from Laura. Sara took Mary into Salisbury this morning to a rehearsal at the City Hall for the Dance Show next month. In fact, we discovered that the Show is the same afternoon as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Cup Final at Wembley! Sara has already bought tickets for Tom and me to attend! So somebody is going to be disappointed. This afternoon the children seemed to get into each other's way and so there wasn't a great deal of peace and quiet. Tonight Sara and Tom drove to the Lord Nelson whilst Mary and I walked there - a long spooky walk through the copse - to join other members of the church in the pub for a Pancake Evening - it being Shrove Tuesday. The pancakes were excellent - although I only had two - and I had interesting chats with Klynn, Richard, Linda, Lesley, Chris and others. Tonight, back home, I watched a programme on Northern Ireland TV (courtesy of Sky) about one of my cases in Northern Ireland which had taken me over to the Province on several occasions during 2008.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Another Monday morning without a commute. This one felt more like a holiday as it is half-term and the children are off today. The day didn't start too well with a letter from Companies House that because of a change in the accounts filing dates brought about by new legislation, we had filed the Oceanic accounts late and were facing a fine. Laura had sent these to me but had kindly also sent an email warning me of their coming in the post. I need to look into this later. Sara cooked breakfast and I took the children into Salisbury to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 the Squeakquel at the local Odeon Cinema. The weather was pretty grotty today with rain but as we took the Park and Ride bus service from London Road it didn't worry us as the bus pulls up outside the cinema. After paying for our tickets and popcorn etc. (the latter is obviously where they make their money - note to self - buy butterkist from Tesco's next time!) we settled down at the back of Screen 4 - which seems to be just a bit bigger than our new TV at home. It was an "okay" film - amusing in parts and Mary enjoyed some of the "toilet humour". As usual with these animated films there were morals to the story - team work, not judging at first glance, not being selfish, etc. etc. After the cinema we went to the bank, Game shop and Jessops. I wanted to see what types of camera I could get with the gift money I will get from my former Company. Tonight Sara went to a branch meeting in Southampton for her Vie at Home business whilst I watched some of the Winter Olympics and another documentary on Hitler!

Valentine's Day - and another pub quiz victory

A very busy Sunday (Valentine's Day) today. Came downstairs to a substantial amount of washing up from last night. Made tea and breakfast and then we went, in two cars, to church. Cynthia led the Parish Eucharist service this morning with the theme of the sermon being "let people see God shine in you". Richard C stated that he looked round the congregation and the only thing that seemed to be shining was the top of my bald head! What a heathen! After coffee, I drove Tom over to Dinton where Clarendon Juniors were playing away to Dinton Juniors. Clarendon managed to convincing 0-6 win to the delight of the manager, Gary. Unfortunately because it as such a late kick off (12.30 p.m.) we didn't get back for lunch until 3 p.m. Sara and I exchanged Valentine's cards this afternoon containing similar sentiments - we love each other through all the grumpiness! Her cough is getting worse and it looks like her old chest infection has returned. Tonight there was a pub quiz and Richard C, Chris M and myself formed a team (Klynn should have been the fourth member but due to computer problems at home he didn't make it. Despite being a reduced team of only 3 we took the quiz by storm and recorded yet another victory - each returning home with a bottle of red wine.

Skates and Paella

A very full day today with a roller coaster of emotions. Although a Saturday, Tom and I got up early and had a cooked breakfast because we needed to be in Southampton quite early for the BIG GAME - Saints v. Pompey (ko 12.30 p.m.). In fact, we arrived at our usual parking spot at a little before 11 a.m. so had plenty of time to saunter down to St. Mary's and take our seats in the Chapel Stand. Andy, "Twiggy" and family had to sit down in Row "W" as they had not been able to get their normal seats, but the other Andy and John were next to us usual. The stadium was absolutely packed (31,385) and there were many people around us who were clearly not Family Enclosure members. The atmosphere was electric with balloons and red and white cards to hold up as the teams came on to the pitch turning the stands into giant red and white stripes. Saints started off well and certainly seemed to be the better side with some very close goals but were thwarted by Portsmouth and England goalkeeper David James. At half time the score was 0-0. Portsmouth scored first in the second half with a quick equaliser from the Saints. Pompey scored again and Saints replied shortly after that with what was a disallowed goal. After that, Saints were caught three more times on the break when they failed to convert corners. The final score was 1-4. So we have been dumped out of the FA Cup by our biggest rivals! Phillip D will be absolutely insufferable. Never mind, at least we know we are going to have a day out at Wembley in the JPT Final. Tom and I made a brief visit to West Quay shopping mall for some lunch and for him to buy a fresh set of darts. Back home in Winterslow Sara and I prepared for our dinner party tonight. Christina, with whom I worked at the City of London, her husband Nigel (an employment judge) and their friend Sue came over for dinner with us. I cooked my signature dish of paella and Sara her dish of lemon mousse with raspberries. We also managed to drink four bottles of wine between the five of us. The paella and mousse went down well with not a scrap of food being left. We followed this with cheese and biscuits, coffee and Canarian honey rum liquor. The evening went really quickly with some wonderful anecdotes and stories from the past and the present. They are such great company and they have invited us, again, to visit them in London - something we really must do. I really do like entertaining and tonight's soiree was a real incentive to do it again soon.

Sara's New Job/Dinner with Old Colleagues

A lovely day today. As usual, woke at 7 a.m. and brought tea upstairs for Sara and me to drink whilst I read another chapter of The Lost Symbol. The book is now reaching its climax and I would really like to find an hour to finish it off but this retirement lark seems to leave me with little time to do so! I hoisted the Stars and Stripes today to mark Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1809. Mary and Molly were taken to school by Karen B and Sara babysat for Karen until about 10.30 a.m. I spent a good bit of the morning sorting out a problem with one of our direct debits with Barclays eventually, via telephone buttons and talking to an Indian in Bombay (or Mumbai or whatever it is now called) named "Harold" who, eventually, passed me on to a very nice lady in England! That sorted I sent a Thought for the Day by email to some of my erstwhile legal colleagues in Dorking on the topic of "stop complaining and act positively". It struck a chord with a couple of them who said the Thought came at precisely the right time. Sara has a small job as a waitress at the Lord Nelson Pub and Brasserie in the village. It was her first day so Richard and I decided to go along as "not quite so mystery shoppers" and check out the food and the staff! We took Tom with us and looked a bit like the Last of the Summer Wine trio (Tom at 13 being the odd one out). I have to say the food and service were excellent although we didn't leave a tip as to do so would have meant Sara receiving her own money back via the joint account. That didn't seem very sensible. Of course, had she been wearing that little waitress's number as in the picture things might have been different! Richard left us and Tom and I played darts in the bar for a little while. After picking Mary up from school, she and I walked back home whilst Sara and Tom drove back. Sarah McC looked after the children this evening whilst Sara and I went to Hox's Indian Restaurant in Salisbury to join some of my erstwhile colleagues in the Technical Claims Team (TCT) who had very kindly decided to take us out for a retirement dinner. This was such an amazingly kind gesture from such a wonderful bunch of people. Those present were Mandy A; Phillip ("The Skate") D; Nige (Ooh Betty!) H; Ali C (no relation to Ali G); Rosemary C; Andy ("Tiger Woods") P; Beth (not Beef) Wellington; My Sara ("The Waitress"); and last, but by no means least The Hon. Mrs. The Lady Gault - my erstwhile colleague but now also my real (as opposed to virtual) friend! We had a fantastic time with anecdotes about work and retirement - most at my expense - life in general and football in particular (Scummers v Skates). My autograph book did the rounds and the comments reflected nearly 20 years of great times. I think we must dine together more often - we had such fun. My only disappointment of the evening was that my very very good friend and erstwhile colleague, Hilary L, was too ill to attend. She has been very much a part of my life during my dealings with the TCT with adventures in Ireland and the North East. Hopefully she will be well enough to be at my retirement do at the Jade next week. The Lady Gault was on great form this evening. She has always been one of my favourite clients. We took her back to her home in Salisbury and saw her flagpole in the garden (inspired by our own). They always said that you needed to be a little mad to work for The Company. Tonight I think we proved that this is true but I would never have wanted it any other way. Thanks guys. You really did make my 20 years interesting and fun!

The DIY begins!

A quiet day at home today. Molly and Mary took themselves off to school on their own today and Sara and I spent the morning in DIY mode removing the old curtain rail in the dining room and replacing it with a new wooden pole. The result was spectacular with the curtains being pulled further to the sides of our French windows and giving the dining room added light. Sara tidied up the whole of the dining room (we have guests for dinner on Saturday night) and I sorted out some old books - mainly John Grisham novels and football yearbooks - to donate to the church's book sale on Saturday morning. Sara went into Salisbury to have lunch at the Fisherton Mill with Jan(et). I walked up to the school to pick up Mary at 3 p.m. and played some darts with Tom in the garden with his new dartboard which I had prepared for hanging on the shed. Tonight we had our usual house group - Ivan, Duncan, Paul, Richard and Klynn this evening. We discussed the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Klynn stayed behind for his usual additional spiritual experience.

PCC Supper

Today I woke reasonably early and walked Mary to school (Molly was being taken by car by her Mum). It was bitingly cold as we walked up the footpath behind the village hall and through the copse to the village centre. Having seen Mary safely in and having chatted to Susan and a few other Mums I bought a newspaper and walked back home to a welcomed cup of coffee. After a shower, I dealt with some paperwork, emails and other tasks and the day seemed to zoom past until it was time to pick up Mary again. I walked down to the school and we walked back home together. This evening I attended a buffet supper for the PCC members hosted by Maxime in her home at Laverstock. It gave all of us who serve on the PCC an opportunity to have an informal chat about village life, the church and current affairs. Another very relaxing time. Tomorrow, I really must sort out some books and tapes for Patrick.

We're going to Wembley!!

I woke at around 7 a.m. this morning in the little bedroom in Peter's home. I heard him busying around and I decided to read a couple more chapters of my book "The Lost Symbol" before getting up myself. After a quick shower I had a cup of tea and read the newspaper. Peter returned from his visit to the school where he is Chairman of the Governors. He was very smartly dressed having met with officials from Offsted. I then followed him to the old Goldstone Ground (former home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC) where he was taking his Peugeot van in for repair. We then drove to Wheelies for an excellent breakfast. Before leaving Peter to return back to Winterslow we had a look at his Provincial Royal Arch regalia and he kindly agreed to let me have this for my appointment to Provincial Grand Chapter in March as he has ordered brand new regalia for himself. I will only need to get the badges changed and my breast jewel re-ribboned in Warminster. I will go over there later this week. Tonight Tom and I went to St. Mary's for the Johnstone Paint Trophy (JPT) Area Final against Milton Keynes Dons. We won the match 3-1 meaning that we had won both legs with an aggregate score of 4-1. We're now off to Wembley on 28th March to play Carlisle United in the Final (Carlisle having beaten Leeds in a penalty shoot out this evening). There was a crowd of 29,901 tonight - a record attendance for a JPT cup tie match in its history. There was not a spare seat anywhere near us and it was odd to have strangers sitting in seats in front and beside us. A fantastic result. Although the play-offs seem to be slipping away from us, we are having a good season cupwise and Alan Pardew is proving to be the wonderful manager we hoped for. By contrast, Portsmouth are in the High Court tomorrow facing winding-up proceedings.

Titanic Plans

My second Monday of not commuting into Dorking - this week it seemed stranger than last; probably because last week felt more like a holiday but after a week of not going to work it feels a bit unnatural. I didn't see much of Sara today as she left for Gillingham (the Dorset one) after breakfast to spend the morning and lunchtime with our good friend Serena. I left home, myself, at lunchtime to drive across to Brighton to attend a meeting of my Mother Lodge (Civic) in the evening - staying with Peter again in Hove. As I left it started to snow quite heavily but did not settle. I had a lovely evening in Brighton. The ceremony, in which I had quite a bit to do, went exceedingly well and even Peter expressed pleasure - an accolade indeed. I also managed to win a bottle of wine in the raffle - this is beginning to be a habit! The only faux pas I committed was toasting the Provincial Grand Officers for Wiltshire instead of Sussex! Had I not been corrected I would have been toasting myself and would have had to reply to my own toast! Our WM has been scouring the car boot sales for White Star/Titanic memorabilia and with a big grin on his face presented me with two picture frames - one containing a well known facsimile of a White Star poster advertising Olympic and Titanic and the other containing some yellowing deck plans of the ships date stamped 1912 which I have seen reproduced in books. It is hard to say whether these plans actually date from 1912 but I will let Aldridges of Devizes look at them. Unfortunately there is no providence but they certainly appear old. After the meeting we returned to Peter's for coffee and as he had to get up early in the morning I took the opportunity to have an early night after checking my iPod for emails.

Tom's Birthday - The Teenage Years begin

Yet another early start - weekends haven't changed in retirement and, consequently, they now seem busier than ever. It is Tom's birthday today and so he came into our room to open his presents before I went off to church. I got some money from Mum and Therese, a scarf and new mobile phone from us, a game shop voucher from Paul and Sian and some darts equipment also from us. I left to attend the 8 a.m. Early Morning Eucharist at St. John's as I would miss the All Age Eucharist at All Saints this morning because Tom was playing a match at 10 a.m. on Barry's Field. Elizabeth gave her usual polished ministry in church and I returned home for a breakfast of pancakes cooked in Sara's new pancake pan. Tom played for the first half of Clarendon Junior's match against Salisbury City. Clarendon won 2-0 although their performance was quite poor and Gary gave the lads a bit of a "telling off". This afternoon Mary went to Maya's birthday party in the village hall. I dealt with some masonic paperwork and attempted to sort out. This evening we had a lovely family dinner at the Water Margin Chinese restaurant in North Baddesley where we were served with a Gourmet Buffet. Absolutely excellent food as always. This weekend has been so busy that I am feeling extremely tired so will aim for an early night. Tomorrow will be another long day as I am going to Brighton again, staying overnight with Peter.

Teenagers go to the Dogs

Yet another early start this morning - and another cooked breakfast - this time at our local hostelry the Lord Nelson. It was a meeting of the monthly Men's Breakfast Group where we fellow Christian men set down over a full English breakfast and discuss ethical matters. Today we asked ourselves the question - why did God allow Haiti to happen? Of course we cannot know the answer to such a great and vexing question but we did, nevertheless, proffer some views. Because I lead a house group it seemed that the question was mainly directed to me!. I suggested that God did not make the world perfect, that it is a living planet and Mankind chooses to live where he does. Pain and suffering are part and parcel of the free life which He gives us. I ventured to say that God does not cause these things but he does allow them to happen for His own purpose. A purpose which we cannot understand. I returned home (on foot) having decided to leave the car in the drive this morning after buying a morning paper. Back home Tom was playing darts in the back garden and his two friends, John and James came round to play on his Xbox and have lunch. I spent the afternoon writing letters and completing the accounts for the Oceanic Steam Navigation companies still owned by me and my ex-wife. That done it struck me, for some reason ("random" James would call it) that it would be a great idea to take the lads to Poole for the greyhound racing. Having cleared it with their parents we set off at 5.30 p.m. to Poole. The journey was a nightmare with a massive traffic jam around Downton caused by three-way temporary traffic lights at the villages main junction with the A338. It took us the best part of 30 minutes to cover 3 miles. Fortunately, the greyhound racing wasn't particularly well-attended tonight and although we didn't arrive until 7.00 p.m. we managed to get a table to sit at near the bar. We had a great evening, the lads really enjoying it - especially John and James who had never experienced dog racing before. I won £15 and John £4.40. not bad. It paid for the meal and we nearly had a big win right at the end. Both of the newcomers would like to go again. I arrived back home at 11.30 p.m. feeling pretty tired but so less stressed than before. I am writing this blog up before I go to bed although it is nearly 1 a.m.

Another early breakfast

An early morning start - my first since I retired at the beginning of the week. I also donned my suit and tie and set off for a morning breakfast meeting of the Ambassadors' networking group at Grasmere Hotel in Salisbury. After an excellent cooked breakfast each member and guest present had to say a little about their business and business cards were swapped around. This was a good opportunity for me to begin to promote our employment law consultancy company, Complex Services Limited, and I made a few contacts in the local legal world. Following the breakfast I took the old computer equipment from the study down to the amenity tip and called in at Staples for some crates and envelopes. I also dropped some copy letters into Maxime who reminded me about the PCC supper at her house next Wednesday - I now have an engagement every evening next week! Back home I washed and valeted the car and had lunch of baked potatoes with Sara who had been out visiting our friend Lucy in Whiteparish. We both went to Mary's school to hear about her class's forthcoming trip to Oxenwood. I took Tom to his football training at Bemerton where I stayed to bring him back and just after 8 p.m. went down to the Lion's Head to meet up with Richard. I also saw Mandy in the pub who was unaware that I had left The Company and was heartily envious - wishing she was a year older! Chris M joined us later to help us put the world to rights. A busy but rewarding day today. Everybody I meet says that I look so much happier and relaxed!

A start on the study

A day at home today - apart from a short trip across the road to post a letter I stayed in the house all day - a most unusual occurrence. Sara went to Sue's for morning coffee after she dropped Mary and her friend Molly off for school. I spent the morning in beginning the task of tidying up the study by removing the old desktop computer, screen and keyboard and thoroughly cleaning the window and window board, desks and floor. I was very pleased with the progress I made and having made room on two desks, find it much easier to work in here. However, I still have numerous boxes of documents and other items (some brought from work) which I need to sift through, discard any items not wanted and find a home that I do. I will buy to folding crates tomorrow to help me sort through these items - some books can go to Patrick for the church book sales. Later this afternoon I took some time out to study the House Group material for tonight's meeting. We had a good turn out with Steve, Dawn and Paul H joining Richard, Ivan, Rosemary, Sara and me. We spoke about the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the conversation flowed freely even if we had some problems with answering the questions. Up early tomorrow morning as I am attending an Ambassador's Networking Business Group breakfast meeting at the Grasmere Hotel in Harnham at 7.30 a.m. A bit like the early morning start in our Salisbury office. I also have trips to do to the recycling dump and Staples and Sports World..

A Sussex Invasion!

I woke at the usual time I would as if I was going to work. I made tea for Sara and went downstairs for breakfast of porridge sweetened with sultanas - a far healthier breakfast than yesterday morning! Sara went off into town and I spent the morning clearing up the hall landing and putting boxes and cases up in the loft. I then started to deal with some banking on line and answering emails. Other chores included tidying the kitchen and loading and emptying the dishwasher. I was making soup for lunch when we received a phone call that Paul from Eastbourne was in Romsey and was going to call in to see us. He arrived at just after 2 p.m. and we gave him lunch of beans on toast. We chatted for a couple of hours and he managed to remove the zoom effect on the HD channels on our TV which had been causing us so much frustration. He also showed me some of the apps on his iPhone which I can get put on my iPod Touch - especially an astronomical application which shows the position of all the night sky objects - not just the planets. Shortly before Paul left, Peter arrived from Hove and so we had two visitors from Sussex in the house - my ties with Sussex remain as strong as ever - after all, I did live there for 17 years. Peter and I left at around 5.30 p.m. to go into Salisbury to attend my Wiltshire Lodge, Sarum. Tonight we had an excellent lecture on Mozart and Austrian Freemasonry with illustrations from his masonic musical work. Fascinating. This was followed by an excellent festive board on vegetable broth, steak and mushroom pie, peaches and cream and cheese and biscuits. Peter is going to look into the options for our extension and kitchen refurbishment and come back to us. Lee, our newest member, wants to set up a dinner for him, his wife Karen and Sara and me during the next few days. Child minding always being the problem, I will try and get back to him tomorrow. I am receiving some lovely messages via Facebook with people generally being very pleased for my retirement.

Farewell to Friends

Woke up at around 7.30 a.m. in the nursery bedroom at Peter's. By the sound of the cars going by the roads were wet and the dark sky confirmed that it was raining. After a shower I went downstairs for a cup of tea and read some of The Lost Symbol. Peter joined me and after a chat over tea we went off to Wheelies - a nice clean "greasy spoon" run by a couple of nice girls in Victoria Road, Portslade. I had a 4X4 breakfast consisting of egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding, beans, fried slice, tomato and toast, washed down with a mug of tea. On the way back we called in at Victor H's for a coffee and to discuss some masonic business. I finally left Hove at around 11.30 a.m. arriving back at Winterslow at 1.30 p.m. This evening I had my drinks function in The Boathouse and it was good to see so many ex-colleagues come over for a drink and to say goodbye. In fact, quite a number of them I will see again at my special dinner at the Jade on the 19th. I stayed behind until about 9 p.m. with Kevin, Lorna and Ed laughing and joking about some of the funnier moments over the last twenty years. Hilary kindly gave me a bottle of good champagne. I have made some really good friends over the years, particularly in Salisbury, and I am so glad that we have made this area our home.

First Day as a Pensioner

My first full day as a pensioner! Sara brought me a cup of tea in bed this morning at 8.30 and I had a lovely bath. After breakfast of porridge we went into Salisbury to attend to some errands - library, banking, haircut (or in my case head polish - they actually only charge me for a child's cut), handing in my security and fuel cards to the local office. We had lunch by St. Thomas's Church and it seemed very strange not to have to rush off back to the office to work. I still have the habit of looking at my watch and then wondering why I'm bothering to do so! After that we went to Five Rivers Leisure Centre to get ourselves weighed and downgrade our membership to 50+ Premium from Corporate Membership. In the afternoon I went up to St. Mary's Stadium to get our tickets for the Saints v. Pompey Round 5 FA Cup tie on the 13th February. After this I drove over to Hove where I stayed at Peter's, Neil making me a lasagne for supper. Roger and I then walked to Benfield School for our masonic rehearsal. It was good to see old friends again especially as we had such a good turnout. The meeting went well and we had quite a few laughs. Afterwards we went to the Stanley Arms where good real ale is served - at a much cheaper cost than in Winterslow too! Peter joined us later as he had been up to a senior masonic meeting in London. Back at his house we chatted over tea and coffee until gone 1 a.m. Lovely to think that I haven't got to get up early in the morning to go to Dorking. However, it will still take quite a bit of getting used to!