Change and Challenge

A relatively quiet day at home today after all the travelling up to Liverpool and Brighton. I walked with Mary and Molly to school and bought a newspaper and some stamps from the shop. Back home I read the paper and discussed with Sara the possibilities for flights to the Carolinas and also our forthcoming trip to Dublin with the Russells in May/June. After some considerable debate and discussions with Sian we have booked return flights to Dublin from Bristol which very nearly coincide with the timings of their flights to and from London Gatwick. The Ryanair website is very challenging especially in circumnavigating its crafty ways of trying to extract extra money from the unsuspecting passenger. We still have to sort out the accommodation as whilst it suits us to stay at Castleknock it is going to be expensive for them because Simon wants his own room. I will try and discuss options with my friend Dave who is a travel agent in Dublin. This afternoon I dealt with some financial matters and mail and this evening attended the Parochial Church Council meeting which was discussing the budget and the use of screens in church as major topics. I found myself in a minority of one over certain issues and Sara and I are seriously concerned about the way the church is going and using its money. If we want to maintain a vibrant church we need to be a bit more forward-looking. We seem to be locked into "old ways" rather too much and whilst I do like traditonal services and history we still need to make some changes to the way we do God's work.