An even more Golden Thursday

More medals today in the Olympics -  golds and 3 silvers - brilliant!  golds in shooting, canoeing and cycling which takes GB up into 5th place in the medal table - just one place behind where we finished at Beijing in 2008.  Well done.  More golds to follow too by all accounts.  I spent most of today at Sarum College trying to put together a plan for completing the Mission Module portfolio away from too many distractions.  I arrived just after 10 and apart from a short lunch break in the city centre to get some books on Krakow and do some essential banking, stayed in the library there until 6 p.m. when I went to Qudos in castle Street to join in Andy Parkinson's farewell from Friends Life (formerly Friends Provident).  I was amazed at how many former employees who have been made redundant are now back there working as contractors.  Crazy!  They must feel really smug.  As for me, I do not regret leaving although I have replaced one type of stressful existence with another - of my own making!  Studying and running a busy consultancy (at the moment at least) is very stressful.  After a glass of wine at Qudos, a group of us sauntered over to the excellent Indian restaurant, Anokaa's, to continue the celebration/farewell.  Excellent food - I had king prawns followed by New Delhi-style chicken curry washed down with a cola.  It was good catching up but I was quite disappointed that quite a number of people I would have expected were not there and there were quite a few people who I simply did not know.  Quite clearly the company has changed drastically since I left.  I got home to the good news about our Olympian successes which was heartening.  I really good day - just two disappointments - my barrister friend Michael has cancelled tomorrow's day in Henley - something I really look forward to (although this year we have spent a few days together on the Croydon case) - due to a heavy summer cold and I didn't get as much done as I had hoped.  I still need to do some additional reading before I feel ready to write the essays.  I must stay focused on this and not panic.  The academic side and ministry formation are quite separate and I have been concentrating on the former and not the latter.  Must be more disciplined which is difficult with a trip to Poland about to happen, the Olympics and the children at home.  Feeling tired again as I go to bed at 1 a.m. again.