A visit to St. Paul's

A Sunday free from Clarendon Team duties and so I decided to visit St. Paul's Church in Salisbury and sample their informal worship instead.  I parked my car at Waitrose and walked the to hundred yards or so to St. Paul's.  As I approached the church I could dozens and dozens of people making their way up the steps and towards the church.  It had the feel of people heading for an evening at the theatre or cinema rather than church.  I sat towards the back in a very comfortable chair next to an elderly retired Elim Pentecostal minister who lives, ironically, in one of the villages - West Grimstead - where I have preached.  The service started with a traditional George Herbert hymn and an introduction from the Vicar who wore his clerical collar but no robes. This was followed by a few praise songs in the Spring Harvest mode after which the children - some 50 or more - left to undertake some project work off site.  After some intercessions and a reading from Isaiah (Chapter 6) the sermon was delivered by one of the Associate Priests who wore no clerical gear at all.  A very good sermon on the topic of the Isaiah reading and the meaning of the term "holy" (pure, sacred, set apart).  The emphasis was on the "set apart" definition. After the service I chatted to the Pentecostal minister and his daughter over a coffee.  I returned to my car in Waitrose's car park and met up with Anthony H for a "catch-up" over more coffee in the restaurant there. This afternoon I cooked a late lunch for the family - chicken fillets stuffed with garlic and herb soft cheese as seen in the Philly advert!  Sara has ordered some fresh furniture for the Family room which we are going to convert into a second lounge for house group meetings and client meetings and as a room for quiet reflection, study and prayer.  A new sofa which can convert into a bed will ensure that it can also be used when we put up visitors.  With Sara's Dad and Andrea coming over next year it will be good to have a tranquil room for them. An early night tonight as I have a long day tomorrow with a stay over in Hove.       

Personality Tests and Dominican Friars!

Up very early this morning and a drive to St. Francis's Church off Castle Road, Salisbury for a Men's Breakfast hosted by St. Francis, St. Paul's and CityChurch.  I met James outside who had our tickets.  We were treated to a good grilled English breakfast and sat on a table with a group of men from Morning Star - we made up our own Winterslow Table. After breakfast we sang a few worship songs followed by a speaker, Steve Brady, the Principal of Moorlands Theological College in Christchurch, Dorset.  Unfortunately both James and I had to leave before he really began his talk (he spent the first five minutes talking about himself and his books) as we both had other appointments - James to take his son to Andover for an event and me to spend the rest of the day at Sarum College with a new tutor starting the first term module of my second year of ministry training for the Oxford Brookes University Degree. My new module is entitled "Living the Christian Life" and we spent the morning talking about what it means to be a human being and analysing human nature - where does it come from.  This led on to a self-analysis of our personality types through the models of Jung and Myers-Briggs and finally a discussion on spirituality and prayer.  My homework before we meet again next month is on the Dominican Order and its spirituality which is closely aligned to my personality type. I guess, at least I have the hairstyle to go with being a Domincan!  I will discuss this with Sara and see if her personality is aligned to the spirituality of the Augustinians.  On my way back home I listened on the radio to the closing stages of the Everton v Southampton match which ended up with a 3-1 loss for Saints.  Had it not been for my college commitments today, I might have gone up to Liverpool.  Glad I didn't!  Maybe next year if we can stay up! Sara made my favourite cake this evening as a belated birthday cake - Victoria Sponge with buttercream - lovely.  After a lovely hot bath I am writing up my blogs over the last couple of days.  We have a Team service tomorrow at Farley and so I shall have a day off and perhaps visit St. Paul's in the morning and just soak up a different style of worship.

Second mission essay completed

 This morning Sara went to a Macmillan Cancer Fund event in West Tytherley where she was selling Vie at Home products and donating proceeds to the Fund.  I drove into Salisbury for a meeting with another potential client which, hopefully, might produce some regular work for Complex in the future.  This afternoon I spent completing and submitting my second mission essay (delayed from yesterday) at Sarum College.   I don't think it is as good as my first essay but hopefully it will be good enough to produce a pass mark.  I will then need to find time in the next fortnight to complete the portfolio for submission to my portfolio tutor for marking.  It won't get to Oxford Brookes until the New Year now unfortunately but I have found that the original tutor wouldn't have marked it in time even if I had got it in earlier.  I worked through until 7 p.m. (with a brief break to chat things through with a fellow student) and then returned home for an hour or so before walking up to the Lion's Head for a meeting at 9 p.m. with Richard to finalise next week's Pub Theology at the Lord Nelson.  It appears that we will have four men with faith and four men without - a total of eight which is a nice number and a good balance.  The time seemed to go really quickly and I didn't get home until midnight.

We woke early this morning in our hotel room at Gatwick Airport.  Rather than have breakfast we decided that we would use the Hospitality Lounge at the Terminal.  After parking the car at the Long Stay Car Park we took the bus to the North Terminal and after some shopping for Mary we went through Security (Sara setting off the alarm as usual!) and then to the Hospitality Lounge where we based ourselves until the flight was called.  Thom bought himself a set of expensive headphones which he has had his eye on for some time. Out flight was called on time (11.40 am) and we took off at around 11.50 a.m. with a short journey time of only one and a half hours. By 2.30 p.m. (Spanish time) we were in the Barcelona Airport Terminal.  Things seemed to go very smoothly until we tried to buy travel cards for the week.  Having told we could buy them at "any station" we trundled ourselves and our luggage to the airport railway station where we were told that we can only buy travel passes from the Tourist Information booth back in the Terminal.  I left Sara and the kids and trundled back to be confronted by a long queue.  Eventually I was served to be told that I could buy the tickets "at any station in the city" but not the station at the airport.  Having bought four travel cards for five days we caught the train to a station about a quarter of a mile away from our hotel and walked the remaining distance.  Another setback - on arriving at the hotel they only had a record of us booking one room not two!  Eventually the muddle was sorted out and we were given two adjacent rooms on the sixth floor - the larger of which having a view of the Sagrada Familia (Gaudi's gaudy basilica).  We went for a typical Barcelona meal tonight - some tapas for me, salmon for Sara and burgers for the children!  We had our first taste of tomatoes and garlic bread.  Back to the hotel for a good night's rest

My Birthday - 59 forever!

My 59th birthday today - the first of many as I don't intend to celebrate any birthdays after this one!  60 seems so old and I won't even get a bus pass as consolation!  I think I'll remain 59 for ever!  Sara thinks that I should celebrate my 60th birthday as it will be quite a landmark to have survived that long.  As a compromise I might have a joint birthday/licensing celebration as I do hope that I shall be admitted and licensed as a lay minister by the Bishop around that time in 2013.  I did discover today, though, that the only reason Sara wants to celebrate these two events is so that she can have a chocolate fountain!  Anyway, back to this birthday.  Sara brought me bacon butties in bed with tea this morning together with a few cards which I opened.  I decided that presents would be opened later in the afternoon when the children were around (both had to zoom off to their respective schools in a rush).  Sara went off to Romsey for a meeting with her Jamie at Home manager and I spent the morning looking at some work which had come in from a couple of clients and which I needed to turn round - essentially looking at a TUPE matrix and a business agreement.  I had intended to go into Sarum College this afternoon to finish off my second mission essay but thought that it wasn't a really good way to spend my birthday - especially as Sara persuaded me otherwise by telling me that she always took her birthday off work and would do something for her self.  I agreed that this afternoon we should go into Stockbridge and indulge ourselves with an English afternoon tea at the Lillie Langtry Tea Rooms. We therefore had an early afternoon tea of sandwiches, scones and cream, petite fours and pots of tea.  I lovely and civilised thing to do and so typically English.  We strolled along Stockbridge's high street afterwards to marvel and the cost of the expensive items in the specialist shops.  Everything high quality but at a price!  This evening the whole family went to our favourite Chinese restaurant at North Baddesley - The Water Margin - and had another high quality meal.  The food is always delicious and we had four banquet meals.  I finished my meal off with crab and sweetcorn soup and I can thoroughly recommend having soup at the end of a Chinese meal - something which is common in China and which I prefer to a sickly pudding.  We spent three hours in the restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.   

Wedding Anniversary - Farewell to Michelle

A day of mixed emotions today.  On the happy side, Sara and I were celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary - one year more than my previous marriage and therefore quite a wonderful landmark, and I received an email this morning from one of my tutors to inform me that my latest essay which I had struggled with had been marked with 62% (22% above a pass mark).  I had expected to simply scrape through in the low 40s at best.  This was really the kind of encouragement which I really needed.  Now for the sad bit - Sara and I drove up to Shrivenham Oxfordshire) near Swindon to attend the memorial service for my cousin, Michelle, who died of throat cancer last week aged just 39 leaving two young children aged 4 and 7.  A really sad occasion but one which was beautifully marked with a great service officiated by Revd. Canon Richard Hancock, a young cleric who had a really empathetic approach and spoke in a wonderfully pragmatic and sympathetic manner.  He ended his reflection (his name for his sermon) with the wonderfully uplifting words - "Michelle didn't spend her last year dying - she spent it living.  How many of us can say the same?"  He challenged us all to leave the church today and start living.  We never know when we will be called to leave this Earth.  We are called to live our lives to the glory of God.  The Glory of God, according to St. Irenaeus is indeed "A human being fully alive".  This is a sentiment I shall always remember and is, in the words of Canon Richard, the best memorial one can have for Michelle.  After the service the children present let off a number of helium filled balloons and we all watched as they disappeared into the skies above.  Lovely.  That event was followed by a sandwich lunch in Shrivenham's Memorial Hall and a chance to catch up with family members and friends.  It is such a pity that many of us only seem to get together at funerals these days.  Those attending included my own namesake cousin, Michael, from Cleethorpes and my cousins Muriel and Amanda.  It poured with rain again this evening and I attended a Joint PCC meeting in Pitton.  Nothing particularly remarkable on the agenda.  I feel more and more called to let others deal with the financial and other issues of the church and allow myself more time to concentrate on ministry.  In bed by 10.30 p.m. after a day of very mixed emotions - some very sad and some very happy.  Tomorrow is my birthday and Sara and I will celebrate both our anniversary and birthday by having an evening meal at the Water Margin.

Just the Ticket - A night at St. Mary's

Another day of intermittent rain.  I started the day working in my study but got a call from a client towards the end of the morning and joined him for a working lunch at the Hampton Inn in Bishopdown Farm.  I didn't feel much like working after that so pottered around this afternoon writing a few letters and tidying up paperwork. The study still seems to be in as big a mess as ever.  Tonight, Richard and I went into Southampton to watch the Saints take on Sheffield Wednesday in Round 3 of the League Cup.  We had to queue to convert Thom's concessionary ticket into a full adult ticket for Richard.  When we eventually got to the window we were told that this couldn't be done as it was less than fifteen minutes before the start of the game.  No such condition had been put on the transfer of the ticket when I ordered it on the phone - in fact I had been told to go to the ticket office and the only reason it was such a short time before kick-off was because we had to queue for about half an hour! In the end a supervisor gave us what we wanted and we arrived in our seats about one minute before kick-off.  I felt sorry for the enormous queue behind us because what could have been a two-minute transaction ended up lasting nearly ten minutes and they certainly wouldn't have seen the beginning of the game!  Saints put out a reserve team (only two players had appeared at Saturday's game against Aston Villa) but managed a 2-0 win to assure themselves a place in the last sixteen (Round 4).  Unfortunately the next round will take place when we are away in Barcelona so we won't be able to go.  To Richard's delight, Aston Villa managed a 2-4 win against Manchester City at The Etihad Stadium.  After a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Southampton on Saturday this really does go to show how unpredictable and exciting English soccer can be! 

Rose Croix in Salisbury

Appalling weather again today and I spent the day at home in the office.  This evening I attended a meeting of Sarum Rose Croix Chapter in Salisbury where I was treated like a VIP!  A lovely evening with great company and two very good ceremonies - a perfection and an enthronement.  It was good to attend a meeting where I didn't have to do anything and could quietly sit at the back and enjoy the ceremonies unfolding.  Rose Croix, a Christian Order in Masonry, is really lovely and I may very well join this local chapter.  Both the Provincial Grand Master and the Inspector General were delighted to see me attend and hoped that I might join in Wiltshire.     

Preaching at West Dean followed by Disappointment at Anfield

A very wet miserable day today.  As the weather forecasters predicted a low pressure area over the south of England has produced cold wet weather.  Sara joined me at West Dean Parish Church today where I was preaching at the Harvest Festival service with Andrew leading.  We had a congregation of about 15 today and the service was warm and friendly.  Andrew led the service in a lovely friendly manner and my sermon seems to have been received well with most people commenting upon it favourably afterwards.  No gardening today with all the awful weather so I cooked Sunday lunch - tagliatelle bolognaise - and afterwards watched the Liverpool v. Manchester United game.  The start of the game was very emotional with the singing of You'll Never Walk Alone as 96 balloons were launched - each one representing somebody who lost their life at Hillsborough in 1989 - and the spectators spelling out "Justice" and "96" with red and white pieces of paper.  Unfortunately, Liverpool lost the match 1-2 and with Norwich also losing against Newcastle at St. James's Park, Southampton actually went up a place in the table tonight to 16th! The win against Aston Villa with such a good goal margin has pushed them up from 20th to 16th in a matter of 24 hours! Tonight James and I attended Evensong at Farley with a guest preacher from St. Nicholas's Hospital in Harnham.  A very good sermon in spite of the fact that the preacher had left his notes at home.  With the weather cold and wet I am having an evening in writing up my blogs followed by an early night.     

Saints go marching on (at last!)

A great day today.  Sara and Mary went into Salisbury as usual and Thom and I drove into Southampton to attend the Saints v. Aston Villa game.  With no points on the board after four games, it was essential that Southampton got something from this game. The traffic was appalling in Southampton today - largely due to Premier league football game we were attending as well as the Boat Show at Mayflower Park. There were 30,500-odd attending the game today.  Aston Villa scored agasinst us in the first half and it looked like we might get another thumping today - we certainly didn't want a repeat of our performance at Arsenal last week.  That was the first and last goal for Aston Villa.  Four goals from Southampton in the second half - two from Lambert, secured 3 points and took us from bottom to fourth from bottom place - above the relegation zone.  A nice win and one which Richard will want to forget!  Can't wait to rub it in when I see him tomorrow!  Thom wanted to celebrate with an evening meal and so we stopped off at The Jewel in the Crown, an excellent Indian restaurant in Shirley.  We've passed this restaurant along the Shirley High Road a hundred times at least and never really spotted it before.  An extremely good meal - another couple of Baltis in a restaurant I would highly recommend.  So on two successive evenings, to sets of Baltis and great nan bread in a lovely restaurant. We'll certainly go there again. 

An Evening with Lawrie McMenemy

A long day today starting with Ambassadors' Business Breakfast Meeting at Grasmere House Hotel in Harnham and then back to Winterslow after calling in at Staples to purchase stationery. This afternoon Sara attended a meeting at The Rectory and I attended a meeting of the Parish Standing Committee having only just realised that there was, indeed, a meeting!  I arrived five minutes late but managed to quickly print off the minutes of the last full PCC meeting as an agenda.  This evening, Richard and I went to Bournemouth to spend an evening with Lawrie McMenemy at the Bournemouth Pavilion Ballroom where he was the guest in a chat show hosted by Paul Harris of the BBC.  He spoke of his early days in Gateshead, his days in the Coldstream Guards in London, he spoke with much fondness of his time with Grimsby Town and latterly about Southampton and his charity work.  A really lovely man, a gentleman and without question one of the best football managers ever.  Even when talking about some of the bad times he did so with a grace and politeness one rarely sees today.  Afterwards I had an opportunity to have quite a long chat with him telling him how our lives had crossed - the fact that I came from Grimsby and eventually married a girl from Chandlers Ford who attended the same church as he and his family and had mutual friends and acquaintances and how I was now a Southampton season ticket holder.  He really did enjoy his time with The Mariners and spoke about how he had taken his players on to the Fish Docks and shown them how hard the dockers and fisherman worked in cold freezing conditions.  His words to the players sum up his whole attitude to football and football clubs "These men work day in and day out five days or more a week in these freezing conditions so that they can earn the money to pay to come to Blundell Park on Saturdays to see you lot play.  Remember that on Saturday afternoons and play your very best for them! They deserve nothing less" . I manged to get Richard to take a photo of us together with my Grimsby town scarf although, unfortunately, the resulting photo was not too good because of the poor lighting in the building and my flash was inadvertently switched off.   Afterwards, Richard and I went to an excellent Indian restaurant called The Eye of the Tiger in Old Christchurch Road where we had Baltis and the best nan breads either of us can ever remember.  A really lovely evening.  My attempts at observing Uranus were thwarted again tonight.  The sky did clear and I saw the planet closer to 44 Piscium than the other night but before I could get my higher magnification eyepiece attached the clouds came rolling in again.  Frustrating! 

Signs

A meeting with Nils, my training incumbent this morning when we reflected upon what I had done during the last month and discussed the rota from now until the end of the year. I spent the afternoon with a client in Salisbury reviewing some legal documentation for them and generally advising on their position and afterwards called in to our nieces to deliver some little booties for Nevaeh which had been made by Sophie.  This evening there were five us for house group and we watched and studied a video by Dave Hopwood called "Signs".  Dave came and spoke at the CityChurch Men's Breakfast at Salisbury City Football Club a couple of months ago and speaks in a very contemporary style.  Those attending enjoyed this and I have enjoyed reading a couple of his books - especially his Blokes Bible.  The sky was too overcast for me to resume my observations of Uranus but I'll keep the telescope ready in the hopes of some better skies over the next few days.

Sermon Preparation

A fairly typical Wednesday morning today - Sara went off to Morning Star to make sandwiches for the homeless and I attended Mid-Week Eucharist at Whaddon.  Following that I called in at Staples and Tesco's to research Kindles with a view to buying one to reduce the number of books I have. Some serious culling is called for.  I arrived back home for a light lunch of crispbread and pate (bought in Tesco's) and after mowing the rear lawn, went off to Firsdown for a meeting with Andrew, the Team Curate, to discuss the Harvest Festival service he and I are conducting at West Dean on Sunday.  He appeared well pleased with my sermon and we discussed how we can work in the hymns.  Our meeting lasted about 45 minutes and I drove into Salisbury to spend the rest of the afternoon at Sarum College working on my essay and preparing for my meeting with my Nils tomorrow.  I have three important meetings in the middle of the day tomorrow - at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m so it will be pretty tight.  I spent this evening sorting out our finances and mail.  I also dusted off my 8-inch reflecting telescope in the hope of having a closer look at Uranus later on. Sara and I watched a documentary on Salman Rushdie and his period of hiding.  When this had finished I found that the sky was very opaque; so the chances of any serious astronomical observation are slim.  I'll leave the telescope out just in case of any breaks in the weather. 

Star Gazing - Finding Uranus

Today seemed to pass really quickly despite having got up quite early this morning.  Sara and I went into the gym this morning and spent an hour exercising whilst watching the Jeremy Kyle Show on the gym's TV screens.  It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who lead such complicated lives - so often of their own making!  Where do they get these people from?  Why on eartr would they want to display their lives on TV for millions to watch?   I must say that although I despise the way this is all made into a freak show, I am always compelled to watch it when I happen to "bump" into it!  After the gym, Sara went off to do some shopping and I spent the rest of the day in Sarum college researching and writing my sermon for Sunday's Harvest Festival service at West Dean.  I also continued with the writing of my second essay for the Mission module but didn't as far with that as I had hoped.  I shall go back into college again tomorrow afternoon.  This evening Sara attended a Team LPA meeting at St. John's office and I chilled out watching a few recorded TV programmes which released some of the Sky box for further recording. I woke at 1.30 a.m. and went outside to a glorious clear starry night and used the time to search for and find the planet Uranus with my binoculars close by the fifth magnitude star, 44 Piscium.  During the course of this week Uranus will close in on the star and the two will appear to merge together at the weekend.  Over the course of the next few night, provided that the skies remain clear, I will observe the two closing in on each other.  

Paperchase

A day at home today - in fact, the furthest I ventured from the house was to post some letters in the post box 50 yards away!  I woke quite early and was up and about by 7.30 a.m.  I realised how much writing I had to do today - catching up on blogs, writing and submitting articles for the Parish Magazine and a lot of Masonic correspondence to deal with.  I felt I was drowning in paper at one point.  I composed an electronic post-it note with 12 important tasks to complete today adding to it as the day went on.  Tonight I still have 5 uncompleted tasks on it!   The only time spent outside the study today was that one quick trip to the post box and an hour out to mow the lawn on the bank.  I just needed to do some physical exercise to get away from the paperchase. Still working at 10 p.m. tonight but at least I am working on things which I want to do!  I had a problem with the Night Sky article for the Parish Magazine as my usual source of material for it was not available which meant I had to undertake my research further afield.  I was supposed to be chairing a meeting in Hove tonight but I really couldn't afford the time (and money) to drive two hours over there, have the meeting for two hours and rive two hour back - a total of six hours would have been lost.  I gave my apologies and offered to be on the end of the phone should they need my input. really tired tonight and looking forward to a good night's rest.  Will try and get into bed before 11 p.m. - maybe with a whisky!  

On Wing and Prayer!

I didn't feel like getting up very early this morning and so I decided to doze in bed.  I casually asked Sara if she had any duties at church this morning and she replied that she didn't.  I thought I better check so I got up and went down to my study to consult the Rota.  To my horror, although Sara's name was not on the rota, mine was - as Intercessor!  It was now 8.45 a.m. and the service started at 9.30 a.m.  We both sprung into action - Sara ironed  a shirt for me and put a couple of bacon rashers on the grill.  I quickly showered and sat down to write out some prayers of intercession!  I found a template which I had used before and quickly superimposed some prayers taken from this morning's news stories.  I arrived at church with five minutes to spare.  "You are doing the intercessions aren't you"? I was asked - "Yes, I replied, no problem, they are all done and ready.  I sat down in a pew and quickly did some further tweaking as the readings and sermon were presented - especially when somebody told me it was Battle of Britain Sunday.  I spoke clearly and confidently as I read out the prayers, allowing plenty of time for the congregation to reflect and for me to ensure I was still on track!  The congregation seemed to be delighted with them and I did let a few of the more discreet ones share my secret!  I cooked lunch for the family today - barbecued chicken with chorizo kebabs followed by grilled bananas with chocolate.  Afterwards, to walk off my lunch I delivered about a dozen stewardship campaign letters to addresses around us in Young's Paddock, Stone Close and Saxon Leas.  It was Pub Quiz night again tonight and "Last of the Summer Wine" were together again to take on the village.  Another convincing win of some 11 points and more wine to bring home.  They will be banning us soon I'm sure!

To the Arsenal 6-1 !!!!

A long day today.  Thom and I left home at around 8.30 a.m. and drove to Surbiton to catch a train into London for the Arsenal v. Southampton match.  We arrived at Surbiton at around 10.30 a.m. to find that none of the car parking machines were working and when I tried to pay via my mobile phone, the automated system at the other end could not recognise my number plate.  In the end, I had to walk over the railway bridge to the other side and buy a ticket from the ticket office.  Eventually, after all that, Thom and I caught a train which got us into London at around 11.20 a.m.  We took the Underground to catch a Northern Line train to Leicester Square, only to find that trains terminated at

Charing Cross on that Line today.  We retraced our steps and caught a Bakerloo Line train to Piccadilly Circus where we went above ground and walked to Leicester Square through China Town.  This gave Thom an opportunity to see and experience London Theatreland and China Town and I think he was very impressed by the vast number of Chinese restaurants and Chinese businesses in that small area of central London.  We took a Piccadilly Line train from Leicester Square to Holloway Road and after a quick lunch at McDonalds, arrived at the Emirates Stadium.  what a massive and magnificent structure it is!  Holding over 60,000 people it is truly enormous.  After visiting the shop we took our seats about an hour before kick-off.  The seats are large and padded and we were right at the back of the stadium.  Consequently, it didn't feel so much of a footballing experience as a trip to the theatre.  The less said about the game the better.  Arsenal were awesome and destroyed Southampton in a 6-1 goal fest.  After we had conceded four goals I felt that all we could do was to sit back and enjoy watching superior football from Arsenal.  The fans on both side were good humoured and in a week which saw the revelation of the terrible cover up at Hillsborough, it was really good to feel the good naturedness of football today.  All the tube stations surrounding the stadium were closed as we left and saw we walked about two miles to the Angel from where we caught a bus back to Piccadilly and then a tube to Waterloo.  We eventually arrive back in Winterslow at 8.45 p.m. where we watched the whole horrible match again on Match of the Day.  We footballing fans really are extreme masochists!

Second Emmaus Supper

I spent the morning discussing pub theology with James first at the Alderbury Coffee Shop and then at the Lord Nelson where we had a light soup lunch.  Tonight we had the second of our Emmaus Scripture Suppers.  Rosemary cooked and brought a delicious chicken casserole with rice, Cynthia some green salad, Chris some "Harrow Mess" and Bill and Val a delightful New York style cheese cake.  Our contribution was a selection of cheeses, crackers and wine and coffee.  A pleasant evening although we spent more time discussing horticultural and church issues than the scripture surrounding Cynthia's sermon.  I was feeling quite tired and "brain-dead" this evening so I was quite happy to let the conversation meander its own way without being too structured.  I shall be quite happy for the future evenings to be similarly informal and unstructured as sometimes we can be too structured in our devotions and not allow God to speak to us through the relaxed atmosphere of the meal table.

More Study

A bit of a frustrating day today.  Having decided to go into Sarum College today I didn't actually get away until nearly 11 a.m. because of a number of telephone calls and matters I had to deal with.  Sara went into Salisbury ahead of me to have a morning coffee with the wife of one of my Masonic brethren.  Having arrived at Sarum College and being lucky enough to secure the very last car parking space, I spent the next five hours or so in the library finalising my last essay and finally submitting it to my tutor - to be told that he was behind himself and that it might take him a while to mark it! I was relieved and frustrated all at the same time.  I researched for my next essay and made a start - about 250 words.  Not a very promising beginning but I was also frustrated by the slow Internet connection which Jayne, the librarian, told me had been a problem the whole day.  I couldn't get half of what I wanted to do finished.  Sara called into the College briefly to pick up my Staples account card for some stationery for Thom. I finally finished at 4.15 p.m. and after visiting the railway station to get tickets for Thom's and my trip to London on Saturday, called in at our niece Natasha's to see her new baby, Nevaeh, our great-niece.  What a lovely baby she is too.  I held her for a good twenty minutes whilst she slept in my arms.  Tonight, I cancelled the House Group after all the participants couldn't make it.  Sara and two of the group were attending a Lay Pastoral Assistants' meeting in the village.  Thom and I watched the first two episodes of the acclaimed new series, "The British" which seems to whizz through British history at an unnecessary speed.  No Viking invasions and 650 years seemed to disappear between the Roman and Norman conquests.  A little too light for my liking. 

Great Niece Born Today

A day full of church meetings today but an exciting one too.  I woke early this morning (around 6.30 p.m.) and thought I would take advantage of the dry cool weather to cycle my 3-mile circuit to East Winterslow and back.  A really beautiful morning and I stopped at the bench overlooking Porton to soak in the view looking out across Salisbury Plain.  Arriving back, I cooked myself a ham omlette for breakfast.  After seeing the children off to their respective schools, Sara set off for Morning Star to do her stint at making sandwiches/rolls for the homeless banquet run and I attended Mid-Week Eucharist at St. John's followed by a full Team Staff meeting in the Team Office.  Nils, Debbie and I afterwards went to the Lord Nelson for a light lunch and chatted about our experiences in our school days.  It was good to see Nils being in the pub and I'm sure that this was looked upon with favour by the other patrons. This afternoon I attended to some paperwork and later went into Salisbury to do some banking and also pick Mary up from her fencing lesson at school - this is one of the four after-school activities she has chosen to do.  Of course it isn't "cool" for me to be seen picking her up at the school premises so I have to wait from her in the car park of the "One-Stop" general stores next door!  Our great niece, Nevaeh ("heaven" spelt backwards), was born today - over 8lbs in weight.  We hope to go and see her tomorrow afternoon.  Mother and daughter doing well we understand.  She will have a challenging life ahead with four brothers to contend with! Another church meeting tonight - this time the Team Council - back in the Team Office.  Two major items on the agenda - the governance of the Council and the recruitment of an employed Team Administrator.  Sara put together a template for the recruit process  utilising her professional knowledge.  The evening ended with me having a pint of beer with Richard in the Lion's Head - both pubs in one day!  We discussed the format of Pub Theology which we will be starting on 25 September at the Lord Nelson.  Went to bed quite shattered after such a long day and so many meetings.

Back to WeightWatchers

Back to WeightWatchers today.  Sara and I have decided that being a member of Ruth's group in Winterslow is simply not working.  We have, therefore, both decided to go back to Karen's group where I had such amazing success.  The only problem is that Karen is no longer operating a group from Stockbridge and therefore we need to go to Andover.  We found the new venue without too much problem this morning but the parking is very limited and we'll need to go in earlier in future in order to take advantage of the two hours' free parking in Suffolk Road and then walk up Bridge Street.  Since we were last weighed, Sara has lost a pound and I've put on one and half pounds - not good but not disastrous.  I really feel that with Karen I can get back on track and I have spent the rest of today being very careful about what I have been eating.  The key for me, though, is also exercise and I shall start my cycling regime again tomorrow morning.  I spent the afternoon on Masonic paperwork and tonight attended a meeting of the Deanery Pastoral and Standing Committee in Porton.  Quite a long meeting lasting until nearly 10 p.m. I have been tasked with tweaking the Mission & Outreach section of the Deanery Strategic Plan in time for the Deanery Synod meeting at Sarum College next month.  Shouldn't be too great a task.  Watched an air disaster documentary on TV (the SAS Milan runway collision) before going to bed.   

Studying and Reflecting

The weather has turned cooler and wetter today with drizzle turning to heavier rain by lunchtime.  I spent the whole day, again, in Sarum College completing my essay on Mission in God's World. I was pleased to finish it but I am about 500 words over the required number and will need to cull some of it somewhat.  This evening I attended a meeting for parents and Year 7 girls at Mary's school to discuss the programme ahead for the next 6 terms and some of the activities and homework which we can expect.  I remain very impressed by the school which has exceeded its targets for GCSE this year despite some schools having dropped in their expectations.  I spent the latter part of the evening reflecting on my sermon and service last night with the poor attendance.  I really worry about the Church of England and the dwindling numbers of attendees. I am passionate about mission and feel my calling is in this area rather than the servicing of dwindling congregations.  I am trying to get the proper perspective on this and try and reconcile my feelings with my calling.  Nobody ever said that this would be easy.

End of London 2012

Another hot day today and I went to the morning Eucharist service at All Saints, Winterslow with Sara staying behind at home with the kids.  The service was taken by Cynthia who spoke in her sermon of stewardship as the Clarendon Team start its season of sermons leading up to a full stewardship campaign in October.   This afternoon I tied up the front garden and finalised my sermon and paperwork for tonight's Evening Prayer service at Whaddon.  I arrived at the Roman Catholic Chapel early only to find that the service was actually at St. Mary's Hall up the road!  The service was led by Sophie and I gave my sermon on Maximilian Kolbe, the martyr of Auschwitz. Unfortunately there were only seven of us including myself, Sophie, James (who operated the CD player very efficiently) and Mandy from my support group.  So, in actual fact, there were only three congregants from the church itself.  Disappointing when I think of how long I spent on researching and writing it.  Sophie seemed very pleased with the outcome but I got very little reaction so its hard to gauge whether my sermon "hit the spot".  I will wait to hear the feedback from my support group member.  Tonight the London 2012 Paralympics ended with quite a bizarre closing ceremony with Coldplay having quite a prominent part. 

Another BBQ

A very hot day today.  Sara and Mary went into Salisbury for the usual cheerleading/shopping expedition with Thom and I staying behind at home.  I did a bit of gardening between working in the study. This evening we had another barbecue - sausages, chicken kebabs and pork rib in lemon sauce and some crevettes.  Really enjoyable. My little barbecue which I bought for only £14 from B&Q is proving to be a real boon and lights so easily.   The taste of smoked chicken and vegetables is amazing.  The weather should remain good for the rest of the weekend but is forecast to turn nasty again on Monday.  Let's make the most of it!

Back to the (Ageas) Rose Bowl

A very early start this morning to attend Ambassadors' Business Breakfast Club.  I hadn't been for a few weeks and it was good to attend again and catch up with some of the other members.  We had an extremely interesting ten-minute talk about giving presentations from Hugh Vivian of rockSalt. I am sure that some of the tips which I picked up can be used when preparing and giving sermons in church.Of special interest was the identification and treatment of "gremlins" - those little voices that tell you that you can't do something!  Following this meeting I returned home for a brief spell before picking up James and driving over to Southampton to watch the final day of the county cricket game against Essex.  Despite a brave performance from Adams and the eleventh batsman, Griffiths, Hampshire were all out for 302 runs meaning that Essex won the match by 122 runs.  Hampshire's promotions hope now seem over.  They have one match left - away to Kent which would require an enormous score in the first innings to have any hope of winning.  A really pleasant way to spend a Friday afternoon although I did have to deal with a couple of legal queries during the course of the afternoon.  We ended the day with a barbecue in the back garden.

A tiring day at the Ageas (Rose) Bowl

I didn't sleep at all last night due to Sara's heavy snoring which resembled Crewe Junction in the days of steam or of a cappuccino machine about to explode.  Instead, I went downstairs and watched a full length feature film - Behind Enemy Lines II - a military thriller about four Navy Seals dropped into North Korea on an aborted mission to destroy nuclear missiles.  This morning, after about an hour's dozing I did some work in the study before picking up Richard and driving over to the Ageas Bowl for the third day of the County Championship match between Hampshire and Essex.  Essex were batting in their second innings and put on 475 all out leaving Hampshire a total of 427 needed to win - a mammoth task.  At the close of play, Hampshire had put on 73 for 3 thereby trailing by 354 runs with only seven wickets left.  If they fail to win then Hampshire's promotion hope will die.  This evening Sophie called round and we went through Sunday's service together - choosing hymns and music to accompany the message of my sermon. 

Back to School!

 

 

It was back to school for three of us in this household today.  For Mary, it was her first day ever at her new Secondary School, St. Edmund's Girls School in Salisbury, for Thom, it was the first day of his last academic year at Test Valley.  How they have grown up. It really doesn't seem all that long ago that I saw them both born!  It makes me realise how old I now am, although I still feel so young!  For me, it was the beginning of my second year as a distance learning student of Oxford Brookes University and I spent it at Sarum College writing my sermon for Sunday and writing the first thousand words of my essay on Mission from last term!  I was at College from 9.30 a.m. until 7 p.m. and the day just seemed to fly past. I did attend Morning Office at All Saints with Nils and Andrew and Nils seemed pleased to see me and thought that this morninigs prayers were a good way to start a day of theological study. Tonight I have been catching up on all the other work and correspondence which piled up whilst I was in college.  Feeling very tired tonight and looking forward to reading the final chapter of my book "In the Garden of the Beasts" before going to sleep.  A day of cricket at the Rose Bowl to look forward to tomorrow. 

Mushrooms!

A really warm day today the morning of which I spent in the study with occasional trips to the kitchen for coffee.  Matthew the plumber arrived this morning to inspect a suspected leak under the children's bath.  Indeed there was a leak caused by the plug hole not being completely tight.  The ceiling of the kitchen is now bulging where the water has collected and we found we had mushrooms under the bath!  The whole area is now drying out and Matthew will be back on Friday to see how his repair has done.  This afternoon I attended a meeting of the committee of the Christian care home charity I serve on in Salisbury city centre which lasted about 2 hours.  I am pleased that I have got quite a lot of tasks completed today and tomorrow I intend to spend the day at Sarum College working on my sermon for Sunday and my outstanding essays.  The children are back to school tomorrow so hopefully there will not be so many distractions going forward.

Rose Croix Enthronement in Brighton

The weather has turned much warmer today and as we enter into September so it appears summer has arrived.  I spent the morning in the office and also doing a bit of gardening - especially removing more ivy which seems to be growing wildly up the walls of the house.   Sara and Mary went into Portsmouth (Gunwharf Quay) to get Mary a Cath Kidston bag for school - Mary has saved up her money to buy this fashion accessory!  I left Thom and drove over to Brighton this afternoon for a meeting of my Rose Croix (Christian Degree) Chapter and called in at Carlo's to join Sara and Mary for an ice cream - they were heading west and I was heading east along the same road.  I arrived in Brighton just fifteen minutes before the start of the meeting.  The meeting lasted from 5.15 p.m. until 7.45 p.m. I didn't stay for the dinner but left immediately after the ceremonies to attend another meeting with Peter and Tim from Civic Lodge in Southwick where we discussed lodge affairs at the Ship Inn near the station.  I finally got back to Winterslow just before midnight after a reasonably good journey back. 

Saints put on a good show

Thom was up early this morning but neither Sara nor I felt very lively and so had a bit of a sleep-in after our long day yesterday.  Mary was still staying at her friend Izzy's until mid-morning.  None of us attended church today.  We were due to attend a champagne breakfast for Sara's friend, Karryne, this morning at the Hook & Glove in Farley and we decided that we would all go over and that Thom and I would then drive on to Southampton for the Saints v Manchester United match.  However, upon arrival at the pub we found that the breakfast has been cancelled!  Sara and Mary called in to Karryne on their way back home and Thom and I decided to go back straight back home for an hour before finally setting off for Southampton.  We eventually arrive at our reserved car parking spot at around 2 p.m. with two hours to spare before kick-off.  We had lunch at our usual chippy and arrived at the  ground a good hour ahead of kick off.  This gave us an opportunity to read the programme, watch the teams training and have a chat with Andy, John and family.  Saints played well this afternoon and a huge roar went up when Lambert scored the first goal.  This was closely followed by United's equaliser and the teams went in at half time to a scoreline of 1-1.  Saints scored again early in the second half and the score remained 2-1 to Saints for quite some time until two late goals from United stole the points with a final score of 2-3!  A hat trick from Van Persie. Kelvin Davis also managed to save a penalty struck by Van Persie.  Although Saints still need to get some points on the board, their two games against the two Manchester sides has shown that they will be a force to reckon with once the new signings have gelled.  It will be a hard slog but not impossible to stay up.  Tonight, after ringing Mum for an update chat, I spent the rest of the evening with Richard in the Lion's Head where he told me all about his son's wedding this weekend.  We plan to spend a day together at the Ageas Bowl watching Hampshire in their final county game against Essex on Thursday.  

A Day in London (Olympic Park)

The alarm went off, as set, at 3.30 a.m. and we were on the road to London by 4.15 a.m. (me, Sara and Thom).  We had an easy journey up to Surbiton where we caught the 05.58 train to London Waterloo and from there the Jubilee Line to the London 2012 Olympic Park for Day 3 of the Paralympics.  We had to wait about 15 minutes for the gates to open but once through the security checks and inside, we had plenty of room and time to roam around and look at the park before having a McDonald's Breakfast and finding our seats in the Riverbank Arena for the 7-a-side football.  We saw two matches - Russia 8-0 Argentina and Netherlands 1-4 Iran, before we had to leave the Arena and have some lunch (very good, though pricy, haddock and chips). Our day passes allowed us to enter some of the other venues but, unfortunately, all were already fully booked.  By 2 p.m. the Olympic Park was extremely crowded  - there must have been 100,000 - 200,000 people there and so we decided to leave and catch a tube into central London and have a look around the National Gallery.  On the way to the tube station, Thom was delighted to find a shop which sold USA sporting caps and he was able to get one for his beloved Washington Nationals baseball team (he had been hoping that his Grandpa could send him one from America at some time).  He hadn't expected to find a specialist shop in the UK although I did tell him that you can get most things in London if you look.  We caught the Central Line to Mile End, changing for the District Line to Embankment where we got off and walked up through Charing Cross to Trafalgar Square.   Inside the National Gallery we saw examples of Monet, Rubens, Manet, Turner, Constable, Rembrandt and other famous aritists - too numerous to mention here.  We stopped off at Waterstones Costa Coffee shop in Trafalagar Square before walking up Whitehall to Parliament Square, over Westminster Bridge and found a noodle bar for supper by the old County Hall.  We eventually caught a train back to Surbiton just before 8 p.m. and arrived back home at around 10.30 pm.  A really long day and we all went to bed quite exhausted.   An enjoyable day none the less and I'm glad we made the effort to do it.