Down to the New Forest

Sara took Thom to Nether Wallop this morning as I was attending Morning Office at All Saints with the Rector and Curate followed by my monthly 1:1 with the Rector as part of my ongoing ministerial formation.  although I shall be on placement at St. Francis's during Lent and Holy Week we arranged to have a meeting at the end of March to touch base.  Geoff was working on repairing the carpet thresholds when I returned and I had coffee and watched some of the skiing from Sochi (Winter Olympics) with the British skier, James wood, coming 5th - a great achievement for this young lad who has learnt how to ski on the erstwhile dry ski slope in Sheffield. I then had to rush off into Salisbury for a meeting with Ashley, my fellow student, at Sarum College where we caught up on things and gave each other some guidance on our respective assignments and modules. He had had a meeting with our common tutor, Stella, on Monday and I am meeting her tomorrow.  I had a late lunch at Waitrose aft.  Sara picked up Thom at lunchtime and took him t the new dental surgery on the site of the old psychiatric hospital on Wilton Road where he had two fillings.  He came back home realising the importance, I think, of looking after his teeth.   I changed into my Masonic clothes, picked up my regalia and headed south for a meeting of New Forest Installed Masters' Lodge at Christchurch - in fact the meeting was at Mudeford very close to where the caravan park had once stood where, as children, we had spent a couple of Whitsun holidays in the 1960s.  A really enjoyable evening and I met up, once again, with Mike Codd, the former Assistant Provincial Grand  Master for Hampshire and Isle of Wight.  I was accompanied on this occasion by my secretary, Chris, who I discovered is also a keen astronomer.  I nearly didn't get to the meeting as, within sight of Christchurch  I had to take a major diversion because the river Avon has burst its banks and the road was badly flooded.   The flooding down here is terrible and we are expecting another 40 cm of rain over the next 48 hours.  Winchester is now under threat.  It just continues and continues.