Old Times

Being the third Friday in the month it was time for Ambassadors' Business Breakfast again at the Grasmere House, Hotel in Harnham.  Since my last visit the flooding had worsened and the new lake (which had previously been the Water Meadows) was now lapping up half of the hotel's gardens and the ground water must have, I estimated, risen by a good foot if not more.  We were treated to a talk on the design of websites for social media and mobile devices by Urban Media of Salisbury - a very interesting and informative talk.  After the meeting I called in at Bookers and In-Xcess to purchase some items - notably the old fashioned light bulbs which can no longer be purchased in Tesco's or other normal outlets.  In-Xcess have a wide range of the old fashioned bulbs at very reasonable prices.  The chandelier on the landing was missing a couple of bulbs which couldn't replace because of the need to make a special trip to Netherhampton Road to purchase them.  I  then went to undertake my stint as chaplain at Alabare Place. Although I was there on duty for about four hours I had very little to do - it seemed the bright sunshine weather was keeping many of the service users away. One user asked to see me next week.  He is an avid reader and I promised to bring in some more books for the Alabare Place library next time.  I called in at Waitrose on the way home to buy some meat for tonight's chilli con carne.  At around 6.00 p.m. our guests for the weekend arrive, Andrew and Kath, two Baptist ministers from the Lake district.  Andrew studied law with me at Liverpool and became a solicitor working in private practice in Lancashire before re-training as a Baptist minister and working part time for the CPS at Barrow-in-Furness.  He and I, not only were on the same course together at Liverpool John Moore's University (JMU) but also members of the Christian Union and Legal Society there where he first introduced me to a more evangelical/charismatic form of worship with which I was unfamiliar and uncomfortable at the time.  We were also in the same  Halls of Residence for two years. We had a family meal this evening and caught up with each other's news.  They are down to help their daughter move (she is a STETS lecturer at Sarum College) in advance of her marriage in April.  Andrew and Kath now run a Chapel and Retreat in the Lake District and I look forward to having the opportunity of going up there some time.  We watched a couple of my favourite Fawlty Towers episodes "Waldorf Salad" and "The Kipper and the Corpse" which remain as funny now as when they did the first time I saw them.  I really do have to reflect upon how we two law students, later on both became church ministers - each remaining in our original denomination - and finding a deeper vocation than that which we first practised.