Happy 14th Birthday Tom!

Up early this morning - Tom's 14th birthday today. It's frightening to think how quickly time has passed by - it seems such a short time ago since I saw him being born and the joy that event invoked! Now a tall "strompy" teenager! Just enough time this morning for him to open his presents (a Fifa '11 game from us, a trendy top from my sister and family, some chocolates and sweets from Mary, some money from my Mum and a token from Therese) before he needed to get off to school - another important day for him as he has to speak with his form tutor to discuss his GCSE choices. Sara went off this morning to have coffee with our friend Sue to discuss her calendar leaving me to deal with some office work. This afternoon I drove into Salisbury to bank some cheques and spend an hour in the gym. I parked at the leisure centre and walked into the city and back - so got quite a bit of exercise in. This evening we indulged ourselves with a Chinese takeaway - Tom's favourite - and Mum phoned in to wish him a happy birthday. He will be having some friends around next weekend and I've suggested and agreed that we will take one of his friends with us on Saturday to watch the Saints v. Carlisle league game.

Light, Salt and Sugar!

Again, I was the only member of the family to go to church this morning and after all the food last night at the Melksham dinner, thought I ought to walk there. I set off at a brisk pace and took the road rather than cut across the muddy fields. The service was taken by Elizabeth who used props in her sermon on the subject of "light and salt" from Matthew's Gospel (the Sermon on the Mount). An excellent presentation which included a plate of cold chips and a load of salt! The essence being that the quality rather than the quantity of our spirituality is important and that the church should not get hung up on numbers in church but the depth of the spirituality of those who are part of the Christian community. As the service was an All Age Eucharist it lasted only 55 minutes with a coffee and chatting afterwards lasting longer. Our friend Karryn attended and was disappointed that Sara was not there. However I am certain that she was made very welcome by those of us who spent a little time with her. This wasn't the only time today that Sara's absence was noted. This afternoon I went to a transport fayre at the Novotel Hotel in Southampton where our friends Dave and Sue had a stall displaying Royal Derby porcelain as used on the White Star liners. In fact, it was Sara who had got in contact with them to say we would meet up with them. Unfortunately, Sara felt compelled to stay at home and deal with some housework and so I attended on my own and Sue was disappointed not to see her and light-heartedly gave her some "stick" on the phone! I resisted the temptation to buy anything (there were some great books) other than a small Art-Deco style sugar bowl which had come from the P&O liner SS Oriana (the original ship of that name built in the 1960s) for £2! Tonight we had another roast pork dinner and I then joined James and Richard at the Lion's Head for a pint and a chat.

Breakfast and Dinner Out

Up early this morning and a brisk walk to Mike's for the Men's Breakfast meeting. A pleasant walk and a pleasant breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and tomatoes. The talk was less pleasant as we discussed the doom and gloom presented to the world by our diminishing resources and political instability in the Middle East. A brisk walk back home, via the newsagents for a paper, and then up to Barry's Field to watch Tom play football against Dummer. Tom played well during the first half but rather tired himself out for the second. They eventually won 4-3. Mary and Sara went into Salisbury this afternoon for her ballet and Tom and I stayed at home. I dealt with some correspondence and paid some bills. This evening Sara and I went to a "posh frocks" do at Melksham Assembly Hall (Wiltshire Provincial and Grand Officers' Dinner). A pleasant evening although the speeches were a little too long. Sara wasn't feeling too well when we got back - not sure if it was something she ate or just feeling under the weather. On the way up to Melksham we listened on the radio to the thrilling Peterborough United v. Saints game which ended in a 4-4 draw after three penalties! Saints were winning 3-4 right up until the final two minutes of extra time. They still have quite a bit of catch-up to do in order to get into the automatic promotion places.

Coffee in West Dean

A slightly more leisurely day than the previous ones this week. After the children had gone to school and I had written up my diary and read my devotionals, Sara and I drove over to West Dean to support Sophie and her coffee shop in St. Mary's Church. Unfortunately for Sophie, only one other person came along -this is such a shame seeing that Sophie has been working so hard to get the church better known in her community. I do hope she'll stick at it as, in my experience, it often takes a little while to get something like that established. We left her at around 11.30 a.m. and returned back home. Sara was working at the Lord Nelson this lunchtime. Whilst she was out I finished off working on the lecture for the lodge meeting in Brighton on Monday (which is to be delivered by the secretary and not me) by which time Tom was ready to be taken to football training at Sarum Academy. His training this evening was cut rather short as the cleaning staff had taken it upon themselves to clean the hall in advance of the boys arriving and so the floor was still wet and slippery - making it useless for them to train properly without the fear of injury! I suspect the staff decided to do the cleaning early so they could push off earlier for the weekend! Back home, I ate a light choices prawn curry and watched some comedy on TV. I went to bed quite early this evening feeling quite exhausted. It's been quite a week and tomorrow Sara and I will be out late attending a formal dinner in Melksham - the other end of the county. I need my sleep!

Mr Blobby!

I'm afraid that today didn't start all that well as our trip to Fat Fighters' this morning resulted in a revelation that I had put on half a pound this week - the first week in eleven that I hadn't lost any weight but had actually put some on! Not sure why this was the case other than the fact that I think I've been a bit relaxed this last week and perhaps over-estimated the number of activity points which I have earned - allowing myself to over indulge because I thought I was burning off more fat than I actually was. Also, as I am now looking much slimmer my weight loss is perhaps slowing down anyway. Sara, bless her, had lost one and a half pounds so she was delighted that for the first time in eleven weeks she had beaten me on the weight-loss stakes! I must redress this next week as I am so close to having lost a full two stones - my halfway point! Feeling a bit depressed and like Mr. Blobby this morning. We didn't stay very long and after a cup of black coffee each we returned home. Sara had a luncheon appointment with friends (a traditional Israeli lunch apparently) and I had to drive down to Dorchester for a very important meeting. My trip to Dorchester successfully accomplished, I returned home at around 6 p.m. giving myself just enough time to scramble together the semblance of a study of the Book of Amos for tonight's house group. It was well attended tonight with seven of us - a nice number - and we read through Amos before discussing its relevance to today's world. The situation in Egypt today is worsening as eight people have now been killed in the protests against Mubarak and his regime and the fear of a de-stabilising of the country so close to the Israeli border. The world watches and waits.

Sara's Calendar takes "Shape"

I didn't get up too early this morning and let Sara organise Tom's breakfast and bring me tea in bed. I used this quiet period to read my devotionals and reflect. I was up, however, in time to take Mary to school and when I got back I had a breakfast of coffee and grapefruit. Sara went off to Morning Star just before 9.30 a.m. and I left shortly afterwards to attend the Mid-Week Eucharist at St. John's. I felt a great urge to go and so glad that I did as the homily given by Nils really hit the mark for me today and I am sure I was meant to hear it. In fact the service was very well attended for a mid-week Eucharist. I returned home to have a coffee and prepare the paperwork for this evening's lodge meeting - recording the apologies received and checking and printing enough agendas etc. I then was just leaving for Warminster (to pick up my altered undress regalia for tonight's meeting) as Sara returned from Morning Star - much later than normal. Apparently there had been much to do there this morning and the leaders there had also called upon Sara's professional advice in the employment field. I managed to get over to Warminster and back within two hours and pick up my altered apron. I walked to school, after my return, to escort Mary back home. She was in a right "strompy" mood (a lovely word I picked up from Lucy at church in Whiteparish on Sunday - cross between stroppy and grumpy!) and I was quite glad when Sara returned at 5.oo p.m. from her LPA training session. At 5.30 p.m. I set off for Salisbury to attend my lodge meeting which went very successfully. Sara had 19 ladies here tonight to discuss her "Winterslow Calendar" and I gather gleaned some great marketing and production ideas. A big day for me tomorrow so must get my head down. Sara is currently putting together a blog site for her Calendar Girls idea as I write this up. Now how is that for true outreach!

Golf at Hamptworthy

Another long day today. Following my long day and evening in Brighton yesterday, I was up early today at 6.00 a.m. so only had about 5 hours in bed. I put all my golf equipment in the car and then drove off to attend a business networking breakfast at the Grasmere Hotel where the Ambassadors' members met members of another networking group. I managed to chat to some new people - a photographer who lives very close to us and also a recruitment agent for whom we might get some employment law work. Sara joined us towards the end for a meeting with on of the Ambassadors' members to see if she might be able to do some occupational psychology work for him. I changed from my business suit into my golfing clobber and then set off for Hamptworthy Golf and Country Club to play a round of golf with Brian and Kevin - two former works colleagues. I found the course quite tough going - in places it was quite wet and muddy with plenty of water hazards and trees. It is quite an undulating course and bearing in mind I hadn't played since the States was not at all surprised. Both Kevin and Brian are immense hitters - easily driving 300 yards or more whereas I struggle to get it as far as 200 yards. In most cases they could get to the green in one or two shots less than me but I did manage to out-put them on one or two occasions to make the score not quite so humiliating. I really must use my voucher for some lessons and analyse my swing. It was a long course too - I reckon we walked some five and half miles in just under four and a half hours. Certainly earned a lot of activity points today - so much so that after a nice muscle-ease bath and a short nap, I bought the family a Chinese take-away tonight. I have plenty of pro-points available to use before my next Fat Fighters' Weigh-In on Thursday. Think I'll have a mini bottle of wine tonight too!