Paperwork

Another early start with me driving Thom to Nether Wallop.  My original intention had been to join Nils for Morning Office afterwards, but I received an email to say that he couldn't attend which was just as well as Mary missed her school bus this morning and I had to take her into Salisbury where I got stuck in heavy traffic. Back home I had a cup of coffee and took a shortened form of the Office and read my devotionals. Sara went into Salisbury herself to visit her niece and go to the gym and I worked in the study ploughing through papers and writing letters and dealing with finances. Paperchasing I call it.  I had been expecting to go to Southampton to see a client today but the meeting did not happen although I was ready and prepared should that be the case. Sara had to attend Mary's tutor's evening at her school at teatime where she was delighted to hear that Mary is progressing really well and is ahead of her targets.  We are both very proud of her academic achievements so far.  This meant a bit of a rush for Sara tonight as she was being picked up at 7 pm. by Linda G to go to the Alpha Course at St. Paul's.  Mary has now finished school for the half term and spent the evening watching TV.  

Winchester

The weather remains warm but very wet.  I took Thom to Nether Wallop as usually in very wet conditions. Thom had forgotten to ask for any money for his lunch this morning and when he asked me just before he boarded the bus I had to tell him that as I had come out without my wallet I couldn't give him anything.  Fortunately we are going into Winchester later this morning and could take him some emergency money.  The wind was blustery and instead of hoisting the White Ensign to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar as I would normally have done, I actually dismantled the flag pole to protect it - in fact it will probably remain dismantled for a couple of weeks.  Later this morning Sara and I drove into Winchester to meet up with an old friend of Sara's Mum and her husband who is a lay minister in Winchester Diocese. We met in the coffee shop of C&H Fabrics in the High Street for morning coffee and then went on to the Refectory by the Cathedral for lunch.  I had an excellent vegetable curry with Sara enjoying some excellent salmon fishcakes.  Although the refectory isn't quite as ambient as the one in Salisbury the food is considerably cheaper and more extensive.  We chatted about many things connected with the family and, not surprising as two lay ministers inn ecclesiastical setting, about our ministries and church in general. After lunch we went our separate ways and Sara and I visited the City Museum and enjoyed looking at the Roman exhibits.  We also visited Waterstones and bought some guides to Marrakech for our forthcoming trip.  We picked up Thom after college and returned to Winterslow.  This evening I attended the sixth of my sessions for the Christian Ethics module and  we spent the evening looking at Utilitarianism or ethics based on doing what is better for the greater number of people rather than on Christian principles and considering whether utilitarian principles can ever be applied.  Quite heavy stuff which I will need to read further in the text books.  I need to start thinking about planning my two assignments for this module which, I have to confess, I haven't found easy.  Back home, Sara and I talked to David and Andrea in the USA via Skype about family news. 

Another Catch-Up or Love is like a Violin

Wednesday 16 October - Sunday 20 October 2013

Yet again I must apologies to my many regular readers who have noticed that I haven't posted anything here since Tuesday 15 October. The simple fact is that we have had quite an emotional week with, in particular, family difficulties.  Let me hasten to add, however, that I am not talking here about any problems between Sara and myself or within our own family unit here in Winterslow but within our wider family.  Much of what I would have wanted to write, therefore, has had to be confined to a private journal and not published in this blog.  There has been much reflection, theological and otherwise, and as I write this, feel so much better.

 

Picking up from Wednesday morning, I attended Mid-Week Eucharist at Whaddon as usual followed by a meeting of the Team Staff at Alderbury Vicarage.  On Thursday I met with my Rector at the Rectory for our monthly 1:1 meeting and following working on consultancy matters in the afternoon I was picked up by Mike M-J to attend Deanery Synod at Sarum College in the evening.  It was a most unusual meeting in that the Deanery Mission Project chosen for 2014 was, in fact, two organisations - there being a dead heat.  We chose The Bridge Project (Christian Education in Schools) and Living Water (a charity whose main purpose is to provide clean drinking water to villages in Africa).  It will be interesting to see how this develops as we have never before had two different (and in this case quite different) charities.  Sara and James together with Ivan and Paul held the House Group and watched Nicky Gumbel in an Alpha Course session on "Why did Jesus Die?"

 

Friday morning started at the Grasmere House Hotel with Ambassadors Business Breakfast where the speaker was Mark from Downton who gave a short illustrated talk about how Salisbury has changed in the last 50 years with great anecdotes.  The biggest change came about by the building of the inner ring road.  I had morning coffee with Bill at Alderbury before doing a three-hour stint at Alabare Place.  The three hours flew by as I was engaged with clients the whole time and had some great talks with many.  Trying to get work is proving difficult for many of them - those particularly who want to work.  This afternoon we had a pastoral visit from Cynthia after which both Sara and I were feeling much better. In fact, my stint at the homeless drop-in centre had actually done me the world of good. This evening we had our great nephew, Rio, over to stay with us for the weekend.  He really does love staying over.  I went down with James and Richard to the Lord Nelson this evening as we shall not all be available for our usual Sunday evening at the Lion's Head (Aston villa are playing at home!)

 

An exciting and different Saturday.  Sara, Rio, Mary and I went to Devizes to witness the sale of Wallace Hartley's violin which was recovered from his body after Titanic sank.  This was the same violin on which "Nearer my God to Thee" had been played in the final moments of that great and tragic ocean liner. The instrument finally went to telephone bidder for £900,000!  Sara and I bid £50 for a bit of fun knowing that we were quite safe to do so. In the same sale I successfully bid for the cheapest item - a set of ship's biscuit tins for £10!  In the news tonight the BBC said that the auction had resulted in items being sold for between £10 and £900,000.  I was the £10! Great fun.  After the sale we had drinks with our friends Nicki and Richard whom we hadn't seen for such a long time.  Both looked younger than ever and in great health and spirits.  We have agreed that we must try and attend Titanic conventions again - especially as next year they are being held back in Southampton.  Rio had a wonderful time and remarked that he thought the buyer of the violin had been ripped off because he couldn't even play it!  We ended the day in Devizes eating rather good fish and chips from The Lemon Plaice.

 

On Sunday I had arranged to get somebody else to administer the chalice at Winterslow's Parish Eucharist and went along with Sara and Rio to St. Paul's Church in Salisbury instead. A wonderful uplifting service.  Rio really enjoyed going to one of the children's groups and Sara and I were treated to a really good sermon from the Rev. Brian Meardon who spoke about Mission in a most engaging way - entreating us all to live out the Christian life in our everyday life.  He spoke along similar lines to my own preaching and had the congregation spellbound.  I felt on quite a high again after the service which also consisted of Holy Communion.  This afternoon I went along to the Italianate church in Wilton to witness a number of  Clarendon students receive their Aldhelm Certificate from the Bishop of Salisbury.  He spoke very well and expressed his concern that so many of the candidates were women (probably 80%) and wondered if this was indicative of the churches in the Diocese.  I think it probably is and was something I had also remarked upon earlier in the week when I saw the list of Clarendon candidates (100% female).  This really does show the need for men's ministry and I am currently thinking of ways of widening pub theology within the Team.  Busy week ahead as we prepare for our holiday in the sun.

 

A Strange Day

A strange day today and quite untypical.  It started off normally with me taking Thom to Nether Wallop arriving only 3 minutes before the bus arrived to whisk him and his fellow students away to Winchester.  Instead of coming back home as normal I drove on to Amesbury for a meeting with new clients from Surrey who had been introduced to me by my HR contact in Devon - hence the decision to meet halfway between the tow on the A303 at the Holiday Inn at Solstice Park.  I arrived well before the clients and had a cup of coffee and a bacon butty from the bar.  Pam, my HR consultant arrived just before 9 a.m. and we then had a 3 hour meeting to discuss the client's issues and agreed an action plan.  I returned home for a light lunch of tomato soup and whilst I was eating this Peter and Steve turned up to repair our hall ceiling - by removing the artex, repairing the water damaged part and finally (tomorrow) plastering the smoothed surface. I worked on completely the Night Sky article for the Parish Magazine and started writing up the minutes of the last lodge meeting.  Mary came home with her arm in a sling - apparently she had fallen awkwardly on her arm at school and so Sara had to take her to Salisbury Hospital for another x-ray (she has only sprained it thankfully).  Richard came round this evening and we watched the England v. Poland qualifying match for next year's World Cup.  England won 2-0 and thereby have now qualified for the finals in Brazil next summer. 

Salt of the Earth

Sara was up early this morning and took Thom to Nether Wallop  to go and pick him up from Winchester at lunchtime - he only being at college for half a day.  This morning I drove into Salisbury to pick up some papers post to me from clients which had been sent recorded delivery and which couldn't be delivered on Saturday because both Sara and I had been out.  I parked in St. Paul's church yard, picked up the paper and then walked over to SP2 (St. Paul's 2 - Community Centre and Coffee Shop) where I had a really lovely cappuccino and spent an hour reading through the file of papers.  I then drove straight to Winchester arriving ten minutes before Thom needed to be picked up. We had a lunch of fish and chips (al fresco) and talked about the recent family events which it would be inappropriate for me to record here.  Sara spent some time dealing with family matters in Salisbury today and after working in the study this afternoon attended Sarum College this evening for the fifth session in my module on Christian Ethics. Sara and the children came into the college before the beginning of my session to bring me up to date with things and for a general natter.  Mary had a cervix cancer preventative jab at school today and is feeling quite poorly.  Apparently she fainted - she is definitely my daughter as my father, me, Thom and now Mary all suffer from fainting in medical situations.  A good session tonight with Stella and Rachel. We discussed what is meant by "Justice" and then went on to discuss the effects of globalisation.  If I didn't learn any theology tonight I did learn that all the little salt sachets used by McDonalds all over the world are made in an industrial unit in Salisbury! Wow!  So when we put salt on our chips in Nassau, Bahamas, the little sachet came all the way from Salisbury.  Mind boggling.  When I got home tonight Mary was really feeling sorry for herself with her arm still hurting from the jab and asked me to spend some time with her before going to sleep.  I think the issue with the other family has affected her and she wants reassurance that all is well in our family unit.   Sara has been an angel as always - I am so lucky to have her. Salt of the earth!  Tonight ended with a Skype session with Sara's Dad and Andrea in America and we brought them up to date with everything.  I finished the day writing up this blog for the weekend as I simply had not had an opportunity to do this before.    

Harvest Festival

A busy and emotional Sunday.  Although I woke quite early this morning I had a bit of a lie in before getting up at 9 a.m.  I was taking the 11 a.m. service at Farley this morning together with morning Star and I arranged to call around to their premises for us all to go off together to the church.  Sara had intended to take Mary to St. Paul's this morning but, last minute, Mary didn't want to go so Sara, Thom and Mary all stayed at home.  After picking up the service sheets from St. John's I arrived at Morning star a little late but we made it to All Saints, Farley by 10.30 a.m.  A really packed church this morning (about 40-50) which is really good for Farley.  As it was the Harvest Festival service we had the old favourite hymns - We Plough the Fields and Scatter and Come ye faithful people come together with another two favourites.  David read the Gospel and Bev and Jake gave their stories just as they had done at Alderbury last week.  Again we had an amazing response and we left Farley with a van load of food which had been collected around the village and presented this morning in church.  Wonderful.  I arrived home at just after 1 p.m. and had just finished a wonderful sausage casserole when Sara received a text from a relative which suddenly changed our whole day and she had to rush off into Salisbury leaving me with the kids.   I briefly phoned Mum this afternoon before I had to dash off again to Morning Star as I had agreed to help them navigate their way over to Lover, near Redlynch, where we were to take part in another harvest service but this time with the Rev. David Bacon officiating.  A beautiful Victorian Oxford Movement church. Another wonderful service with a packed church - about 60 - followed by a really nice harvest supper in the village hall just up the road.  A total amount of £250 was collected for the charity. I arrived back in Winterslow just in time to take part in the second half of the pub quiz.  My team was lying in second place when I arrived and I helped to complete the dingbats and with the rest of the questions.  In the end we managed to win and I came home, once more, with a bottle of red wine as a prize.  Went to bed quite late after a long discussion with Sara about the ups and downs of the day. 

Another defeat for Grimsby Town

A bit of a lie in this morning - Thom did his paper round quite early and was soon back.  A fairly leisurely morning with me finalising the Harvest Festival service for Farley which I am taking tomorrow morning. This afternoon Thom and I went to Salisbury City's football ground, the Raymac Stadium, to watch them take on my home club, Grimsby Town and we stood in the away end.  The first half of the game saw Grimsby as very much the dominant force but a goal from Salisbury in the 47th minute (2 minutes into the second half) sealed a win for the newly promoted Conference side and resulted in an ignominious defeat for the not so Mighty Mariners!  Poor old Thom - he has been to dozens of Grimsby Town's matches and only ever seen them win once! I enjoyed a quiet evening in this evening which I spent most of in the family room watching some transport videos.   I know tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.