A satisfying day

Another day without going outside the village.  I cooked Mary and omelette and then walked her to school again.  I called in at the shop for a morning newspaper and then walked straight back home - no long detour today.  Sara walked to Morning Star and I walked to St. john's Church for Mid-Week Eucharist which was taken by Jane.  There were only six of us this morning - three clergy and three laity.  We reflected on the story of Jonah today.  Back home, I had a nice break with a mug of coffee and my two newspapers (I also picked up a Sarum Link at church this morning).  After a hectic week so far, I enjoyed the opportunity to sit and read the newspaper in relative quiet - nobody else in and no phone calls.  I cleaned, dusted and vacuumed the lounge and hall today and also cleaned the wardrobe mirrors in Mary's room which had sticky finger marks all over them.  Quite a satisfying job.  No sooner did I seem to have finished that and had a light lunch of crab rolls than I had to go back to the school to pick Mary up again.  I had to wait half an hour for her as we had forgotten that she was on a school trip into Salisbury to attend an activity at South Wilts Girls' Grammar School.   Tonight Tom has been revising for his science exam tomorrow - part of his assessment for his Science GCSE.  Sara has been quite strict with him about his being focused on this important exam.  I cooked the evening meal today - a stir fry chow mein using left-over pork, vegetables, noodles and chow mein sauce. I was very pleased with the result which tasted just like an authentic  Chinese takeaway.  I think the Chinese spices and noodles helped.

Lessons from History

A day at home today spent in the study; but a momentous one as I managed to complete my latest essay (on Malachi and the lessons his prophesy to the Jewish nation contains for all of us today) and submitted it online to my tutor.  I now await her comments and hope that it won't need too much amending.  I shall be happy with the same sort of mark I have received for my last two.  I walked Mary to school this morning and took a long walk back through the copse across to Weston Lane and back down the lane to home.  This evening, following the completion of my essay I watch an absolutely fascinating programme on the Military Channel entitled The Third Reich - The Rise.  For a long time Sara has found it hard to understand how a cultured nation such as Germany could have stood by and watched the monster, Hitler, and his henchmen seize power and wield such cruelty.  This documentary showed many amateur cine films of contemporary Germany in the 1930's giving the viewer an idea of what life was like for the average German family.  I think Sara is beginning to understand how it occurred and why nobody (or very few) spoke out against the regime.  I do hope that Tom and I do get our trip to Poland in the summer.  The Holocaust is something which needs to be taught in every school and I am pleased that Tom's school is taking a group over to Poland.  Tom is not going with the school preferring to go with me so that we can spend a bit more time reflecting on this particular piece of history.   Having been to Auschwitz before, I can probably prepare him better for the harrowing experience which I had when I was there.

Star Gazing on a cloudy night - Again!

I spent the first part of the morning in the study catching up on paperwork and later went into Andover to bank a further £778 for the Calendar.  The amount in the bank now exceeds £15,500 with further direct donations making the total near the £16,500 mark.  An amazing result for the girls.  I obtained the large publicity cheque from the bank which will be used for publicity purposes when the actual money is handed over.  This evening I gave a presentation to the Porton Brownies for their Stargazing Badge.  Unfortunately, the sky was extremely overcast with light drizzle falling.  This meant that we had to do the indoor Solar System model play and constellation quiz.  It seemed to go down well and the Troop was a really well behaved and interested group of girls.  a really enjoyable experience.  Mary came along with me and helped out.  She seemed to be very popular with the other girls.  Back home this evening, I caught up on some more emails after a dinner of mussels in garlic sauce.  No wine though - I chose to drink low calorie tonic water which can give the illusion that you are drinking alcohol - my alcohol-free gin and tonic I prefer to call it. 

"You'll Never Walk Alone"

Sara woke me early this morning as she had to get up and take Tom to the village shop to begin his paper round.  None of us went to all Saints this morning and I elected to go to CityChurch in Salisbury at 10.30 a.m. as it is my "Sunday off" this month and it was good to go to church where I was not required to take any part and could let the worship and teaching be absorbed.  A good sermon from Simon on the topic of the Prodigal Son - this time looking at the situation of the elder brother who stayed with his father and discovering that he too had become lost.  Some real reflective theology here for me to muse upon.  I think I can also weave this into my presentation for my Interpreting the bible module.  After calling in at Waitrose for some essentials groceries, I returned home to cook a late lunch - roast pork and crackling.  The early part of the afternoon was taken up with this task and following lunch we watched most of the Cardiff v Liverpool Carling Cup Final which ended in the narrowest of wins for Liverpool after penalty shoot-outs - misses by Gerrard Cousins on each team!  Tonight I attended Evening Prayer at Whaddon as I am due to lead and preach at this service in a fortnight's time.  Andrew led the service and the preacher this evening was Father John Proctor, a Roman Catholic Deacon who had, a one time, been a senior manager at Friends Provident and we had known each other through work. The congregation was seven in number, and would have been only six if I hadn't attended!  I gave the second reading which was quite a difficult piece of scripture from Romans.  After CityChurch's service this morning when the attendance was at least 100, I do wonder why we have so many services within the team.  I phone Mum tonight to wish her happy a birthday.  My Aunt Ivy and Cousin Elaine had called round to see her today and to meet up with my sister Heather and niece Hannah.  I really kind gesture.  Mum seemed to be in good spirits this evening which is always comforting to hear.

Last Fund Raising Event for the Calendar Girls

A day at college today continuing my studies on Interpreting the Bible.  today our tutorials were at the Diocesan Education Centre and not Sarum College.  We started at 10 a.m. and went right through until 4 p.m.  A good session learning about Amos and Hosea through an entertaining and informative tutorial from David Bacon, the Team Vicar at Forest and Avon within my own Alderbury Deanery.  A really good speaker and teacher whom I found quite inspirational - especially in the area of trying to make church more interesting and challenging.  A real boast to my spirituality which I needed.  He acknowledged that many in the Church of England are happy with just attending a standard church service every Sunday but also acknowledged that there are many others who require more.  He stated that he is quite prepared to move people out of their comfort zones even if it means preaching for much longer than a congregation expects or is used to.  I felt a great affinity with David's views.  Southampton FC notched up another fantastic away win by beating Watford 0-3 at Vicarage Road.  With West Ham only managing a draw themselves, Saints are tonight top of the league again by one point with West Ham now only having one game in hand.  Birmingham lost today also so Reading are now in third place, five points behind Southampton.  Tonight Sara and the Calendar girls put on their last fund raising event at the Hook & Glove in Farley - a dinner and tombola.  The event raised another amazing £700 or so - still need to total it all up.  It was an absolutely glorious night outside with Venus, Jupiter and Mars all very prominent and I found myself giving mini star-gazing lessons to some of the guests. Sara gave a really good speech and in return was well applauded for all her hard and motivational work in getting the project completed so successfully.  A really lovely evening.  Back home, I watched Match of the Day and the League Show before going to bed at 1 a.m. 

Morning in Cleethorpes; Afternoon travelling

I woke up quite early this morning in Grimsby.  I made tea for Mum, Sara and myself and we all had breakfast together.  Sara, Mary and I went shopping in Cleethorpes (including a trip to Ron Ramsden's and the the old YEB Showrooms at Issac's Hill - now a party costume hire shop) and, inevitably, ended in the arcades on the seafront where Mary managed to lose a £1's-worth of 2p pieces in about 20 minutes - still, it's good entertainment for only a pound.  We returned to Mum's for a coffee and a final chat and look at the newspapers (Sara found the lonely-Hearts' column particularly interesting! - and Mary the obituaries!) before finally setting off on our journey back down to Wiltshire.  We left at around 12.30 p.m. stopping for ice-creams at Skellingthorpe near Lincoln and fuel near Leicester.  We eventually arrived back home at 5.30 p.m. (travelling down the M1 to Northampton this time).  Not too bad a journey but a little longer than coming up yesterday.  Feel absolutely shattered tonight but I have to read two books of the bible - Amos and Hosea, before tomorrow's tutorial at the Diocesan Education Centre - all day study.  Sara and I ate a Chinese takeaway meal tonight as we hadn't eaten much during the day.  Will close now as my eyes are feeling quite heavy.

A Sad Day in Lincolnshire - Mandy Weller, RIP

A very sad day today indeed.  We were up early this morning, 5.30 a.m., as we had a long journey up to Grimsby (260 miles) to attend our cousin’s funeral at 2 p.m.  Fortunately, everybody woke early and we were on the road by 6.45 a.m.  We had a really good journey up although we did hear on the radio that there had been a major accident on the A34 about half an hour behind us which closed our route for nearly 10 hours!  So glad we had the foresight to leave a little bit earlier than planned.  We arrived at Mum’s at 12 noon and after an hour with her we drove to Holton-le-Clay Parish Church for the funeral.  Although we arrived some 45 minutes ahead of the cortege, the church was already substantially full.  Mum was able to sit in the seats in the choir but Sara and I were pressed up against the back wall of the church as more and more people arrived.  A really small church with what must have been over 200 people attending.  My cousin, Mandy, was only 37 years old with two lovely young children aged 6 and 9 and her husband has kidney problems.  Quite a sad and sombre service with adults dressed in black.  The family looked devastated.  We had an unusual reading from Joshua - the point where Joshua takes over from Moses - a new beginning.  The theme worked well and I would like to read it again.  After the service we attended the wake at Cleethorpes Cricket Club where Mum, Sara, Mary and I sat with my Aunt Ivy and my other cousin, Elaine.  We stayed for about two hours or so.  There was a lovely part of the wake where the young children let off blue helium-filled balloon,s  with messages attached to them, into the air and we watched as they floated out over the Humber Estuary and, eventually over the North Sea.   Quite a tearful moment.  This evening we took Mum for a birthday dinner at the Jug & Bottle (back in Holton-le-Clay) after which we dropped her off at the Cleethorpes Conservative Club for her bingo night.  Back at Mum's, Sara went to bed early and Mary and I watched a documentary about the training of Catholic priests.  An interesting parallel with the training for Anglican ministry.  After picking up Mum from the Cleethorpes Conservative Club,  she and I watched Question Night on TV whilst drinking a cup of hot chocolate.  went to bed tonight exhausted both physically and emotionally.

Ash Wednesday

Lent formally begins today - that period when Christians enter a period (40 days and 40 nights) of penitence and reflection leading up to the Passion of Easter.  Traditionally this starts with the ashes of last year's  Palm Sunday crosses being mixed with anointing oil and smeared on the forehead in the shape of the cross.  We have two services for this rite today - a morning service at Whaddon and an evening service at Winterslow.  I chose to go to Whaddon this morning as we need to get ready for our trip to Grimsby tonight.  The Whaddon service was taken by Jane and Andrew and Andrew gave an excellent extempore sermon on the text of Matthew 6 - especially from Verse 16 - look it up!   In essence Andrew was saying that those of us who observe Lent should not go around making it obvious - it should be a quiet observance and indeed, rather than giving things up (and he made the point that he is not giving up alcohol) think of things we could do. I took him at his word and cleaned off the sooty cross from my forehead when I got back in my car. Andrew was inspired by the stewardship presentation last night at Deanery Synod and especially the first slide which described discipleship as moving from where we are now to where God wants us to be.  This is a thought I intend to reflect on throughout the Lenten period.  This afternoon I paid a brief visit to the Andover garden Centre (brilliantly refurbished) to buy a small birthday present for Mum which we can take up tomorrow.  An early night now beckons as we have to be on the road by 6.30 a.m. in order to get to Grimsby in good time for my cousin's funeral. 

As time flies by!

Another busy day at home today dealing with Complex work.  I had intended to try and finish my first draft of my essay but the need to re-construct much of my accounts following the failure of my old laptop meant that I didn't have enough time to complete all the tasks which I hoped to finish today.  Additionally, I realised that I needed to type up the minutes of the last meeting of Sarum Lodge as well as construct the summons for the next meeting.  The days really seem to fly by these days.   I also spoke to my sister Heather to find out how Mum was.  Heather recently visited Bath to view the university there with a view to my niece Hannah, attending there after she has completed her A-Levels which, no doubt, she will pass with distinction. I am not sure that I can say the same for our two.  Tonight I attended Weight-Watchers with disastrous results.  During Lent I fully intend to get back on the wagon by "coming off the wagon" so to speak.  Several weeks of abstinence will not come amiss.  Following the W-W meeting I picked up James to attend a meeting of Deanery Synod at Sarum College - I seem to spend so much of my time there these days! A good meeting with an excellent presentation on stewardship campaigns.  The meeting ended quite early at 9.20 p.m. and so, after filling up with diesel for the trip to Grimsby on Thursday, I arrived back home before 10.00 p.m. 

Studying

A thick frost again on the cars and ground this morning.  Tom found it hard to get up but managed to struggle out of bed and get to school on time.  Mary was even worse only managing to get to school just before the bell/whistle.  Sara went into Salisbury today to buy a black coat for Mandy's funeral and I spent some of the morning in the Sunday dealing with essential paperwork before going off to spend the rest of the day in Sarum College library drafting my essay on biblical interpretation.  I managed to get about 900 words down on paper - good start.  This evening my student colleague, Ashley, called round and had a simple evening meal with me (mulligatawny soup, cottage pie and chocolate mousse) and we spent a couple of hours going through our assignments for the Interpreting the Bible module and generally discussing our course.  I hoisted the Northern Ireland flag to help him find our house which he did with no difficulty.  An early night tonight - a whisky and a few pages of a text book to read. 

Another busy Sunday

I gave the intercessions and acted as one of the sidespeople at All Saints Church, Winterslow this morning which meant I had to be up early again.  As is usual, when writing and preparing the intercessions for delivery, I first of all went on the Internet to see if any overnight news might have changed their tone or content.  Fortunately, nothing major had occurred - the main news continuing to be the unrest in Syria.  I left for church early with Sara and the children following on later.  The service was a Parish Eucharist with Nils leading and Andrew preaching on the subject of the Transfiguration and "blindness" which I had also used as a theme for my intercessions.  On my return home, I cooked the Sunday lunch as is now my role - roast garlic chicken, roast vegetables and potatoes, pigs in blankets and stuffing followed by mince tart made by Sara.  This afternoon Tom and I watched the Stevenage v. Tottenham Cup Tie which resulted in a 0-0 draw - a great result for Stevenage who replaced Grimsby Town in the FA League.  They will now have to replay at White Hart Lane.  Later on Liverpool beat Brighton & Hove Albion with a massive 6-1 win at Anfield.  Liverpool will now play Stoke in the Quarter-Finals.  Tonight I attended Evensong at Farley where Mandy, Zoe and Sara (Bossom) were being commissioned as Lay Worship Leaders.  A lovely service with my tutor, Philip, preaching.  He had recently marked my portfolio on theological reflection and I offered to mark his sermon for him!  Not likely, was his response!   After the service I went back to Mandy's and Stuart's for champagne and nibbles to celebrate her commissioning.  Richard phoned for our usual Sunday evening pub meeting but I declined as I had already enjoyed a drink at Mandy's and have quite a bit of work to catch up on this evening.  I shall lose two days next week with having to go up to Grimsby and Cleethorpes. 

A great day for football

Tom was up early on his paper round this morning and I decided to get up early and do some work in the study before breakfast.  In particular I wanted to bring last week's blogs up to date and try and complete the night sky article for the parish magazine.  I took Tom up to Barry's Fields for the Clarendon Juniors FC game which they won 7-1.  Tom only came on at half time and didn't, unfortunately, score any goals. This afternoon it was off to Southampton in the rain to watch Saints play Derby County in the Championship.  Most of us fans expected it to be a very close match but in the end Southampton beat Derby comfortably by 4-0.  This leaves Saints back at the top of the Championship League, two points ahead of West Ham who have two games in hand.  Great celebrations tonight in Southampton.  Tonight I finished off the night sky article for the parish magazine and wrote my intercessory prayers for tomorrow as I am acting as intercessor at All Saints, Winterslow.  I didn't go to bed tonight until those two tasks had been completed.

The Muppets

Last day of the school half term holiday today.  I attended Morning Prayer with Nils and Andrew this morning at All Saints and returned home for breakfast at 9.00 a.m. armed with a baguette from the shop to eat with a hot chocolate - a lovely typical French breakfast.  Later in the morning, Mary and I drove to the Park & Ride at Petersfinger and caught the bus into Salisbury city centre to see the film, "The Muppets" at the Odeon Cinema.  A good light-hearted film and quite different from the intense story of Warhorse which we went to see on Wednesday night. I dropped Mary off at Sophie's on the way back to Winterslow and after a cup of coffee with her at West Dean, returned to Winterslow to attend a meeting of the Parish Standing Committee at MM-J's which didn't end until about 5.30 p.m. as we were setting the budget for 2012 - quite a big task.  Mary stayed at Sophie's for tea and so Sara, Tom and I had our evening meal together - meatballs for Tom and me and a chicken curry for Sara.  I went over to West Dean tonight at around 9.00 p.m. to pick up Mary who was quite distressed tonight because her laptop, which she took over with her, had somehow got scratched.  Fortunately it isn't too bad but she is very proud of it and disappointed that it is no longer pristine.  Sara and I tried to comfort her by saying that this sort of thing does happen and it was only a matter of time before it was marked in some way.  I know, laptops are working tools for me and can easily get scratched.  I was upset too, when my little netbook bore a small scratch.  Another full day tomorrow with football.

Condolences

I went into Andover today to bank some more more for the Calendar (£198.50) and also to bank some money for Complex Services Limited.  I also bought condolence cards for Mandy's mum (my cousin Ann) and her grandmother (my Auntie Mim) as well as a card for Edna inn the village (the former postmistress) whose husband Don had also died this week.  We also learned this week of the death of a former colleague of ours from Dorking, Jenny H. and will try and go to her funeral if it doesn't clash with Mandy's.  I attended the Team Council meeting tonight in the Team Office and afterwards James and I enjoyed a pint of beer in the Lion's Head to chew the cud after the meeting.  Sophie led the house group tonight as three of us were away at the Team Council meeting.  The group discussed mission and the thoughts were that the group should do some mission/outreach - possibly collecting old pairs of shoes for the homeless. 

Warhorse and Tragedy

Sara was relieved of her duties at Morning Star today and so could stay at home this morning.  I went to Mid-Week Eucharist at St. John's which was conducted today by Nils.  This evening we decided to go as a family to the cinema to see the much acclaimed film by Steven Spielberg - War Horse- based on the children's novel of that name by Michael Morpurgo.  What an excellent film and one which everyone should see.  It had me crying at the end so I will not spoil the story and ending for those who have yet to see it.  Its images of warfare during the Great War is graphic and I believe really does give one a feeling for how horrible that conflict must have been - for man and beasts.  Brilliant is the only way to describe it.  I will really have to see it again so that I can, at least, see those parts of the film which I only saw through tear-blurred eyes.  Sadly, just before we left to see the film I picked up a message from Auntie Mim in Cleethorpes to tell my that my 37 years old cousin, Mandy, had died last night.  She had been suffering from a brain tumour for some years now and we had been praying for her weekly at church.  Tragically, she leaves two small children and a husband who is, himself, suffering from acute kidney problems.  What an absolute tragedy.  We will try and get to the funeral up in Lincolnshire if at all possible.

Romance

St. Valentine's Day today and I woke up on a mattress in Peter's lounge - not a romantic morning with my wife!  Never mind, it was made up for by a trip to Wheelies in Portslade for a traditional slap up English breakfast - the "Mini".  Peter and I parted after the breakfast and I drove back to Winterslow, stopping briefly at Rustington to bank a cheque.  I also stopped at garden centre on the A36 between Ower and Salisbury and bought Sara a red rose bush called "Romance" for her rose garden - this instead of the traditional yet overpriced bunch of red roses.  Hopefully, if she doesn't kill it, the bush will bear more red roses than just a dozen.  Tonight I cooked lobster as a romantic dinner for two with champagne (pink cava actually) and we watched the film Mama Mia which I didn't particularly enjoy - although I did enjoy the music.  We did enjoy a nice warm log fire in the lounge tonight too! 

A good evening in Brighton

Off to Brighton today to attend Brighton & Hove Civic Lodge's meeting.  I left after lunch arriving at Peter's in Hove at around 3,30 p.m.  He has a full house at the moment so it meant that I would have to sleep on a mattress in the lounge tonight.  The meeting tonight went very well.  I opened and closed the lodge and entrusted the candidate who was being raised to the Third Degree.  The ceremony was conducted excellently by Peter and the Traditional History, the second part of the ceremony, was conducted by the Assistant Provincial Grand Master, Tony Davies, who had also attended my lecture on the Titanic at Hastings a few weeks ago. Tony also presented a certificate to that brother who was raised at our December meeting. I have promised to provide personal copies of the "Sacred Law" (i.e. the Holy Bible) to each of the two candidates who have been raised during the year of my mastership. We had an excellent Festive Board afterwards - soup, beef casserole and trifle.  Peter and I travelled to and from the lodge on the bus.  Tonight we had our usual in depth natter over a cup of tea before he retired to bed and me to the mattress and sleeping bag.  Sweet dreams!

A working Sunday

An early start this morning in order to be over to West Grimstead Parish Church where I was delivering the sermon at the 9.30 a.m. BCP Parish Eucharist with Nils, the Rectory, leading the service.  Knowing that the congregation don't like long sermons I restricted this morning's to around eight minutes on the topic of not leaving God behind in church but taking Him with you wherever you go in life.  The sermon seemed to work well and a number of parishioners said that they found it thought-provoking and would take it away with them to reflect upon.  I really can't ask any more.  I had three members of my support group in the congregation with me, Richard, Zoe and Mandy (Mandy having arrived back from Barbados that morning!) and I gave Mandy a lift back to Pitton where I joined her and Stuart for coffee.  We then went across the road to Pitton Church where Sophie was leading Morning Worship with a speaker from the Kunde Project (missionary worker/doctor in Tibet and China) who spoke eloquently on the work being done principally in China and spoke of the situation in Tibet.  A fascinating talk and I was delighted to have an opportunity to have a chat to her afterwards.  I cooked Sunday lunch today - roast lamb - which the children loved.  It is now a regular thing for me to cook Sunday lunch.  The kids love Dad cooking and it gives Sara a break.  Sunday has now very much become a working day for me.  The downside is that going away for weekends is much more difficult.  Weekends seem much busier than weekdays.  Tonight, Richard, David, James and I took part in the Lion's Head Quiz as "Last of the Summer Wine" embarrassingly winning again with a 19 points lead over the next closest team - Klynn's.  They must really hate us.  More wine for the collection/next Sunday's lunch!

Saints back to winning ways again

Tom's football match was postponed this morning because of a frozen pitch and so he went into Salisbury with Sara whilst I stayed at home to polish up my sermon for tomorrow morning.  The weather was bitterly cold but Southampton's game against Burnley was to go ahead despite several league matches being postponed because of frozen pitches including West Ham's.  A win by Southampton today  would bring them only one point behind West Ham in the promotion race. Tom decided that he didn't want to go to Southampton this afternoon following his bitterly cold experience on Tuesday night in the FA Cup tie against Millwall - freezing cold weather and lukewarm football from Saints.  He preferred to stay at home and use his new camera to make videos of him and Mary plying beer pong (with water, not beer, in the cups!).  He missed a truly great game of football as a result.  Saints were magnificent beating a poor Burnley team 2-0 (both goals coming in the first half).  It seemed strange attending a football match at St. Mary's Stadium without Tom but I am never on my own when I go now as we have so many fan friends there.  Tonight Southampton are only one point behind the leaders, West Ham, and five clear points above the play-off zone.  However, teams below (and West Ham) do have a game in hand.  Southampton's game at Upton Park against West Ham on Tuesday will be vital and an opportunity to go top again.

Another Winterslow winter has arrived

Woke up to heavy small this morning - the village looking really beautiful.  Sara managed to get her car out of the drive but my Mercedes seemed to have difficulty and it wasn't until after there had been a thaw, later in the morning, that I managed to get my car up onto the road.  Sara and I walked over the Truffles Coffee Shop to draw the raffle for the Valentine Hamper which was won by an 83 year old gentleman in the village.  Another £300 was raised for the Breast Care Fund.   Sara worked at the Lord Nelson at lunch time and I drove into Salisbury to bank the Calendar money and to get my wheel replaced.  Unfortunately, it looks as though the offside tyrpe is now leaking.  I will have to keep and eye on it.  I have taken the old tyre which I'll keep as a replacement for emergencies instead of the slave tryre which came with the car.  At present, it seems to have sealed itself!  This afternoon, I made a fire and after taking and picking up Mary for her youth club up at Barry's Fields, Sara and I spent a fairly lazy night in front of the TV watching a travelogue on Istanbul where we hope to holiday this year.

Sermon and Snow

A busy morning in the study working on my sermon for Sunday.  I had a meeting with Nils at the Rectory at 2 p.m. this afternoon and needed to get something written down on paper to discuss with him.  The general outline of my sermon I had worked on in my head over the last few days but with the sudden death of my laptop, I needed to work swiftly on something on my netbook.  My meeting with Nils went quite swiftly - less than an hour today - and he seemed pleased with my proposed sermon other than a couple of suggested amendments.  I will look at it again on Saturday morning and make any changes after it has had a chance to "pickle" as I call it.  This afternoon I spent a few hours getting my new laptop up and running.  II haven't lost too many things except for Complex accounts which may take some time to replace.  fortunatley last year's accounts are in tact which means I can prepare the books to go to the company's accountants for last years accounts.  Tonight we had a rather light House Group where we discussed "If" - a type of scruples game where we looked at a number of issues and how we might respond.  As the group broke up the snow started falling heavily and so the group dispersed quite quickly to get home - no lingerers for the usual glass of wine.  I expect we'll wakr up tomorrow to a heavy snowfall.

Farewell to a Gentleman (Sid Robinson)

Up early again this morning to drive over to Newport, South Wales, to attend the funeral of 97-year old Sid Robinson, the former Chairman of the Friends of the Newport Transporter Bridge and local historian and author.  I had met Sid during my time as the editor of the FONTB journal, The Vision" and you couldn't wish to meet a kinder gentleman - yes he was indeed a gentleman.  He had a memory the size of the biggest computer and could remember details in the life of Cardiff, Newport and the Severn Estuary going back decades.  Right up until the time of his illness, he was as sprightly as ever and was still going "over the top" of the Newport Transporter Bridge.  I met with other FONTB committee members at the bridge and we saw Sid take his last trip across the Usk on the bridge.  Then up to a very cold committal service at Christchurch Cemetery near the Roman settlement of Caerleon.  Following his interment, I drove to Penarth for a memorial service and wake at the Salvation Army Citadel presided over by Captain Steve Mayo of the Penarth Salvation Army.  An excellent service in warm surroundings with a good buffet wake afterwards.  It was good to see some old familiar faces but sad that it was in such circumstances.  Sid never had a spare moment and I am sure that it was his constant interest and movement that kept him going almost until his 100th year.  I returned home via Cardiff and Newport again but on my return home my laptop failed to boot up properly and PC World advised me that my hard drive seems to have failed.  I have bought a new laptop and, fortunately most of my study material has been saved on an external hard drive, but I have have lost some of my Complex accounts which I'll need to recover somehow.

Tom's 15th Birthday

Woke up early this morning and as arranged, Tom was not going to celebrate his birthday until this evening.  I drove into Salisbury to attend an Ambassadors' business breakfast at the Grasmere, jointly with a local firm of solicitors, and made some good new networking contacts.  I then drove into the city centre and after banking another load of Calendar money, met Sara in Cafe Nero for a coffee and a chat before returning home for lunch.  Tom had his presents when he got in fro school at 4.00 p.m. - a new digital camera, shoes, trousers and other bits and pieces including some money from his Grandma.  Tonight he and I went to St. Mary's to watch the FA Cup replay ties against Millwall.  An exciting match which, unfortunately, ended in a 2-3 defeat for the Saints.  They really do seem to have hit a bad patch at the moment.  It was freezing cold this evening and I wasn't too sad not to have to stay on for extra time and penalties.  We must now concentrate on the league and trying to get promotion to the Premier League.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray"

A quiet day at home today.  Mary was not feeling too well this morning so stayed at home in bed for most of the day.  Sara and I did some housework - especially in the hall and cloakroom which seems to have filled with shoes and boots!  Apart from a short walk over to the doctor's surgery this morning, I have spent all day in the house.  The weather has been drizzling with rain and the Union Flag has hung limply on the pole to commemmorate the 60th anniversary of the death of King George VI and the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II.  This afternoon Sara and I watched a film of Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - a very dark film indeed.  I must read the book again - it must be well over thirty-five years since I last read it - if not more.  Feeling very tired again tonight.

Preaching and Leading at Whiteparish

I didn't get up very early this morning and decided to miss church at Winterslow, preferring to stay at home and start polishing up my sermon for tonight.  Sara attended church as she was the official "welcomer".   The weather remains cold bu the snow has almost completely disappeared.  I spoke briefly to Mum on the phone this afternoon - she will be attending hospital tomorrow to discuss procedures for tackling her kidney problem.  Sara and I took Rosemary over with us to Whiteparish this evening where I presided over the Evensong and preached.  There were about fifteen people present this evening so a nice cosy number for my first "solo" flight as leader and preacher.  It seemed to go okay - a fairly standard Book of Common Prayer service which I hope sparkled a little with the sermon - references to Scott of the Antarctic and Scott of the Starship Enterprise on the theme of boldness.  Later on, this evening, Richard came over for a couple of beers to give me some constructive feedback.  Felt quite tired tonight after a late night last night and all the preparation and deliverance of the sermon and service.

Breakfast at St. Francis's; Dinner in Ringwood

James B and I joined another 150 men or so for a Christian Men's Breakfast at St. Francis's Church, Salisbury hosted by CityChurch, St. Francis's and St. Paul's.  An excellent breakfast in the light and airy environment of this wonderful church on Castle Road.  After breakfast we had a short period of worship - Spring Harvest type songs - and then a really good talk by Ian Coffey who was one of the first speakers I ever heard at Spring Harvest.  The subject of his talk echoed some of what I was going to preach tomorrow and I must confess having picked a couple of ideas from him.  I had a chance to chat with him afterwards and bought his latest book "Working it Out" which looks at how Christians can continue to live their faith during the working hours and not, as one person has described, leave God in the car until it is time to go home.  After this session, James and I went into town to join Sara, Sam and other Calendar Girls who were having coffee at Patisserie Valerie in Butcher's Row.  During my time in Salisbury I also went to Jessops to buy Tom's birthday present - a digital camera similar to my own - a Canon Ixus - which he can use for his video postings. There are excellent camera with good quality lenses.  Ideal.  Tonight it started to snow at around 6 p.m. just before Sara and I set off for a dinner party with old colleagues who live down in Ringwood.  Fortunately, once outside Salisbury the snow became rain and we got down to Ringwood without too much trouble.  A really enjoyable night - good food, good wine and good laughter with good company.  We didn't get back to well after 1 a.m. 

Ice Cold in Sarum

I spent most of today at Sarum College finalising the service and researching and writing up my sermon for Sunday evening.  Reasonably pleased with the result but I will leave it stewing for 24 hours and have another look at it on Sunday morning when I can look at it cold and make amendments as necessary.  Bitterly cold again today and I have had to wrap up well.   When I got home I was frozen to the marrow, as they say, and decided that an early night in a nice warm bed was calling.  I therefore went to bed at around 9.30 p.m. - a ridiculously early time for me - and read one of my text books.  Sara also came up quite early as did Tom - he has his paper round to do early tomorrow morning.  Just find it so cold.  Brrrrrr!

"Action Stations"

I treated myself to a day off today - no work and no college - although I need to work on my sermon for Sunday before the end of the week.  I had a free entry ticket to the Royal Naval Dockyard at Portsmouth and so drove over there arriving at just after 11 a.m.  I parked in the GunWharf Quay Shopping Centre car park and walked to the dockyard from there.  The weather today has been incredibly bright but bitterly cold.  I joined an excellent guided tour around HMS Victory led by a guide called Peter. Unfortunately, the ship has been demasted and probably won't have them back in place for another three or four years.  It leaves the ship looking a bit like one of the old hulks in the Thames/Medway.  Although I went around Victory about two years ago, this was the first time I'd done it as a guided tour for many years.  It was interesting to see the spot on the orlop deck where Nelson expired and the cask similar to the one in which his body was preserved in brandy.  I sent a tweet saying how good the tour was and this was responded to by the Dockyard itself - talk about Big Brother.  I also re-visited the Mary Rose Exhibition and talked to a number of the guides there.  I also had time to visit the Action Stations building and tried my hand at piloting a Sea King helicopter off the deck of a carrier.  I succeeded well in doing this only to fly straight into a cliff killing myself and the crew!  A lovely relaxing day. On the way back home I stopped off at the Hook & Glove in Farley where I met up with Sara and Mary to discuss, with John the landlord, arrangements for a Calendar Girls' Dinner and Quiz later in the month. Tonight we had House Group when we continued with our study of Paul's Letter to the Romans.  James stayed behind for a glass of wine afterwards.  Freezing cold tonight so grateful for our wood-burning fire.

Burns' Night

Another bitterly cold day today.  I attend Mid-Week Eucharist which was taken by Elizabeth who continued the theme of St. Brigit or St. Bride.  Following that, with some help from Richard, I delivered the rest of the parish magazines to the distributors for delivery to the individuals around the village.  This evening Sara joined me and 42 others at a Burns' Night Supper organised and hosted by my Freemason's lodge in Salisbury, Sarum Lodge.  We had Nicola Kirsch, the opera singer, entertain us and were treated to an excellent five-course meal - haggis, soup, roast lamb, fresh fruit salad and cheese and biscuits.  Excellent value.  As we had no Director of Ceremonies tonight I had to double up in that role as well as Secretary of the Lodge.  When I got back home (Sara having preceded me) I had a message to ring my sister Heather.  I hope all is okay.  As I didn't get home until about 11.30 p.m. I decided to leave calling her until tomorrow.