Wounded Healers

Weigh-in day at Fat Fighters today - not good news - though not surprising. I have put on half a pound this week unfortunately but Sara managed a one pound loss so I gladly swap not losing weight for Sara starting to lose it again! Hopefully this is the incentive she needs to get back on track. losing weight for me is now getting difficult as I near my target weight - they say this is always the case. I spent most of the day dealing with important paperwork before we go away to Spring Harvest. I managed to get the agendas out for the next meeting of Sarum Lodge and wrote the Night Sky article for the Parish Magazine so these won't be on my mind whilst we are away. I cycled over to East Winterslow to deliver one of the agendas to a member who lives there - the only real exercise I got all day. Tonight we had a good house group with Richard, Steve, Paul, Dawn, Sara and myself. The Moody Brothers were on their church's business in Salisbury. Our topic tonight, as part of the Lent Study Group, was "Wounded Healers". It is interesting how so many of the more active church members have had such unsettled lives in the past. There is certainly a theme running here. Feeling quite tired tonight and still a little disappointed that the weight loss is slowing down. Still, I have done remarkably well and feel so much better for having shed over two and a half stones. Now looking forward to the energising effect that Spring harvest always seems to bring.

Sarum Lodge Meeting

Busy day for Sara today with her work for Morning Star in the morning and a special long (and final) LPA training session this afternoon at which she and her fellow trainee were to put together the formal Commissioning Service for 17th May. I drove over to Whaddon for the early Morning Prayer service with the clergy and afterwards had breakfast at Tesco's where I bought some new jeans - my existing ones being too big now! I also had my hair cut before returning home. I worked at home this afternoon whilst Sara was attending her training session. Tonight I attended Sarum Lodge where we passed a long standing member to the Second Degree. An excellent ceremony and a very enjoyable dinner afterwards - although it was rather heavy on ProPoints and I am sure I won't have lost any weight this week! I found it hard to sleep tonight and ended up watching a rather bizarre lecture by a Creationist scientific speaker on the TV suggesting that the Earth is only a few thousand years old!

Keep going Saints! - another vital win tonight!

Sara and I spent this morning at home dealing with more paperwork. Both Sara and I gave our apologies to Sophie for being unable to attend her Lent Group this morning. The morning seemed to go very quickly but I managed to get some bills paid and letters written before lunchtime. I had a light lunch of French onion soup before driving into Salisbury for a meeting with a new client at the white Hart Hotel. Over a pot of tea I spent two hours with the client going through a proposed new contract for his staff. After dashing back home, I just had time for a quickly snatched cup of tea (I seem to drink gallons of it these days) before Tom and I set off for Southampton to watch a another vital game for the Saints in their bid for automatic promotion from League 1 and back into the Championship League. We had supper at our usual chippies and were rewarded this evening with a 2-0 win over Charlton Athletic. Peterborough also won tonight (beating Bournemouth 1-0) but we are now only 2 points behind Huddersfield who currently hold the automatic promotion spot with two games in hand. Our next two away games are going to be absolutely vital. It was lovely to return home this evening with a very warm feeling about our club being promoted at last. Nigel Adkins seems very contented at the moment.

Morning Coffee in Stockbridge - A nice interlude

Sara and I drove into Stockbridge this morning to deliver Tom's homework to him at school as he had been unable to print it off before leaving on the school bus. We took the opportunity of having a leisurely coffee together in Lillie Langtry's tea room which was very pleasant and a change from all the rushing around. I had a light lunch of tuna salad and soup and then attempted to load software onto Tom's laptop to enable him to use his own printer. The software loaded okay but for some reason the printer will only operate after the laptop has been switched off and switched on again. I will need to have a further look at it or try and reload the software again. I washed the car and mowed the lawns this afternoon as well as heightening Mary's bike. We went off for a bike ride together this afternoon down Witt Road and skirting Bentley Wood to the Livery Road Gate and back through the centre of the wood - 6.5 miles! Supper this evening was mussels. Sara and Mary were babysitting at Karen's and I held a Food for Thought planning meeting with Rosemary, Gillian and Susan. I learned that the large meadow field between Middleton Road and Brown's Copse which villagers use as a cut to the village shop has been ploughed up by the local farmer following his request for planning consent to build seventy houses. This will certainly upset a few villagers.

Mothering Sunday

Up early this morning and brought in tea in Sara's mother's cup as well as cards from me and the children. I then walked to church where I and the family were acting as sidespersons at the All Age Mothering Sunday service. There were no service sheets or hymn books to hand out today as an All Age/Mothering Sunday service hadn't been designed (it is usually a Parish Eucharist) so the congregation had to rely entirely on the screen - nothing unusual for those of us who also attend Spring Harvest and CityChurch. A very good service with flowers being handed out to all those present as a symbol of God's love for us all. I walked back home after coffee and this afternoon Sara, Mary and I went for a bike ride into Bentley Wood. Sara is still struggling with her cycling and the hill in the wood. I am delighted to find that with my weight loss I am finding it much easier. We cycled as far as the "T" junction where the wood piles are normally situated - they have been moved and back. Sara wheeled her bike back from the top of Witt road and Mary and I cycled back - meeting Karen and the children on the way. Mum phoned to say that she had received the cards and flowers which we had sent and seemed very pleased with them. After a shower, we drove into Salisbury for an "mid-afternoon lunch" at ASK and Sara and I had a really lovely grilled salmon salad. We got back to Winterslow just in time to walk to St. John's for the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and new PCC meeting. Mary came along as well. The meeting went on rather longer than any of us anticipated with issues being raised surrounding the inter-relationship between Team and Parish. At the meeting I was once more elected to the Deanery Synod and Standing Committee but with the understanding that if I get through the Selection Conference in June and start training for ministry in September I may very well have to relinquish these positions. Richard and I ended the day in the Lion's Head chewing the cud over these meetings.

Great Saints comeback

A day at home this morning followed by a trip into Southampton for Tom and me to attend the Saints v. MK Dons game - an important game if Saints are to make a bid for the automatic promotion spot. We parked at Trethowans and walked the mile or so along St. Mary's Road and St. Mary's Street to our fish and chip shop where I had fishcake and chips and Tom had a portion of chips. The match this afternoon was quite a roller-coaster affair. At half-time, Saints were 0-1 down and MK Dons' lead was doubled early into the second half. With Brighton and Huddersfield both winning elsewhere, it didn't look too good for the Hampshire side. Nigel Adkins made a substitution and brought on Jonathan Forte who, with just two touches of the ball fired in a shot to goal which found its target. One minute later, with his third touch of the ball, Saints were on equal terms. A third goal from Lee Barnard ten minutes later secured the all-important win for the Saints. A tremendous match and what a comeback by the Saints. We all were thinking that Southampton would be very lucky indeed to come away with one point but some brilliant play after the substitution brought a much needed victory. Tonight we had a light supper of rump steak and roasted vegetables (I supplemented my plate with some prawns to make a "turf and surf" meal) which I cooked. A great day out. Sara is now back focused on her weight watching which I really hope she will see through. I am now very close to reaching target and ending my weight loss regime. It remains to be seen how well I can maintain my weight after that.

Lunch with old collegaues

A bit more of a leisurely day today after all the travelling and meetings yesterday but an early start all the same as I was taking Ed and Tony into Salisbury this morning at 7.00 a.m. for this week's Ambassadors' breakfast meeting at Grasmere House Hotel. Tony was able to do a one-minute "elevator" pitch which I think he found useful as well as making a couple of useful contacts. I returned home for an hour or so and ordered some flowers to be delivered to Mum in Grimsby (- I accidentally phoned Mum instead of the florists and had a quick chat to her - apparently she is in a lot of pain with her fibromyalgia -) before setting off for Salisbury again to have lunch at Anokaa's with Phil and Susan, my former claims colleagues from Friends Provident - now Friends Life. We had a very pleasant though slightly rushed buffet lunch at which we tried to catch up on so much news since we had last met - last year. We agreed that we should do it again soon buy try and make it an early evening event so people didn't have to rush back to work. I walked back to Waitrose via the card shop and bought Mothering Sunday cards for me and the kids to send to Mum in Grimsby. These were posted first class at the Waitrose post office. I also bought flowers for Sara too. This evening Sara went to Fordingbridge to a very good Vie at Home customer and came back with some good orders. I watched Michael McIntyre on the TV and I am looking forward to seeing him live on stage in Liverpool in November 2012!! Yes, we've had to book tickets to see him that far in advance to ensure we can get them. It was either Liverpool or Cardiff and as we can all stay up in Liverpool with a friend it seemed the best choice.