Obama Wins; FB Barcelona Defeated!!

Well, Obama got back into the White House.  Sara woke me up with a cup of tea this morning to tell me the news.  North Carolina and Indiana did switch to Romney, as predicted in north Carolina anyway, but Romney failed to pick up those "swinging states" of Ohio and Virginia which could have secured him victory.  The final electoral college votes counted, as of this morning, were Obama 303, Romney 206.  270 votes secured the White House.  Whilst it was much closer than in 2008 it certainly wasn't as close a race as had been predicted. Quite a number of my Christian friends and colleagues expressed relief that Obama had secured a second term.  I attended Mid-Week Eucharist at St. John's this morning - there were five of us with Nils.  I prepared for tonight's lodge meeting in Salisbury this afternoon.  Mary brought home her friend Natalie for tea - Mary seems to be a  very popular girl and frequently has friends around.  She is so different from Thom who prefers his own company.  Tonight's lodge meeting was attended by 15 (several of whom were visitors) and we can a Masonic Quiz evening.  True to form, the term of which I was a member won!  No prizes though and the result was close 14 points v. 13 points. We had an excellent dinner of vegetable soup, roast pork and apple sauce, an extremely delicious pear tartine and cheese and biscuits.  It was good to see a couple of Provincial Officers supporting us as well as a Grand Officer.  A pleasant aspect of the evening was time for a leisurely chat around the dinner table after the formal proceedings had concluded.  This meant, however, that I didn't get home until 10.30 p.m. - half an hour later than expected.  I watched the Celtic v. FC Barcelona match in the Champions' League which caused an upset when Celtic beat Barcelona 2-1 - Barcelona's first defeat for three years!  It was a great match which I thoroughly enjoyed watching after such a busy day. Consequently I didn't get to bed until 1 a.m.  A quieter day tomorrow when I don't expect to leave the village.  A church meeting tomorrow night to attend down the road at St. John's

USA Election Day

Another cold start to the day.  Election Day in the United States and so I expect I shall stay up late tonight to watch the results.  Indications are that this is going to be a very close run thing tonight.  I spent the morning in the study preparing for tonight's Chapter meeting in Brighton and Sara attended a Lay Pastoral Assistants' meeting at Cynthia's until about 1 p.m.  I left for Brighton at 1.30 p.m. and arrived at Shoreham at around 3.45 p.m. where I dropped off an envelope at my former best man's house.  As I was leaving he pulled up in his car and we spoke briefly through the car windows!  I haven't seen him for over a year and he is now retired from his taxi business and is a man of leisure.  I parked my car at the North Road NCP car park just after 4 p.m. and after posting more correspondence in the main sorting office close by I attended my Chapter Meeting at the Sussex Masonic Centre where I inducted J into his chair and was, myself, inducted into the chair of H.  It was good to see Peter T, who has taken 29 years to get there, installed as Z.  a lovely evening with good company, even if small in number.  We had an excellent dinner of egg mayonnaise, poached salmon in a spinach and cream sauce, fresh fruit salad and cheese board.  Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves fully.  I decided not to stay in Brighton overnight and as the meeting ended before 9 p.m. I was able to get back to Wiltshire by 11 p.m. listening to the Manchester City game on the radio and latterly the lead up to the American Election night.  Back home, Sara and I watched the early results coming in until about 1.30 a.m. when it looked that Romney would be unlikely to get the key four states he would definitely need to win.  Went to bed feeling that Obama was likely to be re-elected.

Another defeat for Saints

An incredibly cold day again today.  I had no appointments until the evening so spent the day at home in my study dealing with more credit card correspondence and finally activating my old BlackBerry by re-installing applications and synchronising my email accounts.  I am now fully functional again in the mobile communications field but would still be pleased to have a replacement for my lovely Bold 9900.  I received the preliminary mark for my Mission Portfolio - "Very Satisfactory" which will mean another 50+ final mark - well within the acceptable level for the Foundation Degree.  Thom took his Biology GCSE this morning and came back home feeling fairly confident of a good mark.  Tonight I attended a General Purposes Committee meeting of Sarum lodge but was extremely disappointed that only 3 turned up - not enough to carry out any worthwhile business.  I will send a "round-robin" to all the members tomorrow.  Thom and I watched the West Bromwich Albion v. Southampton game on the TV tonight.  Another defeat for the Saints (2-0) which leaves them very much at the bottom of the Premier League.  Nigel Adkins will almost certainly be sacked before too long - ten defeats is appalling.  I cannot see Southampton staying up.  They attained the Premier League a year ahead of their timetable and are simply not prepared. 

Back in Cold Wiltshire

Not a typical Sunday for us today - no church attendance.  Sara was up early to take Thom on his paper round.  It was raining heavily and there was a single flash of lightning and crash of thunder.  It is desperately cold and there has been snow in West Wiltshire and Dorset.  I stayed in the warm bed and read for a while.  I had no intention of going to church today - so many more things which needed attention.  Sara went to Tesco's for some essential shopping and I went through the mountain of mail - many from credit card companies with new cards following my cancelling of them all in Barcelona.  This afternoon I drove into Salisbury and visited Vodaphone where I spent an hour dealing with paperwork connected with the insurance claim on the BlackBerry and getting set up with a new Simcard to put in my old BlackBerry which Thom has kingly given up - he really never liked it. This will see me through until a new one arrives.  I have masses of paperwork to fill in which I'll attend to over the next couple of days.  Thom has a GCSE exam tomorrow so is revising but feeling a bit nervous.  Mary has been in and out of the house with her friends.  They did well in their Cheerleading Competiton at Eastbourne coming fourth - a great achievement considering some of the issues we've had recently regarding their unpreparedness and it was their first time entering such a competition.  They also won another cup for displaying the best sportsmanship.  Apparently judges were watching the demeanour of all participants and Mary's Group cheered and encouraged their rivals which was noted with pride.  Well done again, Mary.  No visit to the pub tonight.  It is so cold and we ate a home made curry to keep ourselves warm.  We have very little wood left to burn and so must eek it out until a fresh supply is delivered.  I went to bed at around 9.30 p.m. for two reasons - because I was tired and because I was cold.  I am currently reading "South" by Sir Ernest Shackleton, which doesn't help to make me feel any warmer!

Goodbye to Catalonia (Barcelona)

Thom and I will be leaving Barcelona with mixed feelings today.  Part of us has enjoyed this wonderful vibrant and historic city and part of us will also leave with the bad memories of being robbed on our second day.  It was hot again in our hotel room overnight and there seem to be constant emergency vehicle sirens going off all through the night.  I woke relatively early and had a shower before beginning the packing.  Thom was up much later and helped put together a few things in the cases.  We decided to walk to Glories Shopping Centre and I drank a mug of cappuccino while Thom had some freshly squeezed orange juice - beautiful oranges.  We chatted about how we would spend the day and decided that we would return to the hotel, complete the packing and then deposit the cases with the hotel's staff in the secure locker room.  quite a number of American tourists had just arrived from the overnight flight.  Being a hotel operated by an American company this is not surprising.  We took the tram to Glories and then the metro (Ligne 1) to Catalunya where we walked down La Rambla stopping to purchase a key ring for Mary.  We wondered around the maritime area and watched as the bridge opened to allow some private yachts to leave the harbour for the sea.  The weather today is warm and we sat outside MacDonald's to eat a fast lunch - albeit leisurely!  We return up La Rambla being careful to keep our hands on our possessions.  We returned to the hotel at about 2.30 p.m. after a quick call in to Carrefour for some Spanish brandy to bring home (a favourite tipple of mine) and had a beer whilst watching the V in the lounge.  We eventually said farewell to the hotel staff and set off for the airport via the tram to Glories, metro to Clot and finally the train to the airport.  Arriving at the airport in good time we found that we had to walk nearly half a mile to another terminal (C) to board our easyJet flight back to London.  Our flight left about half an hour late and we didn't arrive into Gatwick until about 9.20 p.m. and then we arrived at the wrong terminal (South instead of North).  This delayed us somewhat as we needed to catch the Shuttle to the North Terminal in order to be able to pick up the car.  Eventually we left Gatwick at just before 10 p.m. and set off on the long journey back to Wiltshire.  There was ice on the car and we had to swab it in order to see our way out of Gatwick.  We returned home via Bolney, Pulborough, Chichester and the coast road home arriving quite tired at just after midnight.  I eventually flopped into a cold bed at around 1 a.m.

Football and Fountains

Perhaps the most exciting day yet of our visit to Barcelona although it did mean saying goodbye to Sara and Mary as they leave us to return to England for the cheerleading contest in Eastbourne.  They will be staying tonight with my very good friend Peter in Hove - where I often stay when visiting Brighton lodges and chapters.  We all had coffee together at the little coffee shop just round the corner from our hotel before we parted - Sara and Mary to go to the shopping centre out towards Santa Adria and Thom and I to catch the No. 7 bus to Barcelona FC's stadium at Camp Nou, on the complete opposite side of the city to us.  The bus took us through the heart of the city and we saw the other tram routes at the other end of Ave. Diagonal. We had a ten minute walk to the stadium and I was very disappointed not to see some huge edifice on the skyline.  From the outside Camp Nou is most unimpressive and we could have been going to the home ground of Stockport County for all it impressed.  However once inside the story is different.  It seats 98,000 (more than Wembley) and for the most part is open to the elements.  We took the tour and the "Camp Nou Experience" and visited the dressing rooms, chapel, rest rooms, walked through the players' tunnel on to the pitch (well almost); saw the wonderful dug-outs, went into the media room and the post match interview room and sat in the seats in the main stand.  The stadium, apart from the main stand, is uncovered so not a place to visit if the weather is wet or cold. After the tour and a look around the shop we took the bus back to the hotel.  This evening we visited the wonderful Magic Fountain at Espanya (see picture).  The photos I took do not do it justice.  I was amazed at the thousands who came out to see it and the immense number of students dressed in Halloween and other fancy dress.  We stayed and watched the fountain for about an hour before taking the metro back to Glories for a very pleasant dinner of pasta and Gino's.  As I write this, I have just been speaking to Sara, Mary and Peter and all are safe and well in Hove.  Big day tomorrow for Mary in the cheerleading competition. Hope they put up a creditable performance.  Thom and I will pack in the morning when we are feeling less tired.  It's been a long and exciting day today - one to remember with fondness which will take the edge off the nasty day on Tuesday.

A day of sanctity and sanity

Thom and I spent the morning visiting the Sagrada Familia Basilica after having successfully printed off online tickets to avoid the queueing.  The metro train was almost deserted as we travelled from Glories to Sagrad Familia via Clot on the extensive underground system.  We arrived about fifteen minutes before our entrance time (11 a.m.) and we queued for about ten minutes before entering the basilica. What a wonderful and awe inspiring piece of architecture with tree like pillars soaring to an immense height.  It reminded me of both the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals in Liverpool as well as a touch of the extensive mosques in Istanbul.   Despite the enormous crowds wanting to get into the building, its vastness seems to swamp them.  Today is a public holiday in Spain (All Souls Day) and as a major religious festival meant that mass was being said hourly in the crypt.  Thom and I watched from above as the host was distributed below.  I sat for several minutes in the middle of the nave and felt a great sense of the need to pray - which I did; feeling much better afterwards.  Following our traumatic couple of days, I felt an inner peace restored to me. I was determined that we should return with the whole family this evening to celebrate mass together.  There was some reluctance at this suggestion from the children but eventually they agreed to come along.  We arrived in good time and looked around the crypt before taking our seats and reading the lessons in English from a sheet - John, Revelation and Matthew - no Old Testament reading.  An elderly priest conducted the service in either Spanish or Catalan - it was heard for my untrained ear to distinguish, but for the introduction and the peace he spoke in several languages including English.  The liturgical sequence was the same (or almost the same) as for our Anglican Eucharists.  Sara and I took the host and at first both Mary and Thom stayed behind but Thom followed on later feeling he really wanted to do so.  I had prayed for this and felt the Holy Spirit moving in that service.  How strange that this is not always the case in a service in my own church in my own language.  Something for me to reflect upon and perhaps include in an essay. After mass we returned to the hotel and then went out for a proper Spanish meal in a restaurant in the street adjacent to our hotel - two types of paella, steak for Thom and spaghetti (well not exactly Spanish ) for Mary!  We also had pan et tomate and Cantalan sausage selection for starters.  This evening we played cards and drank Cava before going to bed.  A thoroughly enjoyable day.  We all feel that we want to return to Barcelona some day but with a more cautious approach to the crime here.