Saints hold City to a draw

Up very early this morning to a grey drizzly day and a drive to take Thom to the village shop to pick up his newspapers for his round.  I must confess to driving in my pyjamas being fully sure that in the darkness nobody would spot this!  Breakfast consisted of bacon and sausage rolls and I spent the morning on some Complex work before Thom and I left home for Southampton  at the Saints match against Manchester City.  We arrived in Southampton to find our usual free parking space taken so had to drive to Brighton Road and park in the deserted garages which we have been told we can use.  We walked briskly from Brighton Road to our normal chippy where we were greeted as the regular customers we are.  The proprietor was wearing a Saints shirt and now has a season ticket.  Over the years he must have made thousands of pounds from Southampton football matches so I guess the least he can do is support the club.  We enjoyed a great match.  although Saints went down in the 10th minute a wonderful goal from Osvaldo just before the end of the first half secured Saints going in at half time on equal terms with the "mighty" City.  Southampton had a much weakened team thanks to several injuries and especially an inexperienced goalkeeper.  However, they managed to keep the ball out of their own net but equally, despite many close shaves, couldn't get in in City's net. Full time 1-1.  For most of us that was nearly as good as a win - to hold the team in third place to a draw was quite an achievement.  Tonight Saints remain eighth in the table.  Due to our longer walk back to Brighton Road, much of the traffic had dissipated by the time we regained the car and we drove out of Southampton fairly traffic free.  We stopped briefly at Romsey for some cat food and were home by 6.30 p.m.  I showered and changed and drove into Salisbury for the festive dinner at the New Inn for staff and volunteers at Alabare Place.  I met Cliff Topping a famous artist who gives at lessons at the Centre as well as another art teacher who is also an LPA at St. Thomas's.  As Alabare Place  is within the parish where he ministers he and I, as the chaplain, need to meet to discuss roles and responsibilities.  A really enjoyable evening which included good talk and a three course meal - prawn cocktail, roast beef etc. and lemon cheesecake.  I am coming down with a terrible cold and felt really grotty as I went to bed tonight.  I've got a long journey up to Lincolnshire tomorrow where I am staying with Mum for a couple of days - back down to Wiltshire on Tuesday afternoon when I am leading the carol service at Alabare Place.

Alabare Carol Service Preparations

Early morning start at Ambassadors' Business Breakfast with Hugh Vivian talking about the use of "silence" (and active listening) in the business environment.  Very clever presentation with the first two minutes being a silent PowerPoint presentation.  This meeting was followed by a quick trip into town for some more Christmas shopping and a cup of coffee at Waitrose where I met our old friend Louise in the coffee queue.  She is still trying to move house.  We exchanged pleasantries and then I drove to Alabare Place where I was on chaplaincy duty as usual.  Not many in today but it still seemed to be quite hectic.  Had long conversations with a couple of the drop-in guys and also spent quite a bit of time finalising the annual carol service with the manager.  We've got four lessons and four carols - a cut down version of the traditional 9-Carols service.  I think that we have now finally "cracked" it.  I also had a telephone attendance with one of my clients in preparation for an employment tribunal in March.  Andrew, the curate, and I went for our long overdue beer together and we spent a pleasant evening with him telling me all about his recent experiences in the Sudan.  It's amazing how little we in the west know of the situation down in the south and the sparseness of medical care.  The Diocesan Medical Link is a vital resource in the combatting of disease.  Andrew has many more stories to tell which he will be doing to different audiences over the next few months. Fascinating stuff.

Nelson Mandela "Madiba", RIP

A blustery day today with terrible winds and tidal surges along the east coast threatened over the next twenty-four hours - similar to those experienced in the dreadful tidal surges of 1953.  Much damage in Scotland already and Norfolk and the low Fens expected to have it really bad.  I went shopping in Andover this afternoon to get some additional items to take up to Lincolnshire and picked up Thom on the way home.  This evening news broke that Nelson Mandela had died in his home in Johannesburg at the age of 95.  The whole world is in mourning for him but there are also wonderful celebrations for the life of a great politician and human being.  A remarkable man who has left his mark, not only on South Africa, but as a symbol of what can be achieved peacefully with the right attitude.  I shall fly the south African flag at half-mast for the next few days as a symbol of personal respect and affection for this great man.  Having read Desmond Tutu's book "God is not a Christian" recently, I really can connect with what was achieved in bringing about the dismantlement of the Apartheid system.  It is interesting that only five days ago I mentioned him at the St. Paul's bible study meeting as a modern day "Joseph".  RIP, Nelson (Madiba) Mandela.

Villa take three points off Saints

Sara took Thom to the bus this morning leaving me with some time to pray and reflect.  I spent the day at home whilst Sara was out working.  She has found a potentially new client for us through one of our former colleagues at FP.  Tonight I drove to Winchester to pick up Thom from college and we joined the heavy traffic down to Southampton for the game against Aston Villa.  It took us about an hour to drive the thirteen miles or so between the two cities.  I parked the car at our old car park near the Employment Tribunal offices and we walked to KFC in the main street for dinner.  We noticed quite a few Villa fans around in the city centre although, because it was so cold, there were probably many more we didn't recognise because we were all bundled up.  We arrived at St. Mary's with about 45 minutes to go before the kick-off and speculated about the transfer window with Andy.  Southampton played extremely well with 77% of the possession with several attempts on goal.  Aston Villa, on the other hand, had only about three shots at goal all of which reached their mark.  Gazzaniga, our third goalkeeper, simply didn't do much more than pick the ball out of the back of the net.  Despite all the possession and two excellent goals from Saints, Aston Villa went back to Birmingham with the three points.  Saints have now lost three games on the trot and tonight are eighth in the league table.  Thom and I returned home gutted and I really didn't feel at all cheerful when I went to bed tonight.  This is not the first time we've witnessed a 2-3 home defeat at the hands of the Villa.

Sara finishes the Alpha Course

I took Thom to the Wallops this morning returning for breakfast.  This morning I attended a Staff team meeting at Pitton and this afternoon worked at home with Sara picking Thom u from the Wallops.  Tonight I attended the Winterslow PCC meeting at St. John's when Peter Ostli-East came to facilitate a discussion on Mission in the Church as understood by the parish and by the Deanery. I found his presentation very sound and following many of my own ideas especially after having studied the topic and completed a University portfolio on it.  It is encouraging to feel that much of the theology and practice which I have learned have been translated into ideas which can be used.  It was a very long meeting and I didn't get home until 10.15 p.m.  In fact, Sara had arrived back home just ahead of me from her last session on the Alpha Course at St. Paul's.  They have been so impressed by her devotion and interest in the Course that they have now asked her to consider becoming one of their Assistant Leaders for the next course they are doing.  She is also enthused so much as to be signing up for their next more advanced course - Christianity Explored - on which I may probably join her.  I am already picking up some fresh ideas for our House Group.

More Ethics

These days are really short and with heavy cloud cover it never seems to be daylight.  I am definitely missing the Sun unlike Thom, who tells me that he likes long dark nights.  I went into Salisbury late this morning and had a constructive meeting with my University tutor - I still have two assignments to complete before Christmas on Christian ethics which I am finding a more difficult subject than I had anticipated.  Following this meeting I filled the car with fuel at Waitrose and bought myself some lunch an excellent Thai green curry.  Worked at home this afternoon preparing for two further meetings this evening - a rehearsal for Wednesday's lodge meeting (I am not attending it but need to hand over the secretary's paperwork for somebody else to do my job on the night) and then on to Sarum College for my last session on Christian Ethics - this time the ethics of love.

I shall miss my fellow students on this course but having completed the 10-weeks course I can now proceed to complete my assignments and portfolio.  This has to be my major work up until Christmas.  I arrived home at around 10.15 p.m. and watched "I'm a Celebrity" until bedtime.

 

Another great win for the Panthers

A bit of a lie in this morning.  Thom was up early to do his paper round but Mary was dead to the world.  Sara and I went to St. Paul's on our own this morning and were treated to another excellent talk from Brian Meardon who also officiated at the Eucharist. Sara introduced me to some of her leaders on the Alpha Course and we stayed behind for a quick coffee before going to Waitrose for some essential shopping.  This afternoon I returned to Klynn's for the interview for the Advent Calendar.  Lunch consisted of the pizzas bought at Waitrose and this afternoon I finalised the service and sermon for tonight's Evensong at Whiteparish.  I watched the first half of the Chelsea v Southampton game and when I left for Whiteparish, at half time, Saints were one goal up after a 13 seconds strike from Rodriguez!  There were seven members of the congregation for tonight's service but they seemed to get something from the service and my sermon and were very warm and welcoming.  It was a cold dark December's evening and I was not entirely surprised that so few had decided to venture out for Evensong in a fairly cold church.  Back home, I watched the Tampa Bay v. Carolina football game which Carolina Panthers won comfortably.  They seem to be on  a role.  It was lovely to sit down in a warm room with Thom and have a glass of Budweiser beer whilst watching some American football.  Carolina's wins (6-27) helped to sweeten the bitter pill of Southampton 3-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea. I went to be quite early but watched "I'm a Celebrity" and read some more of Rick Warren's book.