Millvina Dean RIP

I have a heavy heart as I sit down to write this blog. I had intended to write my usual journal, and although I will record a few words of what we have done today, feel I must devote most of this blog to our dear friend Millvina Dean, the last (and youngest) survivor of the Titanic disaster who died on Saturday aged 97. We also learned this morning of the death of Nils's father in Sweden - all this news on the fourth anniversary of my own father's death in 2005. Millvina was a delightful lady and no doubt there will be many tributes to her over the coming days. We knew her personally and she attended our children's baptisms and my own 50th Birthday Party in 2003 when she became something of a star here in Winterslow. We visited her at her home in the New Forest on a number of occasions as well as in hospital. I regret not having seen her in the last couple of years when she was in a nursing home. She was always chirpy with a great sense of humour and was very fond of Sara and the children - she would send them Christmas presents every year until recently when she became very poorly. She will be sadly missed by all the Titanic fraternity - the last living link with the fateful night of 14th/15th April 1912. The Barratt Family will especially miss her - my mother included who also met her. My day seems quite ordinary now. I took Mary over to Whiteparish for the Team Pentecostal Eucharist presided over by Elizabeth in Nil's absence due to him being called to Sweden suddenly when his father's health deteriorated this week. Fortunately, he was able to be with his father during his last hours. It was a lovely service with the usual laying on of hands and receipt of the Holy Spirit. We had a Pimm's style punch afterwards - the weather being scorching again. At lunchtime I took Tom to the Clarendon Juniors prize giving at Barry's Fields (Sara and Mary joined us later). Tom picked up "Most Improved Player" award and "Manager's Player" award as well as his team medal. Well done. We were very proud of him. This afternoon, Sara and Mary went on the Food for Thought hike and barbecue in Bentley Wood whilst Tom, Samuel and I stayed behind and I cooked a barbecue for us in the garden here. Tonight, I attended Rockface with Tom and Samuel when we saw and discussed Louie Giglio's talk again on DVD called Indescribable. I have never before seen such a large group of teenagers so awestruck and speechless at the end of it. Sara is now watching Desperate Housewives as I write this blog.

FA Cup Final Day - Everton "Fail Again"

The hottest day this year yet. Incredibly hot in fact with the temperature recorded at Wembley in the afternoon as 41.5 degrees Celsius - that would be 107 degrees F. That is even hotter than the Bahamas at this time of year. Tom and I went into Salisbury in the morning to collect the booze and other drinks from the Cash and Carry for Sara's party. We loaded the car up with lager, cider, white, red and rose wine (all Californian - I hope Sara's father won't mind crossing the Atlantic to drink USA wine!) and some sparkling wine. We also bought apple and orange fruit juices and a large bottle of undiluted squash for the small ones. Even if it is as hot as today nobody should go thirsty on the day. We also went into Salisbury city centre where I did some banking, had a look around the market and stopped off at Reeves for a coffee and pasty - Tom had a cold drink and sausage roll. Returning home via Homebase I bought a telescopic tree lopping tool to deal with some tall branches attacking the telegraph pole on our boundary and to enable me to trim the "weeping pear tree" in our front. What an excellent and fun tool - quite addictive to use and I was delighted with the result on the weeping pear. I also mowed all three lawns too. I watched the FA Cup final whilst drinking chilled beers. Everton scored after only 20 seconds (the quickest goal in the history of the FA Cup Final) but were outclassed by Chelsea who equalised later in the first half and scorded the winning goal halfway through the second half. Everton also now hold the record for the team that has lost the most FA Cup Finals! This evening Tom has a sleep-over at his friends James's with several other lads. They are all sleeping in a giant tee pee on his friend's large back lawn. Tonight also saw the Final of Britain's Got Talent which was won by a unique choreographic street group called "Diversity" pushing Susan Boyle into second place. Sara and I ended the evening watching an excellent film about Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. We drank some home made cocktails using some of the flavoured rums I brought back from Nassau mixed with fruit juices. An excellent drink for such a hot day. We both feel so very tired tonight.

Historical Masonic Event

Following quite a late night last night it was good not to have to travel to Dorking today but my day in Salisbury was a long and very packed one! I had meetings right through from 8.30 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a short break at 1.30 p.m. to join the Christian Fellowship members (only 3 of us today) taking my soup and toasted sandwich with me. After two very intense meetings indeed, this half-half slot was a welcome oasis. As soon as the meeting was over it was back for further intense work meetings until 5 p.m. when I left to get changes and drive over to Crane Street for the Wiltshire Masters' Lodge Meeting. Peter M from Brighton and Anthony H joined me as my guests and we were entertained by the Hampshire Provincial Stewards' Demonstration Team to a re-enactment of an Atholl Lodge Initiation Meeting in 1751. It was both very informative and entertaining/amusing. The dinner was acceptable - although not the best I've ever had - consisting of egg mayonnaise, chicken chasseur, meringue with fresh fruits (pineapple, strawberries, melon and kiwi) , followed by cheese and biscuits and coffee. Anthony had a second chicken as he complained his first one wasn't big enough! When the egg mayonnaise was brought out the waitress managed to knock my glass of wine over (it was full too) which flowed towards Peter. Fortunately he got out of the way milliseconds before it would have hit him! We finished the meeting at a very respectable time of 9.15 p.m. Peter followed me in his car back to Winterslow where he picked up the ladders he had lent us over a year ago. It was good to get them out of the garage - making more room for the bikes. Peter stayed for a cup of tea and a chat and agreed to fit some mirrored doors to our wardrobes in July/August.

Indescribable

I woke up this morning at 7 a.m. - or rather I was woken up by Sara - a most unusual event! It was a day in Dorking today so after a shower, tea and corn flakes it was off up the A303 and M5 to Surrey. An extremely busy day with many time critical tasks to fulfil - one of those days when you wish there were at least 25 hours in every day or you could be teleported from place to place. It just doesn't seem to get any easier or less pressured at work. Sara phoned me to say that Emily the Cat had attacked a wood pigeon and injured its wing. She phoned the RSPCA who told her to take it to a vet and they would give her a reference number so that the vet would be paid by them. The bird was taken to Hampton Park Veterinary Surgery where it was left - its fate unknown. Next door Sara visited the "one-stop" shop and expressed her displeasure at them not stocking Fairtrade chocolate. They seemed totally unconcerned, apparently, even after Sara had explained the significance for the child exploitation market. It seems that Sara's day was not completely without further problems including exploding orange juices, neighbours running out of petrol and losing their wallets (only to be found again). No names, no pack drill, Klynn! The carpet fitters informed Sara that they could no longer come tomorrow dues to illness - after Sara had emptied the DVD/Video drawers and added the contents to the increasing mountain on my study floor! Tonight we had our House Group and instead of Steve Chalke's funky DVD we watched a DVD which Duncan had given to me several weeks (maybe even months) before called Indescribable. It featured an American evangelist, and leader of the Youth Passion Movement in the USA, called Louie Giglio, who has a great fascination for astronomy - one of my own passions. He used images from from the Hubble Telescope to illustrate the smallness of Mankind and the vastness of God's creation. Some of the images were startling, especially the one of Earth as a tiny dot with the Sun shining on it taken by Voyager as it left the Solar System - some 3,000,000,000,000 miles distant. Our own insignificance is truly "indescribable". I took a copy of the DVD tonight as it is worth seeing again and something which we can use at future House Groups and Alpha Groups. The last image he showed was a close up of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) in the constellation of Canes Venatici - an object visible at the moment and one of my favourites. At over 31 million light years away it is one of the most distant objects I have ever seen with my own eyes. The image of the two galaxies apparently colliding is well known but not so well known until Hubble was the image at the centre of the larger galaxy. This image is known as the X and I have posted the image above. A reminder of God's handiwork? It reminds me of the words of the chorus from Haydn's Creation "The Heavens are telling the wonders of the LORD"!

Somerset and Spanish Fly-ing

A day in Salisbury again today. A very hectic one too! Meeting followed meeting and email request followed email request. Although I was in by 8 a.m. I only just managed to get the last car parking space. I quickly rushed down to the bank at lunchtime to deposit a small dividend cheque before returning to the office to grab a hot soup to take with me into another meeting - my lunch for the day! Later in the afternoon I drove over into Somerset to deliver my books of account, prepared only yesterday evening, to my accountant in Frome. I managed to get there just before his office closed - the traffic being kind to me both there and back allowing me to get home at a good time. Tonight, Tom and I watched the Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United which Barcelona won comfortably at 2-0. I had placed a small bet at Ladbrokes in Frome for a 2-1 win for Barcelona - close but not close enough. I did have a small win on the Lotto, however, £2 for getting the first number of the Dream Number correct. Tonight I started to work on a new blog for Complex Services Limited. Sara's Dad, David, and Andrea phoned us this evening from the USA (North Carolina) and we all had a long and pleasant four-way chat. It is only 2 weeks before they come over to see us. The children are really excited as they have never really met their Grandpa - Tom was only 22 months when we last saw David, and Mary was not even born. Afterwards we sat down to a Spanish Omelette meal. I then set about writing this blog whilst Sara watched...Desperate Housewives!! Then it was a relatively early night to bed - at 11.30 p.m.

An evening of accounts

My alarm woke me at 6.00 a.m. today but I didn't get up, finally, until just before 7 a.m. The weather was terrible - wind and rain which I think we must have had all through the night. The traffic on the M3 going up to Dorking was awful too and I didn't get in until 9.45 a.m. I had a client to see me at 10 a.m. too and I must confess that with the Bank Holiday break I had forgotten about it. The issues he had were fairly straightforward principles of law and he seemed very satisfied with the advice given. At lunch time I drove into North Holmwood to pay a telephone bill at the local post office there. A quick lunch and then another meeting this afternoon and a read through three discovery files before I left for home at just before 6 p.m. I stopped off at Sainsbury's at Farnham for an Indian ready meal and some Fairtrade chocolate. Tonight I spent most of the evening getting my books of account in order to go off to my account in Frome tomorrow. Although the accounts are kept up to date, I had difficulty in printing off the old Microsoft Works spreadsheets and will have to convert future ones to Excel. I therefore had to put the spreadsheets onto a disc and hope that my accountant can read them. When I came home I found that Tom had a whole new wardrobe of clothes - he has grown out of most of his existing ones already, and a new chest of drawers on the landing. The new chest does look smart. Our new downstairs carpet should arrive on Friday so Thursday's Home Group will have to be cancelled or a another venue chosen. Sara spent the evening finishing off the Parish Magazine.

A bike ride to East Grimstead (Sewage Works)

My bike riding yesterday must certainly have taken its toll on me as I didn't wake this morning until just before 10 a.m. This is absolutely unheard of usually! In fairness to myself, I had found it difficult to sleep as it was so warm and humid in the night and that humidity continued throughout today. We all had leisurely breakfasts - in my case kippers and porridge - and I did some tidying up in the kitchen and study. Mary decided that she wanted to go on another bike ride so at around 3 p.m. we set off again for Bentley Wood with the intention of cycling from one end to the other to emerge at the village of East Grimstead - a total of about seven miles in one direction. It was very hot indeed and we needed plenty of water as we cycled ever further south. We followed yesterday's paths as far as the centre of the wood and then took a wide track past Keeper's Cottage (a familiar name to those of you who are Archers' Fans) and on towards Ben Lane Gate. We veered off left towards East Grimstead but somehow we missed the turning for the Grimstead Gate and the village proper and eventually ended up by East Grimstead Sewage Works (or Waste Water Treatment Plant to give it its correct title!). Fortunately it was marked on the OS map and the sound of a train on the close-by Southampton to Salisbury line helped me locate exactly where we were. I had, sensibly, included a compass in my rucksack and so by using this and noting the position of the sun we were able to to find ourselves back on familiar territory by keeping a northerly heading. We saw a few deer (Mary thinks it was 5) and two slow worms as well as squirrels and numerous birds. By the time we got back, saddle sore and soaking wet with sweat, we had travelled 14 miles in total. Tonight we had a quick BBQ and the kids watched Britain's Got Talent whilst I soaked in the bath reading some papers for tomorrow when I am back in Dorking - they actually fell into the bath! This afternoon, Burnley, a football team I used to go and see play when I lived in Liverpool, beat Sheffield United (a War of the Roses) at Wembley to gain promotion to the top tier of English football for the first time in 33 years. Well done. I lowered the USA flag, which had flown today to mark the convening of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, and hoisted the red rose of Lancashire in its place by way of congratulating Burnley. I feel they may make their mark in the Premier League as have their close neighbours, Blackburn Rovers. Sara has spent this afternoon and evening putting the final touches to the parish magazine. I intended to have an early night but have just realised that it is already 11.35 p.m. so I'll stop now. A really enjoyable but sore day!