What a week is like

I have become aware that we really haven't described what our lives are now like—on a day to day basis—now that we have moved to England and C has been working for a few months as Parish Assistant. We've been asked what C "does" and so will attempt to describe a typical week...but that will be difficult as no week seems to be like any other and he is still developing his role to the needs of the church. Anyhow, here it goes...



Get it?
It's a copy of C's diary for an upcoming week. Admittedly it's a bit hard to read because it is on an angle, but also hard to read because it is so full—and these are only the work items that he is aware of today. What is not recorded are the telephone calls, additional reading, study, thinking and face-to-face meetings that can't be scheduled in. (I don't think he has to prepare a sermon or talk for this week, if so add another 16 hours or so into the schedule).
Days begin at about 6am and finish on average around 10pm...of course there are variations on this when some weeks are less full, but generally 6 days a week are completely full of trying to serve the church—that is God's people and the Lord Himself.

We are grateful to the parish that C (and I) are able to be financially supported in a way that means he doesn't have to work in a second paid job, and we know we are fortunate as there are those who have to work in another job AND lead and be responsible for congregations and their own lives of faithfulness to God and His Word. We are not sure how they can do this...we hope that they are at least supported by prayer and fellowship.

The week displayed on the calendar is a somewhat unusual week in the life of the parish in that it is a special week of organised events and activities designed to introduce the Christian faith to people who are interested. The churches of SWP have six students from the Cornhill Training Course
coming for a 'mission' week and they will assist us all in talking to invited friends and families to the many events, large and small that are being organised. There's a Teddy Bears Picnic (for toddlers and the parents), a 'Question & Answer' panel at the local pub, small dinner groups, a large organised breakfast, a countryside walk... just to name a few.

The theme of the week is "This World Is NOT Enough".
It's a bold statement–it suggests that there is more to life than what we think there is, and that even if we possessed the whole world, there is still something more important worth having.

I wonder if you agree?

Newsworthy

Poor whale. It died whilst being rescued.
What is astonishing is the amount of media and general interest there was in this event...television subtitles were flashed on the screen announcing the animal's death and it was the headline news item on the BBC News 24 for many hours. I wonder what it says about society when we are THAT interested and affected by a lost and sickly animal. I, too, was upset that it was in trouble, but find it hard to place it in the same (or higher) context of the millions of people who are also displaced and sick—and yet get no television coverage with minute-by-minute updates of their welfare and need for assistance...

On another item of news, a portrait has been found last week, in London of what may be the only image in existence of Lady Jane Grey—the "Nine Day Queen". Lady Jane was beheaded at the age of 17 following her short reign in 1553.
The Protestant Lady Jane was the grand-daughter of Henry VIII's Catholic sister Mary, who proclaimed herself rightful queen under the terms of Henry's will.
It had long been thought that she was the only English monarch since 1500 of whom no contemporaneous portrait survived. Until now, perhaps.
Here is the portrait...


Many tests have been carried out on it, to determine its authenticity. One of which was an X-ray, which delivered surprising results...(click on image to enlarge)


Of course, this confirms my long-held suspicions that we are related. Grey is not a particularly common surname and of course, as you know, I have been instituted with all the grace and demeanour of a que..

P.S. Having a whale of a time!

There's a whale in London.
Not in an aquarium (although I'm sure that there might be, if London has an aquarium), but a 'proper' one...in the Thames! There have been sightings up and down the murky waters, but the focus is concentrated on the tourist area near Tower Bridge.
Is it sightseeing?

This is the ABC's new take on it...
"A rescue effort is under way for a seven-tonne whale that has managed to find its way into the River Thames in central London.
Hundreds of Londoners flocked to the banks of the Thames to catch a rare glimpse of the five-metre long whale. Television cameras followed the whale as it swam past a series of landmarks in the British capital, including Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Authorities were notified by a man who spotted the animal on his way to work.
He told them he thought he was hallucinating."

I LOVE the last line!

Supermarket sweepstake

The weekly supermarket shop is usually pretty predictable and dull and this week appeared to be no exception...until we spotted THIS:

Funky Fish.
Doesn't really sound very appetising does it...It's pasta (if you can call the vague mixing of flour and water that). At the time, we were oblivious to the other pasta varieties for sale on the shelves, but after doing some research (truly!), I found this magnificent devotional to all things tinned and pasta-like available in the UK.

I'm especially keen to know what the sales of "Animal Hospital" pasta is? Are there little pasta-forms of Rolf Harris? Or surgical equipment?
What does impress me is the dedication of the website's owner to tracking-down, purchasing, opening, dissecting, photographing and documenting food! Check out the website (www.spaghoops.com) to see what the inside of chocolate bars, biscuits...and more varieties of pasta look like!

Anyway, supermarket shopping can now be pursued with a little more excitement, especially as we are going to go armed with our camera. Things like this are far too good not to record...

Yes, it does say, "Mr. Brains' 2 faggots in rich sauce". Hmmm...

That's the questionable side of buying food in Basingrad. What we have recently done is sign-up to a weekly delivery from www.farmaround.co.uk which supplies organic British produce at (we think?) reasonable prices. Each week the selection varies, depending on what is in season and so far we have not been disappointed. We receive the "mini bag" which is supposed to be enough for one person for a week, but the name is misleading—a huge sack arrives filled with all sorts. It feels a bit like a grown-up version of the Sydney Easter Show Sample Bag as there are vegetable-y things in there which we have never seen before. It is especially comforting to see produce as it is before it has been polished, waxed, sprayed and made uniform by the supermarkets. Personally, I like a little bit of dirt, bug—and character— with my food!



May the (organic) force be with you...

Prehistory

At the time of departure from Sydney, we didn't really know what things we should pack that might help us settle in a new place—aside from the essentials of a few bits of clothing, some household doodads, decorative stuff and a whole mountain of books. In a fit of desperation, we threw in a 20 cent bag of mixed photographs that included a lot of baby images (in case we needed to remember what we looked like), a few of the seminal 'growing up moments' (for those awful "guess who" competitions at church weekend aways and school fundraisers etc) and this one from Prehistory...




This is, as well as being visual evidence for all that was rotten in the state of A's parents' wardrobe, is a group of friends who have stayed close and have shared marriage (some to each other, some introducing new people to the recipe), mortgages (our combined debt must be quite ridiculous), relocation overseas, interstate, intrastate and back again, deaths of loved ones, career upheavals, weight fluctuations, health concerns and babies. Our lives, on the surface at least, look nothing remotely like they did when this photo was taken some 8 or so years ago!

What has been constant, however, is our bond as Christian brothers and sisters. How good is He to us that we have been provided with each other!
Excuse me whilst I tear up because we are so far away (and because I look atrocious in black floral patterning...).
Come and visit soon!
P.S Happy birthday Rach! (1970's green dress, flirty look, third from left)

Quarterly review

It's been 3 months since we departed Sydney; time for the Quarterly Review.

Things achieved:
1. relocation to England and the successful transit, via container ship, of (a) things we own, to (b) where we are living
2. perpetuation of the myth that all Australians have kangaroos as pets (and if you're wondering where ours is, British readers, Skippy is in prolonged quarantine...)
3. local purchase of Milo, Vegemite and Anzac biccies
4. utter confusion as to why one can rewire a house in the UK without need of an electrical licence, but can't have a power point in a bathroom
5. moderate intrigue as to why the English do their washing up in little plastic tubs that rest INSIDE their kitchen sink
6. marginal frustration at not knowing what the correct name is for the "flap in the door that the mail is pushed through". It can't be a 'letter box' (as it's not a box) and 'mail hole' sounds so wrong in sooo many ways...
7. an indeterminable amount of clay and mud accumulated onto footwear from the fields outside our house
8. a love of the following BBC panel shows: "Q.I.", "Never mind the buzzcocks", "Have I got news for you", "A question of sport", "Top Gear" (amongst others)
9. a total of 5 streaming head-colds between us-more than we would normally get in a couple of years
10. a desire to own a real log fire.

Things not achieved:
1. the adaptation of our accent to allow for the word 'holy' to sound like 'hoe-lee' (as is the case with Hampshire folk)
2. the painting of our house despite 23 zillion paint charts collected in the first week of arriving here
3. an understanding of why some English folk like to drink 'Hot squash", that is, heated-up orange or other fruit-based cordial. Yes, you read this correctly...
4. the successful location of Tim Tams in any supermarket despite being available in, of all places, Oakham Tesco's two years ago
5. a consistent, reliable, decent coffee from a Cafe. Give us a moment while we reminisce...and a moment's silence for all that burnt latte milk and mega-oversized cups that we've had along the way.

*Sigh*

Colder than Iceland

While Sydney melts in 44 degree plus temperatures (we are soooo thankful that we are not there), we have been experiencing our own unusual weather. What be these cold white particles that droppeth from the heavens?

SNOW!

Boxing Day in Rutland presented us with -14 degrees (yes, that's MINUS...) and beautiful crisp snow. Enough snow to make everything graphically black and white. Enough snow to make A addicted to weather reports to see when more will be on the way and produce a portfolio of 8 inch tall snowmen around the yard. Enough snow to make the spaniel take up the doggy equivalent of stage-diving from even the tiniest embankment in order to plow headfirst into a cushion of it. In fact, enough snow to lure C away from reading by the fireside...


Happy New Year friends! Hope you can escape the heat.
PS. More Christmas/Rutland/Snow/Dog pics can be found here
here

New Dawn, New Day, New Year.

Two thousand and six. It has a nice sound to it; fresh and new, full of exciting possibilities...it must certainly mean that the 'festive season' is finally over and that we can push Christmas to the back of the cupboard for another year. Doesn't it?

C did a admirable job amongst the battling nativity scene angels (not of one accord) and headbutting shepherd boys to deliver his talk at St. Andrew's before Christmas. Here it is in summary...

"How often do we see a child doing something and then apply it to a profession they might have when they grow up?
We see little Jane building with blocks and we say, "Ooh, maybe they'll be an architect". Proud parents see Charlie bump a ball around the room and closely follow it wth comments about playing for England one day. We recognise that babies grow up to be something: Baby Jane and Charlie will not always be 'baby'.

At Christmas we remember a baby—we remember Jesus. However the importance of Jesus is not that he was a baby but that he grew up to be the focus of God's plan for history. This plan of God was for Jesus to buy back (redeem) all those who do not submit to God—that is everyone, you and me.
Jesus, the baby we remember, grew up to die for others. This was the price of buying us back."


Not to be put back in the cupboard.