Thursday 14th June
So far not much written in this letter this week. Not that the week has been uneventful. Monday I was down in Birmingham to see my supervisor. I always aim to be at least half an hour before the actual meeting. This is very useful for me as I tend to go into the postgrad study and to check my emails on all accounts. Well on Monday I did just that only to find an email from my supervisor saying that as his mother had died the previous week and he was still sorting out things he could not make the meeting. I also for once had forgotten my student card, so I spent some time on the internet, had lunch and then wandered back along the canal to the University Train Stop (as opposed to Selly Oak which is where I usually go)
Tuesday ended up sorting things in work. Would not said I had done much but got some things straight. Finding it fascinating to be working with a Linguistics student and the way she deals with language. It seems as if every time she comes I end up sending her back for another bit of software. The latest is for SigmaPlot so she can draw proper graphs! The way her study works is that she asks people to supply synonyms for words. People are classed by age, gender and social class. What she is trying to find out is how the meanings of words differ across those groups. She then groups the supplied words according to meaning and then calculates what percentage that is of the words. Of course this relies on some words changing quicker than others. What she is trying to do is map the morphology of the language. However she has set my PhD mind working and I am beginning to think that we could talk of a community boundary where there is significant translation work to be done in talking across it. If a boundary exists if a person from one group talking to a person from another group has to do significant translation of ideas and thoughts in order to make themselves intelligible to each other. This using Wagner means that they are aware of cultural differences between them!
Wednesday it was over to Stockport to see my Uncle and Aunt who were staying with my Mum and Dad. I actually got going around time and things went relatively smoothly. Got the 11:10 train which meant I was over around 12 noon. Had to go to the department first to drop off a set of keys. Then caught a tram. Charles and Di seemed to have enjoyed their stay with my parents. My parents were saying they were tired tonight, and I would not be at all surprised if Charles and Di were feeling much the same. I got the train back and walked up to town and did little jobs there, mainly just small shopping ones.
In the evening went to a meeting at Hanover Methodist where the future of worship was being discussed. I do not know what will be the outcome but there needs to be something. I think there may be needs to widen a net. The building is not closed, in fact it is in use most days of the week, just not for worship.
Today I was in work, on time. Got and order from Amazon including a collection of poems selected by Neil Astley (who is really quite a brilliant selector) called "Soul Food". It is published by Bloodaxe and cost less than a tenner. I would suggest if you are looking for a present for anyone who has a liberal arts degree or just enjoys poetry, that it would be a brilliant gift.
Friday 15th June
Oh well nothing like a minor crisis for making you believe you are indispensable. So what has happened. The churches cellar has flooded. So an evening spent too and froing to the church to check depth (around a metre) and switch off the electrics. Calling the fire brigade (well actually Colin Anderson did that) and informing people about things. I think everything is done in correct order. Hopefully the fire brigade will only ring tomorrow and they will sort it fairly efficiently when they do come.
Saturday 16th June
The flooding in the church cellar is now down to reasonable levels i.e. wellie paddling level thanks to the fire brigade. Guess whose wellies are in Scotland! First time I have ever needed them properly and I hope never to need them again. There was a huge amount of water pumped out. We think between 30,000 and 40,000 litres or 76,000 gallons. This is presuming the fire-brigade pump was pumping at 1,000 litres per minute. Reasonable as the feeder pipe was 10 cm (2.5 inches) + across . The fire-brigade were happy for us to turn the electrics back on, and I got Ted Hunt out to switch off the boiler, so all safe for now. I just went to bed this afternoon and slept. Now I have a baking potato in the oven and will have tuna with lime chilli and tomato chutney with it.
Sunday 17th June
Well the flood was still Wellington boot level today. One new leek reported beside the elders vestry. I think I know where it is, but I do need a reply from Bill Armstrong on how to contact Roy Haigh, the builder. One good thing is the old dispute on whether the cellar is dry or not is over. So now all we have to do is decide how to solve the problem. Options seem three fold: reseal, fit a sump or move the heater boiler. Must tomorrow make a sign for the disabled loo! The rain is getting in via a route that runs right next to the main light filament. Anyway worship went ahead as usual and most of it will be in James' hands. I guess I have also made a small gain for women's equality in that the sorting of this should be a "man's role" but it is me who was trusted to do it.
Service went fine although the congregation was sparse due to Margaret Fall's holidays. Rather than having the gospel story read from the Bible, Sarah told it as a storyteller might. It was interesting how it brings different things to light. To tell the story Sarah either explained a lot of things and the one thing that struck me was how unusual today would be someone using a bottle of perfume as their savings for a rainy day. It also struck me that it was always women who had the expensive perfume.
Went to lunch with Sarah and then with her onto the Student Muslim Welfare House Open Day. This is the second time I had been shown around the premises and the guy showing us around was an eighteen year old local lad who was planning to be a doctor. The whole approach he gave was well nuanced in understanding of Islam and such was his confidence and demure I would have put him in his mid twenties. There was also a talk from an English woman who had converted to Islam about her own personal journey. She was from a devout but weak teaching Anglican background. For instance she was puzzled about how Jesus could be a Jew and the founder of Christianity. The Sunday School seems to have left the stories from the bible as just that stories and the relationship between faith and action had totally been left out of the equation. However her reasons for choosing Islam are just the reasons I would never choose it. To put it bluntly we both find with Christianity once I have run intellectually as hard as I can, there is still mystery and paradox. For her that was a reason to choose Islam, for me it is a reason to stick with Christianity.
Endings
This week I have to make sure I get fresh appointment with my supervisor, I will not trouble him until Tuesday, if he was only back at Birmingham at the end of last week then he will need a few days to get his bearings. Plus I also really do need to get a move on with transcribing the interview tapes.
Tuesday there is a meeting to talk about the petty crime in the area that has had one of its sporadic increases. The real reason being the the police have had some success against the local drug suppliers, so new suppliers are trying to move into the patch. Add that we look as if we might have a long hot summer and there are quite a few bored teenagers, who seem to think gang culture might enliven things up. the question is how do we nip it in the bud.
Next Saturday we have an exhibition at St. Andrew's called Body Mind and Spirit, Central has a model bus and train exhibition. David, I guess I should say if you are coming over for the bus and train exhibit I will take Sue to St. Andrew's instead.
Well with that and keeping an eye on water levels in the churches cellars, I do not think I will be bored.
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