Monday was fairly quiet, went to writers group and we were mainly just pacing ourselves. I have the feeling I probably need to buy more but we shall see as by the time I had already orders for four although one was technically direct and not through me. However don’t let that stop you asking for a copy. If however you want to be sure of a copy and to cut out the middle person then please just turn up at the Bank Street Art Centre (on Bank Street which is behind the Cathedral) next Friday at 7:30 p.m. where we will be reading. There was some discussion on whether we should make it available over the internet. If people abroad want it, let me know and I will email the final pdf file to you.
Tuesday was Bible study. This was quiet, many people appeared tired even of those that had made it. The course is in my opinion taking Acts far to quickly. We will get through it in about ten sessions. The thing is that last time we had Ananias and Saphira, the appointment of deacons and the stoning of Stephen in one session. Any one of those on its own could take a full session to talk over.
Wednesday was my day off. I spent the morning at Herringthorpe as they have no less than two meetings on a Wednesday morning. They have a prayer meeting and a fellowship group and although the two overlap they are not the same and led by different people. This is a Songs of Fellowship church but the Wednesday fellowship group are Mission Praise. I have seen churches where the main hymn book has been the denominational one and the youth have had a supplementary one, but I wonder why this group chose Mission Praise.
Thursday back into work but a largely quiet day and it needed to be. As on Friday it was Assess Conference. This is an annual get together in York of people who use SPSS. So I had an early start as I needed to be at the station for 8:20. That does not sound bad until you realise taxis want to pick you up an hour beforehand so I planned to leave the house at 7:30. The free gifts were good from IBM but the support wasn’t. The fact is that until last year they actually sent people to these events. This meant that it actually was time when I could talk to someone in the company about how we were doing at Sheffield and as it is major research package there, that I felt was important. Now we just have a linkup with someone in US. This should be by computer but both times we have had to use phones. If you have ever heard a mobile phone being projected through a microphone you will have some idea how poor the reception was.
Saturday I did some writing up of things in the morning. In the afternoon I went out to find where Bank Street Arts Centre was, so I could get there easily next Friday. It is in the roads I think of as back of the Cathedral. What I will do coming home at least is get the Tram from Fitzalan Square which is really very close by. It is an interesting place, I think it exists in two floors of a couple of tall former terrace houses. I would say Victorian only what little knowledge I have of Sheffield suggests they may be older. The building is therefore on several different levels, yes there is disabled access at least to the lower floor. I am not sure where we will be performing.
On the evening I went to a social event. The judgement of many people I hear is there could have been more people there but there was a good crowd and I think what they mean is that people who are normally at socials weren’t there, but then the point was to get to know new people and had there been more of them that would have been harder for those who were there. The thing that was perhaps most surprising for me was the entertainment. They have four members who as one of their hobbies do Abba Impersonators together. So they got entertainment put on by them. It was loud. Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection to Abba music, but having to listen with my fingers in my ears isn’t normally how I prefer to listen to it. They had some sing-a-long ones as well and some of the younger people were dancing but I suspect quite a few of the older people went home because of the volume and style of the music.
So today spent the day mainly inside. I think made a slight breakthrough with my research diary keeping. I just need to keep telling myself that what I need to do is to free writing and not bother too much about putting down things correctly after all the only person who is going to read the diary is me. So why do I need things in perfect style if I am typing for myself. Also that I should not bother about getting everything down. What I need to do is just get down an impression of what I experienced and that can be done in a lot looser style than I have used up to now. The skill is actually getting me to start typing and stay at it. Often I pressure myself too much over getting something right, although I don’t know what right is, so I am tying myself into knots. I stop writing because it is so difficult to sort out what is the exact thing I need to write.
This evening went to the evening service, which could well be a favourite with me. This church has lots of small meetings that are called different things but roughly do the same thing. There is Bible Study on a Tuesday, Fellowship Group on a Wednesday and Evening Service. I wonder if the Monday Group is the same, although the one account I have had of it, it isn’t. Oh a comment from tonight which was worth noting. This mornings worship was all age and the comment was that it was almost a different congregation.
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