So what has been happening this last fortnight, well the first week was largely taken up with the extra classes for writers group (that and getting ready for supervision with a busy week in work). The thing being that I really needed two poems per week for three weeks. This is way above my normal turnover which is less than a poem a week with me using the holidays to get ahead so I don’t have to produce one every week. However with this being end of year, I had used up all my reserves during the year and had none to fall back on. So I needed to sit down and produce something, it took a while and at least one of the pieces I took one week and rewrote for the following week, but that was a major re-write and the tutor even commented on it. There are others who imagine that my short pieces are the easiest pieces to do, but in someways they take the most time as my imagination has to be clear to do them.
Work wise I am very busy, I suspect that I could easily fill a full working week if I wanted to but the only way to keep it sane is to try and limit it. Next week is already full with a little space the week after. I suspect things will ease at the end of August but I do not hold much hope before then.
Over the weekend I had the last of my general interviews for Herringthorpe and I am finding it harder and harder to stick to the interview schedule. The thing is the conversation around the interview is often far more relevant than the interview itself. I want the time to talk and the time to listen but the questions are really vehicles for enabling that and the tape recorder seems in many ways a positive hindrance. People don’t mind telling me things but put them on tape and they are not nearly as sure. Odd that as the point of having it on tape is so I don’t misrepresent them and the only people who may need to listen to the tapes are me and them. I have no plans for anyone else to listen. Anyway the couple are former missionaries of Pakistan and have done some work with Christian Asylum seekers in this country.
Last week with writers finished was slightly less frantic, but I had a supervision in Birmingham. My supervisor has sent me information on a study day in the autumn on liturgy and mission, from the same group that I went to the conference with last year. They must think they have not exhausted the topic. I will go to listen but at this stage in my thesis, I am not going to present a paper. I am too busy with writing up to my thesis to go through the process of preparing a paper. I appreciate the way my supervisor pushes me to actually think through what I am trying to say and find what is actually at the core of my thought. I was struggling with what was so special about church meeting. I have sat through enough to know that on the surface they appear meetings just like any other meeting but there was something about them that was drawing my interest and I had to work out what it was. It is a process not unlike that of poetry of going over and over the details until you find the key, the clue that attracts my attention, when I have that then I can build the argument around it just as when I know what I am saying in a poem I can build the description around that.The key gives the form to the whole thing.
Friday was busy, there were once again over forty for breakfast, I suspect that Olly who came to cook had not really been aware of the increase in number (it changes the organisation of cooking somewhat if you know that there are going to be over thirty for breakfast all wanting bacon). We discovered one of the guys was celiac when he brought special bread in. This is not a problem as once we know we can check provide the bread and make sure he does not get flour.Then came home and slept before going into work. If I am up about six to get to the Breakfast my body quite likes to sleep once it is over. At work I had managed to double book. I suspect because of diary changes and the prior problems with my diary, but fortunately had kept the last slot of the week free so that I could sort things for the following week. So I apologised and saw the person then. Then after work it was a trip down to Waitrose to get Minicol cream cheese for my parents, only there wasn’t any, but there was Minicol hard cheese and Benecol soft cheese that also was low in cholesterol. However Waitrose knew I was coming shopping for my parents as it did not have any decaffeinated coffee beans on the shelf. Then change around and catch the bus to the Dicksons, only I only had a £20 note and I realised I needed to buy a bus ticket, so I popped into one of the convenience stores and spotted they had Baklava that was similar to what I had been given some weeks earlier so I bought a packet and then remembering Mum was back on strict orders from the diabetic nurse I gave it to the Dicksons.
Saturday I went over to my parents. Apart from only starting slowly the trip over went smoothly though I was tired when I got there. Dad was also tired having had a somewhat disturbed night so both he and me went for a sleep on the afternoon. Then around 4pm he suggested a walk and I managed to persuade them to go to Reddish Vale, I drove as Dad was worried over finding parking places although he had to direct me. The first car park was full but the overflow had several spaces in it. I am encouraging them to try and go there about once a week for their afternoon walk as it is only a couple of miles away and really quite a pleasant place to walk. They have a small cafe open between 1pm and 4pm as well as what looks like a better quality one at the nearby farm. However there isn’t easy parking there and it is a bit of a walk from the country park. I think the highlight was that there was a greylag goose but Mum was quite thrilled with the banks of Jumping Jack Balsaam or Himalaya Balsaam which were flourishing in huge quantities along the river Tame at the time fo year.
Today has been spent with rather quietly with my parents. They decided they were staying home in the morning and only going to church in the evening. At around 12:30 Dad decided to show me a A6380 as it came into land at Manchester. Never mind that I had actually seen it the day before when I came into Stockport. Anyway they dropped me off so I caught the 4:54 p.m. train back to Sheffield.
No comments:
Post a Comment