From a Sunny Sunday with a Gentle Breeze

I am going to try to keep this short but I am trying to write something rather than nothing. I did not make writers group almost a fortnight ago but did last week. They are needing to raise a small sum of money to pay for the publication of the latest book and also for the venue for the reading in the Autumn. The suggestions so far tend to be selling things to each other, such as books we have read. Not sure anyone wants second had copies of Jonathan Edwards “The Religious Affections” printed by Banner of Truth. I bought it a while ago but have since upgraded to the proper academic text.

I have moved offices as you will know from my earlier email. It involved a huge amount of chucking out and I know if I had had more time some of the stuff I chucked out could have found another home, but I learnt while at University that while I can be organised and get things packed in advance, mood wise I am lot happier if I do it at the last minute. This confuses people who think I am not ready but after all the moves with the department I know precisely how long it takes me to pack and how long it takes me to unpack. The result was that I filled four cases and two boxes plus had various oddments to move as well. Everything was clearly labelled and everything got across there that I had put to pack. I should have thought I needed a door stop but didn’t, so now I need to get one. The office is south facing, I have had people commenting on the view which rather surprises me as the window Iook out of from my desk looks directly onto a brick wall which is quite badly marked with soot and cabling but otherwise is unremarkable. However from the other window you can look out over the southern part of Sheffield if you stand up. The office has air conditioning I just hope it also provides heat in winter. The major problem with the building is at present there is no real staff space. The common room that was down stairs is going to estates and the only other room that has water in it, apart from the loos, is being used as a temporary class room. I suspect that means I will be at Jessops West even more frequently for coffee than previously.

The weekend I had to get ready the papers for my supervision. The last two weeks have been tough but exhilarating to work at. Writing the description is pretty straightforward and the trick is to put too much detail in, but when it comes to theory I find that I really have to work very hard indeed to write something that is technically good and that it requires a lot of readings as well. Despite the fact that I am have read widely, I find that I am often having to fill in the gaps around where I specifically want to write and find the right theorists for the area. One interesting thing is I have found the work by Richard Jenkins on Social Identity and this pointed me to the work of Fredrik Barth so another theorist around Ethnicity. Anyway my supervisor likes the theory part of this chapter and his view and mine on where the chapter was at were identical. Basically it needs a lot of cutting down, a few extras added and theory worked through. So lots of pretty intense work and I am really glad there is a long weekend next weekend as it will allow me to see the back of it. I have decided that any weather that is not middling for the UK is bad news for the rail network. On the way down my train was ok except it was in front of the train that was supposed to be half an hour early. I could see people getting peeved at this as at Sheffield people were not advised to change trains. However coming back was a totally different story. The train that travels exactly the same route an hour earlier had not left the station. so they were going to join it to the train I was due to get. As the earlier train was a rush hour one this meant both trains were full of tired and grumpy people including me. Fortunately we had a train manager who has a brilliant sense of humour and through it let us know he understood our gruntlement.

Yesterday my parents were over, they came slightly later than usual so we did not go to Waitrose, but instead went straight out to Old Moor. After having a bacon butty and salad at the restaurant we went along the quieter route for a walk. There were not as many people nor as many birds as there were on the other route but it was pleasant and warm day with a slight breeze and we just enjoyed being out in the sunshine. At the bittern hide at the far end of the walk a pair of Reed Bunting flew just in front of us. Dad said “Its just a big sparrow” but they are bigger than an sparrow, the markings are better defined and the head is solidly black with a white collar. So I got out my bird book and checked and it was definitely a Reed Bunting. Mum was then getting cold so we came back and had tea at the cafe, then drove back to Sheffield and parked near St Georges to see if we could see the Peregrins. Dad was deciding that we would not see them but they might be around as a stream of feathers were ascending from the top of the tower. I decided to walk around to see if I could see better and I spotted one of them feeding on a ledge. So I called Dad over and pointed it out. Then Dad spotted a second sitting of top of one of bits of carving which was really easy to see. The result was a very happy father. He is now talking of going to Martin Mere next time I am over. These work well as Mum enjoys being out with people around while my Dad enjoys the bird watching and the paths are level and easy to walk along.

After a Baptism

I am going to try highlights but I am trying to recall what has happened and not finding it that easy. I think this is possibly because things have been dominated quite a bit by thesis writing. The weekend before I rather got distracted. I had a recalled a quote from Lord of the Rings for my thesis and I needed to trace it. It took longer than I imagined to find it but I ended up spending quite a bit of the Saturday reacquainting myself with Lord of the Rings. I had forgotten what a rollicking good story J.R.R. Tolkien can be and would decide to read a page to check for the quote and then realise I had read twenty pages without stopping. This weekend I am at the changeover point on my second chapter. Upto now I have been writing in the current chapter the easy bits, which are the detailed description of what went on that I see as important. The big challenge with this is the selection of material. There really is far too much stuff there and that is without dealing in detail with the interviews. From the few times I have done in depth analysis on the interviews, as opposed to simple reviewing there has been tons of stuff just below the surface, at least enough for another thesis and I am having to keep myself from being distracted by it. I am however moving into doing the theory for this section. I seem to suffer a loss of confidence as I approach this, yet once I am really writing it I am able to do so. This may be the legacy of having moved so much out of the areas where I know I am capable into an area which I still feel a novice in. I have at least got through the totally terrible first draft (did not even both computerising it) but have started computerising a second draft. This coming week is going to be interesting as I try and redraft that section so that it is ready for me to fit the chapter together next weekend, all but the last section which is relating the stuff talked about back to Reformed Piety.

Meanwhile Fleur sent me a flyer on a meeting at Westminster College on the topic of Reformed Spirituality . Now it is organised by the by the United Reformed Retreat Group So I spent quite a bit of time sorting that out. I know I really should apply to the retreat group but have not got around to doing it yet and I had to pay Westminster up front.

Work wise it has been busy, the senior bosses have this last week caught onto the fact that the move is happening in the immediate future (this weekend and next) and have therefore been driving the secretaries batty with , have you thought of X. The normal reply was “Yes six weeks ago”. On Wednesday evening I was given my bit of it when one of them saw me leaving work. The fact that I had sorted out to my satisfaction most of it two weeks ago and that I knew I had lots to throw out but apart from that and packing most things were sorted, just had not occurred to him. The fact being that if things weren’t sorted by now I would be feeling very threatened given the way things were set up originally. I am jolly glad that people lower down the department have done the organising.

Last Friday as I returned from doing some shopping after the Broomhall Breakfast I spotted the police helicopter hovering over the church, this made me nervous, not because I thought there was anything going on in the church but there had been a bit of a to-do with a couple of Breakfasters and talk of sorting it out in the car-park afterwards. Any I went back to the church then walked with Mary home while Sarah I presume deliberately went the other direction. The helicopter left as we set off and there was no trouble.

I don’t think I would recall this but that evening Ship of Fools learnt of the death of Genevieve, now Ship of Fools knows it can mourn a death, and Genevieve was a shipmate who I respected hugely although with little contact. She seemed wise and intelligent. However I am realising that the circumstances of her death (she was shot in church in USA by someone the church had been helping) in close proximity to the incident in the morning just unsettled me.

Otherwise another paper has been published in work and I think another three have or are about to be submitted. I have been busy filling in forms and such. Otherwise I have been dealing with doctoral students in landscape or such with a few foreign language students thrown in for interest. There is more than enough to do.

Today was the baptism of Theo Wheat and also of Annual Church Meeting. The baptism went well and the crowd that came for the Baptism filled the church. The comments afterwards were appreciative and St Andrews members are a disciplined lot who got back to church meeting on time despite the chocolate rich tea biscuits. Sarah is impressive in her management of church meeting and managed to get through the whole ACM procedure and introduce the Church Life Review in under an hour! This is in marked contrast with the meetings I recall as a teenager which could take up a full afternoon as each committee gave their report verbally. The big problem was that as it was a small church everyone went to everything so we really did not need a report on it.