Busy week preparing for Christmas

This last week included the carol service. The wreath was a big task again. Next year I am going to have to do things differently. Lynn and Sandra(twins) who pick about 50% of the greenery are away visiting Lynn’s daughter in Australia from November to January or February and then the greenery that is sprayed needs spraying in advance or spraying not using the aerosol paints we use at present due to the solvent. I suspect that what will be needed is a preparation day when others help collect and prepare the greenery, there might be other activities as well. The pictures come out far more blue than I recall the actual wreath being. It looked positively pink at the Carol service.


Having done this on the Tuesday on the Wednesday I threw a migraine. Al right I know largely why, not taking extra medication on Tuesday morning to prevent migraine and then not drinking enough water during the day.


With that over with I started to think earnestly about Christmas. Friday and Saturday I spent a lot of the time doing Christmas things like shopping. I had planned just to shop on Friday, but I realised part way through the day that I was not really up to finishing the shopping that I planned so decided to do the food shop at Waitrose the next day. I did however manage to make rum truffles by following a recipe  and managed to up load all my essays to date for my PhD. That allows me to move them from my main computer to this one which I will take with me on holiday and also to print them out at work so I can read through analyse them and come back with some idea of what my PhD is actually about. I also managed to write a round robin (if you want to read it, it is the next post down, but there is nothing there that is not elsewhere and in more detail. I  bought a pack of Christmas cards and will send these with the letter to a few people who I keep contact with at Christmas time. 


Today I went to both the morning service and to the carol service. The carol service was better attended this year with about seventy people there. This still was not the packed church that they have at St Andrews Chesterfield and it was a far more traditional in its readings. Pauline decided to read a piece of poetry, it was a fun piece, but I am not sure it worked being read aloud. Maybe my writers group are getting to me, they always read poetry several times before commenting, or maybe it just needed a performance rather than a reading. The rhythm and the rhyme tended to drown the meaning for me. There was however a good group chatting around and having mince pies afterwards.

From a supervision to an Advent Wreath

Lets see how things have been. I cannot remember back to the start of last week although I know the snow was still making travel difficult, indeed if you know where to look around here in Sheffield (i.e. below the normal snow line) you can still see traces of snow, not much, and the rain today has done something to get rid of the dregs but still there. Oh I got snow boots on the Monday which made walking a lot easier. Snow boots are fairly similar to walking boots but stiffer, lighter, warmer and with a better tread so less likely to slip. However at work someone recommended Yaktrax which you put on over shoes and have coils for gripping the snow

Wednesday I was down to see my supervisor. He had emailed me on Monday to say don’t come if travel is dicey. I was watching the weather but by Wednesday it had definitely started to pick up. I was also watching the trains through the website the Narional Rail Enquiries disruption page and spotted that alternate trains seemed to be having difficulty. As one of the delayed trains was the one I was planning to get, I was able to set out and get the train half an hour early which was only five minutes late leaving Sheffield but then behind a stopper to Chesterfield. This meant it was delayed by about half an hour, so I got in the time I would have otherwise. On the journey Derbyshire was thick with snow,with the ground all white up to Derby but after that you started to see tall grasses coming through the snow and such, by the time I got to Birmingham everything was outlined in white by frost not snow. It turned out that my supervisor was going on information from his sister. She lives east of Sheffield and the snow has been worse out that way. There is noticeably more snow remaining in Rotherham than in Sheffield at present. The supervision went well and though the journey back was delayed it was otherwise smooth, until I got to Sheffield when there was a huge queue for taxis so I decided to go for the tram. This meant a wait for the tram and cramped travel but I suspect the wait was shorter than it would have been for a taxi. Apparently a shooting star went over while I was waiting, unfortunately I was looking the wrong way.

Friday started with a departmental meeting. This meant I missed Broomhall Breakfast and had to do a quick-turn around at work to get there. The meeting was poorly attended I assume in part due to the snow. I started picking the greenery for the Advent wreath for the chaplaincy. On the evening I went up to James and Jean for a meal. It was a lesson in how badly Sheffield public transport was effected by the weather. I got to the bus stop shortly after 6pm and by 6:30 pm no 40 bus had been by. A full 120 had gone by and the 52 seemed to have sorted itself out but no 40. At which point I and a French Lecture caught a taxi that dropped him at Slayleigh Lane and then took me onto James and Jean. After that the meal was uneventful but a thaw had set in that day and I was slightly concerned that if the temperature dropped below zero, that the Close which my flat is on, would be inaccessible by car, as there were puddles lying in the snow on the road leading to it.

Saturday was busy. I needed to shop for bits for the advent wreath and other practical shopping. Then on the evening went to Herringthorpes Women’s Christmas Dinner. This year only a dozen attended compared with between twenty and thirty last year. Pauline dropped out at the last minute due to Alex being ill but one of the other ladies took her place. The chatter was general this year, about family and what was going on in each others lives. I got to here about NHS winter weather planning in quite a lot of detail due to sitting near two nurse-managers.

Sunday I made a strategic decision to stay at home on the morning as with all the time spent out over the weekend I needed some time in. I also had more greenery to get for the Advent wreath for chaplaincy. On the afternoon I went to Herringthorpe for their Cristingle service. The car park still had quite a bit of ice/snow on it as indeed had the pub the previous evening. About a dozen kids came to the service. A former scout master from the church brought his grandchildren so it was not just a selection of the usual suspects. At Herringthorpe they make up the oranges during the service including making the cuts for the candle in the top. A good atmosphere to it.

Yesterday was a fairly normal day in work except I went to cut more greenery for the Advent Wreath. This year on both Friday and Monday I have taken time out of work to cut the greenery, it means that I was not going out after dark to cut the greenery which I have done previous years. In the evening I went with my writers group to the Frog and Parrot, fortunately for us there was no DJ or live band that evening, just fairly loud background music. The pub was fairly busy when we arrived but quietened down as the evening went on and we continued to natter.

Today was the carol service at the University. I was again in charge of making the Advent Wreath. There had been communication problems in advance. I said Advent Wreath and I think they started looking for something about a foot in diameter with eighteen inch candles. What I was talking about was something six foot wide (the base is a metre wide) and has candles between 2 ft and 4 ft. It was not helped that they lost the candles and did not think to ask the office manager who knew exactly where they were. Anyway it all worked on the day as you can see from the photos. Next year I will have to plan the work flow differently as we can’t spray the greenery in the Octagon which means it will have to be sprayed, probably at St Andrews (hopefully outside in the garden at the back) on the Sunday. Lynn and Sandra who are half the team will also be in Australia so I need to do some thinking. However the comments were good, and there was an acknowledgement that something like that had to happen to create an atmosphere in that room. It was interesting that the party afterwards was quieter. I think quite likely as Will the former chaplain had felt the need for a Christmas party and I don’t think the present one does.

Two hectic weeks

On Tuesday the week before last I got to do another interview. At it for the first time I heard a rumour of both arguments and people leaving the church. This has been confirmed about four or five times since but that was the first hint and I do not know why. It is always in the second year that you get such hints, I am not sure whether people deliberately keep you in the dark or whether it is more that you don’t pick up the clues. What I am noting is that when a fall out happens there nearly always is a financial crisis afterwards. I am not sure this is deliberate but I suspect it may be. I would be more happy to have a direct and non emotive relationship if I had not been through stuff previously.

On the Wednesday I finally made it to the chaplaincy communion. Will Lamb has moved onto being Vice Principle of Westcott house and the new chaplain Anglican chaplain is Jeremy Clines. He is one of those people whose path occasionally crossed mine, I suspect the first time, at a coffee room late one night at High Leigh during a Chaplain’s conference I was attending in an attempt to try and work out what role I was trying to perform as Chaplaincy contact after taking it on after Fleur’s departure, and then both the Anglican and Methodist Chaplain’s changing over the summer as well. It was an interesting situation. Then he managed to email some time later. This puzzled me, as the email wasn’t spam but about a tour he was organising to Jerusalem. Although I recognised the name, I wondered where he had got my email address from as I had definitely not given it. So I did some hunting and realised he was on supervisor’s, supervisees list. For those putting 2+2 together I am pretty sure you are right in making 4.

Thursday that week saw Cathy and her kids coming over. We did not go swimming, firstly Sam had been swimming that morning already (he trains with the county squad) secondly the cold had been nasty and upto the day it was definitely unwise for me to swim. I had found an Indian Day at the local library and as it seemed to be one of a set of days running over half term. We stopped off at the Millenium galleries on our way up for a coffee. Sam had a fantastic hot chocolate with hot melted chocolate, cream, tiny marshmallows and a chocolate stick. Hannah had a Coke (Dad was not around so rules were being relaxed, as Coke makes Sam hyper). Then up to the Winter Gardens. They were recruiting for a craft tour for children Sam’s age and older although parent and siblings could come along. Sam decided not to so we went to see what the Indian day at the library was like. I had spotted that the library had a series of days on all week on a drop in basis. As it was half term I suspected that they were aimed at Primary school children, so maybe a bit young for Sam but not drastically. What I saw and what Cathy confirmed the age group aimed at were pre-school. Admittedly we turned up and the next thing I knew Hannah was colouring in, but there was obviously nothing for Sam. He solved the issue by getting the book he had to review for homework out and so I got out my reading book and we went and sat in the teen part of the library in comfy chairs and read. I think it helped Sam that I was reading as well. Then we went on and got pizza from Antibos. Neither of the kids finished theirs, although Sam ate over half. This is surprising given the amount of exercise Sam gets.

Over the weekend I was writing. The big task was to take the article I am writing for Anaphora and try and get it flowing again. To do this I took the article section by section and wrote it out by hand, then typed it into the computer again. I just hope that it worked. The idea being that if I am writing by hand I am unlikely to be editing it. I suspect it now really needs a good edit, too much waffle but that is as far as I can go.

I was hoping before the weekend that I would be able to cope without taking Friday as a work at home day, however by the end of worship on the Sunday I knew that there was not only Yorkshire Synod on the Saturday at Herringthorpe (I had offered to help with the sound) but that there was a church meeting on the Sunday at which I would be reporting the outcome of the interviews. So no chance of just doing evening service on the Sunday as I had planned. So it was obvious that I would have to have Friday working at home to get ready for Sunday and that I also would need time to rest afterwards so needed to take today off. I was inducted into the sound system that Sunday. It is no more complex than St Andrews except they record to tape. They want to move to mp3. What is different is beside it they have someone doing the audio visual. This basically consists of a PC with Zionworxs on it and a couple of projectors. It is fairly easy to use. If you want to have power point you just open the powerpoint and if Zionworxs is open it can be seen in the control panel. The one at the front is pretty powerful but the one at the back is just a normal projector. If they are using sound they feed it through the sound desk.

Tuesday I tried to get to Bible Study, it was a wet night with the sort of South Yorkshire wet, where the roads are running with water. I got to the car, and I knew the windscreen wiper was faulty but as it was usable I had not reported it. Well that night it broke before I even started driving and after ten to fifteen minutes of trying I was not managing to fix it. So I was now late and wet. I rang to cancel, they offered me another car but being both late and wet that was not on so I came back for an early night.

Friday I got my supervision papers ready and the presentation. He has not written back to me cancelling so I presume it is on. I have done the Training Needs Analysis done as well as quite a bit of other stuff. It gets more and more ridiculous every year. Part of the problem is that I actually have a half way decent research record due to my job and I certainly can trace and find papers and such very quickly. Also picked up the hire car. Again I got an upgrade, this time to a Ford Zetec. The only problem is that I am deliberately choosing a Corsa as it is a far nicer car to drive than the Zetec as you have far better visibility.

Saturday was synod. Actually it was fun as I was one of four people on the audio-visual desk. I was the second sound person. That meant I was there but beneath most people’s radar, the only two who spotted me were Sarah and James, even though I read at the final service. Most people were not expecting me to appear in that contexts so did not fathom who I was. It was interesting the blind spot it created. The two exceptions were Malcolm Hanson and maybe Kevin Watson who asked my opinion and I think got rather more than he expected. I suspect Kevin is trying to work out who I am and I am at present not helping. He has enough info if he wants to find out to do so. It was a lot of voting and little discussion. Most votes were unanimous (I think there was only one that wasn’t) and yes Yorkshire Synod has straight votes still. I think the more consultative approach would have added significantly time-wise to an otherwise already full agenda. I am far more in favour of it in situations where there is real debate to be had. The big decisions were largely uncontroversial because fairly thorough soundings had been done in advance. Two of them were reporting the conclusions after fairly thorough investigations and another was just realising that they weren’t really capable of doing what they were set up to do, so returned a neutral report. Oh can somebody please send Nick Maskell on a presentation course. When he is good he is very, very good but when he is bad he is horrid. A sure sign of someone who has ability but needs training. Training does not produce brilliant presentations, it stops people producing bad ones. Three presentations by him: one was brilliant, one perhaps middling and one was a classic how not to do a presentation.

Sunday was interesting, Three new elders appointed a new secretary and a new treasurer. The treasurer was an obviously popular choice. I suspect people had had him in mind for when the present one retired for quite a while. They also voted for their charity for this year. It was interesting, last year there were at least three candidates, this year there was one. There was also the feeling that the people who nominated the charity in previous years had not been pulling their weight (the nominators of this years charity will pull their weight without a doubt, in fact unofficially it has been a church charity for quite a while).

Today after a cold but bright weekend the heaven’s have opened and Sheffield has had water running down the roads again. Returning the car was not fun. Firstly I have to get to Hertz. On foot that is easy, but by car it is anything but, then I had to walk home. Had a brainwave however and rather than trying to find blue hard boiled sweets and making stained glass cookies I bought silver card and blue plastic and will make stain glass ornaments using that. This year there does not seem to be as much to do for the Advent wreath. This is something I have been working towards for a number of years and up to now have not achieved.

Advent service, Christmas preparations, and Carol service

what news is there from this week. Well I did not make my supervision due to supervisor being double booked. He is on temporary "promotion" due to basically the Dean of Arts getting a new job. I think for the first time he realised that I know how to handle people with busy diaries (thanks Fleur, Sarah, the Dicksons etc for the training) as when he did not respond with dates to my first email I sent him a second more persistent one. I am also learning to deal with busy people with Dyslexia. If you want them to act of something make sure it is the FIRST point in the email, if they think they can get away without reading on they will, and that rather blows things if from your perspective the main point is the second.

The Advent Wreath happened largely thanks to Lynn and Sandra (her twin sister). I think Asha the Chaplaincy assistance thought I was being odd when I introduced them by colour of clothing especially as both of them were looking down at the time and at present Sandra has more weight on than Lynn. However they are identical twins and though I can tell now just by looking someone who does not know them won't. Lynn has retired so came in specially bringing her sister and four bin bags of greenery. I am still trying to digest this years wreath. My analysis to date is it is more subdued but in better keeping with the front. The purple and I think blue will to create a depth and I wonder another year  I might have just some greenery sprayed with those.

With the supervision being cancelled I have actually had three quieter days this week (deliberately). I spent the time doing some transcription, writing up last Sundays service, making chocolates and decorating boxes as well as wrapping one or two presents and sending out my Christmas Cards. In between I have been playing with my camera and the result to date has been three panoramas of the view from my window in the snow. The first one after a flurry on Friday, the second later than evening and the last one this afternoon after a far heavier fall today. Fortunately the met office seems to think that the snow will decrease over the next few days.

Today I went to Herringthorpe for the nativity play, this year the play was set around the story of Simeon and Anna. The kids had written it. So it was set in the X-mas Factor, with contestants of Shepherd, Angels, Animals, Kings and Mary and Joseph. None of the acts caught the judges eye but there were two people cleaning around the place while it was going on. They of course were Simeon and Anna and although they appeared insignificant they were chosen as the most important. As the leader said afterwards they get more bible verses in Luke than do the Shepherds or the birth of Jesus and yet have none of the cute appeal the others had. I did rather get worried that he thought there were no animals in the temple, of course there were, even the passage we were reading has Mary and Joseph bringing two doves. Maybe animals don't count if they are going to be sacrificed. The other thing is that I think Anna and Simeon weren't nobodies you over looked. They represent the piety of ordinary folk who were part of Judaism, their piety made them exceptional. The piety did not bring them wealth but it gave them a way of living. So they were respected but for a totally different reasons. Oh and God was all for using the older person. In fact looking at a lot of biblical characters I am still too young. I think God sees eighty as about the median age for getting people to do things.

Last week I met up with a member there called Jenny. She used to attend Littleborough URC and then went up to St Andrews. So had enough in common to talk about things with ease. I could for instance say that perhaps Eldership should move more to an Academic Families pattern of pastoral care, and she immediately got the analogy. I wonder if that comment would actually work. There are several things about academic families that are interesting. Children choose parents and choose at least two (mother and father), families tend to be a mix of people parents have met in differing ways e.g. through societies, through hall of residence or through a social that the child and parent both attend. The result is that families are more mixed than most elders groups are. Its not a single interest group but a group where there are shared interests with some of the others. Hmm I think I feel a Musing coming on but will need some more thought before its written.

Tonight's service was a pretty normal carols by candlelight service. The things that stood were that they had both a choir and a young persons singing group. Both groups did harmony and the teenage girls have some strong voices amongst them. So I am beginning to see why they are thinking of putting on a musical. Roads were fine despite the snow but then the roads I am travelling along nearly all 40 mile an hour or higher with their speed limits so priority gritter roads. The problem was that most of the elderly stayed in so it was about a half a dozen mince pies each at the end.

Christmas Chatter

Thought I might write a Christmas missive, then remembered that about half way through the year my desk computer gave up the ghost. Well the hard disk became corrupted so badly it would not start. So amongst the other bits and bobs I lost were most of the people I contact once a year. Not much email this week so not much to comment on. So it may as well be a greeting sent through here and perhaps some reflection on the past year. Not that you need that!


Right first the thing I forgot from last week which was to report on Fleur and Walters house-warming come book launch for the second edition of Walters book which is now in paper back . I did the classic panic and arrived far too early. I put it down to me starting talking over the arrangements with Dad which meant he was calculating in time to pick me up and my natural caution on travelling a new route. Alright I did do it over a decade ago but got off at Stoke on Trent I think. The problem with Sheffield to Stoke is sometimes its quicker by Stockport and sometimes its quicker by Derby. Well with Dad worrying about picking me up in the rush hour from Stockport station, my timings got all out, though even on a good day on a new route an hour early is normal (yes I do aim to be in Birmingham an hour before a supervision or class). Also I try to avoid rush hour trains Sheffield to Stockport having done it for a year and can recall not just them being one to two hours late but also the fact that on one occasion at least it was standing room only and I was so tired I slept on the floor. So I was avoiding both the 17:10 and the notorious 17:40 and lost the invite so I was going on my timings not on the actual time when I booked. Anyway I to quote Walter arrived ridiculously early but as that allowed me to sit with a book and help a bit perhaps it was better for me that way. Fleur and Walter were busy in the kitchen and shouted for help when I could be of use, although I am less useful in a unfamiliar kitchen than in one I know and though bigger than the one at Blackbird Leys or at Sheffield it is long and thin. There must have been about twenty people there. I would have known about two thirds of them but mainly through my parents. My parents were invited but firstly the post office lost their invite then when this was realised they had my sister and the neice and nephew to stay for the weekend. My brother-in-law was on a lads weekend away, ostensibly buying the booze for Christmas but more accurately just having time away with other men. Ironically the guys he goes with are old friends of my sisters. Ruth, if you had wanted to make it, I am pretty sure a lift could have been arranged. Jan Berry, John and Yvonne Parry were in one car and Roger Tomes, Jack and Myrtle Mckelvey were in the other so two cars were coming from around where you lived. Marion Shadbolt was also there, she claimed at 9:30 pm that she was feeling tired because she'd been up at 2am trying to catch a rabbit. Most people who are up at 2 a.m. trying to catch a rabbit feel tired at 9:30 am let alone 9:30 pm. I met up with someone I had only talked with on the internet before. Food was a buffet and mulled wine was served. During the preparation Walter asked me if I new any recipe for non-alcoholic mulled wine, to which I had to reply no. For future reference Walter you can get mulling spices and just add apple juice. Actually for adults I would mix cranberry and apple juice for mulling. I got a lift back from John Parry. Initially Jack had offered me on, John picked up that I was talking about Stockport and so said he would take me instead. It was only afterwards he picked up that I was Dad's daughter and not someone totally out of the circuit. Although the fact that Roger came and sat down on a floor cushion beside me for a chat might have been a hint.

So onto this week. I made it to the Christmas Just Desserts last week and brought pudding. Well I had made a form of boozy winter fruit salad for the writers group get together the previous Monday and then had developed a migraine and not gone. The interesting thing was that I had cooked a packet of cranberries in a light syrup until they were soft, the result was that when I had added the rest of the winter fruit, brandy and such the dessert set solid. I think people thought I had used a jelly. I also had got asked if there was any flavour to which I replied no, after all it was a couple of glasses of brandy so that wasn't a flavour but a major ingredient! Yes it was delicious even though I say so myself. I spent the rest of the week eating it up for dessert.

On Tuesday I made the Advent Wreath for the carol service. This year I was doing the actual creation on my own. This was partly a mis-communication in the chaplaincy as the chaplaincy assistant should have been there to help not just as a gopher. My usual helpers both had good excuses and nobody from work volunteered despite two emails except Cliff who was busy on the morning but could help me clear up on the afternoon. Well I made it on time although I must admit I largely missed a bag of berberis until it was too late to put it in. The thing is berberis is a structural plant and needs to go in early so the filler plants can go in afterwards. I also learnt that using silver and white might be a better idea in the lighting than using gold (it is a very orange light so silver and white still look gold). However what I possibly learnt most from it was my own reaction. There was none of the joy of creation from doing it this way. I was relieved it was finished but I did not think "that's good" just "that's done". It made accepting praise for it feel very odd and took a lot of pleasure out of doing it. This seems to be my normal reaction when I try to do things that are just to hard. I do them but I loose the joy of doing them because of it. Indeed it has been a long slog to get my body back into balance afterwards and I am only hoping that I have done so today. Oh if you want to see the wreath it can be seen at on flickr .Wednesday I was off with a migraine and did not really balance out for the rest of the week.

Yesterday I finished the important Christmas shopping. Not much really a couple of small presents for mum, somethings from Lush and posted the parcel to Sue. I also went wild and spent money on clothes from Marks and Spencer to be worn at works christmas party, Christmas day and New Year day. Morag has also asked me to bring up craft things. She asked me to bring up all my craft stuff and I told her I was hiring a car not a small van, it still will be a couple of boxes. I also made chocolate covered cherries and ginger yesterday, so that will keep the office happy. Jobs left to do are just time consuming. About half a dozen christmas cards to write and two christmas emails. Then there is presents to wrap, shopping for New Year (alcohol, chocolate and coffee) and then it is collect car pack and go.

For those who don't know, I am at my parents 24th to 27th December with Christmas day at my sisters, then I am up to Morag and Tony's on 27 and staying there to 3rd, then coming home via my parents so I arrive back on 4th Jan. Return the car on Monday 5th and go to work 6th. So do not expect another letter from me until 12th January.

Alright so how has this year been. Well on the whole I think a good one. I have not got clear of the depression but I am getting better or better able to manage it. Migraines are a problem but any time I come across an new idea I will try it out. Some successes: sensible eating helps, as does doing relaxation and pacing myself; but also some failures: do not give me cider vinegar for migraine it just acts as an irritant and intensifiers the migraine.

PhD is coming along smoothly on the whole. I am into my second year at St Andrews Chesterfield and am also looking for my next placement. I got the letter drafted before Christmas but it was so close my supervisor recommended holding it to the New Year. So please hold thumbs then and I also need to get the transcripts sent to the first lot of interviewees. I need to listen to all the interviews to date while I am away over Christmas and review what I am getting with respect to my aims. Maybe also doing a first trawl of the diary. Oh and Amazon must have me down as a favourite customer.

Otherwise I made contact with Paul Weston who runs a charity called UR2 Associates. I put up some stuff for them on the web but I still have more stuff to put up. Paul has just sent me his Christmas update so I may well put that up in the next few weeks.

House wise it looks like the management company for the estate I am on will be buying the freehold for the flats on the estate. This on the whole I think is a good thing but I was told this would never happen when I bought my flat. How things change.

Other than that Mum and Dad keep each other going. During the year mum was diagnosed with alzheimers which is very mild and her memory keeps improving. Twice now she has apologised for forgetting something when I have had to point out that Dad also forgot so she was not the only one. The latest idea to keep them active is to get ice treads to help them get out in icy weather .

Sam and Hannah are doing well. Hannah settled remarkably well into school, going full time at least a week earlier than planned and Sam is doing well on the violin. He is now practicing of his own volition and not because my sister is checking on him. So my guess is he is enjoying achieving in that field. They both are water babies and take swinmming lessons but Sam gets tummy ache before a gala.

Cait asked before I went up to see them if I could make her a fairy finger puppet. I said no to the puppet but I would make a doll. I started without a pattern and ended up with this doll however having made something for Cait I needed to make something for Jenny so I suggested a amigurumi doll. Amigurumi is a Japanese approach to crocheting where you make child like toys. That resulted in the monkey. Unfortunately when I posted them the post office lost the parcel and I wanted a search not a refund as who could possibly refund me the time. However I then went and made a hedgehog for Hannah (pictures will go up some day), two ninja for Sam, a second monkey for Jenny and am at present making a sprite for Cait. I already have on order 1 bee (Cathy would you get me yellow double knitting wool please) for Hannah and an elephant (Cathy pink or grey). When I get to the end of the list I am going to make myself a monkey and a cat (to try and remember the balance between contemplation and activity). This fills a small niche, crafty short term projects that don't strain my left wrist (knitting does).

Chattering on 23rd November 08

Right my news this week. Last Sunday evening ended with a cafe service. Not what Cathy is planning as this is very firmly aimed for people with younger children. So it is half an hours activity and then half an hours worship with people talking and sharing during worship. One of the activities was doing a word search and their normally is some talking. The theme was God as father although there was talk of what difference it would make if we talked of God as mother. It isn't an either or situation but it is the fact that for a balanced interpretation of God many will need both.

Monday in work, mainly preparing the frame for the Advent Wreath. That took more time than we thought and I ended up with hand cut by wire again but it is done and should last provided we don't loose it again. The worry this years is having enough volunteers to stuff the ring with Greenery. The greenery seems to be coming in easily but Lynne who has done it every year is flying out for her daughters wedding on the day. I need therefore to have ideally another two to three people. Its not a skilled job although the results look fantastic. I went to writers group in the evening but by the time I got back had the burny throat indicative of a cold going full scale.

Tuesday was lost to the cold, but as I was teaching an SPSS course I took cold suppressants and went in on Wednesday. I find Beechams all in one is pretty effective at suppressing the cold, whether it does anything to cure it is another question. Also drafted a letter for a dentistry research project.

Thursday I was busy, I know that I got the letter scanned at around 2 pm then was seeing someone afterwards. Unfortunately the letter did not get through a firewall. So on Friday it was rescanned and sent to me, it got there by 4pm. Late but through, only for me to have two phone calls in the next hour saying that there were corrections needing doing. Those correction will be done monday, it will be rescanned and sent back to me before a final copy is sent via post.

Friday evening I went up for a meal at the Dicksons. Probably just as well, running at this pace with a cold was beginning to take its toll and as often happens with me, the basic care thing that often gets skipped is food. So with Jean Dickson cooking for me in the evening I could afford to let it slip slightly the rest of the day without worrying.

Saturday was Christmas fair at Chesterfield, I got the tram to the station, walked from the station to the church, walked around the fair, lots of time, the photographer walks and walks, then walked back to the station but got a taxi home. Then I walked down to the Lyceum to see Oliver with friends. One friends son was performing in it so she had got the tickets. It was a good show, although the person who yattered next to Maggie all the way through was irritating. The way they portrayed it, I would have rather had Fagan in charge of the orphanage than the Bumble's. At least he showed affection to the kids even if he was manipulating them for his own ends.

Today I took things easy. Not gone out. Uploaded to photobox all 70 odd pictures that I took of the fair yesterday, cooked myself a decent lunch and did very little.

This coming week on Monday I have a dentist's appointment. I need to make the corrections to the letter , then interview someone in Chesterfield. I will come back around lunch time. I will try and get the letter scanned through but am then coming home and writing up the interview as the person does not want taping. Tuesday I think is just a normal busy day. I think I will send apologies to writers group tomorrow night, as I have one appointment on Tuesday, then teaching again on Wednesday and finally to Birmingham on Thursday.

Sometime soon I am going to have to think about Christmas and ordering presents, oh well.