After a couple of quieter weeks

Birthday Flowers from my sister

News wise it feels quieter. I am now registered for next year but am not able to pay my fees. I suspect that the entry for next year has been done wrongly, but as it is such a close run thing on whether I would or would not have to make fees, we will probably in the end ignore it. I was having to pay a years fees and then get two thirds of my fees back because I would progress to writing up. The tradition chapter is signed off so I am now onto the one on belonging. Unfortunately I am realising there will be a lot of rewriting of the tradition chapter and I am also just beginning to put together the opening section on belonging. It is taking longer than I would like (I’d have liked it written by today but I need to do some more reading before I can write the last bit). Perhaps of more interest is that I am writing articles for St Andrew’s magazine “The Messenger” and also posting them on a blog called Reformed Practical Piety . The first one is up and the second will come out at the start of October. I pre-write them, send them to James and then set the publishing date once we have a proofed version. These are not pieces from my thesis but bits I have written specially for the magazine on one strand of my thesis.

The other thing is I have sent the drafts of the data chapters to my two congregations. Helen, who is church secretary at St Andrew’s Chesterfield got back to me to ask me to print extra copies. Commenting on what she has read she says I found out things that she never knew about St Andrew’s, which an interesting comment. It makes me wonder if I have got things right or whether there was a culture where if you do not actively seek information you do not get it. If so why? I will have to wait until the final feedback I think to sort that out. From Herringthorpe I have heard absolutely nothing. I know the copy of the chapters arrived and only that because I sent them special delivery. Different congregations, different ways of behaving. I also have heard nothing from David the minister at the time at St Andrew’s admittedly I sent him them by email, maybe I should check if his email is current.

Work wise it has been quieter. However I am now moving teams to one which is more big computer orientated. I call it supporting “toys for the boys” research, as it is all about working on big computers that have software most people who use computers do not care to use. It does fancy things but you have to be able to program it in detail. I tend to point out that the entire support for the other 80% of the researchers who use computers is me. Anyway it is just a different team structure and a slight change in some of the things I was involved in at work. I cannot help improve communications in my previous team if I am in a different one. I think there is more going on but I am not sure and I may have to be deliberate about what I will and will not do.

For my Birthday I took James and Jean out for an Indian at Tamarind which is part of the former Glossop Road Baths complex. It used to be called “Saffron Club” and boasted a Indian Curry Lovers listing, but I never got to it when it was that. The meal was superb, we asked for mild to medium dishes and there was just so much flavour in them that was not hidden by strong chilli. They brought us poppadoms and chutney dishes. I tried one of them and Jean asked me if it was hot, I said not really but it was sour. She tried it and her face said it was not as she expected but admitted that I was right it was sour. Actually it with the mango chutney on a bit of poppadom was delicious. The main courses were superb and the rice cooked superbly. Unfortunately they only had the English desserts available and they were all full of cream while the ice-cream was fancy. I also tried Cobra beer and it works fairly well with an Indian meal.

Amigurumi I have made this summer

Over the summer I have been making a couple more amigurumi for people at my writers group. I charge people £5 which is donated to writers group and then they pay me something towards the wool (usually another £5 much to my embarrassment as that is more than the wool costs) the latest couple are in the other photo attached. The lamb has a hat because I put the eyes into the wrong side of the head, so rather than let my slightly untidy decreasing show (it never is as tidy as the increasing, although in fairness I doubt you could have told that) I put a beret on I must stress that these are ornaments not toys, when I make toys they are substantially different.

On a dry day after much rain

Right, the supervision went well although I found it more tiring than usual, the travel just seemed to take it out of me. I was dodging showers rather than walking around in glorious sunshine but that said I hardly got very wet. Graduation seemed to be happening around Birmingham and there were quite a few people wearing gowns and having their picture took. An intriguing episode when I was going through possible papers for the thesis and a couple came in worried that their account had been deleted and therefore they could not access the email with the booking details for their gowns. I knew from experience how slow computing services are to delete such accounts, I can remember the caution that happened the first time we ever deleted any accounts. They had to not have been used for six months, not just the person had left the University. We are quicker these days but there is a generous overlap between finishing your course and your account being deleted. Anyway another chapter of the thesis has been placed as in main draft.

Then on the Thursday evening I went across to my parents hoping on the Friday to go to Martin Mere. It was quite late as I was teaching that afternoon and as it was my last day in work for the week I needed to also do the end of week tasks such as fill in my notes on what I have done that week and also write the work blog. So there were things to be done. Anyway Friday it rained, the sort of rain that you do not want to go out in and though it cleared towards late afternoon Dad was not going to be coaxed out of the dry comfort of his home although I think Mum and I were more up for it. So we spent the day inside, I had taken a bit of thesis work, mainly reading but I spent the day finishing an amigurumi sheep for a friends granddaughter. It is very different making something for a toddler and making something for an ornament. for starters I had to embroider the eyes and I was much more careful about finishing off. I put in the last of the ball of wool just in case the child does manage to pull something off as it is easily fixable with wool. The funny thing was when making it up rather than following the pattern I started thinking about how a sheep really do look and as a result the sheep had a much more life like face than the one in the book.

Saturday was fine and sunny! So we set off to Martin Mere . The journey there was uneventful but took us through Ormskirk as that was how the SatNav worked it out. The centre was by far the largest one I have been to since I went to Slimbridge while at Reading and I never really got to see around Slimbridge. There is a huge children’s playground just by the entry but it was pretty busy when we arrived and even busier when we left. The cafe was pleasant with a view overlooking one of the ponds. There are lots of ponds at Martin Mere. After coffee we went out to the nature reserve side as Dad enjoys watching birds in the wild. We saw a fair few waders and a couple of butterflies. I really do need to improve my recognition of waders. All right I got the Oyster Catchers but saw Ruff ( and did not recognise them plus other waders. I also think we might have taken the wrong set of hides for good views. We then had lunch and went to look around the collection for a bit. We really only saw about a fifth of the collection but we did get to see where the Beavers live and because we timed it for when someone is talking about beavers Mum and Dad got to feel a real beaver skin. However we did not get to see beavers as they are nocturnal and therefore not about when the visitors are there. You can see them on the Beaver Camera . Finally as we walked back we got to see the Asian otters feed. I bought myself a good quality pair of binoculars, something I have been toying with for a while and I am hoping to use them when I am up in Wigtonshire at the end of September/start of October.

We were I think all tired and though the journey back was straightforward and the SatNav decided to guide us through the back lanes of that part of Lancashire including through Parbold which was pleasant but the motorway was a major part of the journey and Mum fell asleep during it and woke feeling that she had been travelling forever when in fact it was only a relatively short spell of time, just over an hour. Motorways are monotonous and we were tired. I went home that evening so as to be able to spend Sunday working on my thesis.

This week has been quieter, with not nearly the same amount of travelling around. I saw Sarah for coffee on Tuesday. It was a useful point to catch up and think about how things are going. I think I have set myself a rather hefty challenge, in that I am going to try and write a set of short articles about Reformed Piety alongside the writing of the major chapter on Reformed Piety for my thesis. There is a tension in the Reformed Tradition between the normal inward looking nature of spirituality and the very worldly-practicality that is valued. We tend to ask what purpose do many of the spiritual practices of other traditions are and be highly sceptical when they seem to be concerned with the individual sanctity of the practitioner. In that sense the Reformed tradition actually agrees with James 2:14-25  although not seeing works as guaranteeing salvation, but rather as the necessary outcome of a lively faith. It should therefore be an interesting exercise.

Work is busy but nothing exciting at present. I am beginning to wonder what will happen at my annual review. It should be an interesting one, not because of the grade I expect but because I want to see what my boss has to say. My illness rate over the last year has been substantially lower than previous years and I have been noticeably more proactive. I suspect that because of when she start supervising me, she thought that my performance which was not bad was perhaps a bit slow for me but largely fine. There is a change and I know it and she will know it. Other than that I think I have drawn the long straw with the Royal Statistical Society chartership renewal, they have chosen to look at just the years 2012-2014 for me. Of course that is the time that will cover me getting my doctorate. I suspect it will be hard to argue that that does not constitute professional development.

This weekend I have spent mainly doing catch up on my thesis due to the fact that last weekend I was doing detailed analysis and did not get much written so not much news there unless you want to check my thesis blog . Today I went to church partly as I was doing the sound system. I seem to have a mild ear infection which made this interesting, as at times I was hearing an echo on the sound coming through the speakers. I checked with Ian Cooke and he did not hear this. The whole system seemed to be very sensitive indeed so I am wondering how much was due to the infection and how much was genuinely there.

Catching Breath before I dive into another week

Right lets see about news for this last week. Writers was on again last Monday, at the moment they are running a bit of money raising drive, so I took in Minerva and books in case anyone wanted me to make an Amigurumi and came back with an order for one hippopotamus and one lamb, the hippo is a standard amigurumi and I have half made it already this weekend, the lamb I have to make safe for a child so rather than using dolls eyes and such I will be embroidering (possibly with wool as John Lewis’ was out of black embroidery thread and I really can tell the difference between their darkest navy and black).

I also managed a week ago on Saturday to hand in the material for the cushion cover I was making to show off Cait’s embroidery that she did for me at Christmas. Cait’s work was very well done given that she is largely at nine working on her own with respect to embroidery, I help her when I am up but most of the time there is no-one around to help, her mum has never to my knowledge done anything but the stuff she had to do at school. So I wanted to do something to boost her moral. I got the material to include it into a cushion cover, and actually got it put together on the material but actually getting my sewing machine out to make it up into a cushion was daunting me. So I took it into a repair shop and asked them to make it up. The result is I now have a new cushion cover.

Work has been busy this week. I seem to have stayed to 6pm most nights. Now a lot of this has been due to the fact that I had 4:30 appointments and they needed time. With one of them it was just a matter of doing standard statistics but because I am quick at doing it, they came to me rather than doing it themselves. I don’t really mind this. The person is amazed at how quickly my brain gets into a research project, but the truth is that the engagement during these sessions is quite superficial, when I am working on something in depth it normally takes me a session of playing before I can do a proper analysis. i need to find my way around the data. When I work in these sessions I do not spend time trying to find my way around, I rely on the people there to guide me. It can mean I make mistakes. Another which was really quite interesting, looking at computer games designed to teach clinical knowledge and unfortunately the final number were quite small. However if they have created the game, run focus groups and such it is still a worthwhile project.

I also have managed to do two more videos for the NVivo course. I really need to get these out pretty regularly from now on but I have realised that the ones which are mainly software actually do take me a lot less time to do. I do not have to think of the visuals and so can do a video in a couple of hours session. That is a five minute interview, but by the time I have worked out what needs to be said, set up the computer, done a dummy run through, recorded once and junked then done the final run through and edited, as well as psyched myself up to do it then two hours is often reasonable.

I also found with being on holiday next week that I was struggling with getting everything set. I ended up sleeping most of Friday and was going to fill in the form from the end of Beta testing for SPSS when I got up. The only thing was that I really only got around to it after 5:30 p.m., yes I was sleeping most of that time, and then the department decided to do a major upgrade (see http://cicsupgrade.blogspot.co.uk/ ) and the result was that everything was down and I could not do the bit of work I was planning until Saturday afternoon. It was just awkward with not being in work Monday to Thursday next week I had something to fill in that needed to be done by next friday but I could not do it until this Friday as that was when I was sent the link. However as they were tweeting and such all through the night giving updates on progress it was quite interesting. Indeed at one point in Sheffield it was trending higher than UEFA and this on the day of the England Sweden match.

From the weekend after the jubilee

I am going to do highlights rather than the whole thing, actually because I can’t remember far enough back to do a blow by blow account. The week before last was quieter. I suppose a highlight was going around for a meal with my friend Margo. I have sussed now what to take for her children to drink. Marks and Spencers still lemonade works a treat. Her son likes proper lemonade and her daughter does not like fizzy drinks so this suits both of them without seeming to choose one over another. Her daughter is Sam’s age and her son I suspect is between Jenny and Cait. He is also a proper book worm. It is pleasant to go out for a meal with friends and Margo is a good cook and her daughter a good baker.


Otherwise the Jubilee weekend was spent editing. alright so there was a migraine thrown in with that. I managed to reduce the chapter by over 4000 words, it still needs to diet further, not least because I am realising I have to include the way the congregations relate to the minister which is interesting, This past week I have really started the next chapter, although it was writing the relevant appendix. As with all chapters at this stage I am feeling quite a lot of trepidation but I am now at least confident that I know how to get there. This one is centred around worship, as such it will include the material I have already turned into papers. However those will also have to be substantially rewritten. The one on Cafe Church is going to have to be one on subsidiary and occasional services. That would alter the focus quite substantially. the one on hymns can probably remain largely intact. There will also be one on communion, not about who can have communion but about the actual liturgy used. There is definitely one of baptism which therefore leaves me with prayers and sermons and I may have little to say on those. Then I have to pull together the ideas around worship and what is going on with respect to identity.. This chapter should also build on the previous two.


The week was otherwise quiet and I was looking forward to having Thursday to actually get some development work done, it looked hopeful when I got up but over breakfast I developed cramps due to time of the month and when painkillers did not settle them I went to bed with a hot water bottle. I thought I would be up in the afternoon and indeed the cramps stopped quite quickly but then I went off to sleep and did not wake until after 2pm which is too late to go into work So I finally did the reading of a couple of chapters from a couple of books that I have used in my thesis. I had read about the chapters but had not read the actual chapters. One problem is that in one case I have had to use a collection rather than the original (in the other though obscure enough copies of the original were available for Oxfam to provide me with one).

Friday was a bit of an odd day, I did not settle very well for a variety of reasons, I eventually started to make Minerva (she is amigurumi that I created for myself. An owl (owlet) with an eyepatch and walking boots. I googled owl designs but did not like any of them really, was far happier producing a cape like cover for the back rather than the cartoon style wings quite a few of the patterns had. Birds do not use wings as alternatives to arms, and if she does use anything like hands it is going to be her beak. The aim was to produce something I could use to create a small image to use in work rather than my walking boots but it also gave me an example of what I do which I could take to writers group. Not sure if anyone will want one but it is something I can do with relatively low hassle. I think I may have to do further work to get this right. Maybe I need to print the photograph and then paint it to get what I want for the image.


Today I was at church, one of the Henstridges family was being baptised so the church was pretty full. I have noticed that people tend not to sit in the rows by the pillars. I sent an email before last weekend asking Sheila to look for elders to serve at July’s communion, as with not serving and not regularly being around church I find time chasing people to do things time consuming of thesis time. It was simply a reminder. My mistake was not making it clear. She interpreted it as me not doing table elder. I wondered why she wanted the case. This was a communication failure on both our parts. I guess I sounded apologetic because I felt awkward reminding her and therefore she interpreted that I was apologising for something. Whatever it is, it is a miscommunication and the responsibility lies with both of us. So now we have to stop people from panicking.

Making the most of a cold

For those who want to see the rain pictures from last week then the best two are posted here.

The wet one from my bedroom window works better as you get the feeling of a really wet day. However as I said last week it would have been even better if I had managed to get myself up earlier so that you got the lights spread through Sheffield in the wet half light of dawn, that would have given the buildings some more shape and form. The evening one really falls down because simply it was not wet enough so I was searching for raindrops on the window. I got a few but not nearly as many as required for the image. Oh well something to try again on another day when it is wet and I am stuck indoors.


My news, is pretty scarce this week as the strange mix of illness last Sunday decided to develop into a cold. Well a cough, tiredness and occasional (at most twice a day) bouts of sneezing. I am not quite sure how it did it but last Sunday and again on Thursday it seemed to manage to mix migraine symptoms in with the cold ones. Mum originally suggested this might be due to flu but as my temperature did not go above 37°C, I somewhat doubt this. This meant that for the first time in all the years I have been in Sheffield I cancelled a course I was teaching. I have taught it before when I have been this ill but with this course and the spacing I have learnt that if I do teach it when ill, I may as well cancel the next one as so many others are off with the cold, plus I do not teach the course particularly well when I am off colour so cancelling and rearranging seemed sensible. Monday and Tuesday I spent most of the day in bed sleeping and when I was up I felt very tired. I find if I keep myself inside my flat when I have a cold the symptoms are less severe but I seem to be very tired.

 Wednesday I felt a bit better and decided to spend the day up and see how I coped. Quite a bit of the time I spent crocheting a duckling for Lynn who was a secretary at work until she retired recently, granddaughter Hannah. Hannah was born back in September and I got the orange wool for the beak and feet soon after. The yellow was bought for my nieces bee, which I do not have a picture of. It is somewhat bigger than the usual crochet amigurumis that I do. No the background was not pale blue, it was white, but if I took the picture with the the background white then the duckling looked positively orange and given that his actual colour is very yellow that would be problematic. It took quite a bit of fixing of the colour transitions for the camera for the picture to come out this well. I also on Wednesday finished another transcript for my thesis. So even though I was at home, it was quite a productive day.

Thursday I got the comeback of trying to be up all day on Wednesday and needed to sleep in the morning. That said I did manage to finish the duckling off. I am not quite sure whether it is a toy or an ornament. The eyes are put on with washers that go over the stem that goes through the crocheting. The washers are funnel shaped so pushing them off actually tightens their grip on the stem and the stem had ridges on to grip them. So as far as I can see about as sturdily on as you can get apart from just using embroidery for the eyes and I am no good at getting that right. Yes I have tried. Certainly they are better on than the using Fimo or Sculpey polymer modelling clay and then sticking them on, which is a technique I have seen recommended.

Friday I did some transcription on another recording. I still need to catch up a lot, but I got one interview sent out on Saturday and another sent back for checking. I just hope the postal strike does not go on too long. I now have five done, one in progress and another eight to do. I would ideally like them done before Christmas (Hah!) so will need to get a move on especially as I am back to making full notes on my placement. The weather has also got much colder so this week I got out my winter duvet. I am enjoying the fact it is down filled and not polyester so it hugs closer to your body and you do not need to warm as much cold air.

Today I made it to Herringthorpe and I got introduced to the congregation. The nice thing is that I did not have any  pressure to take the service, which is why I actually did not get introduced at St Andrew's Chesterfield. David thought that it would be a good idea if I took a service. I don't take main Sunday morning services, and simply my thesis was not the sort of one where I can take a service and tell people about it before I have been with them. The congregation keep telling me repeatedly that they are a welcoming congregation, I have not seen anything to contradict that, but they are in danger of in my mums words "over egging the pudding". My one conclusion to date is that growth is not directly related to how welcoming a congregation is, despite what the denomination has stressed for years. Welcome is one of the things that stops you driving people away, but does not draw people in. Two more groups of members I have come across, the ex Pentecostal and the Scots who mistook the CofE for a sister church for the CofS and wondered why they did not find it friendly (I suspect more to do with wrong expectations of friendship than not being friendly). Oh the first indication of the dominant female name at Herringthorpe, someone said "There are lots of Jeans here", although if I had guessed I would have said Val. Maybe the Jeanery actually covers the whole of South Yorkshire and not just St Andrews Sheffield.

Next week I am giving the course I should have the week before, with the one for this date moving a fortnight later, having a meal out with Cliff, Lynn and others from prayer group and also the first meeting of the University of Sheffield's NVivo users group, so another busy week.

Hoping that this week brings you joys from unexpected places, times of good friendship and opportunities to relax and appreciate life

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).