Lets see about this week. Monday was a busy but un spectacular day. It went like this: went into work, did work came home, ate tea went to writing group came home went to bed.
Tuesday awoke with the end of time of the month causing hassle, nothing major just uncomfortable, actually the main problem was that it had disturbed my sleep and that meant I was exhausted so I took the morning off sick but was in on the afternoon. For some reason I thought I had better prepare for the housegroup the next day. They are doing Romans and I was getting increasingly unhappy with some of the presentation of the teaching on Romans. Enough for me to want to at least have some idea of what the up to date commentaries say. The problem was two fold, a tendency to use a charicature of Judaism in Biblical times as a teaching tool which I think lets people off the hook and feeling superior, secondly a tendency to view Barclay as the last word in commentary. I heard "if Barclay said it, it must be right".
Wednesday I was off to house group at Chesterfield. Arrived and got the nod from the leader that he might need some help. Look I am the youngest there and there are three lay preachers at the meeting. This group is not biblically illiterate. I missed the queue at one point. It was "fun" leading a study suddenly with no actual thought given to what questions were to be around but I could waffle. He seemed to think I had a point, I am not sure I did but usually there is a point in my waffling just I am unaware of it until it hits me between the eyes. The best point I managed to make was made through looking how if you tell a child not to touch something, then there is a high probability that immediately they will go and do so and comparing that to Paul's statements about the law but I think that was later.
Thursday was odd. What ever it was it came on Wednesday night and left me shattered on Thursday with a sore arm. That does not really make it a migraine so I am leaving it at that.
Friday was a good day. I got to the Broomhall Breakfast and it was busy. Not quite sure who made it busy (the street drinkers weren't there nor any obvious group of drug addicts) but busy it was. The one blot on the day was that at around 11:00 James Dickson rang to say that Jean Dickson was poorly and had been to the doctors would I mind cancelling the meal that evening. This was fine by me, oddly enough spent a quiet evening reading and thoroughly enjoying it. Am now confirmed in my suspicion that the one essential that was not done during the union talks pre-1972 was the exchange of stories about where the traditions came from. If Arthur MacArthur can think that English Congregationalism came solely out of the Brownites, then I am afraid it cannot have been done.
Let me summarise the story the Presbyterians tell is that Presbyterianism in England owes it existence to the expulsions of 1662 and that the Congregationalists had left the CofE before then. This is awkward. Congregationalism did not have a coherent story. Some indeed were Brownites but they were decided minority. A big group actually were either from 1662 or were from Presbyterian 1662 churches that went Unitarian in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century (I seem to recall the Presbyterian Board becoming defunct in the 1820s), others arose at the time of the Evangelical Revival and others are later still. A few a very few, mainly in Northumberland survived the fifty years to 1870s when the Presbyterian Church of England came into being. My father's first Congregational Church was at Oundle which was founded Presbyterian but with the collapse of Presbyterianism chose to become Congregational in the late nineteenth Century. The congregation I was in my teen years was one that had come out of a Presbyterian Church when it went Unitarian. This confluencing of many streams is what gave English Congregationalism a decidedly different character from Scottish or Irish Congregationalism. There is not one source that can be ultimately said to be the source of Congregationalism within England. Probably more of the spiritual descendants of 1662 Presbyterians divines ended up within Congregationalism than within the Presbyterian Church of England. That is what I feel few former Presbyterians have ever got their heads around. Does it matter? Well in Sheffield I always wonder if it does not lie behind the problems between St Andrews and Central even though everyone has forgotten the origin. Imagine that in the early 19th Century a group of members had walked out from Upper Chapel Presbyterian Church when it decided to become Unitarian and set up the Church on the site of Central URC building (one of the congregations that join to become Central). How do they respond when another group sets themselves up as being the Presbyterian Church in Sheffield just over fifty years later? Is perhaps some of the recruitment actually from Central's members who are longing for the old days of Presbyterianism? What of those who still remember the coming out from Upper Chapel, do they wonder about this new congregations orthodoxy and ability to maintain orthodoxy?
Today went to St Andrew's Chesterfield. The route over was trying Yorkshire Water had asked for one of the roads to be closed from 6th April only they shut the road on 5th April. This meant quite a detour, which was not good and as this goes on for a fortnight it means I am going to have to work the back route up through Ecclesall rather than the one through . It was an all age worship for Palm Sunday. David had one of the church members grandsons doing his work placement with him. I think the lad was somewhat thrown in at the deep end in that he was helping David lead all the way through worship. Actually David I think might just excel as a minister in a Churches of Christ style setting, where there is an acknowledged group to plan the service each week along with him. He has too many good ideas to carry them all out sucessfully and does not seem to be able to limit them in any way. We got the whole week run through in the service which as it was parade was allowed to over run somewhat. There was tea and coffee afterwards and a good crowd stayed. One of the Scouts I think has decided that this is his church and always comes back for a tea after the service.
Got to go and get myself some tea, Tescos failed to deliver my main meal today so I am eating rather late, probably poached eggs, spinach and rice with some baby veg followed by fruit salad (courtesy of Marks and Spencers)
Showing posts with label Chesterfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chesterfield. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
A quiet week for a change
Monday I had a migraine again. In all fairness I had had inklings of it all weekend and taken Sunday off due to feeling slightly migrainous but Monday was not good. I was glad when it was gone on Tuesday.
Tuesday I was into work. They are running out of space for all they want to do in the building where I am working. The result is they want to shorten my workspace by about 2 ft. Nothing much to worry about really except I have to make sure I have a place for a chair and then I need to chuck some old boxes. Then shopping in the evening for food and such.
Wednesday was totally undramatic except we tried at work my ginger cake which was too dry. My mistake for missing out the oil, but this led me to ask further how to make it more moist and not only was the absense of oil spotted but the suggestion of putting in sweet potato. I redid it on Friday night so that Mum could try it on Saturday and the new recipe works really well. I need to cook it for longer, I think 45 minutes at 200C in my oven, as it flopped slightly while cooling. Once I have confirmed that was the only error I will release the recipe and let others try it. It is very gingery but that is what you should expect from a ginger cake.
Thursday was my day for visiting Birmingham for supervision. I originally planned to walk out from the city centre but the weather forecast was for poor weather so I decided to train in instead. In Birmingham the train runs right onto the Edgebaston Campus and within half a mile of the Selly Oak one. Actually a small break through on how to keep my self from hitting a crisis point when I arrive back at Sheffield. The solution is soup from the buffet at Birmingham New Street Station. I turn up for the train ahead of the one I am booked on and I buy myself a bowl of soup and eat it before I catch the train. It has enough energy stuff in it to keep me going until I get home and can cook myself tea. I found a couple of papers that were relevant to my PhD and then saw my supervisor.
Friday, was quiet as a whole although I ended up making the ginger cake on the evening and that meant going shopping but as I needed to shop for lunch the next day anyway it really was only the cake that was extra. So I also got out my acrylic paints and had a go at just painting, nothing really specific just messing around with the colours to see what sort of effects I could get. The main problem was that the set lacked black, and there really is no way you can mix black. Other than that I am going to have to sort out what I use as a palette and then get some ideas about what I want to paint when I do this sort of painting. I am not sure at all at present.
Saturday my parents came over. I asked them to come later than usual as I awoke fairly tired. So they came about lunch time, I kept putting the meal on too late but we were eating 1:10 p.m.. The main course was a ready made pie, green veg and sweet potato and butternut squash mash. The pie and the green veg were ready prepared and the mash just pre prepared into cubes which needed boiling and then mashing so very very simple. The pudding was the ginger cake with soya "cream" which was good enough to require second slices of for all of us. The fact that it was low sugar, had oats and sweet potato in made it very easy to justify. We then went into town to find Easter presents for Hannah and Sam. Mothercare provided Hannah's before we got down town but Sam's was just not turning up. In the end we gave up and came back home as Mum said Dad was getting tired and he was certainly not finding it easy going. We then had ginger and lemon tea with Apple hot cross buns before Mum and Dad went home.
Today I was over to Chesterfield, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The service was fine, except David's sermon did not pass basic biblical muster, too simple a solution to the problem of why do we have the Old Testament. My answer is simply because without it we would have a very sparse view of God's relationship to humanity. The gospel and the church do not come out of nowhere but out of a tradition that spans millenia. David's seemed to think it was something to do with the evidence of failure of our law keeping. Now the only problem is that covenant pre-dates law, by a couple of centuries and covenants that matter are always made solely by God. It is because they are the chosen people of the covenant the Jew's recieve the law. The initiative is solely God's. Anyway things look as if they will be fairly quiet over this week with just house group to go to. Holy week I have Maundy Thursday service and then there may be a Good Friday but as I need to write that weekend and it is my fathers 80th Birthday I am wary.
Tuesday I was into work. They are running out of space for all they want to do in the building where I am working. The result is they want to shorten my workspace by about 2 ft. Nothing much to worry about really except I have to make sure I have a place for a chair and then I need to chuck some old boxes. Then shopping in the evening for food and such.
Wednesday was totally undramatic except we tried at work my ginger cake which was too dry. My mistake for missing out the oil, but this led me to ask further how to make it more moist and not only was the absense of oil spotted but the suggestion of putting in sweet potato. I redid it on Friday night so that Mum could try it on Saturday and the new recipe works really well. I need to cook it for longer, I think 45 minutes at 200C in my oven, as it flopped slightly while cooling. Once I have confirmed that was the only error I will release the recipe and let others try it. It is very gingery but that is what you should expect from a ginger cake.
Thursday was my day for visiting Birmingham for supervision. I originally planned to walk out from the city centre but the weather forecast was for poor weather so I decided to train in instead. In Birmingham the train runs right onto the Edgebaston Campus and within half a mile of the Selly Oak one. Actually a small break through on how to keep my self from hitting a crisis point when I arrive back at Sheffield. The solution is soup from the buffet at Birmingham New Street Station. I turn up for the train ahead of the one I am booked on and I buy myself a bowl of soup and eat it before I catch the train. It has enough energy stuff in it to keep me going until I get home and can cook myself tea. I found a couple of papers that were relevant to my PhD and then saw my supervisor.
Friday, was quiet as a whole although I ended up making the ginger cake on the evening and that meant going shopping but as I needed to shop for lunch the next day anyway it really was only the cake that was extra. So I also got out my acrylic paints and had a go at just painting, nothing really specific just messing around with the colours to see what sort of effects I could get. The main problem was that the set lacked black, and there really is no way you can mix black. Other than that I am going to have to sort out what I use as a palette and then get some ideas about what I want to paint when I do this sort of painting. I am not sure at all at present.
Saturday my parents came over. I asked them to come later than usual as I awoke fairly tired. So they came about lunch time, I kept putting the meal on too late but we were eating 1:10 p.m.. The main course was a ready made pie, green veg and sweet potato and butternut squash mash. The pie and the green veg were ready prepared and the mash just pre prepared into cubes which needed boiling and then mashing so very very simple. The pudding was the ginger cake with soya "cream" which was good enough to require second slices of for all of us. The fact that it was low sugar, had oats and sweet potato in made it very easy to justify. We then went into town to find Easter presents for Hannah and Sam. Mothercare provided Hannah's before we got down town but Sam's was just not turning up. In the end we gave up and came back home as Mum said Dad was getting tired and he was certainly not finding it easy going. We then had ginger and lemon tea with Apple hot cross buns before Mum and Dad went home.
Today I was over to Chesterfield, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The service was fine, except David's sermon did not pass basic biblical muster, too simple a solution to the problem of why do we have the Old Testament. My answer is simply because without it we would have a very sparse view of God's relationship to humanity. The gospel and the church do not come out of nowhere but out of a tradition that spans millenia. David's seemed to think it was something to do with the evidence of failure of our law keeping. Now the only problem is that covenant pre-dates law, by a couple of centuries and covenants that matter are always made solely by God. It is because they are the chosen people of the covenant the Jew's recieve the law. The initiative is solely God's. Anyway things look as if they will be fairly quiet over this week with just house group to go to. Holy week I have Maundy Thursday service and then there may be a Good Friday but as I need to write that weekend and it is my fathers 80th Birthday I am wary.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thesis week before a weekend with my parents
Lets see what is happened this week. Monday was a none date due to a migraine but got to the doctor who agreed I could put medication up in the aftermath of the migraine and see if that gets me out of the post migrainous spell I seem to go through. Its a funny state, not really full blown migraine but still not totally a-migrainous either. I tire easily and get migraines quite often in that state. So we shall see if this will get rid of the state.
In work on Tuesday, well I had an interview planned for the Tuesday but the grandchild of the person was off sick on the Monday so had to be off on the tuesday and that meant Gran was child sitting. Child is a special child and I am quite sure requires a lot of Gran's attention when child sitting. So that was postponed to Wednesday. So I spent tuesday installing SPSS 17 on my machine instead and also putting in data for Churches Worker with Elderly people. Fortunately I had no appointments on Wednesday so the swap was easily made. The interview went well. Although the weather was doing fancy things. It was lovely sunny when I drove there and drove home but I looked up during the interview and thought "hum I wonder where that cherry tree is that is loosing its petals." The second time I looked up I thought "Duh those petals are snow" but the contrast of white soft flakes falling against what otherwise looked like a lovely spring day made me think they were cherry blossom rather than snow. I am fairly tired after I have done an interview so the write-up largely got left to the following day.
Thursday I spent the mornign writing up the interview. In the afternoon I got a letter from Birmingham University saying they had changed the "upgrade" procedure. They call it an upgrade but as I was accepted at a PhD level they can only down grade me. However as there is no problem with me passing this. I have done the work several times over for the old procedure I have not been particularly fussed about getting it but I have submitted. So I am in the odd situation of having submitted for this under the old rules but with new rules in place or should be in place before they are considered. Well I forwarded the email to my supervisor and asked him to clarify my situation. I will need to do significant re-writing if I have to submit under the new rules. They want a chapter written instead of just an extended piece of academic writing. They also want an interview but that is not really a problem as I am on top of things.
Friday I went to breakfast then onto work. The reasons for going to breakfast was I need to pay for my Reform and Messenger subscription and I needed to take a cheque out of my pigeon hole and put it in Jean Dickson's (well as she was at breakfast I actually handed her it). Now I know that sounds like a waste of energy but that was the agreed route for these things. The reason for it passing into my hands was that my signature should be on it, but I happened to have already signed one. Then on the evening I came across to Stockport and have been with my parents ever since.
Saturday we went to Lyme Park for a walk. We did not go very far, just up the hill and back down again. We saw a couple of sky larks, one of them ascending and Dad did some plane spotting. You can see planes coming in from Manchester Airport and Woodford Aerodrome from the hills near there. Then we went and had a coffee at the cafe by the pond. In the afternoon I ordered for Dad on his account Sam's and Hannah's easter presents.
Today Mum had a cold so has stayed home from church. I actually feel quite uncomfortable going to a church that isn't my placement church so I decided to stay home as well. That has left Dad to go to church which he has done. For Mum I sent on the emails from Aunties Val and Jean this week to Jack and Myrtle. Mum was going to put the print outs into an envelope and send them on. Dad should be back soon.
This week I have another interview coming up, this time with a former church secretary with a housegroup on Wednesday. Next weekend is also a writing one but St Andrew's Chesterfield Gift day and quiz night so busy. That is part of the reason why I wrote this this week.
In work on Tuesday, well I had an interview planned for the Tuesday but the grandchild of the person was off sick on the Monday so had to be off on the tuesday and that meant Gran was child sitting. Child is a special child and I am quite sure requires a lot of Gran's attention when child sitting. So that was postponed to Wednesday. So I spent tuesday installing SPSS 17 on my machine instead and also putting in data for Churches Worker with Elderly people. Fortunately I had no appointments on Wednesday so the swap was easily made. The interview went well. Although the weather was doing fancy things. It was lovely sunny when I drove there and drove home but I looked up during the interview and thought "hum I wonder where that cherry tree is that is loosing its petals." The second time I looked up I thought "Duh those petals are snow" but the contrast of white soft flakes falling against what otherwise looked like a lovely spring day made me think they were cherry blossom rather than snow. I am fairly tired after I have done an interview so the write-up largely got left to the following day.
Thursday I spent the mornign writing up the interview. In the afternoon I got a letter from Birmingham University saying they had changed the "upgrade" procedure. They call it an upgrade but as I was accepted at a PhD level they can only down grade me. However as there is no problem with me passing this. I have done the work several times over for the old procedure I have not been particularly fussed about getting it but I have submitted. So I am in the odd situation of having submitted for this under the old rules but with new rules in place or should be in place before they are considered. Well I forwarded the email to my supervisor and asked him to clarify my situation. I will need to do significant re-writing if I have to submit under the new rules. They want a chapter written instead of just an extended piece of academic writing. They also want an interview but that is not really a problem as I am on top of things.
Friday I went to breakfast then onto work. The reasons for going to breakfast was I need to pay for my Reform and Messenger subscription and I needed to take a cheque out of my pigeon hole and put it in Jean Dickson's (well as she was at breakfast I actually handed her it). Now I know that sounds like a waste of energy but that was the agreed route for these things. The reason for it passing into my hands was that my signature should be on it, but I happened to have already signed one. Then on the evening I came across to Stockport and have been with my parents ever since.
Saturday we went to Lyme Park for a walk. We did not go very far, just up the hill and back down again. We saw a couple of sky larks, one of them ascending and Dad did some plane spotting. You can see planes coming in from Manchester Airport and Woodford Aerodrome from the hills near there. Then we went and had a coffee at the cafe by the pond. In the afternoon I ordered for Dad on his account Sam's and Hannah's easter presents.
Today Mum had a cold so has stayed home from church. I actually feel quite uncomfortable going to a church that isn't my placement church so I decided to stay home as well. That has left Dad to go to church which he has done. For Mum I sent on the emails from Aunties Val and Jean this week to Jack and Myrtle. Mum was going to put the print outs into an envelope and send them on. Dad should be back soon.
This week I have another interview coming up, this time with a former church secretary with a housegroup on Wednesday. Next weekend is also a writing one but St Andrew's Chesterfield Gift day and quiz night so busy. That is part of the reason why I wrote this this week.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Of normal days and fixing computers
Monday last week I at last got to writers group. I am suspicious that there is some angst over one of the people who left last term. This is coming through in suggestions of ways to do things differently. The thing is the suggestions at present are pushing it more the direction that caused the person to leave. Her reason for leaving was that she was a poet and it was getting too novel orientated. This is not nearly as crucial for me who mixes short stories and poetry. I have ideas for novels but never the time to write them nor actually the confidence to give myself that much to the writing. Also on Monday I again taught the NVivo course, there were about eight there. Only problem I had was that the files I asked to be converted to Word 2003 were not. This means I had to teach the class how to convert which just takes time. The room is designed on a talk and do basis but people today seem to insist on doing as I talk.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a normal days, nothing special happened, I went into work and I worked. Actually for the first time in months this last week I got to do development work in work. Mainly putting a piece of software on my computer and sitting down and working through the introduction. I think I next must ask for a text book on the software and work through the exercises in it. Statistics software is expensive, the average price for a package at commercial rates is around £500. The one I have installed on my machine is probably the one I would buy if I ever went into freelancing. It has a good reputation, is sophisticated and does statistics well. It does not have the nice user interface of the main one I support and there are other little quirks that I find annoying. For instance its menus are really code generators and its help system is non-standard. However so far I have got on with it fine.
Thursday Stuart came around. I think because he wanted someone to listen. His friend Simon who lived in the same house as he did had died I think from lung cancer but I am not sure. Stuart when Simon was in the Hallamshire (one of the big hospitals in Sheffield) had been next of kin and he had continued to visit Simon while in St Lukes Hospice. At one stage shortly after Simon's death he ended up talking about it to his mum. His mum had sent Simon a get well card just before he died so Stuart was somewhat uncomfortable with this. Stuart's sister rang him no more than six times the following day, Stuart felt to give him earache over upsetting his mum.
Friday I went to breakfast at church. I was slightly earlier in than usual but there was a big turn out from the alcoholic community that day. Not quite sure why this friday they decided to see if we were open. We get both drug community and alcoholic community but quite often they will not turn up together or to be more exact the alcoholics avoid the drug users. There has been a crack down on drug users in that there are now notices saying that drug using is not permitted on the premises. This may well be encouraging the alcoholic fraternity to see it as a more friendly place. I have quite a bit of time for the alcoholic community when they are reasonably sober. That is not sober but it is close enough to it to be amenable to normal control measures and making sense when they talk. I ended up on a table with John, Sarah and James. Initially there was a homeless couple where the woman was heavily pregnant. I think they were really struggling but seem to have found a church that would support them including buying what they needed for the baby. Sarah is still going to see her parents every fortnight which must be draining for her as they live down in Poole and the Rail Network in its wisdom has taken this time to stop direct trains, I think due to major building works at Reading Station. The works appear at least as big as Stockports so I would expect at least a couple of years of disruption. If people could remember her and this travelling in your prayers. I got cold going to the breakfast so went and curled up in bed afterwards for about an hour.
On the evening I went to Dicksons for dinner. I went early as James wanted me to fix his computer so that it would read Word 2007 files. I did it, but exactly how I am not sure. I also introduced him to Zamzar as a way to get other office documents into Word 2003 formats. It is annoying that microsoft have not made their 2007 Office products backward compatible so if you get a file from a newer one then you have to find out how to read it. The approach I took and tried on James' was to download the converter for Office 2007. This works fine on my machine but James' version of Office had not had the patches mine had and it did not seem to take. I put another converter on that just did Word and I am suspicious that this must have somehow interfaced with Office but that surprised me.
Yesterday was quiet, did an extra Waitrose shop and bought a pie for my main meal. This seems to be a good idea for Saturday, which is a mixed sort of day. Did some sorting of files and some reading. Oh I cooked and froze rice. I loke to eat brown basmati rice, especially as I buy it from Traidcraft, but cooking it on an evening takes 40 minutes in the microwave. I find that too long as I am getting out of work later. I cannot buy already cooked rice in that form. So I decided to have a go at cooking it ahead and then freezing. I will have to see if I can get the reheating process right.
Today went to Chesterfield, came back in a slight snow storm. They were very welcoming but there were fewer people there this week I think due to illness and the weather. Coffee was served after worship and Helen and Patrick Lidgett were doing it. Rosehill's Burns Night has led to a second invite to the church on 15th when Rosehill will have the Palm Court Trio to play with a tea. This has been taken up by a number of St Andrew's members after the Burn's night. I am pretty sure Rosehill invited St Andrews to the Burn's Night as it needed the expertise in the congregation and then when there was a good response, have started to ask them to other events.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a normal days, nothing special happened, I went into work and I worked. Actually for the first time in months this last week I got to do development work in work. Mainly putting a piece of software on my computer and sitting down and working through the introduction. I think I next must ask for a text book on the software and work through the exercises in it. Statistics software is expensive, the average price for a package at commercial rates is around £500. The one I have installed on my machine is probably the one I would buy if I ever went into freelancing. It has a good reputation, is sophisticated and does statistics well. It does not have the nice user interface of the main one I support and there are other little quirks that I find annoying. For instance its menus are really code generators and its help system is non-standard. However so far I have got on with it fine.
Thursday Stuart came around. I think because he wanted someone to listen. His friend Simon who lived in the same house as he did had died I think from lung cancer but I am not sure. Stuart when Simon was in the Hallamshire (one of the big hospitals in Sheffield) had been next of kin and he had continued to visit Simon while in St Lukes Hospice. At one stage shortly after Simon's death he ended up talking about it to his mum. His mum had sent Simon a get well card just before he died so Stuart was somewhat uncomfortable with this. Stuart's sister rang him no more than six times the following day, Stuart felt to give him earache over upsetting his mum.
Friday I went to breakfast at church. I was slightly earlier in than usual but there was a big turn out from the alcoholic community that day. Not quite sure why this friday they decided to see if we were open. We get both drug community and alcoholic community but quite often they will not turn up together or to be more exact the alcoholics avoid the drug users. There has been a crack down on drug users in that there are now notices saying that drug using is not permitted on the premises. This may well be encouraging the alcoholic fraternity to see it as a more friendly place. I have quite a bit of time for the alcoholic community when they are reasonably sober. That is not sober but it is close enough to it to be amenable to normal control measures and making sense when they talk. I ended up on a table with John, Sarah and James. Initially there was a homeless couple where the woman was heavily pregnant. I think they were really struggling but seem to have found a church that would support them including buying what they needed for the baby. Sarah is still going to see her parents every fortnight which must be draining for her as they live down in Poole and the Rail Network in its wisdom has taken this time to stop direct trains, I think due to major building works at Reading Station. The works appear at least as big as Stockports so I would expect at least a couple of years of disruption. If people could remember her and this travelling in your prayers. I got cold going to the breakfast so went and curled up in bed afterwards for about an hour.
On the evening I went to Dicksons for dinner. I went early as James wanted me to fix his computer so that it would read Word 2007 files. I did it, but exactly how I am not sure. I also introduced him to Zamzar as a way to get other office documents into Word 2003 formats. It is annoying that microsoft have not made their 2007 Office products backward compatible so if you get a file from a newer one then you have to find out how to read it. The approach I took and tried on James' was to download the converter for Office 2007. This works fine on my machine but James' version of Office had not had the patches mine had and it did not seem to take. I put another converter on that just did Word and I am suspicious that this must have somehow interfaced with Office but that surprised me.
Yesterday was quiet, did an extra Waitrose shop and bought a pie for my main meal. This seems to be a good idea for Saturday, which is a mixed sort of day. Did some sorting of files and some reading. Oh I cooked and froze rice. I loke to eat brown basmati rice, especially as I buy it from Traidcraft, but cooking it on an evening takes 40 minutes in the microwave. I find that too long as I am getting out of work later. I cannot buy already cooked rice in that form. So I decided to have a go at cooking it ahead and then freezing. I will have to see if I can get the reheating process right.
Today went to Chesterfield, came back in a slight snow storm. They were very welcoming but there were fewer people there this week I think due to illness and the weather. Coffee was served after worship and Helen and Patrick Lidgett were doing it. Rosehill's Burns Night has led to a second invite to the church on 15th when Rosehill will have the Palm Court Trio to play with a tea. This has been taken up by a number of St Andrew's members after the Burn's night. I am pretty sure Rosehill invited St Andrews to the Burn's Night as it needed the expertise in the congregation and then when there was a good response, have started to ask them to other events.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)