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.

Chattering on 28th September

Monday was monday, my writing group started up again. That means I am out most Monday nights. Its funny the thing I seem to miss most is the critique of my writing, and I really do appreciate it. By the way the group is doing a reading to launch our latest anthology on Friday 17th October . If anyone wants a copy of the anthology (price less than £5) and there are some pretty good writers in the group, then please let me know. The group is international in flavour, a Russian, another east European, at least three white Africans (self included) and the anthology reflects this. So if you want stories of a summer spent working in a Russian jam factory or visiting to your home after twenty years living in the west, then this collection has it. This has just reminded me I need to time my reading.

Wednesday I had Simon in, hum I half wonder if the migraine in the morning was partly me not wanting to deal with him. I cannot believe that someone who is doing a PhD can have the attitude he has to the data he has collected. It is just so negilent. Every time I do a simple check I turn up problems. So this time I looked at the ages of foster children. I don't think the 90 year old counts. It even brought up other problems. At the moment his young adult category is 19-29 inclusive, but as fostering may continue until someone has finished education, a 20 year old is a very different person from a 27 year old. The first might well still being fostered while the second should be standing on their own and not dependent on the family.

Thursday I started entering in CWEP data. I am way behind this year so I need to get on, plus there are some forms I said I would design in July which have not got done yet. Duh! Anyway I started the data entry at last so now all I need to do is find the roughs of the forms and get on with it. There are also a couple of courses needing writing and PhD starts up in a big way this week on Thursday so I am busy. Luckily term has started so academics are usually thinking about teaching rather than researching.

Friday was my day off. Actually a busy day in a lot of different directions. I started my reading review for my PhD. Its not enough to read the books you also have to know what you have read. At present I am writing cards up with my summaries of the books I have read. If I can finish that before Friday (I am about half way through I think) then I can over the weekend possibly sort and bring some sort of structure to them. Hopefully from this will allow me to find where I particularly need to go next with my reading rather than heading off on the latest tangent. There is a lot to read and a lot that could be read. Doing a part time Phd full time must just about allow for ljavascript:void(0)ife-study balance and the following through of tangents. I also went into town, partly to get the index cards and a hair cut, partly to get bits and bobs for finishing Hannah's hedgehog.

Saturday a funny study day, I shopped fairly early, but the rest of the day was spent moving between the book review, reading a book my supervisor has lent me, on plazas in Latin America believe it or not! Well I am not reading it for research input but as a way I might right up my PhD, which is interesting. Biggest problem is that that research took no less than ten years. I ain't got that sort of time so my research effort will have less depth to draw on.

Today to Chesterfield, and when the children's address was given was glad that Hannah wasn't there as she'd have been probably as good as the adults at remembering 25 things on the tray when it was covered up now given that she'd be mistaken for younger than her age, and Darylly who is probably around Hannah's age didn't have a clue, this would have been, the people sitting her would be seen to be mean saying "No Hannah give someone else a chance!" as she jumped up and down on her seat as she knew the next object.