Something profound.

Ok, so I haven't posted for ages, so I thought I'd break the silence with something profound...

Our cinema has new seats!!!!!!

They're big, and they're comfy! A whole new cinema going experience!

Went to the cinema and saw 'The Holiday' which is a cheesey rom-com. I quite enjoyed it, but then I really like rom-coms. You should see my DVD collection. Only problem with watching films where beautiful people get together against the odds and live happily ever after is that I come home and know that I'm not living that dream.

Which explains why I'm online and have a beer in hand. However, I don't have back ache from bad seats either.

Sick to the stomach

I woke up this morning and felt a bit sick, but it's ok I thought. It's just a morning thing. I'll just put the radio on to check the cricket score.

Decided after much deliberation that work wouldn't appreciate an illness form stating "Sick to stomach due to Ashes score"

Grumble grumble grumble we invented the game grumble

I get paid for this :-)

For the last few days I've had scale cut outs all over my desk and have been trying them in various configurations in order to get the whole thing to fit into the space available. There's something rather satisfying about the result. Other people are less enthusiastic.

In other news we have a church Christmas social coming up. Panic, toys out of pram and chaos. I don't understand why it's so complicated. Maybe I should have just volunteered for the organising group from the start.

And have I mentioned that young people are CRAZY? Almost, but not quite, as crazy as the leaders.

Long time no post

I got asked yesterday what exciting things I've been doing recently.

I'm not sure I've done anything exciting and I can't decide if that's good or bad -I do things because I like doing them, and some things I do because God tells me to do them whether I like it or not. But they're not exciting things. They're just every day things. Aren't they? Should I be excited about them? They never seem to sound exciting when I try and talk about them!

I'm getting paranoid!

The only thing I could think of in response to the question was 'I managed to make my finger bleed on a polystryrene toggle in aquafit'. Not just anyone can do that. And it supercededs my housemates injury with a mechanical pencil last week which, until now, was the most ridiculous injury we'd managed.

it may not be exciting, but it continues to be random. Ho hum. Here's hoping that I manage to work out what I'm doing sometime soon!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 2,888 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Now what's even more random about that is the statistic the site gives me. Apparently in the US 99.66% of people with the first name of 'Mary' are female. Now, by my maths that gives 0.34% of men who are called 'Mary'. With the numbers the site gives that means there are 13452 men called 'Mary' in the US.

Doesn't that seem a little odd? (or am I just prejudiced?!)

Bleugh, I want to go home. Oh, I am home.

The above are the important and wise words uttered by yours truly when I got home last night. It's fair to say that my housemate was very much amused by the statement.

However, it does sum up things at the moment- I'm not quite sure if I'm coming or going!

Went up to Brum recently and caught up with the old Cathsoc committee. It was 2000 that we were in power, although I'm not so sure power is the right word. There are many other words that seem more appropriate. It's weird seeing where we've ended up - two auditors, an engineer and a PhD student. Sounds like it should be a responsible group till you put us all in one place. Ho hum. Was good to see them all anyway.

Also met up with more people down in Reading last weekend in the pub.

When we got home we later spent an inordinate amount of time at home trying to determine how many teeth we should all have. There's something very amusing about watching people try to count their own teeth. Following some research we determined that you should have 32, including wisdoms. Which means that I do have wisdom teeth - I just never noticed them coming through. Which means I am wise and grown up. Which I'm sure you all know anyway...

Mattresses

Sarah has the most amazing blow up mattress! You plug it into the wall and it blows itself up! You just watch as it pootles away to itself and then there is a fully blown up mattress! And you just reverse the fan to deflate it. It's sooo cool! And, apparently, I'm very easily amused.

The reason for the above discovery was that I stayed over at Sarah's last night for a proper catch up. We spent a lot of time nattering about all sorts of things - jobs, houses, her wedding, how cool her engagement ring is.

We also drank a pizza and ate a bottle of wine.

Which, along with the sleep deprivation, is making today rather more effort than normal.

Toes. Like Fingers but not.*

*Quote from McChicken and THE Chicken circa 1999. (Not to mention a whole lot of the other chickens, although those two started it. They have a lot to answer for.)

I never really think about my toes. They're just random things that are normally inside shoes.

However, since slipping half way down the stairs last night and stopping only due to the supreme effort of toe against banister, I've discovered a new appreciation for the things. I'd never really considered them or how much you use them to walk.

Ho hum.

Monday morning.

So, I'm back at work. Woohoo. And it's everything I remember from before I went on leave. And yet somehow worse. Ho hum. We've been playing 'nick the network cable' all morning as IT still haven't quite managed to provide one for each desk. We're going to be in trouble if the whole desk cluster is in the office at the same time. Various options have been suggested, and there is strong competition on the issue of which person gets to stay home so that they don't need a network cable…

Having spent much of last week asleep I've now had a busy weekend and could do with some more sleep. Such is life.

Saturday went to parents and ate lots of lasagne and met some peoples the parents know from Thornbury way (although now in Oxford). Mum admitted afterwards that maybe me and the boys have calmed down slightly since we were primary school age… Given that we're now all in our twenties this is quite a statement. Maybe it's just because we don't live at home anymore…

And for the record, it's not a good idea to get the giggles with a mouth full of mouthwash. It's messy, a little painful, and all Anna's fault.

Holiday

I'm on leave!

I recommend being on leave. It's far better for one's sleeping patterns than being at work. Apparently sleeping on one's desk is frowned upon. or at least, not advised if you want to progress at all in your career. ho hum.

So I'm at 'the Shed'. This is the new name for the 'other' house down in Bristol. Apparently other men have shed's in the garden. Dad has a whole house at the other end of the motorway but it serves the same purpose.

The theory about coming to Bristol was to get some sleep, some CPD done and to relax.
Sleep - yep. Relax yep. CPD - well, I kinda wrote an essay last night. Anyone want to know about the History of the Institution of Civil Engineers? It started in a coffee house, which is basically the 1818 equivalent of a pub. And that's still where you're most likley to find a Civil Engineer...

I've upgraded blogger. Anything could happen. Please let me know if it all goes pear shaped. Hmm... a pear shaped computer. Noone has built one of those. How do I get a patent?

I just shouldn't be allowed out.

As many of you know I recently got a new phone. My new new phone will be arriving this week after I broke the screen on the old new one. I'm not sure how. I think I sat on it.

This is brilliant. old but brilliant.

YAY! Dangermouse! Woooo!

Dangermouse is coming back to TV :-)

2 hours and thirty minutes, or 150 minutes, or 9000 seconds or 9e+012 nanoseconds

That's how long it took me to get to work this morning. Thirty minutes to get to the bottom of the hill. 2 hours to go about 4 miles across handy cross roundabout.

I've named various traffic cones on the route. Please say Hello to Jack and Tom when you pass them.

I think it's the first time I've been caught up in real gridlock. Something else to cross off the list of 'things to do'.

Then when I got to work, and got myself a coffee the milk was off… Things were just improving. Then I dropped my pen into my mug of herbally infused water.

Please can we rewind and start today again?

Just for Martin...

Martin is the best example of blokeness I have ever seen.

And this is not written under duress. And I'm sure his girlfirend would agree.

He's also asked for semi-revealing photos.

This is a semi revelaing photo...

They're married!

ok, so I should have posted this sooner, but hey. On the 19th August, two of my best friends got married. To each other.


I was one of the best men. (I like to think that I was the best best man).

So yes, I was on the stag do. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

The wedding was great. I've attached some photos. We all look very grown up. It was really weird because it was a very local wedding so everyone knew everyone else. Half of us had grown up on the same estate (that's essentially how I know both Natalie and Ryan). Natalie looked beautiful - she always does, but particularly on the day.

We all drank a fair bit at the reception - although not as much as we did the ngiht before. We were playing drinking games with Ryan's Dad. I have no idea what the rules were I just drank when told to. Dave was in a far worse state than me the next morning.


I think my tankerd was empty.


Me and Charlie.

Only downside of the evening was a minor onw - I lost my bag so had to crash at Ryan's parents house that night as I coudln't get back into my parents house. I also lost my phone so if anyone has been trying to contact me recently I'm sorry. My old number will be active again tomorrow when it's ported across to a new phone and network (which actually has signal in my house!)

Cold, Not Cold, Cold, Not Cold

It's amazing what you can learn when you're out with Friends. This weekend I went to Greenbelt.

I will never be the same again. Although, with luck a hot bath ought to sort out my back. Man was not meant to camp. Perhaps Alice and I should have camped so that we weren't on slopes such that we both ended up in the same corner of the tent by morning. On the other hand, that sounds a little dull.

Greenbelt was good. I kept bumping into people that I've not seen for ages. I was working in te ticket office again so I also met lots of new people who are all completely mad. There was a beautifulo moment where some people were pretending to be automatic doors at one end of the box office, and we were checking wrist bands while salsa-ing at the other end. Punters generally looked pretty scared - but we took lots of money - more than the target by LOTS. We rock.

Got to see some good bands - YFRIDAY, Sounds of Salvation, One Nation. Some interesting talks - Timothy Radcliffe, Norman Kember
and eat some great food. Although I'm still craving salad. And vegetables.

If you've not been to Greenbelt it's well worth a look. Don't expect a life changing experience, but it's good fun. And a lot less crazy than Reading festival. Which, incidently, my brother survived.

Incidently, the title refers to a discovey that a very intelligent PhD student made in the ticket office. When the door is open - it's cold. When it's closed - it's not. When you repeat this observation over and over again people start to go crazy. Here's praying that Alice's write up is more intelligent...

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say: Have UK airport delays affected you? ...

Second comment down.

Genius.

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say: Have UK airport delays affected you? ...: "Wednesday, 16 August, 2006, 11:34 GMT 12:34 UK "

Should I be worried...?

I just opened the office door to someone from another office. He works in a different field to me - Cleanwater instead of Dirty. Yet when I introduced myself he said 'oh, I know that name... not sure why'

It could be good.

Or it could be very bad.

Either way I appear to have a name for myself.

Things I have recently learnt at work:

To reboot - to remove the computer's shoes and later replace them. The smell of sweaty computer feet apparently works in a similar fashion to smelling salts.

Also, apparently there are right and wrong responses to someone saying that their baby son has put on 2lbs in two weeks. Right - "wow, he's getting big." Wrong - "oh yes, well I can do that too…"

My kinda God....

Spot the odd one out

President of the Institution,
MD of the company,
HR director,
My business unit leader,
Another business unit leader,
Senior Technical Manager,
Future Leader, Inspirational Leadership candidate,
Technical Expert and my supervising engineer,
Me.


How did I get myself into this one? We’re all going for dinner at a posh hotel and discusing the state of the industry.

Important things not to say: "Not sure why I'm an engineer really" "well, I suppose it is an ok company" "well, you'd expect that from HR" "not that bothered about getting chartered really"

This is going to be interesting. :-s

Branded with the cross.. and a seatbelt

I went to Norwich over the weekend. It's a great city! We drove up on Saturday morning and it was beautifully sunny. It takes 3.5 hours to get there and I had the window open. So I arrived with one red arm, a red neck and chest… and a small white cross and a white line where the seatbelt sits. As I arrived at Annette's it wasn't too bad. By the time we went out Saturday night it was really very very funny. Thankfully by Sunday it had all calmed down as it wasn't actually burnt!

So what did we do on Sunday? Go to the beach. I'm still not burnt, but you can tell I've been out in the sun …

Norwich is great though. Well worth a visit. It has the most random street names I've ever seen. Upper Goat street, Lower Goat street, Golden Ball Street, Rampant Horse Street...! Seriously.

And they have the best waffle house in the entire world. Mmmmmmmmm. Could barely move afterwards but oooooooh it was good waffle.

Two people face each other across a crowded room. There is no other way to resolve this, they turn and walk away from each other - 50 paces each.

They turn

They fire

"So can you do Tuesday?"
"So can you do Thursday?"


Diaries at dawn.

Did I mention I was going to do a very long walk?

I did it! I took part in the Playtex Moonwalk on the 20th May which is a 26.2 mile walk. The walk takes place overnight and involves 14000 women and 1000 men all wearing decorated bras. I started walking at 2335 on Saturday night and finished at 0735 on Sunday. By which point it is fair to say that I hurt. Quite a lot.

However, as the photo to the left shows, at the beginning I was quite cheerful about it all.






The event was amazing, although it did take me the best part of a week to recover. My name was in the Daily Telegraph so that makes it all worth while :-s I've also raised about £800 which is a far better outcome. Thanks to all who supported me…

To prove I did it here are some photos. And no, I'm not doing it again. Nor am I running it next year.
The Team bra decorating night. Bras and Butterflies everywhere!

The team before we started, left to right, Mary, Barbara, Bethan, Janet, Judith, Helen. All in matching pink bras with lots of butterflies on them!

And we all got to the end, Left to Right, Bethan, Helen, Barbara, Janet, Mary, Judith. Note the amazing pink tent in the background - they called it Playtex city and it was the first time I've ever seen a baby pink circus tent!!

After this photo was taken we all went home where I slept for 16 hours out of 24.

More photos from the telegraph

Productivity.

Given that I am only productive in the morning OR the afternoon I believe that I should be allowed to leave the office at lunch time if I've achieved anything in the morning, as experience suggests that I won't get anythign done all afternoon.

The fact that I would quite like to listen to England drawing the cricket is nothing to do with it.

IQ tests

Got sent through a link to a IQ test. The numbers are meaningless to me, and to be honest, half the test involves spacial awareness and identifying patterns which I ought ot be able to do for work anyway, so it's a bit of a nonsense but this one comes up with a comment about you that is quite interesting.

Your unusual talent of being equally good at both mathematical and verbal skills, paired with the way you learn through experience, makes you an Inventive Inquisitor. You understand the world by "learning through living" and are able to teach others by taking them through actual experiences.

Most people search their brains for previously stored information that might help in a given situation, but you are open to an unusual amount of change and take things as they come and see things as they are.

What is interesting is that it actually sounds like me... although there is an implication that I don't search through my brain enough! :-)

(BTW I have an IQ of 127 according to this test)

I like people.

This weekend I went up to Birmingham. By train. Now, trains are great. However, the complete chaos of knowing when and how you're going to get to your destination does allow for a certain amount of unexpected excitement in a journey. And that's putting it nicely.
Got up to Brum and pottered along to the pub where I was meeting a mate for lunch. It was closed. Felt like a student all over again as I pottered around Selly Oak with a Rucksack and then sat outside the pub waiting for it to open. At this point a different mate turned in to the pub to turn the car round, enabling me to organise myself into another pub trip later in the day. Really felt like I was back at uni . Although, of course, I did more than socialise in the pub at uni (I also worked in the pub).

I organised my weekend around food, so Saturday was pub lunch with Andy, and Balti with Dave and loads of others in the evening and Sunday was roast dinner at Newman House. On each occasion it was great to socialise with people and actually chat about how things are with them. I suppose it's inevitable that it's easier to meet up with people in Brum when I have no other responsibilities or demands on my time than it is at home, but it is a little frustrating. Need to get my priorities straight.

Newman House was great too. Mass at Newman is one of those things that never fails to inspire. Maybe it's because I don't have to worry about organising anything there these days! Had an interesting sermon too, which I actually managed to remember (which is unusual for me - I just don't learn from being talked at. I take in pretty much nothing at all.). It was all about how after his conversion Paul was so enthusiastic that churches he visited desperately tries to get rid of him. It was an image that is very easy to identify with, and gave me some interesting things to ponder about being overenthusiastic and trying to do too much.

Lunch at Newman is always good for a laugh too, and the discussion over lunch pretty much sums up the gathering. We chatted about married priests, female priests, condoms, captain pugwash, apples, alcohol, cathsoc, how to cook potatoes, Bach (the profane works), abortion, how to find and use the Catholic Catechism (which was only got out once, along with the Canon Law) where the cables in the building go, and if anyone knew where the milk had gone. I really miss the kind of randomness that Newman house has always had. There aren't that many places where you can meet complete strangers along with old friends and have that kind of variety of conversation!

Michelle and Chike's Wedding

Wow. It's always great to see lots of old friends, and Michelle and Chike's wedding on Saturday was a case in point. I knew most of the guests!

Michelle looked beautiful and Chike looked handsome. A lovely couple. Halfway through the reception they disappeared and reappeared in Nigerian traditional costume and cut the cake making it a real blend of the two cultures that they combine.

I did a reading, and managed not to mess it up or trip over the altar steps, and made it through the 'till death do us part' line.

It doesn't seem real to see Shell married, but then we're all growing up now and she's definitely found her Mr Right.

And I'm still looking for that millionaire….

Grandad's funeral

Grandad's funeral was on Friday. It was a really nice service and a beautiful church. Mum used quotes from here in the eulogy which took me by surprise, but apparently the image of Grandad with a glass of wine and the New Scientist was one that most of the congregation could relate to.

But despite the funeral being a time to say goodbye to Grandad it seemed to me to be more about the rest of us. It was far more to do with recognising a landmark in our lives and understanding that things had changed for us in a way that could not be reversed. Life has changed, but then, it always does.

It served as a marker to say 'what am I doing and why am I doing it?'
To which the only answer can be 'ummm….?'

Grandad's obituary is here

Would I mind helping out at the Fire Station...?

Apparently they were surprised at how fast I answered that question! Like there was some sort of a choice to make; Fire Station = Firemen (in this case Blue Watch)

Unfortunately, it is further evidence of that minor problem I've developed over many years of not being able to say 'No' when asked to help with something.

Maybe I should take it to confession and then call the Saturday morning at the station 'penance'.

RIP John Dunster

Grandad faded out today.

Again, as with Grandad Wells it's hard to be that upset about it. He wasn't really himself anymore and definately not the man who I have memories of with a glass of wine in hand and a copy of the New Scientist. Or, for that matter, the younger man I remember crawling about on the floor pretending to be a lion...

He'll be missed, but I'm glad this horrible period of undignified fading is over. Praise God for that.

Exercise.

So how is it I can walk 21 miles last weekend and not hurt, and yet I play ‘it’ with 5 other people at Fusion last night and can barely move today? It can be nothing to do with the fact that 11 year olds are faster than me and the walls are rather hard when you run full tilt into them..

And yes, you unbelievers, I did walk 21 miles without serious after-effects last weekend. We walked all around Windsor Great Park, round Virginia Water twice, and to the Castle and back. I’d forgotten how pretty it is round there, and actually how close it really is to where I live!

I really should make the most of these things. Maybe this weekend – although going to Windsor on the weekend of HRH The Queen’s birthday might be a mistake.

Chances of me doing anything much this weekend seem to be diminishing due to laziness. If I’m not careful I’ll actually do some of the Continuing Professional Development, and that’s just not healthy… although perhaps a good idea to hit one of my work objectives this year….

Lifestyle advice from the pub

I found a notice in a pub.

"A popular and distinctive premium beer, brewed with finest malt and hops for a well-balanced character"

So that’s where I’ve been going wrong; To become well-balanced I must drink.

Cheers.

Everything is fine.

So I'm told. Seems like a fairly wide ranging statement so I thought I should pass it on to the rest of you.

Everything is fine. There is nothing to worry about.


(unless of course you get between me and the chocolate.)

No, just no..

There is an article on the BBC today about people being buried with their mobile phones. More worryingly, people now apparenlty sometimes want to be cremated with them.

The concept of being scared that you'll be buried alive is fair enough where burials must happen quickly, but cremating a phone is just bizarre.

Whether you're religious or not you surely can't believe that having a phone amoungst your ashes is going to help you in some way? And how do people get so attached to their phones that they even consider it?

There's more to life!

Get thee down the pub and talk to people face to face!

How rumours start

While talking about the Moonwalk

Stefan: So when’s the big one?
Me: 20th May

Andy: You’re getting married?

I am still alive!

Things seem to be easing off. The clock changing has meant that I’m actually awake, and the 18 mile walk on Saturday has left me with no lasting injures except for strained abs. I really wish I knew how I’d done that as I was expecting sore legs...

The Moonwalk

In May I'm going to be walking 26.2 miles.
Through London.
At night

It's for Breast Cancer causes and I'm looking for sponsorship..

so if you feel so inclined follow the link below...

My Fundraising Page

I know it's mad and a long way to go. My training hasn't been going so well recently due to it being rather cold a lot of the time at the moment. So any helpful incentives would be much appreciated! :-)

Quotes

One has to watch out for engineers - they begin with the sewing machine and end up with the atomic bomb.

- Marcel Pagnol
Critiques des Critiques

Or in my case, they begin with a simple problem and suddenly develop a horribly complicated solution that noone wants to build. Apparently exploding pipes are generally considered to be a bad thing. Some people have no sense of fun. Just because it's big enough to drive a landrover with a canoe on top through this pipe changes all the safety parameters (oh come on, we have to scale it all somehow!).

so why wouldn't Jesus be hit by a bus...?

What would happen if Jesus comes again and lands in the middle of the road. Why wouldn’t he get hit by a car?

One of the kids was praying that Jesus didn’t come again as he thinks it will just cause war as all the Jews will get left behind. He doesn’t think he’s good enough to go to Heaven so he doesn’t want to find out just yet. And does Hell really exist anyway?

There’s a tendency to answer those questions with a ‘don’t be silly; it won’t happen like that’. But to be honest, they’re valid questions and I wasn’t really sure how to address them. I don’t see that there is any reason to not be apprehensive about the second coming. It is an unknown. How can we possibly know what will happen? If we trust God then we know that it will all be ok, but my experience is that even knowing that it’ll work out doesn’t make the process a whole lot of fun. God’s idea of a good thing tends to be quite similar to very hard work as far as I’m concerned.

I admit I’m no expert on this – I figure I’ll work it out when it happens – but what do you say to a kid who is curious and for whom this is a really big problem without sounding patronising?

Finally, a diet I can handle...

Times Article

Brilliant. I'm off back to bed.

Things I have learnt recently

1. 8 mile fast walks are fine until the last mile.
2. Re-hydrating after 8 mile walks with beer instead of water may not be a good idea but you do sleep well.
3. Hazelnuts really can’t replace chocolate.
4. Death is not dignified.
5. In hydraulics there is a very big difference between litres and metres-cubed. Don’t get them muddled.
6. It will snow whether I like it or not
7. Driving in daylight is lots more fun than driving in the dark.
8. If you pester Red cross enough they offer you training courses you need. In Windsor :-s
9. I will be able to get my REd Cross IHCD exam by the summer. Which means Mary might soon be a fully fledged little Red cross ambulance crewperson. Because I don't do enough things already...

It's all going to be ok.

Good.

Can someone wake me up when it is please?

Thanks.

Firefly.

It's great I said. You'll like it.

Ok, she says, We'll watch one episode.

8 episodes later I left Alice watching while I went to bed...

He's got the whole world in his hands...

which is probably just as well.

This is a concept that has been on my mind a lot recently. It occurs to me that if you imagine a picture of hands holding the earth then it looks VERY similar to how my hands look when I'm holding the host at mass. God holds the world in his hands, at mass I hold Jesus/God (and therefore the world?) in my hands. It's like the continuation of a wider pattern and the wider meaning of Eucharist starts to make a little more sense. Intersting.

But then it works on the small scale. I was off work yesterday with a nasty cold, but being off work meant that it was relatively easy to drop everything and take Mum into hospital for an x-ray when she called at lunch time. She has a fractured ankle and is now hopping about madly on crutches. Hopefully she won't do any more damage to herself with the crutches...

Skittles

I had no idea that a skittle night at a local pub could be so much fun! If you ever get the opportunity then do it. It may have helped that the Wokingham Red Cross are all complete nutters. Last night we had our Christmas do, which was only a little late. We managed to get 22 people together and a good time was had by all. It’s always good to spend time with people socially that you work with. It probably also helped that I wasn’t half asleep and lets be honest, a pint and a half, and being chatted up by two regulars in the bar probably also helped my mood…! Although as chatting up lines go this was a little unusual: “You’re wearing a cross, are you a good Christian? It’s hard to tell because it’s all inside isn’t it”

SoulNet

This weekend five of the leadership of EarleyYouthNet pottered along to Elvedon Forest Centre Parcs for Soulnet. Soulnet is a youth leaders gathering run by Soul Survivor. I think it’s fair to say that we all arrived on Friday slightly frazzled by one thing or another, not necessarily anything major – just life in general. By the end of the weekend everyone looked more relaxed although perhaps a ‘little’ tired (apparently Laura and I were sleeping in shifts in the car on the way home).

There were good talks, but more to the point lots of God speaking. Now all I need to do is process it and work out what it actually means in my life right now. There’s a nice simple undertaking. God originally inspired YouthNet at SoulNet so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he was started to invigorate it again in the same place. Lots of ideas floating around so now it’s just a case of working out which ones are of God and which ones are just us.

It was also the first time I’ve ever been to Centre Parcs. I was really quite impressed although I’m not sure I’d want to be there for a whole week. It’d end up costing you a fortune! However, It was really good to spend concentrated time with some of the other leaders. It really helps to know the people you work with, and I think I’ve eaten more over this weekend than in the previous week!

Now, I MUST NOT log on to either St Andrews bookshop or Amazon. How hard can it be… :-$

Bananas

Just bought 16 small bananas for £1 at the market. That’s a saving of 92p on Sainburys price for the same weight. I think that I might need to get organised and do more of my shopping at the market. How hard can it be to spend some time working out what I need and the relative prices...?

My week

Having posted random nonsense on my blog for ages now I though I should update on the state of my life.

Can’t think of anything to say.

Hmm. Maybe this wasn’t so good an idea.

Last week was one of those crazy weeks where I just try to do all the same stuff as normal.

Monday: Went to work, then popped into Cath’s to collect rope for Youthnet on Wednesday. She didn’t have rope so sent me off to the local cub pack who looked bemused by the concept but let me have large amounts of blue rope. Perfect for tying knots in. Completely failed to make it to Red Cross. Oh. What. A. Shame.

Tuesday: Went for a 5 mile walk with Mum. We both survived but it was touch an go on the hill in Barkham… Later, Jeremy popped in for a cup of tea and to update me on Red Cross gossip. Gossip that cannot be passed on in front of various other members at meetings. Suffice it to say that the politics have become too much for one long standing member and he has officially left the society. It’s a real shame, not least because the politics were just calming down.

Wednesday: YouthNet. It really should have occurred to me that short lengths of rope could be used for whipping as well as knots. A useful lesson for future. Really not sure how much we got acriss to the Kids. A major rethink for this one group is required. No idea when that is going to happen… Then went home and tried to write a presentation on First Aid for work.

Thursday: Got sent home from work for falling asleep on the desk. Went for another walk with Mum in the evening to try and physically tire myself so that I can sleep when I’m meant to.

Friday: oohhhhh Nothing to do! So what did I do? I started reading a Papal encyclical. Think I need to learn how to switch off…

Saturday: Bought new trainers. And 2 new shirts. And a scarf. As goes without saying they were all vital. Anyone would think I’ve just been paid… Later walked to Bethan’s house for her Birthday party. Was good fun got to natter to Youthnet peoples instead of just plotting sessions. Then pootled to Wokingham for Ryan’s Birthday gathering. As I was walking past the station a train was pulling in so got the train instead of walking. Got to the pub in time to discover that all my friends are getting way to grown up.

Sunday: Got up and went to mass. Managed to get stuck in the middle of a row and had to walk along the pew itself to get out to minister. That’ll teach me for assuming I’d have a week off… I later chatted to Dave who texted me to check I’m alive. I am, and so is he. Afterwards went walking and got sidetracked exploring public footpaths. By the time I got home 6.25 miles and 2 hours later I was shattered. Having said that I discovered that within 30 minutes walk of my house there are cows and deer frolicking in the fields (a far more sensible place for them than roads north of Wokingham for example). Ended up near St James’ parish church which is quite simply one of the most beautiful churches round here. Probably aided by the fact that there were clear blue skies and birds singing in the trees..

And now it’s Monday again. Tonight is Child Protection at Red Cross. I understand that this is some sort of self defence course.

I want...

I NEED one of these

oh, and one of those too...

Teabags.

Teabags come in individual packets. What are the chances of managing to tear the teabag in half as well as the packet? Grrr.

Fortune Cookies.

Last night we went to a noodle bar as part of the leaving drinks for a colleague. At the end of the meal you get a fortune cookie. Everyone else got nice little random comments. I got told to work harder. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a pretty good performance review I’d suspect my managers of fixing the cookies…

Which Firefly/Serenity character are you?

You scored as Simon Tam. The Doctor. You have a gift for healing that goes beyond education. You took an oath to do no harm, even when your patients have tried to kill you. You are out of place where you are, being used to refined society. However, if you take that stick out of your arse you should be fine. Simon Tam 81% Kaylee (Kaywinnet Lee) Frye 75% Shepherd Derrial Book 69% River Tam 63% Capt. Mal Reynolds 63% The Operative 56% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 50% Inara Serra 50% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 50% Jayne Cobb 13% Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

I'm kind of glad I'm not much like Jayne to be honest...

Update

ok. so I've not updated in a while. I've not been able to think of anything that really seems that interesting to report to the whole world. I've been to the cinema, done red cross, been to YouthNet... Lots of stuff that I've enjoyed doing but somehow nothing that is that exciting to write about.

I seem to be trying to do so many things at once at the moment, and they’re all so important. But I’m spending so much time trying to balance them all I just don’t seem to have time to get my priorities straight. What is most important; Work, Red Cross, YouthNet, Church? Which sets of friends do I see? Why can’t it just be simple?

But if it was simple then I’d complain that I was bored.

I guess the problem is that I just don’t seem to have time to listen . Every time I try something comes up. God tells me to spend time with him and I try but have you ever tried praying about what you should be doing whilst in the midst of it? It absolutely does not work - there’s just no time to listen. Although having said that he is showing me more and more of the beauty of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eucharist at the moment which can only be a good thing. That helps me to at least stay more or less grounded.

It’s just hard to be happy being grounded in life when you really just want to fly.

It's a Death Melon!

There just isn't anything to say. Go take a look at this video clip

Cartoon

This one came from my Dad. I like it. :-)

Well that's that for another year

Once again I appear to have survived the excesses of Christmas and am back at work (And I'm very pleased to be here. Honest.).

Where is the full stop meant to go when using brackets? The above looks very wrong.

I spent much of my two week break catching up with people, eating chocolate and occasionally even exercising. Unfortunately the ratio between chocolate eating and exercise was a tad unbalanced. This means that I'm going to have to do some more of this exercise thing for a good while to come.

So do I have and new years resolutions? No. I'm too lazy to come up with any. I'd never stick to them anyway.

Here is an interesting article on the BBC. For all those who have ever wondered how wet you get in the rain. An ever important query.