We had friends from the rectory area over for the day.
“Have you been to Strumpshaw Fen?” they asked.
“No, where’s that?”
“Just round the corner from you. It’s an RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve.”
So we went there for the day, and it was terrific. We took a picnic and our binoculars (actually ours aren’t much good, but theirs were the real McCoy), wandered round lakes and ponds, stopped in hides, ate lunch by the river, and saw lots of birds, including Marsh harriers, herons and cormorants.
Then we all came back here for supper and the odd glass of wine or so. A very good day which has inspired Ed and me to contemplate joining the RSPB (or suggesting it as Christmas present from the family.) And we’re determined to visit the fen again.
Isn’t it amazing what you have on your own doorstep?
A good day today in which Ed and I went to church and enjoyed it. Beginning to get to know people and feel quite comfortable in our new church.
We came home after church and read the Sunday paper, always something I look forward to. Not because the peper is particularly good (there are loads of sections we never open) but because it denotes relaxation and feet-up time.
Today I was very interested in an article about free on-line lectures from top universities. Apparently there are a number of sites offering lectures in a huge variety of subjects, so I looked up some of them. There’s iTunes U, MIT Open CourseWare, and Open Learn, offering lectures from Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard and so on. And all free – so far! Many of them podcasts.
I’ve also managed to finish the first chapter of my new novel (yes, I know. The first one isn’t out yet. But it will be, either late this year or early next.) The start is always difficult – it is for me, anyway. You have to get the right feel and set the scene and engage your readers, all on page one! Anyway, I’m under way now, so I hope to get at least halfway before I hit any brick walls. At least, that’s the theory.
If the brick walls prove too daunting I can always try some further education – on-line and free, of course.
Had a couple of phone calls from Nigel the curate. They’re the first contact I’ve had with him since I retired, and they flung me right back into working mode.
The first was asking me to remind him which parishioners had shown interest in confirmation (which is a Church of England event where people take on for themselves the vows made for them by their godparents at baptism.) Time was when almost everyone automatically attended confirmation classes at the age of around fourteen, but those days are long gone. Now, few youngsters choose confirmation, but very often older folk decide to be confirmed. The oldest person I’ve prepared for confirmation was 84.
Anyway, I gave Nigel the info he required and suggested other people too whom he might approach.
The second call came that same evening.
Did I remember, Nigel asked, someone who I’d married at our smallest church and who had asked to be buried there when the time came? I certainly did.
I married a young couple there around four years ago, after which they moved from the area to a new home down south. I was amazed to get a phone call from the young wife about a year ago.
“I’m dying,” she said. “I have a brain tumour and it’s terminal. When I die, can I be buried at the church where I was married?”
I was devastated by this news. I consulted the churchwarden and we were happy to agree. Somehow or other the news of my retirement must have reached the young woman rung, for someone had Nigel to ask whether it was still OK, now I’d left. He rang me to ask for details, like the name of the young couple, which I was happy to give him. And of course it’s still OK.
So the good news is that V. is still alive. The bad news is that it sounds as if she’s still terminal. What a married life those two have had.
Thank you all for your good wishes and kind comments. We had a great holiday in Wales with good weather until the day we were due to play golf with my cousin, when the heavens opened. Since my cousin and I are definitely fair-weather golfers, we had lunch out in a delightful craft gallery-cum-tea shop and followed their excellent nature trail instead.
We were due to return home today, but yesterday was wet and miserable (the only wet day in the week, so we did well) and Ed was worried about the long drive (eight hours on a good run.) So we decided to leave yesterday afternoon, about 3.30pm, drive until it was dark then hole up for the night in a Travel Lodge.
It took us three hours to get out of Wales, but as soon as we crossed the border into England the rain stopped. It was dark by then, but dual carriageway all the way home. Driving even at night on a dual carriageway is easy and the roads were almost empty, so we decided to travel on. it was OK until we got to Cambridge (within spitting distance of home) only to discover that the road was closed and we had a long detour. Still, were home by 11.30pm, which has left us all today to catch up (washing, shopping, post, emails….)
We had such a good time, but oh boy! It’s nice to be home.