My Birthday (Week)

So, after a rather hectic weekend, I looked forward to what would hopefully be a nice relaxing week off, starting with my actual birthday on the 12th. I'd sort of arranged for my sister to come over, and my mum got in touch to tell me she would be coming round as well. She got here first, we had a cuppa, and together we wondered where my sister was. She got here after a bit, and gave me a card, but told me I wasn't allowed to open my presents until my niece got here, as she would want to give them to me herself. She was at the Cheltenham animal shelter-apparently they do days out for children to get them used to animals and looking after them, and she goes there quite a bit. So after a bit, we went to pick her up (she had very much enjoyed herself), and came home. And then presents were presented, and cards, and a bit later, cake was shared. Which was nice. Cake is pretty much always nice. And a very nice time was had by all of us. And in the evening I went to help with serving food at ALPHA, and got pancakes, because it was Shrove Tuesday. Nice.

The rest of the week was actually pretty quiet. Which was nice, but a little boring in places. For instance, I almost went to a pub quiz on the Thurs evening. I had discovered the theme was all things American, so I thought I would bring some Americans with me. But unfortunately, the only Americans I know who were somewhat local were busy, which was a shame. I didn't really want to go without them, as I figured I probably wouldn't know that much about America.
However, I did have a good time online. It toook me a couple of hours to reply to all the good wishes on Facebook, and, in the process, having several conversations with friends I hadn't spoken to for a while. Which was brilliant. And I also discovered that I share my birthday with a certain Nicola Elizabeth (Nicky) Day, who is one of the guitarists in Hearts Under Fire, a band I was introduced to a couple of years ago. Who are great, so check them out.

I did, however, have a very good Saturday. I had that day off as well, so a friend took the opportunity to go to Good News Centre, a local(ish) Christian book shop with cafe, in Newent. It's a lovely place to go (Newent or GNC), but if you don't drive, as I don't, it's difficult to get there. So I don't go there much, but I always enjoy it when I do. And in the evening, we did something which I don't get to do very often, and that's play 'Risk'. I really love that game, but as a short game can take in excess of 3 hours, I don't get the chance to get enough people together to give it a go. So that was the way I ended my week off, more or less. A few friends round, snacks in, and a game of Risk. And, to top it all off, another birthday cake. Anyone would think I liked birthday cakes or something. Well, I definitely do, so more of them please.

Folk, Folk Music

This weekend was notable for two reasons-first, that it was the weekend of Cheltenham Folk Festival, and, second (more importantly to me), it was the first day of my week off-I usually work Saturdays. I had a few days holiday left before the end of the financial year, and as my manager is on holiday abroad for most of March, February is better for me. Plus my birthday is in half term, so if I take it off then, it means I should be able to see my sister and niece and several friends who are teachers. It is also quite convenient, because my best friend ususally comes down for the Folk Festival, so it meant I would be free all weekend. So that all worked out well then.

I left work on Friday with the knowledge that I wouldn't have to go back for another 10 days, and went to meet a couple of friends. Neil, who was staying with me (yes, we have the same first name; it's not deliberate, honest), and Alli-someone who, although local, I still don't see that often. Which is a shame. She was attending a conference that evening by Freedom In Christ to help her help others. As she's a social worker, I'm sure she'll find plenty of opportunity to use what she learned. Anyway, it was good to catch up with both of them, and we had a meal together before going our separate ways. I then relaxed a bit at home beforee Neil got back at about midnight, and we chatted for a couple of hours, as well as me doing my last blog post.
And then the weekend started properly. Unfortunately, it started with me being ill, so it was particularly good that Neil was here, as I'd arranged for someone to bring me round a new washing machine. Not just on a whim-the old one had stopped working, and he figured it wasn't worth repairing. If I'd been on my own, it would have been that much more difficult to get up in time for him. But it was managed-unfortunately, however, I missed meeting Alli for lunch. I was kind of feeling like I really didn't want to leave the house at all that day, but another friend who I haven't seen for months got in touch to say he could get over to Cheltenham today, but probably couldn't during the week. So I decided to make the effort to wander down to town and see him. It was good to see him, and I got to see something of the Folk Festival as there were some free gigs in various locations around town. I saw a duo in Rise, and Sam Holmes in Costa, where we went for drinks a bit later-and where I managed to drop my drink. However, the staff were very lovely and made me a new one free of charge and brought it to the table. Nice of them. And on realising there were so many free gigs, I did wonder whether people I knew could get in next year.
Sunday was similar, in that I again had to get up early ish to get to church (and avoid my landlord), but I wouldn't have managed it anywhere near so well if Neil hadn't been there. I left later than I intended, but I got there-just in time for communion. I was feeling almost well again by the end of church, and then when I got home, I fell asleep on the sofa. I was supposed to meet Neil in town to catch a bus to Alli's (and Darren- and family), but in the end, I had to get a taxi. Which was probably for the best, as I really wasn't sure I would be able to walk that far, feeling like I did. So that was managed, and then a good evening was had by all, despite the fact that Darren wasn't feeling much better than I was. So he spent most of his time upstairs with their oldest boy, building a Lego tank. Which was pretty impressive, when we saw the finished article. Alli gave me a card and present (pear cider, very nice)-and also sent me a text actually on my birthday, which was a couple of days later.
And then on Monday, Neil left in the morning, to go and spend time with his family, and I didn't get up. Well, I did in the end, but it was a lot later than I had hoped. Didn't do much that day, apart from arrange with my mum and sis them coming round the next day-my actual birthday.

A Letter To Benjamin

At church last week, we had another big promotional campaign for Compassion UK. There are a lot of people around who already support a child through them, but there are still people who want to do it-and as our Compassion advocates could tell you, there are always more children who need support. And the really great thing about how it is all set up is that supporting a child actually supports their whole family.

Anyway, it reminded me that it was about time I wrote to my sponsored child again-Benjamin Mutai is his name. I last got a letter from him in November, but he has heard from me since. His birthday is in December and then obviously there was Christmas, so he had a card from me both those times. I just hadn't sent a letter. And now I have. Last time he wrote, he was talking about his dreams. He wants to be a teacher. Apparently, all the children there know that education is their best hope, so they work really hard at school-he's particularly good at Maths and Science and enjoys them, so I wonder if he will go into teaching one of those subjects. At the moment, his letters are really short, as he's only 8. He basically gets interviewed about a subject, and gives quite short answers. And probably the fact that it has to be translated doesn't help with that.

And my replies aren't able to be much longer either, as we only have a small amount of space to write in. Which is fair enough, as he's still young-I wonder if there will be more space as he gets older. Anyway, I wrote my letter. He told me about his dreams, so I told him about one of mine. I told him I want to be a writer, and help encourage people through what I write. I did wonder how to tell him about this blog, but couldn't think how to do it. So I just told him that I wrote poems, I think. So now I'm waiting to see what he thinks of that.

If you want to support a child yourself, just follow the link here. I would recommend it if you can. And I would recommend it even if you don't think you can

And Then There Was One...

Well, this was a most unusual week; my flatmate finally left for Great Yarmouth on Wednesday. Wherever that is. As he has been here for several years (8? 9? I honestly can't remember), it was a bit of a shock to think that he's actually gone.

He left at 9:30 in the morning, so I stayed in my room until he'd gone. But I wasn't really sleeping. For some unknown reason, I woke at about 8, and couldn't really get back to sleep-I sort of drifted in and out for a while. So I could hear him going about his business with packing and stuff; and it was surprisingly emotional. Among other things was shock that it was actually happening, and kind of a sense of loss. Oh, alright, I'll admit it-I'll miss him. He's a nice guy to be around, and Great Yarmouth is a bit of a distance.

So I went to work as normal, cos, you know, I had to, and I don't really remember anything much about that. I'm guessing it was a pretty ordinary day-a lot of them are. And then I got back in the evening, and the place felt strange. Not that he's usually in at that time, he would often be at work, but somehow it just felt different. Thankfully, I didn't spend the whole evening on my own-a friend of mine came round to pray. Which was particularly good, as I could do with the company at the time.
So, we chatted and prayed, and had strawberry flavour cider. Which tasted like strawberries, unsurprisingly. I couldn't really see why they called it cider at all. Nice, though-I recommend it. And then tried to figure out meeting up again. It looks as though I may well be quite busy most evenings over the next week or so, which will probably be good, as I won't be able to think about things too much. I have a week off coming up, which I'm trying to work out some things to do to fill. Interesting things-I don't just want to fill it for the sake of it, I want to do things I actually want to do. Like play 'Risk'. That's probably my favourite board game, and I don't get to play it much-mainly cos even a short game takes several hours. If you play the full game, it could be a very long time. But if I've got the time off, then that may well be the time to go for it.
I was originally intending to be out Thursday and Friday evenings as well, but I ended up being too tired. And now I'm starting to find things are beginning to look slightly different. I'm starting to see the positive side of being able to do what I want to do, but I know that that will only be an advantage in the short term. The landlord wants to redecorate a bit before getting someone else in, but I hope I'm not on my own for too long. I know that's not good for me-I'm perfectly capable of not talking to anyone else for days if that happens. Which I know isn't good for me. But in the short term, change isn't a bad thing, and it's good for me to remember that.

I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass

There has been a lot of cleaning going on in my flat recently, due to my flatmate moving out. And a lot of recycling, hence the title. I always like recycling because as well as getting rid of stuff that needs to be got rid of, there is the feeling that you are Doing Good at the same time; and when getting rid of glass, it is particularly satisfying to know that you are breaking glass and it is Perfectly Okay. It can be quite good at relieving stress, I find-though maybe that's just me.

So, the recycling bit was alright. Almost fun, and definitely satisfying, in that those things are gone, and don't have to be thought about any more. On the other hand, the cleaning bit definitely isn't, especially if you don't know very well what you're doing.
My mum came over to help me, which was both good and bad. Good because I did things I wouldn't otherwise have done, and bad because I had to do things I wouldn't otherwise have done. I definitely learned some stuff, but on the other hand, that day was exhausting. To be fair, though, that was the day I started to get ill, so it's just possible that may have had something to do with it. However, as a result, the place is now cleaner than it was, and cleaner than it would have got if I had been left to my own devices. And I have to admit, it is somewhat satisfying to see the difference after it has been done.

And I started thinking-I do that sometimes. A long time ago, when I was working in a cleaning job, God said to me something along the lines of that this is something Christians are supposed to do, to clean up the mess the world is in. All the mess, everywhere. So I was thinking about mess, and how easy it is to make. Some mess is sort of 'deliberate', like when something is spilled, but most, if not all of the mess we were working on was just caused by living. Apart from things like preparing food and leaving books on the floor while I'm reading them (to be fair, I do know pretty much which ones are finished and where they should go), there is also just dust-which is just what happens when there are people in a place-and when they're not. And the other thing is how easy it is to live with a certain amount of mess-first because you know you can clean it up, and/or if it's been left a while, it's easy enough to live with things the way they are. Until you have to do something about it.
So, what about the mess in the world-or in our lives? Of course, it would be easier to clean it up as we go along, always assuming of course, that we can. But if/when we don't, what then? What will happen to it and us; and what will make us clean our lives up? And, getting back to where we started, how do we recycle-and more importantly, how do we decide what can be recycled? Just a few questions-if you do have any answers, I'd be interested to hear...

Issues-Important Or Interesting?

The idea for this post has been floating around in my head for a while now, but it was the last few days that it really started to become a big thing for me.

Looking around at various other blogs, there appear to be mainly two types:- ones which are predominantly (auto)biographical, and ones which deal with ideas or issues. In my head, I think of them as 'professional', as people read them pretty much to find out what person x thinks about whatever issue, whether or not that person is known to be an authority, or indeed actually paid to know about those particular issues. Now, obviously, there is no reason why a blog can't be both, and indeed, quite a lot are both; but, as a general rule, most of them seem to be predominantly one or the other.

And this goes just as much for ones by Christians, as you can see by looking at some of the links from this blog. I'm still working on exactly what sort of voice I want my blog to have and be; what I want it to say and why, but so far, it has appeared to be mainly a biog-which really wasn't what I expected when I started it. I kind of thought I'd be talking a lot more about ideas and issues-something along the lines of 'here's something that people are thinking about, and here's my take on it' sort of thing. And, although I have done that a bit, it hasn't really been a large focus of the blog so far. Most of the 'issue' posts (like this one) have been about something personal to me. Not that others can't understand them, otherwise there would be no point in me doing them, but they definitely haven't been inspired by things in the news or that I've seen or heard lots of people talking about. I remember a couple of posts by a friend, like this one about the new Archbishop here, where I thought 'hey, maybe I should say something about that', and then didn't. Obviously.
And what I've been thinking recently is whether that really matters either way. I mean I do have opinions on some/most of these things, and I'm not worried about sharing them. Although I do think that most people who really know me have some sort of an idea of what I think about the issues-and if they don't, they (should) know I'd be happy to tell them if they ask. But I don't think anyone is really that concerned about wanting me to write on particular issues-or not, as the case may be. No-one wants me to force myself to write on particular things just because they're in the news; they may well be quite happy to read about something else at that time. However, if you really do want me to write on anything in particular, let me know. I can't say I definitely will, it's possible I don't have an opinion or know what to say; but I promise I will definitely consider any suggestions.

And so I still don't know quite how this blog is going to continue, but I do know that it will continue. And I hope you will continue to visit; so we can find out together.

What A Week!

Well, I finally get around to another post after an unusual week; some of it fun, some definitely not. And, in that, all sorts of reasons why I couldn't post any earlier.

Starting on Saturday with a panto, which was great. A friend of mine, who has recently started a curacy in a rural parish near Worcester invited us to see him in a panto he was in. Apparently, his parish started Martley Amateur Dramatics as part of their outreach several years ago, and have put on one ever since the 100th anniversary of one of the churches. Some of the group belong to one or other of the churches (mainly the men, which is unusual), and some don't-it's a very good way to both build community and get the church involved in the community. And as he's now started in a rural parish where getting into the community is vital, he was basically told he had to be in it. His vicar takes one of the main parts, as he does conjuring and juggling-apparently the main problem they have is getting him to stick close to the script.
So, anyway, I was picked up by a friend after work, and off we went to Martley for their production of 'Cinder Ella' (the German version) 'a small but subtle difference'. And a most enjoyable time was had by all, especially the cast. It was clear that most of the audience was connected in some way to some or all of the cast, and they seemed relaxed and enjoyed themselves. One of the best amdram shows I've ever seen. And afterwards, we were invited to the after-show party; which was basically everyone in the hall heading down the road to the local pub, The Admiral Rodney, and generally having a good time. The food was good, the company better, and the overall atmosphere was great-I found a perry I hadn't had before, so that's a good excuse to go back there.

And then on the Sunday, there was the latest Seek His Face event, at Elim Church, which was interesting. I've been having a difficult time praying recently, because I've been thinking that I've been praying about the same things for ages, and my life doesn't seem to be much different than it was X number of years ago. Or any different. I suppose I may be different, but it's difficult to tell how much and in what ways. And, more importantly, what difference this may make. I don't see what I can do to make much of a change in my circumstances, so it's really up to God; but I don't see Him doing anything (much). Anyway, the guy leading worship had a prophecy for me-that God was tattooing something on me, that I would have a ministry to people who no-one else would want to/be able to. This was very interesting, as one of the things I've been thinking about recently is getting a tattoo, though I haven't decided yet-and also, I went to a prayer meeting recently where the phrase 'soul tattoo' was used. So it seems that it wasn't just something general that could have been said to anyone, the way he said it was as important as what he said. Something to consider, anyway.

After that, it was back to work Monday, as usual, and then on Tuesday (my day off), my mum came round to help me clean the flat. As my flatmate is leaving soon, it will have to be looking good for a new tenant, or the landlord will complain. So, that was both intense and exhausting. And then, after that, what really held up the posting of this post, I got ill. I don't know why, as I don't really get ill that often, but I felt bad enough to be off work. As the last time that happened was about 6 years ago - I can't actually remember - you can see that I wasn't really in any fit state to do this post. Or, indeed, to do anything much. And, just as clearly, you can now see that I'm better. ;). Which is good. And now I have posted. Nice.