banana skins

We are starting to develop new routines since the arrival of Jacob in our lives. It hasn't been easy and there have been a few compromises (getting up in the night and early in the morning, picking up poo in little bags, chewed furniture, and lots of farting) but he is a lovely dog and he is very funny. One of the great things we are doing is going on lots of walks around the parish. Jacobs isn't all that keen really but I am hoping he will start to enjoy walking the streets of Everton with me. It seems the best bit (for Jacob) of wondering around are the tasty banana skins left by those who eat fruit and discard the inedible bits behind. Today I went out for an hour and saw 6 banana skins, the peelings of what seemed like 3 tangerines and a couple of apple cores. I am impressed by the quantity of fruit eating but disappointed by the litter bugging. I try to steer Jacob round the peelings but he does sometimes manage to get a bite - he is very cunning when it comes to eating pavement peelings. Other things he has managed to eat before I got to him include:
bubblegum
newspapers
lots of toilet roll
2 wicker baskets
the corner of the grandfather clock
the leg of the antique hall table
the foot of the rocking chair
the red rug (has two big holes in it now)
quite a lot of cat food
dishwasher scum
his own poo
my nibbles (on two occasions)
toast crust
Eva's dinner (once)
Isiah 26
the lectionary for year C

back blogging

Hello dear reader. Thanks for your patience whilst I have been away finishing off my PhD thesis - you'll be pleased to know it has been submitted to The University of Liverpool and I am now waiting for a viva date. So, I hope to be back here blogging on a regular basis. I am thinking about a re-brand (again) but I suspect that is a while off but in the meantime I will let you know about a few things that have been happening:
- Eva has started walking to school on her own
- We have adopted a puppy from Freshfields - his name is Jacob and he's very cute (as you can see above)
- Eva, mark and I have been to Belfast for a little jolly - which was great...lots of sitting about, chilling out, catching up with family and friends.
- I have had a cold - I feel much better now, though I am still very tired.
- I am at last feeling like I can get stuck in to parish life. I just hope nothing else comes along to get in the way of being able to be in the parish full time (apart from my more formal curacy training commitments of course).

So, with that in mind I had batter get back to parish life...

a week

It has been a whole week since I last blogged and so much has happened...I can't even begin to start on the mad business of the week, the juggling I have done is week is exemplary and the mere fact that I have managed to get through without decking someone should been seen as a feat in itself.

Probably the main reason I have survived is that Becky has been here looking after Eva and keeping an eye on me - PhD fever has been quite bad and having someone to remind me that I am fine has been very useful. Also, Becky being about has helped me to keep up my parish commitments...of which there have been a few this week.

Anyway, I wish I could write more but I really must get on with preparing my latest thesis draft which is going to my favourite proof reader tomorrow...

Lillie's baptism

Lillie (my step-granddaughter) was baptized today...and I baptized her! What an amazing privilege. I had been looking forward to baptizing someone ever since we sat up in James Steven's office at Trinity college and had a hearty conversation about the pros and cons of infant baptism (obviously my baptist brothers and sisters have a different perspective on the practice and the theological college seminar debate was 'full and hearty' as a result!). At that point I had no idea my first baptism would be of a member of my family. So, there you go...

So, we have been feeding hoards of people since mid-day and now they are moving on to more food and the wine has come out...I have 2 more services to take so I am sitting in my office. As my office is the quietest place in the house Lillie is in here with me asleep in her pram - so the new Christian and I are spending some down time chilling in the curate's office.

Anyway, I have 2 services to put the finishing touches to so I'd best get off...

not much to say about exams and the like

I have my family back. They returned home last night. It is great to have them back, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed them. Having said that I couldn't get to sleep for ages after they'd got back and ended up staying up watching a documentary about The Who and eating crisps until very late. This morning has been a bit tough as a result. Eva didn't wake up until 10am (so I was spared the early morning call of "Muuuuum, can I watch TV? I'm hungry!") Mark is at Snappy Snapps (his last Saturday). So, Eva and I have been lounging about - some clergy shirts arrived this morning (I think I look like a bit pudding but Eva says "they're beautiful" The puffy sleeves are stupid and my need resewing).

I have to do a bit of exam revision today (just a little each day is going in like small pippet of knowledge into a big bucket of irrelevant ideas - my head is awash with irrelevance, knowledge is struggling to survive). I feel I have little hope of being sane by Tuesday. Exam stress is taking on comedic characteristics - slurred speech, comedy wind, the eating of weird combinations of food, forgetfulness and sleeping with the light on holding chamomile tea. I will be so happy at 1pm Tuesday. This stupid, mean, torturous exam will be over.

Anyway, I am off to the shops to buy a duvet and take the car to the car wash.

odd day

Today has been quite strange, not least because I started off by being alone and going to St Peter's for the last time on my own. It was a lovely service and I got quite emotional saying goodbye - they gave me a the lovely ordination stole which I had asked Ann to make for me and some very useful books. I had got quite used to St Peter' and have appreciated the support of the vicar - Jenny Low. She really has been great for me and I will miss her.

After I got back I had a spot of lunch and then had to go off to get Eva from Badminton - I took Elise and Wayne with me because when I dropped Eba off we got stuck in the mud and I needed moral support. Eva had had a lovely time, she was completely pooped and all she wanted to do was eat and got to sleep. However, the reality of an early night was slightly different - it has take her ages to calm down and get off. So here I am thinking another day has past and I haven't got much revision done. I am starting to feel I am going to have to go into this exam a little more stressed than I had hoped. Anyway, I had better get back onto looking at the sacraments.

By the way - I was well peeved at the Eurovision result yesterday. I deciced having seen al the acts that I liked Israel and Denmark best (with Sweden next - but actually she was too strange for me to fully plump for in the end) I had a smidgen of respect for Russia but I have no idea why Uk came so low down - surely Spain (who got booed) didn't deserve to do better than us? Anyway, I have to say I don't know what to think about it all...will we ever be liked in Europe again? Are we such social pariahs that we can not even make it off the bottom 3? Very disappointed indeed! Hey ho.

leaving - getting ready to go - pretending to be a vicar

These are the first of many leaving photos. The first one is of me and George Kovoor (the Trinity College principal). The other one is of some of us who are leaving wearing our new clergy-wear. Now, I know that technically we shouldn't be wearing our collars and that it is illegal to impersonate a vicar but this is just a dress rehearsal so please don't take this as a final vision of how we will actually look when we are church of England curates. I haven't decided on hair colour (please state your preference - though red is out of the question because that wouldn't go down well in Everton) and this isn't the stole (the red scarf like thingy) I will be wearing on the day - that will be white (but it is still being hand-made by a member of St Peter's Lawrence Weston church).

I am still feeling a bit sick from the fish quiche incident, I've been to college today to panic about the exam (revision is not going well) and have to sort out Eva's stuff for Brownie Camp which starts tonight. So, best get on.

eva

The picture of cousin Ian jumping out of the plane reminded Mark of this picture of Eva skipping. She is so happy and determined in this picture - taken at Julian and Andrew's do! (click on it and it will get bigger). She really has enjoyed her time in Bristol but she is looking forward to seeing all her old friends - particularly Maddie and Gracie back in Liverpool. I have spoken to her new school teacher today and she is starting at the school in Anfield as soon as we move in June. I think she is excited about it and they seem very pleased to have her. I do hope it works out well for her as she has really enjoyed her time at Our Lady of the Rosary here in Bristol. I know she'll miss her friends and the school regime here but I think she will settle ok at her new school. If you get a moment and could pray for her and the transition that would be great. Thanks.

cousin Ian

I got an email from my cousin today. He did a parachute jump on Sunday and he sent this picture to prove it. He also reminded me that my Dad used to be in the parachute regiment after the war so regularly jumped out of 'planes. Apparently he once said to my cousin "nothing can beat the feeling of free falling and then when you open your chute, it's like the hand of God coming down and pulling you up and rescuing you."

Now, my Dad died five years ago and I hardly ever see my cousin but this snippet of an insight into their relationship was quite moving to read. I have never jumped out of a plane but I know what it feels like to be rescued by the hand of God - if it's like that it must be amazing.

family

It has been a fantastic family day here at Loudon Bristol HQ. Despite it being a bit sad because we knew it was the lat time we'd all be together in Bristol it was a fab day. Mum had bought a great big piece of beef which was cooked to perfection and served with yorkshire puddings, fresh green beans, asparagus, new potatoes and carrots. For pudding we had a chocolate cloud cake. Lovely lovely.

I am very tired now and really should be asleep but i have a few more chores before bed. So, best get on.

my mum

I have spent the day with my mum. I always knew it was going to be a bit tricky because today is the last day I will spend with her doing bits and bobs in Bristol. We have got used to just hanging out and chatting. So, this is the last weekend that we are going to be together and it does feel quite strange. To be honest I feel quite sad. I know she will come and visit us in Liverpool but it won't be the same as her being to pop over whenever she fancies it.

We had a good day pottering about. Mum got us a dishwasher from Lewis's...I had no desire to get one bit mum insists that we will need one in the vicarage and who am I to argue. Mark and Elise went off to Shroud to Neil's 40th. Mum, Eva and I watched TV and chilled out. It sounds mundane but I am feeling really quite sad. We have a big family lunch planned for tomorrow and I really do think I will need tissues.

last academic board

Every day I seem to face a new 'last thing'. Today it was academic board. In my past life I was also on academic board as a senior academic but it was quite a different experience - it was hostile and unforgiving, you had to watch your back, be on top form and watch out for aggressive tactics from other departments (and sometimes those in your own). Being on academic board at Trinity is so far removed from my previous experiences that it has almost (but not quite) restored my faith in such assemblies. It is possible to approach the rough and tumble of academic disciple without it being at the cost of others. I can't actually believe that I will miss it...what a geek!

Anyway, we have a busy family weekend ahead - my mum's here and we have everyone coming over on Sunday for lunch. Another 'last thing' = the last time we will all be together as a family in Bristol. I might need tissues.

babies and glastonbury

Mark has sent me on some excellent pictures of the new Belfast babies - Sam and Angie. What fantastic babies they are and everyone looks so proud and made up with the beautiful bundles of joy. many blessings to both families. I am unfortunately not going to be able to get over to see them when Mark, Joe and Eva go to Belfast for half-term. I have to stay here to revise for this stupid exam. Hey ho.

Today I have been to Glastonbury on a DOCTRINE OF GOD, CHRISTIAN HOPE AND LIBERATION module day out to explore Christian expressions of faith in the town and alternative spiritualities. It was a jolly good day: I sampled some good cake, had a walk round the Abbey, got some lavender oil from a shop under the Goddess Temple, listened to the curate of St John's church talk about her experience of being a priest in the town, listened to the Goddess Temple Melissa speak about her experiences and did a spot of shopping. All in a days work for an ordinand in the Church of England!

I am trying to get an early night and sort my reading out for tomorrow. So, best get off and do that.

Dr Eisenbarth Wanderbuhn

I may have told you that 10years ago - just before we got married - Mark and I ran away to the circus for the summer, the Swiss Circus! Well, Just horse drawn carts, a fantastic show and our own caravan (of love). I finally got my cinefilm transfered to DVD and have loaded it up onto youtube. I am afraid the quality isn't great but it does give some of the flavour of the adventure. Look out for my favourite horse Rex - I loved him.



In other news: Mark's sister Ema have had a baby, a boy baby! So congratulations to Stephen and Ema. And Dylan and Anna have had a baby girl - so well done you lot too. There are babies everywhere!

We are off to Jilian and Andrew's wedding in a short while. So, there may be blogging silence for a few days.

weekend

Having a rubbish weekend last time it is only fair that this one was a blinder. Friday night I polished off a bottle of white wine that was sitting about and watched some bits and bobs of catch-up tv. Not that there's much to catch-up at the moment - I am enjoying the medieval stuff on BBC4 but a lot of it is very ponderous and poncy, some of it good and much of it less informative than it pretends to be. Anyway, I caught up and crashed out - I was very very tired (it has been a bit of a week).

Saturday was great - we had Liz H's baby shower at ours. I am not sure that it was a conventional baby shower as it was more like a relaxing tea party in the garden with scones, tea, cucumber sandwiches and more cake than can be imagined - pictures to follow! It was lovely having people round, chilling out, telling stories and having a laugh. can't believe that come August both Liz and Elise will have small babies! Wow. What an amazing thing that is!

We are still eating cake today...I had some for breakfast (is that wrong, especially on a Sunday!?). A baptism at church - which was lovely. Actually the whole service was cracking. St Peter's is really coming alive for me again - I can't analyse that at the moment so I will have to get back to it at some point. Anyway, we went to the Wheelers for lunch which was a real treat. Fab food including a very nice pudding (chocolate fudge cake with raspberries - yum yum) a great tour of their new house - which is pretty impressive - on 3 levels including 3 toilets and a chapel! What more could you ask for? They have kindly lent us their roof box for Andrew and Julian's wedding so we will be able to get the tent in the car - phew!

After Eva went to bed Mark and I watched the first series of Gavin and Stacey and ate a rather appropriate omelette (cheese and ham). Perfect end to a lovely weekend.

- I have just realised that this is a rather food driven post (hey ho)!

world turned upside down

Last night Mark, Bob, Sue and I went to see Billy Bragg. Reminded that I met Bob and Sue at a Billy Bragg gig 13 years ago - a benefit to safe the Picket, Liverpool (seems like we've been trying to save the Picket ever since!)... and that at another Billy Bragg gig in the same year I also re-met Mark. So, Billy Bragg has been an important catalyst in the making of our friendships. Anyway, we've all got a bit older and I am not sure how much wiser but we definitely still share the same desire to see the world turned upside down. Perhaps each of us has our own (different) reasons for sharing such a vision but it remains a significant topic of our conversations and a business of our endeavors. In my case I remain convinced that poverty and injustice prevent people from hearing the good news of the kingdom of God and that as the people of God we have an obligation to fight injustice at every level wherever we encounter it. This week we have been meditating on The Jesus Manifesto - a vision of the world changed forever (Matthew 5; Acts 17:1-9). Jesus' vision for the world turned upside down was one of the meek and the poor being inheritors and the the peacemakers being called children of God. The first will be last and the last will be first.

Anyway, I post this clip of Billy Bragg - his "World Turned Upside Down". A story of what happens when the dispossessed proclaim what is theirs.

up the workers

The teachers (the NUT) are on strike today. Not everyone will be on strike but even those who don't will be happy enough to take the pay rise should the strike succeed. Nobody chooses to lose a day's pay unless they feel the reasons for such action is valid and I have a great deal of sympathy for their decisions. That said I have not been very happy about the decision I made to take Eva into college today. She has found it very difficult to live by my college bound disciplines and I have found it challenging to deal with her dissatisfaction. I have realised that college is quite a demanding environment - demanding of my time, my affection, my patience, concentration etc etc and that having a small person about whilst trying to maintain those demands has not been very easy. Sharing me and college has not been great for poor Eva. I am not the best mum in the world here!

Anyway, the day is nearly over and nobody has got hurt. We are off home in a minute and will have a lovely time chilling out for a few hours before Mark and I go out to meet Bob and Sue. They have come down from Liverpool on their way to Cornwall. We are off to see Billy Bragg tonight - which I am excited about. So, best get off and have a nice time in the sun.

patience

Tomorrow sees the start of the last ever Trinity term. However, tomorrow is a study day and Mark needs the car so I suspect I will not go into college so it will be a bit of a false start. To be honest I have not had a great weekend and am not at all ready to go back. I feel bit under the weather, the stress of finishing has got to me a bit and all the arrangements that need to be made are making me feel disorientated. I am at a high level of discontent and just want it all to be over and done with. I think the reality properly kicked in this weekend and Mark and I have found it quite difficult to communicate about how we are feeling and as a result have not been all that supportive to each other (sorry to lay this on you - my dear reader - but you have been such a faithful friend I know I can rely on you for continued love, prayers and support). I know what this needs... as Take That would say - it needs a bit of Patience. So, prayers for patience would be great.

back home from Virginia Water

I decided not to stay for too long. My mum was very tired and I think she needed to be on her own having had Eva for 4 days. I am glad that I came back though. It means I can spend the last day of the holiday with Eva on my own and do a few more bits and bobs here. I am so tired now. You wouldn't think driving to Virginia Water, dodging the posh people in the massive cars and eating would be so tiring.

I went to see an old friend this morning - Enid. She is in her late 80's and had just had a new knee fitted. Enid was the first person to mention ordination to me when I was 17years old (all those years ago!). She had a real vision for my ministry and has been a great influence on me and the formation of my faith. She is a straight talking, intelligent, visionary person (she needed vision to see me as a vicar when I was 17years old!). She sees the positive in difficult situations and has been so faithful in her ministry as a reader at Christ Church, Virginia Water. She and her friend Ann work very hard for the church - making pastoral visits, taking funerals, leading services at the Methodist church (which is affiliated to the Anglican church). They are tireless witnesses to the gospel.

I love to spend time with Enid and listen to what she and Ann have been doing in the church and in their other roles. Enid used to be an inspector for Anglican training colleges and knows Trinity well. She has also sat on various boards of training colleges and has a sense of what training for ministry is like as well as what the job entails after training. It is a privilege to spend time with them and I take great encouragement from their interest in me, the family and my ministry. I felt very proud to tell them about my curacy and even though it seems unlikely that they will make my ordination, due to Enid's poor health, I know I will be in their prayers.

If you get a moment and could spare a prayer for an old friend of mine with a poorly knee and problems with deer who eat her flowers then please do.

Christian Socialist Movement, Virginia Water and purple/blue hair

I have to finish a book on the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) today - its a personal pride thing - I decided last night that I can't go to see my Mum until it is read). I am really enjoying it actually. The book is called Possible Dreams: Personal History of the British Christian Socialists by Christopher Bryant. It is out of print but amazon has a few 2nd hand copies if you fancy it. I know I am a hopeless socialist romantic but reading about the history (albeit recalled by an equally hopeless socialist romantic) has warmed the cockles of my cold heart. I don't feel so oppressed by Liberation Theology (which was very sad and really not what my Latin American brothers had intended I am sure). I am just getting on with the long list of books I have to read and hoping for some sort of intellectual breakthrough (could be here some time then!).

Anyway, once that book is read I am off to the centre of suburban capitalism - Virginia Water. Not, unfortunately, to start the revolution but to see my Mum and collect Eva. I think I am going to stay for a few days to soak up the rays that reflect from the beautiful people and visit some old friends (quite literally as one of them is in her 90's). In order to create a stir I have dyed my hair purple/blue again - my mum thinks I do it to annoy her. I don't...but I have to admit it keeps me on my toes. Having blue hair in Virginia Water means that you get away with nothing and the suspicion of all falls on your shoulders.


If I don't get to a computer I guess I will be out of touch for a few days. Please pray for me that armed with my reading about Christian Socialism and liberation theology I don't try to single handedly start the revolution from the hight street Virginia Water. Unlikely though that sounds if one of those great big Mercedes cars comes too near me in my 'ickle Peugeot and doesn't indicate I may lose my temper and call the workers to revolt. Wish me luck.