Monday, December 28, 2009
Oh no we didn't!
(backposting) Oh yes, we did: go to the pantomime, that is. It was Beauty and the Beast, at Loughborough Town Hall, and was quite a hoot. All the standard lines, well-acted, and with people who could sing, which is an improvement on many that you go to. It really was fun, and the girls both loved it.Afterwards, we packed, had supper and headed home. Tears from Jo, of course, but we got her to sleep pretty quickly, and I drove home through the fog. In the end, there wasn't too much of it, but there were a few sections where I wasn't going to make anything near 40mph, let alone the national speed limit.
And then home.
Labels: home
Monday, November 16, 2009
Not in Finland
(backposting) Was supposed to be flying to Finland today with Finnair, but their pilots are on strike, so they cancelled the flight, which, on balance, is probably a good thing. So, worked from home. Got lots more done, submitted my expenses, and booked flights for tomorrow. Glad to get a little more time with the girls.Labels: home
Monday, October 12, 2009
Home improvement
(backposting) This home improvement is not, all will be pleased to hear, being attempted by me. But we decided a few months ago that the whole "struggling to keep much of the house above freezing in the winter, as our heaters are very inefficient/don't work at all" was too much, particularly with the girls. So, we ordered some radiators, booked the fitting for this week, and basically set aside 5 days.Well, Kevin and his two guys turned up today, had all of the old ones in the skip by lunchtime, and had most of the new ones fitted by 1700. They didn't get it all done today, but it was pretty close, and we were able to turn them on immediately. Moo and I just kept wandering around the house muttering "but it's so warm" to ourselves. Bizarre. And although we'll be able to keep it warmer, we also know that it's going to be cheaper. We're getting insulation in the loft, repairing the windows at the front of the house (at least one of which we know hasn't shut properly since the 1950s), and getting some secondary glazing done over the next weeks and months, too, so it's going to feel like a different house altogether.
Labels: home
Monday, September 28, 2009
Preaching and driving
(backposting) So, the sermon. I'd done some more work on it last night, and written some notes. It went OK, but I find it more difficult to create a good narrative when I've got too many notes, and I'd let my nervousness get to me, which had encouraged me to write more notes than I'd intended. I'm also currently in a place where I'm trying to develop my sermon-writing, and need to move to a stage where I'm a little more confident in the things I'm learning. It's all good stuff, but it'll take a while.We headed home after the girls' supper. I was hoping for 3.5-4 hours max, but it was more like 5. Moo took the latter stages, which was very helpful. More friends and family needing prayers. My capacity for prayer is being stretched, but God is providing.
Monday, September 07, 2009
More school
How tired is Jojo? Very, very tired. And she's only doing afternoons at the moment. But she's enjoying it very much, and getting good at "b" words. That's words with the letter b featuring in them, and the reading thereof.Not feeling great today, and although I drove all the way to Witham station, I got out of the car, walked 20 metres, turned back and drove home (and got the parking fee back). Headache, gout, feeling not good. But got lots of work done, which is something.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
And ... home
(backposting) And I slept for around 4 and half hours on the flight - maybe more. This made a huge difference, and I didn't do at all badly during the day, though I had a few minutes over lunchtime, I was pretty much OK all day.It was so, so brilliant to see Moo and the girls, and as I called ahead a few minutes before I arrived, they were waiting, waving from the sitting room window. I got home in time for late breakfast, and then we played on the new Wii Fit (lots of fun, and the girls can manage some of it), and then we headed off to a café for coffee, cake, some shopping and some time out.
During the afternoon, I had to attend a wedding in order to prepare for my very first (as celebrant/president), next Saturday, and the preparation for it, which I did after it.
But I was back in time for the girls' bedtime, and a proper introduction to the Wii Fit from Moo. She wept with laughter at my attempts to do the "Hula" game. I can't blame her.
Labels: girls, home, wedding, wii
Monday, March 02, 2009
Pleased to see...
(backposting) The girls to see us, and we to see the girls. They'd had a lovely time with Kate and Mac, and they (Kate and Mac) survived. Moo took them out to an indoor play centre in the afternoon, and I had a sleep (after a bad night last night). We left them after supper, and drove the girls home: they both woke up on our arrival, but it didn't take long for them to drift off again.Monday, February 16, 2009
Roof-leaks be gone
So, I spent part of my lunch-hour on the roof, re-flashing it with flashing tape and primer. It's always leaked from time to time, particularly after snow or very heavy rain, but it's been getting worse, which isn't good. The house is old, but it's not good, and, what's more, my mum's coming to stay tomorrow, and the spare room is one of the leaky ones, so..,Labels: home
Friday, January 30, 2009
And back home again
Watched Body of Lies on the plane: it's OK, but a little obvious. Got in OK, having got some sleep during the flight, and ended up not sleeping in the car on the way back (and no, I wasn't driving). Both girls were very, very pleased to see me, as I was them - and Moo, of course. We took them to an indoor play centre in the afternoon, and it was lovely to have some family time for a change.All though I'm pleased to be home, and pleased to be with Moo and the girls, I'm most pleased that I can take some of the burden off Moo's shoulders: she's had a terrible week, and just needs someone else around.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Taking leave of friends
I finished off most of the work I'd planned to do, and had a - at times heated - wrap-up meeting. It was then time to bid goodbye to colleagues and friends that I've got to know over the past two - nearly three - years, with nary a clue as to whether I'll ever see them again. Quite a few of us will certainly keep in touch, but it's quite possible that I'll never come over to Toronto again on business, even if we do get taken over by Verisign, and they decide to keep me. It's very odd, and rather unsettling. There are quite a few people I'll really miss if that's the case.I'm currently sitting in the Air Canada lounge, bringing my blog entries up-to-date, and wishing that I'd been around to help Moo, who's had a terrible week of it: the girls have been ill, she's had little sleep, and her work has been, well, difficult. I'll be back tomorrow, and hope to pick up some of the slack.
Labels: family, home, travel, work
Saturday, January 17, 2009
And back home again
The residential was supposed to last through till Sunday, but it's my nephew Frankie's baptism tomorrow, and I decided to come home first, and then drive over tomorrow morning. Made a new friend on the course, I think: Will, who wasn't at our pre-ordination retreat. From a very different tradition, but an interesting guy, and we had some interesting chats.I also finished Catholicism by Jean de Lubac, about which I've posted previously. I very much enjoyed parts of it, and I'm happy to accept his general views on Catholicism, but not the low-level premise that the Roman Catholic Church is the sole guardian of the Catholic Faith and the true Body of Christ. Learnt a new word, as well: "circumincession", which seems basically to be the same as "perichoresis", but in Greek.
Labels: catholicism, diaconate, home
Friday, November 14, 2008
And home (alone)
Well, the girls won't be back until tomorrow, but I got home around 0845, having got into Gatwick at 0630, pretty much dead on time. I got some more sleep in the morning, and struggled to keep my eyes open in the afternoon. Luckily, I had lots of work to do, so that kept me awake.Looking forward to seeing the girls tomorrow. Wonder how long I'll manage to stay up tonight.
Need to talk about the death penalty soon. It's come up in two contexts, and I'm vehemently opposed to it: I'm worried that the question of whether it should be available seems to be creeping back into the public sphere.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Back into routine
(backposting) Jo to ballet, shopping in Freeport (some boots for Moo), lunch, playing in the garden because it was lovely. And we let the kittens out for the first time, as they're now up on their vaccinations. Back home. Great.Friday, October 10, 2008
Packing and God
Yup, because it's time to go home!On another note completely, I had some very kind responses to my post Where's God? the other day. The more I think about it, the less I'm concerned. I think that part of my faith is a waiting, and as long as I'm quietly faithful - and, believe me, saying the daily offices regularly _really_ helps me on this one - I don't worry. God's there, and I can feel His presence in the undercurrent, if you will, and it'll only be a matter of time before I can wade in again and let myself flow with Him.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Back home
(backposting) We were heading home and decided to pop via Snape Maltings to have some coffee and cake. Clearly the café was closed. But we noticed that they have apartments for sale. We'd like one. They're rather out of our price range.Friday, December 28, 2007
Home again
(backposting) Well, we packed everyone up - Moo in the back with the girls again - and headed off mid-morning. We stopped (thank you, Little Chef). A fair amount of sleeping on the back seat, which was pretty much the idea.A little catch-up on Miri. Over the past few days, Miri has learnt lots of new things, including:
- how to walk forward when she's being held up
- how to to pull herself up to standing more confidently
- how to say "Mamamama": even in context a couple of times
- how to say "woof" when presented with a dog toy
- how to move back to sitting from crawling position
- how to crawl forwards (usually only one step, though!)
- how to tell us when she's hungry (she says "nyum, nyum")
Friday, December 07, 2007
Flying home
Ryanair - I'm not convinced. But I got home OK, which I was pleased about, obviously. Both Jo and Miri were both very pleased to see me, which really made my day, particularly as I'd been pretty miserable this morning: just a bit home-sick.Miri's looking older _again_: I think it's the hair, which is growing quickly.
Got home to discover that Kate and Mac's computer isn't working. Sounds like a powersurge has wiped the ADSL router's memory. We've decided to pop up tomorrow and I'll see if I can fix it.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Tidying, cleaning, preparation
(backposting) That's what today was about, basically. Mum and Dad took Jo out for coffee and cake, Miri had a sleep, and we tidied, I stacked the logs, took the bottles to the bottle bank, etc.. Kate and Mac arrived after lunch, and later, so did James, Alex and their two girls Jemma and Alice.Jo and Jemma got on well when they met in Cornwall in September, but none of us had any idea how well they'd get on today. They had a lovely time, running around, playing together and the rest. Poll and Lee arrived a little later, after a bit of a frantic trip to Halstead by me and my mum for passport forms, and some IT help for Dad (aaargh!). Poll and Lee headed off to supper and left the rest of us to a lovely chicken casserole from Kate. To bed, with Miri in our bed. Not as much sleep as we'd like.
Friday, November 16, 2007
And home...
(backposting) Got home around 1100, having had a bit of a sleep on the plane, and in the car on the way back (always worth mentioning that I wasn't doing the driving). Really felt OK, and got a fair amount of work done in the afternoon.I'd bought quite a few presents, and Jo's new coat, in particular, went down very well indeed.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Going home
In an hour and a half's time, or so, I'll be getting on a plane to go home. I've accrued enough air miles that I'm able to upgrade to "Executive First", so I'll get a good seat and a chance to sleep, which is good. I'm ready for home, I really am.I've bought lots of presents for the girls (including Moo): just one of those trips (and the Canadian dollar's very weak at the moment, which helps).
Did some coding today. It's been a while. Nice to have the chance: I'm working on a PoC (Proof of Concept) for an idea I had this week.
Enough. Home soon.
Labels: geekery, home, sleep, travel, work
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Burn them! Burn them!
(backposting) We lit the fire for the first time this season: it's suddenly gone cold. Turned on a couple of the night storage heaters, too. Brrr!Work's _so_ busy all of a sudden: it's like people have finally worked out it's not holiday season any more, and have got their backsides in gear. Maybe that's connected to the change in temperature...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
More sales training, then home
Another day of training: it was useful. A long trip back home round the M25, and it was slow, but at least moving. Tired tonight.Saturday, August 25, 2007
Back home
(backposting) At last. After a long hard week, some final discussions about worship over the week and a final Eucharist - to which we decided that Moo, Jo and Miri really couldn't make it - I drove home, had half an hour with the girls, and then took Jo to pick up Buster. It was so lovely to see everyone, and great to be home.Saturday, May 19, 2007
And really home, and Buster, and Meg
(backposting) We headed home in the morning, and had a pretty good drive home - Miri slept all the way. Meg's home, but not well at all, and although she's not eating, she's tolerating being given food via a syringe. We'll be taking her back to the vet's on Monday to see what's next.Buster, on the other hand, is very well, and pleased to see us all. We suspected that he might play up a bit, but he really hasn't.
There was a message on the voicemail saying that I'm expected at a deanery evensong tomorrow night, to talk to people at vocation. This is terrible, terrible timing, as it's over Jo's bedtime, and as Jo's just not sleeping for long periods, that means that Moo will have to juggle them both. There was little getting out of it, and as Moo's likely to need to have to do this at some point next week anyway, she very kindly told me to do it.
Spent some time on SecondLife tonight with Lee, who seems to be big into it, and to have plans for making money.
Labels: buster, home, meg, vocation
Friday, February 09, 2007
Home
I've got:- no voice. At all
- lots of give-aways from the show which I've distributed between the 3 of us. One of the exhibitors had a bin into which you could dump give-aways that you didn't want, and which they'd donate to needy children (with some money on top)
- a sore throat (see above)
- lots of snot
- plaudits from colleagues for my booth hosting
- permission to take Moo out for a seriously good meal on the company as a thank you
- some good books to read
- some badges and bracelet things (you know, like the "make poverty history" ones) in rainbow colours
- some fun presents for Moo for our engagement anniversary (14 years)
- a personal assessment to write...
Labels: home
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Back home again
(backposting) So, only four hours of sleep, and I had to miss the first session of the day. I really needed some help with last night: Helen listened, let me cry, all the rest. I need to be honest with the blog, where possible, and the need for cry was really about powerlessness: about not being able to help and fix things.Helen has suggested that when I'm ordained - I'm too busy now - I get some counselling training. Knowing how to deal with issues when the arise, knowing what's possible and what isn't, and also how to deal with the effects on me, too: that sort of thing. Over the years, I've found myself performing this sort of role with a variety of people, and having some sort of training in it would make a lot of sense, so I welcome Helen's wisdom.
A very good service - communion, as always - then lunch and home. Back a bit before Moo and Jo - who's still very coughy. Got a nice one developing myself, actually.
Labels: counselling, ERMC, home
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Back home
It's lovely to be back. A pretty good journey home, and in the afternoon, our friend Leo came to see us. She's a pretty big time grown-up EU lawyer, and isn't over in the UK very often - in the end she only managed to get over for a little over an hour, but it was fantastic to see her.I've still got an essay to write. For the 5th. It needs to be on Church History, and I've chosen the following:
- Analyse and discuss the relationship of Christianity and one other faith during the period studied and any impact of this today.
"I'll do Islam". Well, you know what I mean...
Prayers for Sally's son Chris, who's in hospital.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Back home - just
(backposting) A very good meeting in Zurich, which should lead to some good work. Again, only just got home. Heathrow was pretty much closed, but they still seemed to be flying to London City airport. Well, they would have been if the Swiss (International Air Lines) plane I was on hadn't lost one of its landing lights on the way to take-off, thereby needing it to be taxied back to maintenance, have said landing light replaced, and then take off 30 minutes late. At least it was only 30 minutes.Got home to discover that Jo had gone down easily, but that Moo was still suffering really badly from a nasty cold. As she's pregnant, pretty much the only thing she can take for it is paracetamol, which doesn't help much. I ended up sleeping in the spare room, as I don't have the heart to wake her for snoring, since she's pregnant. I'm a real softy, me.
Labels: flying, home, Jo, meeting, Moo
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Not yet
This is Jo's latest, and I'm not sure why it's so affecting. Maybe it's the way she says it, and maybe it's the awareness of time she shows - at the same time as a complete disinterest in our terms of reference (and why should she have an interest in them?). Have you finished your milk? Not yet. Do you want a wee? Not yet. You get the message.This morning, there was a frost, and Jo asked Moo, out of the blue, whether the white stuff was snow. She saw snow last year, but she can't remember it. I talked about it a couple of days ago, but I'd have put it in the "so abstract I'll be surprised if she remembers what it is when we actually see it" category. Children are monstrously amazing. Just beyond the intellect.
I love my daughter, however awkward, manipulative and downright annoying she can be. And she can. But she cuddles me, and we've agreed to talk while I'm in Canada ("Canda") next week.
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