That was the first question that I was asked when I stepped into church one Sunday in January. The person at the door and I both burst out laughing. I declined one but I saw that some of the parishioners were clinging on to one. Why? It is because that is how cold all of our rural churches are! There is heating but you don’t feel the heat because the churches are just too big to heat up. In the winter months, it is almost always warmer outside than it is in the church! I pity the Mhinisteir because on top of being so cold, he also breathes in all the cold air which does him no good. These cold churches are definitely an occupational hazard
One day last week, as I was listening to “farming today” on Radio 4, I heard the words pigs and lemsip in the same sentence. At this point I must add that I was drifting in and out of sleep. For those of of my dear readers who are not familiar with lemsip, it is a popular cold and flu remedy powder that is dissolved in a mug of hot water and consumed. I am not a fan of them!
Anyway, back to the pigs and lemsip. I was very interested to know why lemsip was being given to pigs and so decided to fight off my doziness and listened intently. I got very excited when the words pigs and lemsip were mentioned once again but just that this time it wasn’t pigs and lemsip. It was PIGS AND LANDSCAPE! Boy, was I disappointed?!!
On Wednesday, I learnt from the Times of London that the ABC is due to go off galivanting (again!). This time to South Sudan. It wasn’t very long ago that he was in Australia hugging cute Koala bears. Upon learning of his impending trip, I commented to the Mhinisteir that I have never heard of the ABC touring dioceses around the country – We certainly haven’t seen him this way! He appears to spend more time abroad than at home!
It has only been a month since Christmas but it feels like a distant memory.
The Mhinisteir had a “quiet” period workwise between Christmas and New Year but since the start of the year new problems have been coming out of the woodwork. I say new problems but they are really old ones disguised as ssomething brand new which is what infuriates me. I quite enjoyed the quiet period when I got the “old” Mhinisteir to myself.
There have been a lot of changes on the diocesan front which also makes his work difficult. The turnover has been quite phenomenal. Whenever someone new comes in, they have got a thousand and one ideas which they think will solve ALL the problems. No wonder they say new broom sweeps clean!
There are also other changes happening in the background which I’m afraid is not one for the blog. Maybe I might be able to touch on that some day.
In the meantime, I just have to remain supportive towards all that the Mhinisteir does which I confess is not always easy because I would definitely not be as patient as he is!!!!!
This is not the content I had in mind when I logged in this morning but when I saw a notification to say that I had published my 1000th post yesterday I decided to deviate!
I must confess that I was pretty embarrassed to receive that notification. Why? It felt like I am someone who have plenty to say because in real life I am the complete opposite!
After much reflection, I have decided that this is something to be proud of. My blog is about five and half years old so 1000 posts in that amount of time is not a lot. I do enjoy writing and so here is to another 1000 posts!!!!!
Since last May, I have picked up a new habit – to have a cup of tea first thing in the morning. I never used to drink tea until I became a vicar’s wife and that is only if we were visiting someone. I don’t drink coffee as it is too strong for my stomach. In case you are wondering what I drank in the morning…. it was just a cup of hot water!
Anyway, my new habit caused a desire in me to own a Teasmade. Teasmade is a machine that makes tea automatically. It used to be very popular in the olden days. It is roughly the size of a toaster and it is meant for the bedside table allowing one to have tea in bed first thing in the morning without having to leave one’s warm bed especially on cold winter months. Some of my older readers may know all about Teasmade. After much research, I placed an order for one with the monetary gift that I got for my birthday from my family. The Teasmade arrived last Wednesday, just two days after I had placed my order! I was delighted!
We had our first cup of tea the next day and it was bliss. It is very therapeutic listening to the water boil.. As Teasmade also comes with an alarm, we decided to set the alarm for the following morning. The next day, we had yet another cup of lovely tea courtesy of teasmade. I like the fact that the tea gets made first before the alarm goes off! We decided to set the alarm slightly earlier for Sunday but the tea wasn’t ready when we got up and the alarm hadn’t gone off either! Upon investigation, I discovered that I had set the alarm for half seven instead of seven! Thankfully there is a button that allows us to have a cuppa when we want it which is what we did.
I was initially very reluctant to purchase a Teasmade as I didn’t want to buy something which we would only use until the novelty wore off. However I am pleased to say that after using it every day, it has been an excellent purchase and I can see us using it for a very long time. I am also very pleased that we can use tea leaves which is my preferred option. Oh by the way, a netizen assumed that Teasmade has the ability to magically turn water into tea without the need for teabags/leaves!!!!!!
Before I start today’s journal, I would like to thank all those who got in touch after reading last Monday’s post to wish me better health. I am feeling much better but will continue to rest as much as possible for the next few weeks.
Now to today’s journal…..
After being resident in our current vicarage for several years, I’ve just discovered that we have a light in our pantry! The discovery was purely accidental. I had gone to the pantry to take something when I felt something brushing against my neck. I assumed it was a spider and so tried to hurriedly brush it away when I heard a sound. Whatever I was trying to brush away was banging against the pantry wall and when I looked up it was the little plastic light pull that was attached to the cord. I looked up and noticed a light bulb and quickly pulled the cord causing the whole pantry to be lit up!
On Wednesday morning, I woke up to a rude shock. Just as I turned on the radio at 5.20am, I heard the news that the Church of England had made an important decision on marriage. Really? I had only read in the newspapers the day before that the Bishops were meeting this week to make that decision and that a statement would be made today. I did wonder if I had misheard but no I hadn’t. Mmmm….
During the course of the day I discovered that somebody had leaked this information to the press! Who could it be? It had to be one of the Bishops because they were the only ones attending the meeting. Needless to say that since then there have been chaos around clergy and laity around the country.
Last week, we got a stern letter from the TV licensing unit to say that we had written to them to cancel our TV licence and to remind us of the penalty if we were caught watching TV without a licence.
However, what they failed to mention was that according to their website, we were owed a refund but they will not be refunding us as we were not able to produce the necessary documents required. We have a valid reason for not doing so because we do not own the vicarage and so were not able to produce the documents required which only homeowners possessed. It is unfair but that’s the way of the world these days.
Since the Christmas holidays, I have been waking up at 5.20am to turn on the radio. I am not sure how this came about. I don’t have an alarm or anything but I have been fairly successful. For years, we used to have the radio on all night but in recent years there was often a lot of shouting and screaming on the radio in the wee hours of the morning that began to disturb our sleep. Furthermore the Today programme was going downhill.
Why 5.20am? You may ask. That is because until 5.20am, every singple night, BBC Radio 4 is taken over by BBC World.
I love listening to the shipping forecast which gently lulls me back to sleep until it is time to wake up usually to the shouty voice of one of the Today presenters at which point I promply turn off the radio!
Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife 