The vicar has been down with a certain bug and so has very kindly shared it with me thus the reason for my absence. I continue to feel rotten as I am not able to sleep due to the persistent cough. I am just so so tired of coughing!
However, I am in a better position than him since I am able to rest at home while the vicar has to zoom about with funerals, weddings etc. Quite frankly, I don’t think anyone cares to even enquire after him. Thankfully, he is at the tail end of the bug while mine has just started.
I hope you will understand if I lie low for a while until I feel a bit better. I am hoping that normal service will resume on Monday but I am going to take each day as it comes.
Oh by the way, on this day many yonks ago, we got engaged!!!!
It is hard to believe that we are already in the middle of the year. How time flies!
It would be an understatement to say that the last six months in the vicarage have been difficult. So many things have happened. The hardest (after my beloved father’s translation to glory) has been the ongoing drama concerning the vicar. It has been going on for a few years now but things have come to a head in the last one year. I would have loved to write about it here earlier but I couldn’t summon the courage.
Some of you familiar with the Church of England would have heard the term clergy bullying which the vicar finds himself in. I have heard and read about clergy bullying but didn’t expect it to happen to us. In fact clergy bullying came up in February’s General synod. Many vicars in the CofE are being subjected to bullying. Can you believe that?
My main reason for highlighting this in my post is if any of you are vicars/spouses or know of any CofE vicar, please please urge them to the join the Church of England’s union called CEECA. They are part of Unite the trade union.
The vicar has received trememdous support from them. I am saddened to say that Bishops in the CofE are no longer able to provide pastoral support and that is why so many are having to turn to CEECA for pastoral and advocate support. The membership is about £17.00 per month but I assure you that it is worth every penny because even if you never need their support you will be helping other clergy who need them. In fact that is why I persuaded the vicar to join CEECA so that we can help other clergy indirectly but now we find ourselves to be the ones needing their help!
Several months ago, the vicar came home one day after conducting a funeral service in church and made this grand announcement of a new baby in the village. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to give me any more information. He wasn’t even sure who told him that and if the baby was a boy or a girl!!!!!!
How do you have your tea? I have it black but recently there has been a brew ha ha over someone’s claim that they add salt to their tea! Apparently, it reduces the bitterness in the tea. I didn’t know that tea tastes bitter but I suppose each to his own.
First let me start with a shocking piece of news. I didn’t bother putting up Christmas decorations this year not even a wreath! I couldn’t bear to open up the box that contains all our decorations. Instead, I bought some fairy lights from Ocado and set them up near the windows that were visible from the outside!
I was feeling very sad leading up to Christmas. A really good cry in the shower on the eve of Christmas eve helped!
Since Christmas eve was a Sunday, we had ALL the usual services PLUS the crib services and the midnight mass. I didn’t go to the midnight mass but waited up for the vicar. I don’t like being on my own in the dark but was doing quite well until all our security lights started blazing! Funnily, it was precisely at this time that I got reminded of a newspaper article which suggested that vicarages tended to get burgled on either Christmas eve or Christmas Day as the burglars know that the vicar and his family will not be home! I did what I usually do, go room by room and investigate and found nothing. Thankfully!
The vicar came back just after 1am and it was almost 2am before we went to bed. It was a very early start the next morning for the Christmas service. I was walking around like a bear with a sore head. The plan was to have our Christmas meal at lunchtime and then for the vicar to catch up on his sleep. But do things always go according to plan? No! The vicar asked if we could have our meal in the evening as he had to go to the hospital after the services.
We had toast for lunch and had our Christmas meal in the evening. I did a repeat of our anniversary meal and it went down very well. The fillet steak was just lovely. Instead of the homemade chocolate cake for dessert, we had a shop bought dessert. Dark Chocolate and Salted Caramel mousse for the vicar while I had a dairy free dark chocolate mousse. Both were from Gu via Ocado.
I seem to have gotten up on the wrong side of bed today as I am was a little grouchy. You see it is supposed to be the vicar’s day off today but……
As I type this he is out on official business! The phone has been ringing non stop with one emergency after another so there goes his day off. Today was supposed to be in lieu of his usual day off because the same happened on his actual day off! Anyway, I think another reason for my grouchiness is that it is accumulated irritation as this is what happens all the time throughout the year!!!
Anyway, the plan was to have a biggish lunch today and so I went ahead with my plan. I cooked meatballs with gravy and it was a success which means that the grouchiness has now disappeared (thankfully!).
I made this to my own recipe so if you are interested, here it is…..
Ingredients (*I used organic ingredients but feel free to use what suits you)
Serves 2/3
Meatballs
400g mince meat
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 celery
2 small carrots
A splash of kikkoman soy sauce
Two tbsp of oil for frying
Salt to Taste
Gravy
1 small onion, sliced
A splash of red wine
200ml of beef stock
2 tsp plain flour
Method
1. To make the meatballs, mince the onion, celery and garlic. I used a food processor.
2. Put the mince meat, salt and soy sauce in a bowl.
3. Add the chopped vegetables etc to the mince meat and mix them all together.
4. Shape the mince meat into 16 small balls.
5. Heat oil and fry the meatballs until they are brown. Remove from heat and put them in an ovenproof tray.
6. Heat the oven to 200c and finish off cooking the meatballs in the oven. They should be ready in 15 minutes. Once cooked, turn off the oven and keep the meatballs warm in the oven.
7. Fry the onions in the same pan that you fried your meatballs in.
8. Once the onions are soft , add the flour and stir.
9. Add a splash of red wine and glaze the pan.
10. Add the beef stock and bring to boil.
11. Reduce heat and remove from heat once the gravy thickens.
12. Serve.
I like to serve my meatballs on a warm plate with the gravy on the side, non dairy creamy mash and steamed french beans.
It was only when I had turned to check the time that I had realised that I had dozed off the moment my head hit the pillow – it rarely happens! The time was 10.57pm. Just as I was getting myself comfortable to doze off again the power went off!
Power cuts in the summer don’t last for very long. They usually come back on within minutes. Just then the vicar turned. I mumbled that there was a power cut only for me to realise that he was snoring gently!
The whole room went pitch black which made me feel claustrophobic. I shut my eyes tightly and went to bed. I woke up on hour later and realised that the power was still off. I needed the loo but decided to hang on for a bit as it would be pitch black outside the room too.
The next time I woke up it was about 3am and the power was still off. I needed the loo super urgently so used my mobile phone light to guide me to the loo. I always have my wee torch by the bedside but couldn’t find it when I needed it!
We had friends coming for lunch the next day and I was starting to fret. What if the power doesn’t come back on by the morning? I won’t be able to cook the quiche…. all the food in the freezer will begin to thaw… blah blah blah…
I only nodded off again after the power came back on at about 5am!
When we woke up for good, the vicar told me after checking his mobile phone that we had a powercut! He had received a message from the power restorers!
The good news is that we had a lovely time with our friends. That evening the power went off again!
Last Friday, I baked a simple banana cake. This was not part of my plan for that day but seeing the Mhinisteir come back exhausted both physically and emotionally from his third funeral of the week prompted me to bake one. The wet and cold weather was another great reason to start baking. I found a lone banana in our freezer drawer and swung into action.
Just as I was measuring the ingredients and laying them out, I realised that the sieve was in the dishwasher while remaining unwashed. I was too lazy to wash it by hand but I needed to sieve the flour. Will I be able to get away without sieving the flour? As I was thinking, I had a brainwave – to use the colander! I had never used the colander for this purpose but decided to use it anyway. Forty five minutes later, I had this soft banana cake that not only smelt amazing but tasted wonderful too. The Mhinisteir and I enjoyed a slice each with a hot cup of tea while watching the rain batter the vicarage windows.
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!!!!!
“Miss JV was asking after you and specifically told me to tell you that she had to put down her cat” said the Mhinisteir two Sundays ago. He had just come through the door . I had to miss church that Sunday due to ill health.
I forgot all about Miss JV and her cat until Thursday last week when I decided to give her a wee ring. The phone rang for a very long time. Just as I was about to ring off, a quite hello came on the other side.
It was Miss JV. I told her how sorry I was to hear about her cat. What she said next put the fear of God in me!. She said “I can’t believe you have rang me at precisely this time because it was exactly at this time six weeks ago that I had to put the cat down”. Miss JV was very grateful that I rang to enquire about her well being. She said I was too kind but I see it as my duty as a vicar’s wife to empathise and sympathise.
She also has a pet tortoise that is 52 years old! She was concerned that there will be no one to look after it upon her translation. At that point I almost volunteered to look after it! I am so relieved that I didn’t allow my emotions to get the better of me! The Mhinisteir was even more relieved when I told him about it!
Secret Diary Of A Church of England Vicar's Wife 