Mike's musings

2009-11-08T21:06:00.002Z

Remembrance Services

I presided at a Remembrance Service at the 1000 today. It was a children-friendly family service - to which we're beginning to get more kids, I'm pleased to say - but worked rather well. Sally, my fellow curate, worked on the liturgy: she's excellent at it, and I had to point several people in her direction when they complimented me on the service.

In the afternoon, we had the Civic Remembrance Service, preceded by a service in the park at the WWII war memorial and parade up the town. There's something very special about walking in silence through the town, to led by pipers. Police stopped the traffic, and lots of people stopped what they were doing to watch. It was respectful and felt, well, just right.

Mark and Jen - who'd attended the service - came home for pancakes and to be mugged by the girls. Once they (the girls) were in bed, quick supper, and then a couple of hours' work. I'm now in a much better place, development-wise, and feeling much happier about deadlines generally.

Oh, and be humbled

Fantastic views of Hubble Ultra Deep Field. I'm never sure whether this sort of astonishing science makes me doubt my faith, or makes it stronger. But it certainly makes me humble.

2009-11-07T21:00:00.000Z

Going out to lunch - properly

(backposting) It's been a while since we went there, but we had lunch with the girls at Scutchers in Long Melford. It wasn't cheap (not helped by the fact that we bought some of their award-winning smoked salmon for Christmas), but what food. The girls did pretty well, and, for a really good restaurant, it's brilliantly child-friendly. I don't think we've visited for maybe 2 or more years, but they were pleased to have us back, and it was a great call.

Went round to see some friends in the afternoon, and went for a walk. We'd promised the girls that we'd go out in the evening to a see a bonfire and fireworks, and we were both 90% certain that they'd completely freak, and we'd have to head home early as soon as the bangs started. But they did really well. We stood a way back, but had a good view, and they loved all the colours, and even quite liked the noise. So, a real win.

Got home, worked. Things are very, very busy, and I need to get some bits and pieces completed as soon as possible.

2009-11-06T21:42:00.003Z

London

Yes, in London today. Then home. Interesting legal goings-on which I'm not allowed to talk about, and which don't impact us directly. Kristy and Paul moved house, Mel helped them. I didn't work till midnight, but on the other hand, I had a great revelation whilst putting the girls to bed which should reduce the amount of work that a particular issue will cause me by a great deal.

This is good.

It's hard, but I'm loving work at the moment.

2009-11-05T21:38:00.001Z

Late

(backposting) Worked till midnight. Then took 2 hours to get to sleep. Not perfect.

2009-11-04T22:58:00.003Z

What a day

Worked till 1030. Partly because things are very busy, partly because I had to take breaks during the day to: 1) let the electrician turn off all the power in order to finish off fitting the new radiators 2) deal with the fact that my main server died, loudly (*phzzzzzzzzzt* + ozone smell) when I turned it on, necessitating emergency DHCP procedures 3) pick up Jo from school, where she'd come down with severe stomach pains (fine by bedtime) 4) fail to have a haircut (see 3 above) 5) meet other members of the clergy and reader team for prayers, discussion and lunch (though I ended up using Sally's office for 45 minutes for a work call) 6) the realisation that I had a computer that I might be able to cannibalise for a new PSU, which just _might_ be all that had broken on my main server (and was). So, a busy day, and I'm not quite sure why I'm still awake. Time, in fact, for bed.

2009-11-03T22:51:00.000Z

Death

(backposting) About a month ago, the wife (Mo) of my incumbent (John) was diagnosed with aggressive liver and bowel cancer. It became clear a couple of weeks ago that the chemotherapy wasn't going to work, and they'd already ruled out surgery. Over the weekend, she'd moved into a hospice, and last night, around 1900, with John and her son at her bedside, she died in her sleep.

Mo was a vivacious, joy-filled woman who wouldn't let you get away with anything. She was challenging, and full of love, and was held in very high regard and affection within the parish. I've not been able to talk about her illness until now, really, as it's been a private affair, and I've known somewhat more about the progress of the disease than I've been able to share.

John has been brilliant, and the wider team and parish have supported him as best we can. I've been in London most of the day, but managed to pop in to see him, give him my love and assure him of my support this evening, before heading off to a supervision with Geoff, who's taken over the training role for the meantime.

The supervision was useful and interesting, and there was time for good reflection on some of the aspects of the Mo's illness and how it's affecting us all. A long day of honest work, crowned with the knowledge that I'll be able to make Mo's funeral, as I'm not in Finland next week.

2009-11-03T22:48:00.000Z

Frustration

(backposting) Not on my part, but on Jojo's. She's really got the hang of reading, and really wants to be getting books from school that will stretch her, but they don't seem to have picked up on this. She was sent back with yet another book that is almost insultingly easy for her to read: she goes through it once, and that's it. Not very interesting, not at all challenging. Luckily we've got lots of books at home she can read, and she's now reading books that we've been reading to her, and sometimes reading them, in fact, to Miri, which is lovely. She'll need some help with some words, of course - "caribou" was one today - but then again, Moo sometimes struggles with words like Caribou, and Jojo's not yet 5.

2009-11-01T21:19:00.002Z

Memorial service

I took a memorial service this evening. Several times a year we hold a service where those who have lost a loved one recently - or maybe a while ago, at that time of year, and Sally had prepared a new version of the service. It was a good liturgy, and I liked how she preached, too: about hope. It was an emotional service, with people coming up to leave a lit candle to be placed on that altar, with a note with the loved one's name on it. As in all these cases, there's a fine balance between being honest to emotion and allowing it to take over.

2009-10-30T21:10:00.002Z

Zombies in drag!

(backposting) Well, just one. That would be me. Amazing what the fantastic ladies at Age Concern in Halstead managed to drag up on a Saturday morning. Shoes, a dress, bra, fishnets, and a hat.

Moo insisted that cross-dressing wasn't spooky enough, but just deviant. So she forced me to make up as a zombie, too. The kids at the party were a bit confused. Not sure whether it was the dress or the cries of "Brains! Brains!". If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you'll find the picture easily enough. The come with warnings.

2009-10-30T12:44:00.002Z

Week in review

Well, yet again, I've done less development work than I'd planned, but on the other hand, we're still on track, and, more importantly, we've been scoping out options for further projects, which is rather fun. That's all going very well, and hopefully my boss (and his boss) are happy with how it's all gone.

It's not much fun being away from the girls, but on the plus side, I'm at home for the next two weeks, and I should see lots of them then. And I'm typing this in the airport, so I'll be on my way home soon, as well.

Notes to self for next trip:

pack swimming trunks (whatever happened to them?)
pack lots of warm things - it's going to be really quite cold by the next time I'm here
no need to pack the extra keyboard and mouse (lose some weight from my bag)
do we have a better suitcase that I can take?

2009-10-29T12:23:00.000Z

Getting cold out here

(backposting) ... I wanna put my clothes on (to misquote the song). The "(backposting)" doesn't really help with that, does it? Anyway, Finland is getting a bit chilly, and now that we're taking the train and walking from the station to the hotel, we're beginning to feel it. We went back to the "Sammi" restaurant where we dined on our first night in Finland. Another good meal, but we were sensible and didn't have a starter this time.

It's getting pretty cold, and the walk back to the hotel needed speed - to keep us warm - but adding that just made our ears colder.

2009-10-28T19:34:00.001Z

Bad news

A friend is very ill. She and her husband know where things are headed, and it's all understood, but it's hard, so prayers, please.

2009-10-27T19:04:00.001Z

Emmerdale

Who would have thought that Emmerdale would be viewed on Finnish TV? Well, it is: not dubbed, but subtitled. Bizarre, it really is.

I do love a good sauna, too, I really do.

2009-10-26T19:00:00.000Z

Finland, via hospital again

(backposting) This time, the trip was to see a friend and member of our congregation, who's been in hospital for quite a time, and is expecting to be there for quite a long time more. I took a detour on my way to Heathrow airport for another trip to Finland, and was very glad that I did. She really needed some TLC, and it was good to see her as a friend, too.

An OK journey to Finland - the usual work stuff.

2009-10-25T18:45:00.003Z

Emotion and service

(backposting) By service, I mean both types: what one does for other people, but also a religious service. I had quite a day today. I did my first BCP (Book of Common Prayer) Holy Communion at the 0800 at Halstead, which was great. John, my boss, was there, with some good advice afterwards, including noting the fact that I'd used one prayer which he'd only heard twice in 40 years!

The 1000 was very emotional, for a couple of reasons. First, we had someone from the organisation Samaritan's Purse, talking about their brilliant Operation Christmas Child. She showed pictures: sad pictures of children, but lots of hope. I was far from the only person there with tears in my eyes. And I just had one of those experiences during communion - specifically during the distribution - where I suddenly became aware of what a privilege it all is. I took the time, before the final hymn, to tell people what a blessing I felt serving them is.

The afternoon brought a trip to Colchester Hospital. Miri managed to pull her elbow out again, and we had a long wait before an examination during which we got it back in. She was very good about it all, poor thing.

And in the evening, I went to an ecumenical service held, this time, in the Roman Catholic Church in Halstead, with friends and colleagues from the Baptist, Methodist and Anglican churches in the town. I arrived late, and shuffled in somewhat embarrassed, but enjoyed the service and had a drink with David, the RC priest, in a pub afterwards. A good chat and natter, including some interesting discussions about theology and liturgy: similarities and differences.

2009-10-24T18:59:00.002+01:00

Indiscriminate Inclusivity

I urge you to read this post: Indiscriminate Inclusivity: Of Course by the Methodist minister Mark Sargent. As he points out, inclusivity can't be qualified. I'd say it's a bit like saying that someone's "a little bit pregnant": are you inclusive, or aren't you? I think that it's a badge were with pride.

Took the girls to the zoo today, and apart from the tears over the scary Hallowe'en "Forest", and the opening up of the lip on a tooth through hitting a metal bar on falling off a seat, it all went pretty well.

2009-10-23T21:10:00.002+01:00

Phew

Mainly because when I finished work at 1740, things were in a bad state. Things weren't running as expected, and I'd had to leave things far from fixed. But it was Moo's turn to put the girls to bed, and I spent 40 minutes or so sorting things out. And it's all much, much better now. It doesn't all work, but I hadn't expected it to yet.

They didn't come to sort out the final radiators today. Grrr.

2009-10-22T21:10:00.002+01:00

Prayers

The other day, on Twitter and Facebook, I requested prayer support for me so that I can offer more prayer support to others. Things are great for us at home at the moment: the girls are thriving (and beginning to sleep in better...), Moo's loving her job, I'm loving mine, we're all getting on brilliantly. So, it's not us that need the prayers. But I'm praying for lots of other people, for various reasons. So, please keep the prayers coming, but not all of the news is good. Thank you.

2009-10-21T21:08:00.002+01:00

Taking on more...

(backposting) Not much, and nothing worrying, but my boss has asked me to get a couple of up-coming projects moving along, which is very flattering. The only thing is that I've got quite a lot of development work to be doing at the same time on the main project I'm working on.

2009-10-20T21:06:00.002+01:00

In town

(backposting) You know: the big one with lots of railway stations and underground trains. That one. Good meetings, but spent several hours submitting nearly 3 grands' worth of expenses. Which got approved. Phew.

2009-10-19T21:11:00.003+01:00

Poor Miri

The little one's very, very tired today (not that Jo hasn't been, but she's been at school), and we've had lots of tears and clinginess. It's a sign of exactly how tired she really is that she went straight to sleep this evening after two separate naps during the day. I suspect she's got a little bug of some type, and hopefully she'll be better soon. But I'm going to take all the cuddles I can while she's like this!

2009-10-18T21:05:00.003+01:00

Good things, bad things

Good things, lots: church with the girls; moving the girls' beds around so that they're both in the same room, ready for decorating and the arrival of the bunkbed; taking the girls swimming; spending time with Moo; a lovely autumn day; cooking and eating pancakes.

Bad things, few: the main obvious one being tidying my office. I hate tidying.

2009-10-17T21:01:00.003+01:00

Tired, tired

(backposting) Well, yes, me. But mainly the girls. Jo had ballet - twice (practice plus an exam), and I took Miri shopping during the second excursion. I also had to take Danny, one of the cats, to the vet, but he was fine after all. Great, great tiredness from Miri and Jojo.

2009-10-16T20:57:00.003+01:00

A decision - and flights

(backposting) So, a decision was made. And I think, for the project, that it's the right one. It's not the one that I originally came up with, and I think that there was a suspicion that I - and maybe we, the company - might pressure very hard for the one that I/we came up with. But no: I think this works well, it's a good architectural compromise (they were all going to be compromises), and it works in terms of effort of the project.

I also booked flights for the week after next, and flew home. Remembered to call the girls and Moo before heading off, bu was back well after their bedtime. Good to be home.

2009-10-15T20:44:00.003+01:00

A new approach

(backposting) Had one of those, um, interesting conversations at breakfast with one of the folks from the customer and a colleague, and on the drive into the office, where a radically different approach to our major outstanding issue was presented. We spent some time on it, and then did the right thing: which was to run the numbers. And the numbers didn't work, so it was a no.

But it did force us to re-evaluate the options, and to come up with a couple of new ones. So then I wrote a discussion paper. We hope to make a decision tomorrow.