a blog by howard jameson @ gatheringgrace.org

Doing a lot of work for charity...

...but we don't like to talk about it.

Great night in, although we were out. We were in Church for our Children in Need Joint Youth Clubs Talent Show - and boy did we see some talent. Awesome guys - I think we raised a couple of hundred to send in, which seems to be more than many of the people being interviewed by Wogan and co.

I am just a simple Rural Parson (ha ha)

I know some like being thought of as a simple Rural Parson (in the rose-tinted George Herbert sense - have you actually been to Bemerton?), but it doesn't do it for me in the least. Having said that, though, I like the countryside and I do rather like villages - so am happy to look after two quite small ones.

I was in one this morning for a catch up with some folk and they introduced me to some old friends from Australia who were staying.

I left to go and see if I could catch up with somebody else before my working lunch, only to meet them at the bottom of the drive - walking along towing a pony with their lovely little girl on top. It was good to chat, but before long the cameras were out catching the scene for posterity, and I am convinced the Aussies will be going back telling their friends about the charming life back in Blighty...

...oh no! this is giving entirely the wrong impression!

Dedicated to the one I love...

...or rather, dedicated to the rather large and grumpy van driver who didn't give way as I ran along the lanes in the wet!

Does anybody make a T-shirt that says...on the front

Hope I'm not in your way
as I run along this lane...

and then on the back

...but I'm hoping not to be in your way
when you need a Hospital bed!

or is that a bit harsh?

Not too fussed about the material, cotton or one of those fancy new materials, and colours not an issue either.

Ray Mears Extreme Survival...

...the episode they didn't let you see.

Caught a bit of Ray as I had my lunch and he did something with termites. In order, therefore, to exact my revenge I have uncovered the script for the last ever episode.

Ray appears from behind a tree, followed by typical looking group of hunters.

"I have joined this secretive and reclusive tribe to look at some of the ways they survive in the barren and inhospitable terrain. In these conditions, once you have built your shelter next to the fire, the most important thing is to locate a good source of protein. These people do this by having reverted to cannibalism...

...no wait, please, no, you don't understand - I'm Ray Mears! The camera man looks a lot tastier than me! Aaaarghhh"

A sentence I used today...

...that I never imagined I would use.

"We're going to sing a song now that I learnt at the Clergy Residential"

Wow. The times they are a-changing...

Body clocks and real clocks

Trying to work this out, but I'm tired.

It is now 10:15pm in the UK. 24 hours ago we were in Greece and is was shortly after midnight. This time tomorrow we will be in the UK, but on GMT so it will be 9:15pm.

Can't even guess what time my brain thinks it is - best not try. 

Bradford on Avon - home of the random roadwork

I think would be a rather appropriate and honest tag line to the adverts and signs for our nearby market town. But they are not all random...

I've spent an inordinate amount of time sitting watching this particular view for the last 6 weeks...

 

Morning, noon, and as in this case, night.

Seems some men came along and dug a trench along one lane of the road and then disappeared on a 4 week lunch break.

Looks like the joke might bite me in the bottom

Its a Trowbridge thing, but we have been joking about having coffee at the Airsprung Beds Factory cafe, as advertised by a big banner (just as you get near the tip).

So lo and behold, would you Adam and Eve it, but a positive review here.

We might have to eat our hats to accompany our £2 Fish and Chips.

Keeping an eye on the Masons...

Slightly spooky moment this morning. Popped into town to collect some stuff from a hall (had the key to let myself in), but the other half of the building is used by the Masons...and their door was ajar...I stuck my head round to check whether it had been left unlocked by accident, called out 'hello', but no reply. I didn't want to go in any further.

So there was this room with a big table and a big portrait of a man and wood panelled walls, all sort of tidy and polished. Not sure whether I should really be publishing this in the public domain...there can't be any harm in it, surely...

...aaargh, no, no...the eyes, the eyes.....aaarrrghhhh!...the eyes....

Thinking cap urgently required

Doing Collective Worship at the Secondary School this week, which means five pretty much identical stints - by Saturday what I have to say is honed to virtual perfection.

The theme I have is Harvest, but not sure what I said last night is quite as transferrable as I had hoped - so need some inspiration...

...pretty quickly...

...like, er, now please.