Date: 08 January 2006 15:37:03
During coffee after church today I fixed up a time for the rector to visit, and he asked me how I'd found the church so far (I've been there 4 Sundays now, I think, plus Midnight Mass at Christmas) - was it welcoming enough, was it too in-my-face welcoming, that kind of stuff. I told him how I'd really appreciated people being so friendly without being in my face and not rushing to sign me up to everything going, he agreed that was a good thing and then he wandered off to chat with someone else. No sooner had he gone than a lady picked up my empty cup and asked me if I wanted to join the coffee rota. I thought that was really funny, I must remember to tell him.
When we were shaking hands with the clergy at the end of the service the rector was the first in the line and said that we should fix up a time to meet. The curate (who was next) overheard, and said that the rector always manages to get in first and she'd wanted to meet up with me too but didn't want to overwhelm me. As she's (I think) pretty near my age I really really wanted to meet up with her and start making more friends my own age in the church (the majority of people in the church are elderly), and I said I didn't mind in the slightest if they both came. After I'd sorted out a time with the rector (and after I'd been invited to join the coffee rota) she (the curate) suggested I come round for supper some time, all the time almost apologising for it being too much offputting in-my-face clergy. All this apologising got me thinking about how terribly polite we Brits are - what I wanted to say in reply was "no, really, I really do want to come to supper and get to know you better so I can start making good friends up here and feeling less homesick and building up more of a life and I'm really really pleased you asked and and and ..." What I said was "thank you, that would be lovely". How terribly British.
In other news, I've just finished decorating the bedroom, which is now Pale Green, and looking really good though I say so myself. I'll sleep on the sofa tonight as the smell of paint in the bedroom is still a bit much, but I'm really pleased that the flat seems to be coming together now and looking more "me". And the nudies are now up in the hall and looking lovely.
PS Hello Burkina Faso!