Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 February 2005 21:20:11
Hmm, funny old day today. Church was good (as usual) but I had the weirdest experience during communion. A certain person from SoF (who goes to the same church) and I were chatting the other day about how sometimes songs which we sing at church remind us of our previous churches as they were sung lots there (we both have interesting issues with our past churches!) and how this sometimes isn't the most positive experience (and how we really need to just Get Over It). Anyway today during communion the two songs that the worship group sung whilst people were going up to receive were both songs that I'd sung a lot in my past church, but this time I had an overwhelming feeling of remembering the good things rather than the less good. The first one in particular (Graham Kendrick's reworking of "Rock of Ages") I think symbolised for me the last of the good times - I actually really like the CD the song comes from ("What Grace") (apart from one song which always irritated me as it contains the words "but the wicked he'll destroy" to the most cheerful tra-la-la tune), and I know a number of people who sang on the CD so I suppose I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for it anyway, but it is actually really really good. It's got me thinking (as these things usually do) about how far I've come, but also some of the things I've left behind. I don't think I'd change anything, I'm glad I'm where I am now, but I guess it's another gentle reminder to me not to chuck out the baby with the bathwater.
Back from church, and I had every intention of doing my ESRC application. Of course, as I've only got another couple of weeks to get it to the university, and so realistically only have today and next weekend, that meant that the time was ripe for some procrastination. And, although of course I could have waited a couple of weeks before doing this, I just HAD to go this afternoon to Nunhead Cemetery (blogged about last summer - one of London's hidden gems just a few minutes from my house) to take some photos and play around with my new digital camera.
Fortunately the photography-fest was cut short by a. my batteries running out and b. it being ****** freezing. But before the batteries conked out I managed to produce a few photos here which give you a little peek into a wonderful other world. It'll be gorgeous in a few weeks - I saw some bulbs peeking through the undergrowth, so once the daffs are out there'll be a bit more colour.
Eventually I did get back and start work on the application. The uni had told me that I needed to rewrite my proposal to twice its length, but actually looking at the form they want 2 sides of A4 max (I'd nearly written 2 sides already) and also want a bit about how my proposed research reflects my current qualifications and experience as well as my intended career path. It's not clear from the guidance whether that bit is included in the 2 sides of A4 (if it is I'm in trouble as I could bang on for pages and pages about that!), so I've emailed both the uni and the ESRC themselves to ask for guidance. Talking of the Guidelines - after my panic yesterday, today as I was going through the website it seemed like every other link and every other page explicitly pointed to them, I can't believe I missed them yesterday - they're everywhere and very obvious! V. embarrassing.