Stuff is OK

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 25 March 2007 23:18:02

Many thanks to everybody who has contacted me and offered prayers for my mother. It's been a few days since I last updated the blog and things have been moving in a very encouraging direction. I went to see her on Wednesday to find her wired up to all manner of machinery, and conversation was difficult due to the full face oxygen mask she was wearing. As the week has gone on, things have improved. She's now out of bed and disconnected from the machinery. Tina & I went in today and she was very chirpy. When we arrived, she was tucking in to a plate of roast beef and seemed to be enjoying it. She's not had a cigarette since Tuesday and is looking and sounding better than she has done for several months. I think there may be something related here.

On the subject of cigarettes, I'm trying to quit. I went to see my GP a couple of weeks ago for a check up. Everything was fine, but he said "You're in good health at the moment, but there has been heart disease in your family and your Father died young, so you really ought to treat this as a priority"

He's given me some nicotine gum which seems to be doing the trick. I haven't totally quit yet, but I'm very proud of myself that I only smoked 2 cigarettes yesterday and (so far) have only had one today.

In other news, yesterday I went on the Walk of Witness to commemorate to bicentenery of the abolition of slavery. I'd like to say I enjoyed it - in fact, this is usually the sort of thing I really enjoy, but sadly the weather was so bollock freezing cold, I really wished I was at home, or even better, in a nice warm pub with some fine ale and a pack of cigarettes. (Yes, I know, I'm supposed to have quit, but that's how I was feeling)

Anyway, I took some photos to show that I was there

We arrived late, so we met the procession after it had set off so met them all coming towards us.


We merged in quite nicely. Our Vicar was quite concerned that she'd be spotted arriving late. We all assured her that nobody would notice, but the Bishop spotted us arriving. He was there, dressed in purple cassock (as were the other bishops present, and inexplicably carrying his suit in a plastic carrier bag.

As I said, we merged in with the procession and were about this far back


We were far enough forward to see just how many people were taking part in the procession. Here are the people who were behind us


So, as you can see, there were quite a lot of us.

So we walked from Clapham to Kennington. It was cold. During the walk, I ran into Fr Tony who is the man in charge of the Vocations Roadshows that I have been involved with over the last few years. Tony is a very laid back West Indian guy. When I asked him how he was, he replied "I'm cool". When I nodded, he went on "No, you don't get it. I'm cool. I'm too bloody cool. Why the Hell couldn't we have done this in August?"

Well, we arrived at Kennington Park where the main act of worship was taking place. It was still bloody cold.

Once we arrived at Kennington Park, it was still cold. There seemed to be an unfeasibly large number of bishops in attendance, including shipmate Pete173 who posts on Ship Of Fools while masquerading as the Bishop of Willesden. He complained about the cold, stating that he couldn't stand it much longer. About 5 minutes later, I saw him making a bid for freedom. (It's not easy to escape discreetly while weraing a purple cassock). Anyway, I don't believe he's a real bishop 'cos his cassock is a really peculiar shade of purple. On the other hand, he drinks Real Ale, so he's just the sort of man we need in the Church of England.

I didn't get any pictures of the four Archbishops who were present (Canterbury, York, West Africa and the West Indies) but take my word for it, they all looked bloody cold! I did get some other pics though.

Here's a general view of the stage from where we were standing


The Vicar pretends she isn't cold. So does the bloke standing next to her. In the background are some more people pretending not to be cold.


And finally, here is one of Tina and Me pretending not to be cold


This is an extremely rare shot indeed as Tina doesn't have her eyes shut! Praise the Lord!!!