Church Notices

For those of you not in the know, church notices are usually read out at the end of a service by the vicar, although recently I have seen them read at the start of the service, which I think is better. However, the person doing the reading generally apologises for the number of notices. I think this is like Camelot, the lottery company, apologising for the amount of money that you have won!

Notices are the life blood of the church, they show that the church is doing more than the usual Sunday service, that it is reaching out to the community, or to groups within the church, the youth, men, mom and toddlers etc;

So I say let's have more notices, let's celebrate what we are doing and report back on the successes and failures that happen.

And you are.....?

OK I have a confession to make. I have got away with it for years, but the time has come to reveal all. I really have a hard time remembering people's names; so for years have relied on mate, darling, sweetheart, my learned friend even, and if your name is Lucy or Alice, please note that part of my brain believes these two names are interchangeable. Therefore poor Lucy at Sunday School I have called Alice for weeks, or is it Alice I've called Lucy.

My friends two boys are called the Masters Prentice, which they seem to like, but this was because I couldn't remember Jack and Henry's names. Henry is the older one, isn't he?! and members of the clery are so helpful as you can just say vicar or rector and cover a multiple of sins!!!

However, Facebook has caused me problems. Recently many of the people I went to school with have been turning 40, which is strange as I am only 26, and this seems to have lead to more of us joining facebook and tracing our classmates down, but there are so many of them that I have no memory of at all. None, nought, nanda... even when they know the same stories as me and clearly went on the same trips.

So Jane Groom, Andrew Blower etc I apologise as my brain has washed you away, and you will never even reach the mate or darling phase. However the sound of tea from a pouring from a tea pot take me instantly back to my nan's house and Saturday afternoons and me sitting on the arm of an armchair listening to the soothing sound of the football results when my dad demanded complete silence, with the gas fire on high, even in the height of summer and wood pigeons in the trees. it's a funny old thing your brain.

Overwhelmed

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Life, on occasions, can seem like a huge list of tasks to get through and we seem to cram it full of stuff.

This weekend I had man flu and therefore didn't go out on Saturday at all, and it was lovely, and on Sunday I got as far as church and that was me for the day.

So what I'm saying is "Hey, everybody, it is ok to stop, and certainly ok to ask for help!"

Whether you play social city, cafe whatever or farmville, we are all busy asking for help and also waiting for things to come, whether that's someone else to send you bricks for a virtual stable or getting more friends so you can expand your city into a 23 x 23 grid, but we seem to find this harder to do in real life.

I am lucky enough to have some fantastic friends, but in my mad rushing around, I often forget them and do the Irene Cara Out Here on my Own Thing - they did it on Follow the Yellow Brick Dorothy on Saturday! You tube it if you have no clue of 80s culture!

So stop in the name of you! Have a duvet day. Throw a sickie, and just be you, you'll be amazed of how nice you are. And if you are overwhelmed and saw to your friends Hey 'm drowning here, you'll be amazed at how many of them offer to help.

Putting it all in perspective

I have a problem putting things into perspective. Part of my brain will make a problem much larger than it is and I'll be up all night or searching for the big carving knife. Living on the third floor doesn't help either. But then my sane voice kicks in and all is well again.
I'm lucky enough to have a friend with the same warped thinking ability and we often sit and calm each other down.

It's always better in the cold light of day, and after you've had a bit of a pause. I've tried to get into pausing this month. It's the stopping and doing nothnig thing, although some may saw that I prefected it years ago, but it is hard to stop and just clear your mind and stop thinking about work or the shopping or whatever.

Pausing is great for bringing clarity. It's a little charging of the batteries. Or as I have heard it put it's my time to look at God and for Him to look at me. (If you are that way inclided)

In this mad rushing world we do need to pause and put our priorities right. No one ever got to the end of their lives and thought if only I'd worked until 8.00pm every day instead of 7.

So pause, ring an old friend and savour a few chocolate, or a great cup of coffee. You'll be glad you did

All I Want for Christmas

Today I got caught short! That's to say I was standing on Euston Square platform with the knowledge that the coffee within me wanted to come out very quickly. So I rushed up to Euston station only to find that I had not got 30p in cash to use their facilities. (30p!!!) ((I know 30p!!!)

So I nipped across the road to Friend's House, thinking those Quakers may be quiet, but they may also have a loo! And they did and all was suddenly better. (I'm trying not to be too graphic for those of a nervous bent)

Around the same time I received a text from my sister asking what I wanted for Christmas, and pre-Friends House, it was that I would have loved a free pop-up toilet to use! So I started to think about the simple things in life.

I remember going on an evening with the Scouts when I was about 12, I think I lasted about 4 weeks, and those that know me really well will know I was in the Brownies for a fortnight!!! As a hayfever sufferer I was generally snotty nosed, but we went for a BBQ in some woods and it must have been the season for the pollen my nose likes the least and it became sniff city for my nose. I searched for tissue or hanky to no avail and had to sniff for hours, finally racing home and delving my nose into a handful of Andrex to relieve the stress.

So two examples of when the simple things in life were what I really needed, so I'm going to text my sister back and say what I'd really like is a bit more time with her, we see each other not very often, you see. What I really like is the kind of chat we used to have as kids. I don't need anything glittery (I am gay, so have all the glitter a boy needs) what I really need is some quality time with my big sister.

I hope you can look beyond the gloss of Christmas and find the wood. Maybe what you really need is some time with friends that you have been too busy to see this year, or maybe you just need someone else to do the ironing! Simple can be best.

Get it up

I admit I like to get it up as early as I can! It might need dusting down after spending so long in the cupboard, but I say get it up and put it near a window if you can.

Yes the tree is going up tonight! I love advent, the shops have been telling us since Harvest that Christmas was coming and I'm already tired of buying Christmas biscuits to save for the big day and then scoffing them early, but the tree is something else. The tree is one of the biggies of Christmas.

I remember being allowed to 'do' the tree when I was little and that was the most special things ever, my older sister didn't get a look in! And for me it still holds that magic, but I like to do it by myself, with no one else telling me I've missed a bit... there's time for that at the end, when I will lie on the floor, sofa, table, to check that I haven't got too much of the same colour together or there's a big blank space.

I say take your time over the tree, mine is not real, as it wouldn't last the almost two months it is up. Twelfth night...I laugh in the face of Twelth night ha ha ha...if the tree's still up on Valentine's Day that's good enough for me.

So put on the Christmas music, have a little drink or two, although don't over do the Bailey's or you'll have a tree looking like a dogs' dinner. And as you unwrap each decoration remember where they came from and what they mean to you. I've collected decorations over the years and it's a bit like going through a photograph album with the old,oohhhh I remember buying this at......

So there you go, relax, take your time, and get it up early.......

P.S. Tinsel is so 80s...and is best worn round the head when you are drunk and not put on a tree.

Advent - Something big is coming this way!

DON"T PANIC!!!!!

Christmas is just around the corner and unless you've written all your cards, purchased the entire food section of Waitrose and spent £500 or above on everyone you know then you have failed. It's all over, your Christmas will be rubbish.

Deep breath. Today is Advent Sunday and a time when Christian should be slowing down, that's slowing down and preparing for the coming of Christ. Imagine that slowing down!!!!

Christmas Cards

Where I used to live, for eight years, I received a Christmas card each year to the people who lived in the house before the people I purchased the house from!

So if you haven't spoken or visited some people on your Christmas card list during 2009, should you really be sending them a card. If you wouldn't ring them for a chat, why send a card?Cull the list and reduce the burden! You might get fewer cards next year, but at least the ones you get will be from your friends, and fewer cards means less cardboard... so you could be saving the planet at the same time

more Christmas thoughts soon.