Weekly update – Lockdown – weird but nice

 

I’m quite enjoying our Lockdown, now two weeks in.  Actually we are fortunate with plenty of things to do.  I am anxious we remain part of our community and keep up to date with global affairs in this fast moving time.

Feeling sorry for Hannah

We do feel for Hannah, a young adult stuck at home with her boring parents!  Yesterday we blinked and in no time at all she had her climbing gear out and was heading up the side of the house.  I did wince but I can’t blame her at all.

It was impressive seeing how quickly she did various knots and made her way up the side of our house.  In my mind’s eye, we will be screwing a load of those climbing wall blob things on the wall before too long.

Church online

Our church is getting to grips with modern communication methods.  For our Sunday morning service, we see this live via You Tube, or even a recorded version later on if need be.

They’re getting increasingly techie about this now. It first started as a very awkward and stilted online talk where I felt shouted at.  Now it’s a little more slick with PowerPoint slides coming up at the appropriate time and switching to some of the musicians in their homes at the right time.

The church leaders are still learning, which is fair enough.  As a “consumer” I think the trick will be to ensure it is sufficiently personal, combined with a more relaxed “presentation”.  Time to change style a bit?  Perhaps make it a little more understandable for folk out there who must be asking questions about the virus and why God allows such things?  Or do you try to preserve as much of the traditional Sunday service as you can, for continuity or risk some jumping ship? Perhaps a tricky balance.

Yesterday I was catching up with the daily devotion, which has sprung up at our church.  So far this has been a quick read of a Psalm and a reflection on it.  Nice and digestible, easy to swallow etc.  In fact I caught up with these yesterday while I was doing the washing up at the kitchen sink!  See above photo.

And then there is our Home Group.  Like many churches we operate these groups so a handful of us can have closer contact and become closer friends, to share and grow together.  Age wise, we are probably in the middle and quite understandably some are a bit reticent about the Zoom technology, allowing us to have virtual meetings and see each other.  Nevertheless these technologies are what you make them, they’re never the same and meeting someone face to face but it is, nevertheless, a damn good substitute.  We do, however, still have a good look at each other’s homes!!!

Plenty of sorting out

For us, this is one of the positive benefits of the Lockdown, apart from keeping us and other people safe.  Our aim is to go through the whole house and garage and clear out unwanted stuff, of which we have plenty.  There’s something so uplifting about it!

Probably need to apologise in advance to the blummin Council and the bin crew.  Our wheelie bins are so full and heavy and will continue like this for the foreseeable future.

Rachel, somewhat sheepishly, presented me with my birthday present.  This present, it has to be said, is somewhat belated as my birthday was back in the winter.  “I knew there was something else for you, it’s just I couldn’t find it until now.  So happy birthday darling”

Sometimes it is, it has to be said, a bit of a tussle.  I tend to throw stuff out and then Rachel seems to read my mind, knowing I have secretly hidden something in the wheelie bin.  She then inspects the wheelie bin’s contents, while I’m on tender hooks, hovering at a nice distance.

Sometimes Rachel retrieves things with “I’m glad you’ve found this after all these years, it might be useful one day, I’m keeping it…..” or even “you might think this is a worthless piece of broken junk, I’m going to list it on eBay, we’ll get at least £25”

Kidney stuff

I am very pleased to say my kidneys are feeling much better but still a few more days to go on the antibiotics.  They were making me feel very uncomfortable and at night I sometimes just couldn’t get comfortable.  Sometimes when I ran, I could feel uncomfortable in the kidney area but it’s hard to be exact.

Having said that, this morning I had a text message from the surgery saying “The result of your recent test has been received.  A further test is advised – please collect a further form from the surgery”

Rough Stuff Fellowship

My friend Wallie, who I have known since 1982 and cycled hundreds of miles with, have also drunk gallons of tea with each other, he has sent me a glimpse of the Rough Stuff Fellowship’s book that he’s bought.  Wallie has been a member of the fellowship for quite some time.  Me, I’m just a tailgater.

Reminds us both of some of the crazy bike rides we’ve had; nowadays our grumpy old men ride around the Cotswolds seem very tame in comparison.

It also reminds us how we don’t need flashy bikes and expensive gear – even an old Sturmey Archer 3 speed bike has great potential.

Talking of bicycles

I have dusted off my Halfbike and had a little blast up and down the road.  This was to check I could still ride this weird machine.  You see there aren’t any handlebars to turn – you just hold on, lean one way or the other – and try to relax.  It’s good fun and you get quite a workout as it causes you to use different muscles.

Phone a friend

I am trying, though not always succeeding, to phone someone everyday for a chat, especially if we haven’t seen each other for a while.  In addition to that, we continue to visit my mother-in-law everyday and I phone my mum everyday, trying to keep that to a manageable amount of time.

Grandma’s 94th birthday

It was my mother-in-law’s birthday over the weekend, 94.  Hannah made a very special birthday cake.