While reflecting on this past week, I had a real sense of being on a different planet for some of the week.
Firstly there was the local Youth Group, here in the village. In they ran, hurtling around at 90mph, all yelling their heads off. Instead of being a spare part, I decided to start a game of tag, aka It. At first those little kids weren’t quite sure what to make of his ancient bloke running around the church hall, joining in with the fun. We made home made pizzas, watched a little video (extract from Home Alone) ready for the talkie bit, or the ‘God Slot’ as the leader put it.
We sat on chairs, in a circle. There were about a dozen of wriggly octopi (is that the plural of octopus?) with arms and legs all wobbling and waving around. In what seemed like an unspoken competition, they all did their best to out yell each other at maximum volume. I did my best at giving some of them my sternest Paddington Bear stare. Normally this is effective but completely lost on those loud wriggly creatures.
Eventually the leader managed to keep some of their attention for a few seconds, just enough to tell them about Advent being a time of preparation. She went onto say this was about preparing for Christmas and preparing for Jesus to come again. They wriggled and I stared all the more. I then interjected and said we have no idea of when Jesus will come again, nobody knows. It could be in a thousand years, or it could be early tomorrow morning when everyone is walking to school. Most of the wriggling and fidgeting continued but some stopped, just to take it in for a second and then the wriggling resumed. Rebecca told everyone to close their eyes, hold their hands together while she said a prayer – they were all silent but most were still in octopus mode.
They then left and we all agreed Valium sounded like a good idea.
Planet Art Appreciation
The second time when I found myself on a different planet was when I visited the Art Appreciation Group, also in the village. We are working our way through various artists from the 20th century and this week was Jackson Pollock’s turn. We mulled and mused and expressed our appreciation (or otherwise) of his art. It was One, number 31 where we dwelled the most, generally agreeing it was probably not worth the 130 million dollars it is supposedly valued at. I likened it to the King’s Clothes and how it would look great stuck to the ceiling in the dental surgery, thus giving patients something to engross themselves in while having their teeth drilled.
It was the discussion of an outing which made me realise I was on a different planet. We were discussing having an outing to an art gallery, or at least somewhere arty where we could have afternoon tea. Various options were discussed and someone mentioned The Woburn, which was just a few yards from a local gallery.
“Well I’m not so sure about The Woburn nowadays. You see it is a bit common these days, since the front bar has been refurbished. Well what I mean is the clientele is a bit common and I’m not sure we want to go there”.
Everyone was speechless, though only for a few seconds. As nobody knew what to say, it was sort of agreed we would avoid being too common and find somewhere else.
You know, although this terminology might raise a few eyebrows, or perhaps even a stronger reaction, I think I can take it in my stride. I love people; I love people for all their different origins, cultures and backgrounds, those I disagree with and those odd people on my wavelength.
Back down to Planet Earth
I have continued decorating the Quirky Museum’s dining room. You wouldn’t believe the volume of repairs and fixes needed even before the paint tin is opened. Painting is the easy bit, the prepping time is the tricky bit.
We are toasty warm here this winter, I’m so thankful. Aside from the new central heating, Rachel has again started one of her favourite pastimes; lighting the fire in the dining room. You see we have a wood burning stove and she loves tweaking the air vents while chucking in another piece of wood. I must admit, it is rather nice! There’s something nice about the blast of heat it throws out, the sound of the wood crackling away is very heartwarming.
Once it’s been going for an hour of so, the surrounding brickwork catches the heat and radiates heat long after the fire has gone out. I dare say we will be on the look out for old pallets, telegraph poles and the like again next year….