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My brother and his family were up in Warwick for the Baptist convention, and bought me a day pass, so I went up for the day and had a really good time with them and his friends. Was so impressed by one of the morning talks that I hung around until gone 10pm waiting for them to copy a CD of it for me. It was about unity, and I'm going to have to listen to it several times in order to get everything out of it.
Spent the last day or two packing up the musical keyboard, and hunting through Dad's clothes. Hope I haven't exceeded the weight limit too much. I had to leave our big suitcase behind, and swap it for a smaller lightweight one of Mum's.
If you're reading this, and you're a man with medium to large chest, DON'T EVER BUY ANOTHER SHIRT. Or indeed socks and handkerchieves. Just drop me a line, and I'll ask Mum to pack one up for you. I'm a small chest, but found a few nice ones that weren't too big.
Scavenged behind the local TV shop looking for bits of packaging material. I now have the keyboard wrapped in polysyrene and a sheet of platic, with yards of tape. I had to leave the stand behind because it was large and awkward. But it might follow on with the next person to come this way.
Still haven't got Mum behind the steering wheel!
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( 3 / 2198 )Plenty of painting this week. The builders covered a small section with pebble dash, but it's taken us three full days to paint it, and there are still large sections that need doing. The rest of the house is a 'Tyrolean finish', which is less bumpy, and easier to paint. Still plenty to do though, and I've had a busy week.
Went back to Coventry yesterday to catch up with a few people, and had a long day in the sun with endless cups of tea and plenty of driving. Rather tired. But worth the trip. Now I'm going to focus on getting Mum sorted before I go. Still haven't got her behind that steering wheel...
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( 3 / 2275 )Spent a quiet week catching up on work, and a Saturday helping renovate the house. Nearly sandpapered my thumb raw, and then spent another hour or two filling up holes with cement. My hands are nice and pink.
Went up to Coventry on Sunday morning, and spent a day and a bit driving all over Coventry, Bedworth and Nuneaton trying to catch up with everyone. The church was packed in the morning. I remember the evening used to be the main meeting, and the morning was (relatively) quiet and thoughtful. Not any more. There are now two meetings in the morning. A large number of Africans, Indians and orientals have joined, and all turn up for the second meeting, and they're planning to build a larger hall on the car park. In the afternoon, there are three meetings for the Ethiopians, the French Africans and the Indians. Non stop.
Did a bit of shopping this morning, drove home, and did a half day's work. Everybody wants me to go back up and visit again, but I won't manage all of them. Some of them need to come and visit me for once!
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( 3 / 2241 )Spent last week in the Isle of Wight, visiting an old friend. Just days before, her husband had walked out, and announced that he wasn't coming back. So she was devastated. We spent most of the week in the house, talking, crying and praying together. She didn't want me to leave, but knew that I had to go at some point. I did my best to encourage her to make contact with a number of friends and relatives, because she had tended to restrict herself to his family. The house was full of reminders of their 5 years marriage. She was pulling herself together on the day I left, but I will certainly be keeping in touch.
I've held back from travelling north because of the floods still hanging around in Oxford. There have been tens of thousands of homes flooded, and plenty of roads needing repairs. There's one town where a main sewer has collapsed, and left a huge hole in the main road. Still plenty of houses without water. We're fine here; we're some way above the plain, so the water has all run off and it's nice and sunny again.
Put up a gutter around the shed, leading to a rain butt at the back, and helped Mum organise the back to make room for some compost bins. She had about 20 bags of sodden slimy compost which we emptied into the bins. Next job (after having a bath) will be to fill in holes around the house ready for painting.
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( 3 / 2225 )It's quite something to see the land you've lived in for five years suddenly spread out before you, and looking so small, with the rising sun shining way out into the endless Pacific. Anyway, I had an uneventful journey, and all the buses connected at the far end. Not sure how I'll manage it going home, since I'll probably be carrying a lot more. Mum has offered me the musical keyboard, but it weighs quite a bit, and dosn't fit in the suitcase!
We've had a lot of heavy rain here, and we're right in the middle of it! Mum had to post a form, but due to the Oxfordshire postal workers being on strike, had to try and find a post box in Wiltshire, which is just a few miles away. We had some difficulty though, because quite a few roads were still flooded the day after, with water still pouring off the fields. Managed to get to a post box. Not sure if they'll be able to collect it!
Currently helping Mum remove paint from the window ledge. There's about 8 layers - you can tell all the different colours. We're using this solvent stuff that dissolves the paint really well. Unfortunately it also dissolves everything else, so we've had to be a bit careful...
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