Travellers Cheques

Here's my second holiday gripe. I went to the post office to change some money before going to France and they pressurised me to take most of my euros in travellers cheques. The woman behind the desk assured me that they could be changed in all post offices, banks and holiday resorts. Feeling tired, I believed her and took them. I still have most of them now...

In fact neither camp site would change them - and the the local post offices wouldn't touch them - and the banks didn't want them either. We managed to change one - relatively late in the holiday in a bank while on a day trip - but didn't bother with the rest because we didn't think we'd need them - only to arrive in Houlgate where the campsite insisted on taking 60 euros from us in deposits for wrist bands - thereby leaving us with no money for food. We had two hours to rush into the town before the shops shut - and neither the bank nor the post office would touch our last remaining travellers cheques...

My guess is that the Post Office like to issue the cheques because my money will sit in their accounts for a while - earning money for them. In my case, they still have it!

Speedos!

We've just returned from a holiday in France which was a genuine rest. It seems as shame to get back to work, but my inbox is full and my to-do list seems to expand on a continuous basis...

France was fun and I will need to share some experiences - but I'll feed them to you slowly over the next few days...

Today's comment is about swimming pools... French camp-site swimming pools seem to be fairly lawless environments. There are huge signs in various languages that say "No Diving!" but this doesn't stop hoards of teenagers leaping in and out of the water. At one point two huge teenagers jumped into the deep-end where Izzy was swimming and left her shouting for help. The lifeguard was feet away, but only laughed - I had to hook her out myself!

On the other hand, there is one rule that is strictly enforced - the speedo rule. Apparently it's perfectly fine for people to run, jump, dive and trample small children underfoot - as long as they don't wear shorts. I'm still not sure whether this is a fashion statement or a health risk. People go swimming in the UK wearing shorts all the time - and it's very rarely fatal - as far as I know - but this seems to be different in France...

I feel the need to gripe about this because I have just spent two weeks wearing extremely skimpy and unflattering speedos - much to the amusement of my two daughters!

There are no pictures - thank the Lord!

Sunny Day in Lyme Regis

We had a lovely day (after a good night's sleep) on the beach at Lyme Regis. After lunch (crab sandwiches) we wandered along to the foot of the cliffs where we found some wonderful huge ammonites.

The drive home was fine and we stopped for pizza at Solstice Services- which sounds like it should be in Milton Keynes...

Wet Wednesday

Cold night in the tent! Not much sleep!

Eventually struggled up for a day of National Trusting...
Went to a small village (in the rain) which had a forge and a tea shop...
Then to a wonderful house in Devon where (as the rain stopped) we had a wonderful guided walk with stories about trees - and were introduced to the first Giant Redwoods in Britain...

We were particularly impressed that the previous owner of the house donated it to the national trust because he didn't believe in private ownership - rather than because he'd gambled all the money away - or had no one left to pass it on to...

More cream teas - quick visit to Al and Jo - and then home to the tent for rotisserie chicken...

Off to Dorset

Off we go with Jane, Emily and Daniel to Monkton Wyld in Dorset for a wonderful break.
Whether sunny today. Went to Lyme Regis and enjoyed the beach.
Got colder during the night...

Talent

This evening the young people entered the talent competition. Iona and Emily played a top class performance on their violins, accompanied by Caribbean dancing by Izzy and Daniel. The host proclaimed this a first - but not a win unfortunately. We were extremely proud.

Six Foot Hamster Wheel?

A few weeks ago I posted on Facebook that I was trying to work out how to make a six foot hamster wheel. This started a train of curious comments... which I refused to answer with any real clarity...

Why would you need a six foot hamster wheel? It's easy - for a four foot hamster!

This was, of course, all Izzy's idea and her costume was a prize winner - coming joint first alongside a toilet roll rocket.

(For those who are keeping track, this is fancy dress win number five...)

Studland Bay

Apparently, it snowed in Milton Keynes today!

It was pretty cold in Dorset too, so we went to the beech and had a barbecue - somehow managing to cook and eat the sausages during the hour when it was raining...

Studland bay includes a stretch of beach open to naturists. I have to say I wasn't inclined...

Brownsea Island

We went to Brownsea Island today - coincidentally on the same day that Bill Oddie and Kate Humble started their Autumn Watch programme. We didn't see them but gilrs managed to get their autographs.

the island was crawling with BBC lighting and camera people who were rigging up everything in sight for the evening broadcaste. This included the church which had only recently had its first power point installed (they're a little behind our St Giles - which now has electric lighting and heating). The BBC however, required floodlighting, so laid out a network of heavy duty cables to light up everything in sight - nice to know that the licence fee is beeing used well...

Brownsea Island is a beautiful place - and the site of the first scout camp in 2007. We took pictures of the children doing their salutes by the memorial stone.

Althought the island will always be famous for its links with souting its had an interesting history with many twists and turns. At one point it was a hive of industry with 200 plus people working to produce clay pipes. For a while it was owned by a rich lady who removed all the islanders - who occassionally sneaked back to see how things were decaying... As with Corfe Castle, I found myself refecting on the histories that might have been: industrial zone, millionaire's hideaway, golf course, and so on...

Corfe Castle

We spent the half term break in Dorset which is an amazing place. We've been before but are always delighted to find new places to explore.

The first trip out took us to Corfe Castle which is slowly being "restored" to an appropriate state of ruin.

It was destroyed by one side of the civil war who didn't want the other side to use it - thereby robbing the wealthy of a stately home - but providing the National Trust with a picturesque ruin.

I often wonder what would have happened had it not been blown up in the cause of peace? Could it have been a royal residence? - or Dorset's equivalent to Alton Towers?

The Last Friday

Our last proper day of the summer holidays. Izzy did her ballet summer show and did very well. We celebrated by using up Tesco vouchers at Bella Italia - which was nice. Isla and I had squid and butterflied king prawns for a starter. I had duck pasta and Isla had salmon.

All in all it was a struggle today. We're all feeling tired and a bit down. I'm feeling ill. The summer, the sabatical and a time of peace is at an end... We did look back over the high points of the summer and began to plan future holidays - you've got to have something to live for...

Over

We just got back from holiday today. (I'll post some pictures soon)
This marks the end of our holiday and the end of my sabbatical...
Only ten years till the next one - sabbatical that is, not holiday!
Back to work tomorrow. 1500 emails to filter tonight...

The Lourve

Day Five: Trip to the Louvre which included the obligatory visit to that Da Vinci painting.

From a personal point of view, I was able to visit the Moabite Stone which I spent a term studying at University. It basically marks the victory of Mesha of Moab over the Israelites...

... and some of the tablets from Ugarit which contain the Baal myth. (I also studied Ugaritic for a year which was great fun).

And so it was time to go home...

Parc Asterix

Day Four: Family trip to Parc Asterix. A great day out. It was actually fairly quiet with very few brits arround (They're all in Disney I guess). The girls had a wonderful time. Isla and Iona went on all the big rides - although Isla considered eight loop-the-loops less terrifying than the Paris ringroad... The big highlight for me was a live show with legionnaries recruiting the gaulish spy, Nitro Gliserene. All good fun.

Versailles

Day Three: Trip to Versailles. More struggles with Paris ringroad! Parking a nightmare!

Paris

Day two of the holiday. Trip into Paris. We visited the Eifel Tower and the Muse D'Orse. (Sorry, can't work out how to add accents...)

Off to France

We set off bright and eary for France, catching an early ferry. The drive down was OK but a little wet. We arrived in Maisons Lafitte by mid afternoon which gave us time to check out the local shops (expensive) and settle into our caravan, on an island in the Siene. Here's the view from our bedroom window...

Annual Meeting and Away...

Today was an interesting day. I attended the AGM at All Saints' which included a discussion of the new Servant Leadership Team and the buidling plans... All we need is 100K and we're there.

After church we headed up the road to Kent to stay overnight at grandma's.

Loft Space

The great Holiday Project is complete. We now have useable loft space Alleluia! Seven bags of rubbish removed. Trip to tip and charity shop. Clear up operation begins...
Have enjoyed having a few days in MK without having to work 24/7. Can see this would be a good thing. Not looking forward to going back to work...
On my death bed I would probably regret giving too many hours to church work. I would also feel guilty for all the things I hadn't done for the church... That's why being a Vicar isn't great for your stress levels... We need a new way of doing church...

Local Preachers and Big Ideas

It's been one of those days - the kind you get when you come back from a holiday or a weekend away - a pile of post - a mountain of email - and some fairly urgent tasks that didn't quite get done before the weekend...
I spent most of the day working my way through some urgent jobs - keeping my eye off my "to do" list which is undoubtedly showing a number of red overdue items... Hopefully, however, we're moments away from an agreed share allocation, Walton will recieve the letter they asked for, and the Team Meeting agenda will go out ready for Wednesday. I've designed a labryth for Taste and See, discussed SU material for June and proposed some Church Council dates for 2008 - for three churches... All in a day's work... but not very exciting if you're reading this blogg.
On the other hand, I had lunch with Mike and we talked about people we would like to talk to about becoming Local Preachers. This is a big step forward and something I've been hoping for and praying about for a few years. We're going to pick up the Diocesan scheme for preacher training which is portfolio based and designed for those who are either exploring ministry, called to preach - or too busy to train as an LLM, NSM or OLM. We've got a small handfull of candidates who are in one or more of these categories - which is brilliant - and it's about time we did something to support them...
It may seem a small thing, but I am convinced we need more opportunities to build up local ministry - even if people like me have to fade away into the background a bit. For me, this isn't about filling some gaps in our service plan - it's about remodelling church...
Mike, on the other hand, is now organising fourteen Christingles in fourteen of our twenty schools! I suspect this is the only way to tackle a task of this scale. Great news, but I sincerely hope people give him the space to do it...