I got back yesterday from a week on the Norfolk Broads with my best man Neil who has recently acquired a boat (see above). It was good to have a change of environment and a free holiday! On the first morning I was awoken at 4:30am by the dawn chorus which wasn’t annoying just a bit early for me, but dozed off till about 6am and then started my day with meditation, reading and prayer. My bio rhythms were different on the boat earlier to bed, earlier to rise, but that was probably healthier than my later to bed, later to rise at home! It was good to catch up with my old mate from Uni over endless cups of tea/coffee and a few beers. I especially enjoyed the birdlife and saw Marsh Harriers, a Cetti’s Warbler, Oyster Catchers, a Kingfisher, Reed Buntings and a Kestrel to name a few for the twitchers amongst you!
I did a bit of reading on the boat as Neil steered, I read Silence – A Christian History by Diarmaid MacCulloch which I picked up from the local library, an interesting exploration of the theme from many angles! I borrowed Neil’s Woodbine Willie by Bob Holman about the First World War chaplain, well worth a read as we ponder the First World War due to the commemorations.
On Sunday we watched Hibs live on TV in a village pub get relegated as we lost on penalties, it was painful as we were 2-0 up from the first leg and only losing 1-0 well into injury time and then…..you guessed it Hamilton Accies scored to level the overall score to 2-2 and we lost on pens!!!! It didn’t depress me, I found it vaguely funny, but not a good end to the football season for me!
I was a bit worried about the toilet challenges on the boat as you can do number ones but not number twos as they get flushed straight out into the water, however most of the time I made it to the toilets on the Marina, except for when……….
Since I last blogged we went to the village festival at Moulton and had fun watching the Morris Dancers and seeing the village in full swing. We had a tasty lunch of cottage pie at Carey Baptist which was open for lunches and a flower festival,it was nicely strange to visit my new church as a punter and to be able to pop into all the places that were open due to the festival. We won the guess the number of sweets in a jar, Jodie has a strategy! We move to our new home on the 11th June so not long to go now!
At least Arsenal won the FA Cup and got some silverware at last, even if they made us sweat in the first 9 minutes, going down two 2-0!
On the music front I have been enjoying listening to What have we become by Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott on Spotify, a triumphant return to form from the ex Beautiful South duo, they have been missed, great pop songs with sharp political lyrics, oh how we need such fayre in these days of bland manufactured pop a la X factor etc!!!!
My next blog may well be from Moulton, adios Stevenage, hola, the next stage in my life! Go well love Stu x
Stuart's Blog 