When I started this blog I wanted it to be a place to exhibit what life is like for me, for a 21st century Priest, for a heavy metal fan, and for someone who is a comical disaster practically and domestically (especially in my car!). I seem to end up in situations which others find somewhat unusual and at times comical. And as people still keep telling me to write down some of the randomness that is my life, I will be doing that from now on...well sometimes, you don't really want to know everything!!..well maybe you do, but hey!
It's basically going to be what I think others might find interesting, unusually, or might even make you smile or 'lol' as we say in the facebook world, so it's not going to be a list of everything I get up to in my working life, my home life, or my social life. I'm telling you this so that those with no connection with the Church don't lump me in with their 'Vicar of Dibley' view of vicars that rarely do any work!!..though I have to say I do love her and the show anyway!
Today seems a perfect day to start these little snippets into my life as it's been as random as usual.....
[as I said, this isn't everything I've done today, it's about 6:00pm and as well as what's listed below, I've planned a Lent Group session, planned a Youth Group session, visited someone ill, met someone to pass on a large toy train I'd sold online on behalf of one of the Churches in the Parish, been to the local Royal Mail sorting office to pick up a package, topped up the screen-wash in my car, washed my clothes and bedding and hung them out to dry, emptied the bins, chatted with family on the phone, etc. and this evening I'll reply to some work emails and sort a few bits out, get something to eat, watch some TV, chat with some more friends and family, sort through some things randomly stored in my garage, etc. Like I said, this is really just a snippet..] So....My first new experience of the day was riding in a hearse (following a funeral, obviously!)..I've never been in one before. I want to say it felt strange, but it didn't (I'm around death a lot, so I guess it's not always such a big deal as it is for others). To be honest, I was more impressed by the fact the driver got out of his seat and out of the car to open the door for me both when I was getting in and out..how charming!
I then got home and attempted to get on with the simple household chore that is washing up...I say 'simple', I managed to cut my finger quite badly so that it was still bleeding an hour later!! I didn't cut it on a sharp knife. I didn't even cut it on all the smashed glass I soon found at the bottom of the washing up bowl! But I cut it, as you do, on a mug!!!!
Later I opened up my mail. It was a book I'd ordered from amazon, but not just that..oh no, to my surprize, was another envelop inside the envelope I'd already opened. Was this second envelop addressed to me??..Oh no, it was addressed to someone else completely, but who also happens to live just around the corner from my place!!! How random!!! It already had a stamp on, a first class Christmas stamp to be precise, so I put on my headphones, plugged in my iPod and walked to the post box to post it on.
Next, I was planning an assembly I'm doing tomorrow for Great Coates Primary School. I haven't been in since Lent started, so even though Ash Wednesday was a couple of weeks ago now, I want to tell them about the Christian practice of making the sign of the Cross on the forehead in ash to mark the start of Lent. Again, you would think this is easy enough, but this is me! You normally make the ash with the previous years palm crosses but I didn't have any to hand so I went to my recycling box and found out some old DCC (District Church Council) meeting papers. I put them into a plastic box from a Chinese take-away (yes vicars always use such sacred things in work related tasks!!), and you can guess what happened....Yes, that's right, THE PLASTIC BOX ALSO SET ON FIRE, which was on my WOODEN kitchen table, and before you know it, MASSIVE FLAMES, right there in the middle of my kitchen!!..you'd think I'd learn from past mishaps, but no, it was all to similar to the 'setting on fire to half my bedroom' incident of my teens..the less said about that, the better!! Anyway, obviously I filled some glasses with water and threw it all over, and now I'm left with melted plastic stuck onto my lovely dining table :( ...and a house that smells like half of Grimsby fire brigade have been round...which they haven't, honest!
And yes, for anyone wondering, this is a typical day in the life of George.....so, as we say in Church, so help me God! :-)
