anyresemblance

Mill stone

I'm in the BA lounge at terminal 5 desperately trying to download episodes of Homeland and The Good Wife to watch on the flight to Istanbul.

This morning I went to communion with my dad and sister. The cathedral was as beautiful and peaceful as ever. The sermon was garbled. The hymns were awful but the choir was excellent. The incense was overpowering and the person swinging it (remind me what the vessel is called you of catholic persuasion) was clearly taking her job very seriously. I seriously could not admire the painted roof through the fog of patchouli.

That was then. Now I've said a sad goodbye and am heading east again. This was the view of the mill stream this morning.

Narnia

I've been driving the road between Glastonbury and Wells frequently over the past two years going to see my dad and regularly pass an architectural salvage yard. Yesterday for the first time, my sister, bil and I went in. It's a pity about luggage allowances as there were some fine mail boxes but I also liked the idea of Narnia at the end of the garden. If I were in the market for a WW2 Russian tank this would also be my first stop.

Testing, testing

I have gone over to the dark side and I have a new phone. I miss my berry keyboard. The camera is pretty cool though.

Use your words

Work drains me at the moment.  I hardly think at the end of the year, when my performance is reviewed, that anyone is going to say "we rate you highly for smoothing ruffled feathers, negotiating through conflict, keeping calm in a crisis and maintaining a modicum of sanity".  It will be all "how many widgets did you deliver?".  Blah.

My daughter is taking a class in 19th century literature.  It seems rather light on to me - Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Importance of Being Earnest and Jane Eyre.  No Trollope? No Dickens? No Thackeray or Eliot? We'll see but seems they should rename it "short Victorian books"

We continue to eat well.  Last night was an excellent spinach pie.  I am frequenting our local butcher and organic veggie shop.  It is pricey but I am loving the aspect of shopping everyday like some French housewife and choosing what is freshest in the market.  Yesterday lunchtime I walked the puppy down in the pouring rain.  This was his first experience of being left outside a shop to wait while I consulted with the butcher.  He managed to attract a band of admirers in the three minutes I was gone.  Suck up.

What Enid Blyton taught me about driving

There is another teenager with L plates.  We've done the whole inside outside lane thing again and now I just point and say slow lane/fast lane.  There are several other things her driving instructor advises which I strongly disagree with but I get that she has to pass the test by their rules.  Some things I am immoveable on. Holding the steering wheel at quarter to nine or ten to two. Using your gears to slow down (thank heavens I no longer drive a car where you have to double de clutch).  We have our familiar array of driving tunes.

Giving advice to a learner and keeping a running commentary on road conditions makes me realise just how much you internalise as you become familiar with driving.  I mean, it is not so much driving as being aware of others' behaviour and anticipated actions.  A lesson for life really, as you judge the person who you know is going to try and make that light or make a quick turn in front of you.  Or the person who is looking for an address and may stop at any moment.

She is getting quite good and no approaches every junction in hope that no one will be coming.  She knows how to change up and down gears.  She can judge distance and reverse competently.

Of course, everyone else is at fault, not her.  She complained about a car being parked too close to a corner and obstructing her visibility.  When I was a child I remember a Noddy story where Noddy got taken to prison by Mr Plod for parking his car on a corner.  She nodded with approval saying she thought all the annoying drivers should suffer the same fate.