Not sure what happened today. One minute, peace and quiet, next thing I know the place is full of noise, just like someone switched the family on.
Actually, I obviously do know what happened, my lovely other and his mother returned from their little outing to London, still a bit strange though having all this noise after I had had nothing but peace and quiet. (I am not complaining mind!)
They apparently had a lovely time down in London, visiting the Portobello Road and had a little wander along Kensington High St. They said they couldn't believe the crowds along the Portobello Road, and in all the shops along there too. In the end they gave up because of all the people.
The concert they went to last night, was at the Royal Albert Hall. My lovely others uncle was part of one of the choirs who were singing there. The concert was for the Massed South Wales Male Voice Choirs - I think that's what it was called anyway. Most enjoyable they said it was.
They got seated in one of the Loggia boxes, so were pretty chuffed with that, meaning they could slip in and out without being noticed. Their box was right by the champagne bar, and the loos, I haven't asked whether they managed to sample the delights of either of them yet.
Not sure what I will be doing tomorrow, but my lovely other (henceforth to be known as MLO - saves a bit of typing you see) has said that we will spend the day together doing something. Very exciting. However, going on past form I wouldn't be surprised if we end up spending the day together at home.
Have spent a short time today mooching through Twitter seeing if I can find anyone new and interesting to follow, problem is, that most of the people I follow, and who follow me all seem to be following each other too, so attempting to find someone with a similar interest or interests by seeing who follows my followers is a waste of space as I am probably already following them. I have resorted yet again to putting random words into the search, to see what comes up. Mostly it seems to be news reports linking to a subject, or people retweeting the self same news items, or reports; which can make finding individual posts a bit laborious. But then perhaps I am not searching for the right thing.
I am amazed at myself so far, for keeping at this blog. I was never one for diaries when I was younger getting to about January the 5th before just giving up. I wondered whether it was because of the faith I have now, and what I am aiming for. Perhaps my faith has given me patience, and stick ability (I can't think of the right word, right now). Since I originally decided to follow what I felt I should be doing, even MLO has commented on the fact that I have become a changed person (coming from someone who never seems to notice anything) he said I am far more patient, that I appear to be more tolerant of people (not that I was ever particularly intolerant), much calmer, he said I was at peace with myself. I suppose I am.
I was a pretty restless kind of person, always feeling like something was missing, when I made the decision to tell someone that I felt I had a calling, as soon as it was written down in an e-mail, I felt an enormous weight was lifted, I find it hard to describe really exactly how much of a relief it felt. I then thought about my life so far, which had been pretty varied, and everything I had done and all the opportunities that I had had, and realised that they all led from one to another to the point I was at there and then. Iknow that most people would say that their lives were the same, but mine seemed to link very specifically, a bit odd really.
I wont attempt to tell my entire life story here, but I remember certain things from when I was younger very vividly, and am certain that these events had a quite large bearing on where I am now
If it wasn't for one thing I wouldn't have done another, everything led to everything else. All I had done in my life seemed to serve a purpose, to make me grow I suppose. I never really had to try either. The day I chose to join a church when I was younger, I found out my neighbours went to a kind of church each Sunday, so I started going with them.
When I got a little fed up with their type of worship (hell and damnation) and wanted to change, my friend asked me to go to Brownies with her, they were linked to a church, and went to the Sunday morning service, and so I fell in love with traditional Church of England.
Several years later, I decide to leave home, things had become very strained between my mum and I. All through my later years at school ,I had enjoyed doing outdoor stuff like the Duke of Edinburgh Award, which took us around the country camping and walking. At this time I told everyone I would live in the country. They laughed. Coming from someone in the inner city, this seemed highly unlikely. One one trip we were staying at Capel Curig, the day before we climbed Snowdon and a shepherd was rounding up his sheep. Out of nowhere I said "Thats what I am going to do", much to the amusement of my friends. Anyway, that night I decided to look in the Birmingham Evening Mail for jobs, there never seemed to be anything different, but the second I opened to the jobs pages there was a job advertised on a farm in Herefordshire. It was exactly what I wanted, so I applied, went for an interview, and got the job.
That brought me to Herefordshire. Two years on, and I feel it is time to move on again, not sure why, just restless feet I guess. I had been going for drinks with someone (just friends) for a while one night we went to the local, and he realised he couldn't get me home, so asked the barman to take me. Turns out the barman was our neighbour on the next farm (not entirely sure why we hadn't met before), and he agreed to take me home. That night we talked for hours and decided we rather liked eachother. We didn't spend a day apart for the next six months. I eventually moved onto his farm. At this time I started to think about getting a job lambing to get a bit of extra money before our own sheep lambed. Then I got a phonecall from a farmer near Porthcawl in Wales, asking me to go and lamb for him for two weeks. This flummoxed me slightly, and I asked him where he got my details from ,but he wouldn't say. Well I went there, and he had 600 pedigree texels, a much more muscular and strong sheep to the one I usually handled, so they needed different handling. I worked there for the 2 weeks and left with him asking me to return the next year.
Back home and one of MLOs mothers friends had got himself some pedigree texels and asked me to help him look after them. The following year coming up to lambing time he decided to keep them at a friend of his' farm as it had much nicer sheds. As a result of this his friend asked me if I wanted a job on his farm being shepherd to all his sheep too. Well how could I turn the offer down. So I stayed there for two years. Eventually it got to the point where he could no longer afford someone working there anymore, so I left.
That afternoon, as we were drivimg home, we passed a garage, so I asked if we could stop for a drink. We did, and on the door was an advert for a job there. I apllied and started the very next day. I am still there now.
The way I look at it is this, when I left home the job I got helped me to have some distance away from my mother and helped us sort out a few things.
When I met MLO he helped me to love again, as I was pretty cold at that point.
Getting that job as shepherd, taught me to be just that, a shepherd, looking after all the animals whose life, literally depends on you, taught me that I had to put others needs before my own, to serve I suppose.
Getting the job at the garage helped me to better connect with people, working on the farms had kept me away from being around people, and I had got a bit to fond of being on my own and doing things my way, and not having to worry about other people too much.
At the garage I get people who regularly come in just for a chat , or advice on something, which makes me feel quite humbled that they would come to me for what they want or need.
And finally, the first e-mail I sent, I had no real idea who it was I was sending it to, just a random address picked from a list almost, turned out to be probably the best person I could have sent it to. Gave me tons of the most wonderful advice including a church which I might like to start going to. Her choice was wonderful, and I feel so at home there now.