Hello, only me.
Back at last. so what have I got to say for myself then? Well, last time I blogged I had booked a few days up in North Wales for a bit of a getaway, and hadn't yet gone, so I will start with that.
We arrived there on the Wednesday afternoon (18th November), just as it had become dark, and also just as the weather was getting going. It was the same time as they had the dreadful weather up in Cumbria, and although it was nowhere near as bad in the mountains of Wales it was still quite wild. Over the next few hours the wind and rain all got a bit insane, as the cottage backed onto a patch of woodland the noise from the trees in the wind and the rain, made it sound like a massive jet was flying inches above us, constantly for almost 48 hours. On the Thursday we had to venture out, as we realised we had left some vegetables behind at home, and didn't fancy dinner without them. We set out in over 60mph winds and the heaviest rain imaginable (however we were in the car) to drive into Beddgelert to the shop. As we were pulling down the farm track, three people and a dog appeared, heading along the one path up Snowdon, which literally went past our front door. Not only was the fact amazing, given the current weather conditions, but they were also seriously under dressed, the lady was dressed in desert boots and a cheap pac-a-mac, the man was in shorts and the son looked exceedingly unhappy to be out in it, as did the poor dog, who had been put in a bright yellow visibility vest. I felt like running up to them and saying "Are you insane, haven't you noticed the weather?" But as we passed them by we greeting them, and they seemed entirely happy in their little expedition, so thought it best not to mention, and let them go on their way. Not something I would have wanted to do though, but each to their own.
On arriving at Beddgelert, after passing through some minor floods on the road, we pulled up in the car-park ad realised we were the only ones there, did everyone know something that we didn't? Slightly worried at that we made our way to the shop in the rain. The place was completely deserted, we couldn't believe our eyes really. One we had rootled round the shop for what we needed, we went to pay, and the lady behind the till said "You've got the place to yourselves today, but thats not surprising given the floods, even the Caernarfon road is now closed because of the floods" At this point we got a little worried, as that was the very road we had just come in on, and thought about the rather large flood that had started forming along the road at the end of the track. Needless to say, we hurried back, but it must have been further along the road than us.
Safely ensconced we sat down and listened to the weather, and tried to get a fire going, but the wind was going across the chimney so fast, it made life very difficult.
The next day (Friday) the weather finally calmed down and turned into a rather lovely day, so we went for a drive into Caernarfon for a late lunch and a wander. Was very quiet there too.
When we arrived back at the cottage, I got the keys to open up the cottage, and got out of the car, open the front door, and heard MLO say "Oh no you haven't". I turned around wondering what I had done, and looked at his face, then at the car. As he had got out from the car, he shut the door behind him, as you do, and the keys were still in the ignition. Next thing, for whatever reason it was, the car chose to lock itself, with the keys still sat there in the ignition. Why the central locking went off, we had no idea. Nor did we have much of an idea how we were supposed to get into the car, as the master key was still at home 140 miles away. Not the best start to an evening. Just at that moment the farmer walked across, and we explained to him what had happened to us, he told us to wait there and called his brother over to us, who had just arrived on holiday in his new motorhome (new to him anyway), it turned out he had AA membership, and was covered if he was a passenger, so off he went and told them he had been in our car when it happened, an hour later and a very obliging AA man turned up and broke into our car in a most professional manner indeed. Shockingly easy with nothing more than a wedge, a blow up bag and a length of wire. After all the excitement once he had gone, we retired for a nice cup of tea.
Next the, Saturday was time to leave, and go home, we left just before 11. The weather wasn't too bad again, so I suggested we went for a walk round a lake, somewhere I had been years bore with school, and wanted to show MLO how lovely it was. One thing I hadn't taken into account though was the amount of rain we had had, something like 20 inches while we had been there. The lovely path around the lake was now several feet underwater with no other way possible, so we decided to have a late breakfast in a local cafe instead. Caffi Gwynant at Nant Gwynant, who I must say do a lovely breakfast. We chose to go there as we were told by the farmers who owned the cottage that it was run by a man who used to be head chef at the Portmeirion Hotel.
After that we called in at Betws Y coed, as no visit to Snowdonia would be complete without it. We wandered around, and as we were the rain was getting heavier and heavier, thank goodness for good waterproofs is all I can say. MLO saw there was a bit of an antique fair on at the church, so he went in , and I went and sat in the dry of the church for a while and had a few quiet minutes.
After that we made our way to the Alpine cafe for a lovely cup of tea. (If you are ever in Betws, visit here just to see the amazing menu of various teas you can have, it would take months to drink your way through it). Finally we made our way home, and stopped for dinner at a pub in Shropshire somewhere. ( It was The Pound at Leebotwood) Where a lovely meal, ended a lovely holiday.
Back home, and the next day (Sunday) was church in the morning, which was fun, the In the afternoon, was the first confirmation class. I arrived with a couple of minutes to spare, unsure of what awaited in the room. There were three others already there, raring to go. M who is ten and a little shy, J who is 13 and incredibly intelligent for his age, A, who like me is quite the far side of 20, the vicar and myself. But, horror of horrors the chairs had been arranged in a circle , and I am never really comfortable with that. After a few introductions, we all spoke about why we had decided that we wanted to be confirmed, what we thought of God and all about ourselves. M didn't speak for the whole class, she was too shy. Poor thing. Once that was finished, off home, quick drink and on to evening church.
The week at work was quiet, nothing new there, so nothing to say either.
The following Sunday, I was working in the morning, so missed morning church. I got home from worked, showered, and got ready, then confirmation class at 4. It was all about prayer this week. He asked us to speak about our life, and what part prayer had t o play in it. When it came to me, I joked that I had prayed to find a parking space in town, before. Mr Vicar then asked if it had worked, and I had to admit that it had. Only thing was, I realised that it had probably sounded like I didn't really take it all that seriously when in fact I do. I just didn't want to say in front of everyone how much I pray, and how I pray, after they had all said that they didn't pray much, and appear as though I was showing off, or trying to go one better. So kept schtum on that. We then watched a video, about silence, not surprisingly , there wasn't an awful lot said, but messages appeared on the screen, every so often to get the message across. Afterwards, we spoke about the video, and silence, how important it is to us to have silence. The fact that we tend to use sound, music, TV, talking etc, as a means to avoid really thinking about ourselves, and finding out about ourselves, to run away from ourselves I suppose. And that we really need the silence to be able to start listening, listening to God.
I suppose I am lucky in a way, in that I don't mind silence, and am quite content to be silent for hours on end, whether praying, thinking, working or just lazing. But that is in part due to how I grew up I think, where TV wasn't always on, and I was perfectly happy to go upstairs and read, or think, without music playing. So I guess I'm just used to it. I also think that it is why I tend to think so much. I am always thinking about something, there is always some random thought popping into my head, and I really do mean random at times. Some people would probably just call it an overactive imagination, but it has come in very useful, and has helped me to be more able to see myself for who I really am. I try to imagine myself from other peoples point of view, and then try to work out what they think of me. Which can be a bit of a pain when you realise someone who is talking to you really isn't interested in talking to you at all. I can never work that one out, if you aren't interested, why bother, or at least attempt to find some common ground to talk about. But, never mind.
The vicar sent us off with a little practical, to sit quietly and to basically meditate on God - although he didn't put it like that, I think that was the gist of it. I tried to imagine, I had not really prayed before, and did what he had suggested, for the first few times I kept getting distracted, whether by noises outside, or thoughts in my head. Then some of the most bizarre thoughts came to mind.
I tried again. Several times in the past when I had been praying, there was an odd sensation almost like I could no longer feel my arms and legs, (either that or they had gone to sleep from the way I was knelt) almost if I was falling out of myself, if that makes any sense, which looking at it, it doesn't, and I began to feel a bit like that again, then nothing, complete nothingness, not empty though, hard to describe, like it was full. And I stayed like it for a few minute, then opened my eyes again. I felt quite chuffed as I thought I had managed about 5 minutes, then I glanced at the clock, it was an hour later. What, I lost an hour??? What happened there. I came to the conclusion I must have fallen asleep, but wasn't so sure, as I was sure I remembered, and definitely decided to open my eyes as a conscious thought. Whatever, if I had fallen asleep for the hour, it was a blooming good sleep, because I felt incredibly relaxed and refreshed. Must do it again sometime. ( I must add at this point, I'm not mad, at least I don't think I am)
Anyway, on that note, I must go to bed. It is late and I have to be off tomorrow (later on this morning) to see mum, either in Worcester, or Birmingham. Haven't decided yet.
