Again, quite a long time since my last post, never mind though I'm back now. Has been another quiet couple of weeks, hence the long gap between posts. Have had a longish week at work this week, as the other girl was off to Yorkshire, I had to cover her, so ended up doing 11 hour days most of this week, you have no idea how glad I am that I don't need to get up for work tomorrow. MLO has no work either, his mum is also off in Yorkshire, on a coach trip, so will be a lovely peaceful day at home.

Has been quite cold here, we have had the first proper Autumn mists and fogs, I love the smell of Autumn mornings, and the way the mist and fog muffle sounds, so everything seems all quiet and mysterious. This morning, as I didn't have to get to work till 9 , the sun was well up in the sky, and a mist was rising all through the trees and the fields, which looked so gorgeous, I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

It turned out to be a lovely sunny day today, and not that cold once the sun got going. For a change, there wasn't any church this evening, instead people from the evening church could go to a service at the cathedral celebrating twenty five years of the St Michael Hospice. The reason we went there instead, was because Mr M one of the people who is part of the church was one of the original founders all those years ago. He is a doctor, and the reason he started it along with another woman called Freda Pearce, was because he was so frustrated with the lack of proper care provisions for people with terminal illnesses, and after visiting a hospice in Birmingham (I think that is what he said) St Barnabas, he was so moved and amazed by the warmth that he received from staff and patients alike, that he decided to try to start a hospice in Herefordshire. 

Roll on a few years, after finding a suitable site, they negotiated with the sisters from the local convent, who agreed to let them have the land at a rent of £5 per year (I am sure that's what was said), and building work was started. 

A few other people talked about their part in the hospice, a ward sister, a daughter of someone who stayed there, and a couple of the other trustees and founders. The cathedral was almost full, and along with readings, poetry and some great hymn singing, was a brass band playing as well as the wonderful organ.  It was a lovely service.

A few days ago,  Thursday, just as I was closing up the shop, I heard an odd noise, I  looked and caught something out of the corner of my eye, a small dark object traveling at great speed around the shop, coming to a halt when it rammed into the large glass of the window. I looked at it and it turned out to be a poor little sparrow that had flown in at some point and couldn't find its way back out. I managed to pick it up, the poor thing was terrified (obviously) and also quite stunned, so I held it in my hand for a minute or so till it had calmed down. It was so warm and small. I then  had a customer who needed serving so held the sparrow in my hand for a couple more minutes, so it couldn't fly round the shop anymore, it really didn't appear to mind it all that much, once the customer had left, I thought it had better go back out, but I first wanted to get a picture, so out came the phone. The little sparrow was utterly unfazed and appeared to haver made itself quite at home on my hand, as I held it open, it didn't want to go anywhere. I went outside and held my hand up for it to go, but it didn't budge, so I shook my hand a little, still no sparrow, no go. I held my hand downwards, and the sparrow shinnied up my arm. Daft creature. So I looked at it and told it it really couldn't hang about on my arm all day long. the funniest thing was when it looked right at me, it must have been concussed,  as it blinked at me as though it sat on peoples arms everyday, and I was the one who was a bit daft for attempting to remove it. Adorable. I then told it in no uncertain terms that it really did have to go, and with one last blink, it left. 

Thinking about it, looking at the little thing, it couldn't have been a sparrow, as it has the wrong bill, I am guessing that it was a dunnock now.

Anyway, up to date again. So I am off to bed where I plan to stay until at least eight o clock in the morning. TTFN

Well, here we are, another week, and another month, and still nothing much to write about. Pathetic isn't it? Anyway, as I am feeling fairly game right now, I will attempt to convey a witty and amusing post full of hilarious anecdotes from my last week. Then I will stop; and realise, this is me we are talking about here, and give up. That sounded a bit miserable didn't it, it wasn't meant to though, as I am certainly not miserable in any way. 

Back to the last week, and it has been one of those all or nothing type of weeks, very quiet and slow, or full tilt ahead busy. Last Monday started off well enough, washing day as usual,Tuesday work, as usual. Tuesday was one of the crazy busy bits. Attempting to stick  three stamps each, on almost a thousand envelopes, and being expected to do it single handedly in just over an hour and a half, with several customers and a stock delivery in between, not sure whether to be flattered that they thought it possible of me, or otherwise just annoyed that they didn't have any idea how long it might take, and then being peeved at me for not managing it. Anyway help was drafted in, in the form of a driver, yard supervisor, cleaner and girl who should have been on her day off. Three quarters of an hour later we had finished , at last.

Wednesday was another day off, so I went to raid the local library for some brain food. Had a wander round town, then back home.

Thursday work again, interminably quiet day, Friday work also, quiet again, but not so bad as Thursday. Saturday and Sunday were also work days, and both went without incident.  

Sunday afternoon was church again, and it was Harvest Festival. The church had been decorated beautifully the previous day with all manner of flowers fruit and veg, including loads of lovely wild plants, fruit and bushes. We had taken a box full of tinned veg, meat fruit and drink for the harvest festival, as we arrived I stuck my head round the door, the place was full, but no other boxes were in evidence, and decided I must have misread the previous weeks pew sheet, so MLO left the box in the porch underneath the bench. Anyway, we went in and had to sit quite near the back as it was so full, which was brilliant. The sermon, rather than just thanking God for our harvest, for what we had been given, The vicar gave us a printout showing how much is spent on various aid packages, in comparison with how much is spent on wars, government bailouts, various company profits and individual peoples worth, the differences were shocking.

As we were leaving and talking with the vicar, he said he would know the final date for my confirmation date, on the 15th of this month. All I currently know is, that it will be in January sometime. 

Anyhoo, Yesterday was a day spent in the garden and doing tons of housework, today as is usual for a Tuesday, I was at work, although I did get to rescue a baby toad this evening at work, I found it hopping across the floor of one of our store rooms, so cute, and only just over an inch long. I got it to crawl into a big glass bowl, then took it outside and popped it in the garden of the people next door. Hope they didn't mind.  

There you are, all up to date. Not much to tell though. Sorry.

It took me rather longer to get back than I anticipated, so must apologise for the delay.

From Burnham Deepdale, We made or way back to the campsite to start packing up ready for leaving on Monday morning. When we returned to the campsite, the transformation was amazing, from being packed to the gunnels when we left in the morning, to being practically deserted on our return. And so quiet, we were originally a little peeved when everyone turned up on the Friday and then the Saturday, but it was great fun watching everyone doing their stuff. The campsite seemed almost eerily quiet that evening. 

Next morning and we had a nice early start, and got everything packed away into the car, then we took down the tent packed that all up and put it in the car and we were good to go. We had intended to call in to the village stores in Stiffkey before we left, but there was nowhere to park up. We carried on along the coast road towards Cromer,  stopping at Salthouse to climb up on the shingle bank and stare at the sea for a while. After shaking all the small pebbles out of our shoes we headed off towards Cromer again. When we arrived, we parked up, and walked into the town. 

It is quite a sweet place, nothing special, but nice and quiet. We had a wander around the place for a couple of hours, then , as it was getting towards lunchtime, MLO said we should have some fish and chips as we were beside the seaside, so off we went to find a suitable purveyor of our chosen lunch items. That done and the good purchased we went off to sit on a bench outside the church (the wind was way too fierce to sit looking out to sea, and the church was a good shelter form the wind). We ate our lunch and decided to go into the church and have a look round (what a surprise eh?). As we walked in there was a huge map of Britain, with pins in it that people had stuck in, to show where they had come from. There were a couple from near to where we lived, and we stuck in a pin for here. Then we looked around the rest of the church. Quite a nice bright and airy church, but with a fair bit roped off, so we couldn't see all of it. The tower was open for climbing up, but neither of us were feeling particularly energetic, so missed that, though we may do it next time we come to Norfolk. 

Then it was time to leave for home. As we were lower down Norfolk we decided to cut across country rather than going back up towards Peterborough and across from there. So worked out a route that came home via Norwich, Cambridge, Bedford, Milton Keynes Buckingham Oxford and Gloucester. It took a while longer  than the journey over, but that was due mainly to there being mile after mile of roadworks by Bedford. Much more interesting traveling that way home and much less tedious than cutting across from Coventry to Peterborough . 

Anyway we got home about half past nine and had to unload the cat right away as MLO had work on one of his farms early next morning. 

I went back to work on the Thursday, so had a couple of days rest at home to get over the holiday. It was good to be back at work actually, surprised myself how good it felt to be back.  Work went without incident, Mr and  Mrs Boss were away for the weekend in Italy, so nice and peaceful about the place.

On Sunday, it was back to church again, and it was nice to be back there again. Back to normal. Monsieur Vicar, said it was nice to see us again and have us back which was nice. He asked us how our holiday was. That service, as it was our evening worship rather than a communion service the vicar had a lady from the other church come and lead the service, who wants to be a vicar. It was a lovely service. She led very well, not sure I would have the guts to do it myself,  infact the idea of doing it is too scary to contemplate. 

Last week passed rather uneventfully, it was weekend off again, so met Mum in Hereford on Saturday as it was here turn to come down here. Unusually for a Saturday MLO wasn't at the football working, so had his company all day too which was a lovely bonus. After scrambled eggs on toast at All Saints, we wandered aimlessly for several hours, not doing anything in particular.  I suggested that we could go to the Evensong at the cathedral, everyone seemed in agreement, so we wandered over just before half five and settled down for the service.  Mum enjoyed it, MLO enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it, so all happy there, just hope they didn't mind three people turning up with shopping bags in tow, spread all over the pew. Mum caught the train back at eight o clock.

Yesterday, being my Sunday off, we went to the morning service and the evening service. The morning one was a morning worship service, so all sorts were going on. There was a man called Shem there, who was headmaster at the Archbishop John Sepeku secondary school in  Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, which a few of the teachers from the Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat school had visited.  The Diocese of Hereford was twinned with three in Tanzania, and three projects were chosen by the Bishops of the three Dioceses in Tanzania, of which the school is one. It was opened in 2004, but is still desperately underfunded and the headmaster 's dearest wish is to enable him to grow the school to reach even more students, but cannot do so without more building work, and money for basics such as textbooks. There is an old chapel there which he would love, to be restored, and several blocks of buildings are unfinished, even the kitchens still have no roof on them. He came to talk about what had been done, what needed doing, and what was needed to do it, a basket was set up at the exit of the church for people to donate money for the school as we left. The evening service was also very enjoyable as we had no organist, and no other means of accompaniment, so we all sang a capella (if that is how you spell it, I'm not certain).The first hymn was an interesting mix of several different tunes all vying for position, I cant remember what that one was though. The second was a resounding success Alleluia. Sing to Jesus. Which everyone one knew, so we sang our hearts out, it sounded great, the organ really wasn't missed for that one. The last hymn was Breathe on me Breath of God, great MLO and I thought, we know the tune to this one too, so this'll be a good one too. Unfortunately the person who got us started also knew the tune, but a completely different one to the one we knew, but we just about got the hang of it by the last verse.  Still good fun though. After the service as we were getting ready to go, the vicar said that the confirmations would probably be in January, but he just had to book the confirmation classes. seems by that comment that he wont be doing them, just so long as he doesn't stick us on an Alpha course, I don't worry who it is, but it would have been nice to have the vicar. But then again, my hearing really isn't the best perhaps I misheard, at least I hope so. 

Well, there I am up to date again, sort of. I didn't include today, I thought I had wittered on enough already, so will do today tomorrow or the day after.  

Nothing much to write about again today, but I thought I should at least make some sort of effort. When I looked at my blog earlier it had pretty blue pictures all over it telling me that I had exceeded my bandwidth. It wasn't me though but the person who was hosting the images for the template I use. I have now copied the images and saved them to a draft post so never need worry about bandwidth again.

Was a quiet day at work again, no surprises there. One exciting thing though we are going to have a complete makeover (the garage, not The Other Girl and I). After 10 years of putting up with dreadful magnolia walls and oil stained flooring, it's about time. We will have plumbed in heating too for the first time in years, which will be great. In winter, it is quite often warmer in the fridge than in the rest of the place. Had a chap in on Tuesday to measure the place up and decide on plans etc. Probably the least talkative man on earth.  So spent a slightly uncomfortable couple of hours wondering whether to say something and not get an answer, or just say nothing and have him think me ignorant. I hate it when things like that happen.

Yesterday as MLO had to collect some paperwork from one of his farms, and I had a day off I went with him for a ride. Rather brilliantly, the farm was over at Garway, MLO said as I had wanted to go there for so long, he would take me there after finally figuring out where in the village it is.  Nice old church it is, all angles where bits have been added, changed and joined together. We had a good look round the inside and took a few pictures, including one of a rather lovely green man. Inside it had some gorgeous old solid oak pews, but the poor place was very damp and dirty. Several of the steps had green algae on them. We decided to sit down for a few minutes when  a couple of people came in, shortly followed by another. The last lady turned out to be some sort of guide, and was about to open up the tower for the other two people to look at and said we could come along too if we wished.  As we went through she gave us all the history of the place and told us all sorts of stories about the church. Mainly about the Templars but that was to be expected I suppose. 

One fascinating thing was that in the 16th century when a passageway was built to connect the tower to the church, the resourceful builders reused  most of the templar tombstones as window lintels and steps, so when you look up above the windows there is quite often a carved sword or similar. The tower itself is 13th century, and has walls that are 4ft thick. It does feel incredibly old when you go in, and has two deeply recessed windows, that would look just as at home in a castle.

 On the floor in the tower were some lovely old tombstones beautifully carved. In the corner was the door up into the tower, but the lady said they wont allow anyone up there any more, as it is so dark and narrow, plus she said with the tower being open there is bird doo all over the stairs. She said the last time anyone was up there was five years ago when they took a group up, problem was, one lady got so scared she refused to come back down the narrow stairs, and it took almost two hours to coax her down. Also in the room along with a rather nice collection of lawnmowers and bellringing ropes was an old oak chest, almost 7 ft long and made from a single block of wood, and the gnarliest metal hinges which the lady told us  was thought to be an original templar chest, she mentioned that a dendrochronolgist had been and dated it, and he agreed with the dating. Apparently other tests had been done to determine how old it really was, and they too came to the conclusion that it was templar, but she wasn't sure what test it was that had been done.

After we had had another look round inside, and listened to a bit of the history of the place, we went for a wander round outside. A short distance across a bit of a run down orchard/paddock was the dovecote or columbarium, we didn't have much time to go and see it, besides which we hadn't asked the people who owned the land. All the time we were outside we could hear a bird of prey screeing, and looked if we could see it, from what we saw, and heard, it was probably a hen harrier, which is quite cool, thats twice I have seen one in Herefordshire now. He ended up sitting in a tree for several minutes and calling out almost the whole time, so no idea what was up with it. To finish, we strolled up to the top of the graveyard and took a couple of pictures looking down on the church to finish off. 

We came home via a lovely road , and ended up coming out at Pontrilas, a very lovely detour indeed.  We got home just after half past seven, and had shepherds pie for tea.

That just about all there is to tell now, so will say ttfn for now, and au revoir etc etc. 

MLO and I have finally been able to get a few days together that don't clash with work or everything else, so that we can go off and get away from it all for a few days. Yay. So next month, we will be off for four whole days. Even better, I have finally persuaded MLO after 14 years of badgering to agree to go on a walking holiday. The kind where you leave the car, then walk for the next however long, stopping off en-route, each night and setting off again the next day. We will be carrying all our stuff in rucksacks so need to pack light. However, the only way I could convince him to agree, was to agree to going somewhere with no hills. So we will be walking the North Norfolk Coastal Path, which for the most part is flat, but with lovely views, and lovely places to visit along the way. Am really looking forward to it.
Yesterday, as the vicar was still away, we were very honoured to have the Archdeacon of Hereford the Ven Malcolm Colmer take the service, enjoyable service it was too. Afterwards MLO and I had a really long natter with C who we see every week, had a great laugh with him too, first time I had really talked with him since we started to go to the church.
Work was exceptionally quiet over the weekend, hardly came as a surprise though, seeing as it has been so quiet lately anyway.
Cannot think of much else to talk about right now, although I have been busy messing around on photoshop making new and pretty backgrounds for twitter and my computer.
Oh well, that really is all I can think of to write about now, will try to do something a little more interesting and less mundane, just so I can write about it, maybe I should start writing about what I read? I dont know. Anyway ttfn etc etc.

A short post here, as I don't have much to tell, and am really wondering why I am bothering to spend time writing about the fact that I have nothing to write about, but there you go, I am in one of those sort of moods right now, so that probably explains it.
The last few days have been exceptionally quiet at work, I think most of the population of Herefordshire have gone on holiday to sunnier climes, so very very quiet.
The weather today decided to be dry for the first time in ages, so there has been a mad flurry of combining and spraying and other things while the weather remains dry, round about the county. We have been quite lucky with the weather here it seems, in Warwickshire there have been downpours. After a small chance of rain here tonight it is set fair for the next week or so, but mainly cloudy, not much sun.

Yesterday at home we were invaded by flying ants. They all seemed to hatch at once, and at one point the grass of one of the front lawns was literally seething with them, a little while later though and they had almost all flown off. Spoke to an old boy who comes in occasionally, Mr M, and the same thing happened at his farm, at the same time too. When I was younger, and still lived in Birmingham, it used to happen there too, on one single day there would be flying ants everywhere, as they all seemed to hatch at the same time. The pavements used to get into a gunky mess from all of the ants that had been trodden on.
MLO and I have been trying to figure out when we can get away together this year, so far we haven't managed to get away, but the beginning of September is looking hopeful. Fingers crossed.
Have been having a few talks with MLO about stuff the past few days, figuring things out a bit more. Strange feeling lately though, everything has gone a bit quiet, not a completely bad feeling, just a bit odd, need to have a good old thinking and praying session. Preferably in peace and quiet, but that is a bit of a rare commodity lately, so will see how I get on. Other than that all is ok.
Anyway have work again in less than 8 hours, so must get off to bed asap, so night night.

As the weathermen promised, it has started to rain. They said it would arrive at about four this afternoon, and, at four this afternoon, just as we were promised, it started to rain. Not a gentle warming up either, it really went for it and started tipping it down almost immediately. For the next two hours it was almost like a monsoon outside, but then as suddenly as it started, it stopped again. It is still dry as I write this (20 past 10), but we have been warned to expect dreadful weather tomorrow. Thunder lightning, high winds and more torrential rain. So long as nowhere gets flooded out, I shall be loving every moment of it.  Although as we have been more or less promised this weather, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up coming to nothing, it is suspiciously calm and dry outside right now. 

Today at work was as usual, quiet, so no surprises there. Managed to get quite a bit more reading done with all the peace and quiet  -Sometimes my job can be wonderful. 

I watched the new X files movie the other night after I had gone to bed, MLO had bought it in one of the sales in town.  Not a patch on the old series, no depth, and the characters didn't act like themselves, and the plot -what on earth was that all about? Sorry, you can probably tell I was less than impressed. After loving the X files from when I was in school, and the first movie carrying on where the series left off, to be presented with the pile of drivel that is the second movie, I was not impressed. Rant over, but it could have been so very much better. 

Oh well, am off to bed now, and I think I will watch Waking Ned, or Father Ted, not sure which yet. But both side splittingly funny.  Off to bed now, so night night. 

Saturday has been and gone. So too has Friday, where did they both go? The whole of this month, and the last few months too has gone by in a whirl. Someone is nicking time, has to be.

Was pretty spectacularly stormy again yesterday, lots of thunder and excitement in the skies. Love it. As a result, although today was rather hot, it wasn't so muggy as it had been. The perfect day for being at the seaside however, I only think that for the simple reason that I would really have liked to be there rather than at work. Work itself wasn't really all that bad. Not overly quiet, and we did have a busy spell this morning which was nice. Two coach tours went out this morning, one to Eastbourne and Canterbury, and the other to the Isle of Wight, so was all go on the yard for a short time.

P came up for a chat as usual, his sisters husband over in Ireland had died, and was a little sad about that, had tried calling her but hadn't managed to get through. He was quite upset because he couldn't get to Ireland to the funeral. Mr M came in too for a chat, but as MLO was there and as Mr M is quite shy, he didn't stop. he'll be in tomorrow probably. The man with droopy eyes came in again for the first time in months, and the ice cream van man too, so lots of chatty types today which was nice.

MLO needed to go shopping when I finished work this evening, so we went into town, got myself a lovely piece of fish for my tea, which went down a treat.

Mum was gallivanting round Oxfordshire today, Blagdon, Blenheim Palace and Woodstock.

I had a very odd dream last night. I was somewhere in America, at least that's what the houses looked like. It started out with us (myself and whoever I was with, don't know who they were), coming out of house, in front of us was a big old oak tree that was bare, not sure if it winter, or it was dead. One of the big side branches had come down onto a neighbours house and left a hole in the roof, I remember thinking, "Oh well, it could have been a lot worse" next thing, the tree cracks and another huge branch started to come down, I remember at that point realising it was somehow my fault, then woke up, so don't know whether the second branch caused any damage. Don't think I have ever dreamt of trees before. I did dream of Germany a lot once, but not for a long time. Cant explain that one either for that matter. Why do we dream? Quite fun though for the most part, admittedly.

Am now off to bed, see if I dream tonight, if I do I usually remember it. MLO says he never dreams, strange, either that or he does, and just doesn't remember.

Night night.

R.I.P  MICHAEL JACKSON.

Ooh hasn't today been lovely, well, it has been with us here anyway, a lovely cool start and ending up with glorious warm sunshine. Wonderful. Am writing this, after having been on Twitter, and also just having heard that Michael Jackson has died. I don't know why but it has made me feel quite sad, I suppose because he always seemed so lonely to me. 

The past two days haven't been too bad really, yesterday was a little sweaty, but not too bad, today warmer but fresher, rain must be on the way. Actually rain is on the way, have had a few storm warnings issued, but doubt they will reach here, but you never know. 

It was pretty busy at work today which was wonderful, much much nicer to work when it is busy, instead of waiting up to and hour between customers, which has happened from time to time, people were queueing up.  Yesterday was quite a bit quieter, and we took less than half of what we managed today. 

Have been feeling pretty joyful about everything today, don't ask me to explain, or give a reason why, because I couldn't do so , even if I tried. Everything is making me smile again. I felt like giving complete strangers big hugs and bursting into song all the time. It's great. :-)

Only four more days until I go to see the vicar about being baptised and stuff. I say stuff, because after what My Lovely Other said to him, I think I should come clean about precisely what my reasons are for wanting to be baptised (or "dunked" as MLO so eloquently puts it)  and confirmed, strangely I am now looking forward to telling him. I want to get it off my chest so to speak.  

Weird that I feel higher than a kite about everything today. Will enjoy it while it lasts. 

Well, here we are, Wednesday again. Although as I type, it is still Tuesday night as far as I am concerned.

We have had a couple of interesting days weather wise here. Monday was lovely up until about ten last night, and the heavens opened. Blimey, I have never seen rain so heavy in all my life. Within half a minute, the water was 3 inches deep outside the front door, it could not drain away fast enough. The gutters were all overflowing, even though they are clean. Mad rain. Then came the thunder and lightning. Pretty spectacular. Very cool when the thunder booms and you can still hear it ages later as it rolls around and echoes off the surrounding hills. The lightning was the sort that lights up the whole sky, the odd thing about it was I was sure I could smell it. Very peculiar indeed. The weather lasted a couple of hours, then faded away into nothing, and Tuesday started off with bright glorious sunshine. That's how the day stayed too, got fairly warm this afternoon, and has started to feel humid, so no doubt we will be getting rain tomorrow.

Had to put the price of petrol up again by four pence per litre. The price now stands at £1.08 per litre for both diesel and unleaded petrol. So, understandably custom was down yet again. as far as I can gather, so my boss informs me anyway,  the so called shortage was actually engineered by the oil companies in this country in order to  push the price up. Rather underhanded if it is true, and even seems slightly illegal to me, but then I know nothing about the laws of this country, so am probably completely wrong, still doesn't seem right though.

Other than the price of fuel not much to tell about work. A couple of our farmer customers stopped by for fuel and a bit of a chat. A lot of the talk was about Dairy Farmers of Britain. Quite a few local farmers were part of the cooperative, and quite apart from the fact that they wont be paid for the milk they produced last month, a lot also had money invested in the company, just four I know of will have lost between them almost half a million pounds. Money that they could not afford to lose. The amount of jobs that are expected to be lost in the company, and also on farms where staff can no longer be paid, is expected to exceed the total job loss at LDV, there will be no government help for the farmers here though. Farmers and farming seem to be last in the list of government priorities.

Vicar rang up yesterday evening, but for some reason my mobile didn't ring just went straight to answerphone, and then didn't inform me until over an hour later, otherwise I could have rung back. I have managed to wheedle out of MLO some more info on what he may or may not have said. Seems he did say something. What do I say to the vicar now? I feel like running for cover and hiding under a pile of rocks about it all. I really wanted to leave it quite a while yet before anything was said, and now it is all wrong. Much too soon. But hey, maybe it is the right time, and I just haven't realised it yet, maybe it's what should happen. I wont know till I call the vicar back, just have no idea what to say?  There I go again, worrying about things that haven't happened yet. I'm pretty good at that lately. If MLO did say what I am now pretty certain he did say, I can't pretend that he was lying, or making it up. Bummer. I actually ended up listening to the answerphone message more than once, to see what I could pick up from the tone of his voice, and attempt to figure out what he was thinking. No use though, I think the only thing I found out, is that he probably doesn't like answerphones.

I Will call back tomorrow, all he said was that, unfortunately his evenings in June were pretty much taken up already, and would like to have a chat with me, left his study number, and said he looked forward to hearing from me soon.  If I can't get through before Sunday, it will be a little awkward in church, I know that. 

Oh what the heck. I could be knocked down by a bus tomorrow, I will just go wherever I am taken.  Forget about worrying, and what people think, I should be out there screaming from the rooftops. That's even how I feel sometimes. 

 I am going to stop now, if I carry on I will tie my brain up in knots. Am off to bed after a couple of games of minesweeper. So night night everyone.

Well that's Wednesday all done with. I will shortly be off to bed, as to be quite honest, I am knackered. Didn't manage to get any sleep last night again, not until about half past four anyway. Was up at seven, I couldn't manage half six, no way Jose could I. Got to work at eight, and finished just after seven tonight, then straight off shopping with MLO, and eventually got home at just after nine. As I am on holiday cover this week, I have ended up doing an eleven hour day, for the whole week. Tiring is not the word. Will Be glad when Sunday comes, as I only have to do a four hour day then. 

I shouldn't really complain though, at least I have a job. It was lovely and busy this morning, but it tailed off towards the afternoon. That could have had something to do with the weather though, as it certainly got a bit thundery later on, after lunch. Lovely purple grey and yellow overcast sky, lashing rain on and off, and  plenty of thunder to add to the mix. I love really stormy weather, I absolutely Love it. If I hadn't been at work, I would probably have been outside in it, screaming like a banshee while running around with my arms in the air. I have no idea why I feel the need to do that in stormy weather, but it sure is fun.  

Off to bed now. Night night. 

Since I switched my computer on this evening, I keep getting an intermittent problem. The screen will go black, then come back on with a notification come up that a driver failed, but recovered. After investigating on the net, it turns out it is more or less terminal. How wonderful. I have only had the ruddy computer just over 14 months, and it has hardly been used in that time really. So will ring up the manufacturer tomorrow, and see whether there is any joy to be had there. Both computers giving up on me in the space of a couple of months, is not great. Really not great.
Back to today, I finally got to sleep sometime after six this morning, crazy sleepless nights. I woke up again just before nine. Although I should be tired right now, I'm not, and am wide awake. The only caffeine I have had today was in a cup of tea which I had at half past five.
We didn't go anywhere in the end. MLO realised he had some paperwork left to do for one of his farms, and didn't finish that till after midday. We had to take a farm diary back to one of his farms over at Eaton Bishop, so we did pop in to the church there on the way back for a look.Three are some amazing windows there, the glass in them dates back to 14th C, and they are really rather beautiful. The whole church is rather beautiful in fact.
He has to take another load of paperwork to a farm just outside Monmouth tomorrow, so I will go with him, and we will have a wander there.

Not a lot to tell here today. Weather was wonderful again, as it has been now for days. The morning was not overly quiet at work, with the usual rush just before closing time. As it was the last day of the month, a few of the account customers came in to put fuel etc onto their account before they are sent out tomorrow. Plus I had the usual Sunday closing time rush. Don't ask me why they do it, but for some reason the customers leave it until the very last possible minute before coming up.  If ever I say anything about the time, the reply I nearly always get is, "Yes I know, that's why I came up because you  are about to close".  Why they cant come up at quarter to I will never know. Anyway rant over.

MLOs mother was packed off, up to Northumberland for the next seven days. So a quiet happy and peaceful house is resumed. It is as good as having a holiday when she is away. If I want to mooch around in my undies I can without worry, and if the washing up isn't done immediately it doesn't matter. Bliss.

Church this evening was enjoyable.  Vicar gave a very different sermon for Pentecost compared to his usual fare, and couldn't help but smile when in his sermon he used several sentences of something I read only that morning online. A few different faces about there too.

Lately when it has come to Communion, I have been staying in the pew, and not even going up for a blessing. It has suited me this way, and I figured it would make it a bit more special for when I had been baptised and confirmed. Trouble was I frequently got extremely disapproving looks from some of the congregation. Anyway, tonight, I saw the vicar frown in my direction as the last few had been given Communion. I hoped that he didn't feel offended or think I was deliberately turning my nose up at it. I had really wanted to talk to the vicar about getting baptised and confirmed, but he was always talking with someone else, so never had the chance, and really would rather talk face to face than via e-mail etc. Well, at the end of the service, the Vicar came over and asked me why it was I didn't go up for communion. When I answered him that I hadn't even been baptised, he seemed genuinely surprised at my answer, so what on earth did he think my reasons were?

Anyhoo, all turned out great, he said to me to leave my name and address with the parish office, and we can get together and have a chat about baptism. So all turned out pretty spectacularly well. Odd that all week since last Sunday I have felt like something was getting going, and I told MLO. I also was sticking to the notion that things will happen in their own time, and they have, but its like I was expecting it if that makes sense.

Oh well, it is another late night for me, so must get to bed asap. Am going to bed in a really happy mood. Very different to how I felt early on yesterday and the day before. All is well.

At work for a large proportion of the day today. And boy was it quiet. I was truly glad to get from there tonight, it drives me insane when it is that quiet. One small consolation though, I did manage to get some reading time in while I was there, so perhaps I shouldn't complain too much. The roads were eerily quiet today, so not sure why that might have been.
Went quickly shopping after I had finished work this evening, to my favourite supermarket. I was busy looking round when MLO came rushing up, and said "You have to look at this, there is a man eating food straight out from the fridge". So I followed him, and lo and behold there, bold as brass was indeed a man eating straight from the fridge. At the point I arrived, he was busy tucking into some black pudding and a 4 pint bottle of milk. I looked at him, and almost burst out laughing.( Not very Christian I know). But seriously, he was so calm about it, he really looked at home there, like it was his fridge. I said "We cant watch him all day", so continued with our shopping. Five minuted later and we passed by the aisle again, he was still there. Eating away contentedly. MLO at this point got a bit annoyed about the whole thing and went off to find a staff member. He came back ( to my shame I was stood watching the peckish perpetrator). He showed him the chap in question. The security man went up to him slowly, when he got close enough, Mr hungry just looked up at him, such innocence on his face, chewing on more black pudding, you couldn't make it up, and the look on his face was priceless.
Thinking about it, there were lots of other people who must have come across him, but being typically British thought they'd better not get involved, just look a bit bemused by the whole thing.
Must go to bed now, sorry not much to report.

Today is Tuesday the 12th of May. And I have been at work for a large proportion of the day. Not my idea of a perfect day, but hey, it pays the bills doesn't it.
Nothing exciting happened at work today, unless you consider a very large delivery from Bookers Wholesale exciting that is. Wasn't overly quiet which made a nice change, Made almost double the total of some days, plus we had 25 of our account customers come in and spend their hard earned cash with us.
The weather yet again was utterly lovely, if a little windy again. We really are being spoiled with all the blue skies and sunshine, and will probably have to pay for it at some point.
I couldn't finish praying this morning without several annoying interruptions, which led to me having a rather un-Christian strop with myself. Felt like throwing my toys out of the pram I did. Didn't get me very far though as no-one was listening to me stropping. So gave up as it seemed a futile and pointless endeavour.
I am listening to Finzi on Spotify as I type this. Lovely relaxing music to wind down to at the end of the day.
Not a lot to tell about today really. Except that more and more, I am getting to midweek and seriously needing to go to Church again, as Sunday seems too far away for me to manage. Even though I pray every day, morning and evening, plus occasionally noon and night too, there is something about going to and being in Church that calms my soul, and tops me up for a couple of days. But I seem to run out. Will have to make another attempt at the Wednesday service I think.
Off to bed now though, as it is a little late again so night night one and all.

I am currently at work, sat at my desk and enjoying life today. I am in one of those moods. The sun is out, the birds are singing with all their might and everyone else seems to be in a good mood too. Wonderful day. Thank God I am alive and well, and able to enjoy it. Has been a bit quiet, but not so as it gets boring. Still time for something to happen.
Will post again later today, but first I have to finish work. Probably will go shopping later on as we didnt make it yesterday.

Was an uneventful day today all told. Nothing happened. Got up, went to work, worked came home, ate dinner, washed up and went on the computer (where I still am now).
Having a particularly cheesy end to the day at present, busy listening to Andy Williams croon away on Spotify. What a brilliant thing Spotify is. If you aren't using it yet I highly recommend it. Free and legal. I love it.
For dinner tonight I did a spicy spatchcock chicken with salad and rice. Rather lovely it was too, if I do say so myself. MLO seemed suitably impressed with it as well, so result there.Have to have a shower yet tonight, as I wont have time in the morning for one before I go to work. Then lunch, time in the garden hopefully and church. I am still going to tell the vicar tomorrow, but come tomorrow, I will probably bottle it, knowing me (which I do fairly well).
I thought I would stick a photo on here of the church I will be going to tomorrow night, as it is really quite lovely. Not one I took mind.
Like a quite a few other churches in Herefordshire, it has a lovely black and white tower, well some of it is. Apparently part of the nave dates back to the early 12th century, and Edward Elgar used to cycle here from his home in Hereford city, to play on the lovely organ there. So that's quite interesting isn't it?
Inside the walls are whitewashed so it is beautifully light inside, and it still has proper pews, not chairs. Out of the two churches I go to, I think this one is nicer in a way, I suppose it is because it is a rural church, rather than the town one I visit on the alternate week. (The reason I do this is due to the fact I work every other Sunday morning, so cannot get to the morning service at the vicars town church every week, so go to his other church for the Sunday evening service instead. Works quite well I think. Not sure what the vicar thinks though, probably just wishes we'd make our minds up which one to go to and stick with it). Another plus point is that at the evening service, we get to sing hymns. Which I love. The morning service doesn't have hymns, but at 8:00am on a Sunday morning, I doubt anyone there has the energy to sing.
Am busy wondering exactly how I will word what I want to tell the vicar tomorrow. Do I just come straight out with it, or circle the issue and hope that he brings it up instead, but I suppose that would be hoping too much. After telling him I want to be baptised and confirmed, will he want to know why? If he asks, it will probably make it a bit easier to tell him. I expect what will happen though is he will say he's busy, and to call the parish office to make an appointment.
I have just opened a can of diet Vimto, which I utterly adore, it is definitely my drink of choice, has been since I was a kid, that and Irn-Bru, which is almost as gorgeous. Funny thing is, Vimto has become our number 1 selling drink at work, everyone seems to like it these days, but for a very long time, you didn't seem able to get it anywhere, bit like Victory Vs, I love them too.
I have just realised, tomorrow is Vocations Sunday.... I guess he will assume I am only saying something because of that, I expect his sermon will be about that , oh I dont know, but then neither will I know if I dont say a thing. GRRR I could scream sometimes, it is my own silly head that is doing it, I should really just trust God on this, I certainly trust him infiniely more than I did, My overactive mind and imagination seem to take over occasionally, which really isnt good.
Anyhoo. The time has come the walrus said, to think of many things, like sailing ships and ceiling wax and going to bed, and things.
Night night on and all.

My mum got back from her little sojourn into the Welsh hills and mountains today, She left me a text message to let me know she was back alright, and the message that she would be calling me later on. Typical, all week I have been attempting to get to talk to her to no avail, she was obviously having far to much fun. Now she is back, and at home again, she wants to talk. She was rather annoyed about the fact that cannot meet up tomorrow as we usually do every other week. Problem was last weekend I swapped to this weekend because of MLO and his mother going to London. I did try to let her know, but as I said she was enjoying herself far too much.
Oh dear, I sound like I am getting all bitchy about my mother there, I'm not, really I'm not, but she is a bit like that.
For once work was enjoyably busy, at times anyway. Managed to take practically double what we managed yesterday, which was nice. One lady came in, and wandered round for a while, and ended up spending over £50 on sweets, ice creams biscuits and other stuff, kind of got the feeling that she may have been a compulsive spender, as her son, who couldn't have been more than 7 years old, kept saying that they didn't want half the stuff she had. But what can you do?
Well the weather was quite nice for most of the day, then went all rainy and miserable, and cheered up again just in time for the evening. Lovely.
I overslept this morning a little, I didn't manage to get out of bed until 25 minuted before I was due to leave for work. I really never thought it possible to get washed and dressed and ready so quickly. I also know that I need to sleep, almost fell asleep at work again today, which has the potential to be rather embarrassing, imagine if the boss walked in just when I was dozing, what the heck could I say to explain myself? I don't want to think about that. Have to buy a pair of matchsticks I will.
Have been mooching around the inter net for religious / Christian blogs and websites. Its strange, I never came across them when I wasn't looking for them, but now I am actively searching them out, they are everywhere. Not that I am complaining, because I am not. One thing I seem to have come up blank with on my searches has been blogs or websites about people who feel called, but before it is all out in the open as such, with maybe only close family or partners knowing. And what they are feeling, what thoughts are going through their heads, how their partners cope with the news etc. I'm sure there are blogs out there that pertain to this, but I haven't found them yet.
It would help if I could read about people in the same sort of circumstances, almost everything you read is about people who are well on the way, maybe having spoken with their vicar moths before, or people who have started training.
I'm waffling again, my brain is disconnecting from the rest of me. That means it is time for bed, and to try to get some sleep.. hopefully .
Sorry not a very long post, but I am just too tired right now. Had to shopping after work, then cook for a demanding future mother in law, then tidy up etc. Then mum rang, so very long day.
Night night everyone.

Well, today started rainy, was dry and sunny in the middle, then rain again, I think it is currently dry. There you have the weather report for east/central Herefordshire. And now for the rest of the news (wrong way round, but see what I did there?).
Was an interminably dull day at work. What happened to all the people out there, because they sure as heck weren't coming into the shop, beamed up by hitherto unknown alien lifeforms? Wiped out in some freak mass extinction? Gone to town shopping? I don't know. Perhaps a couple of those scenarios were a little outlandish, but then again....
I haven't been sleeping all that well lately. Getting to sleep at about 3am and later has been the norm, not great when I need to be up before 7 for work. So, consequently this week I have been going round like a zombie during the day. Bits will start to drop off before long. I reckon my arms will be the first bits to give up. :-) It is my weekend on this weekend, so I really must try my hardest to get some sleep. (not that I haven't been trying already admittedly.
Have absolutely made up my mind now, about the "telling the vicar" thing. This Sunday is the day, I am psyching myself up to say. I have no idea why I should find it so difficult to tell him, after all he was there once himself, and if I should be saying anything to anyone then he's the man. But I am convinced that he will laugh me away, and tell me to go away, or something along those lines.
MLO told me I was being stupid thinking that, and in all probability he will be totally fine about it. He is more than likely right, but it doesn't stop me worrying.
I am a natural born worrier when it comes to what people think of me. Everything else, and I am the most totally laid back person you could ever hope to meet.
Trouble is, what if he doesn't really believe me in what I say, or worse still, think I am somehow trying to take the mickey out of him? Stopped at the first hurdle, I would have to find another church and start the whole getting to know the vicar and others all over again.
MLO's mother is in the breakfast room at present cleaning out one of her cupboards, never have I met anyone who makes such a fuss over getting a simple job done. Sat on the floor surrounded by the former contents of the aforementioned cupboard, she has given up now I think. She wants someone else to put it all away again for her. She can be a real trial sometimes. But there you go, that's how she has always been, so I shouldn't really expect a miraculous personality alteration.
Have been doing a few more of the "What kind of Christian are you" quizzes, some come out sort of where I would expect them to, but some not so near. If I took into account all the main outcomes from the quizzes, I would be classed as: An evangelical, neo orthodox, postmodern emergent Wesleyan Anglican. So make of that what you will, certainly covers a lot of bases. I have listed those more or less in the frequency they turned up in quizzes. But as Anglican was only an option in one of the quizzes, it is at the end, but I am definitely more Anglican than that. Plus, I am not so sure about the evangelical bit either really, having thought about it, I can identify with some of it, but it seems to be at two extremes, one end is so liberal, I don't feel it is really church as such, the other end is so conservative, and rigid, that it seems a little crazy. Unless you stick me firmly in the middle, then perhaps it would be about right. I dont know though.
I think the time has come for me to go to bed and attempt to get some shuteye. So night night all.

This morning, MLO took me to work, which was awfully nice of him. He then proceeded to stay for the next two and a quarter hours. We ended up having a reaaly good talk about everything.
Previously, whenever I had asked MLO if he was ok about everything, he simply said "Yes, no problems, all ok." Thing was, I wasn't too certain that he really was all ok. I felt that something was niggling at him, but wasn't certain what. I thought that the reason he seemed a lttle bit unsure, was because he really wasn't certain in himself that he agreed that I should follow what I believed I should do. But, it turned out, that he really is A.OK about me doing it, it was just that he had a few little worries about things such as , would we need to move if I ever got to that stage, and what would be expected of him. Seems as though every time I had asked him if everything was OK, he was misunderstanding the way I intended the question. I meant was he OK, he thought I meant was he OK with me, he didn't realise I meant was he OK.
We are all nice and sorted out now, and I can tell a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. From a rather selfish point of view though, I was so relieved when he said that he didn't have any misgivings about me going ahead with things, I was so terrified that he didn't think I should. So, to be honest I am a lot lot happier now that's all sorted out.
The thing with MLO is he is never one to really show his feelings too much, and if you ask him he'll just say "Oh I'm alright" when you know he isn't really, but today he managed to talk about his feelings, worries and thoughts, in a way he has never managed before.
One of our customers came in today looking for computer advice. Not sure why they always come to me about it I'm sure, but I'm honoured that they do. Turns out, he has just had a savings account mature, one that he has had saving for 45 years, I cannot begin to imagine what sort of interest that has gathered, but anyway, with his new found wealth he wanted advice on which would be a good computer for him, a he has never had one before. He had been to PCWorld and to Comet and come up with a couple at the amount he wanted to spend, and also said he had spoken with the staff there. I do not understand why they do what they do there, and tell outright lies, in order to make a sale. They told him he would need at least 500Gb hard drive, 4Gb RAM, full hd screen, Blu-Ray, and a good graphics card, when he told them all he wanted to do was go on the internet. Cheeky buggers they are. They then tried to tell him that if he bought a computer off them, then he absolutely must buy their extended warranty, at £350 for two years. The computer is covered for that length by a manufacturers warranty, how can companies like PCWorld etc get away with it. Scaring customers with tales of woe, to make them feel obliged to buy the warranties?
Anyway, we found a really good one at Mesh computers for him, same price, but far far better.

On the way home tonight we saw an amazing cloud in the sky, after searching around on google, it turns out it was what is known as a cumulonimbus incus, very exciting to see. Other half got a pic on his phone, but unable to upload to my computer, so have another image off the net of one that is practically identical. If I can get the image off his phone, I will put that on aswell.