Mike's musings

Off to Canada again

No, not today, or even tomorrow - week of the 11th, looks like. Tomorrow I've got a tutorial. And a supervision. _And_ my mum's coming to stay. I suspect that Jo will be gutted when she discovers that her grandpa's not coming too (though we _have_ told her).

Up at 0430 this morning. Hmmm.

The Christmas story

Jo knows the story now, or enough of it to respond to prompts. She can go through the main bits of "Away in a Manger", which, I'm pleased to say, was taught her by Moo. Moo also bought her a book with a donkey in it, which tells the Christams story. She was able to relate this to the carol and what she knows. Of course, the name of the mother is Mary, the baby's name is Jesus. Oh, and the name of the donkey is Jesus, too. You win some, you lose some (and who's to say that the donkey's name _wasn't_ Jesus?).

I keep forgetting to blog it, but on Sunday night, I felt the new baby move. We were heading off to sleep, and I had my hand on Moo's tummy. I thought I might have been imagining it, but when I mentioned it to Moo on Monday, she said "it was moving then, but I didn't want to say anything, in case you didn't feel it." So, next up is Jo to feel it. In fact, the next up is a 20 week scan. Monday, that is.

Evening prayer

(backposting) I was ensconced (had to look the spelling for that up - "s" or "c" at the end?) at a customer site doing support until 2000 last night. Not good. But we had some real progress, which was certainly a good thing, and it means that I shouldn't need to be around too much tomorrow. Agreed to come in for some of the morning, though - mainly for political reasons.

I'd hoped to be here first thing in the morning, but Mel phoned in sick at 0730, so I took the morning shift, allowing Moo to get to her first meeting - and rearrange her second. Set off to M25 J13 and got there around 1400, spent the rest of the day there.

Booked into a hotel absolutely _shattered_, and decided to say evening prayer before heading out for a drink and some supper in the restaurant. It was a really great, calming experience. I really try to maintain the cycle of the evening office when I'm travelling - it doesn't always work - but today I just needed it, and it really grounded me. I was able to go to supper feeling much more calm and settled. Sometimes it all comes together.

Jo and sleep

I wish we knew a way to get Jo to go down to sleep quickly and reliably. She's not so bad with me - she sometimes whimpers a bit - but with Moo, she really cries, time after time, when Moo leaves the room. Moo finds it so tiring, which she really doesn't need at the moment. So we're having curry tonight, as I didn't dare start cooking until Jo was down, and by that stage, it was going to take too long.

Staines tomorrow...

Sermon time

So, we headed home, leaving at 0805, and got back around 1010, which is pretty good time for the journey. I'd noticed Sally's comment yesterday:

Hope the sermon goes well tomorrow- and that you all make it home in one piece...interestingly our gospel reading is John 18: 33-37, and I thought we were on almost the same page there! Ah well

So, I checked the Church Times paper edition which had arrived on Friday (but which I'd not looked at), and discovered that I'd looked the wrong version of the Church Time online. I read the gospel reading, and although it's stunning, I decided that I'd preach on my reaction to something that Sally blogged about on Thursday (the 23rd). It was from a set of posts by John Smulo, and Sally wonders whether one should call oneself a Jesus-follower, rather than a Christian.

I responded in a comment to her blog:

I've not read John's posts, but for now, I'm proud to be called a Christian. It started off as a term of abuse, and that's what it often is today, still. Also, for me, the centrality of Jesus' life was not his teaching, but the redemptive power of his death (and resurrection), which is what made him Christ: with just his teaching, we look at an ethical leader. That's not enough.

Must take some time to read John's latest: I'm sure I'm not doing the question justice!

The more I thought about it, the unhappier I got, and I preached a really impassioned sermon about how following Jesus is all very well: he was a good man, he said some fantastic, some difficult, some challenging, and some desparate things, that that's not enough.

But if that's all we say, then we're talking about a man. Jesus was more than that, and is more than that, and will always be more than that. He was God, come down to us, who lived, and died, and rose again as so much more than a man, and he earned the title Christ. I'm happy to take on the term of abuse, particularly on the Sunday entitled "Christ the King".

It was, as I mentioned above, an impassioned sermon, from the heart, and very real to me. I felt really affirmed by it, and by the rest of the service, which included some great hymns (including "Stand up, stand up for Jesus"). All for just 11 of us.

But as I processed out, one of the congregation handed me a note. "Wow! That really had the X factor." Sometimes, it all comes together. A sermon I'd not prepared, but which came from the heart, was appropriate for the Sunday, and touched somebody. Thank you, Lord.

Sleep, blessed sleep

Slept in till 0600, then back down till 0800. This didn't make me very popular, as Jo had been in with Moo (we were sleeping in separate rooms) and up and down with a temperature from about 0230. I also had another 45 minutes just after lunch. Luckily, Moo got some during the day as well, so I'm not in too much trouble.

We spent the morning - Moo, Jo, Kate and I - in the ever-exciting Loughborough. Books and stuff for Jo and cousins at reduced prices, loo insert to leave at Kate and Macs, and other similar excitement. After lunch, we popped to a garden centre which also had lots of Christmas decorations, nodding reindeer, fluffy snowmen and the like. Jo enjoyed herself running around looking at everything, and we took lots of pictures, some of which came out very well.

I'm preaching tomorrow (Great Yeldham, 11am, if anyone's interested). The gospel reading is Luke 21:25-36. I don't often find the Church Times' readings article hugely inspiring for sermons, but it's sometimes worth reading. This week's one has given me some ideas, so I'll work out a sermon structure tonight or as we drive home. I'll be talking about how many - if not all generations - have had concerns and worries, but that Jesus' words "Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" should give us great hope and, indeed, rest.

Loughborough

Things continue busy, to the extent that my colleagues are a little worried, but I think things will be OK. I got loads done before our 1000 weekly call, and after that drove Moo to Witham station for a meeting. On getting back, I loaded Jo and lots of stuff into my car, and headed off to Kate and Mac's (my parents-in-law), to spend the weekend. Jo slept for a good hour, I managed to make some very useful calls, and we got there in time for me to hand Jo over to her grandparents for the afternoon, and to do lots more work. Things are looking seriously more tractable than they were around 1800 last night.

Things are tight, though, and I need to find time for myself. I enjoyed some of the sacred choral music I had on while I drove and Jo slept, so I did have a little time to myself.

Moo took the train up from London and joined us in the evening. Jo woke up again - as she often does for the first night in an unfamiliar place - and spent the evening with us, which we really can't find it in ourselves to begrudge. Unluckily, I'd failed to look at my diary properly when we planned this weekend, and I can't get cover for the service I'm taking at Great Yeldham on Sunday, so we're going to have to go back earlier than we'd hoped. Moo's being much more reasonable about this than I have any right to expect, particularly after last Sunday (see blogs passim).

Lots of meetings - and a cathedral

(backposting) Woke up, felt like crap. I've got a nasty throat infection-type thing which I'm singularly failing to throw off. Breakfast, then off to the first meeting. All morning: and lots of fun, actually. A chance to do some real architectural work, and some real security, so I really enjoyed myself. Lunch, then another meeting nearby.

After that, we had over an hour, so, at a colleague's suggestion (he knows that I'm training for ordination), we popped over to Lund's romanesque cathedral. Not stunning, but interesting, and with a seriously cool astronomical clock.

Another meeting in the evening, off to the airport, some work perched on a stool, a long conference call, in the plane, lots of work on the laptop (I had a front row seat), and then home. Was in around 2330. Slept badly - Jo was up a lot.

Copenhagen

(backposting) Obviously, my meetings in Scandinavia weren't actually in Copenhagen: they weren't even in Denmark. But it made more sense to fly from Stansted to Copenhagen, and then catch the train across to Sweden. So, after a - frankly disappointing - consultant appointment in the morning, in the afternoon I headed off to Stansted to partake of the offerings afforded by EasyJet. It got me there, not too late, had some supper and a few beers, headed to bed. Said evensong, rather enjoyed a trashy novel. Not too late to bed.

Haircut

Haircut, lots of work.

Tom's home

Carolyn's baby, Tom, is now home, with Carolyn. We don't know more, other than that he's taking visitors, so Moo hopes to pop round on Thursday. God be thanked!

Preaching and drowsiness

(backposting) Luckily, they don't seem to be connected. Keith had asked me just yesterday if I could take a BCP Morning Prayer at Toppesfield, as he'd not got anyone else to take it. I agreed, intending to take Jo, in order to assuage somewhat the wrath of Moo, who, after all, had looked after Jo all yesterday morning. She convinced me out of it, as Jo really is a little too young, and she was far more reasonable about it than she really had any need to be. Took the service, prayed for little Tom, Carolyn's son, and preached on the Messianic Secret in Mark. Mainly, I talked about how the different gospels each have a different feel, how they were written for different audiences and different reasons, and then looked at Mark's specifics. Seemed to go down well. Toppesfield's a funny place: I asked at the end if it was OK, and not too long, and got the "well, the service was finished by 1200, and that's when the pub opens, so it was OK." And they're not joking, either.

Si and D and Morgan came round for bacon butties for lunch, and Jo and Morgan had great fun throwing and catching a rugby ball. It was good to see them - it's been a while - and we had a lovely time.

I'd woken up with a bad ankle - a problem I've had before, and for which the doctor's given me some medication. The stuff can give you an upset stomach, so there's something else I can take at the same time. I took both around 0800, but as were driving to Freeport around 1430, I suddenly got very drowsy. Made it there safely - just - but really started to go off as we walked around. A cup of tea and some caramel slice helped (!), but I slept most of the 30 minutes home. Went to bed - and straight to sleep - before 2000!

Essay, walk, swim, essay

So, Jo was up around 0230 this morning. I went in 4 times. Moo did the last one, and she finally settled. We have no idea what she wanted (and I doubt she did, either). Luckily she slept in till 0745.

Moo had agreed to look after her in the morning, allowing me to start my essay on Mission. Things started to fall apart around lunchtime, so I stopped what I was doing, and joined in. Moo, bless her, is/was knackered, and really needed a hand. Jo wasn't helping by refusing to have a midday nap. She's also at that "I know, I'll push every boundary I can find, and press any of Mummy and Daddy's buttons that I can work out", which is particularly hard for a tired and hormonal pregnant Moo. I took Jo out for a walk after a lunch, and then almost straight out to swimming. Found an open swimming pool on the second try (phew!), and Jo had a lovely time. She's actually really close to swimming: if she can just be convinced to move her arms, too, she'll have a working doggy paddle. Her legs are kicking _almost_ enough to support her, but I'm too much of a wuss (read "loving, responsible parent") just to let her go when she's out of her depth, and see if she sinks or swims.

Anyway, I'm not sure I've seen her so tired before at bedtime, or not for a long while, so she went to sleep easily.

We had a some supper, watched a little of Green Wing (series 1) on DVD, Moo went to bed, and I've spent the last 2 and a half hours finishing my Mission essay! Yay! More tomorrow, probably.

Returning home

(backposting) Caught a flight on Thursday night at 2020. The usual economy seat (dull), and a very full flight. I got about 3 and half hours of sleep, which is pretty good, and meant that I was feeling pretty human by the time we landed around 0750. This was a little over half an hour early: we'd caught the gulfstream, and there was someone on board who was clearly ill enough to get them to get us down quickly, but not so ill that we needed to divert. Hopefully they're OK.

I'd hoped to have a quiet day, but things really kicked off with a meeting at the end of Thursday, so I was very busy indeed. Nothing I can talk about at this point.

Got home a little before Jo and Moo got back from Jo's music class, so Jo was a little surprised when I got her out of the car. She's very pleased with the two presents I bought her from Roots. What a lovely shop...

Bath, then sleep for a little over an hour, and, unluckily, work in the afternoon. Bed earlyish.

Genius

I'm not a big fan of the culture of genius. I've met a whole bunch of very bright people in my time. I've even met a quite a few very, very bright folks. And maybe fewer than a handful of people I've got down as geniuses. These include:

• Tom Ades
• Michael Izard
• David Cornwell (John le Carré)

I met two more today, which ain't bad. Dan Boneh (Stanford) and Alfred Menezes (Waterloo). They could hardly be more different, but in both cases, their brilliance shown through. Great discussions with them, too. Hopefully managed not to seem like a complete idiot...

ECC 2006 - day 2

Didn't feel too bad this morning, thankfully...

The day started off with more problems from our friendly customer. Again, I worked out what the problem was, with a bit of help from Eugene, the dev. manager (I'm rather chuffed about this, partly because it suggests that I'm really getting into one of our products), and this has fixed things for them. They now can't pretend it's our fault, and they seem very pleased with the help that we've delivered to them.

Some great sessions today: particularly one by Michael Epstein, of Philips, on the DPCP protocol, and by Don Boneh (something of a guru, it seems) on IBE - Identity-Based Encryption systems.

During the lunch break, I went to communion at The Church of the Redeemer, just round the corner from the hotel. I'd popped in yesterday, and noticed that they had a service today. I really, really liked how the church expresses its mission, which is very much towards diversity. From the site:

Welcome to TheRedeemer.ca. This little slice of cyberspace will introduce you to the unique and dynamic Christian community that gathers for worship and ministry at the corner of Avenue Road and Bloor Street in downtown Toronto.

We celebrate diversity: singles, married couples, gays and lesbians, children, the elderly, and diverse cultural backgrounds all call Redeemer home. While half our members have been cradled in the Anglican tradition, half have been nurtured through United Church, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian Reformed, Mennonite, and Baptist communities. More and more, people with little or no church experience are walking through our doors and finding a community of new friends and fellow seekers. All are welcome here!

We come from hither and yon. The downtown core is home to many of our members, but some travel from as far away as Dundas, Oakville, Mississauga, Aurora, Ottawa - and now from cyberspace.

We are educated, wealthy, poor, homeless, and hungry. We are an Anglican community striving to wear the mantle of God's peace, love, and compassion in all that we do.

Just 6 of us at the service, including the celebrant, but a lovely service, very emotional for me - I know not why - and just what I needed for a bit of spiritual refreshment, particularly as I hadn't got to communion last week (I was playing the organ for the Remembrance Sunday service). The celebrant - Andrew - preached on Luke 17:12-19, the story of the ten lepers. Concise, moving, and excellent. The point that got to me most was something that a mentor of his had once said to him: "you've never truly received a gift until you've said thankyou for it". This resonated very well with the reading, obviously.

Popped to the Roots shop. Full of lovely things I'd love to buy, but have so far kept myself to a beautiful little red dress for Jo and some nice warm baby booties for the upcoming baby.

ECC 2006 - day 1

(backposting) Got 8 hours of sleep, which was astonishing, so was only up at 0600, which is probably a record for me, the first day after travel. The problem from last week kept being a problem through the day, but in the end, I worked out what was going on, and the customer made an important step forward, which was very pleasing.

At ECC 2006, a conference on Elliptic Curve Cryptography arranged by Certicom (for whom I work, of course). Very interesting, and some very good people to meet - which I thought probably wouldn't be the case. Ended up with Scott Vanstone and his mates, went to dinner, then ended up in the bar with a bunch of other Certicom folks. Got to bed around 0030, which wasn't very bright, and although I didn't drink in _moderation_ as such, I didn't completely overdo it, and drank lots of water...

Bit annoyed that none of the research group has read the patent suggestion that I put together a while ago. I'd hoped to talk about it this week, but it looks like I'm going to have to do it another time: possibly coming over in December at some point.

Off to Canada

(backposting) We heard today that the operation on Tommy, Carolyn's son, went well. It'll not be the last, but I think the feeling is so far, so good. We continue to pray.

Got picked up from home at 0830 and driven to Heathrow Terminal 3. Always sad to say goodbye, particularly to Jo, who's full of spirit at the moment, and in some ways it was made more difficult by Moo bringing her outside to wave me off, I think. Hmm.

Flight was completely full, as far as I could tell, and no upgrade for me: that's the way it goes. Got a little sleep, and wasn't too bad by the time I got to Pearson (Toronto's main airport). Arrived to discover that the customer support issue that I'd been embroiled in last week had come home to roost again, so I spent some time at the office dealing with that before heading off to The Four Seasons Hotel in down-town Toronto: very nice.

It's been a while since I posted any photos, so here are a couple of the lovely Jo.

The sounds of life

Recorded this Monday (2006-10-06), when the midwife came round. Hadn't got round to putting it up until now:

• short (ogg - 53k | wav - 1.3M)
• long (ogg - 225k | wav - 3.8M)

Carolyn's baby

Carolyn's baby, Tommy, is due to have the first of what is likely to be many operations tomorrow at 0900, on the 5th day of his life. He was born with many problems, mainly related to his heart, but at least they knew before he was born. Prayers, obviously, please.

On a different note, we took Jo on the Park and Ride to Cambridge today. She loves buses, and we went on the top deck for the first time, which she loved. The bus stopped to allow observance of the 2 minutes' silence, and we could see the war memorial on Hill's Road, where there were members of the services and a priest. Well observed on the bus.

Tired

Got home at 2130 or so. Bed by 2230 or so, and took a while to get to sleep. This morning, Jo woke up at around 0530. Moo's been like the walking dead all day, poor darling - but then again, she only got 15 minutes' sleep during the day, and I managed an hour. We had lunch together with Jo and then took a toaster shopping. A long story. Did more work than I'd planned to, but there you are. Off to Canada on Monday morning. Playing the organ at our Remembrance Sunday service at 1045 (Great Yeldham - you're welcome to join us).

Posted this to the wrong blog to start with...

Mike's proverb retread shop

If you walk a mile in another man's shoes, you've got his shoes, and you're a mile away from him.

If you give a man a fish, he can eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he'll go and buy a silly hat.

If you give a man a fish, he can eat for a day. If you give a man 40 fish, some of them are bound to go off.

In Nantes

Well, what a trip out! Having just made the last train to leave the country, I asked our travel people to find me a hotel in Paris and relaxed into a nice meal as we went under the Channel. When we arose (as 'twere) on the other side (as 'twere), I called them back. They couldn't find me anything. Luckily, Micke (a colleague) had offered to help. He has a service from Amex where they do this sort of thing. No luck. It was by now 2300, and I was getting in at 2323, so I phoned an ERMC friend (very late at night!) who very kindly offered to help. He was having no luck...

In the end, a guy in the seat behind me told me that he'd found somewhere, if I wanted it. He lives in the Place des Vosges (and here), one of the nicest squares in the entire world (I suspect he has money...), and had found me a place at the Pavillion de la Reine. €400 a night - but "petit dejeuner compris"! So I'd hope. Didn't care, by this stage, and I'm over supporting a client, so fair enough: they can pay.

People think that all this travel's very exciting, but by the time I got there - around 0000 local - I was just too tired to do anything but have a bath and go to bed. Got up in the morning, had a shower, got dressed, had breakfast, left. The hotel was rather wasted on me, but that, ladies and gents, is the way it works.

Got to Gare Montparnasse around 0830. Train strike. Luckily, trains to Nantes are running - a couple every three hours, and there's one at 0900. Try the electronic ticket machines. Broken. Queue. Get to front of queue at 0859... Next train at 1000.

And I've spent the day diagnosing a problem which:

1. isn't our fault
2. wouldn't have occurred if different people at the customer had talked to each other.

Hopefully it'll make us (and me) flavour of the month, but what a pain.

Had a lovely meal in the sort of restaurant where they don't ask you what you want for the main course: they ask you how you'd like it cooked. They _only_ do entrecote, and it was lovely. Sat next to a very nice woman from Burkina Faso who seemed keen to practice her English, which was certainly passable. She's studying law here in Nantes, and we had a good chat. She's the 5th of 15 children! Further quizzing led to the discovery that her father has three wives, that the oldest child is 46, and the youngest 3. Another may well be on the cards, because they're Roman Catholic and don't believe in contraception...

Hmm. One mo. Kind of checked on this, and she says that the RC Church doesn't mind too much about the marriages, as they're traditional marriages, not church ones. Certainly throws into relief some of the discussions we had about inculturation and contextualisation of mission at the ERMC summer school. And made me think, which was good.

On the train to Paris

Up until about 1655, I wasn't going to Paris: now I'm on the last Eurostar to leave Waterloo this evening. Heigh-ho. Down to Nantes tomorrow to meet a customer.

Please pray for Carolyn, Jo's nanny - currently on maternity leave - who was due to have her baby boy today by C-section. He has major heart problems, and his early life, at the very least, will be hard, as will his parents', for the next few years. Please, Lord, give them the strength they need. Amen.

Coding

Did some coding for work today. More work on some stuff I did a while ago.

Some other stuff I need to look at soon, but I'm watching Spooks and taking some time out.

Methodist service

Apparently the service we had wasn't very typical. But it was very odd: not only didn't we have wine, but we didn't even stand up for the Gospel reading. :-)

Good to be home: arrived just at the same time as Moo and Jo, which surprised the latter quite a bit.

Long talk with Moo about all the time that I spend away. It's not getting less, it's getting more, and it's hard. It's a strain, but we talk, and that's fine.

Saturday - a full day

Sally's blog for today is a very good description of the day. The service she organised was very good - I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it to start with, but it worked very well. I found the use of a map of the world and some finger paint for us to use to mark places for forgiveness particularly powerful. I marked the poles - I felt that we could really use some forgiveness from God for our effect on the climate.

I, too, was impressed by the session/testimony of one of the other students on his membership of the Community of Aidan and Hilda, and surprised by the reception and general lack of understanding evidenced by some of the questions.

Went to bed around 0015, which impressed me.

Ditchingham yet again

Didn't really want to go, to be honest. Jo's been so lovely, and so cuddly, and I wasn't going to get to see Moo before I left, as she was still coming back from Birmingham. Had an OK drive - took a new route - Sudbury-Monk's Eleigh-Needham Market-A140-A143-Ditchingham. Was OK, but I was stuck behind lots of things. I listened to lots of Vivaldi - not the Four Seasons, but other concerti. Beautifully played by Fabio Biondi.

A couple of sessions in the evening, and then straight to bed. I slept for over 9 hours. This was a good thing, as I was really beginning to lose it.

Bad boys

I deserve some downtime, so I'm watching Bad Boys on DVD.

Jo's been lovely getting the donkey (and Eeyore toy) to watch things and be read to. And here, due to popular demand, is a picture.

Isolated

Sometimes I feel isolated, particularly between ERMC weekends. It's hard, particularly with the busy new job, supporting Moo in her pregnancy and her tiredness, looking after Jo, preparing for the weekends, doing work for tutorials. Worship is mainly evensong for me, on my own. But God is great: Allāhu Akbar (الله أكبر). I trust in Him/Her.

Sleepy obviousness

I'm rather tired today, as I was up for 3 hours in the middle of the night (it was, in fact, when I wrote last night's blog), as Jo woke up around 0000, and then I couldn't get back to sleep. I've been spending more time in SecondLife, kind of for work. I'm trying to work out whether I like it or not. I've so far not managed to find a group to be involved with, and I'm not going to commit any money to serious building at this point. Hmm.

Jo's been lovely today, although she seems to have some sort of throat thingy going on, as she was rather croaky this morning and this evening. She kept running up to me and giving me a cuddle, which is fantastic. She's going through a big speaking improvement at the moment, including:

• using the present participle by adding "-ing" to verbs. On the whole, she's very good at it, though "lighting" for getting lighter and "darking" for getting dark (sometimes "darkening", which is closer) aren't quite there.
• using the past tense. I'm constantly amazed by how often she gets even irregular verbs right: "caught" for "catch" is quite impressive.
• using plurals. Again, she often gets irregular nouns correct, such as "feet" and "men".

It's fantastic listening to her trying out language.

Jo also had a haircut today. She did need it, particularly on her fringe, but it's always sad. Luckily she's got lots to lose.

The obvious bit

I thought about getting more into the discussion about sexuality on John Smulo's blog, but couldn't get into it. Part of the problem is that I think I'm coming at this from a very different direction to most of the people posting. I don't see discipleship as so clearly defined - not even by the biblical record, and particularly not by the New Testament record. The fact that we have to understand human desire and need in the _context_ of humanity, balancing it with biblical teaching _interpreted_through_theology _ seems obvious to me. Not all of the tipping points are obvious. One thing I that I always try to remember is that Jesus was _fully_ human, and that means, I believe, that he felt sexual desire, and struggled in the same ways that we do. He understands. That's not to condone any particular course of action, but just to make sure that we come to the issue with a realisation not that God understands in a remote, omniscient sort of way, but through real experience of hormones, and desire, and pain, and disappointment and confusion.

Hallowe'en

Today was All Souls Day, the day before All Saints. The lives of all who have lived are remembered. Another name for tomorrow is All Hallows, which means that today is the eve of All Hallows, or Halloweven - Hallowe'en.

We went to see Victoria, Grenville and Sennen for a little party-ette. Charles, Sennen's 12 year old brother, was there with a couple of his friends, and it was really a supper with a few games for them. Jo and Sennen had a nice time (when _will_ Jo learn to share of her own accord...? :-)), as did we. It was, as Moo pointed out, very interesting to watch Jo with the older children. She interacts quite a lot with children a little older than her - 2-4 years old - but much less with this age. Pass the Pumpkin (like pass the parcel, but with a hollowed out pumpkin instead) was fun to the extent that sweets came out of the pumpkin when it was Jo's turn, but the act of passing it around was beyond her. On the other hand, bobbing for apples was great. She and Senned would just grab the apples from the bowl and put them back, but they also insisted on putting their faces close to the water. It's also lovely when they laugh just because other people are.

Watched yesterday's episode of Spooks (which we'd recorded) tonight. It's so poor, but such fun.