Mike's musings

Sydney

(backposting) Arrived at 0700, and after a rather long trip through immigration, customs and the rest, made it to the rather nice hotel. Quick shave, shower and change, and then out to do some shopping. Needed a variety of necessities, including:

• some washing powder for handwashing (cheaper than the hotel laundry service!)
• some shoes (I'd not bought any light, informal shoes, but managed to buy two pairs for around £12)
• some suncream
• a phone (pre-paid: much cheaper than using my UK one over here).

Afterwards, I went for a walk around Sydney. Along Darling Harbour, up to the Observatory Hill park, along the Harbour Bridge and back, around the Rocks and the market. I must have done around 5 miles in total - I wandered back and forth quite a lot - but it was a beautiful, beautiful day, and so sunny. Some pictures on Flickr. A lovely way to spend the day and to shed some of my jetlag.

Later, I came back to the hotel and phoned home. Lovely to speak to Moo and the girls, all of whom seemed to be on fine fettle. Checked email, popped to a pub round the corner for a few pints and food, and then crashed in bed around 1900-1930.

Labels: Sydney, walk

Springtime

Went for a lovely, lovely walk today. Beetles out, butterflies, sky-larks and the local youth were all out enjoying the sunshine.

Labels: walk

Going out to lunch - properly

(backposting) It's been a while since we went there, but we had lunch with the girls at Scutchers in Long Melford. It wasn't cheap (not helped by the fact that we bought some of their award-winning smoked salmon for Christmas), but what food. The girls did pretty well, and, for a really good restaurant, it's brilliantly child-friendly. I don't think we've visited for maybe 2 or more years, but they were pleased to have us back, and it was a great call.

Went round to see some friends in the afternoon, and went for a walk. We'd promised the girls that we'd go out in the evening to a see a bonfire and fireworks, and we were both 90% certain that they'd completely freak, and we'd have to head home early as soon as the bangs started. But they did really well. We stood a way back, but had a good view, and they loved all the colours, and even quite liked the noise. So, a real win.

Got home, worked. Things are very, very busy, and I need to get some bits and pieces completed as soon as possible.

Labels: food, girls, walk, work

Bunkbed time

(backposting) We decided the other day to buy the girls a bunkbed for Christmas, and today we told them about this. This is because Mum and Dad wanted to buy the girls something special, and they'd agreed that accoutrements for bunkbeds - mainly duvet, pillow and cushion sets. So the timing worked quite well.

Went for a great walk in the afternoon - one of the ones I used to love from my childhood. Both girls did lots of running, which was pretty impressive.

Labels: girls, walk

Walking - and blisters

(backposting) Ages since I had a blister, but after two walks, coming to around 6 miles, in sandals which are beginning to fall apart, I managed to develop one. Luckily, the weather's so warm that I can walk around the retreat bare-foot most of the time, and the people running the retreat centre had some special blasters which I can use.

The second walk was with a good friend, Sue, and it was good to catch up with her, to share our thoughts about priestly life, our children, our jobs, and the rest, while walking through the fields and woodland around the centre.

The retreat's going well, and I managed to get some sleep in the afternoon. Last evening staying late at the pub tonight - not sensible to stay up the night before the big day.

Labels: friends, ordination, walk

Retreat

(backposting) I spent much of the morning tracking down the original CDs for the music I want at my first Eucharist: Byrd 4-part Mass, Ley's setting of the Prayer of King Henry VI ("Domine, Iesu Christe") and, if we get the time, a couple of Purcell motets. Also, writing the directions for Jim, who'll be in charge of it all.

Trying all that out, packing and doing a little tidying around the house took me up to setting off to Pleshey for the pre-ordination retreat. I was, by a few minutes, the first to arrive, and set off on an 80+ minute walk, using AFTrack to record where I went, ready to transfer the details to Openstreetmap at some point. I got pretty badly stung by nettles, but it was worth it: I walked 6 miles or so, I think, through beautiful countryside. Towards the end, a young fox walked out onto the path in front of me, downwind, and followed it for a few metres before crossing into the undergrowth to the side. Just something to treasure.

And so to the retreat. Good to get together with some good friends again, and, as usual, the "silent" bit of the retreat is somewhat relaxed down at the pub. Time to rest, get into the right frame of mind, and ready ourselves for Sunday.

Labels: rest, walk

Work and walk

(backposting) Doing lots of walking at the moment - I've done about 14 miles (20km+) over the past 3 days, and I'm loving it. I've started using AFTrack for S60v3 to record my walks, and I'm hoping to use the tracks it to update data in OpenStreetmap. Tried doing it this evening, but it was hard work getting into it. I _could_ have read some more of the manual, I guess...

Work's been busier than late: a possible customer with lots of questions. Keeps me on my toes, I guess.

Labels: walk, work

Walking or Trekking?

(backposting) Well, the obvious answer is "both", because I walked to Castle Hedingham today to drop off a repeat prescription, and then walked back. And I also went to see Star Trek, which I enjoyed enormously. It was a little over-complicated, possibly, but I felt that it was entirely in the spirit of the show and the previous films, so good for them. I really wanted to see it on the big screen, and now I want to see it again! I suspect that Moo won't be that interested...

Labels: films, walk

A good day, a bad day

So, Plan C is out. If I become unemployed in the next few months, I don't have anything definite lined up. This is a bad day thing. And then I started to wonder whether or not to keep my new Samsung i8910 HD. I really need VoIP, and there's not SIP stack on the phone. There are some other things that I'm not particularly happy about, too, including lack of decent GPS apps and the difficulty of uploading photos to flickr, and I wondered about sending the thing back and getting a Nokia 5800 instead. In the end, I discovered that the Nokia doesn't have a SIP stack, either, but managed to get Fring working with AQL (my SIP provider), and all's looking rosier. Took some doing, but I've found some OK GPS apps, too which I'm trialling.

And I had some possible job leads, in case things go a bit Pete Tong on the employment front, which they may, so that helped too. I finished up the day with an hour's hard walk, listening to Finzi, Duruflé and Poulenc. Now sitting in front of the TV, trying to work out how to disable the Orange Photo app on my phone.

Labels: geekery, job, phone, walk

In-laws

We've got Kate and Mac with us today - they arrived last night while Moo and I were at Jo's dance show. Moo got to watch it, as I watched the dress rehearsal, and this time I got to be backstage doing costume changes. Had a couple of beers and chatted to another Dad while Jo was doing her thing, and it all went well, by all accounts. We got back and grabbed a little food, and I slept rather badly, so this morning, while they headed off to Freeport, I had a bit of a sleep. Afterwards, I went for a lovely 4 mile (well, 4.945 mile) walk in the beautiful North Essex countryside. The sun was out, it was warm but there was a slight breeze, and I walked hard. I really love walking - just taking the exercise - and tend to listen to either podcasts or music while I do. Today it was Arvo P&adia;rt (various) and Bach (motets). Moo's backstage tonight and Kate, Mac, Mel and her mum are watching Jo.

And I've heard in the past few minutes that Liverpool won today against Fulham, and are back at the top of the Premiership table (where they ought to be).

Labels: football, walk

Exercise

Started taking some proper exercise again today: a 3+ mile walk, over which I averaged over 4.4 mph (GPS on the phone provided the details). It was a lovely day: sunny, but not too warm, and I listened to a podcast on my phone as I walked.

Labels: walk

Finished!

Still demob happy. Took the dog for a walk after the girls had gone to bed, then barbecued. It was great just being able to sit and not feel that I should be doing some reading!

Labels: dog, walk

Today, I shall mostly be ...

• ... sleeping in (but not as long as Jo and Moo)
• ... taking the girls swimming with Moo
• ... spending more money than I meant to in Waitrose
• ... clearing the dog poo off the lawn
• ... mowing the lawn (first time this year, if you exclude the two strims it's had)
• ... stepping in several instances of dog poo that I missed
• ... barbecuing with Si
• ... drinking beer with Si
• ... eating the barbecued food with Si, D, Morgs, Boo, Moo, Jo and Miri
• ... drinking wine with Si and Moo
• ... geeking with Si
• ... whilst drinking more wine with Si
• ... going for a walk with the girls, Moo and Buster
• ... having a bath with the girls (but not Moo and Buster)
• ... putting Jo to bed (very quick!)
• ... clearing around a bit
• ... loading the dishwasher
• ... doing some washing up
• ... and ... finishing my last essay for ERMC. YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Labels: drink, ERMC, family, friends, geekery, swimming, walk

Preparations

So, next Monday is a Bank Holiday. Clearly, I'm away on work. Flying to Toronto on Sunday, and being driven to Niagara by a colleague for a sales conference. At least I don't need to drive when I get there. I'll be leaving around 0800 UK time, and arriving at Niagara maybe 1945, so didn't really want to be having to drive for over an hour when I get there. Oh, and I can have a drink or two on the plane, too. Made sure that I had all of my ducks in a row for the travel, and had finished any obviously outstanding documents, etc.. I'm also giving part of a presentation, so had to agree that with a couple of colleagues. Good news from work in this Press Release. Honestly don't know much more about it, but we like this.

Went for a lovely walk with Moo, Buster and the girls after their supper: we're trying to make a habit of this, as it's good exercise for everyone, and now that the evenings are drawing out, it's plausible.

Labels: travel, walk, work

Walking - almost

Miri's so nearly there. The most she's managed is four little steps towards me, before making it into my arms. She _can_ do it: she just needs to believe.

I read Jo the Passion and Resurrection narratives (simplified) from her little Bible today. She asked "Who's God?" after a chat about Jesus. I explained about Jesus being God, and about God the Father (the Mother aspect was going to be too much!), and, in the interests of good Trinitarian theology, I felt I'd better mention the Holy Spirit. Not sure it helped matters particularly...

I was in London today, meeting a possible customer. Went well - oh, and stopped off at Hatfield Galleria, bought a pair of work shoes and a new shirt. My life's so interesting.

Labels: Jo, miri, theology, walk

Miri, talking and walking

Miri's now walking very quickly if you just hold one hand, and loves it. It could be a good month or so before she's walking unaided, but she certainly gets the whole one foot after the other thing, and seems very keen.

Miri's "cat" and "dog" (or "'at", "ca'" and "do'" or "'og") are getting more convincing, and today, she started to use them to refer to pictures in books or china ornaments (we were in a shop). Very impressive.

Labels: miri, walk

Church, walk, ironing, scrabulous

Took Mum, Jo and Miri to Halstead, where James was celebrating and preaching. Jo's tiredness showed through, and her attention span was much shorter than usual, but she did OK: Miri was a star. At communion, James very kindly gave me a portion of the priest's wafer, which I was very touched by.

After lunch, we met Si, D, Morgs, Boo and Murphy (their dog) for a lovely walk near them, and had tea and chats before heading home to put the girls to bed. I cooked a chicken, and Mum did the ironing. Lots and lots of it. We're _very_ grateful! Then Mum and I played scrabulous, trying to get some decent scores against the people with whom I've got games going. She's _vicious_!

Labels: church, family, walk

A beautiful day

(backposting) Very cold, frosty and foggy in the morning, but a day to be thankful for in the afternoon. I took Buster for a walk once the sun had cleared the fog away, and it was just beautiful.

In the evening, after the girls had gone to bed, I prepared for a tutorial (in the "Christian Belief" module) on "The Holy Spirit". I'd done some of the reading before, but this rounded it off nicely.

Labels: dog, walk

Cinema trip

(backposting) We decided that a fairly safe, less-stress option for the morning would be to take the girls to the cinema. Miri, of course, would be guaranteed to sleep, Moo (who's still pretty ill) could hold her and have her sleep on her, and I could deal with taking Jo to the loo in the middle of the film (obviously). We discovered that the Cineworld Braintree - our local cinema - was showing Ratatouille, which had to be pretty safe. Unluckily, we'd forgotten how loud cinemas are, and Jo really didn't like the "crashes". She did really well, actually, but doesn't really want to go back soon.

Took Miri and Buster for a good old walk today and used the new GPS bluetooth that Moo's given me (early) for our engagement anniversary on Wednesay (I won't be around). My phone supports GPS accessories by default, and it Just Works[tm]. Great stuff. Did about 3 and a half miles, and rather tired out poor Buster.

Labels: films, GPS, illness, Jo, walk

Thoughtfulness

(backposting) Jo seems suddenly to have "got" empathy. It's a big developmental step, it seems: she's suddently being thoughtful: anticipating what people might like, giving them things, doing to stuff for them, that sort of thing. We've been making a big deal of it, and saying how thoughtful she's being. And it's made a great deal of difference to the weekend. For a start, it made Moo's Friday with the girls a lot better, but we went into Cambridge today, and Jo's listening better and life is a lot easier. Yes, she loses it from time to time, but that's fair enough - she's not even 3 yet - and I think the fact that she can (more often) see why we're asking her to do things, because she can see things from someone else's point of view, makes her life easier, too.

I took Buster for a lovely long walk today: finishing just as a beautiful sunset revealed itself. I really love walking: just using my body as it's supposed to be, and enjoying the countryside.

Labels: Jo, walk