Candlemas Day

If Candlemas Day be sunny and bright,
winter will have another flight;
if Candlemas Day be cloudy with rain,
winter is gone, and won't come again.

or ...

If Maries purifieng daie,
Be cleare and bright with sunnie ray,
The frost and cold shalbe much more,
After the feast than was before.
(1584)

Wintry blast!

The forecast for this Sunday afternoon appears to be fairly accurate!

Gawd, I'm stuffed

Masses of food at our Chinese lunch. The six of us began with prawn crackers, prawn toasts, "money parcels" and spring rolls with a plum sauce dip; then steamed char sui pork dumplings; then the roast duck pancakes; and then egg fried rice accompanying sweet & sour chicken with sweetcorn, sweet & sour battered king prawns, battered chicken in lemon sauce, vegetable chow mein, and beef and mushroom curry. We finished off with fresh fruit salad and lychees, ice cream, and dishes of marzipan stuffed dates, liquer chocolates, dark chocolate preserved ginger, and assorted toffees.

We all wore something new and something red, had lucky money envelopes, and fortune cookies. The latter were found in a Lidl supermarket and the fortunes were in German on one side of the slip of paper, and fortunately in English on the other, though the translations were a bit suspect.

A very enjoyable occasion all round. I expect to sleep well tonight!

*phew*

Gong Hei Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome the Year of the Ox.

Back down on the south coast again for another meet-up of the old "off-licence" crew, and this time it coincides with the Chinese New Yaer, so we're cooking Chinese dishes for our lunch together. I've done the roast duck and have the pancakes and hoi sin sauce, spring onions and cucumber to go with it. I'm also doing a large veg stir-fry and a beef curry - yes, curry - the Chinese version, not Indian - much less hot and more aromatic.

In Brighton yesterday evening I found the Chinese take-away I used to go to when I lived there, and it was open, so for old times sake I went in and ordered a bag of chips. (What expense! What luxury!) I didn't like to tell them that the last time I was in there was some 25 - 30 years ago! Not the sort of regular customer they want! Mind you, when I was a regular customer I must have spent a small fortune there, and probably put their young daughter though school! In fact, I think she was the adult lady who served me!

What a let-down

I feel cheated.

No high winds have swept across the Suffolk tundra. No torrential downpours giving rise to fears of an inundation. In fact, the last 24 hours have been almost without a breeze and reasonably, for January at least, dry. Only now on Friday lunchtime is the wind picking up and the (light) rain falling as the back edge of the Low moves through. All my preparations were for nothing. Candles were strategically placed. Matches were to hand. The small camping stove was ready in the kitchen to boil water for hot drinks and maybe heat a tin of curried beans.

Bummocks.

Heads down!

Munching on a slice of Christmas cake and slurping a mug of coffee before the weather sets in tonight. Wind and rain forecast, and I have a PCC meeting to go out for. At least its the one where we get wonderful refreshments afterwards - all home-made things like mini quiche, gingerbread, shortbread, cake ...

And then the forecast for tomorrow night is even worse.



High winds with damaging gusts and torrential rain, maybe snow and sleet in places! The map shows that at 6.00 p.m. we're just about to drown!

Frosty, but no snowman

A fresh morning here in the land of the East Angles.

Back in the city

Another trip to Norwich, and a very French breakfast in Caffe Nero, followed by lunch in Cafe Rouge - which was roast chicken in a cream and roquefort sauce, with baby roast potatoes and french beans. I spent my £10 voucher this time, so for the dish and a glass of fresh orange juice I only had to find just over £4. Not bad.

Shared Supper

The first Benefice Shared Supper of the year, and a feast! Lots of different dishes on offer, and nosh and natter in a warm house until past 11.00 p.m.

I took a dish of king prawns with a sweet chilli dip, a bowl of pork sausages cooked in a hoi sin and spring onion sauce, some potato jackets stuffed with haddock and topped with a cheese and potato mash, and some meringues topped with thick double cream and a mandarin segment.

Roll on the February supper!

Lunch out

My day off was spent in Norwich, and I lunched at my favourite watering-hole, "Cafe Rouge".


I enjoyed their set menu for £9.95, and chose chicken liver pate with french bread; a Normandy pancake stuffed with mushrooms, spinach and creme fraiche, accompanied by salad and frites; and then finished with a Belgian waffle with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce.


It was a tough job, but somebody had to eat it!

*burp*

The beauty of freezing fog ...

... lies not when you're driving through it, but in its aftermath on a fresh new morning.

Me Porgy, you Bess

An enjoyable day today, making a visit to Milton Keynes, the highlight of which was that I got the chance to sing "Summertime" for the legendary chanteuse, Cleo Laine.


Well, actually, I sang "Summertime" to her standing outside the door to her room.

Or to be more accurate, I sang the first word of "Summertime", softly, outside her closed door, and she probably didn't even hear me. But why let the facts get in way of a good story?

Which reminds me - tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany .......

WELCOME 2009

London does it in style ....

Thoughts for the New Year

The 1952 flm version of "The Importance of Being Earnest" was on the box a couple of days ago, and it has to be one of my favourites. I never watch it but that I come away remembering a couple of quotes. This time three sentences caught me.

Fistly, in the confrontation between Gwendoline and Cecily, Gwendoline says "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

Next, Dr. Chasuble, when woken out of his afternoon sleep begs forgiveness for his "post-prandial nap into the arms of Morpheus."

And finally, Lady Bracknell observes that "Three addresses always inspire confidence, even in tradesmen."


There can be little better preparation for 2009 than these pearls of wisdom.

Fresh and frosty ...

... are these closing days of December. Yet nothing so far has dropped off the Christmas tree in my hallway, so it can't be that cold.

The service rota has returned to normal, apart from the short Watchnight service at 8.00 p.m. on New Year's Eve. By holding it at that time it allows people to go on to their parties or whatever. I did try a midnight, but if it hadn't gathered the guests from the carousing at the Old Vicarage next door to the church, it would have been sparsely attended. As it is, I expect that we will all manage to fit into the choir stalls.

"Fast away the old year passes."

The fireworks marking the start of 2009 will be viewed with somewhat jaundiced eyes after the economic and commercial events of the past few months, and the warnings of a massive increase in unemployment to come. Who would have predicted at the start of 2008 that the year's end would see the demise of Woolworths, MFI, Zavvi (Virgin Megastores), Adams, Whittards, and countless other small businesses. If I was to gaze into a crystal ball, I would say that it looks decidedly dodgy for Currys, if the numbers in their shops are anything to go by.

"May you live in interesting times" is an old Chinese curse. Well, the "living on credit" bubble had to burst at some point. That particular bauble has dropped off the High Street tree and shattered. It just remains to see how long it will take to sweep up the pieces.

A Christmas ritual

Each of us to their own, but one of mine is that I like to sit down and watch Alastair Sim as "Scrooge" in the 1951 version of Dickens' "Christmas Carol". The closing scene where he is so brimming with laughter as he raises Bob Cratchitt's salary is wonderful.

Now I feel ready for the Midnight service.

More candles and carols

This time at St Michael South Elmham.

The rural Carol service

Five down and one more to go, plus Midnight and Christmas morning, and then I can pour the sherry!

I'm glad THAT day's over!

Ever had a "clumsy" day? Yesterday was that for me. Everything I touched either fell over, broke, or scattered itself across the floor - like the card file that flipped off the bookshelf and threw its contents under the sofa, or the various items that kept leaping out of my fingers!

Then I impaled my head on the gutter bracket whilst outside and at the top of a ladder at the front of the house putting up lights in the large holly tree - and that stabbed my hands in various places so that I look as if I've got a touch of the pox!

Next, the string of outside lights sent me from a friend in the USA, together with a note saying that they were a British set and last used by him in his curacy, glowed very brightly when I put them on. I turned the control box knob. They went out. I turned the knob once more. There was a loud "pop" and smoke poured out of the box. Leaning forward to pull the plug from the socket I knelt on one of the light bulbs. Fragments of glass in the carpet and my trousers! They went in the bin.

Then the 8 star rope-light decoration for the front of the house, which had worked perfectly last Christmas, and was fine when I packed it away, was now only half-working, so that also went in the bin.

And despite searching though the contents of the hall cupboard, I wasn't able to find the feet for a small artificial tree, even though for 7 years they've been kept in the same place.

Sod it.

I shall enjoy Christmas when it's over.

Back on home soil

View from convent window along Carmersstraat at 0730 hrs with the Bell tower in the distance.

Two of the sisters see us off.

A long day of travelling yesterday, but now safely back in Suffolk. We left the Convent at 9.30 a.m. and drove to Dunkirk where we lunched and then searched for the Auchan hypermarket, which we eventually found. Then it was the 1600 hrs sailing to Dover, arriving at 1700 hrs local time.

Dunkirk restaurant.

Mid-channel.

A drive then to Battle in East Sussex to drop off one of the travellers, a cup of coffee, and then the haul up to the Dartford tunnel and eastwards for Suffolk. I got home at approx. 10.30 p.m. and managed to unpack most things before tumbling into bed.

It was a good and relaxing break, and some shopping was done, though not as much as in previous years since the exchange rate of the £ to the Euro is almost one-to-one now, which has virtually doubled the cost of everything. However, the chocolate shop did well, and several boxes of Belgian chocs and truffles now reside upstairs waiting for Christmas.

More Belgian light

Late December afternoon in the main square, and then walking back to the Convent after a pancake and coffee!

Brugge in December

'Tis cold and wet, but good to be here nonetheless for a 5-day pre-Christmas break, staying at the English Convent.

Just off the main square there's a nice little pub ...


and the Christmas ligths are pretty, even in the rain!

The things you find on the Web ...

... this time it's an aerial view of the Terrace where I used to live in Brighton, Sussex. My home was the top floor flat, indicated by the arrow I have crudely drawn on the picture. Living opposite the playing fields of Brighton College I could sit out on the flat roof of the bay window of the flat below and watch the cricket in summer, and rugger in the winter terms. I could also see over the rooftops to the bustling town beyond, and catch the whiff of salt air in the mornings as the seagulls wheeled and cried overhead. As you can probably tell, I quite miss it ....


The school behind and the small road were not developed when I was there from 74 to 82. Instead there was a chalk track down which I raced my go-kart when I was younger. The proper name for the lane is "Bakers Bottom". We used to call it "Stinkpot Alley".

Lazy Sunday afternoon

With the fire lit, candles flickering, Haydn's Symphony No.99 in E Flat Major on the CD player, a mug of hot coffee, a magazine to read, and the curtains pulled against the dark skies from which snow flurries were blowing down, it was a comfortable and relaxing winter's Sunday afternoon. I count myself fortunate to have a warm dry home and to be able to pay my way when so many others at this time of financial constraint are falling by the wayside. Deo Gratias.

Oh what a beautiful morning

Another result!

Following on from my complaint to British Gas (Blog - 10th November), after an intial refusal to make any form of compensatory payment I asked that the case be referred upwards to a Supervisor. I have just received a call from one saying that they are refunding to me £75 (or as near as). This is the difference between my old contract rate that I was paying, and the "temporary" normal rate that was applied to my account following their objection to my transfer to another supplier.

Full credit to the very helpful and pleasant supervisor.

Alternative reading ...

... is now required for the "smallest room". Reader's Digest Customer Services (at 9p per minute!) tell me my account has already been closed, and that a refund of unused subscription is on it way. I shall still write to Mr Justin Webster (he of the photostated signature) and tell him he needs to read what people write. (This is also the continual cry of blogger Mad Priest, that people don't read what he's written before screaming at him). So, a result, of a sort, so long as the refund arrives. However, if they've taken off some for administration charges .....

I don't believe it!

This time it's the Customer Services department of Reader's Digest.

The style of the magazine changed quite significantly two issues ago, so I decided that I would not renew my subsription when it expired. Checking, I found that I had paid my subscription in July, meaning that it would run out in June 2009. I decided to cancel my Direct Debit now rather than wait and then forget about it next year. Two days after cancelling the arrangement I received a letter from Reader's Digest telling me that my payment had been cancelled, and that if I wanted to receive the product to please either forward the payment or complete a new Direct Debit mandate.

I wrote to Customer Services pointing out that if a human being had actually written to me, rather than their computer spewing out an automated letter, they might have noticed that I still had 7 months of subscription to run, and that no payment was owing. I had cancelled as I did not like the new editorial approach to the magazine.

Today I received a letter from Justin Webster, Customer Services Manager, apologising that I had had to contact them "more than once" (eh?) and reassuring me that they "have now cancelled your magazine subscription as requested." (er... NO) "You may receive a further issue of the magazine, if so please keep it with our compliments." (I bloody well will you stupid twit. I've paid for it!)

Can't anyone get things right these days? If I ran these 11 parishes with that lack of accuracy and efficiency, I wouldn't last long in post.

Another phone call looms tomorrow.

I think I'm turning into Victor Meldrew.

I'm defragmented

It finally finished at 16.04. I won't be doing that again in a hurry!

Maybe they were right

I think that perhaps the Luddites were on to something (rather than being on something) when they made their protests against technology. I am currently running a defragmentation program on my main computer. The disc was only 5% fragmented, but I decided to go ahead simply because it's been a long time (a year of so) since I did one. It started at just before 7.00 p.m. last night (Sunday). It is now 10.32 a.m. Monday morning and it has been running all night. It still is only 75% completed! I's just as well I bought this laptop a couple of months ago, though the keyboard layout is taking a bit of getting used to. I keep pressing Caps Lock instead of Shift, and Pause Break instead of Delete. And since it runs Vista rather than XP I'm not sure if my printer will be compatible. The on-line advice seems to be to plug it in and have a go. So ....

Fighting spam

I've found that having several e-mail accounts allows me to identify the damn-ned processed meat e-mails much more swiftly, and that's because they turn up on each account. Some are easy to spot, such as the banking ones that tell me my account details need updating or that my access has been frozen, when I don't have an account with them anyway. The Halifax e-mailed this morning to tell me my account had been compromised, as did the Abbey and Barclays. Sorry. I don't have accounts there. But more difficult are the ones that are starting to appear as if from a Diocesan office. This is where a second e-mail account comes into its own, for if they appear on there as well, they are going to be malicious. The Mailwasher program is also a boon, allowing me to preview what is on the server with no danger of infection on my terminal.

I am sometimes tempted by the offer of 9 inches in ten minutes, though it's not really neccessary .....

"T'was on the Monday morning ...

... that the gasman came to call" So opens the wonderful circular song by Flanders & Swan. On this particular Monday morning British Gas have recived their payment and a formal complaint about the way they have handled my transfer to another electricity supplier has been made. I should hear the result by Friday. It's unlikely that they will see things my way, but at least I've voiced my concerns.

No progress yet with Holiday Inn. The man with whom I need to speak is still on holiday. I bet his dates were booked correctly!

Keeping a grip on my wallet

It's been an odd week where money is concerned, and not because of the worldwide banking meltdown and "credit crunch". I keep quite strict personal accounting records, so it's doubly annoying to find hiccups in my finances through the incompetance of professional companies.

I recently stayed in a couple of Holiday Inn hotels. I now find that a mistake was made by one of the hotels over the bookings, and that I've been charged for not turning up on a night when I never intended or wanted to stay. The search for reimbursement continues.

And now in today's post comes a letter from "Electricity and Gas Recoveries Ltd" saying that "despite repeated requests for payment", British Gas have not received payment for the last (and closing) bill they sent me in October. I shall be on the telephone first thing Monday ruining the day for several people. Firstly because the opening statement is a LIE. I have not received any communication from British Gas since the original Bill. And secondly, the Bill says that the amount will be collected from my bank account by Direct Debit, as it always has been. Looking at my bank statements I see that no request for payment has been made, so now I am threatened with Court Proceedings because British Gas have not done something they should have done.

Both these companies are staffed by complete tossers!

I'm quite looking forward to Monday morning.

Cracking up

There are problems at the small church of Ilketshall St John. The north wall is tearing away from the tower at the west end. A Structural Engineer has got to come and have a look and see what is causing it and what needs to be done. It's the only corner of the church that is without a buttress, so the age-old solution might still be the best way forward.


We are not going to sing too loudly for a while, and if anyone wants to sneeze, they had better go outside!

The south chancel window is also breaking up ....