Rocking Your World 2019; Week 23

Here we are at Friday again, and looking at what has rocked our world this week. I must say my world has rocked a bit more than I would have liked, but I had a lovely day on Saturday.

Although we do have a full time, 'employed' vicar for our three-church Chaplaincy, he is ably assisted by a lovely man who is around 76 years old I think, so is, of course, retired.  But he is in no way ready to hang up his gowns. He still feels called to work for us, and takes the service at which ever church does not have the vicar that week. His name is Canon Alan Bennett, (Father Alan to us) and he is greatly loved by us all.

On Saturday we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. Held at our church as we have the better facilities for large groups, (there were over 80 people there),  we started with a Eucharist led by Father Alan, and he told us a little of his early beginnings in the church, and his life in the ministry. We raised the roof singing some golden oldie hymns, and then a small group of 'barber-shop singers sang a song written by one member for the occasion. We followed this with a community, bring-and-share lunch, and as usual the tables were weighed down under plates of tempting food. It was very hot so many folk chose to eat inside the church, which had been quickly cleared and set out with trestle tables and chairs. We couldn't all fit in there so the rest of us braved the sunny patio, but we did have plenty of parasols up to shade us a bit.

We were given a fun quiz to occupy us while we waited for the food table to be ready. All the questions related to 1969, the year of Father Alan's ordination, but we were all too busy chatting with friends to make a real effort to fill it in.

One lady had made a beautiful cake which Father Alan cut, and we all had a piece with a glass of cava to raise a toast.

He may be older than many serving priests, but Father Alan is the most modern and forward looking one I have met. He has a huge heart and loves all mankind equally, and I guess that why we all love him so much. It was a privilege to share his special day, and as you can probably see, he loved every minute of it.

Here are just some of the photos taken on the day, which really need no captions.

I was recently appointed as Environmental Officer for the Chaplaincy, and as it seemed the most pressing, and also the most straightforward issue, I made my first objective to improve our recycling of waste. Most folk are quite happy to do this, though not everywhere is as well serviced with recycling bins as we are in our village, but many do not actually know what goes in each bin. So a couple of weeks ago I made a two page pamphlet explaining it all and it has been very well received, with many people telling me they had learned new things from it.

So on Saturday I set up a recycling table and everyone was happy to sort their own rubbish into glass, paper, plastic etc, with a crate for the items that had to be washed up. This saved a bottle neck at our cramped kitchen door, as everyone used to take their own dishes to the sink. It all worked very well, and made the clearing up much easier. The sharper eyed among you may have noted the large plastic bottles of water on our tables. Unfortunately only the minority of homes have drinking water on tap, but drinking plenty of it is essential as temperatures rise, so bottled water is inevitable. But at least I ensured the bottles were recycled!

In a mad moment I offered to take home all the extra 'loaned' tea-towels to wash and bring back the next day, and within a couple of hours of returning home they were washed, dried and folded. Unfortunately, just after that I started to feel unwell, and before long I was burning up one minute and shivering in a blanket the next. I first I thought I'd had too much sun, but I soon realised it was something more, and by the next morning I had a raging sore throat, and painful ears and head, plus a racking cough. And that was the end of my week. I have not left the house so far, except for a brief visit to the doctor. I am now on antibiotics and a strong cocktail of analgesics so every time I sit down, I fall asleep! They are beginning to take effect, and I am now sitting up in the sitting room for most of the day, though still dozing off at the drop of a hat. I have lived off yoghurt and porridge, but I did manage some soup today, and hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be over the worst of it. Chris is insisting I am sensible and rest until the course of tablets is finished on Tuesday, and anyway I don't think I am safe behind a wheel until the 'sleepy pills' are reduced. So the clean tea-towels sit in my hall for a friend to collect and take to church on Sunday. I shall be sorry to miss the service as there will be a special memorial for a dear friend who passed away on Monday. He and his wife returned to live in UK for health reasons at the start of the year, but he was a lovely man with a great, dry sense of humour, and we are all sad to hear he has gone. Not a good week for such sad news, but he wouldn't want us to mope. I know they are going to sing his favourite hymn - How Great Thou Art - on Sunday, and he would have liked that.

I have managed to read a few books on my Kindle as I sit in my chair this week. At least with Kindle it remembers what page I have read, so when I doze off it doesn't lose my place! I was rarely left alone, as there was always one or two of my furry friends to keep me company. Tango has decided he likes the end of the settee, and Kim is reluctant to get up while he is there. Paco is being a bit naughty because they are not allowed on the table, but I hadn't got the energy to make him get down!

Charlie looks more alert, but he is also about to sleep again. It's not bad this cat's life!

So please forgive me if I didn't visit you this week. Fortunately I did get to most folk on Friday evening, but since then I haven't sat at my computer until today. Thank you to those who left comments for me. I read them on my phone but I am no good at doing anything else on it, so I have only just published them, but I appreciate them all the same.

I will now link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World, and leave you with one more picture of this lovely smiling face.