Keeping to this year's sabbath principle I fasted from cyberspace today. Instead I read the current Evangelicals Now for which excellent paper I am our church's distributor. It deserves a better circulation for news alone. I also started on a biography of Tyndall but at night reverted to television and St Joh's Passion from the Proms. I overcame my usual anglophone prejudice and really enjoyed it despite the original German. I believe this is the apex of the Reformation musically. Is her any record of how the congregation received this on the Good Friday it was first used in worship at Leipzig? The Evangelist was outstanding but why this fashion for open necked male performers? Fans of the London mayor?
We enjoyed two excellent sermons from young preachers, John Young, IPC member, and Chris Roberts newly returned from London Theological Seminary to be assistant minister with. He was outstanding on The valley of the Shadow. This was our last evening service in our present chapel. Only four people present were there when it opened as IPC in 1979. Builders will start now and our new buildings should be readily July 2018.
I cooked lunch, cajun chicken with red pepper, sweet potato and courgette mash.
Mon 21 Aug
6 a.m.
I have worn my wedding ring for 48 years but no more. I last had it on my hand in the chapel during evening service. It was about four hours later that I missed it. So if you fine a plain gold band, a man's wedding ring, I will be most relieved. The only thing I feel good about is that I have told Katy and not followed my previous motto of "What the mind don't know the heart don't grieve over.
22:45
Quiet day at home. Some weeding. Finished Peter Hitchens, The Broken Compass which I reviewed. Sent initial fee payment to our conveyancing solicitor and completed purchase forms.
Tuesday 22nd 20:18
Rom 6 from a mature Oak Hill student at Ealing Lunchtime Talk. I did some weeding, lopping and general garden tidying before we went to visit our new house. But enroute the agent phoned to say the owner had changed his mind and it may be Saturday before he is in for us. The documents have been sent to our solicitor. I am angry with the vendor messing us about. Debbie and I are yet to see the property.
Wed 23Aug 6:25
My erratic sleep pattern is a trial to Katy. I often am up in the early hours. Sometimes it is due to pain, others I simply do not like to lie awake and idle. I will not detail the exact hours but this morning I was up very early and found I was still sleepy in Bible reading. So instead of returning to bed and the CPAP machine with the possibility of waking Katy, I lay on the settee and slept nearly five hours, a most unusual length of time.
18:45
I am eating my butter chicken with courgettes that I cooked. I have crunchy rice too as for the first time ever I burned the rice. I scraped it all together only for the ladies to refuse it and cook their own. Then I was told no typing at table by someone cooking their rice. Hence this post goes out now but is really timed at 18:45 on Wed 23rd.
23:00
At home but active weeding out the front, especially drive and standing. Then some weeding and digging out the back after mowing both lawns. So I am fitter and more active than before hospital. This evening was our last prayer meeting in the IPC Drayton Green lounge. I will post my photographic record. It led me to wonder how long have we been talking of a new building. I think it was some 15 to 20 years ago we had a congregational meeting that voted for the redevelopment of our site as against renting premises. I recall saying they could go ahead without my input as I have no interest in bricks and mortar. I said I would return in 10 years to see what they had but. It seems my 10 years was a gross underestimate. I think these are our third firm architects.Thursday 24 Aug
Some more weeding, digging and lopping this morning after a walk to the post office and back. Lunch with Adrian's parents, our monthly meal in Ruislip. This time we enjoyed the company of our grandchildren. We have new bathroom scales. Weight loss continues with 28lb gone since the heart problem was treated.
Friday 25 August
Beautiful day. A bank holiday weekend cannot go on like this. Community cardiology consultant thinks that sometime after my March surgery I had atrial fibrillation again and the irregular beats caused the heart failure. But he reckons I am doing well and he will monitor me. I certainly feel fitter now and have continued gardening etc today.
Saturday 26 August
I had hoped that Debbie and I would get to see our new place this weekend but once again the vendor has put us off, this time until Monday. This is frustrating as I planned to go to watch Surrey and Middlesex at The Oval. But today was most interesting for it was removal day from our Drayton Gerren premises. See photos on Facebook. Katy thought I was not fit enough for four hours work but I wanted to do my bit and managed to be set a sedentary task of sorting the files in one storage cabinet. Some were our minister's personal ties for his work. Those were in order in the main but I had to look through church files dating back nearly forty years. I have finished up bringing these ones home for proper orderly sorting but among the gems are a 1919 annual report of the St Helena's Home and its ministry among first offending young women and also pictures of the chapel as it was before the Anglo-catholic nuns sold it to us iconoclastic Presbyterians. I had wondered when we first proposed to rebuild our site. The answer was found in a letter of early 1990. So we have been over 27 years planning for this new build due to start September 11. Tonight I cooked beef rending. Very tasty.
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