07:30 Lois and I roll out of bed early today, even though it's a Sunday - we've got a delivery coming from the local Morrisons supermarket between 8 and 9 am. I put my shoes on and get my warm coat ready, because we live on a new-build estate that's only about one third finished, and so far the Morrisons delivery drivers haven't been able to find us without me chasing after their van like a crazy dog and waving my arms about. It's total madness!
a typical Morrisons delivery guy
So imagine our surprise and delight when the Morrisons van turns up outside our front door, and the driver says his satnav brought them straight to our door - obviously the local street maps online have been updated to include our street name at last, which is nice!
It's a bit more progress to report on the road back to normalcy haha!
09:00 A zoom chat with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with her 9-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica.
we talk on zoom with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia,
and with her 9-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica
The girls are getting excited by the prospect of Christmas in 3 weeks' time, and they show us their advent calendar. And Sarah sends us a picture of them looking at the online advent calendar that Lois emailed them.
Lily (centre) showcases the family's advent calendar,
which features a delicious chocolate behind every date in December - yum yum!
the twins photographed earlier today looking at the online
advent calendar that Lois sent them last week
Here it's a bitterly cold and damp day, but Australia is gearing up for the summer of course. Sarah says she got sunburn on her ankles this week - because of the gap between her jeans and her trainers.
What a crazy planet we live on !!!!!!
11:15 We drive over to Tewkesbury so that Lois can attend her church's communion service this morning. For the last 2 to 3 years, due to the pandemic, she's been attending services only online using zoom, but last Sunday for the first time, she wanted to take part in person, and she wants to do the same again today.
Although there are a couple of other church members who have said they would be willing to pick Lois up and take her to the services, Lois is reluctant to accept these offers just for the moment - if she accepted one of these offers, she would have to attend both of the day's services, and for the moment she doesn't feel up to doing that - the church's services are quite lengthy by modern standards.
I'm not a church member myself, but last Sunday I took Lois to just the one services and then brought her home again - we ate our packed lunch at the back of the hall and then sat and listened while the service was on.
The subjects of both last week's and this week's exhortation were somewhat unusual, I thought - and focussed on some of the lesser known figures from the Bible. Last week it was focussed on Titus, who wrote one of the shortest books in the Bible.
Titus - wrote one of the shortest books in the Bible
Today's exhortation was all about Enoch, one of the biblical characters that nobody knows much about.
the biblical character Enoch
I sat and tried to listen to today's talk, but I'm afraid I can't tell you much about Enoch even so. I remember hearing today that Enoch was Adam's great-great-great-great-grandson, and that he lived before Noah's flood. He was one of the biblical characters that managed to live a long time - 365 years old when he was "taken by God" according to the Bible. He was "taken" and that means he didn't actually die, apparently. Mysteriously he entered heaven while still being alive.
So there you are! I'm afraid I didn't absorb much, did I, but maybe I did pick up the most important things. I'm not entirely sure of this however - so the jury's still out on that one. Let me know your opinion - on a postcard please! Have pity on our local postman!
Later, Steve, my American brother-in-law, emails me to stress that although Enoch had a long life (365 years) he was the son of a much more famous and longer-lived father, longevity record-holder Methuselah (969 years). Point taken!
The church's numbers have recently been swelled by a couple of dozen Iranian Christian refugees, and many of these were present in the hall today. While the preacher is talking, his words are simultaneously translated into Farsi and the Farsi text appears on the screen behind the preacher, which is nice!
Isn't modern technology wonderful !
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