As I type my nieces, Deborah and Jackie will be taking off from Gatwick Airport for an 8 day stay with my sister, their mum, in Turkey. This is a regular trip which they make several times a year but has yet to lose its excitement...the countdown of 'sleeps' on Facebook, the preparations, the packing, the departure lounge, the take off. Exciting to share from a distance too, with just a touch of envy.
One of the members of our church will be jetting off to Cyprus for 10 days next Monday to be at her son's wedding. We have shared in the preparations for this trip too...the passport, the ticket, the dress for the wedding, the gold sandals, the packing. (The packing was done weeks ago, Joyce likes to be prepared!)
We are beginning preparations for our own 'jetting off' too. Preparations that begin for me with three weeks exam marking to finance the air fare to Cape Town in October. We are planning to return for two weeks to attend the Summit Conference of Harvester Churches and spend time with those very dear friends we have over there. So, although October is a long way away we are still excited at the prospect. There will definitely be 3 of us and hopefully 4 boarding the flight.
I can't leave this post without some mention of the hit record that is the title of this blog. Peter, Paul and Mary...their song always transports me to another place, not a place that any jet plane can actually take me...back to a Christmas Day in my 15th (?) year...we were a family of 5 adults and I was the youngest but that didn't stop us all from being too excited to sleep and we were up at 4am unwrapping all the presents that were stashed under the tree. It was a wonderful Christmas, so full of laughter, so many presents, the biggest being a Kenwood Major food mixer for my sister which sat in a box the size of a house with a bow as big as a top hat proudly sitting on top of it.,..so exciting. Mind you, the early start took its toll and my dad and Christopher, my brother-in-law, had to go back to bed for a bit more sleep as we women folk prepared the Christmas dinner. One of the presents was the aforementioned record and Chris and I loved it and played it over and over singing along clutching our hair-brush-microphones...over and over....until we heard my dad shout across the landing to Christopher, my brother-in-law..'I wish that ******jet plane would hurry up and take off so that we can get some ****** sleep!' Laugh....we laughed until our sides ached, laughter fuelled by the excitement of the festivities and the joy of being together for this special time.
Leaving on a jet plane is such an exciting experience and our love and prayers go with Deborah and Jackie to Turkey, to Cyprus with Joyce and will go with us to Cape Town in October. And our love is still going to that other place where my dad has been for so many years now. God bless you Dad, your 'plane' took off far too early and you've been gone from us for so many years but you are remembered so well and still loved even better.
There's nothing like a good laugh to lift the spirits after a hard day and Thursday wasn't an easy day, particularly for Duncan who had had a visit from OFSTED! So we were pleased to have something planned to take our minds off ourselves and lose ourselves in the muse for a few hours.
We had been invited to the play a while ago and, to be perfectly honest, even though we are both big fans of Alan Ayckbourne, we weren't familiar with this play from 1998, and the futuristic theme did nothing to enhance its appeal. Also it was Am. Dram. and we weren't really expecting anything out of the ordinary!
Were we in for a surprise! It was absolutely hilarious and we laughed and we laughed and then we laughed some more! The standard of acting was high and comic timing successfully accomplished by most of the actors (and 'actoids') on stage.
The basic storyline is that the stars of soap TV programmes of the future have pre-programmed robots acting in them rather than people, hence 'actoids', the results of which, with a few malfunctions thrown in here and there is very, very funny. Ayckbourne is a master of the art and this bunch of drama enthusiasts at Dewsbury Arts really did him proud!
I must just add that another dimension to the comedy was added for us by the three elderly ladies sitting behind us, one of whom said very loudly at a quiet moment in the action...
"Oh, this isn't my cup of tea at all, no, not my cup of tea at all....and looking at the programme I don't think the next one is going to be either."
To which her companion replied: "They have all these good actors and actresses and they waste them on a play like this!"
Priceless; humour in a different dimension! They didn't appreciate their Comic Potential but we did!
We do live in a beautiful place and I am very blessed to be able to walk along the canal bank and get to our church in about 20 minutes. As the weather was bright yesterday I walked to church for our Wednesday Women's Group instead of getting a lift with a friend. The surrounding hillsides looked very lush and green as we have had quite a bit of rain recently but the puddles on the canal bank had dried up in the sunshine so it was a very pleasant walk. Well, it was until I noticed all the rubbish bobbing about among the reeds in the canal. Take away food cartons, beer cans, bottles, plastic bags...I was really saddened to see such a mess and always am bemused as to why people can't take their rubbish and put it in a bin - there are a lot about!
But then I noticed something even more puzzling!
I like dogs, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a dog lover and would never be a dog owner. I have come to understand something about myself over the years, and that is that I like the idea of having pets rather than the reality of it. When Martha pops her clogs, or should I say pops her paws, I really do not want another cat even though I am so tempted by the cuteness of little kittens. As I say, I like the idea of being a cat lover rather than loving cats!
I digress, let me return to my walk along the canal.
As I walked I began to notice tied up plastic bags in the grass along the side of the footpath. Several tied up plastic bags. Yes, you have made the correct link in your thinking to my talk of dogs previously!
I have often wondered at the people walking with their dog and standing around while the animal 'performs' and then skillfully scooping the offending matter deftly into a plastic bag and tying it in a tight knot, then walking on with the bag swinging between their fingers. Wondered at their diligence and evident love for their 'man's best friend' and for their fellow man in order to perform such an act of dedication. But it comes with the territory, it is your responsibility as a dog owner. But to go through all that palaver and then just dump it on the canal bank...??
I then began to wonder about the responsibility of cat owners. When other people's cats use your garden for their ablutions, aren't they responsible to whip out the old plastic bag and remove... oh dear, here I go again!
I think that, of all the common expressions we use in the English language, 'Tell me about it' is the one that infuriates me the most. In fact, the very attitude of 'tell me about it!' in a conversation is guaranteed to make me shut up and curtail the conversation because, in fact it tells you very clearly that the listener does not, in fact, want to know!
I'm sure we've all been in a conversation, when you are answering someone's question, and as you detail some of your trials it's as if they have to 'trump you' and go one better. Well, if you think that's bad listen to this...Their apparently solicitous enquiry about our health and well-being was actually a thinly disguised opener for them to tell you all their problems and woes. That's the main reason, dare I say, only reason for some opening conversational gambits?
It shows such a lack of respect and interest in the other person to actually say 'tell me about it.' It says you are not interesting in your world, but let me tell you about mine, as there is nothing that you have experienced that is of interest to me because I have been there, done it and yep, I've also got the tee shirt.
'How are you?'
'Fine, thanks, just a bit tired...'
'Oh I know all about that, I was up at 6, fed the kids, walked the dog................'
(So you don't want to know why I'm a bit tired? Your tiredness so trumps mine, knocks mine into a cocked hat, it is as nothing, in fact, no, now I realise, I am not tired at all.....)
Oh dear, I am going on a bit aren't I? But I think it is so important that we actually listen. When we have a relationship with someone, it's not a competition, it should be a means of showing the other person that we value them, that we are interested in their life, that we love them want to help with their trials and tribulations, even if the only way we can do that is by trying to empathise as we listen as they get things off their chest.
So when you ask, seek to be interested in the reply and not to simply 'go one better'.
Tell me about it!
I AM!
It seems to be happening more and more frequently, we drive into a fairly empty car park and park somewhere where there is a fair bit of space so that parking is easier and so that we can fully open the doors and exit the car with more ease. We went for a carvery, parked as I describe above and before we could even get out of the car two other cars had zoomed in and parked either side of us. There were LOTS of other spaces but I suppose they felt more secure nearer to us?
The same in Tesco. Loads of spaces around our car when we went into the supermarket but dozens of cars clustered around our car and loads of space in the rest of the car park when we returned with our shopping!
Then, at the doctor's surgery on Monday, there are PLENTY of vacant seats; two separate groups of vacant seats in fact. Duncan and I sit down. Two other people come and sit one seat away from us. Another person comes and sits next to us. There are about 15 vacant seats in the other group! Then two people come and squeeze into the only vacant seats next to us! Why? Is it our personal magnetism? Warmth? Or is it the aforementioned herding instinct?
