GadgetVicar

The Postman

GV Boy is now GV Postman or Postman Matt. Well done to him on finding employment. Spare a thought for these hardworking souls, as they leave home at 0430 to get to the sorting office.

Spare a thought too for this parent who drove him to work for the first day and was woken at 0400 to make it so. That meant I surprised everyone by turning up early for the prayer meeting. I really do not want to be woken up at that time tomorrow...........

The Sick Kid

Following his hospitalisation, GV Boy is confined to bed at home, and is not to move around very much. In fact, he is supposed to lie on his stomach to allow the open wound to heal. I get to serve his every need while instructing him on how to be a good patient.

Caring for one's children doesn't get any easier once they are adults.

The Counsel of Friends

I've been marvelling at the counsel of friends over the last couple of days as I face some pain in life. Family and dearest/oldest friends have listened patiently and gently (and not so gently) offered wisdom. I am very grateful for them and have been reminded of what is written about friends in the Book of Proverbs:

•  "Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." (Proverbs 11:14)
   
• "A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength; for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counsellors there is safety." (Proverbs 24:5)
   
• "Every purpose is established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war." (Proverbs 20:18)
   
• "Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counsellors they are established." (Proverbs 15:22)
   
• "Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days." (Proverbs 19:20)
   
• "Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge." (Proverbs 19:27)

Eighteen

GV Boy reaches the magnificent age of eighteen today. How can this be, when I am still so young myself? I mused on this at regional council last night during one of the boring bits (which were not quite as many as usual - could the regional council be about to spring into life?), estimating that, of the  couple of dozen people present,  I was the fourth youngest. After twenty one years of ordained ministry, I'm slowly edging up the age ladder at ecclesiastical meetings.

Many happy returns GV Boy! To mark the occasion, I look forward to visiting a hostelry with him later this evening.

Tinies

The patter (thunder) of tiny feet echoes around the rectory. We're now unused to such early Saturday morning antics. Our teenagers are more given to staying in bed for very long periods of time. It's been a helpful reminder of the joys of our many young families.

I sense a day of keeping little ones busy and entertained. I've aleady been beaten at Wii Bowling by our seven year old niece, and I'm supposed to be good at that!  It's wonderful to be young and have excellent hand/eye coordination, isn't it? 

What's It All About, Alfie?

Been busy, then resting last weekend, then busy again this week, so blogging has been taking a back seat.

The big news is that the GV family are preparing to offer a home to a middle-aged gentleman by the name of Alfie. He's been living rough, but is well-mannered enough and should fit into our family quite nicely.

Alfie is an eight year old white German Shepherd with a delightful temperament. He'll be in his new home by Sunday afternoon.

The SSPCA have been very helpful and have even let him out for a cuddle when we have visited him over the last few weeks. He seemed very pleased to see us this afternoon, and loved the attention.

(Pictures courtesy of GV Girl No. 2)   

Appreciate the Small Things

I went for two walks with GV Girl No. 2 over the weekend. Both turned into something of a bird-watching fest.

First up we visited the RSPB centre at Castle Semple. We got up close to a pair of cormorants and hung out for a while in the hides, simply enjoying the scene. Later we walked along the shore, accompanied by an ever-so-gentle tingling sound. I was unsure what it was until I went to the water's edge and saw that where the ice was melting in the water, the ice edges were rubbing against each other producing a beautiful ambient sound. I'd never heard anything quite like it, and was in a state of wonder. A new sonic experience!

The next day we walked around the pond at nearby Victoria Park. In fact we saw more birds there than at Castle Semple. We counted thirty seven swans, more than we've ever seen there. We watched them glide majestically in flotilla around the wee island. Later all of them took off together for a short flight to the other end of the pond (someone was dishing out bread there). We saw Little Grebes. Moor hens. Several varieties of ducks.

Fabulous yet simple experiences.

Techno Fear

Laptop is sick. Three year old Macbook Pro dualbooting Leopard and Windows XP. Traced the problem to the hard drive, which has died. Fortunately, I backup regularly, so the files are safe. Hard disk has been replaced, but now I can't find the original Windows XP disk. I will have to find another Windows operating system disk. Meanwhile, emailing will be erratic until I get it all sorted.

Cable TV went down last night. Phoned this morning. Nice person took me through the procedures to try and get it going again. No joy. I fully expected to wait until next week for an engineer to turn up. I called at 9.30am. The engineer was at our door by 11am. That is service. It turned out he'd had a job cancelled this morning, so I guess we can't expect that every time we need help. Still it cheered me up after the woes of the laptop failing.

Several unsolicited calls from a security company over the last two days: "You've won this prize and that prize". All very odd as we signed up years ago to the Telephone Preference Service. Over supper tonight, it turns out that a younger member of the GV family answered a call at the door a few days ago, and gave our phone number to the said security company's representative! If they call again, I'm going to say, "Ah,  that will be one of our children you are dealing with".

The Laptop Shop

So GV Girl No. 2 has reached the stage of not wanting to rely on my gadget cast-offs and wants to buy a new laptop with her own money. She is an ardent saver of whom any bank would approve. Would I help her find a suitable machine? Well, buying a new gadget, especially if I don't have to pay for it, is a pleasure. We checked reviews online, compared specifications, debated the relative merits of different screen sizes, bluray drives and weight. We got an idea of what would be suitable. Then I thought, "It would be nice to let her see what she can buy". This meant a visit to...............PC World. I don't enjoy PC World one bit and expected the worst. O, yes, it was every bit as bad as I had anticipated.

We went to the store in Finnieston. We looked around and found several machines that fitted the bill. Getting someone to help us took a long time (why is it when I don't want someone to help me, the staff are all over me, and yet when I do, I have to virtually jump up and down screaming to get their attention?). Then came the problem of the buyer knowing more than the salesperson about the product. "Does it read Sony memory sticks?". "Yes, it will, sir" (It didn't). Eventually we settled on two possible models. Off went the salesperson to check stock. Ten minutes later, he returned. None in stock, but there were two of the Sony model in stock at Braehead. Off we traipsed to Braehead, knowing exactly what we wanted.  Again we had trouble getting anyone to give us some attention. Eventually a salesperson helped us. We'd discovered another model we liked, so off she went to check if this one and the Sony we'd seen earlier were in stock. Ten minutes later she came back to inform us that the new one we'd found wasn't in stock, and the Sony model was showing two in stock, but they couldn't find them. Our expedition had taken two hours and we returned home empty-handed.

This is why I now almost always order stuff online, having checked it out in a physical shop somewhere. I suspect that as the recession bites, stores won't stock large amounts of stuff that night not shift. That will lose some companies a bit of business.

Christmas 2008

Many of the St Silas' congregation leave Glasgow at Christmas. Anyone with an Irish background returned to the homeland. There are so many of them that I've suggested that next year they should hire a bus or two and cut down on the costs.

The absence of so many regulars leaves room for visitors. This is a joy, but it does mean the church is busy with strangers, most of whom are visiting family or friends for the holidays. Nonetheless we had joyful and peaceful services.

After the Christmas morning service, we enjoyed the usual Christmas bash. I experimented with preparing brussel sprouts, chestnuts and bacon and it worked. The parsnips in maple syrup were good too. Both sets of grandparents joined us for the Christmas feast then we drove them all  home in time for a quiet evening.

Santa and friends delivered many wonderful gifts:

Grumpy Old Men: The Secret Diary by Stewart Prebble. I knew of the TV programme, but had never watched it. Having been given the book by a self-described Grumpy Old Git (in fact he operates at Grand Master level), I now discover that I am one too! Should I fight it?

A Sony Digital Reader. Hundreds of books downloaded onto a very slim and attractive gizmo that works beautifully. A surpise birthday/Christmas treat from Ms GV

A new dressing gown in blue which means my ancient green one has been consigned to the recycling.

Yesterday found me speaking and leading at both services, but now I am on a week off. We are staying put and have plans to declutter the study and paint some woodwork. Today has been spent on the long overdue tidying of the back garden. Thirty bags of leaves and other waste. The scaffolding from the re-roof is still up, but it makes for a handy frame for attaching Christmas lights to, so we have joined the ranks of homes now displaying exterior Christmas lights. I hope we're not making someone grumpy with that.