Gardening

Life is largely unproductive at the moment. My particular place of work is famed for being very quiet in July and August due to the huge number of people we're involved with who work term-time only. I've been trying to keep myself busy but I spent a significant amount of time today watching a man on a large ride-on lawnmower go up and down the grass outside my office window.

I thought to myself; that man can look back on his day's work and see that he's achieved something. I'm not sure I can say the same at the moment.

And I'm not sure I'll ever be able to have that sort of 'job done' satisfaction as a Priest, not very often anyway. People are messy. Relationships are messy. So Churches are messy places, and the Priest's job isn't to fly in like Superwoman sort out everyone's problems then fly out again, satisfied with the neatly-mowed lawn. It's about getting alongside people and trudging through the long grass together.

Well, that was my thought for the day. Incidentally, I did some gardening this evening. A bit of weeding. Felt very pleased with the result although I've only cleared the weeds down one side of the front lawn. More to do tomorrow. A bit of digging is good for the soul.

It's been a while since the last Blog entry and if I went through all the to-ing and fro-ing we've had with Solicitors and Estate Agents and Surveyors this post would go on forever. Some highlights from the Buyers solicitors questions to us;

"Does anyone have permission to hold a fair on your land?"
No.

"To the best of your knowledge does anyone has any interest in your loft?"
Even I'm not very interested in my loft.

"You have got some outbuildings built without permission. Why have you got these outbuildings built without permission?"
They were built in 1966 so if you're looking for someone to blame...

OK, slightly rephrased by me, but surprisingly not that much.

After all of this we're looking at exchanging (probably) next week and completing (probably) on Friday 5th August. So there's a couple of probables to deal with, but it feels like we're nearing the end. Hence, clearing the weeds.

It really is feeling like an unbearable wait now. It's worse for Paul as he's home all day. By the time I come home from work in the evening I'm up for a bit of dinner, TV and sleep, but he's had those options available to him all day. I don't envy him. Even if work is a bit slow at the moment at least it's something to wake me up in the morning.

Did anyone see 'Alex:A life in Fast Forward' on BBC 3 last night? It was a documentary about a young chap of 22 with terminal bone cancer. Knowing he didn't have long to live he had decided to live life to the full for the little time he had. My description sounds a bit cliched but Alex came across as such an endearing young man I'd recommend a watch on iplayer if it sounds your sort of thing.

It provides some food for though for those of us inclined to moaning regarding house sales.