Stuff that is Overdue & Oddments.

To Have Been Posted Four Days Ago

Despite finally having the opportunity to sleep in, something possessed me to ask Beth out running this morning at eight. Downsides to running with friends; I can with reasonably clear conscience decide to go running early-ish, then stand myself up when getting out of bed becomes too difficult. Ditching a friend, is sadly not on.

Church beckons tomorrow morning, providing the opportunity to sit in a happy stupor through the service, unfortunately even this can't quite compare to waking up the wrong side of eleven.

Plans to go swimming at the Aubigny with Nuala -the amazing Irish next-door neigbour- had to be postponed and revised following unsavoury and somewhat distressing news from Mark -said neighbour's husband- concerning someone having relieved themselves in the pool (I now understand why they pump the Aubigny so full of chlorine. Yuck.). Suddenly going there for a swim loses its appeal, and the decision is taken to drive instead to Northberwick and count on the pool roof having been replaced (else face a rather chilly plunge). This was promptly done; we were fortunate enough to strike lucky.

N.B. I have discovered the best carrot cake in entire East Lothian! Fenton Barnes cafe... mmmm...

In Other News

Бабушка (Grandmother) Larissa has had kittens. Well, at any rate, after lying down for a two hour nap with our Cat-In-Chief (Cheese), she woke up and found herself sharing her bed with more rather Cats than she remembered there being when she had gone to sleep.

Above: Cheese & Co. peek guiltily back at the camera- courtesy of Babushka, Much Abused.

'Small & Useless Wooden Item'

Also (though not quite so thrilling), the workshop is now cleared again and fit for human habitation. Consequently I am back to churning out small and useless wooden items (the hardest part of study leave has been finding how to fill my time).

Which Church?

I'm not entirely Christian. In fact, I don't think I'm entirely anything, and I reckon a lot of people could probably say the same. It's the whole; "I believe in something... somewhere....".

That's not to say I'm not interested in religion.

But I figure all that has been said before, so, onwards.

This Sunday I decided to accompany my friend Beth to one of our local Presbyterian churches, the West Church. In a way I felt a a bit of a fraud; it probably has something to do with standing in the pews, surrounded by a sea of earnest, hopeful faces and singing praises to the Lord.... whilst becoming more guilty by the minute for not truly believing any of it.

This is not West Church by the way, it's a photo I took of Yorkshire Cathedral. I wanted something church-like but I haven't actually got any others. Apologies.

Still, standing there like a vegetable wasn't really an option and I feel it was only polite to follow their rules, whilst on their turf.

Everyone was very friendly, which of course, was nice, and Beth was very helpful in explaining what was going on, and what everything was for.

Back A Bit..

Ooooh, backtrack, I should perhaps have mentioned the reason for my excursion into the spiritually fulfilling. Simply this; as part of my curriculum this year I took up R.M.P.S. (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) and for the second part of the course we learn about Christianity, Christ etc.

Now that we're coming up to exams, and everyone is realising that yes, to pass you have to study (and 'oh dear, what happened to the rest of the year?'), I thought what better way to do so than to get some first hand experience?

I have been to church before, but again, the feeling of hypocrisy drove me out. I was loath to say that I did believe in their God whenever I was asked, as I hate bending the truth (particularly in church, not very respectful), but hardly felt I could continue to go whilst proclaiming I felt no sympathy for their beliefs. Awkward.

Anyway, I'm going back again next week in order to widen my experience. It was really quite pleasant overall and in a way I'm quite looking forward to it.