Clothes and London and clothes... sorry
We’ve just returned from a day in London (my nose is tres sunburned, silly me) to find a lovely card from Gran saying that she enjoys this blog and is disappointed when there’s nothing on it for days in a row! Hi Gran! And sorry! My absence is never because I’m unwell, just lazy.
So without ado, the last few days. I’ve been thinking a lot about my time here and, since I’m not working (yet) I should be making some good use of my time. I’ve asked myself often, in my shoes and being me, what would Jesus do? So I’m taking that quite seriously (as I should) and am doing half a day a week helping clean up after a young mum’s group, visiting an old lady once a week, and as of tomorrow, working in a charity shop one day a week. (Jesus would do lots more than that, but I'm taking it slow.)
I fear you will be unsurprised, dear, patient, loyal, non-judgemental readers, when I confess that the other stuff is for God... and the charity shop day is for me. I had my ‘interview’ last week and filled out forms etc, then apologised to the ladies that I’d have to wear jeans as I didn’t have much of a wardrobe.
“Oh don’t worry,” said one, “once you’ve worked here for two weeks you’ll have a double wardrobe! We do all get rather... tempted.”
I smiled demurely and did not let the jubilation show. (I get a 20% discount! And when everything is £5, 20% is... well, not much. But you can bet I’ll be abusing that discount something shameful.) What I'll be doing is the sorting, so going through the massive rubbish bags of clothes and sizing, steaming and pricing the clothes.
Do you know how I felt when they told me what I’d be doing? It was like that Sky ad (which I can't find on YouTube) where the two guys apply for the job of eunuchs to tend the sultan’s harem, “bathing them in milk, rubbing oil into their bodies”, and they’re all “mmhmm, I’ve done a course in all of that” and get out their money to pay for the privilege... well apply that to old clothes and that’s how I felt. Without the eunuch part. More to come on that topic, I am sure.
Today we went to London to see the former pastor of our NZ church and his wife, who are over here visiting their kids who are good friends of ours. We had a lovely lunch in the garden (hence sunburn) and it was so lovely to chat to them for a good long time. They’ve known us since we were both 17, and Bruce baptised us both, counselled us at various times, married us and they’ve generally been there for us for half of our lives. Even though they’re no longer at our NZ church, we’ll be lifelong friends, which is just great.
We left there at 3 and walked through crazy Harrods and beautiful beautiful Knightsbridge and had a £5 dinner of spicy Singapore noodles in a random little noodle bar, then hopped the Oxford Tube bus back home.
Must go, I’m feeling a bit sunstroky and need to be in top form for the filthy clothes-sorting tomorrow - bliss.
So without ado, the last few days. I’ve been thinking a lot about my time here and, since I’m not working (yet) I should be making some good use of my time. I’ve asked myself often, in my shoes and being me, what would Jesus do? So I’m taking that quite seriously (as I should) and am doing half a day a week helping clean up after a young mum’s group, visiting an old lady once a week, and as of tomorrow, working in a charity shop one day a week. (Jesus would do lots more than that, but I'm taking it slow.)
I fear you will be unsurprised, dear, patient, loyal, non-judgemental readers, when I confess that the other stuff is for God... and the charity shop day is for me. I had my ‘interview’ last week and filled out forms etc, then apologised to the ladies that I’d have to wear jeans as I didn’t have much of a wardrobe.
“Oh don’t worry,” said one, “once you’ve worked here for two weeks you’ll have a double wardrobe! We do all get rather... tempted.”
I smiled demurely and did not let the jubilation show. (I get a 20% discount! And when everything is £5, 20% is... well, not much. But you can bet I’ll be abusing that discount something shameful.) What I'll be doing is the sorting, so going through the massive rubbish bags of clothes and sizing, steaming and pricing the clothes.
Do you know how I felt when they told me what I’d be doing? It was like that Sky ad (which I can't find on YouTube) where the two guys apply for the job of eunuchs to tend the sultan’s harem, “bathing them in milk, rubbing oil into their bodies”, and they’re all “mmhmm, I’ve done a course in all of that” and get out their money to pay for the privilege... well apply that to old clothes and that’s how I felt. Without the eunuch part. More to come on that topic, I am sure.
Today we went to London to see the former pastor of our NZ church and his wife, who are over here visiting their kids who are good friends of ours. We had a lovely lunch in the garden (hence sunburn) and it was so lovely to chat to them for a good long time. They’ve known us since we were both 17, and Bruce baptised us both, counselled us at various times, married us and they’ve generally been there for us for half of our lives. Even though they’re no longer at our NZ church, we’ll be lifelong friends, which is just great.
We left there at 3 and walked through crazy Harrods and beautiful beautiful Knightsbridge and had a £5 dinner of spicy Singapore noodles in a random little noodle bar, then hopped the Oxford Tube bus back home.
Must go, I’m feeling a bit sunstroky and need to be in top form for the filthy clothes-sorting tomorrow - bliss.