What Are You Doing Now?

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Daisy
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Daisy »

Goodness me Katharine - that sounds like a service geared very much towards children!
We use the overhead projection every week now and have done for quite a few years. Preachers bring their memory sticks with them and we have illustrations at times as well as the words of the hymns and other "audience participation" items. We have also had a link with Australia for a baptism where we could see the relations of the baby and they could see us. The wonders of modern technology!
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Katharine
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Katharine »

Yes Daisy, it was the school's Harvest Festival celebration (not a Mass), so very much geared up for children. The school hall struggles to hold all the parents who like to attend as well as all the children, so it's held in the church these days so everyone can attend. The church itself doesn't have a Harvest Festival Mass.

On the whole, modern technology has been kept at bay during normal Masses - 50 years ago Mass was still celebrated completely in Latin, so we can't expect to progress to quickly. :D We do have electric microphones and a 'loop' for people with hearing aids, but that's about as modern as it gets, certainly not memory sticks, just lots of candles and incense. On the whole I'm very glad about that, although I think the link with Australia for the family baptism was a nice idea.

Sorry Julie if this should have been in 'General Natter', but you know how threads get derailed. It's almost on topic though, as the Harvest Festival was a couple of weeks ago, and I did go to Mass yesterday, so that's almost what I'm doing now. :wink:
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

When people write what they're doing, it will often quite naturally lead to a conversation. If someone wrote, "I'm in hospital recovering from an operation on a broken leg," it's likely that people would offer sympathy and good wishes and talk about times when they or family members also had a broken bone. It would seem heartless if a post like "I'm in hospital recovering from an operation on a broken leg" was followed immediately by "I'm just about to run a marathon" or "I'm baking a scrummy lemon cake and will eat a slice hot from the oven."
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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burlingtonbertram
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by burlingtonbertram »

Moonraker wrote:My bedtime book tonight is going to be The Book of Common Prayer! :D
No spoilers please; I don't know how it ends.

Just to get back on topic, I'll point out that I am about to go outside to take a look in the compost bin. I threw some chopped up garlic cloves in there a few weeks back and the bin is full of sprouted garlic. It's growing in the dark, and has no bulbs yet, and every root is wrapped around a potato peeling. Presumably for nutrients.


Hey, I never said it was interesting but I deserve some kudos for getting back on topic :?
"The days are long, but the years are short"
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Courtenay
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Courtenay »

burlingtonbertram wrote:
Moonraker wrote:My bedtime book tonight is going to be The Book of Common Prayer! :D
No spoilers please; I don't know how it ends.
With this:

A TABLE OF
KINDRED AND AFFINITY
WHEREIN WHOSOEVER ARE RELATED
ARE FORBIDDEN BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
TO MARRY TOGETHER


I'll leave it to you to find out what's in it. :mrgreen:
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
Katharine
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Katharine »

I don't think it would be too heartless if someone said they were about to eat a piece of delicious cake they'd just made, and ignored someone's post about a broken leg. Telling everyone you are about to run a marathon would seem a little insensitive though. :wink:

I'm recovering from a day out to Sheringham. Very enjoyable - blue skies, sunshine, delicious food and good company. As I sat on the stones on the beach looking out to sea, I honestly felt that I can't imagine that anywhere else in the world could be more beautiful.
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Courtenay
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Courtenay »

Sounds lovely, Katharine! I've never been to Sheringham, but I visited Cromer earlier this year and enjoyed the most delicious fish and chips I'd had in ages.

I'm recovering from a little break in Alfriston, East Sussex. Such a beautiful little village (with an excellent bookshop, Much Ado Books, among other lovely things) - I'd definitely go there again, if I can secure better accommodation next time! (This is where I had the rather substandard YHA hostel that I mentioned before. I'll be contacting YHA head office and suggesting politely that they might like to earmark this one for a renovation, as it would be a lovely place to stay if only it was more up to scratch.)
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Francis
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Francis »

Alfriston was a town much associated with smuggling in the 18th and early 19th century - before it got 'civilised'.
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Courtenay
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Courtenay »

Oh yes, I saw one of the pubs was called Ye Olde Smuggler's Inne, and apparently it was really a smuggler's house in the early 19th century - the landlord was showing visitors how the chimney flue was much larger than usual, for hiding goods in. I noticed, too, that there were at least a couple of businesses called "Moonrakers"; I thought that was specifically a Wiltshire term (according to the legend behind it), but maybe not! (Either that, or perhaps our friend Nigel is, er, moonlighting. :wink: )

Rudyard Kipling lived some 20 miles north-east of Alfriston, and it probably inspired works like his well-known "A Smuggler's Song":
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!

(full poem here)
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
Katharine
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Katharine »

Courtneay, Alfriston sounds good. We went to Drusilla's Park there, years ago. I had hoped to go back to East Sussex for our holiday this year, but my husband preferred Dorset, which of course was a great destination too. East Sussex is definitely top of my places to re-visit.
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Funnily enough, my mum and I were talking about 'A Smuggler's Song' in a 'phone call the other week. She had to learn that poem off by heart and recite it at school, and she has never forgotten it.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Moonraker
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Re: What Were You Doing Yesterday?

Post by Moonraker »

We visited Brownsea Island yesterday, and it was a haunt of smugglers in times past. Even the Old Harry Rocks were named after a Dorset smuggler, Harry Paye - although there is also a story that Old Harry refers to the Devil, as he was reputed to have slept on the rocks one night.
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Lucky Star
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Lucky Star »

Alfriston is a wonderful little place with some superb shops, mainly a bookshop and a vintage music shop. I go there about twice a year. The nearby villages of Littlington and Wilmington are very nice too and there is plenty of stunning scenery in the area.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero

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Francis
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Francis »

Izzy watching 'Come Dancing' whilst I have come back from my Postcard Club Meeting in Reading. Whilst in Reading Station I kept my eyes open for Stef (I saw her there once) but no such luck. So glad to see the site back - I missed you all!
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Poppy
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Re: What Are You Doing Now?

Post by Poppy »

We are currently enjoying an evening of Halloween-based entertainment:

Image
"Beware of young men with long hair - that's what dad says, isn't it?"
Pat, Holiday House


Poppy's Best of Books

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