How Was It For You?

It's the question of the season, isn't it?  'Did you have a good Christmas?' What's 'good' in this context?  Lots of food, lots of booze, wonderful presents (begs the same question, 'what's wonderful?'), and how the usual permutation of 'who's going to whose house on which day?' finally played out.  There's so much there that I'm happy not to be bothered with.

Christmas began for me on Saturday afternoon with the Christingle services at church.  Mainly geared to children, this event is something of a headache for the organisers because of the dangerous combination of large numbers and lighted candles in children's hands.  All reasonable precautions were taken, however, and it all went off smoothly.  We have two services, two hours apart; the first one is always the more popular, and it's the one I attended.  I followed my usual practice of sitting a couple of seats in from the aisle so that, as the church fills up, there's room for a couple to sit on the end.  In this case, the two seats were occupied by a single mum with two children.

Then came the traditional midnight Communion Service, at which I had been asked to read one of the Scripture extracts.  To bed, then, for a few hours' sleep and out as usual on a Sunday morning to ring bells at the church on the other side of the town.  After our own service on Christmas morning, I was able to greet a few friends before making my way home to relax over an unhurried meal.  Determined not to get involved in anything that, in my active retirement, I call work, I flitted from one amusement to another, reading, listening to music, and generally enjoying some time with no pressure - even self-imposed - to get something done.

By Monday afternoon, even I was beginning to get cabin fever, so went out to watch a football match in the next town, where - with justification, I thought - the home team lost 2-0.  By then it was time to prepare for my planned trip to my cousin the next day.  Two more relaxing days followed, albeit in a different location.  The highlight was a brief visit by a family who were formerly involved in my cousin's church, but have now moved to a different part of the country with their two young daughters.

I set off for home in the fog and frost of Thursday evening, but conditions improved on the way and, using a different route from the outward journey up the motorway, I was home in time to unpack and tidy everything away before bedtime.  This was as well, for I was quickly back into the routine of 'normal life', with a day of prayer and fasting yesterday, the last Friday of both month and year.  With the cold weather and darkness morning and evening, few turned up for the triple gatherings in church, and the fast-breaking meal in the evening was even more welcome than usual.

What was, in many ways, the high point of my week also came yesterday, when I made a planned visit to the doctor's surgery.  After the not unusual banter with another waiting patient over the possibility of my being Santa out of uniform (owing to a white beard in need of a trim), it was my turn to enter the inner sanctum.  Here I discussed a problem that has troubled me for the past year in particular (and longer, on and off, albeit less seriously), but with a different doctor this time, who put it all into context with my long-standing asthma, as both being part of the same overall condition.  Not only did he prescribe a suitable medication, but also gave me a few helpful guidelines for the overall strategy of coping with the situation, which I found very helpful.

Here I am, then, on the brink of a new year.  It's over a year now since I finally stopped work and, while at times it scarcely seems a week or two and I remember fondly particular places where I've delivered or collected, and some of the journeys I enjoyed, at others I recall only too clearly the tiredness at the end of some days, the need to stop for a roadside nap, and the delight of an early return with no 'can you just do this?', which would mean another two or three hours before getting home.  With the motor-home on the market and, hopefully, soon to be sold, I shall soon be planning some exploratory trips of a different dimension, aimed at filling some long-standing ambitions, seeing friends, and making good use of a National Trust membership I was persuaded to take out in the autumn.

I wish a happy and peaceful 2017 to all my readers.