AS: More tea, Vicar? - the British thread 2020

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  • Our turn out was ok, although a bit sparser than usual-some of the people who can't walk very well or who live further away weren't there. The Dragonlets were the sum total of Sunday School, but several people were away anyway and I don't think some of the locals wanted to brave the walk.

    We do have a broken window in the church hall now, so we had coffee in church, but I think some of the damage may take a while to show up as the rain's not heavy enough for leaks.

    Both the wheelie bins have now blown over, so have been moved out of the way in their prone position.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited February 2020
    A plastic dustbin was last seen, before Mass, dancing about the grounds. I'll try to restrain it later in the week.
    Are you trying to restrain its joyful, Spirit-filled dance of praise? We too had a reasonable congregation this morning, considering the weather. It is now very windy (and wet!) – we’re at the peak of it, I think.

    No, no - it may, with my blessing, continue its semi-liturgical dance (it's at the east end of the grounds, not far from the altar, though separated from it by the church wall), as long as it doesn't morris about too much on the bluebells which are beginning to sprout up...

    It will, however, eventually have to be recalled to its more serious duties as a Bin.
  • The church building is standing up to the recent extreme weather quite well...

    How is the Episcopal Ark holding up?
  • Our Cathedral congregation this morning was very thin on the ground. I was blown home afterwards. At one point I could not control where I walked 😬😂
  • The sun has come out (fitfully), although it is still very blustery I'm hopeful that The Worst Of It has passed.
  • Same here. Whilst we were eating lunch the rain coming down vertically was criss-crossed by horizontal heavy showers of water being blown off the flat roof of our extension. All dry and calm now.
  • Still very rainy and windy down in our part of the world. We were nearly blown home from church too.
    MrJt9 tidied away the wheelie bins and put the garden brollie away last night, so so far nothing has been lost or broken.
    It’s not a huge amount of fun to drive in, so I’m not greatly looking forward to picking up Child A and her friends from town in a bit.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2020
    I'm almost loath to say this, but it's a gloriously sunny day here.

    It was -22° when I left for church this morning, but still ...

    Today was my last Sunday in the choir here; I head off for Scotland next Sunday afternoon, and as they're having A Bit Of A Do for me tomorrow, I suppose it wouldn't be quite right to turn up next week. I'm going to go to choir practice on Thursday (and the pub afterwards, obviously), but I think I'll spend next Sunday morning banking some sleep.

    We sang Darke in F and View me, Lord by Lloyd - both in the "favourite" category, and both of which were sung at D's funeral - I think he would have been smiling in Heaven.
    In other news, with help from a friend, I've sold the Pigletmobile - and he managed to get a decent price for it.

    Part of me is rather sad - it was a cute little car, and we were both very fond of it - but I can't take it with me, and I hope its new owner will love it as much as we did. :heart:
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Very blowy on the 25th floor. All the stuff on the balcony is dancing about everywhere.

    Earlier I sat Captain Pyjamas in the high chair in front of the window. He was fascinated by the spectacle of his bucket and spade (employed for playing in the sandpit and otherwise stored on the balcony to avoid getting sand all over the house) wandering all over the balcony under their own steam. Who needs TV?
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    It was noticeably thinner on the ground in church today. I certainly got blown back home, and it was raining too. After that I haven't ventured out, but spent the afternoon sewing together a penguin I've knitted for someone I know whose expecting her first baby. She's very keen on penguins, they were the decorations on her wedding cake, so I thought it was an appropriate gift for the new baby. It looks very cute, so I'm slightly loath to part with it.
  • My third great grandchild arrived at the height of the storm, howling and roaring wind and torrential rain. She seemed totally unperturbed! But then the hospital is well insulated from Life Ouside.
  • Pigwidgeon wrote: »
    The church building is standing up to the recent extreme weather quite well...

    How is the Episcopal Ark holding up?

    OK, thanks, but something Odd happened (or didn't) at high tide (1pm), as much of the water didn't arrive. The force of the wind pushed it back down the estuary into the North Sea, so I expect it ended up in The Netherlands, or Denmark.

    The Lost Water will return, probably on the next tide or two (the wind has abated), but we are expecting rather more than predicted in the little tide-table book!

    Nature will regain her equilibrium in due course.
    :flushed:

  • Congratulations @Thomasina
  • Will she be called Ciara?
  • It would seem appropriate, though AIUI 'Storm' is also found as a name these days...
    :flushed:
  • I would probably use it as a middle name, so she's not teased if her classmates work it out.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Just as well she didn't arrive during the next storm - they'd have had to call her Dennis ... :mrgreen:
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Or Denise.

    The wind's still howling around here and I'll be glad when it clears off. This is my second night of disturbed sleep.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Thomasina wrote: »
    My third great grandchild arrived at the height of the storm, howling and roaring wind and torrential rain. She seemed totally unperturbed! But then the hospital is well insulated from Life Ouside.

    Oh wow! Many congratulations @Thomasina.

    I’m so glad I managed to fly ahead of the storm - now enjoying Omi time. 🙂

    My DIL made a fabulous Thai curry last night. Then they played board games while I played with Anuka. 💕

    OH is on puppy duty at home

  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Storm hitting us full(ish) blast now in Continental WesShire, Monday morning, 10am.

    Several railway lines are not running, some due to trains in danger of being toppled over, or because - as one might call it - the wrong kind of wood on the line, i.e. trees. Flights have been cancelled, boat services too, even schools shut by some locals councils, as the school run is possibly to dangerous there right now.

    The storm occasionally sounds like a freight train rumbling past. Normally it's just the freight trains rumbling past that sound like freight trains rumbling past. That's impressive. Internet and power still fully on. My immediate area is perhaps slightly less affected than more exposed regions. Hm.

    I may, or may not, venture out today, so we'll see what that comes to, and how far I get! (On foot in the village, or by train and bus. I'll do my best to keep safe, please worry ye not utterly. :) )

    <votive> For all affected in life and limb, and property.

    That's the weather, now back to the news.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2020
    I think the worst of it has now passed us by in Wes’s direction. The main disruption here is from fallen trees on the railway lines. Power has been cut off in some regions, but I think they’re to the West of us.

    Last night we did seriously wonder if our windows were going to blow out it was so loud. Although as I advised a neighbour I ran into in the lift this morning, stick a sock in the air vents, and it doesn’t whistle quite so loudly. Too bad for the ventilation, no one needs to be ventilated that much. Our balcony is a spectacular mess.
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    I think the worst of it has now passed us by in Wes’s direction. [...]
    A belovéd and age-old tradition, as we see. :D

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    This morning so far has been an alternation of brief bright bits and heavy showers of wet snow/sleet. All backed up with stinging wind.
  • But here there is much beautiful snow and more to come. I love snow!
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited February 2020
    Please to keep it, if you will... :grimace:

    (Though I agree that it's beautiful to see, as long as I don't have to be in it!)

    Here, doubtless as a result of Brex*t, the perfidious Dutch, Danes, Germans, etc. have sent us back yesterday's Lost Water with interest, and, to add to the rather damp inconvenience, we have a power outage as well.

    This is probably due to the Lost Water finding its way into the Marina's rather ramshackle electrics - it's happened before, and doesn't usually take The Lads Wot Work In The Yard too long to fix, once the water's gone away.

    Which will be several hours from now, probably.

    Ah well - the stove is alight, a Spud is baking, and there is a nice Pork PIE to go with it (I like PIE).
  • And - DEEP JOY!! - I have found a bottle of Red WINE that I'd forgotten about! It goes down well with Pork PIE!!
    *hic*
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Well done, BF! :)

    May it go down well, as opposed to the Ark, which we wish not to go down, but float from here to eternity, world without end. Amen. Unless it is safely moored, which we wish, too. :)
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Hope your electricity is restored soon @Bishops Finger , though drinking a bottle of red wine seems a good a way of any to wait. I thought the weather was a lot calmer when I set out this morning, by the time I was coming back it seemed to have got rather windy again. I've given up trying to keep the cover on the garden table, and our fence that we know needs replacing has lost a few more slats. I guess we'll probably have a while to wait for someone to come and due the job.
  • Thanks, all. Yes, the Ark is safely moored (er...I'll just go on deck to check...).

    All is well, and with lots of interesting, and potentially useful, debris around, but mains power is still off. Time to hie me to my good friend Mr eBay, to purchase an environmentally-friendly portable generator (yes! They do exist!).

    I had a neat little Honda jenny a while back, but gave it away to my stepson in a fit of generosity...
    :cry:

  • Mains power is back on.

    Little portable jenny ordered (for silly money).

    WINE drunk, and PIE devoured.

    What to do next? O, I know - CHEESE!

  • You did not have a power outage. They happen in the US of A. We have good old-fashioned British power cuts. (Mind you, they feel just the same ...).
  • You did not have a power outage. They happen in the US of A. We have good old-fashioned British power cuts. (Mind you, they feel just the same ...).
    In the in the US of A, a power cut is usually intentional, whereas a power outage is unplanned and caused by weather, a downed line, whatever.


  • Ah, didn't know that. My comment still stands, though.
  • Just been watching a snow shower through the hospital windows. We’re now back to watery sun, thank heavens.
  • Hmm. A power cut (to me, anyway) implies a fairly widespread failure, affecting numerous properties, businesses etc.

    A power outage OTOH rather implies, hereabouts, a more localised failure, in our case caused by Too Much Water, though I appreciate the Pond Difference thingy...

    As it happens, merely resetting the circuit breaker on the riverbank (the one on the Ark was OK) has resolved the problem, so it wasn't a mega-issue.

    This time.
    :grimace:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2020
    No power cuts or outages (I'm with BT on that one) over here, but it has been sn*wing steadily since early morning (it's just after 2 p.m. here), and the 10-15cm we were forecast seems to have been a rather conservative estimate.

    I've just been out to do some shovelling round M's car, and what's falling now looks more like a mix of sn*w and rain. I can think of better ways of spending one's birthday (if one will insist on being born in February) ... ❄⛄☔

    The Cathedral congregation are having a farewell bash for me later this afternoon; I suspect it won't be quite as well attended as it might have been without this weather.

    Have I ever mentioned that I hate sn*w? :wink:

    PS Congratulations, Great-Granny Thomasina! :)

    PPS A plough is doing its thing outside - if it's undone my shovelling, I will Not Be Pleased.
  • We had snow this afternoon, whilst I was at work. The garden looks quite pretty, although I'm a little worried about my chives, but it made getting home rather damper, as the sun then came out and turned roads, and more pertinently pavements to slush.

    We are on day 3 of city-wide rush hour gridlock, and it's even worse than Friday, so only small parts of my journey home were on the tram: large chunks were completed with the aid of shank's pony. Having left work half an hour early I got back to collect Dragonlet 1 up from after-school club just after their official closing time, with a minute detour to collect his and my wellies. He was by no means the last child, but his socks have gone AWOL from their radiator. :disappointed:
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Happy Birthday, @Piglet 🎉🎶💐
  • Yes indeed, you slipped that in subtly. Happy Birthday @Piglet!
  • Happy Birthday, Piglet, and enjoy the going-away bash!!
  • Wesley JWesley J Circus Host
    Happy birthday to yoooooooou, dear Piglet! Oink oink! Many happy returns!
  • Happy birthday Piglet.
    Congrats, Thomasina.
    I’m still hobbling round the house (standing for ages in church yesterday made my broken toe swell up again). Did my Monday admin and marked several essays on healthy workplaces. Younger son had a sixth form interview. All very mundane.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    (if one will insist on being born in February) ...
    I blame the parents, personally.
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Happy Birthday @Piglet. I hope the farewell bash was well attended and fun.
    No snow here, but I got rained on rather a lot walking to my Tai Chi class. I thought thing were supposed to be brightening up
  • Happy Birthday Piglet! Hope you had a lovely party.
  • 🦛🦜2️⃣🐑,🐷. ( Hippo birdie to ewe, piglet) Hope all went well.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    edited February 2020
    It was indeed an excellent party, with WINE and CAKE, and pressies - a lovely antique photograph of the Cathedral in the snow, and some beautiful New Brunswick jewellery.

    There were about 50 there, and to say that I felt loved would be putting it mildly. I'm going to miss these wonderful people. :cry:

    eta - thank you for all the b-day wishes! :)
  • bassobasso Shipmate
    Happy birthday, Piglet!
  • Sounds a lovely event- and happy memories to take with you as well as the gifts.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Belated Happy Birthday, Piglet!
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