Taking it easy

Another wet and windy day under a grey sky, but an unexpected promise of warmer sunnier days to come. Having got into bed, I was about switch off my phone for the night and an email dropped from John, the churchwarden of Nerja Anglican Chaplaincy, asking if I would be free for locum duty from Easter onward as the second year of pastoral vacancy commences. How remarkably providential this is! Both sets of my locum duties in Cardiff conclude with the filling of all three vacancies I was involved in covering, and all this March. 

I had wondered if I'd be offered another euro locum, given my age, and the fact that below my generation of clergy there's a greater proportion of retirees who might be interested in serving. Thrilled to be asked again. Immediately I said that I'd be free and willing. When I was asked last year, there was so much to do here that I felt I had to decline. With the gall bladder no longer threatening to spoil my plans, and doubling my expenditure on travel insurance, there couldn't be a better time. John responded positively this morning and is looking for a Low Sunday start date. That means being there from April to early June, a lovely time of year. The next message to drop into my inbox was from Vueling, promoting spring flights. Amazing!

I now need to think about a handover for Parish newsletter publication responsibilities. A six month stint week in week out, has been something of a responsibility, and I'd been pondering on how I could let go of this once clergy vacancies are filled, and train up a successor. It's possible a different approach to sharing information across the Ministry Area will see the end of the Sway digital format at this point. The time to discuss it is now ten weeks before my departure. The handover of responsibility I received was more like an ambush, landing me with something I needed to learn to do from scratch  It turned out OK, but integrated communication between MA churches is too important to be done haphazardly.

I received separate calls, morning and afternoon from the GP surgery asking about my post- op welfare and need for support. It was good to share a progress report, albeit with two different members of staff, one in response to the paper letter from the surgeon, another in response to separate email from UHW. I joked about the paper one arriving first, and it gave me a chance to flag up the disparity in info about cocodamol not being on offer, and then being offered according to the post op protocol on paper. I will never know if this leads to action, but it needed to be said.

Clare battled out in the wind and rain to receive a pair of fine leather boots from Canton Cobblers, and I cooked a veggie butter bean casserole Andalusian style with quinoa. It was OK but lacked a flavouring ingredient I can't identify, but it would have been better with chorizo. Then Clare went out again by taxi to the UHW eye clinic, while I tried to work out from my photo archive when I was last in Nerja (without searching my blog!). Apart from a couple of day visits when I was staying in Malaga, the last locum duty I did there was June 2016. My stay was cut short by the arrival of a newly appointed chaplain, but instead of returning home early, I took the train on a ten hour journey to join the Costa Azahar Chaplaincy for spell, as their Chaplain had left. A marvellous set of experiences altogether.

I didn't have the energy to clad myself with rainwear and wellies to go walking, and stayed at home doing nothing much at all. Clare returned home from UHW on foot. It seems there's been traffic congestion due to the weather for much of the day. No point in waiting for a bus when the roads are that bad. After supper I watched another couple of episodes of 'Bones'. I didn't have the energy to look for a flight to Spain and book it. Nobody can say I'm not taking it easy at the moment. That's what everyone tells me to do after all.