Monday 30 May 2011

First Impressions

It sure does rain on the moor and in our garden!





Thank goodness for webcams - otherwise I would begin to believe we are in the wettest place in Devon. But with the push of a button I can see that it is raining just as hard at both the north and south coast. It is wonderful for the plants that moved home with us and have, until now, been struggling to settle in. I wonder about the grass as this is gradually turning blacker and blacker as a result of a lawn treatment two weeks ago. Perhaps there wasn't any lawn to feed and it was all weed! We will just have to wait and see.

We are recovering from a busy weekend which started with the licensing service for The Curate with the New Bishop on Friday night. I was fortunate to have the company of two old friends who now live close by and youngest son and his girlfriend because The Curate was rather occupied during the service. I haven't quite got to grips with the feeling of being a spare part now that The Curate is a curate and walking into this new church for the first time, nobody recognised me. We attempted to slide into a pew halfway down the church but The Curate caught us and ushered us to the front pew. This is the worst seat in the house because you are supposed to know what you are doing -like when to stand up and when to sit down. You have to pay attention and it is definitely not the place for making any observational comments about the proceedings as you are in full view of everyone. Even in the front pew no one came to say hello until the New Bishop recognised me and came over to have a light hearted chat. Perhaps that then identified me as 'The Curate's wife' and one or two others from our new church came to say hello.

Quite what the new church thought about the bus load of people from our old church filling a large part of the building, I can't say. But we thought it was brilliant - to be surrounded by so many familiar well wishers made for an excellent atmosphere and the singing was tremendous. They were impressed with the modern technology and the use of the space in this old moorland church and many commented on how they would like overhead screens in their church. Maybe this trip has sown a few seeds.

We shared refreshments afterwards where we were able to chat and say good bye again and issue lots of invitations to come and visit - after all we are only just over an hour down the road. The Curate eventually caught up with us at home where we had a very convivial evening round the kitchen table late into the night. It was a memorable start to living here. The New Bishop had given a wonderfully encouraging talk and said that The Curate must be looked after as he was 'a gift'. I am still pondering on this!

The Curate has been busy introducing himself to people around us and finding out about our neighbours. He is extremely pleased to find that one neighbour arranges the Steam Fair and has a keen interest in traction engines and another has a large motor bike and boat sitting on his drive. When talking to this latter chap, The Curate suggested that they should go out on a ride together as he also had an interest in bikes. The neighbour supposed that The Curate had something like a Honda 125 and was a little taken aback when The Curate said (just as he was leaving) that his bike was actually a 1340 Harley Davidson. 

Church on Sunday was another chance to meet people and they were very welcoming. It will take a while to find my feet and my role in all of this. I can't use the excuse of working away to avoid things now. So maybe I'll have to get rid of any reluctance and role up my sleeves! We still have a few things to sort out in the house. We have the best furnished garage in town. The garden is over shadowed by tall trees that have protected status because they are a 'public amenity' and must be kept at a height for the public to see! Somehow we have to manage the hedges. It does rain a lot.....but now The Curate and I can live together.  There is no leaving on Monday morning and that is worth a thousand sunny days.

9 comments:

Shirlwin said...

I smiled at your description of your first day in The Curate's new posting. Sounded a lot like first day at a new school, or workplace.
I think a Curate on a Harley might just gender a little excitment among the younger male set! Had he rode a Honda 125 his 'ratings' may be lower. Enjoy this new placement ... the rain can't last forever.
Actually we had rain last night, and more showers during the day ... most welcome! I am waiting for the grass to begin to grow past the 'junior teenage beard' stage.

Shirlwin said...

Hello again ... In reply to your comment on my comments [lol] here is how I 'tweaked' my blog to once again allow folk comment.

Sign in, go to Dashboard, Settings then to comments [under the settings heading]. Under Comment Form Placement choose Full Page.
Hope this helps:)

Perpetua said...

It sounds like you had a warm welcome and a wonderful start to your life in the new parish.I remember when we had a new vicar and a whole coach-load of his former parishioners came from Luton to Mid-Wales for his induction service. W thought we must be very lucky to be getting someone so well-loved and indeed it proved to be the case.

I think a serious bike-riding curate is a real gift to any parish :-)

Red said...

Sending you lots of love as you both settle in. I pray that you both meet just the right people to be with you on this stretch of 'the journey'.
Blessings
redx

Minnie said...

Such a treat to be able to comment at last!
How lovely that you can both be together full time (well, OK, allowing for The Curate's many work-related absences). But it must be very daunting, the idea of meeting an entire new congregation ... bon courage!
Do hope all goes wonderfully well.

Thecurateswife said...

Thanks Shilwin - my plogging problems are solved - not quite by your solution but your suggestions led me to the problem.
Good to hear from you in the right place Minnie!
Serious bike riding was much appreciated in the last parish several more senior members of the parish got to have a ride up the road on the back of the bike. Here, I fear, it might be frowned upon. We will see.

Thecurateswife said...

Plogging = blogging!!!

Dreaming Beneath the Spires said...

We lived in an area, in the US, in which one couldn't cut trees. And so we had to learn all about shade plants. I quite like them now--hostas, hellebores, astilbe, heuchera, lily of the valley. Quieter and more refined than sun lovers.

What will happen if you prune the big trees? It's a bit cheeky to designate someone else's trees as a public amenity

Thecurateswife said...

I think the public amenity order comes from when the estate was built. It has plenty of magnificent mature trees which make for a lovely environment - just rather shady on places (our garden).