The rope has been cut. Without great fanfare, the boat drifts from the pier. No outboard motor. No sail. Just the pull of the currents, the eddying water. No one there to wave the boat off. No one to journey through. Just the boat and its occupants. So much left behind in this wager, a wager which might … Continue reading
So often I operate out of fear. In fact, I have a really good repertoire of fears, as you would expect from someone who has majored in this for far too long. I can experience any of them to order, sometimes even all of them at the same time. Fear of the future. Fear of … Continue reading
And so to the water again. Four weeks of beautiful emptiness, an unopened diary and no cares. Four weeks of book after book after book. Four weeks of no diary reminders popping up on my phone, eating too much and just being. Four weeks of sunshine? Well, no…this is England, after all! Four weeks of … Continue reading
To start with, I am breaking the cardinal rule of having Fridays off because this Friday I have to go to a load of course and exam board meetings for the open learning tutoring I do. On the plus side there, though, I’ve just agreed to be the tutors’ rep: though no one is quite … Continue reading
We’ve just come back from a lovely weekend visiting friends and unexpectedly seeing some other old friends. How lovely to be away from everything for forty-eight hours, to enjoy the end of Peter’s half-term together, and to take a short break from the various tasks which are jostling for my attention! (Tesco hotel vouchers are … Continue reading
LML. From the land of texting and Facebook statuses, yet another acronym. This time courtesy of my soon-to-be 13 year old brother. To my delight, one of his friends had to comment on said status, asking what LML stands for. So I’m not totally uncool for not knowing. But it means LoveMyLife. I felt a … Continue reading
Well, here I am, having done not only this research induction but also one week at my research desk. (One week being, in real terms, two days because I am part-time everything and full-time nothing!) The water-walking has begun in earnest and it has been a strange week. The worst day, without doubt, was Tuesday. … Continue reading
Journalling is one of those habits which most supports my faith development. I do so love to reread the records of God’s faithfulness to me. It’s like having your own book of psalms of remembrance! As I go back over my entries, I relive the pain, I remember the desperate prayers and I enter again … Continue reading
Well, here I am with one week to go before the official induction for research students. I am ready to learn lots of very interesting things which will better equip me (I hope!) for this crazy research journey. The induction also includes what would be my third library tour in four years. But as the … Continue reading
The second of my recent posts about water-walking has been playing round and round my head lately. I know that my latest step out of the boat is not something that I can do without God. If he’s not in it, I will sink. But most of the time when I am thinking about this … Continue reading
The Art of Steering 