It would be much more fun with party poppers and jelly EL

 

What has Sweet Bramble made of Henry Hoover Summer?

She ran into the garden! I called her in and got her to touch it, she doesn't seem scared but she kept her distance lol

She's braver than Keira, she hides under the dining table when I get the hoover out.

 

Off for a bath and a read.

Hugs for the night owls.

night yogi

Good morning everyone

 

Although showers are expected later here, today is forecast to be the driest day this week.

 

The church AGM was memorable for one reason. The vicar announced that he will be retiring before the end of this year. With the fact that our curate is coming to the end of her 3 year curacy, there is every likelyhood that for the first time since I started going to my church, there will be no full time clergy. We'll get through it until a new appointment is made - we do have 2 youngish retired clergy who will be able to take the services, and I know that one of the hospital chaplains whose wife comes to our church will be retiring soon, so that gives a third to help out. I had been half expecting this as I can do the maths, but it's still not great news.

Good morning everyone. Weather is dry and bright atm, with showers forecast for this afternoon. Then rain is forecast until Saturday.

 

El, our village church is in a similar position. When the minister of over 20 years had to retire through ill health, a replacement was appointed. Unfortunately, she also had to retire due to health problems, so for quite some time, there have been interim ministers.

However, at the end of this Sunday's service the congregation are meeting to elect a Nominating Committee as part of the process of finding a new minister.

Yogi, in the C of E, the process of finding a new minister is a bit different. Officially, the responsibility rests with our two churchwardens. One of the previous churchwardens was involved in the process of finding our current vicar, kept a file of what was involved, and will pass that over to them which will help a lot. There will be assistance in the process from the Gloucester Diocese centre and other senior clergy. The position will be advertised nationally in the Church Times, a short list will be drawn up from those who have applied, they will be interviewed by the churchwardens. Although the church wardens will make the final choice, it is not unknown for there to be strong encouragment to making the right choice from the bishop, and it is quite possible that the bishop may approach someone to suggest to them that they apply. That's not surprising as the bishop has the ultimate responsibility for the welfare of the diocese. It is normal that whoever is appointed will come from a different diocese rather than Gloucester. The present vicar came from Launceston, and his predecessor from Carlisle.

 

Good morning, very drizzly here today and quite chilly.

 

It's always difficult to find a replacement minister who will suit everyone in the church EL, I hope the process goes smoothly.

 

HAPPY ST GEORGE'S DAY EVERYONE!

 

 

         

 

Happy St George's Day to everyone who is celebrating.

 

That does sound like a different procedure, El. I hope you find the right person for the job, very soon.

 

For Skylark.

Happy St George's day as well:

Just an excuse to post this picture

 

It's also the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death and also his generally accepted date of birth. His gravestone has one of the most famous epitaphs in the world:

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

(v=u and yt=that)

They made sure this didn't happen in the church restoration in 2008.

Good morning everyone It's rainy here but not too cold, and I'm very happy to tell you that little bramble is fast asleep in her crate in the staff room The process of bringing her in has been brilliant, i'm literally taking every moment as it comes because I know it's not going to ever be easy or perfect El & yogi I do hope that both of your churches find permanent pastors (apologies if the technical term is incorrect) soon

Summer, I'm glad Bramble is behaving herself at present

 

Pastor is as good a technical term as any. It's Latin for shepherd, and goes back to Jesus telling Peter to "shepherd my sheep" and other references in the Gospels.

 

 

That's great, Summer, and I'm sure it will work out fine.

Still very good here I've even brought a *gulp* pot noodle, to work do I can eat a quick lunch and spend the rest of my break dedicating myself to Bramble! I like the word "pastor" it sounds official, yet gentle Where I grew up, we had a lovely new vicar arrive and both he & his wife were some of the loveliest people in the village. I'm pretty sure they're still there now, 20 years later

A really good start for Bramble Summer oh she is such a good girl isn't she? 

 

Pastor is a lovely term and one that just fits.  Me and my hubby were so lucky when we came to faith to have the most wonderful fellowship and the most brilliant pastor who took care of his little flock through the everyday ups and downs of life.  When hubby was so ill our pastor was the first one I always turned to, when my hubby, following his stroke, was allowed out of hospital for the weekend he was the one who organised 4 strong members of the fellowship to bring a sofabed downstairs for him to sleep on as he couldn't yet manage the stairs.

 

I've just seen your post above Summer and that's the thing about real Christians they are the loveliest people.  Some people see cranks who try to pass themselves off as Christians but you will always know a real Christian because they will probably be the loveliest person you know.

Hello everyone, i am back! 

What a carry on i have had. i decided to change from Sky to BT, simple enough i thought, but NO! Wont bore you with all the palava i have had, but after lots of convos back and forward BT finally gave up and agreed they had sent me a duff modem/hub thingy. Got a new one today and it was so straightforward, cant say the speed is any better tho 

Hope you all well, and behaving yourselves, will have to catch up. 
Missed you all  

Welcome back, Skylark - we've been a bit concerned as we hadn't heard from you for 10 days and knew you had been poorly as you will see. I hope you are feeling a lot better than you did and are able to eat properly. What a palaver with the switch over from Sky to BT. At least with BT, they have the responsibility for both your broadband and telephone line. Maybe at some time in the future, BT will get around to putting in faster broadband in your area.

 

It's lovely to see you back again Skylark we were getting really anxious I can tell you.  It must have been so frustrating and I am glad it is all behind you now.

YAY! Welcome back, we have missed you!

This will give you a little idea of how glad we are to have you back Skylark

 

 

         

I'm the one on bottom right.

Aww thanks everyone, sorry to have worried you. You are a great bunch 

Was going to download the app on the iphone, but son has managed to smash the screen, its still in my name and havent got round to getting it replaced yet xxx

Never mind, you are back now and that's all that matters.

In case you haven't seen the official confirmation about Upstairs Downstairs:

 

The BBC has confirmed a third series of the period drama Upstairs Downstairs will not be commissioned.

The show was revived in 2010, where the first episode drew 8.8 million viewers.

But the final episode of the last series, attracted 5.22 million.

A BBC spokesperson said: "From Call the Midwife to Bird Song and The Syndicate, 2012 has been a great year for Original British Drama on BBC1 but at this stage there are no plans for Upstairs Downstairs to return".

The original series was broadcast on ITV from 1971 to 1975 with five series' consisting of 68 episodes.

The latest version's screenwriter Heidi Thomas wrote on Twitter: "Really touched by all the love and sadness for Upstairs Downstairs.

"It was made by a tremendous team and I can't praise them enough.

"Truly sad about Updown, but can now fully and wholeheartedly honour the massive commitments I have elsewhere, including Call The Midwife."

The writer also congratulated Sarah Gordy, the Downs Syndrome actress who played Pamela, who also expressed her sadness.

Actor Neil Jackson, who played chauffeur Harry Spargo, said it was a "shame", adding: "I have just heard that the BBC will not be making any more Upstairs Downstairs. I loved the show and will miss it greatly."

The BBC Wales co-produced show was criticised for lacking a "convincing script".

Fans have set up a petition on Twitter and a Facebook page urging BBC bosses to reconsider commissioning a third series.

 

Just to point out that I'm not in this photo

Skylark, your son and your sister's son have really been sabotaging you

 

The important thing is that you are back with us.

I'm the one next to Yogi, check out my handstand - EL was the choreographer - the uniform was not for him

 Are you sure El   

Going to take dog for a wee walk, hopefully be back later 

Oh and Happy Saint George,s Day 

Okay, see you later.

Yay skylark! welcome back
Sorry to hear you've had connection bother, I'm pleased it's that rather than you being poorly & hospitalised though

Didn't sleep very well last night, so heading off to bed. Goodnight all.

Night owl hugs.

Good morning everyone

 

Sunshine and showers again today. Tomorrow will be different and is forecast to be heavy rain and strong winds for much of the day, and I have to go out in the morning and again in the afternoon.

 

This afternoon I will be going out to meet that potentially new client to try and work out what is going on with his tax.

 

Yogi, I hope you slept well last night and Skylark, welcome back again

Good morning everyone, a bit nicer this morning but it's not going to last, tomorrow onwards rain rain rain.

 

Good luck with the new client EL, hope it's straightforward and a new long term client

 

Hope you slept better Yogi.

Good morning everyone.    Another damp, dismal day here.  Hoping to dodge the showers when I have to go out later.

 

Welcome back Skylark.  We have missed you.  I changed my broadband from Tesco to BT about 18 months ago and have not had any problems since then.  As El Loro says at least BT are responsible for all parts of the service, unlike Tesco who used to tell me it was not their fault when the service went down and I had to wait ages for someone from BT to sort it out.

 

Sending loads of love to all my lovely buddies.  Will try and get back later.  I did try and post yesterday but couldn't get into this thread for some reason, although I could get into others!! 

Good morning Dry and cloudy here but it looks like it wants to brighten up Yogi I hope you had a better nights sleep last night Joyron I had problems loading the penthouse last night, perhaps there's some work going on..?

Good morning everyone. Sun is shining atm and showers are forecast for later.

I did sleep better last night, thank you Squiggle and El. My sleep pattern is a bit erratic, atm. I tend to have a couple of sleepless nights and then sleep like a log the following night. It could be down to my tablets - or my age!

Joyron, I have noticed that the Buddies thread is taking a lot longer than most other threads to load up, and some of the Darnies were having trouble getting into their thread, too. The rest of the threads seem fine, so it may be linked to the high number of pages in the Buddies and Darnie threads.

El, I hope all goes well with the potential client today.

Good morning Summer, how is Bramble today?

Joyron and Summer, I have noticed that it has been taking much longer than normal to get into this thread yesterday and again just now. I think Yogi could well be right in that both this thread and the penthouse have a lot of pages so that might be what has been causing the problem. I think that there are several servers which Seattle use, it may be problems with one specific server which is being slow, and which server we get through to is just chance. Even if it takes time, I have always eventually got through.

 

I just reported the problem in the technical section, I'm sure if there is a problem they'll let us know and if the threads have gotten too big, we can start again Yogi sorry to hear about your sleep pattern lately, I know how a poor night's sleep has an effect your day I hope it settles down soon