Day Off Week 37 2025

This week was a bit different as my wife, Eleri, has a new regime where she doesn't usually work on Tuesdays and so the first half of the day I was with her. We drove over to Highgate but were unable to park there at first and so we went to Kenwood House for a cuppa and them went to see the current art exhibition called double vision. Kenwood has a Vermeer, the Guitar Player. It turns out there is a copy of this in Philadelphia and they are currently showing the two together. Quite interesting. In Highgate later we had a little look at the shops and I left a pile of books at Oxfam, which I was also able to do last week in West Hampstead. The rest of the day was mopstly reading (a book on Landscapes, a short biography of James Brindley, a travelogue by Shackleton, a book on the Irish famine and a little book onanger byRichard Baxter) and TV and some episodes of the Likely Lads. Good day.

Another day off

This week's day off began with a shower and some porridge before eight. I should have had devotions before going out but I left it until later.* I like to write something each day and truth is I had gotten behind so I knew it would take a while. Thankfully, we're all up to date now which is not an achievement in itself but it makes me feel better.

The main things the rest of the day were first taking Alffi for a long walk to Highgate. We'd soon clocked 10,000 steps. A coffee and crossword there were enjoyable. Much of the rest of the time went on working on a local church history I am trying to finish. By the end of the day I was pretty much there. I now have the bones of a 6 chapter 85 page book covering the story from the 1860s to today.

I also watched the football (Nigeria Argentina) ordered some Cds and books and got some emails out of the way. I also dipped into the current Private Eye. Very little reading or blogging and no DIY this time. There is a plumbing job needs doing and we need new blinds for our bedroom. Later.

* M'Cheyne says somewhere

"I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: 'Early will I seek thee'; 'Thou shalt early hear my voice.' Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God - to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another."

Celebrity Walk

I do a good deal of walking these days, usually to Highgate and Hampstead. Normally, I don't see anyone famous. Then last week I passed comedian Alan Davies talking to someone about football as he took his kids to school one day and then on another day passed another comedian Terry Jones of Python fame, eliciting nervous hello in response to my beaming smile. Hat trick this week perhaps.