Still getting used to new surroundings but ...

... with packing cases everywhere... and .

http://lifos.blog.com/

Of Endings and Beginnings

This Blog has now been wound up, but the e-address (URL) of the new incarnation of Life is Full of Surprises! will be posted here shortly....

A Short Month?

Here we are on the first of February, the eve of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and there is a strange sense of excitement in the air. Nothing to do with lectionary or liturgy I’m afraid to say, but a popular celebration that we have made it through the month of January without any severe weather. A brief five inches of snow fell ten days ago, but that melted and was washed away within a short time, confusing both the birds and the daffodils (which are sprouting in my driveway.)

To many people this may not be the most exciting of topics, but for a small east island community that this time last year had had its third major snow storm it is cause enough to celebrate. By Candlemas 2011 there was a foot of hard snow on the ground, much of which was to remain until middle March. Last winter the line “earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone” was never more apt.

Of course all that could change in the weeks ahead, but even if Mother Nature decides to send a storm we can take it – for spiritually and psychologically we will be ready for it. After all, Easter is only some eight weeks away!

"February makes a bridge and March breaks it." (George Herbert)

Ego sum ...

To claim that a car service waiting room can be the source of revelation would be a bit of an exaggeration, but my visit to the Toyota sales building last week did teach me a thing or two about a cultural change in the English language. My car was due for its first tire and fluid level check-up, so I had booked a service appointment at 10:00 a.m. and dutifully showed up on time. I was greeted by Bonnie, the duty sales manager, who cheerfully took my details and told me that the wait would be about an hour in length. Not a problem, I replied, armed with my iPad. I’ll just take a seat. And that I did.

Sure enough, at near the stroke of eleven, Bonnie’s loud voice called my name and I reported back to her desk like a schoolboy collecting homework. All was well, I learned. And the work carried out? “I rotated your tires and checked brake fluid and coolant levels – and all’s fine. Oh, and I also checked your wiper blades. You’re good to go!” Remarkable, I thought, as I wandered off in search of my serviced car. How did she do all that without ever leaving my sight? Is this a new understanding of the active verb? Or some modern corporate expression?

I suggest it is a hybrid of many things, for in this part of the world I have heard many active expressions that when analyzed turn out to be anything but active. I recall a man telling me that he had planted hundreds of daffodil bulbs in his garden, whereas in reality he had paid a work crew to do just that for him. And a couple announcing that they were redesigning their garden – whereas in truth they were paying someone to do just that.

I think I’m preaching this Sunday …