Rector's Ramblings

It's a worry when you take on board the responsibility for elderly parents. Dad will be 83 next birthday, and is getting increasingly wandered. Since his discharge from hospital he seems to be in a state of total confusion and is sleeping at all sorts of times, night and day. Money is didappearing and he has no idea where he has spent it, and can't seem to remember what has happened ten minutes previously. Other times he can be quite lucid, but that's not today.

Putting someone like this into care is not an option that you want to consider, but maybe the time is coming when that's what needs to be done. At the moment the Sheltered Housing folk are marvellous, but as I'm constantly told, they are not there to be carers.

Not very sure where we are going. Sure, he's on extra strong painkillers after his latest fall, and they may be causing his confusion, but the alternative is to see him in greater pain than he is at present.

We just give him as much support and time as we can.

Meanwhile, I'm all psyched up for the eye op tomorrow! Hopefully I'll be back blogging soon!

Today, belatedly, we celebrate Harvest in St Auggie's. I remember, God am I getting old, days of my youth when the church would be overflowing with apples, oranges, and all sorts of fruit and vegetables. As a choirboy I remember being given first pick of the bounty after Evensong, before it was divided up and sent out to the sick and those in hospital.

Today, Harvest is a bit of a damp squib and we seem to give a token acknowledgement to the bounty of God's creation. Shame, really, but it maybe reflects the ingratitude of folk in the modern age. We maybe, since Thatcher perhaps, seem to always want more, rather than being grateful for what we have. Rant over!

Been hirpling along all week, suffering dreadfully from the worst cold mankind has ever experienced, and trying to maintain visits to father in hospital. I'm sure I should have been banned from the hospital, since many of the patients would have met their maker sooner than they expected if I had infected them with this dreadful bug. Since I haven't, yet, been charged with murder, I take it they are all safe and sound!

Dad was discharged on Friday afternoon, and we need to get him back into some sort of routine again. Using copious quantities of The Macallan to dull his back pain is not to be recommended, especially on top of sleeping pills and extra strength co-codamol! However, he'll not be telt!

Looking forward now to Tuesday and the cataract operation, which will at least help me to see him a little better than I do just now.

Oh! And Partick Thistle One yesterday. Problem is that we keep letting the other lot score too. Ah well!

Today the RW and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. Wild times indeed which involve hospital visiting and mutual commiserations due to the fact that we're both sharing the dreaded cold now! Urgh!

So here I was, looking forward to an afternoon in front of the TV and the fire, when dad phones to say he's being taken into the Vale of Leven Hospital. The warden of the Sheltered Housing Complex had been worried about his pain level after his fall, and had called in the doctor.

So, a wee hurl in an ambulance with him half an hour later and a miriad of questions, and then he's admitted for a "couple of days". His breathing hasn't been great since the fall, (he's too sore), and as a result his oxygen level;s are down and he may have picked up a wee chest infection. He's in to be pumped full of anti-biotics and has a wee oxygen mask all to himself.

When I went back in later to see him he was settled and anxious that I could maybe smuggle a wee bottle of Macallan in for him. Aye! Right!

A couple of days of TLC will not do him any harm, and he should be home soon. We hope!

Still suffering from the dreaded man-cold, although the self-pity is beginning to dry up as my nose begins to do the same. Thank God for Sudafed and co-codamol! However, the RW thinks it's not a great idea to visit Firhill, (the Field of Dreams), to watch Partick Thistle face the might of Stirling Albion today. She obviously has other plans for me! What's the point of swearing at the referee if you can't be heard because of the croak which emanates from a mangled throat. So, I have a sick note for today, and Partick Thistle Nil will have to benefit from my prayers from afar instead.

It seems ages since I've had time to blog anything, but today, having come down with a nasty "man-cold", I'm staying in for the afternoon, and going back to bed. Nose running like a river, sore throat, headache, and just plain miserable, I'll retreat to the duvet and see if it helps any!

Not that the last days have been uneventful! There has been lots to blog and lots going on! I'm just incapable of disciplining myself, in frantic times, to sit down and record all that's going on.

The AGM on Sunday went peaceably, with a commitment to go ahead and replace the current hall. A big step of faith, as the project could cripple us financially forever, and a huge project ahead which should be completed in two years time. Plenty of space to try to get some financial help, do some serious praying, and keep the congregation together in the same sort of way we had to during the church restoration three years ago. I'm going to get my hard hat back again! Alleluia! I love this stuff! (Should have been an architect, or a QS like my son, Graham!)

Father has fallen badly and bruised his lower back and possibly cracked a rib too. He's in excrutiating pain, and I've been hauling him about for the last three days. He can hardly move, poor soul, but there's nothing that can be done except to feed him strong painkillers! These, together with his copious amounts of whisky each day, are at least giving him a sleep at night, and for that we are all grateful!

The minor injuries unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital were superb with him, and although we no longer have the A&E Dept, this is still a wonderful service. Under threat, of course, but wonderful anyway!

The Scotland football team's fortunes have taken us on a rollercoaster ride! I was at Hampden to see us beating the Ukraine, and plonked in front of the TV last night watching an unrecognisable team capitulate to a bunch of teenagers from Georgia. Supporting Scotland is so much like supporting Partick Thistle. You get used to the kicks! To qualfy for the Euro 2008 Championship, we only need to beat Italy, the world champions at home. Easy, eh? Aye!

So, off to bed with a boring book in the hope I'll soon be asleep. It's the only time I stop coughing and sneezing!

Sometimes there is a lot to say, and Vestry Meetings, or PCCs, can last long and achieve nothing. Last night's meeting went on until ten, but was constructive! I'm not renowned for chairing long meetings, and we've managed 45 mins or less in the past, but last night required longer.

Firstly, it's our AGM on Sunday and the Annual Accounts, which show the parish leaking just over £1000 every month, did not make pleasant reading! Help! We needed to think about this new church hall we have to build, and then I have a new masterplan for the future which meant having to explain, in depth, the restructuring of the parish which I've put in place.

New folk will come in, and new tasks of ministry and mission will be put in place. Personnel have been moved on or up, and after Sunday we can look forward to a new and exciting future!

Aye, life at the coalface can be tough, but the dogs and the cat sleep on, totally unperturbed!

It was great today to be back among my people. A few were away doing missionary work in other churches, (ie helping them with their music, or passing on ecumenical greetings!), and others on holiday, but the faithful remnant were there! Got a bit carried away and preached for 25 minutes and nobody complained, bless them!

Meeting tonight to debrief on the Gambia visit, and that seemed to go well. Report attached!

Now some well-earned sleep, and a chance to dream of a parish in the sun..... with Dumbarton folk of course!

It's wonderful to be back again amongst my own folk. Dumbarton people are a bit special, and there are exciting plans ahead which I'm looking forward to implementing.

We look foprward to redisigning the shape of the congregation and the tasks allocated to all, especially our "newcomers", and of course we have a new hall to build. Keep us all in your prayers!

Everyone here is equal in thje sight of God, and that's what we will be proclaiming loudly. Our profile in the community will need to rise again after a little lull!

See holidays.... see rejuvenation!

Pics of our wonderful new Head, Aunty Caroline Kusack, a committed Catholic woman with lots of energy and vision! Even I'm half afraid of her!

Still a bit too tired after travels to give you all an update on The Gambia, but I post, with pleasure, the current magazine, lovingly put together by the RW in my absence!