St Clements Colegate

Now, I don't know if it is sacreligious to say that one has a pet church -- however, I am so VERY excited to have a pet church project!

At Norwich Heritage Open Days last September, I gave my email to a nice man to say that I would be happy to help with any Norwich Historic Church Trust projects that they might have (that would, of course, coincide with my actually being in town). And I expected to hear nothing...

Until I got a surprise email early in January asking if I would be interested in an unusual project dealing with St. Clements Colegate, which had been vandalised at the end of 2007. But of course I would be! But my return email got no reply, so I was disappointed.

Until I got the same email again last week, indicating that my reply had not been received in the first place! So, another keen reply was dispatched immediamente, and I got a phone call later that night to meet on Sunday afternoon (today) and find out more.

So, E and I trotted on down this afternoon, and met the Methodist minister, who has been the caretaker for the past 30 years, and the nice man from the NHCT, thinking that they wanted me to dust some pews, or sweep, or pick up the rubbish from the heathens who throw their pizza boxes into the church yard on a Saturday night.

St. Clements is at the opposite end of Colegate from St. Miles, about a 3 minute walk from my door. I pass this church rather frequently (probably 10 times in the past month) and have noticed that it has looked a little worse for the wear lately. As I found out, this is because it is no longer opened every day for a refuge and place for prayer. Some horrid person went in during the day on St. Clement's Day, set fire to the organ and the altar, and stole some pieces from the altar, leading the minister to decide that his time as caretaker was done and that he could no longer carry the burden of keeping it open.

Most of the churches in Norwich were decomissioned in the 1960s and 1970s, and sadly all but St. Clements were gutted of all ecclesiastical furnishings. They are now primarily just empty shells which are open when the Trust, or other groups, can organise for them to be open (as at the Heritage Open Days). Some have been converted for other uses -- such as St. Miles out my front window, which is a science discovery centre; St. Gregory Pottergate, which is now a boho artsy garage sale location of a weekend; St. Mary Coslany, the round tower church outside my back window, which is a publishing storage facility; and St. Swithins Church, now the Norwich Arts Centre. Including these four churches, there are 11 churches within less than a 3-minute walk from my house, and only one still functions as a place of Christian worship: St. George Colegate.

After an interesting discussion (and brief history of the church by the minister, who has written The Church Over the Water, which is a must-read for me soon. The 'over the water' part refers to the part of the city where I live, which is over the river Wensum from the centre; it was formerly one of the four boroughs of the city.), lo and behold, I was asked if I would be willing to be one of the key holders, come down and open the church up for tourists to drop in on a sort of regular basis, and generally help care for it! I am soooooo excited, and have plans to go and buy 47 gallons of lemon oil as soon as possible (as the pews and Victorian panelling are all looking a little dry). It was bitterly cold in there today, but my guess is that once my OCD behaviour kicks in, there will be no icy extremities :)

The oldest marked tomb in the church dates from 1514, and E and I got a lesson in Latin. I have been told that I will impress visitors if am able to rattle off meanings of Latin inscriptions :)

Greater Blue Crested Warbler

After a lovely walk along the vile section of the River Wensum (the part where unruly Yutes throw Strongbow cans and burger wrappers and other random rubbish such as traffic cones) this chilly evening, listening to birds and feeding apples to gypsy ponies (that was me, not E. he is really not much of one to have anything to do with things Gypsy and urged me away from the camp.), we were twitching (aka, bird-watching) our way back towards 'civilisation' when the shrill sound of a police siren rent the peace in two.

E said, 'Wait! What kind of bird is that!?' I decided it was the Lesser Spotted Norfolk Crested, even though we were not able to spot it for verification, still being a little ways from the big round-about.

Upon emerging from the path and onto pavement around the round-about, an ambulance came whizzing around the circle, flashing its blues. Eamonn has named this the Greater Blue Crested Warbler (since it warbles its song more than the LSNC, which just goes 'weeee-oooo, weeee-oooo!'. And it also only has blue lights instead of blue and red.).

The next time any readers are in Norwich, we will be happy to take them out twitching for these two lovely additions to our social habitat.

Crisis

There is a potential crisis in Britain.

It was mentioned every 30 minutes this morning on Radio 4 in voices filled with gravity.

It involves the unreasonable limitations set on immigration, which gives favour to Eastern European immigrants over Bangladeshi immigrants. This is slated to have an irreversible detrimental effect on the curry industry:

BBC coverage
Reuters coverage
Mirror coverage
Telegraph coverage
Channel 4 coverage
TimesOnline coverage
... and these are just major items from the first two pages of a Google search...

Why this is a news story is slightly beyond me. Although I suppose there might be an Enchilada Crisis if the vigilantes on the Rio Grande do their work...

Super!

Well, the Super Bowl is over. No idea who won. Just by chance am I aware that Wales beat the bejeezus out of England at Twickenham this weekend -- for the first time in 25 years. The score doesn't show it, but if you had seen the second half, you would be aware. We had to wipe a salty tear of joy.

And today was Pancake Day. And they were Super! I had savoury -- with mushroom, chicken, cheese sauce.

And, it really doesn't matter that I am not a voter in Super Tuesday (although there is not a vote in Loosyanna today. Who made the decision not to have ours on Mardi Gras? Surely the fact that 98% of the population would be heavily intoxicated would not influence this choice... (titter)), because there is plenty of coverage here, and it was a topic of discussion at the Rotary meeting tonight in a conversation of which I was not part. Of course, it was also a topic in two conversations of which I was a part...

It is simply common knowledge; it is highlighted on every news show; it has multiple pages in every (serious) newspaper; it is part of DJ banter on music stations and significant segments on Radio 4 (which is kind of like NPR, but much better, except that it doesn't have Car Talk). E has provided us with an Electoral map of the US and a booklet outlining the US political process, both of which were just part of last week's Independent highlight of the election. On The Independent site at the moment, the front page's 'World' section has one headline and three out of four following titles covering the US election.

Much of the coverage is rawther entertaining. An amusing article followed Hillary's teary outburst, which, if you read between the lines, indicates that not everyone here is part of the Clinton Cult (although the fan base is quite large).

It is kind of off-puttingly embarrassing not to know the intricacies of every NUANCE of propagandising of the US political process, although it is really not such a shameful thing, since a great many people here do not vote nor take an interest in their own politics, other than when bad things are in the news. I think it is just that US politicking is more entertaining and cowboyish, with its forked-tongued orange tans and over-whitened teeth, so Brits pay a little more attention in a voyeuristic sort of way so they can mock it. If any of us watched 'Today in Parliament', though, that is pretty funny, too (and the Brits do do an outstanding job of taking the mick out of themselves, which I think is very good form). It really is sad that politics makes such easy fodder since these are supposedly the people in control.

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Today, we (the girls from work) also (FINALLY) picked up our fired pottery pieces from Sally's b-day a couple of weekends ago. But at the moment, too sleepy-poo and snuffly-grumpy to photograph my clever spoonrest (and it appears to somehow be a bit drippy with yummy chicken soup-ness which is for lunch tomorrow). Shall cover this enthralling topic in self-indulgent manner tomorrow :)

A Year On

A year ago this weekend, I moved to Norwich (well, myself and my clothes and wool did; the rest of it and the fish dawdled in Cardiff with E and B for another several months)!

I started my new job a year ago tomorrow (using the days of the week/month, not dates), and tomorrow is E's first day at his new position as a software developer for Anglia Healthcare Systems. He is to be doing something extremely intelligent and insightful with programming systems. Do not ask me to explain it.

It is hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, and I must admit to it being a slow year for the blog and the Flickr (although I need to set up a new Flickr anyway since every picture added causes an old one to be deleted, which is unacceptable).

Things I have done this past year:

* re-established myself in a working environment

* learnt to add 'u's to various spellings (such as colour)

* joined library

* trained self to say data with a long 'a'

* travelled to Australia

* been in Katie B'Loomis's wedding

* travelled to the States 6 times (4 times for work)

* visited Flee 4 times

* spent my first Thanksgiving in the 'Port since 2004

* went to a wedding in Ireland

* bought my first bus pass

* lived by myself for the first time since 2004 (!)

* bought a snail

* named said snail (appropriately) Forsythe

* joined a knitting group

* attended three beer festivals (Sheringham, Norwich, Hackney)

* dragged E to various Norwich Heritage Weekend events

* went to third Christmas panto of my life

* learnt (sort of) how to re-cover a chair

* learnt what draught excluder is, how to bleed radiators, and how to insulate a 15th century abode for winter

* located cat rescue charity from whence to adopt a kitty

* psychically influenced E to move to Norwich so as to be personal chef (and kitty-sitter when I am away... oops, did I say that out loud? Meow!)

*******

The Judith has expressed disappointment at her spawn not providing photos of recent changes in the decor of the abode. This will now be remedied.

Kitchen is quite a bit fuller in accessories. Here are just a few things that have been added since the Christmas hollyday:

* a pasta maker

* a bread bin

* a bread pan

* a Kenwood Wizzard food processor

* a stoneware roasting pot

* a wine rack (although this is now in the fireplace)

* a storage cabinet for some glasses

* a clock

* a Norfolk Broads travel poster

* a colander

* various cooking utensils (including a rolling pin)

* a pot rack (not up yet)

* two sets of scales

* a lamp

* a radio (so as to listen to Radio 4)

* 1 pair black and white toile wellies

Since my last photos of main room, some things that might be different:

* futon (instead of mattress on floor)

* sewing box

* polka dot fabric on chair (Clem is going to have to come help me finish it, if it is ever to look like it didn't come off the short bus. but it IS very comfortable, and I am perfectly fine with it.)

* red velvet door curtains (for draughts)

* some pictures

* a poinsetta

(These are really not quite as 'set' as I had intended, but perhaps there will be better photos after car boot sales start again, and I can add some more interesting items and take some better pictures :) )

Snow!

Computer being complete idiot prat, so unable to inform interested readers in timely manner of brief arrival of snow. By this point, it is mostly gone, except for the sneaky trap of ice on my back steps. It has been bitterly cold and gorgeous. So, I am staying inside, being obsessively tidy(ish) and drinking tea so as to retain a small piece of dignity and state of physical health (and to stay warm).
This was picture of St. Miles yesterday morning on my way to work (have been keeping sort-of-daily record of St. Miles from same photo spot since 1 January, and need to get off my duff and coordinate them, I suppose).

The snow was supposed to start at 3.00pm, but didn't get going until about 7. Here is what it looked like at approx. 8.00 pm last evening (!) -- I had to keep going outside in my pajamas to check on it, you know.
And, finally, what it looked like first thing this morning (at about the appropriate time I would normally have been leaving for work. Were it not Saturday, that is.).

Some more randoms: At the point photo to R was taken, the flakes were massive and you can see their little wobbly paths through the air. Photo to lower L appears like rain perhaps, but it is after flakes have gotten tired and smaller. Is of steps at Rosemary Lane.

Whilst wellies are better than Birkenstocks at keeping out slushy water, they are slippy on iced pavement. Salt makes ice make crackly noises. Large clumps of snow falling from overhangs onto people's heads as they walk past is amusing.

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Tip of the day: If your bathroom window shade is blowing in the wind, and your window is shut, you might want to consider that some draught excluder stripping would be a good plan. Of course, the process of putting this in whilst standing on top of your toilet lid with the window open and snow blowing in does render your fingers completely numb within 37 seconds. Esp. if you are obsessive and must clean the dirt off the inside ledge with some anti-bacterial cleaner before excluder is stuck on.

*******
Completely unrelated to the snow, fish habitat is finally in a more attractive state and Jasper has a more interesting bit of scenery in which to act like a complete nutter. It was quite traumatic (what with the leaning log, the silting sand, the blasted filter, disagreement over the colour-order of the sand and gravel) for everyone, and everyfish, involved (except for E, who somehow manages to stay calm at the most inappropriate times), but we are all now swimmingly happy :) Jasper has naturally decimated the leaves on the front-most plant. Carrot keeps loitering under the log arch in a slack-jawed sort of way and missing his dinner. Forsythe LOVES the log, and is neglecting his walls...

#1 on Google

If you are looking for buttermilk for baking bread, and your name is Eamonn, and you happen to live in Norwich, and you decide that the internet might be able to help you, you can type in 'buttermilk' and 'Norwich' into the Google searchbar. And it will bring up my blog! (of course, now it may bring up two returns since I am using similar strings...)

And this just makes me laugh.

Sadly, this Google search will render nothing remotely useful on how one might locate soured pre-butter-form milk in containers larger than 1/2 pint containers. The British just don't know what they are missing (although it actually does not quite taste the same anyway. But it cooks well!).