Month: August 2021

Two miles, fruit breakfast, a bit of Legends IV, and some writing, Heaven permitting, on Anglican hermeneutics; a meeting of academic staff, and a convivial late afternoon get-together.

The last week before September, that is, where the summer pivots toward the academic year and my time for research and writing gradually evaporates in favour of time for teaching prep and marking essays. Time for cracking on to settle obligations.
Two miles this morning, hot breakfast, reading, Legends IV, Anglican hermeneutics, a grocery trip and cooking responsibility, and Scandi crime on the telly.

Two miles, fruit breakfast, time to start writing (again). Reading first, though, and in order to read one has to find the right things to read, so research. And because I’m wired that way, I poured Legends IV into a matrix file in order to begin formatting the last of my Ginzberg transcriptions. After a full, long book of legends about Moses during the wilderness years, I was struck once again by how cursory the treatment of post-Mosaic figures is. Volume IV is really a sort of ‘Yeah, everything else’ collection (as is appropriate, since here we read beyond the Pentateuch and take up the less intensely authoritative Prophets).

Two miles, fruit breakfast. Finished the alpha version of Legends Vol. III, and scattered it into the Webworld.

Two miles, hot breakfast. It was great to see so many long-time friends in three dimensions at BNTC, most of whom looked more as they did pre-pandemic than do I; I have never heard the word ‘hirsute’ so often in forty-eight hours as the interval from Thursday evening to yesterday. Some made complimentary remarks about the beard, and I suppose those who dislike it were polite and kept silent, engendering the illusion that approval was unanimous.

I spent much of the rest of the day walking dogs or overseeing them at home, and working on Legends III. I’m eager to finish IV and make the whole set available.

Two miles, coffee at home, then off to Durham for the British New Testament Conference.

Two miles, hot breakfast, bicycled to pick up a microphone that a colleague would need for BNTC, some reading, a lot of dog attention.

Two miles, fruit breakfast, a visit to Rick’s, reading…

Didn’t run this morning; I thought it would make a reasonable break after yesterday’s exertion (though I neglected to consider my upcoming travel to Durham for several days, so I’ll wind up having missed four days this week). Fruit breakfast, reading, but (in the end) not much writing. To be fair, we had an afternoon interaction set first for 2:30, then 3:30, then extending past 4:00, which precluded focus and concentration. Home Lateral Flow Test administered by Margaret was negative (fortunately, though not surprisingly). Hopes for tomorrow.

Two miles, hot breakfast, then off to Swindon New Town where I preached for the Solemnity of the Assumption at one of Father Toby Boutle’s churches. Got back late-ish afternoon (amusing hen party on the train to Oxford), utterly knackered.

Two miles, hot breakfast, and writing out the last portion of tomorrow morning’s sermon. I’ll let it rest a while before working out the peroratio.

Two miles, fruit breakfast, reading and research through the morning, and planning and writing Sunday’s sermon (at St Mark’s Swindon New Town, where I’ll be lending a hand to Fr Toby Boutle). So much to learn, so much to learn.