AKMA’s Random Thoughts

I’m hoping that today goes more easily than the last couple of days. I noted my Monday timetable; yesterday (after an adequate run, fruit and coffee, Morning Prayer, coffee and toast) I had an interview for a couple of hours, then home for lunch and then out for funeral planning.

Today I had a satisfactory run (hip-lifter muscles have been reluctant for both the last couple of mornings), coffee and fruit, showered and dressed, Morning Prayer, public office hours at R&R including a long friendly pastoral conversation, and will be off for staff meeting in a bit. Marking is next on my long list…

Adequate run this morning, coffee and fruit, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, office hour at R&R, back home with the ladies, work on Sunday’s sermon, pastoral meeting at the church, back home, meeting at Costa for wedding planning, back home for dinner, and over to St Helen’s for the ceremony of Mayor-Making. Home. Sleep.

Satisfactory morning run, coffee and fruit, Morning Prayer at home, printing and stapling service books for the baptisms this afternoon, shower and dress, print and revisit homily, second cup of coffee before 9:30 Mass at St Michael and All Angels’ — then I’ll come home for lunch, and over to St Helen’s for baptisms. Toward the end of the day, home. I’ll probably be wiped out, but not because of a virus as last week (was that only a week ago? Seems longer than that) but with a day’s work well (I hope) done.

Yesterday was a big walking day — eight miles, which is double my ordinary — so my legs were in no way willing to extend themselves for a morning run. I walked most of the way, with some tentative brief intervals of jogging, and stopped in at the Cooperative on the way home to pick up some eggs. Once home, I enjoyed a very welcome hot breakfast and cup of coffee, spent the morning reminiscing with Margaret about Father Guido Sarducci, then turned my attention to tomorrow morning’s sermon.

Another good morning run — not exactly enjoyable, cos it’s chillier than I’d like, and it took a while to get limber, but it was good insofar as I made a steady, ‘normal’ pace. Grapes and coffee for breakfast, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, home for another coffee and, probably, toast, and work through the morning. New Testament seminar this afternoon, as Alex Muir has a talk about James and Hebrews, two of my favourites.

Good run this morning — the first time I’ve felt really sound and steady in a while. Knees, hips, breathing, all were on track. Checking the newsletter for the week, fruit and coffee, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, and public office hours at R&R, I expect. We’ll video chat with Phil this afternoon, APCM tonight.

With regard to VE Day, I should note that, as a pacifist, I deplore the whole approach to collective conduct that results in warfare. That does not preclude, however, a sense of relief that a global armed conflict had drawn to a close — nor a cautionary observation that the persistence of smaller wars indicates that any ‘victory’ in that war suppressed, rather than resolved, the hostilities that had erupted into cruel, genocidal, hard-hearted national rivalries. We desperately need to recognise that the way to move people away from war involves assuring the health and well-being of all people, not simply the privileged caste of the most wealthy and powerful.

I walked, mostly, for the two miles this morning, then ate a hot breakfast, dressed and went to Morning Prayer, home to tend the wee duggies and do some digital paperwork, back to church for the staff meeting, home for lunch and more mail and pixelwork.

I have been urged to take another recovery day rather than rush back to work, so I didn’t run this morning, had a lie-in instead and am modulating very slo-o-o-o-o-wly into daytime life. Coffee, banana, toast; I’ll shower and dress, have a pot of yogurt and a second cup of coffee, and maybe read a while (neighbouring-parish cleric Fergus Butler-Gallie’s memoir of his curacy years, Touching Cloth).

I woke up this morning feeling almost entirely well — mostly just undernourished, as I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours. I had a smoothie and two slices of toast, cup of coffee, took stock quickly, and caught the bus in to Oxford.

It wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but having signed up in order to honour my dad, who was a great admirer of Roger Bannister, and not knowing whether there would be comparable opportunities in the future, I couldn’t bear to skip the Bannister Mile. I have a strong sense of duty to demonstrate respect for my forebears and predecessors, and it would have been entirely wrong if I didn’t follow through if there was any way I could take on the mile, even just by walking. And now, I am proud to have done it.

My legs felt fine through the run, but I was running on fumes the whole way. This morning’s toast for breakfast was literally the only thing I’d eaten in 24 hours. Nonetheless, I finished the run, came in in the top 2/3 of men over 60 (including those spritely young 60- and 61-year-olds), and although I’m still undernourished, I don’t feel as though my health has collapsed.

I wore my Newman hoodie for Oriel, my Yale Divinity School Alumni Ultimate Divinity t-shirt, and my Chatham College (*not* ‘University’) gym shorts to honour Don Adam. This one, as they say, is for you, Dad.

Yesterday morning after my sermon at St Nic’s — still during the service — I felt as though something had clobbered me. I was wiped out, and just barely made it down to the Faith Forum, left early and went home to lie down and rest. I dozed, napped, rested, through the afternoon, and in the evening just had enough appetite to drink some of the smoothie Margaret got at the grocery store. I went to bed at 9:00 and slept through to 5:30….

I mostly walked this morning. My hips and knees were resistant, stiff and rusty. Shower, another cup of coffee, toast, finish sermon, Mattins at St Nic’s, Faith Forum at the Parish Centre. I’m hoping my legs limber up over the course of the day and work agreeably tomorrow morning.

Good run this morning. With a view to warming up for Monday morning’s run, I broke the two miles into three roughly 2/3 mile segments, with brief walking intervals; I want to keep limber and to keep a good pace for my running intervals, but not to risk too hard a push on any run. I am confident that I can dial up the intensity Monday morning, so I’ve been trying to optimise the non-pushing baseline. We’ll see how that works out. Since I know nearly nothing about athletics and kinesiology, the odds on being generally correct and on being catastrophically wrong are about even.

Yesterday’s conference — the morning half that I attended — was fine. While I was in Oxford, Margaret handed the ladies over for grooming. We’ll try to get a good ‘after’ photo today, so that we can post the contrasting images for the Small Dog Appreciation Society.

We started watching the Jon Hamm vehicle Your Friends & Neighbours, but turned it off after two episodes; it seemed to unselfconsciously smug about the wealthy lifestyle the characters take for granted, and Jon Hamm’s character gave us no trace of a reason to sympathise with him. No, that’s wrong; he’s kind to his sister, and they seem to have come out of a very emotionally-cold parental household. Still, the ‘only the wealthy matter’ worldview that expects us to sympathise with a man who has to subsist on sums that boggle our imagination just wore on us as we watched. Too much shocking presumption, not enough humane core.