…so I’ll do it now and bring everyone up to date.
Monday evening I was passed to the degree of a Fellow of the Craft in the Operatives. This is what is referred to as an “appendant body” of Freemasonry, in that a man must be a Freemason to join, but it is not in and of itself part of the Grand Lodge of England or any other grand lodge worldwide. The ceremony was quite interesting (of course, I have already been passed in Craft Freemasonry to the degree of a Fellowcraft, but the Operatives take the symbolism a bit further.
There are in all seven degrees—in order to advance to the top degrees I will have to have been Master of my Craft Lodge (Goliath #5595 UGLE) and also Master of a Mark Masons’ Lodge. This will take a while.
One of the Brethren had died since our last meeting. I was told that he had belonged to 77 Masonic Lodges/Chapters/Assemblies/et al. I’m surprised that his wife had ever seen him. He was the man who had gotten me into this particular assemblage (Bentley Priory) so even though I’d only known him for a short time I’ll miss him and I’m sure the other 76 Lodges/etc. will miss him also.
A couple of days ago one of the Brethren sent me an application for the Order of the Allied Masonic Degrees, which sounds interesting but is yet again another set of meetings to which to go and, however, wonderful it is, might be the order that tips HWMBO into revolt. So I think I’m going to pass that one up, at least for now. I suppose I should write George to thank him for sending the application along.
Tuesday was a joint meeting of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Finance and the Bishop’s Council to discuss financial matters. As it turned out, the prospective budget of the Diocese would not balance unless some lay staff members were made redundant and some clerical posts were not filled once vacated. It was a pretty fraught meeting and the Bishop, yet again, stressed that he has not announced his retirement date yet after several remarks from the floor. The fact of the matter is that he must retire by the beginning of March 2010, when he turns 70 years of age. I expect that he will serve until his 70th birthday, as he likes being in the House of Lords and is unsure whether he’ll be appointed a life peer or not. With the General Election only a few months away and the likelihood that the House of Lords will become a wholly-elected body and the 26 bishops and archbishops of the Church by law Established will be booted out, I suspect that he wants to serve as long as he can. The problem is that the Diocese is working through the financial problems brought on by the recession and also through the upheavals that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion are facing—and it is doing so while headed by a very lame duck Bishop who refuses to lie down and be lame. We passed the resolutions paving the way for staff to be made redundant (it should happen by the end of November 2009). But, again, as I mentioned in Diocesan Synod, there is an unwillingness in the Church to think about better ways of stewardship and take a leaf out of the books of other provinces that seem to do it better. Money is vulgar in the extreme to Englishpeople, and the less discussion of it the better.
Wednesday I went back to the Kings Diabetic Foot Clinic for them to take a look at the wound caused by their cutting out a blood blister on the ball of my left foot. The original reason I went in (the blister under my left big toenail) resolved itself within a few days, but this wound is just going on and on.
The podiatrist, Tim, sliced off a little more and asked whether I’d like to enroll in a trial of an ultrasound treatment to help wounds to heal. I said I would (I’m willing to do almost anything at this point) and will be going back a week from Friday to see the Big Cheese once he’s back from his holiday.
Thursday I went to St. Thomas’s Eye Clinic to have my retinas examined for signs of diabetic retinopathy. This has been a yearly visit for me for many years, and I thought it would be unevenful. However, of course, as hospitals are wont to do, they’ve moved the clinic yet again (this is its third home since I began going in 1994). The signs directing one to the new clinic are on a door that is to the left of the corridor leading to the old clinic. Of course, making the turn into the corridor means you don’t see the sign. So I went to the old receptionist, and was directed to the new one down the hall.
I was pleasantly surprised to have my eyesight checked and pupils dilated within 5 minutes of checking in with the proper receptionist and sitting down. This is not usual practice, but I gather that the former clinic has been split into two (or perhaps three) sections upon the retirement of the former chief eye surgeon, Mr. Shilling. (Note to USans: Mr. Shilling is a doctor, of course, but surgeons here in Britain pride themselves in being called “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss” rather than “Dr”, which is reserved for pedestrian general practitioners, endocrinologists, cardiologists, and others of That Ilk.) The clinic I sent to is now headed by Mrs. Mann, but she is too lofty to actually look at patients’ retinas so I didn’t see her. I saw a delightful woman doctor who was with Mr. Shilling and whom I have seen off-and-on around 4 times in the past 15 years. The short story is that there is no change in my retinas and I should be coming back next July.
Friday was the last Community Centre Drop-In lunch for the summer, and I heard sad news about one of the regulars, who is now out of the hospital after a mastectomy but has moved far enough away that we probably won’t see her again. Sad, as even though she was infuriating she was a nice person in her way and she’ll be missed.
Friday evening we went to the British Museum to their “India Night”—a tie-in with their exhibition Garden and Cosmos—The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur. We were to meet my former boss, Ed Ross, former coworkers Louise, Diane, Pete, Heather, Roger, and Raz and her husband to enjoy the exhibitions and go to dinner at Taz down the street. We attended a lecture (well, part of it) on the paintings, then I just chatted with Roger and Pete while we were waiting for our reservation at Taz. It was a lovely evening and it’s always nice to catch up with people.
Saturday evening we went out to Rasa Sayang on Macclesfield St. in Chinatown with Ard and Leslie, who tied the knot a few months ago and whose friends and Marie we put up for the week. As usual, the food was delicious and of course it was really nice to see Ard and Leslie again. Ard has now been recognised as a “European Person” by the UK government (he’s Dutch) and once Leslie is certified as Ard’s civil partner, he will be able to return with Ard to Holland and gain the right to live there without going through Dutch lessons and tests.
Sunday I preached—I’ll post the sermon separately as this is getting too long. That evening HWMBO made green chicken curry, my favourite. It was delicious.
Today I started the arduous task of scrubbing the kitchen floor. It’s well soiled and very difficult to wash with a mop, so I got down on my knees and scrubbed with a brush and some Cillit Bang in water. I got the first layer off half the floor. More tomorrow, I fear. Then I went to Boots to buy some toiletries and some gauze for the foot dressing. After that I went to Starbucks and put some money on my Starbucks card so I can use it and fill it up online. Cooked stuffed peppers and they came out not bad.
I guess the real reason I blog about my week is mostly to ensure that in a few years I’ll know what I did this week. I hope I haven’t bored you.