Forgive us, it’s been 3 months since our last blog entry. As penance, we have been told to write immediately. So, what’s happened since the last entry?
Spending our first Christmas away from our families was not the easiest thing we’re ever done, but we coped admirably. We were invited, along with the Hill family who came from South Africa, to the Cutmore’s on Christmas Eve. They had decided that they wanted to bless both families for moving overseas into their community, so as well as putting on some delicious food and a lovely night of conversation ad fellowship, also gave us all Christmas gifts. We were really touched by their generosity and kindness and it certainly helped to lessen the homesickness we were beginning to feel.
As Christmas was going to be nothing like what we were used to, we decided to make it completely different. So instead of the traditional roast Christmas dinner or cold meat and salads we had chicken schnitzel and potato casserole followed by trifle. A new tradition was born. The day was spent calling family in Australia, giving and opening gifts, preparing and eating our new traditional Christmas dinner and relaxing while watching DVDs, including our favourite Christmas movie - “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Unfortunately as the day wore on it became apparent that we were all coming down with colds so ended up going to bed early. We had booked to spend a few days in London between Christmas and New Year but as the colds turned out to be quite bad, we ended up staying at home for the duration – at least until New Years Eve when Scott had to go back to work. The day at work was thankfully less eventful than the trip in, which included hitting one of the 3 remaining deer in the area. It was ok (if a bit sore) so didn’t need to be put down. Neither did Scott. Or his car.
But we haven’t mentioned the snow! it started again a couple of days before Christmas and we had the delightful privilege of waking up on Christmas Day to snow falling. It kept up for nearly two weeks. We didn’t take many pictures, because they would have been just like the last lot of snow pictures, but we did visit Scamblesby where we got some pictures of it under a light dusting of snow to send to Scott’s sister and brother-in-law (Jeannine and Stuart) who stayed there in the summer. There is a story there which we will tell in a later blog entry, but here are the Scamblesby pictures.
Jack and Anna had 3 weeks off school over Christmas and soon after returning were performing in the school production “Rock Solid” at the Riverside Theatre in Louth. Jack was one of the narrators and Anna one of the actors and they both sang and danced. They (and all the kids and teachers) did a great job and put on a wonderful show. We have a DVD and will be sending copies to family soon.
As well as leading worship in services at old folks homes each Sunday afternoon, Carolyn and Scott have begun playing in the worship team at church and led worship one Sunday in February – our first time leading worship since October 2008. We’re really enjoying playing again and particularly appreciated the opportunity to lead worship. We’re certain that one of the reasons we were brought here is to be part of the worship team. Scott spent his Christmas money on an acoustic guitar which he is using for this. He bought it on eBay and it turned out to be identical to the one used by Rob, the worship leader. Same brand, model and colour. A little embarrassing.
Later in February during the half-term break Scott had a day off so we headed out for the day for our first trip for 2010. We headed up past the Humberside Airport (which has its runway so close to the road that you are stopped with level-crossing lights when a plane is coming in to land), over the Humber Bridge and north to Beverley to see their beautiful minster. Good thing the spell checker caught that error, otherwise you’d think we went to see the Beverley Monster! They provided a scavenger hunt style thing where the kids had to find all the things that were in the photos on a sheet of paper. It sounds easy but turned out to be quite difficult. With a bit of help, they found them all and in the process saw pretty much every detail of the minster. It really is a beautiful building and had a very grand and reverent feel to it. After a picnic lunch in the car (it was too cold and windy to sit outside) we headed toward the coast through some places with interesting names (Tickton, Catwick and Sigglesthorne being the highlights) to Hornsea where we had some yummy cakes and coffee for afternoon tea at the seaside. then we headed down the coast to Withernsea, where we had the unique experience of watching the kids playing on the beach in the sleet before heading back home via Hull. Quite a pleasant (if cold) day out even though Jack’s supercar-spotting was quite fruitless.
Jack made “Honour Roll” at school and went with the other kids who made it on a 2 day trip to London. They had a day at the BBC TV studios where they had a tour, did some acting on camera and saw some of the technology in use. Jack was a bit disappointed not to run in to Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May (from Top Gear) so missed the chance to kick Clarkson in the shins for being such an outspoken git. Maybe next time.
Scott’s work is very busy and he now has an apprentice to train. his name is Tom and is known as “The Youngling” or “Scott’s Padowan” among other less-flattering things. Tom was chosen as one of two apprentices to be showcased on Grimsby’s Channel 7 tv in a programme where they were discussing the options for school leavers. So the crew came into work and caused quite a disruption while interviewing Tom and Scott. Unfortunately Scott’s bit ended up on the cutting room floor (must have been something he said or perhaps they had no idea what he was saying because of his accent) but you can see the interview (and something of the office Scott works in) here. Start at about 5 minutes into it so that you can avoid the annoying presenter, although if you watch it all you’ll get a good idea of the way people in Grimsby speak. That’s if you can understand anything they say.
The week that programme went to air, Anna was on BBC radio and TV. There’s a new school opening in Hull in September which is using the same model as our school. The BBC wants to create a controversy out of it being run by crazy fundamentalists so came to Locksley to interview the head teacher for the breakfast radio programme. They also interviewed a couple of the kids, including Anna. They called back that afternoon to arrange to have a tv crew do some interviews but the school declined as they have special needs kids and aren’t allowed to expose them to cameras. So the crew turned up the next day anyway and started interviewing parents. The school had no option but to let them in (to avoid the “crazy fundamentalist Christians refused to respond to us” kind of thing) and Anna ended up being interviewed again. We’re hoping to have a copy which we can let you see in future so you can see a bit of what the school is like.
Scott’s work sponsors the Hull AFC football club and invited Scott (and some other staff) to the match against Arsenal yesterday. So after a lifetime of wanting to go to a premier league match, Scott got to see a top 3 team (that would be Arsenal – Hull are coming 3rd last) in action, while being plied with food and drink in the comfort of an executive box. After being collected in Grimsby they were all driven to KC Stadium in Hull, ushered into a reception room where they were given champagne (real French stuff) for introductions, then taken on a tour through the stadium conducted by one of the ex players - into the dressing rooms, the media lounge and onto the ground where photos were taken. Not a great game but Hull managed to contain Arsenal, only succumbing in the last couple of minutes to a heart-breaking goal. The atmosphere was fantastic – it’s amazing how much noise they can make without looking like they’re doing anything. The best thing was the chant the Hull supporters trotted out repeatedly using the tune used by church or town hall clocks - “Same old Arsenal, always cheating. Same old Arsenal, always cheating”. Pity that Arsenal won, but it was a great day out.
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