A few days ago when the teachers at her school were on strike she tried to teach me about front adverbials and I spoke about this in a recent blog.
The family popped round on Mothering Sunday, bringing lunch ingredients with them. Poppy immediately went up to my study to make me a certificate which featured a Union Jack and the following words:
"Grandad: English certificate. You are amazing. I cannot explain how much you have learnt about fronted adverbials. You can now give me 20 or more of them. To start with you could not even give me one. Good job. From Poppy.
I find with Poppy that she is really the grandparent and I am the little boy.
* * *
Mothering Sunday was fun. One of my pet hates is boring religion. You know the kind. You turn up for a church service and sit in silence and then have what is referred to as a hymn sandwich. Hymn - reading - hymn- prayer - hymn - sermon- hymn. You know the kind of thing. To me, whatever your beliefs, that kind of thing is a waste of time.
Now Hethersett Methodist Church is chucking this in the bin. I helped on Saturday morning to turn the church into a cafe style space with tables and chairs. When we rocked up on Sunday for the Mothering Sunday service we enjoyed orange juice, coffee, muffins and croissants. These were all kindly supplied by our local Tesco Express which does so much to support local groups and charities.
The service itself was lively with lots of singing and actions, a cartoon film and then there was more coffee. I suppose this is exactly the thing I envisaged over the years when I have complained that attending a church service is so boring that I would rather spend my time virtually doing anything else. I used to say that my time was much better spent catching up on my volunteer work than sitting for an hour listening to something that gave me absolutely nothing and was totally pointless.
I have written well over 1300 blogs but always avoided the subject of religion. But as I "enjoyed" yesterday's Mothering Sunday service I tried to sort out my thoughts on religion and find it quite difficult to extrapolate them.
Am I a Christian? - well not in the accepted sense of the word.
Am I an agnostic? - well not in the accepted sense of the word.
Am I an atheist? - probably not.
You can see the struggle I am having.
Whenever we visit a new place I head for the church and the graveyard. Why? Well it's probably an interest from a history point of view. Same with graveyards. There are untold stories and histories in these and some very interesting finds. They also make good photographs.
But then I realise I do more for the local churches than I had thought and I ask is there something driving me other than history?
A few years ago I spent three days indexing the churchyard and using a massive piece of research put together by Edmund Perry when he was secretary of the Norfolk Family History Society. This was quite a large task that I didn't have to do. So why did I do it?
Then just over a year ago I accepted the unpaid post of editor of the church-based Good News magazine for Hethersett, Little Melton and Great Melton. I didn't have to do it. So why did I?
I regularly carry church-based news in Hethersett Herald.
In the past I have been in control of the Methodist Church website, helped with various breakfasts and events and organisations that use the church hall. I don't have to do this. So why do I?
And I could go on with many other questions. Some times I ask questions that I know there are no obvious answers to. That's part of life's rich pattern. I don't think we always need to know answers to everything and sometimes it's good to leave things hanging in the air. I believe when it comes to me and religion, this is probably one of those times. Whether I will ever find any answers - well I'm not so sure.
I will be very interested in any comments you have on this blog. I see my blogs as two-way pieces. I value the responses as much as I value the ability (however small that might be) to be able to write them day after day after day.
Which reminds me. I will be talking to the RiNG on Wednesday in Hethersett Village Hall from 2 pm. That's the group for people suffering/living with arthritis. The afternoon isn't just restricted to people with arthritis. They welcome everyone. And on this particular presentation, I would welcome anyone who feels like a good snooze. It is well known that myself speaking is much more sleep inducing than counting sheep.
When I was asked to speak a few months ago, my immediate question was: "What would you like me to talk about?"
"Anything you like," they replied.
I'm not sure whether this is a reflection on the fact that my talks are enlightening and entertaining or that they didn't feel that I had much to say on much. Let's hope it is the former.
I'm going to do something new for this talk. I have produced a few Powerpoint slides but otherwise I'm going to make it up as I go along and split it into a talk about some aspects of my life and also some murders I have been involved in (I knew that would capture your attention). I told you it was worth coming along if you need a kip. If you do come along please do let me know that you read my blog. It gives me a rosy glow, although it has been backfiring recently.
I meet people I know but haven't seen for some time (this happened at Mothering Sunday's church service) and start telling them something. They stop me and say "I know that: I read your blog."
I certainly seem not to have any secrets nowadays, although I bet you didn't know that I've been involved in numerous murders? Come along to the village hall on Wednesday to find out how and why.