Saved by a dongle

Your blogger has been off-line while all his possessions have been loaded onto a van and parked overnight in a yard in Crawley before being delivered to the brand spanking new St James vicarage where we are now happily resident, unpacking boxes, fixing pictures to the wall and, generally setting up home.

The offlineness of this blog was set to last quite a while due to the contractors having accidentally severed the phone lines and BT being unable to reconnect them for a month (yes, I know this is the heart of London).

Then a little gadget called a dongle (kindly paid for by the diocese) has come to the rescue and blogging can continue by this means until such time as BT can penetrate deepest Bermondsey.

While all this has been going on St James School has had its carol service in church - it was moving day but I popped in for the last ten minutes - a full church of mums and dads downstairs, the children in the galleries raising the roof with their singing. The head boy and head girl led the service. Brilliant.

Meanwhile this afternoon there was the chance to visit the Age Concern day centre in Southwark Park Road with Stan where the members were sitting down to their Christmas lunch, prior to dancing the night away (until 9pm at least).

We got a very warm welcome from everyone, and especially the centre manager who had attended my licensing a couple of weeks previously.

I got the chance to say a few words and then we were joined by a bunch of youngsters from St James School who greatly added to the festive nature of the occasion with their superbly spirited rendering of a few favourite carols.

It was interesting in talking to the members to hear just how important the centre is in their lives. One person described it as her 'lifeline.' Long may it continue.

Then it was back to the unpacking....