8.00 am: A communion. It wasn’t going to be the best start to a day. Having taken the recycling bags from the garage to the main road, a gust of wind blew the garage door closed. I didn’t have a key to reopen it. But I did have a key to the front door. However, the gust had ripped through…

By writing it all down (all? – no: one thought in a hundred!) I believe I get a little outside it (C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (1961)) Sunday, February 2: Monday, February 3. 8.00 am: A communion. 8.45 am: Second cup of tea. The Monday morning review: the week, the day, the hour ahead; the preparations of the spirit,…

I’m on the outside looking inside.What do I see?Much confusion, disillusion,All around me(King Crimson, ‘I Talk to the Wind’, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969).) 8.15 am: A communion. It felt as though this would be a busy day: many parts, several duties, complications, small ambitions, untested procedures, and discussions in my head. 9.00 am: Off to town,…

7.30 am: Morning-tide: 8.15 am: A communion. (God’s mercy is not disposed grudgingly.) 8.45 am: Following on from yesterday evening’s work, I continued to bed-down the assessment administration, complete registers, plan dates for meetings, and clear a space over the next few days to deal with research commitments. As much time is spent on the aftermath of teaching as upon…

8.00 am: A communion. 8.30 am: To the School for a full day of third-year Exhibition tutorials. The initial discussion aims to establish the nature, tenor, and objectives for those that will follow. Mr Baldwin was carrying, precariously, several towers of shoe boxes up and down the staircase. Either a major Amazon purchase had been delivered or he was setting…

7.00 am: A far better night’s sleep. 7.45 am: A communion. 8.15 am: Onto the streets. When I arrived at the School, the back of the building was in darkness. Power cut. The projection system in the main lecture was inoperable as a result. My only course of action available was to deliver the introductory talk on the undergraduate Exhibition…

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace(‘Agnus Dei’, Book of Common Prayer). 5.30 am: I’d been awake since 3.15 am. My body was at one…

The future is not some place we’re going to, but an idea in our mind now. It is something we’re creating, that in turn creates us. The future is a fantasy that shapes our present (Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life (2013).) 8.00 am: A communion. These days it’s with apprehension rather than anticipation that I embark upon each new semester.…

Today, I’m the only member of the family with their feet on UK soil. Happy Chinese New Year!: 7.30 am: Woke (later than anticipated; later than necessary). 9.00 am: I strolled into town to take-up my deferred haircut appointment, shop, and pick-up my medication. This was the third attempt in as many days to secure my EXPRESS prescription at the…

Show me the path of life (Psalm 16.12). 8.00 am: A communion. I’m working my way through the order of ‘Morning Prayer’, from the Book of Common Prayer, as a means of structuring my devotions. Following yesterday evening’s self-examination, several questions have presented themselves. Most immediately: If I were at the close of my life (and who can say, one…