Going up in the world

Bathroom after painting
















Blue doesn't look all that bad but believe me it was

Fr Bill, Teresa, Paul and Arnett enjoying the company

Hello everyone.

I just want to say how sorry I was to hear of the death of Shirley Haydon. Many of you in the parish will know Shirley as she was always larger than life and full of fun. I know she will be missed by many people especially those who are connected to Our Lady’s school. We thank the Lord for all the gifts Shirley gave to us and shared with us. For the last few years Shirley has headed the team that has been going out to our housebound parishioners and keeping them in touch with what is happening in our parish. On top of that she has been a good member of the parish pastoral council and helped enormously in the amalgamation of the two parishes. Shirley will be greatly missed by all, and may the Lord grant her rest and peace in His Heavenly Kingdom. Our condolences go out to her Husband Ted who has always supported her in everyway he can in all Shirley’s endeavours.

This week has been another busy week with one thing and another. Much the same as last week. This week I finished decorating Arnett’s bathroom and toilet so now his house has changed from predominantly turquoise colour to a pale daffodil. I did tone the bathroom down a bit by putting half a can of white paint into the mixture. While I was painting the toilet I was overcome with the smell of the paint being in such a small space. It was awful and how anyone can sniff glue I don’t know. However Arnett is really pleased with the decorating. When I first started he said to me, ‘No matter what you say I’m going to give you some money for what you are doing, I’m going to give you a thousand dollars. Obviously I said I don’t want anything and that it was my birthday present to him. The day after the conversation started again but this time it had gone down to only $500 dollars. I said to him if we go another day it will only be $250!! He started to laugh. It is not that Arnett is mean with his money he is just extra careful with it, which is a sign of the hard times he had when he was a child. One learnt to be thrifty in those days because there was no such thing as a credit card or bankers cards. If you had no money then you went without, so one had to be thrifty.

This week I have moved up in the world as I am the administrator of the Cathedral as well as being the hospital chaplain. The administrator Fr John has gone to Auckland for a few days, and Fr Dennis is still on his monthly holiday so I am left on my own holding the fort. Today I entertained three bishops for lunch a fourth couldn’t make it, Bishops John, Barry and Owen. I said to the bishops afterwards that when priests get together they talk about the news of the diocese and what other priest’s are doing. You notice I didn’t say gossip, as if we would. However what the bishops talked about was what was happening to other bishops and what committees they were on, and reminiscing about how other bishops had acted in the pass, who was on the verge of retiring and who was taking over. So they are just human like us. Thanks be to God.

Well there will be no blog next week as Arnett and myself are off in a campervan touring the top of the South Island, seeing the whales in Kaikoura, the people of Blenhiem, the Marlebrough Sounds in Picton, the beautiful sands of Nelson and the lovely country village of Reefton. It will be the first time that I have driven a campervan so say a little prayer for me, though saying that they are not as big as the post office vans I used to drive. Yet I have to admit that was over thirty years ago when the vans had ‘double de clutch.’ I bet there is not many people who will know what I am writing about. It will be good to spend some quality time with Arnett. I am taking a tape recorder and I am going to get down all his memories of our family and his experiences during his army days especially the D-Day landing and the aftermath. He is now one of the few surviving ex-soldiers of his regiment and so it will be good to get his account of those horrendous days. He was in the St Albans regiment and if he had been able to come to England he wanted to go to St Albans to see it for one last time and to remember all his pals who did not make it back to base. God Bless

Ps I have just noticed that last week I said I would mention something about Genesis it’s a good read is the best I can say at the moment. A great insight to human nature and all its foibles and yet God still loves us, blessed be God for ever. Amen