Wedding snaps, holy libraries and scary school photos

We’ve decided to have a bit of a girlie day at the office today and have brought in our wedding piccies to coo over. There’s nothing like a white frock and a vol-au-vent memory to raise those essential oestrogen levels, you know. And there was much amusement at my very 80s Charles I hairstyle. Well, I’ve always been at the cutting (ho ho) edge of fashion, after all …

And here’s this morning’s meditation poem:

Meditation 53

Outside the city,
it’s cold,

the desert
a carpet of desolation

but it’s where
you’re headed,

blood-spattered, guilty.
If only

you could walk
facing the sun,

the sky above
might warm you.


I’ve also been fiddling around with the Personal Tutors’ Handbook again – honestly, if we ever manage to get it to the print stage in my lifetime, I swear I’m going to miss the beast. It’s taken up such a large proportion of my office hours over the last few months that I think we might be engaged. And I’ve also been trying to sort out staffing for this year’s open days again. The Central Team all know what we’re doing now, hurrah, but I just have to see what the other services come up with.

I popped into the Cathedral library at lunchtime (goodness, how very holy I am) to pick up three books that Lord H wanted. I had his card and the list of required texts and had to look as if I was (a) serious-minded, (b) an upright citizen of the parish, and (c) my husband. It’s amazing they let me in at all. Was it the haircut?... And stepping into the library is like going back twenty years. As I wrote in the book what I’d taken out, I felt quite overcome with nostalgia. No quill pen though, shame on them …

Talking of nostalgia, for today’s scary moment, my old school is 100 years old this year and they have our class photo on the front page of their website as “missing people”! You can have a good laugh here though you’ll need to scroll down to see it. It's Number 53 in the 100 years archive list if the front picture is on a rolling schedule. I think it’s about 1979/1980 when we were all 15 or 16 but I could be wrong about that. I’m no good with numbers. I’m the one on the far right at the back row. Can you tell?? We were standing on boxes – we’re honestly not that tall. Groan …

Tonight there’s nothing on TV – again!! Doesn’t the BBC ever get my letters with my programming requests?? It’s quite shocking, Carruthers … – but Lord H and I are going to make a concerted effort to book our March holiday instead. We’re hoping for Istanbul but, failing that, Assisi. Now there’s a strange religious mix to play with.

Today’s nice things:

1. Wedding pictures
2. Poetry
3. Libraries where you have to write down your borrowings
4. School nostalgia
5. Thinking about holidays.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - she hasn't changed a bit, you know ...