Busy May

Frederick Leighton, Flaming June

And, at the beginning of June, I can say I've settled in with pleasure.

I'm pretty regular at Christ Church, Walker, and at Common Ground where I've become volunteer volunteer co-ordinator (any enquiries, offers?).

I've been to the Cluny, more than once, the Tyne, and the Free Trade; to the Laing Art Gallery; to Northern Stage (twice) and to the re-opening of the Tyneside Cinema, though not yet to a film. Newcastle is a good place to be.

And I've done my first freelance funeral, to the annoyance of the Anglican Diocese who wish to protect the Anglican brand from boundary crossers.

Specifically I think the diocesan authorities do not want people who are Anglican priests taking non-religious funerals, or people who are not priests claiming to to be so as they take a funeral. From my self-interested perspective it seems to me that the brand they are protecting is not the kind of (and certainly not the quality of) the funeral but is the capacity of the Bishop to control who may and who may not claim to be Anglican. It's about episcopal power.

And I've finished a pamphlet for the MCU about the proposed Anglican Covenant (we're against it). It's been a busy month.

Ascension

May 1, and what has seemed like a bit of a holiday has now officially become unemployment. I'd better find an income from somewhere.

Still, I celebrated the end of my contract with the C of E with a pint and a meal in the Bascule and taking an elderly lady shopping in Sainsbury's (but not in that order) and then by going to church in the morning.

Just for a moment I had a sense of real time out, of being in a sacred space separate from all that was going on, from all the ordinaryness of the day and its noise and demands. It vanished as quickly as it came but it was a real boost.

And then to Common Ground where, amid the usual cloud of people - one person needing help with a court case, another had been thrown out of the place where he was staying on someone's floor when the landlord caught wind of it (being destitute he was entitled to 10 pounds and a small bag of food for a week), with meetings and people hanging around out of boredom or the desire for company, I helped review the volunteering process.

And a new phone to play with.

Definitely a good start.