Carpet laying lessons and poetry nights.

Dear everyone, time for me to write some more of my travellers story, as I am about 3 weeks behind scedule! (Gefeliciteerd met de Koningin alle Hollanders, vandaag Koninginnedag! Nog een beetje geduld gevraagd voor de vertaling, a.u.b.)I promised to tell you all more about the amazing time I had in Didcot. I worked along with Lester and in the evening we read our poetry to one another. Maybe only fellow poets could really understand what that means. It's all about trust and having the right atmosphere in order to be able to show the inside of your soul, knowing nobody will crush it rudely under his (or her) feet. I had been praying to find someone I could share poetry and prose with, a poet friend like Obediah Rube, Benji and Greta's son. And God knew again what I needed. On Wednesday we had a meeting about Prov 4:24. To do everything in order to serve God and keep the connection with Christ in all circumstances. It's not what comes up from the flesh that reveales if Jesus is Lord of your life but what you do with it! Have only one desire: to do God's will. Loose my head, He is my head now. He is able (to help me) but am I willing?
On Thursday I did some washing and I was busy at the computer. I also paid Hannah a visit on my way to do some shopping for the meal. We didn't have dinner until 9 p.m. because Lester and Janet had gone to a hall to check it out for a fundraising job at the end of April.
On Friday I visited Norman and Janet Jacobs, Tony Jacobs' parents. That was very edifying. At first we had tea together and Norman told about the war and his job as a carpenter. When he was resting in the afternoon sister Jacobs and I talked about seeking Gods Kingdom and always live to honour our King! The Kingdom is within you! I stayed for 3 and a half hours! Then I did some shopping in a nearby shop and bought the ingredients for Dutch pancakes! They turned out really well (although I have more experience in looking at my mum baking them than rather than doing it myself but it worked!) In the evening we went to a gym to play badminton with Martin and Jacky Hall, Mike and Caren Taylor and some of their boys. That was great fun. Lester taught me how to play real badminton and we let the others run back and forth. Caren Taylor sitting on the side told us we were mean to let Martin run so much (he has an artificial leg). Poor Martin did look exhausted but he isn't the kind of person to give up and i think he'd rather have it this way! Lester and I won twice more because lester was so good at it maybe combined with some beginner's luck from my side.
On Saturday I cycled to the Turner's to give the book 'Noodle' back I had borrowed from them. Brother Turner even remembered my name!
In the afternoon when janet came home there would be a surprise for me, she had said. We drove to THE NEW FORREST!! First we went to Burley, looked into some shops, then we walked in the woods and because I distracted Lester he left the carkeys in the boot when he locked it! So then he rang the RAC while Janet and I tried to open the car by pushing the boot button with sticks through the window. At last we succeeded to open the doorhandle with one of my hair clips tied to a stick with my shoe lace. That was very well because the RAC wouldn't have done us any good because they thought the New Forrest was up in Yorkshire!!! They would probably never have found us! Then we had an outside meal, cooked on a campinggaz on Horse Shoe Bottom ('Armagheddon') and at sunset we went down to the beach in Bournemouth and walked along the beach, on the poles 'into the sea' and went to a hotel, where lester had cleaned in the past. The people were very polite. When we got home I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch and Lester woke me up very carefully so I could go to bed.
On Sunday we had a quiet poetry morning, then we went to Uffington to see the White Horse in the hills. We walked all the way up, leaving Janet halfway on the grass and on the way back we had cream tea in a farm yard. I told Lester and Janet the story of the horse 'Sunhorse, moonhorse' written by Rosemary Sutcliff but I didn't remember it all, so I borrowed the book from the Turner's.
The meeting that evening was about Jude verse 24. Do your task with gladness and thankfulness. god doesn't want robots. If we serve Him, gladness will come. Humility and being a sacrifice is the way. We have a glorious future and it starts NOW! The earth is filled with violence as in the days of Noah but the powers will stand in attendance for us like they did for Jesus. It is His life that gives us LIFE, something not even the holy law of God could bring people to.
On Monday I had a real job. I was a bit late, doing all things mixed up that morning, so I still had to make our sandwiches and it was already 10 o'clock! 'Too bad, Claudia', Lester said joking. But then we set off for Oxford, where we worked in a house doing carpet laying preparations: hammering grippers along the walls in the rooms upstairs, laying underlay and stapling it, moving the furniture that was left in there and carrying the carpet rolls inside. I accidently turned on the tap when I stuck the carpet roll through the window, so there was water all around in the kitchen. Little clumsy, aye!?
In the evening we had a racletting (spelling?)party at the Freeman's for all the couples that were to go to Germany the next weekend in order to pick out songs to sing there and practise them together. Martin Hall played the guitar, that was splendid and he sang Johhny Cash's 'A thing called love'and John Bunyan's 'He who would valiant be' which is in Almond Blossom. I recorded it as good as I could.
On Tuesday Ron, Frances and June came to pick me up at 10.30 a.m. in Didcot to go to the Cotswolds together. We drove through and to all the lovely villages like Bourton-on-the-water, Lower Slaughter, Stowe on the wold and Burford. It was beautiful. Ron and I did a picture taking contest! I bought some presents for my friends in one of the little shops and I wrote a poem for Lester. We ate our sandwiches along side the water and had cream tea in the sun. We even saw a bat flying very close to us, but neither of us could take a good picture of it. We also went to many antique shops, Frances and I found out we both liked 'old things with a history' rather than new ones!
That evening was another poetry night and yes Nienke, I played the 'Hug Postman' for you. Thanks for the idea!
On Wednesday Hannah Turner and I went to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Pitt Rivers collected so much, you could spend your whole life in there without ever being bored. All the crazy stuff he put in it, like shrunken heads, beadwork, musical and medical instruments from all over the world, boats, toys, clothes etc.etc.etc. Hannah loves the museum and the people were very nice to us, we were allowed to park right at the back of the museum so we could get Hannah's wheelchair in easily and the wardens showed us special things.
In the evening Lester and I went out to deliver flyers for fundraising. I had done that in the morning as well, near Hannah's house, but it was so hard to find out where all the houses were hidden! Now we did it together and that was better, each took a side of the street and we met somewhere at the end. We did two rounds but couldn't finish the second one because you are not allowed to deliver after 9 p.m.!
On Thursday I had to leave to go to Taunton. But I didn't feel like saying goodbye, so Lester came up with the idea I could help him one more time. We went to clean a very expensive house but the carpet we had to clean was rather of a cheap quality. I helped lifting the hose, turning the machine on, filling it with water and throwing out the dirty water afterwards. Then we went to a lady round the corner from there and Lester discussed with her if she wanted her carpet and furniture cleaned. The carpet would definitely bleed and the furniture was plasticy and awful but at least it would pay.. And she had to decide..
Then finally the hour of my departure had come, so I packed the car, made the bed for the next visitor (a sister from Durham!) and left after one last goodbye hug. Little after I found myself on the motorway, the M4 west. I got off at junction 17 to have a look around in Lacock. People were setting up a set for a movie that was going to be shot the next week, so I was told by a schoolteacher who sat in the playground of the primary school of Lacock, correcting her papers in the sunshine. After I spent an hour there, taking pictures, I drove on towards Bristol (almost drove into Wales but you had to pay in order to cross the bridge which I didn't want), so fortunately I took the right left turn there to get on to the next motorway, the M5 south, which took me straight to Taunton. At 8 p.m. I arrived at the Pope's house with a little help from some people on the road to enlighten Chris' directions! In the end, almost there I called and Alice ran out of the house to direct me to their nice, old, cosy house at the industrial area of Comeytrowe. Comeytrowe Manor West. It was very nice to talk to Maggie, she is artistic and creative and we watched my pictures until we went to bed. I got my own room in her study upstairs, between the children's art work and the herbalists books!
Well, I'll end here for now. Enough to read, I guess and I'll catch up later. CU, God bless.