AKMA’s Random Thoughts

First Challenge

AKMA — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 21:10:26 +0000

I ran this morning, at a slow-plateau pace, and although my body was resisstant in several ways, it wasn’t intolerable. I do wonder, though, how long into my 70s I’ll be able to keep going. I may ratchet down to one mile, or really honestly start alternating days. Anyway, after that, I made coffee and ate up our last bits of fruit, showered, went to Morning Prayer, and then onward to Nunc Dimittis via Oxford.

When I opened the door and took off my coat, I thought I heard a sound that didn’t come from me or my activities. In short order I discovered that something was leaking through the top of the stairwell, and I dashed about like a headless chicken trying to figure out what was going wrong, and what I could do about it. Margaret found a couple of phone numbers and I called them, but they weren’t supremely helpful. She set about finding a more helpful source, and I wrote to the former occupants, and I decided that I’d had enough and went to get a cup of coffee from the friendly cafe around the corner.

When I got back to the house, I covered the whole area more carefully. I found a possible explanation inside the house, but it’s not clear whether that’s it or the more normal source (leaky roofing or clogged downspout) might be the culprits. Meanwhile, Margaret found a handyman service that would give general advice and referrals; they put us onto a fellow who’d come by an look things over for us tomorrow. That wasn’t our plan — we both had other things on our plates. But a homeowner must do what a homeowner must do, so we’ll adapt our timetable to accommodate the handyman, and will find out what the next steps shall be.

GMT

AKMA — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 09:38:51 +0000

I did run, very slowly, this morning, but without settling into a walk at any point. I appreciated the extra hour’s rest; although I deplore the custom of altering the clock twice a year, if people will do it, the autumnal side of it brings an agreeable refreshing microholiday. Then made coffee and had some grapes, showered, second cup of coffee, then off to church; we will be the more solemn after yesterday’s stunning sadness.

It has been a hard summer in the parish.

Putting Up With Boelo

AKMA — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:18:49 +0000

The morning got off to a lovely start. I mean, not by way of weather; the weather was rubbish, just on the verge of rain, but withholding the actual rain just to tease. I stayed indoors, had my hot breakfast with a nice cup of coffee, reading, started work on Wednesday’s Confirmation Class, and was finishing my lunch when we got a call from our dear friend the parish admin who brought shocking bad news. Spent the afternoon doing what I could to handle that, more time with bereaved family, and now am home for the evening. Class will wait. Storm Boelo will bluster and blow. I will sleep, and see what happens tomorrow.

Putting Up With Austen

AKMA — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:36:21 +0000

No run this morning, as we had rain through the night and well into the morning. Coffee, fruit, Morning Prayer, then work on planning and writing out the order of service for a funeral. Then off to Oxford for a paper from my new colleague Naomi Reiss on ‘Paul the Prisoner and (Non-)Compliance in Romans 13’, then home for the weekend. Assuming the wind doesn’t blow me into the Thames.

Another Full Day

AKMA — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:47:08 +0000

I ran this morning, to a slow time, had Morning Prayer via the Church of England app, had some coffee and fruit for breakfast, went in to Oxford for my tutorial, had lunch, hurried back to Abingdon to feed the dogs, hurried out to a neighbouring town to consult a grieving family, hurried back to Abingdon to feed the dogs their next meal, and… well, the family expression is ‘collapsed in a heap’.

And the weather tomorrow is supposed to be rubbish. (That reminds me that tomorrow is bin day.)

Busy Church Day

AKMA — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:11:13 +0000

Slow run this morning, then hot breakfast, Morning Prayer, Staff Meeting, Preachers’ Group meeting, and this evening will be Confirmation Class. In between these, I’m negotiating (perhaps futilely) with a funeral director and filing a church pension claim.

Did You Notice…?

AKMA — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:51:50 +0000

Did you notice that this morning I’m typing with a British accent? Cos Margaret and I are, as of yesterday afternoon, British citizens (no, we didn’t renounce US citizenship).

It’s rainy today, so I didn’t run. I had coffee and fruit, washed up, went to Morning Prayer, took the long bus trip to Headington to check in at Nunc Dimittis. I’ll putter, rest, pick ip some items for the household, and eventually go back home, making way for Margaret to reoccupy the house for subsequent nights. But as of yesterday, we’re homeowners and citizens, and I’m just retirement away from settling into a whole new chapter.

Post-Vanity

AKMA — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:56:10 +0000

Fr Sam and the choir and congregation at Evensong at St Paul’s Wokingham were welcoming and gracious to their wayfaring preacher last night. (I knew Fr Sam would be, as we’ve known one another for years, and I expected everyone else to be patient at least, but it’s always lovely when the people show warm hospitality as well.) The sermon went well, apart from my experiencing a moment of parablepsis (when a reader’s eye skips over a line or two to a later line wiht the same or similar wording) and stumbling over the warnings to hypocrites at the beginning of Matthew 6. Since the assigned topic was ‘Vanity’ — last, in this series, of the Seven Deadly Sins — I took it as a pointed reminder to myself not to take undue pride in my preaching. I’ll post it below.

This morning I ran a slow couple of miles, had some coffee and fruit, showered, went to Morning Prayer, came home, and practiced the words to ‘God Save the King’ (the traditional words, not an updated version of the Sex Pistols’ classic, which I know well enough already). In the course of practicing the national anthem, Margaret and I caught ourselves failing to remember the US setting, ‘Anerica (My Country ’Tis of Thee)’ after the first three lines. That, in turn, inspired a morning full of more-or-less remembered patriotic USian songs, which we cut short lest we get confused later in the day when…

we become British citizens! Yes, the next time I post to this page, you may notice something different about my typing, as I will be officially British. That, and our new house in Headington, leave only my retirement as Big Life Changes for the year (we’ll stretch ‘the year’ for my retirement, since it will become final and official in January).

Vanity

All Is Vanity

AKMA — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 12:12:09 +0000

Woke after a restless night, ran my miles in a desultory time, home for coffee and fruit. Shower, then to the 8:00 at St Nic’s for the Sacrament. Home again to look over the sermon for Evensong and to work on the proofs for the years-old essay on James and the miraculous. Not an exciting morning and afternoon, but it will be a pleasure to go to Wokingham to see Fr Sam and to preach on Vanity.

Getting ready to go, now, and this was running through my brain. Margaret had not heard this, the ur-version, but only the closing line.

‘Peace, cackle, feather, tickle, belts, buckle, beats, pickle, crackle makes the world go round.’ Indeed.

Print, pack, get ready, head to Wokingham!

Pre-Vanity

AKMA — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 19:06:20 +0000

I had a lie-in this morning, inadvertently; I managed seven and a half hours sleep, and was groggy and slow waking up. Eventually I got going and jogged my miles. Coffee and hot breakfast, some time spent on the sermon, and before I knew it it was time for lunch. Then more composition with some false starts, a trip to the grocery, back home to thewrite more. By the end of play, I had more material than I should use tomorrow, so tomorrow morning will go toward trimming and burnishing.