Monday, November 19, 2007

Disturbing the Peace

Dragged myself out of bed and made it to church this morning and was glad I did. The preacher was 79 years old and full of the joy and love of God. BB and Aimee came too which was nice.

I had a frustrating afternoon. I'd loaded up the bike to begin the junk mail round then discovered I had a flat rear tyre. The rear wheel with it's deraullier gears and bike rack is considerably harder to remove. I found the puncture but without an adequate repair kit had to get a lift down to Bunnings to buy one. I repaired the puncture and refitted the wheel with Fashion Boy's assistance only to find we'd somehow managed to break the valve stem and the tube was rendered useless!
There ensued a fruitless search around the shops of Busselton, those that were open, looking for bike tubes. No go! None were to be found! Giving up I returned home and in desperation pulled an old tube out of a wreck of a bike behind the shed that hasn't been functional for years. To my utter surprise, it was intact and stayed inflated, passing the bucket test with flying colours.
With "new" tube fitted and the wheel back in place I set off to deliver the consumer's companions. I needed to get it done because Fashion Boy needed the bike after me to go and do his new round in Peppermint Park. The lack of money has prompted desperate measures in the Fashion Boy economy, thus he has re-embraced the joys of junk mail.

Tonight I went to a commissioning service for two new chaplains in the local primary schools. At one stage there was some lovely orchestral music playing, accompanied by pictures of sunsets and trees. The presentation was chosen by one of the new chaplains and entitled "Deep Peace". I had to laugh when half way though the reflection the sound of the churches answering machine could be distinctly heard throughout the auditorium. Not to be outdone, a banner in the foyer then blew over, the wooden pole crashing noisily onto the slate tiled floor! It seemed an apt metaphor, a school chaplain's peace being noisily interrupted by a telephone and a jarring unexpected crash!

After the service I got a lift home with an old couple, Len and Eunice who were our neighbours at Harvest Rd when we first moved to Busselton. They are a lovely old couple, full of stories and fun and the kids and Carolyn were all pleased to see them. Eunice stayed for a visit on the proviso that I recorded the final episode of Rain Shadow and gave it to them on a DVD!

I have a meeting at school in the morning to discuss the possible impact of the weekend's car crash and double fatality on the school. In light of the ages of those involved we don't expect a huge impact but no doubt there will be some.

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