Week 3 and managing to keep going

Sunday 25th January

A special day at church when all our outlying congregations came together for a combined meeting on the second of our special days of celebration. We had input from people from the congregations led by the worship band and a guest speaker from Lincoln. God moved amongst the congregation and a very good time was enjoyed by all. The main auditorium was 3/4 full with space for anyone that turned up late and plenty of capacity for children as well. The whole service ran as normal with time for ccoffee and a chat at the end. In a number of the rooms around the building there was an exhibition of activities that the church is involved in and charities it donates to. After the meeting it's the start of my walk home in the rain as it turned out. After 35 minutes walking home I'm soon into cooking some dinner and then into bed and watch TV for the rest of the day. In between the programs I get two loads of washing done and dried saving any time being wasted at a later date doing more than one load at a time. After the busy day yesterday, an afternoon and evening relaxing and not doing a lot was to be enjoyed with a couple of phone calls to make before sleep so once again it's short and sweet and so it's Good Night & God Bless You ..........

Monday 26th January

A morning of traveling back to the deep dark depths of Essex and a job in Basildon for a whole week. The trip is quite slow and hold ups are quite common and so I somehow fall asleep on the way. I must have been tired as I dont normally sleep on the move unless I'm dead tired which I must have been The week is involved with refitting the capping panels and sealing certain parts of the cladding on the plant room roof and wall along with capping four towers as well. As you can see from the picture on the left, my colleague Andy is busy trying to rivet two pieces of cladding together on the corner of the plant room. Today we didn't get much done as we only had half a day to work but hopefully we will get more done tomorrow. It was nice to get views off of the roof though and here is the one that has the best memory for me and reminds me of my younger days, "The Onion of Basildon", the water tower of the Ford, New Holland Tractor Plant at Pips Hill. At days end it's pack up and off to the Premier Inn at Basildon for our rooms for the week. Once settled in it's off to the restaurant for our evening meal and on completion, it's back to the room for the rest of the evening and time to do this write up. So it's time for bed and TV along with typing. So it's Good Night & God Bless You ..................

Tuesday 27th January

A nice day and a nice day of work as well, the day started out a little bit on the misty side with the sun soon burning it off. We finished the work on the roof we had to do, then we had to cut up some roofing material ready for putting it on. The roof work took the morning to complete and then the cutting of the material took the afernoon. When we finished work we were back to the Inn for our evening meal and then I disappear for my usual TV evening. At 0900hrs I go out and meet up with a friend who came over to visit and a chat for an hour. At 2230hrs its off to bed and sleeeeeeep. So Good Night & God Bless You

Wednesday 28th January

Well its a bit late in Thursday to be writing about Wednesdays activities, but never mind it has to be recorded to keep up the continuity of the blog. We started out on the way to work at 0715hrs and stopped off at MacDonald's for breakfast until 0800hrs and then finish the trip off to work and start straight into it. Today we had to make some flashing's to go on top of some joints on the skirt around a room on the top of the building and firstly we had to make the flashing's bending them in a vice that just happened to be sitting around waiting to be used. This happened to make life so much easier as we would have had to make up a bending jig to do the job, but this was so much easier. We soon had fifty flashing's made and were soon fitting them in place. But soon we were racing against the weather as we could see rain clouds approaching and wanted to get the work completed before we got wet. In the end though the rain only came in drizzle and we still got the work to a place of being able to stop and make it the days end and then back to the Inn for food and relaxation. A busy but profitable day was had and much work got done. So after a phone call and TV it's settle down for a well earned sleep, so it's Good Night & God Bless You.

Thursday 29th January

The day started as usual with breakfast at the Inn and then off to work and straight into it, continuing where the previous day had finished and getting the flashing's onto the joints by lunchtime. After a quick snack it's back to work and the inspection of some capping joints and then making up covers to go over them and ensure they fit over the joints. during this time we're working in a lake on the roof because the drains were too high up and at least two inches of water was left that would not drain away and so having to stand in two inches of water and so I end up with wet feet for the rest of the day, and wet boots for the foreseeable future. After trying the joint covers and finding they're the wrong size we have to go and adjust them to fit. On completion time is called and it's days end and off back to the Inn for the evening. After a bit of TV it's bed time and so it's Good Night & God Bless You.

Friday 30th January

At the time of writing this report it's 1559hrs and we're stuck in slow moving traffic towards the Dartford River Crossing on our way home after a busy day in the freezing cold, standing in three inches of iced water, drilling out rivets in capping, sealing the joint and riveting it up again. Needing to do this at least a dozen times my toes freeze and become thick icicles and after a while it's stop for brunch at MacDonald's and a chance for toes to thaw out. But soon it's get back to work and finish off the day doing the joints on the dry side of the roof. The job was not completed so we are returning next week for another four days to finish off what we need to do. So I will hopefully get to meet friends from my Essex days and be able to share with them God's goodness and provision for me since moving to Southampton. God is so good and as usual extra work keeps coming in at the very time of need, even though it cuts down my times of relaxation. But I cannot afford to turn the work down and so every little helps. This evening when I get home I anticipate time to unwind and sort out any mail I might have and then into bed for the evening. So as I always wind up each blog entry, Good Night & God Bless You..................

Saturday 31st January

A day of work and rest, half a day of each. The morning was spent in bed with laptop on my lap checking out different things, like, was I meant to be rushing to submit a tax return by the end of January, Have I got things ready to go back to Essex to work on Sunday night and finally don't forget to go to church and help lay the main auditorium out for 1300hrs. Time soon passes and it's soon time to go off to church ready for work. On arrival at church the visitors are just finishing the pack up and it's just about time to start. The work included putting out the low level stage blocks and laying out the chairs of the main auditorium. I then proceed to do the rounds of the building locking up As go ensuring that it is secured and then setting the alarm system and closing the shutters.This didn't take long and I was soon on my way up town to pay my mobile bill. On return it's open the car park and take the car back home, having locked it again on exit. Once home it's finish doing the washing and drying it and that makes it ready for the coming week. So after the washing it's food, TV and then sleep for the night ready for an early start on Sunday morning. So Good Night & God Bless You.................