It is hard to feel sad, happy and overwhelmed all at once but if I could describe my last day working at Trinity then that would be close to the truth. I started the day feeling sad, I thought I’d hold it together in staff prayers, until we started the worship… It was so beautiful and God was really there. Needless to say I lost the plot and ended up in a pile of Kleenex all over the floor.

We returned to the office and I discovered that my desk was COVERED (chair, mouse, monitor included), with pink hearts. There was also a plastic tiara and dangly earrings with a (heart-shaped) note saying “You are a princess for the day”. When I had put these on, Mel made me close my eyes and led me to the social area, which had been transformed into a beautiful pink palace!! The attention to detail was incredible, it had pink streamers, fairy lights, fluffy cushions, Trinity magazines, marshmallows, balloons (including a helium Disney Princess one), pink hearts all over the windows etc. I was even given a beautiful pink bunch of flowers (I don’t often have flowers!), it was so special.

At 1pm we had a pink lunch to which all the staff were invited, most wearing something pink. I was particularly touched that Keith, not getting the “wear something pink” alert until that morning, decided to spray his hair pink! The food was pink, there was pink lemonade and even apples with pink stickers! I was then given some hugely generous gifts and was so overwhelmed that I could hardly speak - it is really embarrassing being shy when everyone is looking at you!

I cannot describe the love that I have for every single person who works at Trinity, they are so generous, kind and amazing. I will miss them terribly day to day even though I will see them around a lot. I have learnt such a lot and only hope that I can become like the Jesus in them.

The time ahead is exciting, but scary. I look forward to a new challenge, but am nervous at the same time. Love to you all! Nai T xxx

Today we lost Sparkle outside… For four hours… In the rain!! We finally found her when JT got home, about three gardens away. She had got trapped inside a fence enclosure that was really tall. It had trees in the middle and puddles in the bottom. I was in someone’s garden calling her when I heard a pitiful mewing coming from inside the fence. I finally persuaded her to climb the tree and hauled her across the two fences. She was completely beraggled, shivering and brown (from all the mud!)

Needless to say she was very relieved to be home and spent the best part of an hour shivering in a towel on my lap, cleaning herself. She is now on my lap again, feeling a bit sorry for herself, but a bit more cat-coloured. I didn’t have the presence of mind to photograph her when she was brown (her buster collar was also full of mud!!) so I include a normal picture. My smart work clothes are now also an attractive shade of brown, from carrying her home but we are pleased to have her back (oh I feel a cheesy sermon illustration coming on!)

Oh dear… It is late… Here I sit at my computer, dressed in party clothes, still cringing terribly from the faux pas that I have just commited. JT and I have just been to a party in possibly one of the largest houses in Cheltenham. The basement (where the party was held,) was easily 3-4x the size of our flat. It was a great fun party with loads of games, which was a refreshing change from the norm. I got chatting to the owner of the house and he was asking what I did. After quickly establishing that he was some kind of scientist and didn’t particularly hold the creative world with high regard in terms of earning a living or ‘doing real work’, I decided that rather than argue my case, I would talk about JT’s IT skills as surely this was a credible career prospect.

He asked me if JT had considered applying for that lovely organisation in Cheltenham that should remain nameless unless you want to be terminated. I replied that he had once been offered a job there, but that the security checks had taken so long that he’d been forced to take another job. He tried to persuade me that he should still consider applying, but I protested that once you are in there, there is probably not much facility for promotion and little flexibility (and a few other derrogatory comments, trying to remember what JT had said but actually making it up) before he turned round and said “no, well no it isn’t bad at all, I mean, I’m the deputy director actually…” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At this point I wished that my pink shoes weren’t as pink as my cheeks and that they could actually be red and sparkly so I could perform the Dorothy/Wizard of Oz trick. If only I could tap my heels together 3 times and be able to transport myself home!

Instead I just managed to mumble “er… Oh how….interesting!” when he came out with the classic “I used to be part of recruitment actually” which further added to my torment. There I was in the mansion of the deputy director/do-nut project operations manager saying that an IT job at his place was not worth applying for (like I have the authority to say so!!! This is what happens when a blonde is belittled, we try to make some really knowledgable assertions and it all ends in tears!) and I had to be at the party a further few hours. He topped it all when, after a shocking performance of run around table tennis he sat down beside me and said sensitively (NOT!!) “So you’re not really a table tennis player then?” What did he think??? No, thanks, I hadn’t noticed by the mere fact that I was the first person out - I needed to be reminded!! Grrrr…. I felt like the stupidest being in existence.

Ah well, another day, another hair colour. Maybe I’ll be a brunette tommorrow…?

Night night xxx

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall? I expect this fly has never felt so popular… I walked into the bathroom earlier to find Twinkle and Sparkle sitting side by side on the toilet seat ENGROSSED. They were staring at the ceiling and, (unusually), completely ignored me as I walked in. It took ages to realise that they were watching a cheeky chubby fly on the wall! He was miles up by our ceiling so there was no chance of him being caught, but the kittens thought it was amazing!

I have just been chatting to Tim (big bro) about the Monarch airlines eviction (he used to work for Monarch but is now with GB - his girlfriend works for Monarch still). He told me that the girls are not allowed to take lipstick on the plane at the moment in case it contains explosives!! (although you are allowed a small bag now with books etc but no liquids). I am yet to see the design for the explosive lipstick… He then pointed out that he can’t see why they are not allowed lipstick when as soon as they get on the plane, they are issued with a knife and fork! Tres bizarre…

So ladies, put those explosive lippies away!

Following yesterday’s panic, I received this email from Melody this morning…

Nai,

What do you think happens to all the hair that gets put down the plug hole when you shave your legs? Do you think it accumulates into a giant hair ball in some random sewer like in crawley? Actually on that front if shampoo bubbles on your head why doesn’t it bubble up the drain?!

I am so SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to my world!

Mel x

We have discovered a wonderful new time-waster whilst browsing the IKEA web site for resources… “Ask Anna” is a helpful IKEA employee (even though she looks fairly unlikely!) who you can ask product-related questions to. Alternatively you can ask her if she has a boyfriend, if she likes meat balls, if she has any use whatsoever for an allen key and why her employers dress her in yellow! It is quite amusing to see what she has to say… You can even make her get quite stroppy!! Enjoy…

Ok here I sit at my desk having just dealt with a most unusual pastoral issue… I was just wondering what to write on my blog today when Melody landed on a chair just behind me: “Nai, I’m really freaked out now.” Nai: “What’s happened?” Mel: “Well, like, I’ve just realised for the first time that your pupils in your eyes are just HOLES?!?” The conversation turned blonde… Nai also got freaked out and wondered if you could look into someone’s eyes with a torch and see their brain!! Mel said that she had thought the same thing until Steve pointed out that you have a retina. Mel’s greatest fear was that her eyes were just dark, therefore inside her head must be pitch black also! It was a very scary thought… I wondered if there might be an army of ants working inside your head with torches and Mel said that God had probably installed a network of fairy lights in hers.

The next blonde stage of the conversation somehow moved on to what God must look like, being ageless (I was wondering what colour His eyes were and Mel said that everyone assumed that He looked old, but actually He was ageless). I asked Jeeves how you can look ageless but the useless butler didn’t know! Grrr… Steve got spiritual and correctly pointed out that you cannot apply a human logic to something spiritual. Ah yes. Good point. Does God use botox? Does He have a purple rinse?? Hmmm… Curious…

Neil Bennetts was confused, Louise told us to get back to the funny farm and Mel, somewhat freaked, returned to her seat. Mel comes out with these disturbing realities sometimes (I seem to remember something about blacmange one time…?!) but it keeps us on our toes.

Or maybe working at Trinity does something funny to your head?? Please advise.

Well it is almost midnight and the Path web site has finally been replaced! At long last… It isn’t very pretty, but that is because there is going to be a new big Trinity site soon which will incorporate the Path one anyway, so I was really focussing on getting some vague semblance of updated content! You can also check out the the Path online magazine. please note that all this work is in developmental stages still, so it isn’t finished yet. However, since I have to be back in work in a few hours, I think I need to go to bed! There is always a lot to do in your last couple of weeks of a job…

Night all!

Yesterday I did something that I haven’t done for a long time… I played my violin!! Since moving into the flat I have felt a bit self-conscious about it as there are people above, below and to the sides (violins are LOUD!) Still, yesterday I spent two hours sqwarking away, trying to learn a really beautiful piece. If you feel like joining me in my moment of culture, type “Zigeurnerweisen” (by Sarasate) into iTunes, download and have a listen! It is the most ridiculously impossible piece to play, so will probably take me years to learn, but I love it.