Book Channel Update

The Book Channel has aired my interview and now has a special section in which the interview and the Synopsis of all four of the books following the career of Harry Nelson-Heron can be seen. Two are in print, the other two are looking for publishers.

Please check it out - the more hits I get the better! I have also posted the link as a permanent marker in the sidebar.

Trinity Sunday

A good service this morning, good sermon too - what I could interpret of it anyway - and good coffee and fellowship afterward. We've obviously started to be regarded as regulars since a number of people greeted us as they came in today and we had a lively conversation over coffee with two older members who speak good English. One of the more interesting things for me is that I am slowly recognising word shapes and forms and sounds - and am able to follow conversations for a large part without interpretation.

The similarities between the Old Catholic Mass and the Common Worship Anglican Rite is probably not accidental and it certainly helps me to follow the service. Taken with the generous welcome and the similarity between the Old Catholics and the Anglican beliefs on a range of things and matters, it is proving far easier than I expected to fit in. The organist said the same thing this morning - she's a Roman Catholic from Croatia!

All things considered we've certainly found a good place to worship.

Good news and hard work ...

The good news is that several files - one of them with some vital information for my writing - that I had mislaid in the move have been found. Inside a box, inside another box that I had examined several times in my search. Now I can concentrate on putting together the package I need to send to the publisher who expressed interest in my book based on the life of St Patrick.

The last few weeks have certainly been busy, changing countries always throws up any number of legal and bureaucratic tasks. So now I'm registered as a Briton living in Germany and today got my German Tax Number. I am also trying to sort out - or rather Mausi is - medical insurance, getting to grips with driving on the wrong side of the road and learning a new language. Today gave a couple of amusing instances of speaking German with an "English" accent, one being in the Apotheke when the Pharmacist couldn't get her head round the fact that I was speaking to her in German. As she said, "You don't expect an English person to speak German - your ears hear it, but your brain refuses to." At least we could all laugh about it - I've never been accused on speaking a language (other than English) with an "English" accent.

Back home, the Gazebo had to get its Spring oiling and that took almost all afternoon. Still, ended the day with our first BBQ on the lawn. In defiance of the looming clouds and the chilly wind. Barbequed lamb steak, pork loin steaks and a kebab accompanied by salad and garlic bread. Great to have the garden coming together and a great finish to a long, busy and yet fulfilling day

Getting back to business

I must say the move has gone smoother than expected, largely thanks to Mausi's preparations. So far I have managed to lose only one thing, a set of three files which contain a vital business card I must find in order to contact someone about publishing my St Patrick book...

That said, everything else seems to be turning up in the appropriate place and box and we are down to the stuff I shoved into the garage to wait for the appropriate place to open up for it inside. Over the next week or so, that should be cleared away as well. Now I have to get down to some work-work. There are articles to be written and Chapters for a joint book I am cowriting with others.

And German lessons...

Fitting in

We have explored the church options carefully. With me being Anglican and not yet having enough German to hold a sensible or intelligible conversation, this has been something of a voyage of discovery. We tried the "English Church" some time ago and had a rather unwelcoming experience to say the least. For a number of reasons we have also tried the Lutheran Church, not least being that Mausi is a confirmed member, but the worship there is almost exclusively non-Eucharistic. Having discussed this with my vicar before leaving the Abbey, we also decided to try the Old Catholic Church.

We're glad we did. They are totally unlike anything we expected. Our first experience of their worship and welcome has been confirmed by our subsequent visits. Todays service was not unlike the Abbey's 09.15 with a congregation of around 30 people including young children. The church is quite small - Victorian Gothic in style - with no chancel as such and a small sanctuary opening directly onto the nave. The Mass was sung and follows the format of Common Worship (Making it easy for me to follow the prayers at least!) Even the responses are becoming familiar now and having hymns today that I know in English and Latin also made following the service that little bit easier. As this is a our third visit we were stopped by the Pfarers (They have made a point of welcoming us before) and asked where we were from. There were a few jokes about "Englandische Kirch" and a big welcome for me in particular which I find encouraging.

It is nice to think we have found a little spiritual home here. Especially on this "Pfingster Sontag" - Pentecost to the English speaking part of the world.

The ultimate disgrace?

This cartoon found on Skipjack's blog says it all really.

Birthdays....

Today would have been my grandfather's 110th birthday. Henry Nelson Heron was born in Downpatrick, County Down on this day in 1899 and lived through some of the most traumatic and amazing events in human history. He walked behind the plough horses as a child, saw steam replace the horses and then internal combustion engines replace those. He saw the first tentative flying machines and the ultimate in supersonic flight. And he saw men walk on the moon.

He died in July 1977 and I remember him fondly.

"Harry" Nelson-Heron, the hero of my books, shares his name and I gave him the birthdate of 20 May 1789 in order to bring him into the stories at the same age at which the real Henry Nelson Heron joined up to fight in the First World War. HNH was just 16 when he was almost killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and not much over 17 when he was made a Sergeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery.