Lord Elrond, & the Archbishop of Canterbury

It promised to be a calm, uneventful evening watching Lord of the Rings. But then Trefor walked in. I'm not saying that he is entirely to blame for the conversation which ensued - had I not been there he would have been alone. We spent quite a while trying to work out how old Lord Elrond was, & where he placed in the history of the world (ignoring the barrier between fiction and reality). We soon decided that, in order for everything to make a bit more sense, we needed to add a couple of extra days onto the creation story. One to allow for the creation of Middle Earth, and another, day nine, to allow for the creation of Elrond. We both agreed that the best course of action would be to write a politely worded letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, asking if he wouldn't mind making these small, insignificant alterations to the book of Genesis. I'm pretty sure he will make the announcement when he delivers his special Christmas message on the 25th (and take all the credit for the idea). That wasn't the end of the great ideas, though. I had a sudden thought for what we could do as our next staff activity - let's all go Orc hunting! Tref hastily agreed, but suggested that we shouldn't rush in to it, as these things need to be carefully planned, and a risk assessment would almost certainly have to be written. Rhys and Zach were also keen, and immediately started discussing what they would use as weapons.  We were almost Lord of the Ringsed out when I asked Trefor if he had ever lived in a cave. 

"Well, yes." 

"How long for?"

"Three hours." 

I don't think these special people will ever cease to amaze me. Rhys, for example, putting on a funky remix version of Chris de Burgh's Lady in Red (just because he knows how much I love it). & Bianca, sat at the table eating angel cake for breakfast (not so much because she had just had a wisdom tooth removed, but because she wanted to eat cake for breakfast). & Glen. Well I don't really know where to begin! But my favourite quote of his from this last week has to be, "I don't normally talk to people that I can't see." I'm sure that's the essence of wisdom, right there. To be fair, though. Glen was brilliant when Hanna decided to remove a section of her finger - he was the only one who wasn't fainting. 

Orla (of Keswick hostel & general fame), called into the staff house one day, & asked, "Has anyone seen my axe?!" It was only after she had taken the time to recommend buying PJs and hats for Christmas presents, & asked if anyone wanted the chest of drawers which were currently in the car park, that she added a little clarification about the missing item. Turns out it wasn't a murdering kind of axe that she was missing, but an ice axe. The atmosphere noticeably relaxed after that.  

This last week has not exactly provided ideal conditions for skinny-dipping. Either I have run in the daylight (in relatively busy places), or I've run at night but with company. I met up with my friend Imi one evening, it was dark (as you would expect), raining, and I managed to get us a little bit lost. Imi kindly referred to it as nothing but an exciting detour (of which every run should have one), & it was amusing when the person who stopped to give us directions was clearly more wildly lost than we were! We weren't that lost at all really, I'd just got a little bit carried away talking about something or other, & missed the turning. Midway through the run I did point out a good swimming spot, & even though Imi said "don't let me stop you!" I thought it best for everyone if, this time, I stayed out of the water! 

 

I'm now away from the Lake District for a couple of weeks - time to be spent with family, and in Scotland. It is unlikely that I'll post again until the New Year, so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas, and all the best for 2017. This time we have together, it's all we have, and it's so incredibly precious. Lots of love. K x