Christmas 2021

Christmas 2021 from @s1eve and @LizTilley9
Trendlewood Vicarage, Nailsea

Liz: How's the Christmas letter going?

St: Oh you know, despair, hopelessness, inadequacy.

Liz: Finding it difficult?

St: No, it's finished.

We've been using the R word a lot this year. Liz R'd in July and Steve has a month to go before he R's.

Steve's Mum took #Mumwatch to the Pearly Gates in June where she is currently explaining to St Peter he looks nothing like he does on the tele. We scattered her ashes at Jacquie and Nick's place (pictured).

The Pony Bistro, Bedminster offered a cook-it-at-home Valentine's Dinner. This involved working together on a meal. We almost loved it.

We did, as presaged last year, finally talk to the Diocesan Counsellors' Group, as an example of a couple whose marriage had resilience. Then the year chose to provide us with a number of new opportunities to be resilient. Could have guessed.

Ben, expected wedding abandoned for appropriate reasons, decided to relocate to Bristol and so has been living with us since March. Sony's international releases are now co-ordinated from bedroom 5. He also has bedrooms 4 and 3 but a Sky Sports subscription makes up for it (in the eyes of one of us).

We had a holiday in Cornwall courtesy of our friends Ian and Jo. One of the reasons we enjoy leaving the country for the middle two weeks of June is hay-fever. Finding himself living next to a field of wild grass Steve did the only thing a reasonable person would have done in the circumstances and spent his holiday watching the Euros with occasional breaks to eat out in Fowey. The wander down to the ferry from Polruan was lovely. The post-prandial walk back gave us calf muscles of steel.

The house we stayed in was called Chy Lowen which we had to look up to discover was Cornish for House of Joy. This meant that we were able to be knowledgable when Jon and Carys produced our first grandchild, a boy, in September and called him Lowen. House is a funny name for a kid but we'll get used to it.

Liz's Facebook updates from empty trains over lock-down proved exceptionally popular. Viral even. One person said they didn't get out of bed until they'd read her weather report from Nailsea and Backwell eastbound. Sample of the quality of photojournalism pictured. On her last day of work her friends all went to the station to surprise-wave goodbye.

As many of you will have also experienced we started auditioning as pin-cushions in February and have now been stabbed four times each. Don't recommend getting your flu jab in the last hour of the day as we felt a bit of the nurse's desire to get home for tea taken out on our arms.

The fourth Trendlewood Community Festival was an utter joy and we topped 2,000 on site for the first time. The opening musical act scared a few people by being a bit prog-rocky but it all calmed down to village fête chic after a bit.

Street Parties were the new black and we had two. Last year's minor ceremony to switch on two streets' Christmas lights was so successful we did it again with mulled stuff and pizza ovens so obviously it's now a thing on the local social calendar.

Norfolk Broads were a new experience for us. Apart from staying in a cottage where every bit of spare wall or shelf had been taken up by a piece of driftwood repurposed as motivational slogan, it was fine. We left a little gift of repositioned letters. Never looked uphill to see boats before. The EU grant to regenerate Great Yarmouth market area has not been returned as unnecessary, surprisingly. Wonder where they'll put the plaque?

Harvey the rescue greyhound came to stay. Life is basically a lure. He camouflaged well on the sofa, on which he wasn't allowed but if you dropped your guard...

Replacement vicar has arrived so we get, unusually, to have a seamless transition between ministries. In case you haven't kept up, the half of Steve's job which involves leading Trendlewood Church is being attached to the parish next door. The half of his job that involves working with other local churches is on hold for financial reasons. The half of his job that involves being Area Dean of Portishead is likely to be taken on by two people. Makes him look pretty useful really, which is hard to bear.

Steve enjoyed his last year as Area Dean. His suggested strategy for the future is for all parishes to name their unreasonable parishioners and then they will either be shared out equitably or offered a nice house in the newly created parish of St Wedothingsourway. Not sure it has legs but it might make a good short story.

Throughout the year we stayed in regular contact with CHARM (Clergy Housing At Retirement Ministry). We found a nice house in Harvington, near Evesham and we will hopefully move there next year. Completion has taken a while because the sellers are buying a new build and it isn't, yet. Fingers crossed for 20th December when they have agreed to move out whatever. Then the CHARM gang need to make it safe for us to grow old in without having a tumble or gassing ourselves.

Did we mention that our R-word financial manager was called Richard Whittington? He's just told us he's retiring. There's a complex punchline there for someone to find.

May all the stuff of the thingy be yours in large dollops. We're off to a business meeting with live entertainment, buffet food and the odd game. 

St and Liz