chrishansenhome

It's been one of those months, really.

On the positive side, I'm getting psyched up for my first trip out of the country in near as dammit three years. My various foot problems have made it impossible for me to travel for almost all of that time. I'm just hoping that nothing happens to my feet (or any other part of me) while I'm over there. I tried to get travel insurance that included health cover, and the insurance company, once I told them everything that was wrong with me, wouldn't cover me for any preexisting health situations. This means if I get hit by a bus over there, I may be covered. If my feet get ulcerated again, I won't be. Will have to be extra careful.

I'm memorising the installation of my successor as Master of Goliath Lodge. It's been a very interesting two years. You may recall that I was sprung from Kings College Hospital in order to be installed two years ago, then clapped right back into it. I've initiated four men, passed two, and raised three. Another two men were initiated while I was hospitalised for one further meeting. So we've done pretty well. I memorised all the degrees except for the first half of the Third Degree, which is fairly good going. I am now going to be able to sit there with the book as Immediate Past Master and prompt my successor.

Spring has sprung here in London quite early. We have had little rain or snow over the winter so we are officially in drought at the moment. But the blue skies and budding trees are lovely, especially as spring is normally extremely wet.

Our favourite Chinese restaurant at the Elephant, The Well, closed in January and has not, as yet, reopened. I fear that we've lost it. The inferior restaurant in front of the shopping centre is our only decent alternative.

Our friend Mark was diagnosed with diabetes. He's 41 years old, and has other health problems. Sad news. The doctor issued him with a blood glucose meter but didn't tell him how to use it. He called me in a panic, and I told him to come over and I showed him how to use it. He had a hard time stabilising his blood sugar, and was on insulin for a while, but is now off that and on metformin only.

We had two deaths in the parish in the last three weeks: Gwen Bartlett, a Barbadian woman who used to sit behind me in church and wisecrack her way through the service, was diagnosed with leukemia last month and died early in March. Pat Woods, who used to sit to my right and had been pretty much housebound for the past three years, collapsed in her flat and died a day after being taken to hospital. A third friend, Mara Chibnik, who many friends from soc.motss would know, passed away a few days ago after suffering from pancreatic cancer. I'm very sad about all three; may they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Yesterday I decided that rather than sit inside I'd go out and enjoy the day. I got on a bus for London Bridge, then on another one for Wood Green, then on a third one for Southgate Underground Station. The Masonic Temple where my Chapter meets is up there, and I was curious to see what it would be like to bus up there rather than take the Piccadilly Line. It was nearly two hours, mostly because of delays due to road works. There are lots of vibrant neighbourhoods up there, and I may someday soon take the bus again and actually get off and explore some of them. Once I get my Seniors' Freedom Pass in a year or so I may start bussing myself to those far-flung places rather than taking the Underground.

The good thing was seeing someone from Marblehead, who was visiting with his husband for a week last week. When I was living in Marblehead Peter's brothers used to bully me incessantly. Of course, things are different now and 40+ years later, we took to each other quite well. Peter and his husband John now live in Provincetown, and John is a registered nurse, while Peter is in hospitality. John nursed two people whom I knew in Provincetown, Ernie Cooper and his husband. So it's one of those small worlds once again.

Here they are, John on the left and Peter on the right. What lovely men they are! HWMBO and I were really happy to meet them, and I hope to visit Provincetown while I'm in Massachusetts to see them again.

There are many people who are against Freemasonry for one reason or other. Many of these people are sincere. Some are deluded. And some are both.

Chris Hodapp, the author of Freemasons for Dummies, relates in his blog the story of a Yale doctoral student who has some peculiar ideas about the reason for child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

Believe me, there is no relationship between this lady's ideas and the reality of Freemasonry. Luckily, Yale seems to have decided that her thesis wasn't up to scratch but some other university might decide otherwise.

I came across this book about Washington DC and Freemasonry, written by the author of Freemasons for Dummies, W. Bro. Christopher Hodapp. I thought you might find it interesting.

It's not been a quiet week at the Elephant and Castle, except for Monday.

Tuesday Goliath had our Lodge of Instruction. Something that Freemasons have to do regularly is rehearse the ritual. In most Masonic jurisdictions the ritual must be memorised. One particular ceremony can take up to an hour, and may be conducted by one man. So, rehearsal is serious stuff indeed. My friend Nadeem, whom I nominated for the Lodge, picks me up at Northwick Park station on the Metropolitan line and we go to Harrow Masonic Centre and have a beverage in the bar while waiting for the meeting to start. The meeting was very emo as there was a bit of a dispute about some parts of the ritual. I thus proposed to make a leaflet detailing the differences between our Goliath ritual and the standard Taylor's Working. This I did, and we'll be publishing it in May after I assume the Mastership of the Lodge. Only problem was: Microsoft Publisher. The final leaflet came to 19 pages plus one blank page, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get page 18 to flow onto page 19. Whoever invented Microsoft Publisher needs to be corrected somehow. I suggest the cat o' nine tails, myself.

Wednesday was my swine flu vaccination. The good thing is that it was free. The bad thing was that the nurse was running 1/2 hour behind. I know that I shouldn't complain, but if I were 1/2 hour late for an appointment I'd get hell in a handbasket. My right arm ached for a couple of days afterward, and I had a very deep hypo on Thursday which I can't explain with what I was eating or the amount of insulin I was taking. I wonder whether the inoculation did something.

HWMBO was off Wednesday through Friday so on Wednesday afternoon we went to the Turner and the Masters exhibition at Tate Britain on Millbank. It closed today (Sunday January 31) so we thought we'd better go see it. Well, as it was the afternoon and a weekday we thought we'd have an easy time of it, but the exhibition was stuffed. Lots of people who wait until the end of an exhibition to see it were there, and many were elderly and had canes, just like me (I was using mine as my back was killing me…see Thursday for more informaiton on that). I felt that while it was slightly interesting, the Tate often has Turner exhibitions because it has most of the Turners that are extant, as Turner left most of his paintings that he had at his death to the nation and the nation gave most of them to the Tate. As it was kind of a comparison between Turner and other artists, if you weren't paying attention in Art History class (and I wasn't) much of the exhibition was not very illuminating.

Thursday I went to the Foot Clinic at Kings to be fitted for orthopedic shoes and insoles. I have been waiting for this for years (but didn't get on the official waiting list until December). The assessor (fancy name for the shoe fitter) was very nice, perhaps batting for Our Team, and sharing my first name as well. While he was measuring my feet for the shoes, he asked me how my back was faring because of the pressure boot—I told him that my back was killing me. Every time I got up from sitting on the bed while wearing the boot my back felt like someone had stabbed me in the kidney. He said, "Wait a minute!" and took my shoe (not the boot!) away. A minute later he returned with a device that raised the boot by about an inch. This instantly fixed my back problem and my gait is now normal, as both shoes are on a level. I was as delighted as a young kid on Christmas morning who got all the presents he asked for and no coal in his stocking. While measuring he rolled my trouserleg up and said, "It's like the Masons." and I replied, "Funny you should say that; I'm a Freemason." and we discussed that for a while. I shall bring a brochure when I take delivery of the shoes. They're black wingtips with laces.

Thursday night we went out with our friends Ard, Leslie, Eddie, and Christina to Belgo at Covent Garden. HWMBO tried a couple of Belgian beera, but I stuck to Diet Coke. The wait staff were all dressed in monk's robes, for some odd reason…perhaps because a lot of Belgian beer is brewed by monks. Lots of mussels were consumed (not by me), and I had a steak and frites, which were excellent. Then off for dessert. We walked from Belgo to Old Compton Street and Chinatown, and finally ended up at C&R Café and Restaurant for "dessert. As they have a £6 minimum per person, HWMBO and Leslie ordered some other stuff. The reviews are mixed, but we enjoyed what we had. I had an iced Milo and a sago pudding as dessert. One of the side dishes that Leslie ordered was a kind of meat loaf phyllo pastry spring roll…this was fantastic and I want to go back and have more.

Friday I returned to the Foot Clinic for the last appointment under the study I've been in. Well, I got in there and when the podiatrist came in I showed him the new device on my shoe and said, "Why didn't I get one of these when you gave me the boot?" He looked at the nurse and said, "I didn't know we had any in stock." The ulcer is still there, but much smaller. However, now that I'm out of the study I do not get free supplies from the clinic; I have to have them prescribed by my GP. That's a pain. Oh well, they are cautiously optimistic about it and I go back for a regular appointment in two weeks.

After the appointment I had to wait in the waiting area for a prescription. The usual doctor, Prof. Edmonds, wasn't there on Friday so I waited for 1/2 hour while they scraped up a doctor. Then the nurse came up to me with the prescription and said, "We forgot to do something for your last appointment." and I had to come back, take my boot and shoe off, and have her test the bottoms of my feet for feeling (I don't have any). The podiatrist just laughed and said to her, "I told you that we could just fill it in ourselves." but no dice. I was seriously late for lunch at the Drop-In.

Saturday morning I received something I'd bought from eBay in the US. Coffee connoiseurs among you will sneer at me, but I am now the proud possessor of a 6-cup Pyrex coffee percolator.

Now I realise that perked coffee tastes burnt and isn't the best quality according to coffee mavens. However, I have memories of my childhood, when we had instant coffee most of the time, but when company came my mother hiked out the Pyrex percolator and made REAL coffee, as opposed to instant. Now neither my brother nor my sister drinks coffee nowadays, but I'm seriously addicted. And when I fire up the percolator on Monday afternoon and have a cup of real perked coffee, I guarantee that I will be transported back to my childhood and I'll hear my mother say to me, while she poured me a cup of real perked coffee, "You really shouldn't be drinking this stuff; it'll stunt your growth." Would that it had.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Serpentine gallery via the 360 bus. This is a really great way for us to get to Museum Alley near South Kensington. No muss, no fuss, and a one-seat ride. Very convenient. I enjoy this bus route, which goes by the Imperial War Museum, through a housing estate and up to Albert Embankment, swings by the Vauxhall Bus Station and my gym, then crosses Vauxhall Bridge next to MI6 HQ. Then through Mayfair and along the river to the Royal Chelsea Hospital, the home of the Chelsea Pensioners. then down the road to Sloane Square and past Peter Jones, the quite posh store in the John Lewis family of shops which includes Waitrose. Then past the Conran Shop, with lots of merchandise we can't afford and the Michelin Building toward South Kensington Tube Station and the various museums in the area such as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the Royal Geographical Society next to Imperial College London, ending up in front of the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial, certainly one of the most garish and curious memorials to a lost love ever erected.

( Pictures behind a cut of some of the sights along the 360 bus route )

On the way to the Serpentine we stopped in the Gents' just beyond the Albert Memorial and interrupted what was probably a bit of the old slap and tickle between two guys at the urinals.

The Serpentine Gallery had an exhibition of modern design that was interesting; it including such things as the OLPC laptop and the bumper of a Lamborghini.

There was an area in the central gallery with Kindles, TV screens, and various displays. All the Kindles were occupied, and we didn't fancy waiting around. So back home to coffee and then dinner with our friend Mark at the Indian restaurant at the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre. Mark was ogling the waiters, who were all Bangladeshi and very good-looking, especially Aziz.

This morning we had church as usual: it was the observance of Candlemas, and the major attraction of Candlemas is that I can put the candelabra away until Easter. The candles drip on the carpet and are a real nuisance: I refer to them as "the forest fire".

So that was my week.

A Freemason from the United States who is stationed in Afghanistan writes an occasional blog entry. Today's entry is particularly interesting to me, as he talks about some aspects of Afghan life that we don't often read or hear about here in the West. Do read it.

Since I began posting to livejournal, I've noticed that I'm no longer posting as much to soc.motss. Some may believe this is a pretty good thing, as I try not to get involved in pissing and shouting matches and just contribute lighthearted links (when I find them) or posts on some of the subjects on which I consider myself knowledgeable (religion, the Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church, dual citizenship, and the like). I have a lorra lorra people in my kill file, which is not something you're supposed to say in soc.motss but which I will claim the privilege of saying outside it.

I'm not sure whether I like this or not; I enjoy some of the people in soc.motss and will be hosting at least one in a week's time (alas, he's not on lj). The atmosphere here in lj is much mellower, much less annoying, for some reason. And the friends I've collected (not all have collected me as a friend, but no matter) are always interesting and fun to read and interact with. That's not always true in other venues.

So what's been happening in the last week or so? Well, I went to a Masonic evening as part of a Mensa contingent last Wednesday. I have been considering joining up for a long time, even from before my brother joined a few years ago. I realise that people might find this an odd thing to do, but I feel it's going to be interesting and challenging at the same time. I've been in organised religion for 45+ years (ever since I said my first "Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meum." at the altar at the age of 6 or 7) and it's become part of my life. However, I feel that something else out there might also be interesting in that way. I see Freemasonry as perhaps that something.

If I were to out myself as a prospective Mason in some of the other venues I inhabit, I'd get a lot of stick and probably some derision. I am presuming that derision won't be forthcoming from my small circle of friends. I will be initiated at the end of February and will then have some idea of what it's all about. Oh, and if you're someone who thinks that Freemasons, the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, and aliens from the Planet Zog are all conspiring together to take over the world, forget it. It ain't true. Once I've done some more research I'll put some Masonic links in here if people are interested. Now to get out and buy a black suit, white shirt, and Craft tie.

Our bosom buddy Paul was over from Detroit for a week beginning a week ago last Sunday. He is jolly, well-travelled (600,000 air miles in his account, last time he looked), and a great raconteur. We were thrilled to host him again for a week, and hope to see him again at the beginning of June. Paul is responsible for much of the growth of the National Association of Black and White Men Together/Men of All Colours Together in the United States. He supported new chapters while they were in formation, and was a valued person on its board. He is one of the most sensible, forthright (he calls a spade a bloody shovel), and practical people I know. He's currently struggling with a health difficulty and wondering about which therapy to choose. I hope and pray that he chooses the right one so we can have him around for a few more decades.

During the dinner at the end of the Masonic evening I came down with one of the worst sinus headaches I've ever had. It was located in my left jaw, and radiated down into my shoulder. I was miserable. I had to call in sick on Thursday and didn't feel 100% until Friday evening.

Back to lj: I have been wondering what the next big thang will be. Usenet came first, then email bounce lists, then instant messenger programs. Will blogging replace them all?