The Knicker Thief - new life in the rectory

Our feet have not touched the ground since The Rector@6's installation last week. It was as if someone had opened the flood gates to the email and phone call rivers and in they poured - on the next day. This was supposed to be The Day Off but obviously it wasn't going to be this week. He resisted opening or answering many as we were busy seeing off visiting family who had come to stay for his licensing - but later in the evening it seemed as if messages were still coming in faster than he could open them. What a start!
" So how is it?", " Are you settled in yet?" we are asked by everyone. We have managed to empty all but three boxes but that is only to get rid of the boxes. Not much is in its final resting place. Life has been incredibly busy hence the reduced blogging. Last Sunday, The Rector@6 had three church services and I accompanied him to these so I could meet as many people as possible in a short space of time. We went from a very cold church and BCP service to a warmer church with a music band and a lot of youth input and finally in the evening we went to evensong in another rather cold church. All are beautiful places but I shall have to invest in some thick socks as the cold seeps up from floor level and reminds me of the need for a vest rather than more spiritual things!

It wasn't me!

Living in a rectory was always going to be challenging for me as I never liked married quarters when The Rector@6 was in the RN and I have discovered I'm not keen my space being invaded. You would think that after living in two church owned houses I would have got used to people popping in. But we have moved dioceses and so have a different property department. In both the last houses, the family space was respected - effectively the minister could have meetings in his space and the family could live in their space. Things are different here - people are used to coming into the kitchen and have been using the back door (partly because the front door was so difficult to close!) This is causing us some difficulty in training the dogs who are supposed to go to the kitchen when the doorbell rings ('supposed' I said!). I am also having to keep a tidier kitchen (which is probably not a bad thing ). It is the lack of understanding that I am not actually employed by the church that I find difficult. I am just me - the same as I was before the Rector became church property - I have not had a conversion course on being Mrs Rector. If I have piles of washing lying on the floor waiting for the washing machine, I don't really want people coming in the back door. Tess the pup has decided that knickers are the best items to snatch from the wash pile and, if the doors are left open, will run off round the house and then leave them in the front porch or hallway. I suppose people will politely learn to turn a blind eye to the goings on in this Rectory (I hope!).

I actually have had an excellent first week of being Mrs Rector - I have been with horses three days - just mucking out and helping with a foal. I have also had my first morning helping at a Riding for The disabled Group. It was such a lovely morning so I am now signed up to help once a week. I have my first task for a creative writing course that meets in the local library once a month. I keen to build up my own life because, if this week is anything to go by, The Rector@6 is going to be out quite a bit and meetings are often in the evening. He has been surprised by the number of Trustee responsibilities and committees that he is apparently expected to be on and that had not been mentioned before. He is busy carefully sifting these.

We are finding time to walk the dogs but only in our immediate area - it is a great way to meet people. Our world was magically transformed by a heavy fall of snow on Sunday. As The Rector@6 had his first service in the local church, we could enjoy the transformation that occurred. Had it been a little colder and the snow a little firmer, I could see the advantage of our sloping back garden. It has potential as an excellent sledging slope - so long as you can stop before the back door!

Early days in the village

 

So - this is church number one in The Rector2B's benefice of six churches. This is the church we can see when we open the curtains each morning. It is a friendly looking church built of alternating flint and stone layers and dates from the 13th century.  It is surrounded by the ancient graveyard. In the other direction we look across to the village school. The Rector2B tells me that the thatched house opposite the rectory was once the village jail. I don't know where he got that gem from!

We are on chalk land and the fields around us are full of large flints - it is a wonder that the farmers can plough them without damaging the ploughshares - but that's modern technology for you. At the moment The Rector 2B and I are exploring the footpaths and finding the most suitable walks for the dogs. It is so different from the open moor that we had become used to - and before that, the Collie and The Lakeland used to have their daily walk on the beach. Footpath walking is very different to those places but there are so many bridal paths (as well as footpaths) around us, I'm sure we will come to love exploring. There are carpets of snowdrops everywhere and evidence that the field and road banks will be swathed in primroses by Easter. 

Blogging has had to be put aside while we try to unpack the mountain of boxes that remain carefully placed in the wrong rooms (necessary as the builders are still finishing in one bedroom, the utility room, the bathrooms and the garage). We are awaiting the electrician to complete installing lights and a shower so we have managed to escape back to Devon - and we are meeting the builder who will be repairing the leaks in our own house here! We are both frazzled as we would have liked to spend this time getting to know Dorset but we can't leave the dogs with the builders and Tess is too young for long walks or car drives. We have been tested to the limits of our patience at times.

Despite all this - The Rector2B and I have managed to attend the village pantomine and I realised how much I needed to laugh (there were a superb pair of ugly sisters in this performance).This last weekend we went to listen to an excellent Jazz trio - Jonty Fisher's Flyright Trio, also in the village hall. It was a lovely laid back evening and walking distance from home.

Ah - but walking through the village at night time is an adventure in itself - as there is no street lighting. This is a novelty for us - even our village in Devon has street lights! Torches are kept by the back and front door but the joy is to walk out into the darkness and see the luminous stars stretching across the skies. The torches are really only to make any cars aware of our presence.

Word is getting round that we are in situ and The Rector2B's telephone is beginning to ring. He has been persued by a tenacious journalist who wouldn't take no for an answer. Officially - he is not available until after he is licenced on March 7th but I suspect answering the telephone is his escape from sorting out his study (which DOES need doing).

I hope to give you a glimpse of the other 5 churches in this benefice - all intriguing in their own way - but until I get to that last packing box - I may be a little slow in blogging.