MY WRITING LIFE March 2026

Writing

Again, no writing!  Energy mostly consumed with tech problems (see below).  I did do one public talk on ‘What the Church does not say about Holy Week’.  Three things:  first Jesus occupation of the Outer Court (Mark 11.16);  all of Jesus’ prophecies in Mark 13; and what Jesus did and did not say at the Last Supper.   Some twenty people came and it was a good occasion.

I also went to the London Book Fair and heard four very interesting talks aimed at authors.  The best was a talk given by people from Lulu about selling books direct to readers (DTR).  I then talked to my publisher Chris Day.  One option is to bring out a new edition of some of my books. I could then list them directly on Ingram Spark who do this.   

Tech

I think I have finally got my article ‘Was Jesus an Entrepreneur? accepted for publication in an international journal by Inderserve.  I had to agree to a copyright form with a digital signature.  The sort of thing that fills me with anxiety, but they turned out to be very helpful.

On 16th we changed our broadband supplier from Plusnet and Virgin to EE, saving £100 a month.  But the promised engineer did not come so we installed it ourselves with the aid of a telephone conversations with an engineer.  But the printer would not connect and it needed two further appointments with an engineer to get that sorted.  

The new TV and Netflix package is good, but there are no subtitles unless you watch terrestrial channels in real time.  I don’t think there is anything we can do about that.

Apple Support helped out with two problems. One was with Zoom, and one on my iPhone which had switched itself to ‘Do not disturb’ mode.  I lost two phone calls from my doctor before I phoned Apple; it took half an hour to sort out.

Another problem was that I found that Sumup/Paypal was not transferring money into my bank account.  I discovered that it was sitting on over £500 of previous payments.  It is now contacting correctly, as I found out when I charged myself £3.33.  

Finally I had to meet the challenge of Ryanair who we booked to fly with to Girona (see Spain below).  Check-in now has to be done entirely on line, so we can’t print anything off.  I took me a day to sort that out and only by booking as a priority passenger.  We shall try our level best to avoid Ryanair in future.

Personal

Physical issues were at the forefront this month.

I used to have a bridge of eleven teeth in my mouth.  Half broke off in December and the rest departed in March.  I went to a  highly experienced dentist near me for not one consultation but two. As a result I have opted for implants for a new bridge and much work on the rest of my mouth.  The cost is eye-watering, but the dentist is one of the top specialists in the country.  It will be a long, painful but I hope effective procedure.  Let’s hope the rest of my body keeps up.

I also lost my hearing aids, and Specsavers required a GP’s referral; (another one! – I had one in March 2024). I hope soon to be hearing better again.

There were also routine appointments to check up on my diabetes.  

But are we downhearted? No!

Church

I wanted to go on retreat this month, but my normal monastery was closed to visitors.  So I took myself off to St Albans Cathedral.  On Monday evening I went to an hour and a half’s silence in the shadowy nave, ending with a beautiful service of compline or night prayer.  On Tuesday I had communion at lunchtime , then walked in Verulamium Park.  (Verulamium is the Roman name for St Albans).  I also visited the wonderful Verulamium museum with astonishing finds and paintings.  Recommended!

I preached on Mothering Sunday and discovered its ancient roots.  I t goes back over a thousand years and refers to visiting one’s mother church, i.e. the one where you were christened/baptised, followed by a big family feast.   As late as 1644 it was still called Mothering Day.

However, it became forgotten and was only revived in 1913 by Constance Adelaide Smith of Nottingham in direct response to the American Anne Jarvis’ campaign to  create ‘Mothers’ Day’.  In Constance’s mind it celebrated our mother church, the Virgin Mary, our own mothers, and Mother Earth.

I watched Bishop Sara’s installation as Archbishop.  What a moving service:   from the opening “Peace be upon this house and upon this company, through the “Lord have mercy” in Urdu“Khudaya, rahem kar”, to the reading of Isaiah by the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, to the joyful African Choir of Norfolk dancing to announce the gospel, to the vulnerable moment when Sarah was seated on the diocesan throne of Canterbury, to her sermon which concluded with “May we have then audacity to believe in the promises of God.” 

Wednesday Saints continued.  We remembered the humble Chad, first bishop of Lichfield;  Gregory the Great, who created a virtual welfare state in Rome to care for the poor; St Patrick; and Bishop Oscar Romero who was gunned down as he celebrated mass at the high altar because of his championship of the poor.

Culture

Films

Only two films this month:  ‘A New Leaf’ only on for one day at the Prince Charles Cinema.  A favourite film of ours and of the whole audience; wonderful comedy.  Plus Baz Luhrman’s lovingly recreated film of Elvis Presley’s great first Las Vegas residency.

TV

The best TV was ‘The Other Bennet Sister’, the one left unmarried at the end of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.  Delightful.  We are watching an excellent series on Barts hospital, past and present; And of course (for us) ‘The Apprentice’.

Spain

We revived our plans to visit Girona for Palm Sunday, plans which were shelved because of Covid.  Linda booked a great air BnB in the heart of the mediaeval city. We also visited Besalu (amazing bridge), Barcelona (amazing Sagrada Familia) and the rocky coast of the Costa Brava (amazing wind). We also saw the bishop blessing the palms on Palm Sunday.  Altogether a great five day break.  We landed back just in time for Maundy Thursday.