wots going on like bonny lad.....

There seems to have been lots going on in life generally recently, which now needs to die down after this weekend.

Two weekends ago I was leading worship at a conference in London – Lay Readers Conference called God of the Hear and Now. I believe it was specifically aimed at those lay readers who are aged 18-35, but somehow people generally seemed a lot older. I won’t explain a long story but basically the band mostly was made up of BT Employees via its Christian Network (apart from my star flute player, who is from Norwich). It was a real priveledge doing it and was amazed at the way we were brought together to serve a common purpose. It was great.

Unfortunatley at the end of the service I got a message on my mobile. Again, cutting the story short, Max had collapsed with a seizure on a train in Cromer. He basically had a fit, blue lips, foaming at the mouth and shaking. Once that eased of he went unconscious. Naturally this freaked Emma out and 999 was called. They gave him oxygen and took him to A&E at the Norfolk and Norwich. The upshot was is Max had chickenpox (which we already knew) which in turn had given him a temperature. Apparently quite common, Max had suffered from a condition called febrile convulsions – this is were the bodys internal temperature rockets upwards causing the seizure. Although very unpleasant and frightening, unlike an epileptic fit in which you can swallow your tongue and in serious cases stop breathing, a febrile convulsion whilst looking the same, doesn’t have the same effect.

Max is now fully recovered and as parents we are going to be a lot more vigilant when he has cold or illness. The consultants advice is to make sure he has medication as frequently as possible and these best for him is ibuprofen for kids.

Finally I have started doing another play. In reality I should be getting involved with the Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society’s 42^nd Street production. However I made the decision not to join it this year because of family and a new baby arriving. Rehearsing schedules are pretty busy, kicking off in August every Wednesday and Friday from 7pm to 10pm. Then, once a month, they do a week long rehearsing, all day Sunday and every night during the week. In the end we felt that I could not commit to this and have decided against it. As a compromise I have joined a much smaller and somewhat more friendly amateur dramatic group called Thorpe Players. Based out of Roxley hall I am playing the part of teddy in a play called Arsenic and Old Lace. Teddy is a mad old boy who thinks he is the President of the United States. In fact he is being used by his aunts to bury people they are bumping off. He thinks they have yellow fever, in fact his aunts are feeding them poison. The commitment for this is much less. Its only a Friday night with no long midweek rehearsals. Should be great fun.