Catching up

A couple of things I missed from last week...Thursday was the birthday of a girl I met recently on the yoga weekend, Jules. Got a text from her on Wednesday to come out for a meal on Thursday night, and I was able to get there for the end of it at least. It was a lot of fun, got to see another new friend from the yoga weekend, Chantale, met her boyfriend, and a lot of other new people.

Also, Thursday (March 1st) was apparently St. Davids Day...St David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain...It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'. (Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, In Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994.) So a belated Dydd Gwyl Dewi happus (Happy St. David's Day) to you all! Thanks to Reg for his informative email on the subject, or I would not have known about any of this. With St. Patricks Day and St. Georges Day coming up soon, I figure it's only fair to include the Welsh in my commentary as well ;)

Speaking of St. Patricks Day, looks like I will be joining Housemate Nicole, Dave, and several others on a trip to Manchester for St. Patricks Day weekend. Two of the people going have lived there previously, and I doubt I would have visited otherwise, so I'm looking forward to their guided tour (read: pub crawl with various sights pointed out between each pub).

And I have also been invited to my first wedding over here--a lot of people divide up their weddings, where they will invite a select number of people to the ceremony and sit-down dinner, and then invite a whole lot more people to join them for the party/reception. I mentioned not too long ago that I helped a friend and colleague write out her wedding invitations, and I have been invited to her reception. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as when I'm supposed to be in Dartmoor National Park, so I'll have to make a decision soon...guilt trips aside from people who are trying to get me to go to the wedding, I think I'm leaning that way anyway, as I don't need others to tell me that weddings are a once in a lifetime event.

I have my appraisal coming up this week, so I've been busy today working on updating my CV (or resume, for you Americans), my folder that contains all the evidence for my Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the actual appraisal document. Even though they've now tipped me for the Senior II position, I will need to do a good interview and they will look through my CPD folder.