Summer 2009

Well, it’s been a while. In fact it’s been the longest gap between posts there’s ever been on Electric Weekend. I’m not going to apologise, the simple fact is that in the last 2/3 months a lot of stuff has happened, a mixture of ends of chapters, beginnings of new ones and a good bye.

The biggest end to a chapter has meant I’m now living in a flat on my tod instead of in a shared house with two very good friends. One of whom had to move away for unfortunate circumstances, the other, well he got married. It was sad to know I’ll no longer be living with these two guys, we’ve lived together since the beginning of uni almost 5 years ago and enjoyed a lot of good times.

The beginning of my busy summer began with the wedding of one of my housemates. A guy who has become a very good friend got married to a girl who I can also call a very good friend. The chance to share their big day was very special and, hopefully, by now they are settling in to married life¹.

The next step in the summer involved moving into a 1 bed flat. I’ve never lived on my own, and well, it’s been eventful so far but I’m settling in. Having only been in the flat for less than a week I was due to go away for 2 weeks. Every summer, well for the last 3, my girl friend and I have gone to server on a beach mission in North Wales and like always the night before we go was very busy. The complication this year was that I got locked out my flat late at night the day before I was due to drive for 5 hours early in the morning. Looking back it was funny, but at the time a little stressful.

Thankfully a very enjoyable 2 weeks followed. A time to serve God and enjoy spending time with a bunch of awesome people. A chance to share the gospel with a group of kids, whom it is obvious God is working in. A privilege to be involved in such a thing.

My return to the flat signalled another eventful night. Having come home tired and ready for a good sleep in my own bed I was rudely awakened at 4am by a roof tile. Odd you might think, but I’d call it scary. It’s not pleasant being woken up by something crashing through your bedroom window and a sleepless night followed. Fortunately it was fixed quickly the next morning, and things have been fairly plain sailing since then.

The final part of my eventful summer followed the week after beach mission, and it’s partly why there has been such a gap in posting here on the blog. It’s prompted a lot of thoughts, memories and reflections and is the main reason this post has sat in my drafts for most of September. I knew I had to write it and it felt like I couldn’t really post trivial links before I wrote about it.

Several months ago my Granny was diagnosed with cancer. At the end of August and after several weeks of pain, where she was being looked after by my Mum, my Uncle and my Aunt, my Granny passed away.

The last photo I have of myself and Granny is sat in front of me now. It brings back memories of playing games on the carpet, cricket in the back garden with Grandad bowling and Granny catching, of softmints and of cheeky pound coins slipped into my hand as we left to go home. But, most of all it brings back memories of a lady who is loved and missed. A lady who always had a smile, who cared for her family and who was, most importantly, my Granny.