Bishops with funny names: I did not make a note of them as I went along, it was more of a general perception. If I come across any when going back through my notes, I will let you know. I fear I have more urgent priorities at the moment than to look for them specially.

Hayfever: Thanks for the advice, I am following it up.

Churches of North and South India: They are a good example of ecumenism working on a large scale.

While I am here: our new camera plugged into my linux box and worked straight away! HURRAH now I don't have to send all my pictures via windaz.

The pharmacist led me over to the homeopathic remedies section saying, 'this is pretty much all you can take'. Hmmm I am somewhat cynical, but I am taking some anyway. As the pharmacist kindly pointed out, they don't have any drugs in them so what harm can they do?

I did have the presence of mind to ask whether they actually work. He looked a bit sheepish at this but then pointed out that some people do come in and ask for it by brand name so he presumes it works. The placebo effect is alive and well. Trouble is, don't you have to believe that it works in order for it to be effective?

Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man -- there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.
But we might easily deduce it from His contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His Church to this day.

From The Human-Not-Quite-Human, p121 in the 1946 edition of Unpopular Opinions.

Important things to note:
- Anglicans outside the C of E have addressed many problems that we, in our relations with the state, are still wondering about.
- There have been some very amusingly named bishops .
- Most of the problems seem to stem from confusion (often wilful) over terminology and what it means. Definitely a case of being divided by a common language.
- The Churches of North and South India respectively are an example to us all
- It seems not to be necessary to know how to use commas in order to publish books on Anglican authority.
- Double standards seem to be mandatory when working ecumenically

In baby news: ante-natal classes have started and not been as awful as I had been led to believe they might be. I am a little scared of the physiotherapist, but I understand that is normal.

In college news: I am off to read about bishops.

In cat news: Would the neighbour who keeps putting scotch pancakes out, presumably for the birds, please find some way to cat-proof them. Esme keeps bringing them home. I admit that this is preferable to bringing dead birds home, but it is still quite messy.

Has anyone else been watching Chinese School on BBC 4? I've really been enjoying it, even switching over from the snooker yesterday evening to watch last week's episode before it disappeared from 'watch again'.

To top off the day I went to sing choral evensong at Church. Our rogue tenor managed to snore through both the intercessions and sermon, waking up briefly to sing a hymn in between. The stand-in accompanist was extremely deaf so I'm not sure quite how we managed to make it through everything without falling apart. The preacher started by stating that music found in choral evensong would probably be found in heaven and speculating that punk-rock would probably not be there. I disagreed, although not out loud. Murmurs from behind me expressed the wish that if there were to be that sort of music they hoped that adequate sound-proofing would be provided.

I found the Spanish formula 1 rather dull today, although I am very glad that Kovaleinen seems ok. What is the point of a racetrack where the outcome of the race is decided 24 hours in advance by who gets pole?

There are several more tangents buzzing around my head but I think I will leave this here for now.

Did anyone else see Martin Sheen on Graham Norton after Heroes? Absolutely inspired!

I must get back to work. There is a small person kicking me as if to remind me that it won't be long before it is here and hadn't I better make sure I get this essay finished.

Now I am full of lasagne (the simple baked lasagne from Jamie's Dinners - I recommend it) and starting to think about doing some essay reading. Funny how much more alert I am in the evenings than the afternoon. If only there was a job which mainly involved working mornings and evenings. Oh wait, maybe there is!

Mr F sent me a link to an Empire quiz on sci-fi geekdom. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

* I don't count the ones co-written or written by Jill Paton-Walsh.