Would you want to drive enormous trucks over a 3 foot layer of ice above the arctic ocean?

No, me neither. The people that do want to do this can be found in a piece of seriously addictive tv called Ice Road Truckers. The first series was repeated over Christmas and I got into it since it coincided with Rusk’s feeding time. That series was set on the ice roads across Canada’s frozen lakes, bringing supplies to isolated mines and other industry. The series was focussed on half a dozen drivers from the hapless Drew to his rather mean and unsypathetic boss Hugh and the ever-laid-back Alex. Given the limited time the truckers have in midwinter before the ice starts to melt, all eyes were on the prize: how many loads could each driver complete before the ice roads closed, or in the words of the voice-over ‘who will win the dash for the cash’?

Having been totally hooked by the first season, I was rather excited when series 2 started on Wednesday evenings on Channel 5. Yes, you read that right: Channel 5. I don’t think I’ve watched anything on 5 since the days of The Mole. Series 2 has the drivers moving ever northwards, driving on the Arctic Ocean. Utterly crazy! The series is looking at a wider cross section of the people involved in keeping the ice roads open and there is less emphasis on the money grabbing nature of the work. Do take a look at it if you feel so inclined.

Last year I really enjoyed reading Auntie Doris’s posts detailing the books she was reading. Although I probably won’t manage to keep tabs on it as well as she did, I’m going to have a go for a couple of months and see how it works out.

In case you were wondering, I won’t be detailing all the books I read for essays, dissertation and New Testament Greek; maybe just the really interesting ones. These are novels and other books I read for fun, you know, in all that free time I have.

RC1 Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon

This was actually read between Christmas and New Year. The book is a collection of 3 short stories (although for Diana short is a relative concept), 2 of which I had read before. The new one, Lord John and the Haunted Soldier is set in 18th century London and, like all the Lord John stories, involves investigation into sinister happenings among the military/civil service. Here the focus of the investigation is the outcome of a battle on the continent and in particular the malfunction of a gun. Lord John is up before a tribunal and things are never as simple as they seem.

I rather wallowed in this on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, taking advantage of Rusk being in his own room and so being able to read before sleeping. I have to confess that I don’t now remember very much, except that it was as interesting and gripping as Diana Gabaldon’s books usually are.

RC2 Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead

I blogged a while ago about my love for Arthurian stories. This is the first of a series I read when I was about 14 and I had been wanting to read again for a while. I picked up copies of the first and third books in a charity shop just before Christmas and now discover, looking on Amazon, that there are 5 books in the series. Hurrah! I only read the first 3.

Taliesin weaves 2 stories together: the fall of Atlantis and the waning power of Rome in mid-Wales. One thing I had completely overlooked at the time I first read them is how overtly Christian they are. The Christian theme only appears towards the end of the first book. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Anyway, that aside, I really enjoyed reading it. The stories are very well placed together, with neither strand dominating. Each set of characters has a great world created around them. I have a particular soft spot for that part of Wales, so seeing it described so many hundred of years ago was lovely. I’m not sure the Atlantis that Lawhead creates is as lovely as Tolkien’s Numinor (have I remembered that right?), but it was convincing.

Right, I can’t blog RC3 until I finish reading it. Just a few more pages. Also I need to get my knitting together for tomorrow. I’m going on a quiet day so I should be able to finish a sock.

So… my ordination is coming up in the summer.* This means that I have to take steps to look like a clergyperson. This means that I have to buy vicaring clothes or vestments as they are commonly known. My lovely friend Ellen prefers to call them the ’special clothes’, which I think just about takes the right tone.

There are a number of considerations to bear in mind.

1. The C of E gives a grant to cover (quoting from memory here) ‘vestments, books and other necessary items for ministry’.
2. There are a lot of books I want to buy
3. I do not want to look like I am wearing a tent
4. If I dress entirely in black and white, at certain times of year I look rather ill

I need various items:

• cassock (black floor length dressing gown)
• surplice (white thing to go over cassock)
• cassock alb (white/off-white floor length dressing gown)
• white stole (scarfy thing – can have pretty pictures on)
• cloak (for wearing in cold churchyards in the countryside)
• academic hood
• clerical shirts (with dog collar)

Now as in many aspects of life, there are various emporia from which such items can be purchased. I do not wish to denigrate other companies by naming them the Lidl or Aldi of the clerical outfitting world. But let us just say that if J&M and Cross Designs are the Sainsburys and Waitrose, then Wippells is the Fortnum and Mason. From the experience of last year’s ordinands, Wippells have the reputation of having superb customer service and very high standards. On the down side, they cost a tad more. On the up side, they were visiting college when I was starting to panic that I had missed a lot of the outfitters when I was ill. The result of this was that I ordered the cassock, surplice, cassock alb and a girdle (length of rope for belt – very necessary in the not wanting to look like wearing a tent stakes).

They are being bespoke made. I have never had anything bespoke made before. Even my wedding dress was a slightly altered off the peg number. I will have to travel to one of their branches at some point for a fitting. Photos may be forthcoming if you ask me very nicely.

Marvellous! The quest has got off to a good start. More will follow.

* Hurrahs and general rejoicing all round

While it might appear that my resolution for 2009 is not to blog, I can assure you that it isn’t. Rather, I have been so busy doing bloggable things that I have not had time to set them down.

Will I remember what they all are? Probably not. I’ve set up some draft posts to try and inspire me. We’ll see whether that works.

This week is going to be busy. I really, absolutely, must finish an essay by Tuesday, then learn ridiculous amounts of Greek for later in the week – I’ve made flashcards. Amongst all of that, I’m taking a BCP matins tomorrow, preparing for my sister-in-law plus husband and daughter visiting next week and trying not to knit when I should be working. I also have much admin to do and must hand over the details of two jobs I have delegated, else I’ll end up doing them anyway. Oh heck that sounds like even more when I list it like that. I’m off.