Four days into my new job with The Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society (Combat Stress). The Society was formed in the immediate aftermath of WW! in 1919 and aims to look after ex service personnel with mental problems. My job is to be the Regional Welfare Officer for London - i.e. all within the M25 - currently that's about 130 clients - so quite a big schedule. This week and the next two are a sort of induction period with Clive - the guy I'm replacing and who now goes into retirement. In three week's time I'll be let loose on the unsuspecting clientele! The job comes with a car a phone and lap-top and I'll be more or less arranging my own routine - hopefully being in London I will be able to do many of my visits by public transport rather than try to drive a car around London.
During this induction period I'm staying with sister and brother-in-law, Lizzie and Gerry in Epsom, which is but 10 minutes drive from the Society's HQ in Leatherhead - however after that good chums Tom and Teeny are letting me a room in their roomy Brixton House. But, all being well I wiil home in Somerset for 4 nights a week (Thurs, Fr., Sat., Sun) and in London for 3 nights a week. There will undoubtedly be weeks when that is the other way round, and if course I may choose to stay in LOndon for weekends from time-to-time - all part of the joys to come!
I had a call with the RC Bishop of Clifton today who has put me in touch with the parish priest of Glastonbury who I am to make contact with - and it will be he (hopefully) who will facilitate my reception into the Catholic Church sometime in the next couple of months or so. Good news indeed.
What a new life I'm starting!!! A new job and a totally new way of life as a would-be Catholic lay person.
I am particularly pleased to have a couple of my dearest friends close to me at the moment.