This morning's post brought me a replacement ink reservoir for one of my fountain pens - seemingly Parker vector use a non-standard size so you have to buy their own product.  Not very exciting - except I bought it on Ebay from Australia which, including air mail postage, was cheaper then driving to Leicester to buy one.  Probably not very green, although the plane would have flown with or without my item, but less cost, less time and less hassle: how daft is that?

Anyway, my pen is now fully functional again (and as I bought of said items I have a spare in case of need) so I'm happy.

I am this week prepraring no less than 4 services, though two are essentially identical (home and away on the same day the day I get back from hols) and one is largely a copy of one I've used locally that is being taken to my 'sending' church where I'm doing a guest preach part way through my hols.

In preparing one of them, which came with requests for lots of songs, I've now been told there will be no musicians as they're all on holiday and there is some uncertainty over sound and projection.  Now I can do all of the above, I am a 'get by' church-level pianist (albiet out of practice) and can strum a guitar or play a recorder if needed, I can drive a laptop, a data projector and a simple sound system but, alas, I'm not an octopus, so I can't do them all at once.

I feel very sorry for the preaching secratary of the church concerned (who booked me last year) and now has to check if there will a keyboard for me to play, whether I need to supply my own technological wizardry and even if there willpeople there willing to read the Bible passages.

In the meantime, it's back to practicing F#m7 and other delightful bar chords and wondering if people will be able to sing the things I've selected with only my rather reedy mezzosoprano for a lead...