Now unless you happen to live in Scotland the above may not make a whole lot of sense but it reflects some thoughts I've been having recently and a bit of my more odd-ball humour.

I spent most of yesterday breaking the back of an exercise to turn my portfolio of submissions as part of a DPT (Doctorate in Practical Theology) programme into a single submission suitable for submission as an MPhil, ostensibly under the same regulations.  My cunning plan involves writing little linking theological reflections, based on a pastoral cycle, between the items to show how each emerged (honest guv) from the one before, or at least from something the one before made me think about.  Irrespective of what I think/thought about the programme, had I not been diagnosed with cancer I would have slogged on to the end and hopefully got a doctorate out of it.  As it is there is no way I could guarantee being fit to resume studies in a year's time, the requirement to intercalate, and to be brutally honest, such studies are no longer a priority.  Situations change - as I will note in my final reflective chapter - and with them my aspirations.  To be MPhil NED seems a better aspiration right now.

NED?  Non Educated Delinquent?  A term of mild abuse used in Scotland to describe the same kind of people who might be termed Chavs further south.  A term that is a stereotype for people whose response to lack of opportunity and education amuses those who have had both.  I aspire to be a NED?  Yes!  Because it also stands for "No Evidence of Disease" which is as good as it ever gets for someone who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  There is no 'all clear', though if you make it to ten years NED then probably you are.  Yes, to be a NED sounds good right now.

Who knows, one day I might return to my research and get yet more letters to add to my collection (though if you want to become a Revd Dr/Rev Dr the cheapest and easiest I've found, accidentally, is to write Revd as your title on an English heritage application form!) but for now MPhil NED will do nicely... and the latter is a stronger aspiration than the former.

Yesterday evening we had a male voice choir singing at church as a fund-raiser towards the building re-devleopment fund.  It was an enjoyable evening and the choir offered a varied programme of light music.  It did have a few moments that were entertaining in ways perhaps not intended, but for me that added rather than detracted.

Here are a few of the more bizarre moments...

In introducing a soloist to sing 'On the Street Where You Live' the MD said that the musical was called My Fair Lady as an attempt by the writer to mimic a cockney saying Mayfair, except he said 'Mayfair' in such a scrambled way that no one could possibly have made the connection.  Probably best not to try to sound Cockney with a Glasgow accent...

For me, it was slightly surreal to hear a choir of Scots singing the Men of Harlech with gusto - especially when via the lyrics they were claiming to be Welsh!  Very weird.

The piece de resistance for me was the announcement of the last item 'a great Welsh hymn and our signature tune' - When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.  Sorry folks, Isaac Watts was English.  Granted the tune used may have been Welsh, but no Welshman would claim Watts as one one of their own.

There were some brave choices, notably a solo of 'The Music of the Night' from The Phantom of the Opera which is far from easy to sing, and some that took me in my mind to various crematoria, such as 'Unchained Melody' and 'Danny Boy' as well as one that I last sang when I was about 8, the 'Eriskay Love Lilt'.  All in all quite an enjoyable evening.

Next time I think we should have our own choir and some of our gifted musicians performing.  What d'you reckon?