So it's Ash Wednesday and we are in Lent.  This year it crept up on me unobserved and I have made no preparations either for 'taking on' or 'giving up'... no Lent book to read, no going without caffiene or sugar or cocoa (or more typically all the above).  Do I feel guilty?  No!  I have spent a large part of the last several months living with enforced abstentions and practices, and still have some for a while to come yet... the last thing I need is extra ones.

This year Lent will be different from those I have known in the past, and maybe that is abstention enough?

Instead I hope that this Lent can in some way be a time of mental, spiritual and physical preparation for my return to work at Easter.