Today I had an email from someone saying they'd like to be a fly on my wall watching me doing some nothing.  I wasn't quite sure how to react... especially as I spent half of yesterday lying on my settee doing precisely zilch...

In the end I think it's lovely that so many people care enough that they choose not to trust me to do nothing... but actually I'm a basically an obedient child (which is why I usually get away with the times when I'm not) so please believe me that I am being good and will soon be qualified to update you on the most dire of daytime TV.  Now then... who's on Come Dine With Me today.... ;-)

It was an amazing morning at the Gathering Place today.  It's always good, pretty often great and today amazing.  We must have had at least a dozen new students with us, including one who returned having come last week and one who'd travelled in specially from Hamilton because of the welcome he'd received at yesterday's tea. Wow!  Now I'm not daft enough to think they will all return or will all find us as their spiritual home but do dare to believe that some of them will stay and discover the unique and special place that this is.

Appealing to my sense of mischief is that at least one of them is called Catriona, which added to the three of us already linked with the church is an excellent sign of emerging world domination for this marginalised group! ;-)  Of course we do now all have to have epithets to distinguish us, not least as most of us use the same pronunciation.

The call to worship this morning was part of the song Indescribable with its line 'you are amazing God'  And so God is, and so our morning was - to God be all the praise.

So much we take for granted - or I have tended to - when we are fit and healthy, or at least averagely so.

After a month or so when sleep has been evasive, when there there was even a week of drug-assisted endeavour (of varied efficacy it must be said) I enjoyed the simple pleasure of waking up refreshed after a reasonable length of natural sleep.  Had it not been for a torrential downpour at about 4 a.m. I suspect it would have been longer and deeper.  I am always amazed at the ability of the human body to cope with temporary sleep deprivation or even quite radical shifts is sleep patterns but longer term this is not sustainable: it is vital to our well-being simply to get our natural rest.  So I am grateful for the simple gift of decent sleep.  May it continue!

How often have I, in public prayers spoken of taken-for-grantedness of the abundance of food we enjoy in this nation, lamented the waste and extravagance and prayed for hungry people in other lands.  After a month when everything I ate tasted of cardboard (or how I imagine cardboard to taste anyway) and when it has taken triumph of intellect over desire to eat enough, or even to eat at all at times, it was a real gift to wake up hungry and want my breakfast; a greater gift to want both porridge and toast.  I am blessed to have well stocked cupboards, to have shops on my doorstep brim full of lovely food, but I am gifted with ability to prepare and eat it... how many people have no choices, no facilities, no extra to enjoy?

Having found yesterday tiring, despite being very good and taking life incredibly easy, it is especially good to feel refreshed, yet there is a sense of apprehension that my energy levels will rapidly evaporate.  How long have I taken it for granted that I will be able race around doing all manner of stuff?  This is not some pious breast-beating, just the discovery of a new way of being, a way that will need some careful negotiation around OPEs.  For someone who is generally a rule-follower, despite being fiercely independent, the requirement to take things easy, not to over-stretch is one I take seriously... even if those around are less convinced... Maybe there is a gift of something or other here?  Perhaps all of us learning something about mutual accountability and trust... but whilst 'simple' those aren't so easy to achieve.

So, today we have two sermonettes, I may sit down during some of the hymns and I have delegated the intercessions... sharing responsibility, being real and being flexible, these are gifts too.

Today at the Gathering Place we had an amazing welcome afternoon tea for new and returning students...

Everyone seemed to have a good time and all I had to do was turn up and chat (which was quite work enough at the moment).

There were students seeking churches, students just happy to meet new people, students bring their friends... and people of all ages from church to give them a great welcome.

We launched oursleves as home-base for Glasgow Uni SCM and encouraged the overseas students to set up their own midweek group using our premises.

A great afternoon all round.

Photos courtesy Ken Fisher (and hope you spot me quicker than I did - this new look is confusing!!) and massive thanks to the Gatherers for a great job jobbed.

So, here's a challenge - find a fairtrade cotton headscarf that is at least 70cm by 70 cm (approx 27" square), the minimum size recommended for 'necessity wearers'.

You can get Fairtrade certified fashion bandannas/head scarves that are 50 cm square.

You can get larger ones that are not.

I have found one supplier, as it happens in Glasgow, who claims hers are but does not dispaly the logo, so are they really?

I could get a fairtrade cotton hijab....!

I have, based on advice received, somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks to resolve this challenge (by which time I will have been supplied with a wig and some head coverings courtesy of the NHS) but it seems a shame that I can't so readily source genuine fairtrade head scarves that are suitable.  Anyone any ideas?