February '11

At the time of writing, we are still celebrating the New Year festivities and discussing those selected for the Honours List (I missed out, again!). I expect we can all suggest the names of those we feel should be recognised for their achievements (whether praises are sung or unsung) combined with their everyday demeanour. Hopefully, you will have all paid over your annual subscription for Parish Life by now - the earlier you can do this each year, the better the church’s cash flow. During my time as supervisor of magazine distribution, I was quite surprised to discover the age of the majority of the distributors (including several then older than my present advanced age!) and whilst admiring their (chiefly) long periods of voluntary service, I feared the onset of the time when they would be unable to continue and a waiting list of potential deliverers would have eased things considerably! Please consider whether you can help . and do not hesitate to offer.While on the subject of help, I most urgently echo the recent appeals for everyone to increase their giving .To those who placidly say ” The Lord will provide”, I always reply “Yes but He wouldn’t refuse some help!”The company which hosts my website supplies quarterly reports of weekly totals of visitors thereto and I have just received the one for the last period of last year - sadly, after a peak of just under 200 visits one week in mid-November, there was a steady decrease to the end of the year. However, I must express my thanks to those readers of these articles both here and among my efforts on the internet! Of cause, I am particularly grateful to those who have added their comments online (which do NOT have to be favourable but they make me a VERY happy bunny when they are!) Do not forget that I am always pleased for you to contact me (if not via the web, there is always post, phone and in person) - especially with a suggestion for or a criticism of these articles.In case you missed the last magazine, may I repeat my New Year wishes to you

                                                                                                                        .Cheers
                                                                                                                                             Mike Ireland

“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore
they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after
generation.”                                           - Pearl S. Buck

 “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only
 to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other
 somewhat higher.”                - Thomas Henry Huxley

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be
 lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations
 under them.”             - Henry David Thoreau

 “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."             - Beverly Sills

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you;ll land among
the stars."                                                                              - Les Brown

November '10

I admit that being referred to as a "stick in the mud" doesn't over-worry me. A failure to be infatuated by pursuing the ever-promoted methods of gaining personal success has meant that I never became the Prime Minister nor ever ascended to any high office in the world of work. Instead, I kept my head down ("beneath the parapets" is an expression I've often heard) and paid more respect to the worlds of common sense and experience.

The best remembered and most useful lesson from my schooldays (around some sixty years ago!) came from someone whom many would consider to be one of the last type of person to offer valuable "pearls of wisdom". It was our maths master, George T. Beckwith, who told us to "always check your answer for reasonableness". I've lost count of the number of times that following this advice and rejecting an erroneous line of thought has saved one's bacon as well as provoking admiration! In the days when I did weekly supermarket shopping, I used to keep a running total in my head of the cost of the items and surprise the cashier by tendering the exact sum! Of course, beside the successful use of this tenet in solving problems of mental arithmetic, many everyday queries are also covered.

When pocket calculators first became publicly available, I little foresaw their widespread use in addition, particularly by shop assistants and felt quite embarrassed at their use, particularly for only a few items. I became self-taught on computing before I found them most helpful when I was church treasurer Speaking of computing reminds me of the plethora of jokes (mostly amusing!) circulating via the internet today. Although current surveys show that many more folk in this country can now access computers than those who can't, I'll repeat one of the jokes which made me smile:

The world of computers has taken many of our familiar everyday words and given them completely different meanings! A DISC used to be something that slipped when you hurt your back. A WEB was what a spider made, and a RAM was a male sheep A NET was for fishing or to hold your hair in place and a MOUSE was a furry little creature with whiskers. BUGS and VIRUSES were something you caught that made you ill, and CHIP went with fish. A HACKER was someone with a bad cough and a CURSOR was someone with bad language. A LOAD went on a lorry and a BOOT went on your foot. You found builders or caravans on a SITE and you parked your car on a DRIVE. A ZIP held your clothes together and a FLOPPY meant limp You hung your washing ONLINE, You sent a CARD at CHRISTMAS, and a DESKTOP was a place for your blotter. You called a butler or a waitress a SERVER and a religious artefact was an ICON. WALLPAPER brightened! up a room and

MOTHER BOARD was mum when she was fed up!

Times change, don't they?  Not always for the better!           All the best,                     Mike Ireland


“Affirmation statements are going beyond the reality of the present into the
creation of the future through the words you use in the now."             - Louise L. Hay


"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that
you plant."                                                      -  Robert Louis Stevenson


“You've got to win in your mind before you win in your life.”                - John Addison
“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through
 repetition of thought.”                                             - Napoleon Hill


“End your day by privately looking directly into your eyes in the mirror and saying, 'I love you!' Do this for thirty days and watch how you transfe   - Mark Victor Hansen


"...repetitive words and phrases are merely methods of convincing the subconscious mind. It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen."                                              - C.M .Bristol