The hatstand of existence, I’m told, stands. Those who dream in deathless sleep have listened to the world.

Among the oddities I have visited upon the internet are the pages that I wrote on the Church Union movement in New Zealand. Not everyone has written up a description of fictitious Christian denomination — and I cheated by using existing material. Occasionally, about once every two years, I get enquiries about it. The most recent is a request for ‘interfriendship’ from an independent Anglican communion working among Latin Americans. The email came from Canada. I suspect the letter writer was a second language English speaker.

I have written an e-mail pointing out to them that I can authorise ecumenical relations from a church that doesn’t exist. That would be deceptive. Leaving it there means I know where it is. I will keep an eye on it so people don’t confuse it for an existing church denomination.

I should organise a party to celebrate being in my 42nd year. I was going to do it in January, which is a quarter of the way through. A friend got in before me, which is fair enough as it is their birth month and not mine. Perhaps I will book a table about mid-year when I will be forty two and three quarters (grin).

I bought some new shoes after Christmas. A local shoe importers has a good deal of buy two pairs and get a third pair free. The quality is reasonable and the shoes I have bought have lasted a couple of years before I needed to replace them. This time I bought two pairs of dress shoes and a pair of Avia running shoes. I walk to most places in town and they make comfortable shoes for getting about. The pair I bought last year are worn at the heels and have not yet started to fall apart.