Lent

I missed the day before Lent at work because I was away in Cardiff and Bath. But when I returned I noticed a long list of things people were giving up stuck on the window. It's funny how Christianity has permeated the lives of Brits even though we're no longer a Christian country. It's meant a couple of conversations being struck up about the C of E calender (which I don't know much about!) and the traditions of lent.

So for my office, according to Wikipedia...

In Western Christianity Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday [the day before Easter Sunday]. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.

And because the Sundays are a day of celebration, my office will be pleased to hear you don't have to fast on that day!

So there have been numerous promises made - to buy only one luxury item per month, to give up fizzy drinks, give up smoking, stop wearing skanky shoes, give up Facebook... I decided mine should be to stop spending my disposable income. Working near St Stephens with nowhere pretty to go at lunchtime makes this difficult and overspending has become a bad bad habit. I've made a temptation box on my desk and in it I'm putting a slip of paper with the things I think of to buy that tempt me.

In the first couple of days I've added about 20 slips, one of them appropriately being to see the new Shopaholic film... not that I would have actually bought most of the stuff but it's things that go round and round my brain until I cave and buy them. The box idea is really helpful to help me stop dwelling on the item. It reminds me of Bree...



I'm not sure if anything spiritual will come out of my abstinence, but if it starts a habit of being more responsible then I'm sure God and Ben will be pleased.

Hidden gem

I moved offices in January, for the fifth time since working for Norwich Union! Sentinel House on Surrey Street is supposed to be my department's final resting place for at least a few years now.

Sentinel was built in the 1980s as a flagship building for the company, complete with spire to match the NU logo. It has a well kept secret which you can see from the outside, but stained glass needs to be viewed from the inside to see it in all its glory. Unfortunately this one, four storeys high, has a column of lifts and balconies just a few feet away from it so it can't be seen properly.

There's probably an analogy in there somewhere with being cooped up in an office and not reaching your full potential...