Hello and welcome to my eighth year of Holy Week blogs! We’ve had Holy Week as a Deacon, as a Priest, in a pandemic, 2021, with a baby, 2023 and 2024. As I’m not, yanno, in public ministry this week, I wondered if I should bother this year. But I still live in a vicarage, I’m still the wife of a vicar so I thought I would! Let’s go.

6.50am Morning! Sophia and Aidan are up. I don’t know when Soph came in or when I bought Aidan in for a side feed, but that’s life. We’ve all slept OK and that’s what matters.

Today, we’re at my Mum and Dad’s. We arrived on Friday, and the plan is to leave bright and early in the morning to meet Nathan at the Chrism service in Liverpool. But for now, it’s Bluey on Disney+ and Bluey colouring!

10.23am We haven’t been since Isabelle’s wedding in October, so we’re off to the church I grew up in. It’s a short walk away and Dad has already gone to ring the bells. I’m dressed and ready, Aidan is dressed and ready, Mum is dressed and ready. Soph is getting herself dressed (with a little bit of help). All we need to do is her hair and teeth and we’ll be good to go. You’d think, with such early starts, that we’d be great at getting out of the house, but it’s always, always a rush.

12.32pm Well that was so lovely!

It’s always nice to catch up with old friends and say hello to people in a community you used to belong to. It’s even better when there are new faces, which there absolutely should be eight years after you left!

Today, being Palm Sunday, there were readings from run up to Jesus’ death, and hymns to go with them.

Palm Sunday is a bit of a strange one because in the Gospels, this is the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the crowds went wild! It was a day of celebration, of triumph. Then, as the days passed, triumph turned to tension as the crowds called for his death. So, I always ask myself how hard to go on the arrest, trial and crucifixion stuff on Palm Sunday. I guess it depends if you think people will engage during the week or not.

It’s weird not leading a community this week, so I’m taking in what I can, where I can.

1.30pm We’re having a tasty lunch, finishing with creme egg scotch eggs! They’re cream eggs encased in cake, covered in chocolate, rolled in biscuit crumbs!

2.02pm We’re on our way to the swimming baths at Edwinstowe where we used to go when I was little. Aidan hasn’t been swimming before so I’m keen to see what he makes of it!

4.03pm That was great fun! Both kids loved it and are currently napping on the back seat. There’s nothing that tires them out like swimming!

At this baths there’s a little elephant slide and a much bigger slide with twists and turns. Sophia was keen to go on the big one with me but got to the top of the steps and said she didn’t fancy it. I encouraged her to come on, but regretted it quickly when I saw the drop at the bottom and we were both suddenly under the water! We both laughed, though, and five minutes later, she wanted to go on again.

Eventually, after Dad and I had both been on with her a number of times, she said she wanted to go on her own. I read the rules (obviously) and saw that she was allowed on her own as long as I caught her at the bottom! So that’s what we did. I thought I was a very brave Mum letting her go up the twisty staircase on her own, wait her turn and then go down the slide all by herself.

The second time she went up, two much bigger boys were ahead of her. I’d seen them try and scare a girl a couple of years younger than them earlier on, by telling her there was a scary monster at the bottom of the slide. So when they turned around and started saying the same to Soph, who is quite frankly tiny compared to them, lion Mum came out.

‘ER EXCUSE ME! ABSOLUTELY NOT!’ I shouted at them, wagging my finger.

‘We’re telling her there’s a monster!’

‘WELL DON’T! LEAVE HER ALONE!’

I never imagined myself as the kind of Mum to shout at other people’s kids in public, but when it comes to it, I don’t even think twice. The boys went down the slide and scarpered. People may have been looking at me strangley for a few minutes afterwards but I don’t care!

Anyway, Soph carried on having a great time on the slide. I told her that if anybody tried to say there was a monster at the bottom, to say ‘yes, that’s my mum!’, which she thought was funny. Aidan took to the swimming pool really well. He loved splashing and the light reflecting on the water. He didn’t much like getting changed, but who does? It’s the worst bit!

7.34pm Tea was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, including Aidan and Sophia. Aidan was attempting to eat mash covered gravy with his bare hands before I gave him a spoon, and Soph cleared her plate of braising steak using her knife and fork!

9.15pm Both kids down!

11.19pm I need to get to sleep because we’ve got an early start in the morning. We’re aiming to be at Liverpool Cathedral for the 10.30 service. It’s the service where all ministers renew their vows, and the oils used in parish ministry are blessed. It’s a three line whip, but I’m on mat leave, so I don’t have to be there, but I would very much like to be. If we have a rough night, we won’t rush out of the door. We’ll see how we go!