Sometimes seven days in the life of Vicki will involve travelling only as far as the SA’s headquarters and home, four times. Other weeks, however, involve a little more variety. Last week was one of the latter. I’ve probably racked up about 17 hours of travelling this week, on top of the usual commute, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to regale you all with some tales from my journeying 
My first soiree of the week was to the wondrous town that is Maidenhead. I am a bit of an English geography wizz, and I have to admit to having almost memorised the entire British train network layout, but I was initially flummoxed as to a) where Maidenhead was (after some unfortunate confusion involving Maidstone), and b) how to get there. After a bit of websearching I worked it out, and so Thursday found me hot-footing it to Paddington and heading west.
Maidenhead was lovely. I like small English towns (maybe growing up in Northampton caused this?). Anyhow, it was nice. I met a very inspiring friend of mine, we shared some dreams over apple juice, and then we went back to the Salvation Army church there to pray. I was reminded again that there are some real visionaries out there, and found myself thanking God that I have the privilege of walking alongside some of them. It’s top!
My next journey took place on Thursday, when I headed ’down south’ to Worthing. Now, I have a long established love for the sea, so Worthing immediately makes the list of favourite places of mine. I also know some very lovely people there. So a trip that way is always a joyous occasion. Thursday was no exception to this. The sun shone (so much so that I abandoned my coat on the beach at one point), I enjoyed catching up with friends and meeting new ones, and I generally felt very relaxed and refreshed for having been there. The pace of live down there is so different from the hectic nature of London, and it is definitely good to enjoy that peace and serenity. (I’m not sure the people who watched me lobbing stones into the sea had a very serene time, but I enjoyed it!)
Friday involved the longest trip, and the one I approached with a mixture of joy and dread! (Joy, because I was going to another of my most favourite places, but dread because of the mode of transport I had chosen!). I have already mentioned my train obsession, so it was a sacrifice to go all that way on a double decker, and five hours in one challenged my short attention span and inability to sit still… but I made it. I arrived in Oldham in the late afternoon, and embarked on a whirlwind of activity:
I caught up with old friends, met cute babies, chatted to kids (who were much shorter when I lived there), admired painted fences, read cool books, entertained cute babies, talked about nappy rash, wandered round the estate, slept in my old bedroom, broke a shower without touching it, ate a glorious pub lunch, watched doctor who, played a dvd game (badly), got hit in the eye by a flying chocolate brownie, laughed a lot, discussed the legalisation of drugs (into the early hours), wandered round shops in the snow, got disorientated by road layout changes and demolished houses, crammed into church, talked about the salvation army, incarnational living, hospitality and dreadlocks, admired new homes being decorated, marvelled at gargantuan snowflakes falling in April, made a medal, shivered a lot, walked around Manchester in the snow searching for a coffee shop, and then headed homewards today (another five hour journey, exacerbated by blizzards… hmmm!).
I love Oldham, and I love my friends who live there. It is exciting to see how they are living church in their community and really having an impact there. I love that, even four years after leaving I can still go back and feel part of that family. I love seeing the colour and love and vibrancy the church can bring to a place that can look bleak and grey. I am excited to see what God is going to do there in the future.
So, those were my adventures last week. Here’s to another intrepid seven days!
