Welcome to Vicar's Tea Party!

I first had the idea for Vicar's Tea Party when I was sitting in a café in Oxford confronted with a truly monumental stack of cakes and the world's most enormous pot of tea. I was in good company and we talked about all sorts of things. How life was going, funny things that has happened that week, significant things that had happened and all manner of things that had made us think. As I munched through my fifth, albeit relatively bite size, cakey morsel I thought, 'what a great way to reflect on life. Cake, tea, conversation. Bliss.'



Being a self confessed blog-a-holic my thoughts immediately turned to how this might work in an online format. Because it is true, I believe, that we are spiritual beings who need time out to think and reflect and wonder about things but it is also true that we are physical beings who love a good slice of cake and to go shopping for vintage shizzle for our houses. Both of these things, the spiritual and the physical, make us who we are and need a little indulging in the company of a good cuppa and good friends.

And so the Vicar's Tea Party was born. I think of it a little like this. My experience of Vicarages are usually that you wander in, sink down onto a slightly battered sofa and get brought cup of tea after cup of tea after cup of tea. It's not 'More Tea Vicar?' for nothing. Interesting people often pop round. In the best cases there is a relaxed vibe. An open house. A place to sit and be and discuss questions that you would rarely raise in any other company. The Vicar is pretty hard to shock, they have pretty much heard it all before. They are professional thinkers and ponderers who face life and death and everything in between on a near daily basis.

 

And so that is what I want this little online space to be. A place to meet. A place to think. A place to get ideas for revamping that old bedside table your Granny left you – because that is important to. A place to be fed and a place to meet new friends (yes, online ones count too!). I don't claim to have all the answers (I'm a trainee Vicar for one!) but I do have a comfy virtual couch, a lot of chat, an eye for a bargain and a big ol' listening ear.

So welcome, pop by any time. I hope you like it here.