Once a week the Mission Community Services sends a woman to help in cleaning up our quarters and this is of great help. Today, however, for the second week in a row, the vacuum cleaner refused to be obedient and so the carpets could not be dealt with. To avoid further problems we bought a smaller vacuum cleaner which should be sufficient for us. This simple task, however, was not all that pleasant. The secular Christmas is weeks away, yet people are acting like robots activated into a frenzied spending spree, hurrying and driving with the greatest speed possible. Even what ordinarily would be a simple act of parking now becomes dangerous, with some cars backing up recklessly, while others zoom out of their parking spots, having first backed into position. Perhaps this is normal and it is I who cannot fit in. Andy advised us that we have enough wood to last a few years, the only problem now is to have some volunteers to split the wood. Once again, we were thrilled to see the Arctic swans in a nearby field but it was too dark to photogrpah them, yet I did notice some people who had stopped alongside the road with their special cameras. Please note that this Sunday, 2 December, we will have a joint liturgy served in English and Georgian. It should be most interesting and, remember, all food brought for the Agape meal must be lenten, although fish is permitted.