Isn't Lent long?

'How's Lent going?' I asked a colleague at lunch today. He's blogging too, charting how he's getting on doing one 'action' (like a random act of kindness) and one 'campaign action' (like writing to his MP). 'Um. It's. Er...' he began. I finished his sentence: 'Long?' He nodded his agreement. Lent certainly feels long to me and I'm only taking one snap a day. Have already been impressed with various friends giving up all sorts and that must make it feel much longer. I've found the reflections trickier too, than for Advent. Somehow in Advent you're helped to dwell on the Christmas message by all the seasonal stuff (both good and bad) around you. Mostly, around here at least, you'd never know the Church was observing another of its important periods. You sort of feel like you're on your own a bit more... Bit like the campaign group which fought to save Laburnum Primary School from closure a decade ago. They didn't succeed but I quite like the fact that the mosaics which splash across the walls of the canal towpath, which must have been made by the children, remain to this day - a testament to the creativity, tenacity and longsightedness of people committed to beautifying the urban landscape.