world cup holiday

So since my last post I have driven almost 1,800 miles in my little fiesta. It has been great and we all had a good time, with the weather being absolutely superb throughout. The journey started early on saturday morning from chris' house in hemel hempstead, taking an early ferry from dover. It was just like travelling on a duck pond, and the sky was a lovely blue, so nice that we spent the journey sat out on the deck. A little nervous about travelling on the opposite side of the road to wat I am normally used to, but it was with ease that I made the transition as we headed to our first campsite just outside calais. It was a great campsite, with really friendly and accommodating staff, who I could communicate well with my pidgin gsce french, even asking if they would be showing the football, to be shown into the bar and greeted with a huge plasma screen. The england game vs paraguay was ok, at least we got the win that was required, despite a relatively poor performance. Another early start on the sunday saw us leave at 6am, and travelling across france and into germany near saarbruke to campingplatz clausensee, a six hour journey, that was a comfortable ride, though expensive on the toll roads. This campsite was our favourite, and it was a shame that I never paid attention in german lessons that we had to rely on the staff's english to communicate. Even chris, our most highly decorated german speaker, having at least a gsce, would usually speak in english when his services were called upon, much to our amusement. Not only did this camp site have a huge plasma screen for our football televisual delights in the air conditioned restaurant, they were also serving bitburger, a beer, in special glasses. These glasses came with an embossed shirt number, and should a player with corresponding shirt score in the match whilst you were drinking, then you got the beer for free. Adding an extra bit of excitement to the games in which we were just neutral viewers, and also enabling us to become familiar with a number of players. The great Golmohammadi being a fave of mine as this number 4 shirt wearing Iranian defender was the first to react in a crowded six yard box to convert a loose ball after a corner against mexico. The site was also close to Kaiserslauten, host of one of the tournament stadiums, and it turned out that australia were playing japan at the stadium on our free day. The camp site had put on a coach that we took to the town, and enjoyed the atmosphere in the fanplatz. There was a real carnival atmosphere, with local radio dj comparing various warm up acts pre and mid game. Including a set of football tricksters from japan, demonstrating incredible ball skill and balance, and at half time some scantily clad pop duo causing great adulation from the mainly male viewers. The aussies went wild after the dramatic turnaround of a 1-0 deficit to a 3-1 victory, with huge amounts of dancing and singing to aussis songs post match, including some AC/DC!

Three nights were then spent in ingolstadt at the azur campsite that we termed the mosquito dump after being bitten all over whilst watching the brazil match in the tv marquee. This campsite was chosen mainly due to it's location which we used to travel by train to munich and nurnberg. In munich we watched the tunisia vs saudi match live in the stadium with the tickets procurred earlier this year. There was a great atmosphere, and the stadium really is quite magnificent, both from outside and within. Situated on the second tier above the goal, we felt close to the action and a great vantage point for three of the goals. Dissapointingly the saudi's conceded a late goal, as that was the team I had picked to cheer. They had such a great chance fora victory.

In Nurnberg we took enjoyed the atmosphere from within the fanplatz, which was fairly tense throughout the match, and the crouch goal seemed to have more of a sense of relief then celebration, though I was able to complete a bit of a crouch robot dance.

A last night in campingplatz clausensee, broke up our journey and it was nice to see the familiar friendly faces, before setting off for the final leg back to england on saturday. Of course leaving time to watch the matches on tv. There are plenty of pics in my flickr set. Spending a week in europe watching football and enjoying temperatures in the 30s, what a great time.

Trailer

This is a trailer blog - so things to look forward to:

1. A blog about the circuits involvement in pray without ceasing, which was amazing with some really inspirational prayer rooms.

2. I'm off to germany for some world cup shenanigans, there'll be 4 of us cramped in my car as we travel thousands of miles. Should be fun, and we have tickets for saudi arabia vs tunisia - excellent. If i get chance i'll drop a line, otherwise you will have to await my return.

Something in my eye

Took v down to heathrow, and was pleased to make good time considering the time of day. It took about 3 hours via the M40, so were ready to check in just after 6pm. Unfortunately the computer system was down, and we had to wait, and wait, and wait. It took them ages to get sorted, and just when they were going to do the procedure manually, the system came back on line again. Despite being one of the first to be waiting around, as there was no orderly queue, we soon found ourselves being pushed back, sometimes by particularly underhand tactics. For example, one guy sidled up to the guy in front of us and began chatting with him like they were best friends, using this to gain an avantage and push ahead of us. This whole nonsense meant that v had less than an hour before boarding time, and so there was no time to grab a bite to eat together. After paying for her extra baggage we stood at the bottom of the escalator that went up to the departure lounge, said farewell, and I watched her ascend (though there were no angels sounding 'a la mount of olives'). It was a sad moment, and i think i had something in my eye.

Back to the car, pay the astronimical parking charge, and head back home. As I still hadn't eaten I called into hemel hempsted and met up with chris for a bite to eat before continuing home.

Today will be quite sad

This afternoon I will be driving to Heathrow with v, as today she returns to canada. It will be quite sad, as it may be some months before we get to see each other again. After a really bizarre meeting (which I never blogged about at the time) we became really good friends, enjoying each others company a lot. It's been great having her around, and we've managed to do some really fun things together which has really lifted my spirits. She's great, but her home calls her back. I'll miss her a lot.

Mission training day

As regular readers may remember I am travelling to Israel/Palestine with highway projects to help with their mission initiatives amongst palastinian arabs. On Saturday I had a days training, and I found the whole day really exciting. Not only the anticiaption about going, but also the slight fear about going to a completely different culture. Learning about some of the cultural dos and don'ts that will be essential for me as I stay with some palestinian hosts. The work sounds like it will be fairly exhausting and also fairly 'off the cuff' as no full itinery is yet available for our work with young people in Reineh. This is a town adjacent to Nazereth and Cana, so no doubt Christ would've travelled through it on the way to a certain wedding feast. We will mainly be working alongside a number of agencies promoting reconciliation between palaestian arabs of differing faiths, listening to their stories and helping run fun activities to keep them amused. On our days off we also get chance to visit Jericho in the west bank, on the edge of the dead sea, travel on the sea of galilee and to the mount of the beatitudes amongst other things. I'm sure it will be a truely rewarding experience. During the worship at the training event I got a real sense of God in the place, an almost physical presence as we sang. So I trust that God too, is excited about these continued projects, and not just the impact it will have on those we meet, but also the impact they will have on us, particularly as we engage in conversations about faith. There are still places available on some of the september projects to Jordon, but if you can't make that I recommend you check out the highway projects website and perhaps apply for one of the missions next year.

It was also a really sunny day, and me and chris purchased a tent for our germany trip. In the eve I went to see x-men III with v, though we were disappointed with the disjointed storyline. Such a shame as the other two films are really enjoyable, and you can read so much allogories into the way that the mutants are treated in these films. They could be any oppressed member of society that society wants to 'cure' be that gays or asylum seekers.

Peter Crouch(ing tiger)

Went with v to see my m+d on tues as my cousin was around too. Started watching the england match and then headed over to scott's to watch the second half. We were chatting about our upcoming trip to germany whilst watching the match. However the highlight was when peter Crouch scored and did this weird robot dance celebration:

It was hilarious. I checked technorati and it seemed that people were going crazy over the dance. It seems it is a dance he performed at some charity party hosted by David Beckham, and some footage was circulating on t'internet, so he parodied himself.

What a star, this guy is brilliant, not only does he look like some gangly giraffe when coming onto the pitch, but he can actually play pretty well and score great goals. I hope we see more of the dance during the world cup. I know for one, I shall be recreating the moves whenever england score!

Nearly meeting Jimmy Saville

I've had a nice bank holiday weekend. On saturday I went to scarborough for the day with v, who lives in a suburb of toronto called scarborough. The weather held out, and though it was mostly cloudy, it was quite warm. We walked around the town, and were saddened to see BNP activists selling some paper entitled freedom, however, all the other stalls were promoting anti-fascism as well as their own propoganda. It is frustrating to see that the BNP are getting such popular support using tactics that prey on the vulnerable and those who fear their own place in society is being trampled on.

The past few weeks I had been describing Jimmy Saville to v, so that she may in some way appreciate the 'Jimmy Saville seat' in scarborough, however, I was disappointed to find that some vandals had removed the small plaque that distinguished it as Sir Jimmy's. Walking along the sea front later in the day, I popped into the tourist info to ask where, and which one of the Bronte sisters was buried here. She informed me that it was Anne, I thought I'd enquire about Jimmy's seat too, and she told me that they were aware and were due to get it replaced soon. Then the following conversation occurred:
'Actually he was in here earlier today'
'What? Jimmy Saville was in here?'
'Oh yes, he quite often pops in for a chat when he's around'
'Jimmy Saville was in here today?'
'Yes, he's probably still around on the sea front somewhere'

Well, I was really excited about this news and the prospect of meeting Sir Jim, but alas, despite keeping a keen lookout, I didn't spy him. I wanted to ask him if he would fix it for me to have a photo with him (i bet no-one has asked him that!)

Enjoyed sitting on the beach and watching the sea come in, me and v then pretended to be King Canutecommanding the waves. Though at one point it seemed that we had control over the elements as the sea came in and surrounded us, still on a patch of dry land, it soon covered the slight sand bank on which we were stood, and a quick leap was required to save wet toes.

Update - photo set on flickr

On sunday and monday evenings I went to cliff college for their festival, and once again enjoyed the tranquil surroundings. I must admit I didn't find the sunday evening talk inspiring, but I got a lot out of a seminar looking at how to relate to our muslim neighbours. It was done in a really good way, though some of the comments from the audience showed a distinct lack of knowledge of the faith, and generalisations, which i thought the speaker handled really well. Monday evening I enjoyed the comedian, joe fisher, not that he was super funny, but I enjoyed watching people laughing a lot.

Pray without ceasing

Friday evening and me and andrew went along to the start of the sheffield district leg of the methodist church year of prayer, pray without ceasing. It was a really nice service, and pretty well attended considering it was a district event. The meeting commenced with the singing of a hymn, unaccompanied, followed by a time of extempolary prayer for people and situations. During this time, I felt a real connection with God, as the prayers were being said, interspersed with the singing of the taize song 'o lord hear our prayer'. There was a real sense of engagement with god and a peace over the proceedings. A time was then spent praying at various stations around the chapel, and although there was little creative input, I still found the time rewarding. There are so few times when I actually set aside time to commune with god these days, which is not a good thing. The meeting closed with the distribution of candles to all the various circuits, which reminded me of the great diversity and large geographical size of the district, and comforting to know that for the next couple of weeks, people from all around my locality will be exploring and joining in prayer in all manner of ways.

Eurovision clips

There have been some eurovision clips added to you tube for your amusement.



LT United with their brilliant 'we are the winners', watch the bald headed guy, he looks like he isn't taking part in any of the actions, and then he bursts into life, how the other guys managed to keep straight faces during his dance I just don't know.



And Lordi had the backing of the Finnish public who actually contributed money to allow them to put on the most OTT pyrotechnic display ever! Check out his bat wings too.

Ordinands' testimony service

Last year I went to the ordinands' testimonial service, as one of the probationary ministers in our circuit was giving her testimony. I really enjoyed it, so went along to this years, not just because I knew one of the candidates, but because these personal stories of following a call into full time ministry are wonderfully engaging. Picked up brian and peter and we made it to greenhill methodist in plenty of time. It's a while since i've been there and I couldn't quite remember it's exact location, the district website was of no help, and it appeared that the church does not have it's own site. Anyway, I followed my nose and came across it without any major problems. The stories were again very interesting, how people from varied backgrounds suddenly find the call to ministry in the methodist church. A story that sticks in my mind was one told by the last candidate who was previously an MD for a factory near Toronto, on his way to work he heard a story on the news about someone winning $180 million on the lottery. At work people discussed how they would spend such a fortune, he just said that he would never have the opportunity as he never plays the lottery. However, on the journey into work the next day he thought about the question, and decided that if he had so much money he would pay off his mortgage and then work for the church. Then a thought entered his head that he described as not his own, saying 'you can work for the church and it will be like owning $180 million'. From this seed, he eventually handed in his resignation, and during the period of working out his notice he said not a day went by when he didn't have a conversation about jesus with someone at work, and he never started the conversation. I also have some more thoughts that I will probably put on the bible study blog which i suggest you visit from time to time if you feel like discussing matters biblical.
Also at the service there was a time of prayer that was led using a power point presentation, images to help us in the prayer. However, I found it less than helpful because I thought the quality of the presentation was poor, bad font style/colour so difficult to read, non-aligned pictures, poor quality pictures and images that were barely associated with the topic of prayer. Now is this me not being gracious, or do I have a point? If you are going to use technology to help us engage, surely it's better to be done well?...

Also I must let you know that Siobhan's blog about her time in Kenya has been updated.

Eurovision

As we were out in London on saturday, I recorded the eurovision song contest and watched it with v on sunday afternoon. This was purely to introduce v to this european cultural experience, I had of course, no interest in the proceedings whatsoever. Nope, not at all.
It is actually really good watching it recorded as it is possible to skip through the many dull songs, LT United. however you do miss out on watching with subtitles that translate the songs for your understanding pleasure. I wonder if understanding the Latvian song would help reveal why they had this strange puppet thing that they put together on the stage. It was hilarius, it looked completely ridiculous, though did save a really terrible song. In addition to Terry Wogan's dry wit as he commentated on the event, other stand out moments included the Lithuanian tune "we are the winners" by This tune was great, so bad it was actually good, but the real standout moment was when some bald headed guy did this crazy air punching dance. They were clearly not taking the event seriously and came about third or fourth. So much better than the poor uk effort. I was really pleased to see Lordi, the finnish entry, triumph and win the event. It was cracking, microphone masking taped to a plastic axe, crazy costumes, over the top pyrotechnics and giant bat wings appearing outstretched from the lead singer, had me in stiches. Quality. My faith in the british public was restored in hearing that we voted for these two acts in first and second place.

Made in Deptford

On saturday me and v went to London for the day and had a really great time. We started our day browsing some of the shops in Knightsbridge where I tried to contain my shock at the price of the items on sale. Whilst walking around Harrods I realised that the coat I was wearing had a piece of gaffa tape on the sleeve, holding together a hole, hardly chic wear! Despite the prices, there were some very nice items for sale, and I was very tempted with the sausages on offer in Harrods. For lunch we met up with an ex-colleague of mine who worked in the same lab as me some years ago. It has been quite some time since I last saw Xinyu, so there was plenty to talk about, not least her rapidly growing children. She took us to see the Cutty Sark and also to browse round the Grenwich observatory, which I found incredibly interesting, there was some fine examples of precision engineering on display. Time, what a fascinating thing, and how we now take measuring it for granted these days. We took some really nice pictures too, including this one of me and v near the observatory. Next we met up with chris c and headed into Deptford for the made in deptford festival. As I mentioned earlier, the main attraction for us was 2-4 Brew. This was an exhibition of both video and paintings juxtaposed with each other, hosted in the artists own home, their living space turned into a gallery, it was a great idea. There is a picture of me next to one of the pieces in the hallway, sporting a pair of glasses which are part of the exhibition too. We then wandered around coming across a fashion show of many weird and wonderful outfits, making me think this place is full of crazy people and I like it! Meeting up with Helen to discuss her installation and generally catch up, we spent time in a cafe that was giving free knitting lessons. Suffice to say I was poor at this, getting all in a tangle that was the result of knitting with the loose end instead of the wool attached to the ball, it was a mess. Helen and v were pretty good at it, and chris was equally as inept as me. Another gallery/studio we went in actually belongs to steve pippin a turner nominated artist. He had converted this old shop into a piece of art in its own right, a sign on the outside states that it is called "mr pippin's opticians". The first floor has an undulating floor fitted, and you are led upstairs to various rooms, another room shows exposed ceiling struts with strips of wood woven inside giving the appearance of a flake or twirl chololate bar. It really was an interesting building, which also doubles as his studio. It was also great to see that a number of the churches in the area were getting involved in the festival, hosting some of the events. After a browse around some more studios, where I was tempted to purchase some of the work on offer, we all went to a pub called the Dog and Bell, which I must promote as being the best pub in London. Not only did it serve great beer and have a bar-billiard table (which I have no idea how you play) they also serve great food. However, we were cutting it fine for time and browsing the timetable we discovered that there was very little time to catch the train from Deptford to London bridge. The staff at the Dog and Bell very kindly packed my and v's meal into take away cartons, and we had 10 min to get to the station, which we made with about 90 seconds to spare. Finally getting in to St Pancras about 10 min before the train left, leaving us a little flustered, but the food really was delicious. There will be some photos upladed to my flickr sets shortly.

Wedding photos

My dad sent me his photos from Sal's wedding, but it's still disappointing that I don't have mine. I really did have some good photos. However, some of these are ok, despite the lack of any interesting shots. There are a few of me dancing with Sal, so i am pleased that at least there is a record of that. The whole set can be viewed in my flickr set.
Had a great time in London yesterday, and I shall blog more extensively about my time once I've got some photos to go with the text. They are still on v's camera at the moment.

Brew

This weekend me and v are off down to London again. One of the main reasons is to attend my friends gallery which is advertised here. I really recommend going along if you live in the deptford area. I've also signed up for a pro account on flickr which means I can now order all my photos into sets which will aid your viewing pleasure. Also for newsreader type peeps just to let you know that my post last night was unfinished when it was first published, so you may have missed a whole load of interesting information, or not. You'll just have to pop over and have a look at my blog!

Teletext reviews, and other stories

Originally uploaded by me.

How exciting, today I got two of my gig reviews on teletext on the same day. I wonder if that is some kind of record? They are my reviews for the Adem gig and Radiohead gig. They have been uploaded to flickr, and you can read them more clearly by clicking on them.
So what else have I been doing, well I have ordered a couple of road maps in preparation for driving through france and germany on my world cup expedition. I turned to amazon to find some cheap ones, but I obviously did not pay much attention to what I was buying, being lead in fact by the picture and price. So on monday I received the worlds smallest raod atlas for france, that could probably fit in my pocket. Although it does show all the major roads, when they congregate upon a city they become hidden amongst some yellow blob donating the city, so hard to see how one circumnavigates said city and continues in the desired direction. The next day I get home and my housemate presents me with a huge box that thankfully arrived when he was in to sign for it. What's this I thought, well the most comprehensive german road map available in the world.....ever!

Originally uploaded by me.

It's so large I reckon it almost logs each blade of grass. So I now have a couple of contrasting maps for my road trip. I also went to donate some blood. I was a little disappointed that the guy next to me filled his bag in considerably less time then me, and that i was a few minutes slower than my previous donations. No records beaten there. Due in part, said the nurse, that although my veins are very prominant, they are also very thin (like me - I thought) and as such were hard to get the needle in, and if the angle was not at the optimum it would slow the delivery. Still it was good to go, and in the waiting time I had chance to browse thru the independent that Bono had edited to highlight HIV in Africa.

Adem

Last night I went to see Adem with v and andrew at the boardwalk. I really like Adem, who I first saw supporting the delgados at Leicester Charlotte a few years ago. He's also a very nice chap and had this photo with me and the rest of his band, so it looks like I have a rock star friend! It was a really good evening, and it has been quite some time since I was last at the Boardwalk, it's a wonderful venue and allows you to get really close to the band. Support from local band the gentlemen, was quite good. Some of the tunes had me tapping my foot, but I found the lead singer quite annoying and didn't much like his voice either. Adem had also brought along a guitarist support act who was quite superb, playing some really delicate tunes. Unfortunately the start of Adem's set was marred with chatting from supporters of the local act, a common and annoying occurence at such gigs. Adem nicely alleviated the situation some what by asking, "can you hear me at the back? Cos I can hear you". He really is wonderful to watch playing the guitar and then also his odd assortment of intruments. An old organ powered by pedals, some kind of plucking instrument and loads of weird percussion instruments played by his band. I really enjoyed it. There are more photos on flickr which I must thank v for. She brought her camera which I used to take some pictures, and she has gone out of her way to email them to me before heading off to ireland for a few days.

What was that you tried to say?

Despite the wonderfully warm weather giving way to grey skies and rain for the weekend, I still had a great time. On saturday me and v went to Lancaster to meet up with my cousin, after a meal and a drink around the town we went back to their house to watch a quite superb FA cup final. From the comedic west ham goals giving them the advantage to the sublime strike from a hobbling gerrard, it was incredibly enjoyable for the neutral. The extra time period provided amusement watching player after player succomb to their physical limitations and fall to the ground, or even hopping! A shame it had to end in penalties, but the result was inevitable as the advantage swung right into liverpools grasp after that wonderful strike from gerrard.

After the match we headed into Blackpool, a journey which saw us pass a group of jubilant boys stood at the bottom of their garden, bare-chested, waving aloft their liverpool shirts. They looked so happy, and I honked my horn and gave a jubilant punch of the air as we went past. The reason we had gone to blackpool was to see radiohead live. I was quite excited to see them perform live for the first time, and was particularly pleased that the set was heavily weighted to the kid a and amnesiac sessions. Before the performance began we managed to find a good vantage point near the wheelchair viewing platform. V was able to stand on the lower regions of the slope to enable her to see, I noted the presence of 10 video projectors on the lighting rig and was very impressed when the back curtain fell to reveal 10 screens arranged in various keystone formations. These were used to project visuals and also live footage of the band from various angles. The music sounded great, and it was interesting to see the way such sounds are made, viewing jonny greenwood amidst a bank of sequencers and effects pedals.
Both jonny and thom played drums, guitars and keys, just highlighting their musical adeptity. New material on the whole sounded good, apart from one I found quite boring. Ranging from piano led anthemic melencholia to a track that saw thom playing drums, that sounded quite punky. I've submitted a review to teletext, but i guess they'll have many such reviews, and without a digital camera I may not be able to record the review should it make the teletext grade. So just or you, I shall include it here!

The anticipation of seeing radiohead live, came to an end as a curtain fell revealing 10 screens in varying keystone formations. These provided a visually stunning backdrop with live projections of band members. Playing a mix of material from all but their earliest album, radiohead displayed their musical diversity moving seamlessly between guitars, keys, percussion and banks of sequencers highlighting their musical genius. New material was well received, ranging from anthemic melancholy to injections of a guitar heavy vitriolic objurgate. As Thom dances, you realise that this isn’t just music to make you feel miserable, but contains a hope within.

Also I must let you know that siobhan has updated her blog about her time in Kenya.

Update - I have got some photos from the radiohead gig from v and have uploaded some of them to flickr.

Chrysanthemum tea

V has been bringing me a few bits of chinese fare for me to try recently. I've tried Chrysanthemum tea (or 'guk fa' which is how i phonetically spell what it sounds like in cantonese) which was quite interesting, like a sweet tea. Then yesterday she cooked me some really nice pork and chive dumplings. These were really tasty, and I think I may invest in some more in the future, they were relatively cheap. Also got chance to try and improve my chop stick technique - i'm still pretty rubbish at it.

World Cup

The tickets have arrived, and i've completed the itinery for our stay in germany. I'm really looking forward to it, especially the opportunity to see a live match, even though it is tunisia vs saudi arabia. At least the stadium will be magnificent!

Talking of the world cup, sven certainly pulled a huge surprise by including Theo Walcott. It is certainly strange to include such an inexperienced youngster, however highly rated he may be. I don't think he's even played in the premiership yet. I guess proven strikers like Marcus Bent and Defoe must be very annoyed with the choice. I think one of the reasons he is chosen is that it will cause such a media furore, in fact just look at increase in blog references. This has taken the interest away from rooney, allowing him some more space for recovery. Also, any potential opposition will have almost no information on the teenager, and will possibly cause them some tactical worries.

Posts that contain Theo Walcott per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Normal service resumed

There has been server problems at work (not of course that I blog from there) and then blogger seems to have been playing up too. But I'm back, and the wedding blog is up. Though still rueing the loss of my camera - if you happen to see it lying around cambridge, let me know.

Wedding

So this weekend my cousin sal got married.

Me and my sis were staying with some of our other cousins in a cottage to the south of cambridge, we headed down on friday night and arrived just before 10pm. It was great to see them all again, as it is not often these days that we meet up. Amelie had grown considerably and was now sporting a full head of hair.

After a wonderful continental breakfast and a relaxing morning, we all got ready and left for cambridge via the park and ride. Once in the town it was necessary to find a route to Selwyn College, where the ceremony would be taking place. Being a tourist town there was no shortage of public maps and we were soon on our way to the destination. We hadn't eaten, and time was pressing, however we came across a great noodle bar, dojo who readily obliged in bringing our food within minutes of our order. It tasted great and was enough to satisy our apetite during the wedding ceremony. We made it to the college in plenty of time, and the setting was truely beautiful. The college chapel is such an incredible venue for such a ceremony, and the building really did have a sense of the prescence of god about it, whether that was due to the magnificent arcitecture and ornamentation or the accumulation of years of fervent prayer within its walls, i don't know.

As Sal arrived and came down the aisle, she looked radiant, and her face was glowing, I've never seen such a large smile! Then as we began singing the first hymn, the sound was fantastic. So many people singing with gusto, and this accompanied by wonderful harmonies from the choir. I really enjoyed the ceremony in all it's high anglican formality. There was a real sense that this ceremony was not just celebrating the relationship of matthew and sal, but also their continuing relationship with god.

The wedding was then followed by photos and a wonderful meal, during which the rain began to come down heavily. The meal was proceeded with a ceilidh in cambridge guild hall. Dan, ben, sarah and myself decided to walk there, despite the rain, calling into a cocktail bar on the way. Once inside we got some drinks, including a very nice ale from the cask, and then my m&d arrived by taxi! It took them longer than us, and we'd walked and stopped for a drink. I really enjoyed the evening, and I was quite privilaged to have a dance with the bride.

Now where are the photos you may be wondering, well where indeed. Due to some drunken foolishness I appear to have misplaced my camera, somewhere between the guildhall and returning to our cottage, presumably in the back of the taxi. How annoying, and not the loss of the camera, but those few photos amongst the ones I took that I was really pleased with, including one of me and sal.

There are some photos on other blogs here or here.

Yesterday I was mostly a spoke in the wheel of democracy

Yesterday I was up super early to help the democratic process flow. You see I was enlisted to help as a polling clerk again, a job that requires me to tick off voters as they vote and ensure no-one tries to vote fraudulently. It's quite boring, but I quite enjoy it, you get to see all sorts of people, and I feel like I'm helping them utilise their democratic right to vote. I was stationed at a polling station in stannington, amidst a council estate of a mostly aged population. It was interesting to hear some of their grumbles, particularly that they had not seen or heard anything from the people standing, nor had they received any literature. So it just goes to show that a lot of people really do want to identify with the candidates and get a sense that the candidates are interested in helping them. There was of course a few people annoyed with the polling station, some posh guy from one of the larger houses (outside the council estate) moaning that it has taken him 30 minutes to find the polling station. "How is anyone supposed to find this station if they are not familiar with the area"

Errrm, you live here, I found it ok and I live in another part of sheffield. Just goes to show that a lot of people take no interest in their surrounding neighbourhood, especially, i guess, when it is a council estate!

Perhaps the chap wanted his own polling station at the end of his drive!

Then there was an old chap, who according to our records had requested a postal vote and so could not vote in person, insisted that he should be able to vote. He qualified this belief by saying, not only had he not requested a postal vote, but that he was around before the polling station was even built and had always voted there, so wished to do so again!

The police popped by twice to check that everything was running smoothly, and one of the candidates (the liberal democrat) did actually pop in and thank us for working at the station and to enquire how the voting was going. He seemed quite a nice chap actually.

Starting at 0700 and seeing about 10 votes an hour until lunch, it was certainly quiet, but time used to do some reading. The peak hour was from 1900-2000 with 34 votes cast.

A number of people who came to vote said that they had come to ensure that the bnp didn't get in, but thankfully they had no candidates in this particular ward (though those wards where they did have candidates they actually gained a significant number of votes).

A full round up of the sheffield council results can be found here.

Second best

Was dropped off tonight near cricket inn road and i walked in to town where I met v. She had brought my trainers, which was great, these new shoes I have for work/up coming wedding, need walking in and they were really hurting my feet. We then trundled over to the town hall where a great throng of people had gathered to wave at the jubilant sheffield united team. Because there were already so many people there it would be impossible to make a local tv appearance of anything more substantial than being a mere pixel. However we waited for the open top bus to arrive whilst being deafened by kids blowing these air horn things. Things that amused me about the occasion were the groups of people around the town hall selling all manner of shef utd related 'goods' from celebratory t-shirts to the more bizarre and poorly selling red and white furry snake things on a stick. They looked rubbish! Also there were people selling balloons shaped like the premiership trophy, let's put this in perspective for a moment, chelsea are the premiership champions, shef utd have merely been promoted to that division. The other thing that amused me about the event was the team holding aloft the tiny silver plate that marked their runners-up acheivement in the championship. Took the bus up to crookes and picked up my car, it works again - yay!

The car is fixed

Had to walk up to the garage yesterday and inform them that my car was broke and could they please fix it, then had to work out which construction site I could get to easiest from a train station. What a pain. Got the train again this morning, but am now informed that the car is fixed. Hooray. Just in time, as tomorrow I am working as a poll clerk for the local elections, and without a car the journey to the polling station at such an early hour would've been quite a chore. The annoying thing is that the money i'll earn as a poll clark, which I was aiming to put towards my israel trip, will now be syphoned straight into car repairs. Boooo.

Later today I'm going to attempt to become a tv star again by watching the sheffield utd promotion winning team parading around sheffield city centre. Local news star here I come!

Don't you just love it when your car breaks

Church on sunday was really nice, we had some good discussions over our coffee. In an extra exciting manner we had a new attendee, an elderly lady who was in Sheffield to watch the snooker final at the crucible with her grandson. She wanted to attend church in the morning and her grandson found cv on the internet. How cool is the internet! I'd like to think that she chose our church on the basis of the really neat website that andrew has created for us, alas I think her choice was influenced by our geographical proximity to her grandson's house. Never-the-less an internet searching attendee is good news. It was also good to see hp again, as she was back visiting her parents. However, I did notice that the key was beginning to get stuck in the ignition and I was having increasing difficulty in turning it.

In the evening we held our monthly alternative service, using an interesting visual display. A centre piece of moniters, rather than a big screen, which we sat around in a circle. Used some visual meditative stuff, including this worship trick from Jonny Baker. After the service, I struggled to get the car to start again, and after unloading the sound equip at the community centre the car just would not start. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. Grrrrr, car trouble!!! Had to walk home.

Got up monday morning and walked back up to the car and managed to get it to start, and drove it straight to local garage and parked it up. Walked back home and enjoyed a nice bbq lunch with some friends, followed by watching the wonderful crouching tiger, hidden dragon. Watched a bit of the snooker final too, but it was quite dull. Trying to enthuse v about the greatness of the game was rather difficult when you'd have to wait about 15 min into a frame before a single ball was potted!

Spring in my step

Had a nice lie in this mornng, finished watching a recoreded episode of Dr Who over breakfast, before spending a good two hours in the garden. Digging up weeds, relocating the path from under the encrouching grass, cutting the edges and a general tidy round. Gave the lawn a quick cut, and was quite impressed with my effort. Went into town and enjoyed browsing round the many market stalls in place as part of the continental market, bought some food and went and ate it infront of the large screen outside the crucible. This has been erected to allow people to sit outside and enjoy coverage of the world championship snooker taking place inside.

I then popped into fopp and bought the new album by adem. He is an ex-member of a band called fridge, and his debut album, homesongs, was my favourite album of 2004. It just got better with every listen, and I still enjoy it now. I first saw adem supporting the delgados in Leicester, and then agin in Leeds.

I've also seen him supporting explosions in the sky, but have now bought tickets to see his own headline set at the boarwalk next month. He plays a beautiful folky mix, using borrowed sounds from odd instruments and peculiar percussian items. Have just listened to the first track of the new album, love and other planets, and am sure that this will be equally as good.

Judge Dreadnought

The judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court has hidden his own secret code in his written judgement, the news story is here.

In his written judgement he has put odd letters here and there in italics, and these form the basis of the code. I had a look at the judgement document but it was a 71 page pdf document, and it's not easy to scour and pick out the letters in italics. However, someone has cracked the code and the fairly dull hidden message can be read here.

T(r)ying ties

I rarely wear a tie, and so when it comes to occasions of state, when one is required. It can often take a number of attempts to atire oneself with a tie that has a good knot and is of sensible length. However, Dave at cartoon church has drawn a guide that is most helpful and should surely ensure that I look quite dapper whenever the wearing of a tie is required. Perhaps I'll send it to the guys on match of the day, as I notice some of the ex-footballers are so bad at donning a tie that they just do without alltogether.

Exciting music news

Some regular readers may remember I was quite excited earlier this year in the knowledge that the much missed Delgados announced they were planning to release a compilation of all their Peel Sessions. Well I can let you all know that this magnificent double album will be released in the UK on June 12th, so make sure you go out and buy it! You'll be pleased to know that some of the fans (including myself) noted the absence of 'Parcel of Rogues' from the original tracklist and asked for it's inclusion which was agreed. This was recorded as part of a Burns Night special, where one of Robert Burns' poems was read over some music they composed. There is even opportunity to listen to one of the tracks on Chemikal Underground's myspace site.
Here you will also learn of the imminant release of a further Chemikal Underground compilation which will include tracks by all past and present bands that the label has put out, including very rare work from Interpol, which I own ;)
And it's not just music, coming complete with a DVD of promo videos and some interviews too.

weekend

I had quite a nice weekend, did a bit of shopping on saturday morning before taking a train to derby to see my sis and give her a birthday gift. After opening the gifts and showing me her new dresses she took me on a walk to local alvaston castle. Despite it's magestic name, it was actually just a grand manor house with castlations. The weather was pleasent and I enjoyed chatting and catching up with my sis, and hearing about the mission trip she'd been on in Poland. That evening I went to meet v at the train station on her return from the second leg of her european tour.
It rained over night, which was just typical, my lawn was becoming more like a jungle every day (well, ok, so that's an exageration, more like a 'cress head' egg that had been left unattended to grow a strangled matt of overlong hair), and everytime I had oppertunity to cut the grass it would rain.

However, after church (a nice sermon from PR, though he finds it increasingly difficult to preach due to his illness, needing the prompt from his notes, yet still has a lot of interesting comments to make) the sun was out and I decided to give it a first cut, and attend to it again next weekend. In fact after the job was complete me and v sat out for quite sometime enjoying the april sunshine.

Miserable weather

It's dank and grey here today, the morning covered in thick fog that has now progressed into a miserable rain shower. However, there are places in the world where rain is celebrated and a dry rainy season is seen as a disaster. Siobhan is in meru, kenya and spoke about the long awaited rains in a previous blog. Today she tells us a bit more about some of the characters in the children's home, which you can read here.

Manchester Passion

There's been quite a few clips placed on 'you tube', should you wish to see some of the scenes from the Manchester Passion.

Joy division - love will tear us apart Jesus breaking bread with disciples.

morrissey and smiths songs including Tim Booth (of the band James) as Judas, singing heaven knows i'm miserable now.

someone in the crowd - some footage filmed from the audience, where you can listen to a not-so-tuneful crowd singing along!

London

Some of the things I did in London:

Met up with some uni friends in covent garden, had a nice meal and shared some recent stories, laughed again at old ones too. Went on a walk around london with v visiting buckingham palace, westminster, whitehall, st pauls, millenium bridge, lambeth, site of old stock exchange, nelson's column (which was hidden by scaffolding). Also saw quite a few guards in all their regalia, seemingly milling around, occasionally marching, and having their photo taken with tourists. Got me thinking about those army adverts, young lads getting excited about being in the army. Right then lad, it's your job to wear this, hold this sword and have your photo taken looking like a bit of a tit. Join the army - be the best!

Went to church on easter sunday morning, which i'd selected by the fact that it had the best website of any located near clapham common. Although the worship was pretty formal, the sermon was actually pretty good and I'll reflect further in my easter blog. In the afternoon we took a 'flight' on the london eye, a term which v considered, at the least misleading, and just stupid sounding. However, it does sound much better than a 'revolution' on the eye, which is the only alternative I could proffer. Despite it's fairly exuberent price, we did enjoy it, you can see for miles and the views are quite spectacular. The angular structural framework of the eye also fascinated me, and made some nice photos. In fact, because the sky was quite dull and grey most of my photos haven't come out with as good as resolution as I would like. Where to go next, no idea, but to take full advantage of v's underground day pass we chose a station, trying Paddington in the hope that we may find an abandonned bear from deepest darkest peru. We saw a little one in a shop window, but more fortuitously we stumbled across London's longest bar. Had a nice meal, watched some football and drank some beer.

Monday v left for france, taking a link to the airport from kings cross station. I decided to leave my large luggage at the left luggage booth, which was near platform 9. Wondered if perhaps we might see platform 9¾ and I got quite excited to find that there is one, so rushed through the wall to check it out. Even though it was nearly 11am there was no train on the platform, I guess it only leaves once a year, so i came back, there's a picture of me entering the platform! After v left I spent a bit of time browsing museums, the tate modern, science museum, and I also found the memorial to diana managing not to injure any limbs whilst enjoying it. The 'fountain' is actually pretty good, and I'm sure i would've loved it as a child, watching the different speeds of water, paddling it with my hands.

So a nice break was had, apart from getting black snot when i blew my nose, does everyone get that in london I wonder?

Trailer

I've been in london for the easter weekend doing some touristy things with v, meeting some friends and visiting some museums. I had a really great time and hope to put a few thoughts and pictures on here later, as well as flickr. If i get chance I may also do a retrospective blog with some easter thoughts too.

Just finished watching the manchester passion, which i thought was really very good. Now I don't know if that's cos I like the music and the story of christ, but I thought it was really well done, apart from the boring m-people/robbie songs that the mary character was singing. In fact the use of joy division 'love will tear us apart' during the last supper was really quite powerful.

Pitta bread reminder

Mogwai teletext review

Doing some food shopping, and I was delving through the packs of pitta bread to find the pack with the longest time before the best before date is reached. Found one with the 18th as a BBE, nice one. And that's my sister's birthday too, I thought.


Hang on....


that means it's her birthday soon... best think about getting her a card and something then hadn't I!

Got another one of those teletext reviews again. Did I tell you I received a £10 HMV gift voucher for one of my reviews being review of the week! I could almost be making a living out of this. Thing is, I never saw my review on it's glorious review of the week pedestal, so don't know which one it is for. Don't reckon this one's a winning review though.

Mogwai

So got up at 4am today in order to take v to the airport, and I can tell you, getting up at that time is just wrong, my whole body was screaming to go back to sleep. but once I'd coaxed it into a bit of life with a quick wash, I was soon feeling fine. In fact it reminded me of the sleeve notes to 'everything is wrong' by moby, where under the heading things that are right, he has listed: staying up really late, getting up really early. I think he is right.

But not all the time....

After seeing v off it was actually quite nice seeing the sun rising, a large orange globe peeking over the top of the horizon, sending shafts of light streaming between the clouds. The roads were still fairly quiet and I made good time in getting to work.

That eve I met up with janet and andrew to go and see mogwai live at the plug in sheffield. I do enjoy seeing this band live. The venue was heaving, but we managed to meander through the crowds and find our way into a small back room that gave a good vantage to the proceedings. To far to observe any fingering on the fret board, but nice and high to be able to watch the whole band without heads being in the way. It sounded great, I particulalry enjoyed glasgow mega snake off the new album. In addition I was extremely pleased to see stuart pick up a bass and sit on a stool, as I knew this meant they were going to play 'new paths to helicon part 1' which has to be one of my favourite ever tracks. It really is quite beautiful.




The show ended with an encore, finishing with the superb 'mogwai fear satan' though stuart seemed to indulge himself at the end playing with all the effects pedals. Causing quite a noise too.



There some more pics on flickr, but they aren't too great cos we were so far away from the stage.

Just sent this review to teletext, so will have to see if I'm successful again:

Can blood boil like this at the sound of a noisy tape that I've heard? So starts their debut album, and still mogwai produce a noise of blood curdling proportions. I doubt Roger Hargreaves could’ve envisaged a character to do justice to the name Mr Beast. Mogwai, however, succeed with their new album. Tonight unleashing the ferocious Glasgow Mega Snake, that even a parsel tongue of Voldemort’s standing would fail to control. Such noise then contrasted with delicate melodies, including the sublime ‘new paths to helicon’.

Greenbelt ticket

Just bought my ticket for greenbelt festival, I'm already really looking forward to it, and I actually got quite excited about the fact that Daniel Beddingfield will be playing. Which concerns me a little, but some of his songs aren't too bad.

Anyway, of more interest, siobhan sends an update to her time in kenya on her blog .

It feels like spring

Today it really feels like spring, the sun is certainly beating down, and feels nice and warm through the window, though I know it's still pretty cold outside. On the way to work I enjoyed the crisp blue skies, the green grass and the flowers beginning to appear. Especially they bright yellow daffodils, which always remind me of the secret garden, cos the gardener in that book called them daffydowndillies.

This is really just a quick post to let you know that I've recently started a bible study blog, with a few others, so we'll see how that experiment progresses. If you fancy a bit of bible study feel free to visit the site and comment.

Backblog

The last few days have been quite busy, and because I don't like writing great long blogs I shall write a few retrospective blogs. That way you can judge by the headings whether or not it is something you want to read.
The cable box is replaced, so the tv is back, not that it's been missed terribly, though replaced just in time to record the repeat of 24.

I've also uploaded some pics from my walk with jonah in north yorkshire a few weeks ago. They are in flickr, just click on the link on the right to view them. Some of them are really good, the snow looks great.

Sunday worship

During the service at cvm on sunday the local preacher, AM, led us in a very useful discussion on forgiveness. Looking at examples of those who struggled to forgive atrocities that had happened to them, and others who had forgiven such things. There were many useful contributions as we accepted the difficulty that forgiveness can bring to individuals, and how as christians we shouldn't act in judgement over those struggling to forgive. One useful comment i remember, is that peter said that he couldn't forgive, and that it was christ in him that forgave. I really am enjoying the way that we are doing church, sitting informally, sharing tea and coffee. Sometimes a formal traditional service, sometimes a discussion, but always an atmosphere of love and acceptance.

I was reminded that the president of the methodist conference, rev tom stuckey, was speaking at a rededication service for one of the circuits oldest methodist societies, 250th anniversary. He spoke well and continued promoting the themes he addressed in his presidential address to conference. To move away from worshiping a tribal chapel deity, to explore the vastness of a creative god that surpasses knowledge. To do theology, talk of god and share wisdom and experience. To be inspired by the spirit of god to explore new ways of worshiping him and sharing him.

Football saturday

Went to a chesterfield match for the first time in a while, with it being a local derby against former european champions nottingham forrest, I decided it was worth going. I'd also managed to convince v that going to a football match is something she needed to experience whilst in england. We went by train and arrived at chesterfield station just as a horde of forrest fans were being ushered into a group surrounded by police and escorted into town. V thought that this was rather strange, and wished she's managed to take a surreptitious photo of the proceedings. Met up with scott and after a bite to eat we headed to saltergate.

Actually the match was very enjoyable despite the defeat. Some good flowing football was played, and with a little more imagination in the last third, plus an improvement to our defence, chesterfield could become strong contenders next season. Picken's goal for Chesterfield was quite superb, a deft shot from outside the area into the top corner. The banter between the rival fans proved quite amusing to v.

After the match we met up with john, a friend from my childhood days in pilsley, and suzanne who were in the area for the weekend. They're both huge liverpool fans, and we found a pub to watch the evening match. It was great to see them both and hear that John's dad has made a remarkable recovery.

North by northwest

During thursday the cable tv box broke, and despite my numerous attempts to get it replaced swiftly, the best they could manage was monday eve. Well ok, there was an option of a technician coming sometime between 8am and 7pm on sat, which I just laughed at. How inconvenient is that! Anyway, despite the broken tv, I had previously recorded north by northwest, which me and v watched after eating. To be fair the movie is pretty poor despite it's acclaim, rather predictable with the laughable donning of sunglasses to go incognito. Still it has shots of mount rushmore, and we tried to remember who the images depicted. Interesting to read the monument's history later, finding out that it was built cos there wasn't a great deal to come to south dakota for.

Parsnips

Image by Dave Walker.

It seems that talk of parsnips is all the rage on the blog front, so I thought I'd join in. Actually all this talk of parsnips probably resulted in me purchasing a number of said vegetables yesterday. Cooked them for me and v, 5 min in microwave to soften, then roasted in hot oven, with honey glaze for about 30 min.


There were other things on the plate too.

My sis rang last night and reminded me to tell you that her b'day card for me did arrive. It was about 3 days late, and I must point out, it had absolutely nothing do do with how she had written my post code. No, not at all!

A nuclear future, could energy use become a form of oppression?

Recently it seems that energy demand is back in the news as the labour party announce that we are not on line to meet proposed pollution reduction targets. This brings to light again the ongoing debate over utilising nuclear power to enable such pollution targets and energy demand to be met. David b sent me a link to a report by a group called christian ecology link, which can be read here, who oppose the use of nuclear power.
Thankfully this report was produced stating that this was not the view held by all christians, which is good, so often it seems that people are talking on behalf of the entire christian community without acknowledging the communities diversity. But what do I think, well, it certainly is a difficult issue, but if we want to continue using energy at the current rate then I see that nuclear seems to be a sensible option. Even if we don't use nuclear power in this country, we continue to import energy from places like france, which of course gets most of it's electricity from nuclear power. It's not something I'm really clued up on, but it seems that nuclear energy is probably the best solution to meet growing energy needs and pollution reduction targets.
I'm no economist either, but I realise that energy use and consumption is linked to economic progress, and simply moving high energy consuming, and large polluting businesses to other countries solves the problem only for the uk. I think that if we are to consider these questions in the light of being stewards of God's creation, then it is important that we consider the creation as a whole. I don't believe it is prudent for the West to begin implementing stringent pollution and energy reduction measures on the entire world, that will of course result in economic slow down in those developing countries. This is where my argument for the use of nuclear stems from, though I don't believe that this is the answer alone, it needs to be part of regulated energy saving and increase use of renewable sources too. If we wish to see africa exit it's cycle of poverty, and see the continued development of the developing countries, we must expect their energy demands to increase. It's extremely unlikely that we in the West will wish to change our lifestyle habits to use less energy, despite increasing costs. Though some of the extreme energy wastage like air conditioned gardens should be abolished. So in order for these developing countries to meet such growing energy demands, whilst trying not to increase pollution, nuclear would seem a prudent option. I know there are all kinds of concerns about nuclear waste and the threat of terrorist activities, but is it right to inhibit the economic growth and the energy consumption of the poorest nations by imposing strong anti-nuclear and anti-fossil fuel legislation. To me this becomes yet another form of oppression of the rich on the poor. Nuclear perhaps isn't the best answer, but i think it will become a necessity. I'm well aware of the carbon and financial costs of building and decommissioning nuclear reactors, but if we develop a good system of management and safety that is implemented worldwide it could create an industry in itself, thereby reducing much of these costs through competition.
hmm this is a bit rambly, and it is a difficult issue, and perhaps requires more thought and prayerful consideration by christian communities. Of course it won't, they seem too busy faffing around with their own internal structures or worrying about gays and women.

But if you want to have a go at working out a good electricity energy use strategy for the uk by 2020 the bbc have a good electricity calculator you should give it a go.

We've got ten thousand dollars!

We've got ten thousand dollars!
We've got ten thousand dollars!
We've got ten thousand dollars!
We've got ten thousand dollars!

well I don't really, but I feel like wayne and garth getting a tv programme deal, because I've just secured tickets for a world cup match on the re-sale feature. First into the shop to purchase tickets for saudi arabia vs tunisia, all together too. Yeah ok, it may not be the match of the tournament, but it is a world cup ticket nonetheless. Get in!!!!!!

wish I wasn't at work, cos I want to dance around the room - maybe I will anyway!

nice day

It's been quite a nice day today. It started with being gently awakened from my slumber by the morning sun filling my bedroom. Much better than being rudely torn from some strange dream and forced into reality by my radio alarm clock! I'm probably still quite tired, but feel much better for waking up naturally. Got up, had a bit of breakfast and then tentatively rang up for radiohead tickets. I rang up about 8 mins before the 9am start, and got through to the queuing message, so I hung on. Ten minutes later I was purchasing a couple of expensive tickets. Excellent, the first time I've been successful in claiming tickets for an oversubscribed event. It's going to be fantastic to see this band live for the first time, even more so in a relatively small venue.

Took some bottles and jars to the recycling point and popped into tescos to get a few bits and pieces for the church coffee morning that I'd be hosting. Quite a few people came round and we enjoyed chatting over tea and coffee, mainly trying to work out which items from our old building we still wished to keep and which could be given to a new home, scrapped, or archived. Fascinating to hear some of the stories behind certain of the items from our elder members.

Afterwards I took a stroll into town to pay in a cheque, the weather was really quite fine, lovely sunshine, almost t-shirt weather. After paying in the cheque I began browsing some clothes shops, but after forking out for the tickets this morning I felt I'd spent more than enough already. Decided to head up to the library, got asked to do some market research, which I agreed to. Fairly dull questions about fizzy drinks. Eventually I made it to the library, and after borrowing a dvd, I headed up to the Graves gallery. I'm ashamed to say that this was the first time I'd browsed this gallery since moving to sheffield almost 8 years ago! However, it was great just to amble around the galleries and enjoy some of the artwork on offer. I'm not much of an art connoisseur, and can't really articulate why it is that I like some works more than others. Aspects I admire are the use of colours, the technical skill required in the piece, the questions or challenges the piece might be making. During today's visit I was struck especially by two pieces. One was a sculpture called 'the kiss', which depicted a naked couple in a passionate kissing embrace, the girl much shorter, reaching up to meet the stooping boy. The embrace really felt loving, and it was only as I walked around the sculpture for perhaps the third time that I realised that the couple were both physically handicapped, perhaps the result of their mother's taking thalidomide during gestation. It was amazing that this realisation was merely secondary to the image of love I saw. Which I think says volumes about love and discrimination.
The second work that struck me was a portrait, there was something about the features of the portrayed girl that drew me to the painting. I was delighted to see it was by Degas, as I had previously admired some of his work in a gallery in edinburgh, which made me pat my artistic taste on the back.

Kenya update

There's a new update from siobhan and her experiences in meru. Today she descibes some of the kids in the home, becoming more accustomed to kenyan living and translates some kenyan phrases. As always it's a fascinating read.

28 pence later

I'd noticed the last few days that the bp petrol station near the barnsley office seemed to be changing the petrol price frequently In a morning it would be 88.9 and in the evening 89.9. It dawned on me that the reason was due to the fact that they had not set the sign correctly, so on one side (facing me on the way into work) it said 88.9 and 89.9 on the other. Well this morning I needed to fill up with fuel, and this discrepency was still present, so before filling up I enquired what the price was. The staff said it was 89.9, I said that it was advertised at 88.9 and that is what I would be paying. "How are we going to work out how much it will be?" was the response!! So I made it easy for them, filling up with exactly 28 litres, that'll be 28*(89.9-88.9) hardly a testing bit of maths. I told them I expected 28p back, which they duely gave me, though I'm sure if I said I was owed £2.80, they would've still obliged. On my way out I noticed a guy with a magnet on the end of a big stick carrying a number 9, going to correct the mistake. Apparently no one else had noticed it.

birthday boy

It was my b'day yesterday, and though i don't really feel old, i'm now noticing signs of ageing: grey hair, slight wrinkles around the eyes. Of course, like christmas, birthdays now fail to have the excitement and expectation of years gone by. I've not been giving my age in ever increasing fractions, in anticipation of using a new integer either. However, the day passed off ok, work was fairly busy, so it made the day go quickly, got a few b'day texts and emails, including a text from siobhan in kenya!

unfortunately my sister's card has got lost in the post, and I was quite disappointed at this. She's been taking card making classes, and I wanted to see what kind of a card she had made. I hope it arrives soon.

v came round in the eve, and had fastidiously wrapped my present in an old copy of OK (or some such celebrity mag) that she got from her room mate, cleverly disguising an england shirt in her desk lamp box. It's great, and I shall definitely be wearing it when i head over to germany during the world cup.

Met andrew, dave, matt and emma for a meal at a nice italian restaurant in croookes. I had a really nice meal, and enjoyed having my friends around too. Just a shame about the tina turner best of cd playing in the background. Emma suggested that the restaurant should be bring your own cds as well as wine! I think that would be much better. Though just thinking about it, perhaps the music was for me, you're simply the best! ;)

Yorkshire dales

On saturday went to visit jonah up in skipton. It was good to meet up again. He'd planned a great walk in the yorkshire dales, more specifically litton dale. It was actually a fairly tough walk, the hardest part being walking up onto old cote moor top. It was a pretty steep climb, and this was made more difficult by fairly deep snow and a bracing icy wind. The weather on the tops was in stark contrast to the mild, still weather of the valley below. The scenery was stunning, lovely brown colours of the hills, streaked with white snow, finally giving way to a white expanse as the summit was met. I do enjoy a really good walk.

After finishing the 12 mile hike, we were both tired and hungry, so finished the day with some fish and chips washed down with a few pints of real ale.

Got up early on sunday and drove back to sheffield in time for church. The journey back was made frustrating by the fact I came through leeds to pick up the M1. Whenever I go to leeds I can never get onto the motorway, I've no idea who did the town planning and sign distribution, but it's absolutely terrible. I know I'm really close to the motorway, but due to the one way systems, I follow the signs to lead me back to the road. Instead the signs seem to lead me in ever increasing circles, until i'm finally flung from some ring road system, completely disorientated, and more often than not, travelling in completely the opposite direction then that I was anticipating. It's the road equivalent of pin the tail on the donkey. Eventually I made it onto the m621 after following a sign for hull!!!

After church on sunday, went to my parents house with v for some sunday lunch, and to receive some b'day presents. It was a nice meal, and good to see m+d.

Una Cena

Yesterday we held a circuit service where the focus was on sharing a meal and conversations. Had a few technical stresses with the projector, but dp was able to sort it out, whilst I sorted out the sound. The tables were beautifully set out by some of the women from around the circuit. Baskets of fruit, bread boards with fresh bakes loafs, and plates of cheese. A simple liturgy was used to accompany the meal, starting with a song, some words, and then into the meal. About an hour was spent eating and chatting, and it was great to see everyone chatting away, so often there seems so little time to have a decent conversation with people at church. In fact I enjoyed a conversation with the super intendent minister, who has been around for about 4 years, but whom i knew very little about. Whilst the meal was taking place, I left a looping powerpoint presentation showing some nice scenery, interspersed with ideas for conversation. Why/when did you come to sheffield?Which church, if any, do you attend? What is your favourite record? What annoys you about church?

The meal concluded with the sharing of communion, followed by sharing of stories. Three people from around the circuit, shared a short story of how God had affected their life. It's so much more inspirational to hear real stories, from their experiences.

After the singing of a final song, people were encouraged to have a cup of tea and continue the conversation, perhaps with people that they weren't sat with, and it seemed most did.

It was an enjoyable evening, and I hope something we can do again.

Statins

It seems they're headline news again.

And indeed they are a wonderful drug in lowering cholesterol levels, but only if suffering from a condition that elevates LDL cholesterol levels, for example familial hypercholesterolaemia. A word of caution though, in my opinion I don't think these drugs are the best way of lowering LDL cholesterol for the general public, and it annoys me that they are available over the counter and this is why:

apologies for the technical nature of this, but it's important.

How statins work:

Statins are chemicals that bind to the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, and in so doing inhibits the conversion of HMG-CoA into mevalonate. This is the rate limiting step in the chemical pathway that the body uses to produce cholesterol. Yes that's right, we actually produce our own cholesterol, because it is a very important molecule, and the production of this molecule is highly regulated. The liver is the main production plant for cholesterol, and it is here that it can become packaged with other fats and proteins in the low density lipoprotein, the body's transport vesicle for lipids. Incredibly a single liver cell can somehow measure the amount of cholesterol present (i'll spare the details) and if it is too low, the cell will begin to produce more of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme. If there is sufficient cholesterol, then no more of the enzyme is required. Sometimes this pathway doesn't work properly and the cells continue to make the enzyme, and thus more cholesterol, which becomes packaged in LDL and can be dangerous.

Taking statins is really useful in these cases, as it inhibits the cholesterol produced by the body (de novo synthesis), thus the only cholesterol the body is utilising is that recieved from the diet.

All well and good, but in my investigations into the controlling mechanism that links the levels of cholesterol to gene expression, I carried out a few experiments using a cholesterol reduced model - ie a hamster fed diet supplemented with statins. Comparing the activity of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in livers from such treated animals to those fed a normal diet, I was initially amazed to find that it was around 10 times more active in the statin treated individuals. It was obvious when we thought about it, the statins had been washed away from my sample, during preparation of the assay, and the results suggested that in the statin treated animals there was far more of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme present. Of course, because without the enzyme the level of cholesterol in the cell can't be regulated, and the cell thinks there isn't enough cholesterol present, so makes more of the cholesterol synthesising enzyme (which can't work in the presence of statins in vivo. So a positive feedback loop is produced, making more and more of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme.

So you see, if anyone starts a course of statins, it's extremely dangerous to come off them, as the huge amount of emzyme produced would immediatley synthesise a whole load of cholesterol. So once started, you're on them for life. Very good for the pharmaceutical companies that sell them!

Cholesterol is also incredibly important in the developing embyo (exactly how is a mystery and something i'd love to investigate) and so these drugs are also very dangerous if you are pregnant.

My advise is this, if you don't have a genetic condition or illness that is raising your LDL cholesterol, then I suggest altering your diet, reducing foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol, a much better way to solve the problem.

snow and church

Woke up on sunday to find it snowing, and i thought to myself, i bet margorie (our nonagenarian member) will be really excited. Whilst I was setting up, one of the carers from the nursing home came round with a lady who wanted to go to church, I'd not seen her before and when I asked him what her name was he said 'margorie' I had visions that he'd been instructed to take margorie across the road, but had got the wrong lady ready by mistake. Much like when grampa simpson goes to fetch marge's mum, and brings the wrong lady. Anyway, after the confusion was settled, it seems she was new to the nursing home and wished to go to church. As expected when we did go to pick up Margorie, she was very excited to go out in the snow, and in fact on the way back I made her a snowball, which she took inside with her and dispatched at one of the careworkers, much to her amusement!

It was a nice service once again, and interesting discussions arose from our continued look at conversing and 'time to talk of god'. I found it a very rewarding time.

Chatsworth and Spirited Away

Went to Fopp on saturday morning to purchase the new mogwai album, mr beast, but whilst I was there I ended up purchasing much more....again! I see so many records that are relatively cheap and I just want to add them to my collection. In the end I only bought 4 cds, which I think was really good of me. A collection of mogwai radio sessions, isobel campbell's new album and 'songs for the deaf' by queens of the stoneage. Then met up with v and went to Bakewell for a browse round a peak market town and purchase some world famous bakewell pudding. We then walked over to see Chatsworth house, it's not too far away, just a couple of miles. The route we took was mainly small roads and bridle paths, but one of the paths going up through the woods was incredibly muddy. The previous days rains had turned the path thick with mud, so we decided to take a detour on the way back to miss it out. The weather was quite cold, but fairly bright, interspresed with the odd shower of snow. This snow was a bit weird, a bit like if drizzle turned to snow, not proper flakes, just little balls. We ate our picnic on a bench in the grounds of Chatsworth, being amused by flocks of sheep crossing the road and causing problems for passing motorists.




In the evening we watched spirited away, which v recommended, one of her favourite films. It was really good too, stunning animation, attention to detail and crisp colours, all in that typical anime style (which always reminds me of 'Battle of the Planets' or 'Ulysees 31').

65 Days of Static - teletext review

Got my 65DOS review on teletext yesterday:


ok, so it's not scientificaly accurate (but they may have been using radio mics, and it was being recorded by cameras), but it's artistic licence to put over a point ;)

Email from Meru

Another installment from Siobhan can be read here.

On another completely unrelated point, i watched the barcelona vs chelsea match last night. Ronaldhino - what a genius, i've never seen such perfectly executed flicks and tricks in a match. A footballing magician! If England are going to win the football world cup, then he is going to pose the biggest stumbling block.

Circuit meeting and brokeback mountain

On saturday we had our circuit meeting, where members representing all the methodist churches in the sheffield(west) circuit meet to discuss various issues. Recently we started trying a new experimental format for the meeting, as the previous evening meetings used to go on well into the night and were tiring. Now we hold the meeting on a saturday, starting with some opening worship to remind us why we are gathering. This is followed by some business, and then for an hour before lunch we split into groups to discuss various issues. This is a great way of meeting other people from around the circuit, and enables us to come up with some ideas and recommendations for the meeting, which can then be ratified in the afternoon business. During this time, the ordained members of the meeting serve us with tea, coffee and biscuits. A free lunch is provided and results in more time for fellowship with others, plus any reports from the group discussion can be prepared. After hearing the reports, further business is conducted, before the meeting concludes with a further act of worship. On the down side this new format does take up a fair amount of time on a saturday, but I think the benefits outweigh this.

At this meeting I joined a group discussing conversing and the 'time to talk of god' report. I found it a very useful and stimulating time of conversation, and we highlighted, amongst other things, the need for local preachers to pick up on items of current affairs that may result in conversations about God in the coming weeks. For example, what we might make of tony blair's comment that god will be the judge of his decision to invade iraq.

In the evening I went to see brokeback mountain at the cinema with a friend. I'd been meaning to see it for a while, see if it lived up to the hype. It didn't, despite some nice cinematography, I found the storyline a little disjointed as it tried to cram in details from the lives of these two cowboys over a period of several years. The onscreen chemistry between the two cowboy lovers seemed to take a while to ignite, and it seemed to start out of the blue, without any obvious feeling of affection or love between the parties. The storyline particularly highlighted the effects that society has on driving a loving homosexual relationship to the fringes of society. Causing people to be dishonest, leading double lives, as they try to fulfil their love without receiving the hatred of a bigotted society. Whatever theological stance one might have on this issue, to me it is clear that god would not wish such duality to cause bitterness and harm in a variety of ways, some of which are highlighted in this film. Thus i think the church, as witnesses of god through christ, should oppose societies hatred or bigotry towards homosexuals. Something that enrages me whenever I see coverage in the popular tabloid press, who claim not to be homophobic, yet produce huge headlines should anyone be 'caught' having a homosexual relationship.

This is my 200th post!

65 Days of Static

On Friday night I went to see 65 days of static and they were truely superb.

The night started with hardcore/metal act The Mirimar Disaster and although this genre is not my fave, I quite enjoyed their energy onstage, particularly the bass player, who seemed to be just one mass of long hair, with a few arms protuding, holding the bass guitar. The way his hair was flaling in all directions would've looked great on a L'Oreal advert. It quite amused me that between songs the singer was quite articulate and clear as he talked to the audience, to become some hoarse throated screaming incoherent babbler when he broke into song.

This was followed by a display in interesting beeps and electronica from Chris Clark, and although the music was interesting and challenging, the sight of a guy slowly twiddling knobs on a mixing desk just doesn't have the stage presence of careering around the stage with a guitar. I'm sure what he was acheiving is technically very difficult, but hard to appreciate in such a setting.

65DOS were greeted onstage by a video montage created by the media lounge a group of vj's who complemented the music with loads of incredible moving images throughout the gig. The sound tonight was absolutely stunning, the fusion of electronic beeps and mogwai-esque rock guitar music is simply like nothing else you've heard before. The guys on stage play and move around with incredible enthusiasm, and at times I'm afraid they are going to accidently hit each other with the bridge of a guitar. This is the future of gigging right here, electronica, rock, vj's all combining to produce an ecelectic cerebral experience, you could almost hear the synapses in my brain firing as they tried to cope with such aural and visual stimuli.

Another one of those...

My Morning Runner review was on teletext yesterday! Maybe I should be a music journalist...

Church council pancakes

We had our church council meeting last night, and with it being shrove tuesday, we had decided to meet at 6:30 and have some pancakes before going into the business of the meeting. We came up with this idea at our last council meeting back in November, dp had said that he'd be prepared to organise the cooking. So on sunday I asked him if he'd sorted anything out for it. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that, I'll put together a chilli and bring that along". I said I'd make a cheese and ham sauce. Sorted. So last night whilst cooking cheese sauce (with flour lump surprise) and dp was making litres of pancake mixture we wondered how we had managed without sixteen preparatory meetings and committees to discuss logistics, cutlery requirements, numbers of people, cost etc as is par the course for methodism. We'd just got on with it and a great meal was enjoyed by all, everyone mucking in to wash up and find cutlery etc. If only church was like this more often, it's so much simpler. The meeting went well, and we had time for a good conversation about where we go next, having just decided not to go ahead with our planned purchase of a building. A lot of time and effort had gone into the project, but it became apparent that our small congregation size would struggle to manage to cope with raising money for scheme, increasing weekly income to enable building to be a feasible venture, low numbers of people to manage building. It just seemed like too many inhibitory factors, though we continue to recognise that our way of approaching church is so different to what many people are doing. Our task is how to become better known in the community and amongst people who are becoming dissatisfied with traditional church.