July 2006
Thursday 6:
Off to the Orpheus with Philip to see 'Pirates of the Caribbean -
Dead Man's Chest'. Alan was already there, but working - he said
he didn't mind - and for some reason Ian didn't want to come. It
lives up to the publicity - superb and absurd action scenes,
breathtaking pace, some superb photography, just don't think too
deeply about it.
Saturday 8:
David and Carol Self's leaving do at St Agnes. Sue and I mingle
for an hour or so.
Sunday 9:
Ian is doing something at Highgrove, and Philip is heading off for
his Maths Summer School today, so I go in on the bus to David and
Carol's final service. It is both sad and deeply joyful, and the
place is full of people who want to say goodbye. They will be
sorely missed.
After the service, I miss the coffee and cake, and walk down to
Temple Meads to meet Sue and Philip to wave a tearful farewell.
Philip has to take a rule and compasses, so they must be doing
Euclid.
Friday 14:
at lunchtime, the bell rings at work, and it is Paul Thaxter
offering to take me to lunch. Paul used to work for Shaftesbury,
and helped CCM for a while soon after I arrived. He is now with
CMS, doing an event about 'Emerging Church' at Elim. It's good to
catch up.
Philip eventually gets back from his Summer School, despite the
train breaking down. It was Euclid, and he enjoyed it.
Saturday 15:
didn't finish preparing for the Adrian Plass event, so back in to
work by bus around 10:30, and work through to just gone 3. Off for
a quick sauna then train home.
Sue arrives home with the shopping, then I'm off again, pick up
the display boards and publicity material from the office, and on
to Longwell Green. Unfortunately, I miss the church and end up
driving much too far. Turn around, and try finding the church...
In the end it's an excellent evening. Adrian and Bridget were
excellent as usual, and Sue and I were invited to join them and
the organisers of the evening for a curry afterwards. It made for
a long day, but well worth doing. But, next time, possibly not the
weekend before we go on holiday.
Monday 17:
Ian is off on his school trip to Manor Adventure, and Sue and I
are taking the opportunity for a few days away.
Up early, final packing for Ian, and then Sue takes him in to
Bristol while I finish ours. Sue gets back, a final cup of tea,
load the car and we are off soon after 12. We are heading for
Kent, near Brand's Hatch, so most of the journey is on very
familiar roads.
Stop for lunch in a shopping centre on the outskirts of
Swindon. It's dreadfully hot, but the eating area is blissfully
cool inside. We are slowed down by various sets of roadworks, but
basically keep going. As usual, we avoid part of the M25 by coming
down the A322, through Guildford and up the A3.
Arrive at Silverleigh just after 6 pm. We are staying in a
small hotel - more like a guest house in many ways, but it does
have a sauna and swimming pool. The room isn't quite ready for us,
but within half an hour, we are shown around, moved in, and start
unpacking. Then we hit the swimming pool and sauna - wonderful
after a long and very hot journey. Even better - the showers are
strong and cold: always a good sign.
Tuesday 18:
a relaxing morning in and around the pool, and reading. It's still
hot. In the afternoon, we go for a walk through some nearby woods
where it is cool, and get an ice cream on the way back.
Wednesday 19:
it's still hot, but Sue has an idea. A nice, modern,
air-conditioned cinema must be an excellent place to hide. The
staff reckon that Bluewater is the nearest, so we get directions
and cut through the country lanes to get there. Amazingly, no
wrong turns.
We decide to see Superman Returns. Possibly not the best
decision of our holiday - I prefer my super-heroes to have some
brains - but it is cool and relaxing. Afterwards, we can't leave
without visiting Lakeland and a few other shops, so Sue has a good
time.
Thursday 20:
it's not quite as hot, but still... a day by the river sounds
good. So we head off for Rochester. The Castle is quite amazing. I
find it odd that it was captured by King John from the Barons in
1215.
The Cathedral is also cool and has some interesting features:
the oldest Medieval tiled pavement in Britian, a naked Bishop on
his way to Heaven, and a new fresco, amongst others.
Friday 21:
on the way home, we stop off in Guildford for lunch with David
Race. It's really good to catch up with him again after so long.
We had planned to leave at 2:30, to give us a clear 3 hours to
get back to Bristol. We were only 15 minutes late, but the traffic
on the motorway was dreadful. Sue thinks the A4 will be better, and
once we are on it, it is for quite a while, but then we get bogged
down again, and she takes us on another detour.
There is no way we are going to get back in time to pick up
Ian, so Sue rings Alan, who shoots down into Bristol. Meanwhile,
we are approaching Bath, but Sue doesn't want to drive through it,
so we head North and come in to Bristol from the East. On the plus
side, we saw quite a lot of countryside we have not explored
before.
Alan and Ian are home long before us. Ian had a great time,
despite a long graze on his arm from the assault course.
Saturday 22:
Steve and the boys failed to put the bins out on Wednesday night,
despite being reminded! So, apart from a shopping trip, we take
last week's rubbish to the tip. It's nice to be home.
Thursday 27:
the letter from the hospital arrived today, confirming details of
the latest consultation.
Friday 28:
Ian goes off to play cricket with some friends at Stoke Lodge,
then we have lunch, Sue and I take Alan to work, then I take Sue
to her Audiology appointment. She only needs to get a better
fitting earpiece for her hearing aid, but she is not feeling too
good and wants me to drive.
Saturday 29:
my parents and brother come down from London, to stay the night.
It's good to catch up with Roger, who has just come back from a
holiday in Jersey. Work is very busy, but at least he is getting
some experience of managing a programming team in India.
After tea - for some reason, we always give them cheese on
toast - Ian decides he wants to play Risk, so why not? It's Dad,
Roger, myself and the three boys. Philip is very unlucky, and then
it looks like a three-way battle between Alan, Roger and myself:
Dad is weak, and Ian can be completely over-run whenever we want.
Alan gets very strong, thanks to Philip's cards. He knocks Dad
out, and nearly finishes off Roger and myself - but not quite. By
1 am, I have managed to defeat Alan and Roger and it is finely
balanced between Ian and myself. Half an hour later, it is clear
that I can defeat Ian, but it will take another three turns, and
Sue is not happy that we are still up, so we agree on a tie.
It's a bit disturbing, this game. I'm a father, a Christian and
a pacifist, and several times in the course of the game I have to
decide which of my sons I want to kill...
Sunday 30:
we are booked for lunch at Littlecote House, so we set off soon
after 11 am. We're a little late, but not much.
It's a 16th-century house in Wiltshire. After lunch, we look
round the craft shops, the great hall and a bit of the garden,
then have a coffee. They have a Pool table, so we have a few
games. Philip isn't bad, after playing quite a bit during his
Maths Summer School, and Roger used to play Snooker regularly, but
Alan is quite worryingly good. He claims to have played just once
in the past year. Perhaps he is just naturally talented, or maybe,
as he claims, calculating the angles is simply applied
mathematics?
Anyway, the visit is successful, and we eventually get home
again around 8:10.
August 2006
Thursday 3:
supposed to be working from home, but there is a RSI strategy
meeting in the diary, so Sue makes a detour from her schedule to
drop me off at the bottom of Arley Hill, and I walk from there.
But it turns out the meeting has been cancelled, so I get the bus
home again. Working with the Council is frequently just not fun.
Wednesday 9:
Grrrrr.
Lots of phone calls to various parts of various hospitals. You
don't want to know the details. To summarise the conclusions: the
form ordering my bone density scan arrived in Rheumatology on
Monday. There is a 5 month waiting list for these scans, so even
if the form had been sent off immediately, there would still not
have been a snowflake's chance in Hell of having the scan
performed before my scheduled return to Endocrinology next week.
Possibly because of the delay, they have squeezed me in to the
list at the end of November 2006. I have cancelled my appointment
for next week, and will have to re-book it for some time in
December.
In the evening, I go round to see Karen and Marcus for the
final details of the wedding service on Saturday. I'm not marrying
them, as they have already done the legal bit with the Registrar
on Monday, but we are doing the rest of the wedding service at
Banwell Castle. It should be quite an event. I'm looking forward
to it, as it will be the first wedding service I have taken since
moving to Bristol. And it has given me a wonderful chance to get
to know Marcus and Karen much better.
Thursday 10:
CCM Staff and partners are invited round to the Luxfords for a
barbecue in the evening. As anticipated, Andy and Gill are
excellent hosts, and the evening includes beautiful food, playing
watering cans and Connect-4, a talking spoon and juggling.
Saturday 12:
Marcus and Karen's wedding.
We leave Alan and Philip to do the shopping in Sainsbury's in
Clifton, as they can get there and back by train. The RAC
directions to Banwell Castle direct us down the A38, which is a
good move as the M5 has serious delays.
We arrive at the castle in time for the pre-service nibbles.
The service is around 40 minutes late starting,
which gives us a good amount of time to talk through the order with Leslie.
This is quite important, as we only have one microphone so we need
to coordinate its movement quite carefully, and she has not seen
an order of service up to this point.
The service goes well, with just a few minor hiccoughs behind
the
scenes. There were a number of personal and personalised
contributions behind the scenes, which for the most part were very
relevant and quite moving. It was a real privilege to be involved.
Friday 18:
Tristan Thomas' leaving do. A sad occasion, but Tristan is moving
on to do Teacher Training. He will be sorely missed at Voscur. The
plus side was that it drew back some of the old guard: Halina, Ben
Barker and Jean Erskine. Brilliant to catch up with them. After a
few drinks at the Ostrich Inn in Lower Guinea Street, we went on
to Windmill Hill City Farm and had a riotous evening, eating
everything on the menu.
Yesterday, our bin was not emptied. It happened late today. We
have gone onto a new system in which the recycling and compost are
collected each week, but the main bin only once a fortnight. They
issued a sticker to tell us which weeks the bin would be
collected, and it seems they gave us the wrong one. So the bin men
tried to collect our bin last week, and didn't come round this
week. But the whole street had the same wrong sticker, so it must
have been fairly obvious.
Thursday 24:
Voscur board meeting in the morning.
Sue sends me a text message with Philip's exam results: A* in
Double Science and Maths, A in French, Business Studies and
English Literature, B in English Language, German and IT (only
half a subject), C in RE and E in DT. We are quite pleased,
especially as it seems he never did any work...
Friday 25:
This evening, a strange noise in our bedroom. Some plaster has
fallen from the ceiling in the en-suite, over the shower. It's
made a bit of a mess.
September 2006
Friday 1:
in the afternoon, Sue, Ian and I join Pip (Sue's sister) and a
couple of her boys and we go to see the Chinese State Circus with
the Shaolin Monks. Much of it is very impressive - the monks
running up and down poles, for instance. Some is simply
incomprehensible, such as the theatrical bits: they say that each
small gesture is filled with deep meaning, but without any
understanding of the deep meaning, all I can see is a lot of small
gestures.
But that is just a quibble. A lot of it was simply astonishing,
although the boys seemed unimpressed. You see far more impressive
action on film. I think they don't quite appreciate how much (or
how little!) of the action sequences they see on film could be
done in real life.
Monday 4:
trip to Glasgow for Jesus in the City. It's a good meeting,
but getting up at 4 am after a late night and being woken up at 3
am by someone racing what was presumably a stolen car outside our
house... it was not a good start to the day.
Friday 8:
attended the World Premier of the new film about George
Müller, Robber of the Cruel Streets at Hope Chapel.
It's a well produced retelling of his life story, and includes a
few shots of our friend George Collett. Stirring and
faith-building stuff.
In the evening, I eat with Korky and Anni and some of the other
CCM trustees, then a time of prayer for the ministry. We need a lot
of guidance...
Saturday 9:
I am volunteer training in the morning, and Sue heads out with
Esme and Fay to the Bristol Open Doors. Sue phones in the afternoon
and suggests I visit the Pierian Centre, so I do just after 4 pm.
They let me in, even though they had just closed, and I rush
round. Have to go back next year. Also to the Concrete House in
Westbury-on-Trym, which Sue visited.
In the evening, Sue and I go down to the harbour at 9:30. We
are told it is the highest high tide for ten years. Lots of people
down there, including Steve and Korky. Quite amazing. Just a
pity it was dark. The water came right up to the edge of the road
by the station, and even on Trym Cross Road it was worryingly close
to the road where it goes over the bridge.
Thursday 21:
Off to Orpington after work to stay with the Cockburns. The
journey is a bit wet at times, but generally okay. As always, it
is a delight to spend time with them. The three boys get to sleep
in the lounge with the computer, but we think they did sleep a
little.
Friday 22:
The point of staying with the Cockburns is so that we have a
sensible journey on to Hastings. It's my parents' golden wedding
anniversary, and we have arranged a meal in a restaurant with as
many of their friends as we can manage. They think they are
just visiting Jim, and can't believe their eyes when they walk in
and see us all. The whole thing took quite a bit of arranging,
but was worth it.
Sunday 24:
The computer is dead. Ian noticed it wasn't right yesterday, but
didn't say anything. Today, it sometimes boots, but then reports a
hard disk failure.
Friday 29:
Off to Warwick with Alan. We drop him off in his new digs, nose
around a bit (they have a spin dryer in their lounge, and a nice
little model mouse in the bathroom!) and then go on to a hotel
nearby for a weekend in sunny Coventry.
Saturday 30:
After a lazy start, we use the leisure facilities: I swim and
sauna while Sue has a massage, then a brisk walk. Later, we go to
see 'Sons of Men' - a convincing portrait of a society falling
apart, but how depressing! Then we take refuge from the rain in a
Chinese restaurant, which turns out to be a much better choice.
October 2006
Sunday 1:
On the way home, we find a garden centre with a restaurant and
various shops. Sue browses the clothes and other bits while I
rummage round the cheap books, so everyone is happy.
Philip was going to be configuring the new computer while we
were away, but that did not go as well as anticipated, so we are
still nowhere near having a working system back again.
Tuesday 3:
Breakfast meeting at the ITV offices with Business in the
Community's Business Action on Homelessness steering
group. They want to make it more efficient by splitting the
meeting into two: one to handle the strategic planning, and
the other meeting to talk about the nuts and bolts.
I speak against the plan: I have seen it tried several times
before, and it has never worked as they hope. The strategic
people never know enough of the reality on the ground to make
the planning appropriate, and the people dealing with the
sharp end details always need to ask for changes to policy
which can't be handled in their meeting but referred to the
other group, where they don't understand what needs to be changed
or why.
Monday 9:
The CCM AGM at Trinity Tabernacle. The evening goes really well,
but we are disappointed by the low turnout.
Friday 13:
The first meeting of the re-formed Bristol Anabaptist Study
Group. Conveniently, it is walking distance from work, so I work
on and go directly. Several familiar faces, and a number of new
ones - an interesting mixture of people. This has the potential
for being really significant: somewhere we can talk about and
explore issues that actually matter to us.
Sunday 15:
A bring and share lunch at Highgrove today. We bought the bits
yesterday, but Sue work up with a headache and feeling sick, so
I went to church alone and came back home straight after the
service ended.
Sunday 22:
In the afternoon, I get the Megabus to London. Staying at
Spurgeon's with Mark Howe. We meet at the local train
station (Effingham Junction), have a bite to eat, and trudge
up the hill in the light rain to the college.
When we get there, the door code we were given does not
work: the doors seem to be locked on the inside. Eventually,
I find one that opens, just as Mark is talking to a girl in
a top floor window, whose attention he attracted with a stone
thrown at the window. Which, contrary to past experience, didn't
smash...
It's a good time with Mark, catching up on various things, and
talking about a range of questions and issues neither of us get
much chance to explore in normal life. I get to use the library,
and gather a number of quotes for the assignment I'm working on.
I need to make some significant progress with these assignments,
and am taking two weeks off work to achieve this.
Tuesday 24:
Working in the morning, a quick bite of lunch, and then dash down
the hill to catch the train. The station had given us the train
times in the morning, but by lunchtime it had changed. Instead of
22 minutes to get from the train to the bus, I had 7. Ran all the
way, and just made it. Remind me to allow more time in future...
Thursday 26:
The assignment is going quite well, so Sue and I take Philip to
the Orpheus to see The History Boys. Superb, as you would expect
from Alan Bennett.
Saturday 28:
A letter in the latest New Scientist from Brian Clegg of
Wiltshire:
'Clear thinking seems to be in danger of being overwhelmed
by science's own version of political correctness:
anti-anthropism. "Why is the universe the way it is? Most
scientists would prefer a deep reason that has nothing to do with
our existence," says your piece on multiple universes (7 October,
p38). Should scientific judgement really be based on what people
prefer? Try saying "most scientists would prefer a deep reason
for climate change that has nothing to do with our existence" to
see the problem with this approach.'
Tuesday 31:
The Housegroup meets round at our home tonight, and Ken Barrett
joins us. We extended an invitation wider than the group, and
some 17 or 18 people came, which was about the limit of our
lounge. It was an excellent evening, Ken talked about his work,
and lots of people met up who hadn't seen each other for
some time. And we had some Spanish food and drink.
November 2006
Friday 3:
Sue and I go away for the weekend, leaving Philip and Ian with
Steve. We find a good deal on LateRooms and after Philip
comes back from his paper round we head off to Hatton Court
Hotel, near Gloucester.
One reason for choosing Hatton Court is that it has a gym and
sauna. However, when we arrive, it turns out that they have to
be booked in advance and can only be used by a single room at a
time. Hmm. I book to use them at 7 am, so I can get down to
breakfast with Sue at 9.
Saturday 4:
I collect the key from reception at 7, and find the gym.
I work out how to switch the sauna on. It is a standard
two-bench height model, but only large enough for a single
low bench. So, even without the badly fitting door, it would
be almost impossible to get a decent temperature. Oh, yes -
and there is no shower. This really is a first. So I fill up
the bath with cold water while the sauna starts to heat up.
I'm not impressed.
After breakfast, we decide to visit Prinknash Abbey
(pronounced 'Prinnage'). It has an 'Orpheus Pavement' that looks
worth a visit. It is. It's a reconstruction of the largest
Orpheus mosaic in Northern Europe. The original is buried under
a graveyard in Woodchester, so two builders spent ten years
researching and creating it from 1.6 million tessarae. Incredible.
As a way of encouraging people to visit the Abbey, it's not
bad. But I can't help feel there is a slight incongruity in this
mosaic, and lots of information about Orpheus, as an attraction in
a Monastery. He is not exactly associated with chastity: as the
background information pointed out, one account of his death has
him torn to pieces by the Thracian women because he has not had
sex with them for three years. A worrying prospect, you might
think, for any young monk.
Tuesday 7:
In the evening, I go to the Inauguration of the Bristol Inner City
Partnership - a group of several inner city Anglican parishes,
several of which I have links with. Was told the wrong location,
so arrived several minutes late, but it was a moving service and
they fed us well afterwards. Alan and Linda Jenner offered Sue and
I a place in Madeira if we wanted to go for a holiday there next
year... have to talk to Sue about this. She doesn't like hot
places.
Friday 10:
Sue is at the NCAP Conference this weekend - Friday to Sunday, and
hoping to see Alan as well. I'm interviewing for the Office
Manager post, miss the BCAN Steering Group at lunchtime as a
result, but get to see Richard McKay at St Nicks, which is a
real bonus.
In the evening, I take Ian to see a performance of The Most
Effective Drum, dramatised poetry and music on the theme of
war. One of his friends is taking part. The idiot - Ian, not his
friend - was supposed to meet me at the office at 6pm, but he
forgot. Fortunately, there were two performances we had
booked in to the first, and I could change the booking, drove
home, picked him up, and made it in time for the second
performance.
I'm glad we did. The whole thing was deeply moving. Some of the
poetry and music I was familiar with, some I could guess, but all
of it was spot on in describing the many different voices of
people involved in warfare directly and indirectly. I found it
hard to talk with Ian about it afterwards, but he said he enjoyed
it and was glad we had gone.
Friday 17:
We decide to try to see Casino Royale this evening, so I
dash back from work and we shoot off. But the Orpheus ran out of
tickets half an hour before we arrived. Instead of going home, we
head off to the Vue at Cribbs Causeway. All the tickets for Bond
have gone until about 11:30, but there are spaces for The
Prestige, so we see that instead. Good choice - Philip and Ian
both enjoyed it, and Sue wants to go back and see it again. We
talked all the way home about the characters and the storyline,
and it's not many films that manage this.
Saturday 18:
I go into work to complete some preparation for Monday and my trip
to Belfast for Jesus in the City. Afterwards, I go to the
Orpheus again, but they have sold out again.
Sunday 19:
More baptisms at Highgrove this morning. After the service, Sue
and I go to buy the tickets for Casino Royale and run into
the Wood-Robinsons, who have moved near to the Orpheus. It's good
to catch up with them.
This time, we get the tickets. And I also buy The Obsever, as
it has an 8 page pullout about homelessness: 40 years since
Cathy Come Home. It's a good summary of many aspects of the
current state of affairs.
Later, we just get to the Orpheus in time to grab four seats
together. The film is a bit long, but it works, and takes the
Bond franchise in a promising direction. Solid entertainment with
some nice moments, just don't try to think too deeply about it.
Friday 24:
The Bristol Anabaptist Study Group again. This time, we have a
couple of people doing a short presentation on the centrality
of Christ, and a discussion. Absolutely fascinating. Some people
present don't see how the centrality of Christ can help us in
deciding how to interpret the Bible.
Thursday 30:
My bone density scan at the Rheumatology Department of the BRI.
They are concerned I might be at risk of Osteoporosis, so I do
a questionnaire (how much milk do you drink each week? Err...),
take all the metal out of my pockets, then take off my trousers
and get onto a table with metal arm over the foot. Don't worry:
it will move up to your chest. We are interested in your pelvis
and spine. It moves all the way up, right over my head. Are my
glasses all right? Yes, but I'm not sure why it did that.
Several more attempts, it's still not working. Call in
another girl. Several more attempts. One of them spots that
my height was input wrongly: the machine thinks I am only
0.17 metres tall. So why was it going too high? They fix my
height, and it still does not work. I must be confusing it -
the poor thing is used to working with ladies. Not sure if she
is serious or not. You are being very patient. I think that means
she is getting worried. Eventually it works. They will let me
know the results in three weeks' time.
December 2006
Friday 1:
Sue took the car and shot off to Newbury to stay with Pip and see
her parents and Peter tomorrow - mainly delivering Christmas
presents, I understand.
Saturday 2:
In the afternoon, I get both the boys out in the garden with me,
and we get a satisfying amount of work done. Then Sue phones to
say she is leaving Newbury, I get the bus to Cribbs and make a
start on the weekly shop. She eventually finds me in Morrisons,
we finish the shop and come home together. Philip has cooked
bacon pasta for us, which is very welcome.
Several days ago, Philip asked us if we could pick him up one
evening so he could go to see Pan's Labyrinth. I had read
some interesting reviews, so offered to take him, and 10 pm on
Saturday night was the first opportunity. Not exactly an
enjoyable film, but I'm glad we went. Perhaps it is my ignorance
of film, but I have never seen anything quite like it, mixing
strange fantasy with brutal reality. Several people were
literally in tears as the film ended and the lights came up,
which is something else I don't recall seeing before.
Friday 8:
After a meeting in the afternoon, I dash into town to buy a
replacement bin for the CCM kitchen - the old one has a broken
lid. Then Sue picks me up and we wander round Staples together.
We find most of what we are looking for on behalf of CCM and
One25, but the real success lies in finding a bin for the lounge
at home: Ian broke the previous plastic one with his cricket ball
a few months ago, and we have not been able to find a suitable
replacement up to now.
On the way home, we stop off for an hour or so at the Create
Centre, which has its usual Christmas Fair today and tomorrow.
Sue went last year with Esme, but it's my first experience of this
event. Sue says the crowds were worse last year, so I'm quite
glad I didn't go then. Lots of stalls worth browsing round, and
we could have done with more time. Maybe next year...
Sunday 10:
Sue drops me off at Ivy Church, where I'm preaching this morning,
and then carries on with Philip to a family buffet in Newbury. I
have a prior commitment, Ian has a party to go to in the
afternoon, and Alan is still in Warwick.
Wednesday 13:
Philip's birthday, but I hardly see him. He has a number of
interesting looking presents, but doesn't want to talk about
them...
In the morning, I attend a consultation event about
financing the voluntary sector, on behalf of Voscur. Our views
will go into a report to the Cabinet Office some time in the
Spring of 2007. We make a number of fairly obvious points
about the nature of funding, contracts, performance targets
and so on. It will be interesting to see what the report actually
says...
Sunday 17:
I was supposed to visit the City Mission church last Wednesday,
but the timing did not work out, so I decided to attend a
service instead.
I was five minutes late, and the only person present was the
Pastor. We actually started the service 25 minutes late, at least
in part because the pianist was making a cup of tea for a
homeless person who has drifted in. We sang a couple of carols,
then I was asked to do the opening prayer, which I did, and the
homeless person took the opportunity to leave, thanking us for
the tea. At the end of the service, someone else drifted in, who
had been on the LITE Course and remembered Andy with great
fondness.
Later in the afternoon, Andrew Street picks me up and we
go to the Health Club, where he converts to a new membership
contract jointly with me. We save lots of money this way.
Monday 18:
Philip has a Wii for his birthday, very entertaining. But we can
see why there are so many reports of things being broken in homes
with one of these devices.
The builders have taken the scaffolding away today. The house
looks quite bare without it. The theory was that they were going
to repair a couple of patches on the roof, but they only managed
to do one - fortunately, it was the one that leaked into the
bucket by the side of our new computer.
The bad news is that our battens are rotten, and we need a
whole new roof. I was hoping to take Sue away next year to
celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, but we may have to
postpone that for a while...
On the box tonight was a very entertaining programme: The
Trouble with Atheism. Lots of interviews with militant,
fervent, 'evangelical' atheists, making some good points but also
a number of really stupid ones. It was really quite comforting.
I sometimes worry about all the daft things Christians say in
support of their beliefs, so it is nice to hear lots of leading
atheists blithely shooting themselves in the foot in just the
same way.
Also tonight was the second part of Hogfather on SkyOne.
Apart from Ian, we are all Pratchett fans, so it was a good
family occasion. I was also an interesting contrast to the
previous program. Terry Pratchett is an atheist, but he has
actually thought about the issues and has a number of
interesting things to say about belief and human nature. He
really does put forward a much more coherent picture than any
of the people interviewed in the previous program managed. I'm
not sure whether to be relieved or worried by this.
Tuesday 19:
dentist first thing this morning. He did something last time,
which now needs supporting, so I need a filling. I don't
understand it, either, but book in for the filling in January.
At home, one of our Church friends congratulates us on Philip's
success. What success? Oh, the maths challenge earlier this term:
it seems he got a gold, best in school, and is through to the next
round. Minor details, not worth mentioning to his parents.
Wednesday 20:
The CCM Christmas Party, the culmination of much planning, prayer
and preparation. This year, for the first time, it was held at
Elim during the day - we usually go to City Road Baptist in the
early evening - so we didn't know how many people would turn up.
It was a slow start, but in the end the numbers were absolutely
right: just enough seats, just enough food and almost enough
presents. John Bonner did two excellent presentations of stage
magic.
I dashed away to get to the Voscur Christmas meal at the
Severn Shed. The food was quite mixed: some very nice, and some
not too good, but it was a splendid time and a good chance to
meet some of the new staff.
Leaving Severn Shed, I bumped into Cliff Jeal, so we walked
back to the centre together. It was good to have the opportunity
to chat with him outside the usual context of a social event at
One25.
Later, Sue and I shot over to CostCo. Our venerable Dyson03
is in need of replacement, but we weren't too impressed by the
range of options or the prices of new vacuum cleaners, so we'll
probably muddle through until the January sales.
Sunday 24:
It was a classic this morning in Church. The preacher was wanting
to make a perfectly valid point: that Jesus came (and still comes)
to a place where people are excluded and marginalised. Good stuff.
However, the point was made of the basis of a fundamental
confusion between the Temple and the Synagogue.
So we had the story of Jesus reading in the Synagogue from the
passage in Isaiah - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." - and
then had the context described to us on the assumption that the
Synagogue Jesus spoke in was the Temple in Jerusalem, with the
Gentiles and women being excluded, and the High Priest only being
allowed to enter the Holy of Holies once a year. I looked around
to see if anyone else had spotted any problem with this, but there
was no sign.
I have tried talking about details like this, in several
churches, and generally get a response something along the lines
of: (a) oh, was there a mistake?; (b) if there was a mistake, it
doesn't matter; (c) it's wrong to pick holes in what the preacher
said; or (d) God was speaking to us through the preacher, so it is
wrong to criticise what was said. But I can't help feeling that,
if Jesus was 'full of grace and truth', then His followers ought
to try their best to be both gracious and truthful.
Rant over.
We spent most of the afternoon sorting out and tidying up, and
in the evening my parents and brother arrived from London.
We decided to go to the midnight service at St Edyth's:
parents,
Roger, Sue and myself. Sue thought it started at 11:30, but we
were a bit late as Father can't walk at any speed and we set out
too late. And, it turned out the service started at 11:15, which
was a bit sad. The doors were locked, but Father rattled them and
someone came and let us in, right in the middle of the sermon.
Oops. Still, it was good to be there, and to b able to chat with
folk afterwards.
Monday 25 (Christmas Day):
Nice gentle start to the day: breakfast, open presents, solve
puzzles. Sue had seen that the Bristol Ice Rink was to be open
and free for a couple of hours today, so we went in. Free parking
as well! Alan and Philip queued for the skates, then Sue persuaded
Mum to have a go - she clearly wanted to try again after... years.
Alan was remarkably confident, if not terribly graceful; Philip
kept on his feet and improved markedly; and Mum managed to get
all the way round by hugging the sides and Father holding her hand
where possible. All in all, it was great fun, and tremendous value
for money.
Tuesday 26 (Boxing Day):
The main event of the day was the 1:30 pm performance of
Treasure Island at the Tobacco Factory. Excellent
entertainment, with only one tense moment: my father started
talking about 'the front of the stage', and I tried explaining
that this production was created for a space in which the audience
is sitting on three sides of the stage. I'm not sure he believed
me, but the performance started at that point, so we got through
it okay.
After the performance, they had a quick coffee, loaded the car
and were off home. Ten minutes later, I spotted Father's library
book... Mother rang later to say they had arrived home safely, so
we promised to post the book tomorrow.
We're talking about a quick visit to Guildford later this week
- partly to deliver presents, partly to catch up on the news, and
partly to talk to folk about leadership styles for my Spurgeon's
assignment.
Friday 29:
Off to Guildford for a flying visit. The plan was quite sound:
11:00 Andy & Pam Cribbin, 13:00 Barry Sandell at the Tesco
café, 14:30, David Race, 16:00 Steve & Sally Pryde,
18:00 Pete & Chris Puttick, 20:00 home.
We had a lovely time with the Cribbins, and only a few
minutes late at Tesco, but then Barry invited us back to their
place as we didn't have the boys and they could fit us in for
lunch after all. That was great, and Suzanne's mother hasn't
changed at all since we last saw her, which was presumably their
wedding. But we were a bit late getting to David, and in the end
I left Sue with Steve & Sally while I shot off to the
Putticks. It was a long day, but wonderful to see people and
catch up a bit with the news.
Saturday 30:
With the boys off to Newbury, to Sue's parents. Ray and Di were
there, and it was good to see her again. Lunch with them, then
we drop the boys round to Pip and go to buy some bits from
Argos in the middle of the worst downpour I have encountered in
years. Sue dropped me off, I had about 8 yards to run from the
car and still was drenched. It had eased off a bit by the time we
left.
Pip brought the boys back, and we were only a bit over an hour
leaving. Then home, via shopping, which thrilled the boys but they
showed great fortitude.