Musings for the potting shed

Camping in Devon

2011-09-03T12:54:00.001+01:00

Hi Folks, we're back from a great week's camping in south Devon - a much needed break. The weather was kind to us - no rain, and we we staying on a great campsite with a particularly good shaded pitch, which meant the tent didn't get excessively hot during the day. Eden loves camping - she thinks the tent is hilarious and enjoys running in and out, as well as having plenty of room to run around on the grass outside. We were within walking distance of the beach at Dawlish Warren, so spent many happy hours down there making sandcastles etc. The sea was a bit cold for Eden, but I enjoyed a good few swims - the water not so cold once you got used to it. To be honest I felt I was duty bound to swim and "make the most of it" regardless of the sea temperature! I'm glad I did though. We also really enjoyed trips to Shaldon Zoo, Canonteign Falls and Dawlish. So nice just to have a "slow" week and just enjoy one another's company.

Finished a few books recently. I realised I'd forgotten to mention a book I read the other day - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. He's one of my favourite authors of recent times, so when I spotted one of his books that I hadn't read in the clearance section in Waterstones for 50p I couldn't resist. As usual, it's an excellent read - amusing and absorbing. I hear he's got a new book out soon so will have to get that on order from the library. Another 50p bargain that I got at the same time and read while camping was Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Havoc - interesting to read having read Mark Urban's history of the 95th Rifles the other day. You can't really go wrong with any of the titles in the Sharpe series. A book I'd got from the library the other day and also finished while camping was Mary and John Gribbin's Flower Hunters - a history of eleven lesser known botanists of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries who explored the outer reaches of the (then) known world to bring back plants for medicine, knowledge, and latterly to feed the Victorians' love of orchids and rhododendrons! An excellent and fascinating read - if a slightly girly title!

The Inheritors

2011-08-21T19:30:00.003+01:00

So yesterday I mentioned that I was some way down on my usual book tally this year - mainly due to the stresses of the house move, I was so wound up for a few months at the beginning of the year I couldn't concentrate to read any books. Anyway, having finished all the massive Song of Ice and Fire tomes, I've turned to some shorter books to get my count up (although most books are shorter than the George RR Martin ones!).

The other week in the Big Issue magazine there was a really interesting article about William Golding's less well known second novel The Inheritors, which sounded really interesting. So I duly reserved a copy from the library and have finished it over the weekend. It's quite a poignant story - Golding imagines what it might have been like for the Neanderthals to encounter homo sapiens, and writes from the Neanderthal point of view. I won't go into the details, but I came away feeling sad for them, not being able to compete with the (slightly evil) "modern" men. I heard that Golding was interested in the problem of evil, which is clearly a major theme in his most famous work Lord of the Flies. It's also a theme in the inheritors, with the Neanderthals painted as (relatively) simple but loving and honest, who are attracted, confused and afraid of the more complicated and aggressive homo sapiens. I'm glad I read it.

Character assassination (in books..)

2011-08-20T20:23:00.003+01:00

Ho Folks

I'm pleased that this last week's been much quieter than the week before - no more riots. Mixed weather, but no flooding here in the Midlands - unlike our old stomping grounds in the south which have suffered from flash flooding!! Things have gone downhill I think since we left - not just flooding but lots of public sector strikes, not least the binmen!! Glad we moved!

Checking back, I've only read 9 books so far this year - so some way behind last year. Of those 9 books though, 5 have been massive George RR Martin books.. speaking of which I've whizzed through the very latest book A Dance with Dragons (first borrower from the library, always a good feeling). Fantastic (and shocking) plot development - but I wish he'd stop killing my fave characters off!! (and I didn't even see it coming - left me speechless!). I was on a bit of a mission to finish it - firstly because as a 1000 page hardback book it was really heavy in my bag when running to and from the station in the mornings, secondly because there were loads of people waiting to borrow it after me from the library, and thirdly because I've already got two other books from the library to read..

Eden's been potty training this week, and has been doing great. Really proud of her. Looking forward to going family camping soon too.. will keep you posted..

Riots

2011-08-14T20:13:00.002+01:00

Hi folks, the news here in Blighty this week has been all about the terrible riots that have caused masses of damage around the country. Here in Birmingham we were hard hit - my office is right in the city centre (fortunately on the second floor), but there was loads of damage close by, starting literally opposite where the shop had all its windows smashed. All pretty scary, and there's probably no definitive answer as to why they occurred, but certainly a large part of it seems to be wanton criminality and vandalism - not a great advert for our society.

I was in London on Tuesday, and there was a huge police presence as I walked back to Euston station - hundreds of police officers around, slightly unnerving.

However, all seems to be back to normal now which is good, but we're all left counting the cost - some people have lost loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods.

Apart from being glued to the 24hour news channels, we've had a fairly normal week - happily where we live is far enough from the trouble. While I was waiting for the latest George RR Martin novel to become free at the library, I read Mark Urban's Rifles - the excellent history of the 95th Rifles - a crack unit in Wellington's army during the Napoleonic Wars era. I've read quite a bit of naval histories of that time (Nelson's era as well), but anyone who's read the Sharpe novels or seen their dramatisations will know about the 95th -Sharpe is famously one of the green jackets. A fascinating and quite quick read - especially compared to the giant tomes of the Song of Ice and Fires series I am reading - the current volume is over 900 pages long.

Busy week at work, then yesterday morning Kate and I took a car load of our stuff to the local car boot sale to sell - we'd had a big clear out on Friday night. The morning was a success and we made over £140 - going towards the decking we're going to get done in the back garden.

It's raining

2011-08-07T19:17:00.004+01:00

Hi Folks, it's raining outside (anyone spot the song reference??) and it's time for a long overdue blog post. June and July have really sped by! We're doing well, feeling more and more settled in our new home and still just glad to be up here. We've done lots of work in the back garden, which is now turfed, and have planted lots of flowers in the front garden borders too. Our courgette plants have been mega-productive over the last few weeks so we've had lots of courgette based meals - in fact friends who we've had over for dinner must think we're obsessed with them!!

Kate won me an mp3 player the other week, so some days on my train journeys I've been able to listen to music now. In the meantime I've been working my way through George R R Martin's excellent Song of Ice and Fire series - all mammoth tomes of 600 + pages. Anyway, for completeness, they are A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords (parts 1 and 2), and a Feast for Crows - the latest book in the series has only just come out but I've just borrowed it from the library.. in the meantime I'm just finishing a book about Wellington's elite rifle unit in the Napolionic Wars.

The other day we went to see the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (cbso) perform an evening of John Williams film scores, which was amazing - and even better because it was another of Kate's competition wins (the last thing I won was tickets to BBC's Gardeners World Live at the NEC in June, which was also great). Part of the competition win was also a £50 voucher for a posh restaurant, but we saved that for another night and went and saw Harry Potter in 3D at the cinema afterwards which was also amazing.

Still having a few frustrations with my rides to the station - having got a replacement bike after its the theft, that subsequently got vandalised at the station the other day too. So whilst I'm taking the issue of cycle security up with the train station operator I'm running to the station again. Now that the farmers have ploughed the fields near us, it's also been easier to got for runs at the weekend across the fields - although some of the paths are still quite overgrown with stinging nettles and thistles.. which punish my legs a bit!

Oh, since my last post we've got a new ginger kitten - George. He's lots of fun, has far too much energy, and I'm pleased to say that he's getting on very well with our other cat Flo. Eden loves them both and has just this week started to carry George around for cuddles - he's very patient with her!

Well that's about it for now! Catch up in a few months.. or hopefully sooner!

Normal Service Resumed?

2011-05-25T20:22:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone, been a hectic couple of months since my last post in March. We finally moved house on 31st March which was a massive relief, despite some last minute hiccups from our nasty mortgage provider. Having moved, we've had so much to do on the house we've hardly had a spare moment. The house was in a poor state, having been unoccupied for at least 6 months and poorly cared for for the last 7 years before that. So we've had to redecorate from top to bottom, install central heating, install double glazing, rip out the old kitchen, chip out the nasty vinyl kitchen floor, lay lovely new tiles in the kitchen, install a new kitchen, put down carpets, dig over the front garden, turf the front garden, dig over the back garden, put up the shed in the back garden, board the loft, mend the stairs, treat the upstairs floorboards for woodworm - and on and on.. in the meantime we stayed with Kate's parents for Eden's sake, since the house was most definitely not toddler proof!

Anyway, 7 weeks after the move we have finally been able to properly move in and have now been in a week. Such a relief, but still lots to do - kitchen needs the work surfaces installing and sink plumbing in, spare bedroom needs decorating, back garden needs turfing, and lots more besides.

I've been getting used to working in a city (rather than working in the New Forest). Cycling to the station has been good, despite the hills, although my bike was nicked last Friday so that was a bit of a setback. So far this week I've been running to and from the station. It's been good to have some reading time on the train journey - in the lead up to the move I'd been so stressed out that I'd hardly been able to read for a couple of months. Anyway, I've obviously relaxed enough to read again and have read A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin (absolutely excellent - got the next book in the series reserved from the library), and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez which wasn't what I expected at all and had a highly unexpected (and disappointing) end. Picked up 4 books for £2 from Waterstones last week in their clearance, so have plenty of material to keep me going on the commute.

Tuesday lunchtimes I've been relishing the "Tuesday Talks" at Birmingham Cathedral, which I've found to be scholarly and thought-provoking. Currently they are doing a series on "double listening" - listening both to God and to the needs of our culture.

So that's about it! Eden has grown into a bubbly 18month old and has loved staying with her Grandma and Grandad and seeing her Great Grandad so often!

Nearly there???

2011-03-20T19:25:00.002Z

Hi Folks - didn't realise I hadn't blogged since January! Sorry about that. A special hello to readers in Seattle :)

Since my last post we've been inching towards finally moving to the West Midlands. We're not quite there yet, but we're nearly there, and hopefully we will exchange contracts soon. It's been a bit frustrating to be honest, taking longer than we feel it should have! But hopefully all's well that ends well.

For the past couple of weeks we were visiting Kate's sister and her husband in Naples, Florida, which was an amazing time. Not only was Eden brilliant on the flights, but we just had such a good time hanging out and doing exciting things like visiting Seaworld and visiting the Everglades. It was good timing too, because things were getting critical with our house move and we'd have been climbing the walls and tearing our hair out in frustration if we'd been at home. Just a relief to be away from it all to be honest.

Because of all the goings on with our move I've not been able to read any books for a couple of months - just been highly agitated so haven't been able to concentrate :(

Anyway, we'd appreciate your prayers for us to finally seal the deal with our house sale and purchase and for the move to go smoothly and quickly.

Will post again soon, hopefully after we have finally moved!

It's not how you start..

2011-01-09T16:41:00.002Z

Hi Folks, hope 2011 is turning out ok for you all. Just a short post today to say that I've been enjoying playing my banjo (my case arrived for it this week - a lovely plush red inside); doing lots of running (20 miles so far this year - not bad being a little over a week in); have cycled to work twice (in the pitch black and torrential rain - again, not a bad effort, and 5 miles each way); and have finished two books already (admittedly I'd begun one in 2010).

In an effort to drink up our hot drinks cupboard, I'm currently drinking a cinnamon tea, which is quite nice. In other news I have finally ditched Internet Explorer (which was running ridiculously slowly and freezing every 5 minutes) in favour of Google Chrome, which is fast, shiny and stylish.

It's been milder weather this week, but pretty rainy (and those days I had to cycle to work). No snow so far this year..

So the books I finished were The Man on my Back, an autobiographical one by Eric Linklater (a present from my mother in law, and an interesting read - mine is the 1941 version too!), and The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin - a fast paced crime thriller set in the 1870s and translated from the original Russian. I'm glad it's only the first in a series because it was compulsive and had a horrific twist! I borrowed that from the Strickland book carousel - my sister-in-law lent it to my mum, who passed it to me.. probably on to my oldest brother next!

Eden's decided to start walking this week and is now happily pottering around by herself!

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T20:39:00.002Z

Hi folks, another year is with us. I'd say that overall 2010 was a success, despite all the shenanigans and frustrations surrounding not being able to sell our house..

We've had a brilliant Christmas, seeing family all over the country, and are now back home and looking forward to being back into a routine!

I was wondering how many books I'd read in 2010, and the answer is 34 and a half - which I think is not bad. About one every week and a half?

Speaking of that, I read C J Sansome's Heartstone before Christmas, borrowed from my mum. Now reading a book given to me by my mother in law..

Got a beautiful 5-string banjo over Christmas too, and have enjoyed getting to grips with it - had a couple of great jam sessions with the family up in Brum, particularly my brother-in-law (strictly speaking my sister-in-law's husband). Also a couple of classic 6 player games of Settlers of Catan, and a fun new (to me) game - Bananagrams.

Let it snow let it snow let it snow..

2010-12-04T21:47:00.004Z

So where were we? Oh yes, last post was in a stormy and cold November.. now it's December and we've had the earliest dump of snow here in the UK for many a winter. Even here on the tropical south coast we had a good 6inches on Wednesday night.. meaning I had to work from home Thursday and Friday being snowed in. Admittedly it doesn't take much to be snowed-in here in the UK - especially when you live on a hill like we do. Today was the first time we were able to get out anywhere in the car, and the roads were still very icy in places.

Our beautiful daughter is now a beautiful one year old, and we celebrated her birthday up in Birmingham with her Grandparents and Kate's side of the family, although we had an early party at the weekend with my side of the family, which was fun. She's such a little character and great fun to be around.

It's good having an ex-librarian as a mother-in-law because you get lent lots of books. Having spent alot of time on the train the past couple of weeks, I read Lowell Sheppard's "Chasing the Cherry Blossom" in quite a short space of time. It's a book about a cycle trip he did across Japan, following the arrival of the cherry blossoms, which are a major cultural event there. It's also about his spiritual journey about adjusting to a change of season himself, having left one job and moved country with his family. He's an insightful author and I definitely enjoyed the book - it was especially appropriate because I'd been wanting to read a bit more about Japanese history for a while, and the book was a gentle introduction.

I also won a book the other day, Typhoon, which is a sci-fi novel set in the not too distant future. It's also unusual in that it was "livewritten" - a chapter an hour over a single weekend, with the author relying on input from others for major decisions as to where the plot should go. The version I read was an expanded second draft, and disappointingly I finished it just too late to contribute in some small way to the livewriting of the sequel - which occurred the weekend before I finished it (if only I'd known!). Now I'm just tucking in to the most recent "Shardlake" novel (no 5), lent to me by my mum, and a lovely big hardback with thick pages and a ribbon bookmark!

It's already very Christmassy in our household. I think we are feeling it more so than normal because we had a very subdued Christmas last year since we had a very tiny baby! The snow helped too. Anyway we've got the Christmas tree up (a small artificial one, now in it's 6th year and going strong), I've put up the outside lights on the house (sod's law we'll sell now!), Kate's baked two Christmas cakes which are "steeping" (with extra brandy being added weekly), and we're on to our second batch of mulled wine. Today we had some Mince Pies (not homemade). We had some gluwein at the German Christmas Market in Birmingham in the week with our friends Paul and Katty who happened to be up there too. Oh, and we've got Christmas songs and carols playing at home (not all the time) and in the car. But apart from that we're not feeling very seasonal at all.

Kate and I went to see the latest Harry Potter film last weekend, which was excellent. Then in the week I watched The Return of the King at home.. and today we watched The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. Bit of a magically themed week!

With all our travelling and the snow I've not managed to get out running for a week.. and I think I am noticing it too.. feeling a bit more tense and pent up than normal. Hopefully I can get out this coming week.

Anyone following the Ashes?

Blood River

2010-11-13T13:43:00.004Z

It's a stormy November here in the UK, although the temperature today is much milder than the freezing temperatures in the week. We've spent more time in Birmingham over these past few weeks - I did a charity 5 mile running race with some colleagues, and we also participated in a charity quiz run by my colleagues too, which was really good.

In my commutes on the bus since my last post I've finished CJ Sansom's Revelation, the fourth in his Shardlake series, and possibly the best so far. Unfortunately the fifth is only out in hardback.. tried to get it from the library but one had 27 reservations and another had 144!! In the meantime I've read a fascinating and tragic book about the Congo by Tim Butcher called Blood River. I do like "adventure" travel books that have a bit of history.

At the moment our house smells lovely - Kate's baking a "proper" Christmas Cake :) This year's gone so quickly.. Eden's nearly one!

Birmingham Half Marathon

2010-10-24T20:49:00.004+01:00

Just back from nearly a week staying up in Birmingham with the out-laws, which was a good (but busy) time. Eden really enjoyed having all her extended family around. It was also really good to spend the week (well, 4 out of 5 days anyway) in the office, felt natural, and I had a few meetings and events to attend which was good. I also made good use of the long bus journey in and out of the city to finish Luka and the Fire of Life, Salman Rushdie's latest offering, and to get stuck into the 4th Shardlake book by C J Sansom.

In my lunchbreaks I've been enjoying exploring the city. On Tuesday I went to one of the weekly "Tuesday Talks" at the cathedral, which was fascinating since they had a Bolivian bishop there. On Friday I went to drool at beautiful folk instruments at Hobgoblin music :)

This morning I smashed my half marathon personal best at the Birmingham Half Marathon, taking over 5mins off my previous best from earlier in the year, and finishing in 1:29:18. Feeling highly chuffed but my legs are really beginning to feel it!

Enjoyed playing my mandolin at church last week, I think it went down well!

Mid-October

2010-10-16T18:57:00.004+01:00

Hi Folks, time for another blog since it's been a few weeks. The nights are definitely drawing in now as November approaches and today there's been more of a nip in the air, although last week was un-seasonally warm!

Last weekend, having been in Brum for a couple of days, we went to a mums and babies meet up for babes born (or due at least) in Dec 09 - it was a bit bonkers! The meet was in a cricket club in Redditch and I don't think I've ever been in a room with so many babies at one time - at least 30+!!! Still, we did well in the raffle and had some nice chats with people too.

I've had my mandolin out a bit more too - planning to play it tomorrow at church. On Spotify this week I've also been enjoying Mumford & Sons and Needtobreathe.

Having splashed out some birthday money on C J Sansom's Shardlake novels, I've been working my way through them. Having finished Dissolution, I've devoured Dark Fire and Sovereign and am ready for the next one - it's sitting on the shelf above our bed, although I've got the latest Salman Rushdie offering out from the library in the meantime (it's only just out and I'm very proud to be the first borrower :)).

Ran in the Clent hills again last weekend, but have been tapering this week before my half-marathon next Sunday. Appreciated the company of my buddy Paul and his dog Mia this morning on a short (only 4.83miles) run round the woods.

Eden's sprouted lots more teeth and has been a bit off-colour these past few days, although she's generally such a joy :) I know it's been said by many a parent before but I seriously do not know how we filled our time before having kids!!

Oh, and while we were up in Brum we fitted in a great game of Settlers of Catan with the family :)

The secret lure of folk music..!

2010-10-03T19:09:00.002+01:00

Everyone in my household is asleep at the moment, even though it's only early evening! Having put Eden to bed I've had some lovely marmite on toast, got a glass of wine and am now listening to Bellowhead on Spotify. Funny but I've noticed that as the nights draw in my attraction to folk music gets stronger!! I suppose I'd secretly like to play with more musicians and hone my banjo and mandolin skills alongside my "established" guitar and vocal skills.

Yesterday we had a lovely day in Bristol at my niece's Christening. Fab to see all my siblings and all their kids.. doesn't happen often enough. I guess that one of our hopes is that as and when we move to the West Midlands we'll be able to see everyone much more often, being that much closer and more central.

I mentioned in my last post that I'd started a new series of books. I finished "Dissolution" by C J Sansome a couple of days ago, the first in the Shardlake series of historical novels (historycal perhaps..). Set in the 1500s they're a slightly unusual twist on the crime genre. Anyway, not doing things by halves, on a rare trip into town this afternoon I blew some birthday money buying the next three books (they were on 3 for 2 anyway).

Kate broke one of her toes really badly in August and it's taken ages to heal (not helped by a few additional knocks in between), but this afternoon she managed her first run since. Shame she didn't get a place in the London marathon (fourth rejection in a row!).

This morning we had our harvest service at James Street Church, which was pretty fun. Also, for the first time in eight years we did "We plough the fields and scatter" - a decent rousing hymn! The kind of hymn when you wish you had a massive church organ. Instead it was just me and my guitar..

On your marks, get ready... stop.

2010-10-01T19:11:00.003+01:00

Wow.. didn't realise it had been a month since my last blog. Still.. it's been pretty busy. We found a buyer for our house about 3 weeks ago, so rushed up to the Midlands that weekend and viewed 9 houses in a day.. with mixed success. Still, we pressed on with our house sale.. until two days ago when at the point of exchange our buyer pulled out, giving no reason. Obviously we were really grateful they'd taken everything so seriously and wasted our time and money! Still, it's not the end of the world, and the house is back on the market.

Eden's got four teeth now, and is desperate to stand up the whole time.. she learnt to clap her hands on command this week too. Such a cutie!!

Finished Julian May's Galactic Milieu series over the past little while.. realise I haven't blogged about books for a while! Anyway there's four books, Intervention, Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat. Regular readers will know that I loved Julian's Pliocene Exiles series.. and this series also exceeded expectations - I borrowed the whole lot from my sister. If I'm honest I felt a bit sad about finishing them all.. but I've started new series - the Shardlake books by C J Sansome which come highly recommended by by mum!!

Got another half marathon later this month, and so have been keeping up the running around the place. Had a fab run in the torrential rain this lunchtime!

Went along to the recording of Godfrey Birtill's latest album at Central Hall this week, which was great. Personally I really like his stuff.. yes it's highly unusual and a bit weird - but maybe that's why I can relate to it!!!!

Tidy house tidy mind

2010-08-29T08:47:00.003+01:00

Hello all, thought I'd post some more musings.. although perhaps more likely just to be a condensed version of our life over the past week or so.. I'll try and sprinkle in some deep serious thoughts along the way if I have any.

So we were up in Birmingham for a few days from Thursday night to Monday night. I was working Friday and Monday in our Birmingham office, and we looked at a house on Saturday just in case.. but we weren't all that impressed really so crossed it off our list. We're always made to feel very welcome when we stay with Kate's parents, I think they enjoy spending time with Eden (and us of course). Kate's grandad is 90 but still on great form, he really enjoys seeing Eden!

Back in Southampton we have to keep the house looking spick and span just in case the phone rings with someone wanting to view it at short notice. Seeing that heavy rain was forecast for the rest of the week, Tuesday night I had to mow the front and back lawns, trim back the lavender and other shrubs so that the "kerb appeal" is maintained.

As it happens we only had one viewing of our house this week, yesterday, but then it is peak holiday season and this is the first "quiet" week we've had in the few months with our "new" estate agents. They're doing a really good job of getting people through the door, so hopefully it's only a matter of time before someone makes us a good offer.

We made a rare excursion into the city centre yesterday to pick up a few presents for people. Although not as busy as we expected, it was still pretty full, and we found ourselves getting petty annoyed waiting for lifts in West Quay (one disadvantage of having a little person in a pushchair). In the end we resorted to carrying everything up the stairs. We also had to pick up a few groceries from Asda, which is always a bit of a depressing experience. I always pick up a sense of tragedy in the other shoppers there - there always seems to be arguing families and feral kids. And I couldn't find the marmite anywhere..

This morning I fed and changed Eden at around 7am, then she played downstairs in the lounge while I kept an eye on her from the kitchen and washed up everything from last night. Then I had to prepare some songs for church this morning, followed by preparing Eden's breakfast with Kate. Off to set up at church soon.. think we have a speaker from Uganda so the meeting may be longer than normal.. better take Eden's lunch with us too! Eden's first tooth poked through the gum yesterday as well.

Running in the Clent Hills

2010-08-21T19:37:00.001+01:00

It’s Saturday morning at the end of a busy week. I’m feeling frazzled and tired, work having been quite intense, not having been sleeping well, and travelling more than normal. Having got Eden up, fed and changed, by 8am I’m ready to go out for my regular Saturday morning ritual – my long run of the week. We’re away from home, so my usual training partners (human and canine) are not around, so it’ll have to be a solo run, however the pay off is that I can run in the Clent hills near Halesowen which pose a more picturesque and challenging landscape than my normal jaunts around Southampton.

I have a route planned in my head, having studied the OS map last night. I’m going further than I’ve been before here, and have tried to remember the key link sections of the route between Clent Hill and Walton Hill – straight on at the top of Clent, left through Clent village, over the cross roads, left at the t-junction, then follow the path to the top of Walton Hill.. after which in theory I know the way back.

I’ve long learned my lesson about going for long runs on an empty stomach, so I’ve made sure I’ve forced down some breakfast while I’ve made up Eden’s bottle at 7am. Fortified by two weetabix and a cup of tea, with a small running bottle of energy drink in my hand, I leave Eden and Kate playing in the lounge and head out of the door of her parents’ house into the fresh morning air.

It’s rained overnight, and the clouds are still heavy, but it’s not cold and it looks like I’ll stay dry. Not that I mind either way – I love running in the rain and have been disappointed on recent lunchtime runs on very wet summer days that I’ve stayed dry! Having activated by Nike+ sportband I set out at my usual steady lope.

Once I’ve crossed the dual carriageway the narrow roads up to Clent are immediately quiet, and immediately a steady climb. There’s fields either side and stables to begin with, but as the road winds and passes through Uffmoor Wood it becomes more enclosed by the trees and foliage to each side. There’s no footpath so I’m running in the road, but I follow the established etiquette of running on the right so that I am facing the oncoming traffic. Not that there’s much, and drivers are used to walkers and runners along here I think.

Approaching a mile and the gradient is steepening. Once I was daunted by running to the top of Clent, but in the four years or so since I’ve been occasionally running in the area, I now find that running to the top and back is no longer enough! I’ve been in training for half marathons for the last year or so, and my endurance has definitely increased. Last weekend my Saturday run was over 11 miles and felt ok – I am disappointed to run less than 6 miles on a Saturday morning these days. I don’t know how long this morning’s run will be – in my mind I have an extension half-planned should I get near base and feel short on distance, just in case.

After Uffmoor wood and a particularly steep section it’s a right turn and past the old church of St Kenelms. The gradient slackens temporarily but enough to be a welcome reprieve from the short section before the junction, which is surprisingly energy-sapping. The road veers round to the left and gradually steepens up before it’s another right turn and a slog up to Nimmings car park and the final ascent to Clent proper.

It’s still early and the car park is empty – shrewd dog walkers have bagged the few available parking spaces on the road rather than pay for the National Trust car park. The small tea shop is still shuttered. I leave the road and start up the trail, winding up the side of the hill through the trees. Nodded greetings to various dogs and their owners. The air is rich with dew and oxygen and drips are falling from the canopy onto the foliage (and path) below. The trail meanders further up, and soon the vista opens wide at the viewpoint, but I push on around to the left and up the final climb to the standing stones and OS trig point at the top.

My sportband reads 2.5 miles, an I have the briefest of pauses at the summit to take in the panoramic views. The overnight rain has cleared the haze and the views across the landscape are clear today. The Black Country spreads out before me – there’s Wychbury Hill with the obelisk (shrouded by scaffolding – must be under repair). Tower blocks, factories, housing, with further hills in the distance as a backdrop. The clouds are low and menacing – blurs in the distance suggest rain isn’t to many miles off. Mist rises from the woods to my left and right, and I set off down “the other side” of the hill and into new running territory.

The descent is wide and open, mainly grass but with a stoney path in the middle. This is punctuated by dog walkers, my only companions at this time of day. Actually there’s quite a few of them, some with about four dogs! Counter-intuitively, downhill running seems harder than uphill – harder on the quads for sure, and I find myself building up speed. I think I just need to follow the main path, so I ignore the other exits and head as straight as I can. Soon the path narrows, with bracken either side, and steepens again. It’s a bit slippier here so I shorten my stride and try to lose some of the momentum I’ve gained. At a fork in the path I decide to bear left, trying to picture the map in my head, and soon I meet the road I’m hoping to find.

Left, and the road flattens out as I run into the village of Clent. The houses are old and majestic, all of the same sandy-reddy stone. No traffic on the road, and I’m looking out for the crossroads. There’s the old church, sitting on the crossroads, and across I go. I think the road is beginning a gradual incline, and after a while I come to the t-junction where I turn left.

Yes, this is definitely an incline now, and the road narrows to a single lane, then an unmade track. There’s houses either side, nestling on the bottom slopes of Walton Hill, and soon the road runs out and I’m faced with an overgrown path. It’s narrow, rocky and very steep. This is much more punishing than the climb up Clent – made more punishing by the stinging nettles relentlessly brushing my shins and ankles, and the brambles tugging at my arms. It’s a slog but it doesn’t go on for ever and I soon break out onto the grassed slopes of the hill proper. I have no idea how much further it is to the top.

Walton Hill feels much more secluded than Clent – less popular I suppose. To my left I can see the woods on Clent, I’ve run a horseshoe loop so far. Soon I reach the trig point, my shins still tingling from the stinging nettles. My sportband reads 5.4miles. The views aren’t as dramatic from the summit, it’s more enclosed by trees, so I carry on, trying to remember the right way down to the car park.

I think it’s straight on for the main path, but it soon turns out that I should have turned right – instead I’m taking a very steep and slippery cut-through! I can see the path in front of me, but nearly lose control on the wet surface and have to use a tree to slow myself down a bit. Still, at least now I’m on the right path.

It’s left through the car park and up to the “main” (!) road before a right turn, past the turning to Clent, and the final long descent back into Halesowen. I pass a few runners and cyclists slogging up the hill, secretly smug that I’m on my way back down, and I stretch out my stride a bit to cover the distance more quickly – much more quickly than on the way up. Although the morning is still cool, my exertions are keeping my quite warm. Still, I’m wearing my Orca running visor which stops the sweat stinging my eyes, so I’m not uncomfortable.

I check my distance on the sportband as I approach the dual carriageway – nearly eight miles. I’ll save my extra loop for tomorrow’s run – something to look forward to. It’s not long after 9am by the time I touch the gate and stop my sportband. 8.13miles, lots of uphill, stinging muddy shins and the warm smug feeling of a hard workout while most folk are still in bed. Time to stretch off, have a cup of tea and get on with the rest of the day.

Rainy august weather..

2010-08-13T19:30:00.004+01:00

Ha! Second blog in a week. Making up for lost time. Pretty wet weather here over the last week - so much for August sunshine. My friend Rachel has just started a blog about the year she's just started in Haiti, worth a read here. As I write, Eden's asleep in bed, we've had some dinner and we've got some athletics on in the background on the telly - a pretty normal evening.

Not had any house viewings so far this week, which is a bit disappointing, but we've got two booked for tomorrow. It is holiday season though. Wonder how much longer we'll have to wait until we can sell and then seriously find a place to live in the West Midlands. We have our ups and downs of morale - it feels like we've been waiting a long time to sell. Most of the time we still feel fairly hopeful. We'd like to be "in" somewhere by Christmas - not sure how realistic that is. I know that selling a house in a recession might not be the easiest thing to do.

Still a tough trading environment where I work - government cuts have significantly reduced the company's workload in some areas, so more redundancies in patches. Not great. Another reason we're keen to move sooner rather than later so I can get stuck into my new role in Birmingham. Still, God's timing is perfect - just waiting for this truth to move from my head down into my heart more fully - still have my moments of questioning and complaint!

Haven't run so much this week, probably no bad thing after averaging around 20miles the past few weeks. Did my first barefoot running session last Sunday evening - gonna aim to make it a regular thing to help naturalise my technique etc. Haven't found another race to enter yet in the autumn. Wouldn't mind doing another half marathon.

Absolutely absorbed this week by another Julian May book that my sister lent me. Having devoured and delighted in The Saga of the Pliocene Exile, I've started the sister series, which is equally great so far. I do like getting lost in a book. Wondered if it might be harder to find time to read since Eden was born, but it's not so bad - she's in bed early!

Eden is such a delight - I do love being a dad. I love getting her up first thing in the morning before work, giving her her bottle, changing her nappy and playing with her. Likewise when I get home from work we play for a little bit before I give her her bath then give her a final bottle before putting her to bed. The whole shape of my weekends has changed - now it's about having quality time with my gorgeous little girl :D

Unusually, I baked a cake this week for my team's pool meeting at work. It was a banana cake and came out quote well - Kate directed me how to make it.. sitting down because she stubbed her toe really badly that morning and it went purple! Ouch!

By the way, do check out my friend Tom's blog - all about literature. His book tastes are SO much more highbrow than mine!!

Muchos apologios

2010-08-08T21:07:00.005+01:00

Hi folks.. getting a sense of deja vu with my blogs.. as in they seem to be getting further apart and each time I think "gosh, was it that long since I last blogged?". I guess it's been a busy little while (again - must be something to do with having kids..).

Won't bore you with the intricate details then but I'll cut to the salient points..! We had a great time camping in Morthoe in Devon last month - brill weather, loved our giant tent, enjoyed Kate's family's company too. Eden is a superstar camper, even at 7months (as she was then). We also had Eden dedicated at James Street church the other day, which was a wonderful family occasion. The other week we enjoyed the "SkyRide" cycle in Southampton.. see if you can find me on the Southampton videos (I'm featured in two) at http://www.goskyride.com/.

Am enjoying doing lots of running, and invested in a Nike+ sportband and chip for my shoe. Now I log all my runs in terms of tempo, distance, calories etc. Quite addictive.. you can click on the relevant tweets to see. If anyone wants to be my buddy on Nike+ please send me a "friend" request. I completed the Birmingham and Black Country Half Marathon again last month, really enjoyed it, took 5 mins off my time to record 1hr33min.. but had a bit of a cold so disappointed not quite to break the 1hr 30 barrier. Running about 18-20 miles a week at the moment.. it's a good way to de-stress.

Still no movement on selling our house and moving to Birmingham (heavy sigh). Still, I'm sure it'll happen at the right time.

Read quite a few interesting books recently. Born to run is all about a tribe in Mexico that are amazing ultrarunners, and also about how running barefoot is better than wearing trainers. Life on Air is the fascinating autobiography of David Attenborough. Chicken Coops for the Soul is all about rearing chickens. Not related, Chickenhawk is about being a Huey helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and A Shepherd's watch is about being a shepherd in North Devon (we went to a sheepdog and falconry show when we were there and met the guy that wrote it). Finally, Feet In the Clouds is a book about fell running that I started about 3 years ago but never completed, so I started again and finished it just this week.

Will try and blog more often.. an empty promise?? Hopefully not..

World Cup

2010-06-17T18:50:00.003+01:00

Gosh, has it been that long since I last blogged?? A lightning round-up of the last three or four weeks - spent some time in Birmingham looking at houses, spent a few days camping with the Strickland side of the family in the Forest of Dean, plenty of training for half marathon coming up soon, lots of lovely time with our beautiful daughter...

Still not sold our house, so still no serious movement in terms of buying a house in the Midlands, but confident all will happen at the right time! Upped my training mileage the past few weeks so hoping I'll be in good shape for the race coming up.

We're enjoying the World Cup at the moment, watching matches most evening with friends, especially the England matches. Will we go all the way? Doubtful.. but you never know!

Last night I finally finished the last book in the series I've been reading by Julian May. The Adversary is the fourth book in the Saga of the Pliocene Exiles, and really lives up to its billing as it brings the whole series to a thrilling and unexpected finale - it genuinely kept me guessing right up to the very last. I've been really impressed with the whole series, very engaging in lots of ways. Thoroughly excellent books. My sister's lent me four more books by the same author, the Galactic Milieu series, which are sort of the prequel, although set in the future not the past (if that makes sense..).

Also while we were staying with Kate's folks the other day her mum bought a book about the SAS for 50p from a cat boot sale, which I have also finished reading (SAS: The World's Best). It goes into great detail about how their training compares to other elite military units around the world etc. I'm a bit of a fact-fan so I like these kind of books. Don't think I'm cut out to be in the SAS though.. probably can't do enough press ups or the required killer (literally) instinct!

Coming up for us.. more World Cup, a camping holiday in North Devon, hopefully selling our house and buying the perfect place in the Midlands! See you all next time..

Killer hills

2010-05-24T19:42:00.003+01:00

Hi all, been a sweltering few days here in Blighty which makes a nice change from rain rain rain. Still, I had a race yesterday - the Minstead Stinger - and wouldn't have minded it being a bit cooler or even raining! It was a 9mile off-road slog with lots of killer hills and a stream crossing, and a couple of stiles near the end. I'd entered because I thought it would be good training for my half marathon in July, kind of a well organised training run. And in a masochistic sense I did quite enjoy it, although the neverending hill in the middle really sapped the strength out of my legs. Anyway, I was pleased with my time, especially since I haven't got round to doing quite enough midweek training over the last month or so.

Eden's nearly 6 months old now, which seems to have crept up upon us - she's so lovely and interactive at the moment, really fun to be around. We're looking forward to Strickland family camping in a few weeks, and are hoping that Eden enjoys her first experience of camping.

On the subject of long runs, I finished a fantastic book this week Survival of the Fittest by Mike Stroud, which is all about how our bodies are amazingly adapted to doing extreme things. Mike's quite a famous bloke - he did several antarctic expeditions with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, as well as being a consultant doctor at the hospital up the road from us. The book's quite inspiring, he mixes tales of the various extreme events he's done, such as the Marathon De Sables and his antarctic expeditions, with medical bits interspersed about how amazingly adaptable our bodies are. He also talks alot about the well documented benefits of exercising as you get older. It was pretty inspiring, as well as off-putting when he talked in great detail about how eating rubbish foods literally clogs your arteries and does you no good. It made me even more motivated before my race, and had also helped me think again when tempted by eating rubbish in between meals! I could still do with losing a few excess pounds before July, so need to get a bit more exercise in.
Anyway, a great book if you like that kind of thing. Incidentally he recounts a story of running a marathon in the Falklands, along the road from Mt Pleasant airbase into Port Stanley - which I could very well imagine having driven the road myself on a trip to the Falklands a few years ago!

Election Shenanigans..

2010-05-15T20:48:00.003+01:00

Hi y'all.. blog time. We're still in Southampton, not moved yet.. things haven't happened at the pace we might have liked, but all will happen in its own good time, and in the meantime we're making the most of our time here.

The last couple of weeks we've been glued to BBC news following all the ups and downs of the General Election. Pretty interesting stuff and now we have a new coalition government and a new Prime Minister - hope they get stuck into reducing the absurdly large national debt..

Earlier this week we got a babysitter and saw Ridley Scott's latest film Robin Hood, which we really enjoyed. I guess it's a twist on the familiar Robin Hood theme, taking some liberties with history and geography but spinning a good yarn! I think they've set it up well for a sequel..

I've finished a couple of books recently. When we made a rare visit to Southampton the other day, I popped into Waterstones and there was a Canadian author there called Chris Clinton signing copies of his book. He wasn't all that busy when I arrived, we got chatting, and I bought his book Next Year Perhaps which is a novel set on a canoeing trip in Canada. I did enjoy it, and like the river on which it's set the plot twisted and turned in directions I didn't anticipate. Funnily enough one of the characters is from Woking, an area I know well..

The other one I bought at Spring Harvest, and it's by Pete Grieg on the subject of unanswered prayer - God on Mute. I have to say that I am very impressed with the depth and insight Pete brings to the topic - we thought he was a fantastic and encouraging speaker at Spring Harvest.

Election Fever

2010-05-03T19:44:00.003+01:00

Hi Folks. Here in the UK the country is gripped with election fever, with the prospect of a hung parliament a distinct possibility according to the media (ie no party with an overall majority). It's wall-to-wall stuff on the news - we go to the polls on Thursday. Should be interesting. We were recommended a good website to compare the policies of the different parties (www.voteforpolicies.com) which shows them all anonymously, you pick the ones you like, and at the end it tells you which parties you have chosen. It was pretty revealing, and happily for me it confirmed the decision I'd already made in my head.

Last week we spent a couple of days in Birmingham, as is becoming more regular. This weekend was a long Bank Holiday weekend, but we didn't have any plans to go away since we've already got stuff planned for later in the year. Instead I carried on with the various minor bits of mending around the house and garden, improving the house ready for (hopefully) a quick sale. This weekend's tasks included replacing the broken arris rail and various pailings on our front-side fence; creosoting said fence (applying my dad's trick of adding some used engine oil to make it extra dark - worked brill); and replacing various broken/smashed bricks in our front wall. Chuffed to get those tasks out of the way, the list of "things to mend/improve" is rapidly diminishing I'm pleased to say.

This afternoon I finished the third book in the Saga of the Pliocene Exile, called The Nonborn King, by Julian May. I have to say that I'm enjoying the series very much, kind of a cross between The Lord of the Rings (although not as heavy), Dune (although not as far out), and a historical novel! I'm finding the plots and sub-plots and sub-sub-plots quite engrossing. I've ordered the next one from the library..

This afternoon we went to see some friends who have an 8 week old little boy - there's only 12 weeks separating Eden and him but she's massive compared to the little fella! It's strange how there can be such big size/weight differences between babies..

Busy Month!

2010-04-23T20:21:00.004+01:00

Where did that month go?? Didn't think it'd been that long since my last blog. Well, we've been up to quite a bit. We had a fantastic time at Spring Harvest over Easter with some friends from church. It was our first holiday with Eden but it went really well. We were particularly impressed with the main morning speaker Pete Greig who spoke extremely well. The funny thing was that my boss was there with his family too!

I had a good 10k race at Eastleigh, despite being a bit under the weather in the lead up (I still have a bit of a cough to be honest). Still, I was happy with my time of 41.05min. Did the early morning runs at Spring Harvest, and have managed to get out quite a bit since then as well. Even did a "quality" session doing hill-repeats! Planning a long run tomorrow morning - got some new kit to test out.

The other weekend I was involved with a spirituality day at Portsmouth cathedral, which was good fun. I ran a workshop on making/using prayer ropes and had 11 people attend, which was encouraging.

Work's been getting really busy, which is a good sign! I finished another good book, the sequel to The Many Coloured Land (which I mentioned last time), called The Golden Torc, by Julian May. I'm really enjoying the series so ordered them all from the library. Currently reading the third one but will post on that when I'm done.

I've been looking for a second hand (or free!) telescope on Freecycle and around the place for a while, anyway one turned up in a jumble sale at church last weekend which was fun. It's only a toy one really, but it's good enough for having a good look at the moon - you can see the craters quite well. Obviously it's not got a top class lens, and it's a bit wobbly, but fun all the same. It's quite nice going into the garden in the dark and spending some time looking at the moon. Shame it's not really powerful enough to look at any stars or planets.

Oh, one other cool piece of news is that we've got a big family tent ready for the Strickland family camp in June. It's massive! I think we both posted pics on Twitter. Enough room for us and Eden and all our family gear.. and big enough for a table inside to play Settlers of Catan if it's raining! I slept out in it overnight (for security) and Flo came and kept me company for a bit too..

Earlier this week we went and saw Saints play at St Mary's - something we'd been keen to do before we move from Southampton later in the year. A colleague of mine very generously gave us some spare tickets. Shame about the result but great fun to go!

And finally.. whilst up in London for work this week I was fortunate enough to have a meeting right next to the Excel centre, so popped into the London Marathon expo. Tried to get lots of free stuff but there wasn't all that much available.. although I did have lots of tasters of different energy bars (and a few small cups of free beer :) ).

The Many Coloured Land

2010-03-26T20:04:00.002Z

Just finished a good book The Many Coloured Land by Julian May, recommended by my sister and her partner. Kind of a sci fi novel set in both the future and the prehistoric past.. and even better it's only the first book of a series.. got the second one out of the library today.

Plenty of running these past few weeks, got a 10k race this weekend. Training for the half marathon going well.

Eden still a gorgeous girl, smiling and laughing lots at the moment - much more interactive now.

Up the Baggies!

2010-03-18T21:43:00.002Z

Ages ago my father in law (a lifetime West Bromwich Albion fan) lent me a book by Adrian Chiles about being a West Brom fan called We Don't Know What We're Doing. I finally read it in the last few weeks, mainly on the train to and from Birmingham.. probably good reading in preparation for our move to the West Midlands later this year. Guess I'll have West Brom as my second team to support..

Bye bye allotment

2010-03-07T20:55:00.003Z

Momentous day today.. this afternoon I went to the allotment, emptied our shed there and dug up all the garlic we'd planted before Christmas ready to give up the allotment. It's another step on our journey to pastures new, but feels a bit sad - we've had a great few years growing lots of different vegetables down there, end of an era. It had just got dark when I popped back to pick up our last few bits (lots of canes for growing beans up), and as I unlocked the gate I saw a large fox quite close by on one of the other plots. It had its think winter coat (pelt?) with a big thick tail, and it was watching me. As I walked down to our plot it followed in parallel, then ran off behind our shed and away. Seemed like a nice finish to our allotment days here in Southampton.

We didn't want to leave our garlic behind because it was special stuff we'd got from our trip to the Isle of Wight last year, pre-Eden. Some of it is Elephant Garlic, which is quite unusual, so I popped them all into pots. They've done fine, despite the hard winter, and were coming up nice and strong. Maybe we'll be able to transplant them into a new garden soon in the West Midlands!

It feels like out move is getting closer, even though we don't quite have a house signed, sealed or delivered (we could be pretty close though). Certainly in my heart I feel a mixture of impatience to move and grief at leaving the city, communities and friends I've known and been a part of for the last 12 years. I'm sure this will continue up to and after our move! It's quite an adventure.

We've had a few visitors these past few weeks. Our friend Heiko came to stay from Germany for a few days, which was brilliant. Then yesterday my sister and her family came for the day. It was great for Eden to play with her girls..

We've got our evenings back to a certain extent, so I've been doing a bit of reading. My dad lent me a book that used to belong to his dad (a 1946 hardback first edition), and certainly belongs to a different age -Man Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett. It's about a chap in the Raj at the turn of the 20th century who tracks down man eating tigers and leopards on behalf of local communities.. pretty fascinating and a window into a completely different world. Then a surprisingly quick read was Tahir Shah's The Caliph's House, given to me by my mother-in-law, and all about his move to Morocco with his family.. I couldn't put it down really.. possibly why I finished it in a day! Promised my sister's partner Patrick I'd read a book he recommended by Julian May, so need to get that from the library or somewhere soon.. sure I can fit in another book in between, just not sure what!

lack of blog posts..

2010-02-28T09:52:00.003Z

Hello all! Realised it's been quite some time since my last entry - a function of having a small baby around - less time to blog! In summary life has revolved around nappy changes, feeds, baths and the other "incidental" things in life such as work, church etc..

Eden's doing great, and you can follow Kate's blog entries to keep up to speed if you want. I'm a bit surprised she's 3 months old already, and she's full of smiles and twinkles in her eyes.

For the same reason as the lack of blog entries I've had less time to read, although I've had a bit of time this last week on various buses and trains which has been nice. The only two books I've finished recently are Rowing to Alaska, which is a book of interesting stories from the Aussie author's interesting life. I also finally finished reading Sisters of Sinai, which I was given from my mother in law, which is about two Scottish sisters who discovered various ancient versions of the gospels in the late 1800s.

Been doing a bit of running, entered a couple of races, and our planned move to Birmingham is moving forward by degrees. We've seen a few houses up there, and I've spent some time in the Birmingham office too getting to know folk there.

Not sure how often I'll continue to post with Eden being so little and hopefully a house move coming up soon.. but will try and post every few weeks when I get a mo..

The New Normal

2010-01-10T19:12:00.003Z

So here we are a few weeks into the new year. Eden's nearly 6 weeks old now and I think we're slowly getting used to being parents and having a slightly sleepless routine! It's beginning to feel more "normal" having her around, which is good - the new normal.

On new year's day we drove up to see Kate's family ready for her sister Jo's wedding, which was brill. It was lovely for Eden to meet her great-grandparents and lots of extended family. She was really good in the service and the reception too, which was even better!

This year we're planning to move up to the West Midlands - I'm being relocated with work - but we'll be closer to both sides of our family which is a real bonus. This week we've been getting the ball rolling with looking for a house and speaking to our mortgage lender etc. A few things to tidy up on our house here before we sell but we're beginning to feel really excited about it all!

My good friend Adie gave me a brilliant book this Christmas by Bear Grylls - Facing Up, all about his expedition to Everest. It's an excellent, honest and inspiring tale!

Bye bye noughties

2009-12-31T08:32:00.005Z

So here it is, the end of another decade! I remember seeing this one in at the turn of the century here in Southampton, with friends from Uni and Church, tonnes of fireworks in the sky. There had been a big digital clock counting down to the Millennium for all of 1999.. no such clock this time.

I'm wondering what the "teens" will bring to us as a family? I did a lot over the last ten years (see previous blog a few months ago about turning 30), and am excited about the next few! Obviously I'm looking forward to seeing Eden grow up - she'll just have turned 10 by the time the twenties roll around. It looks like we may be moving to the West Midlands soon as well, so that means big changes too..

We've not got any big party plans for tonight - we're not really "new years eve" party people - and with a 1 month old we'll grab any sleep we can!

We've been having a relatively quiet week, just enjoying being together, doing normal chores etc. Yesterday we got set up on Skype so we can keep in touch with family abroad, and we did a few test calls to family dotted around the UK which was cool. We've been enjoying a Christmas DVD we were given - Charley Boorman's "By Any Means" TV series. When I've been up in the wee small hours I've also been re-watching Long Way Round, with Ewan McGregor and Charley. Both excellent series. A couple of days ago I bought a book for a friend about Shark Attacks (as you do), and it looked so good I read it myself. Not that I'm often at risk of shark attack, but now I know to avoid shallow murky water at dawn and dusk! While I the was in the Oxfam bookshop I found a lovely old leather bound edition of Dickens's Christmas Books, so I picked it up for £2.99. Bargain - and it's adorning our bookshelves in the lounge now, ready for picking out again next Christmas.

We were given a paper log maker as a Christmas present by some friends, so one of today's tasks is to start shredding and soaking paper ready to make some logs! Looking forward to it!

Christmas 09

2009-12-28T08:44:00.002Z

Well another Christmas has passed by, our first one as a family. I was working until lunchtime on Christmas Eve, and at work we have a nice tradition of singing carols around the Christmas tree at midday on followed by mulled wine and mince pies -always nice (although the singing isn't always so tuneful!). In the afternoon we watched Christmas films and did the last little bit of wrapping, then in the evening we wanted to go to a carol service, but we couldn't find one nearby to go to, so settled for watching "Carols from Kings" on the BBC (a service from Kings College, Cambridge) instead.

Christmas morning we opened a few presents, then I went for a run while Kate was feeding Eden - desperately needed because I was already feeling sick by Christmas Eve from eating too much! At 11 we popped down to our church where about 8 of us had an informal gathering - we sang some carols and had a study/discussion about the Magi which was really thought provoking.

Our good friends Paul and Katty hosted us for Christmas dinner, and Eden was really good. In the background we listened to Classic FM's countdown of the nation's favourite carols.. apparently O Holy Night is number one! We were so full after the main course that we had to wait a few hours before Christmas pudding, and we didn't even make it to the cheese and biscuits course!!

On Boxing day Paul and I (with his dog Mia) went for a mince-pie burning muddy run - much needed after all the food the day before! Our friend Simon popped in for a cuppa in the evening.

Yesterday we went to a big gathering of my side of the family at my Aunt's house - with lots and lots of cousins on my mum's side. Lovely to see everyone, all delighted to meet Eden.

Kate and I didn't give each other gifts this year, in a move towards a simpler Christmas, and Kate's family just did "secret santa" so that everyone only got one present and the rest of the money went to charity. Paul and Katty gave us a cool gift though - a paper log maker - will have to try it out soon!

In the lead up to Christmas I read a couple of Charles Dickens's less well known Christmas writings. After much searching I eventually found one of his books of Christmas tales at the library! I thoroughly enjoyed The Haunted Man, which I think is at least as good as A Christmas Carol, although I couldn't really get into A Christmas Tree. In the late evenings when I've been up with Eden and Kate's been snatching some sleep, I've been reading the graphic novel Maus by Art Speigleman, which is all about his family's experience of the Holocaust - it's extremely powerful (award winning in fact), and portrays the horrors of being a Jew during the second world war. Very worth reading, and I think that the fact that it's illustrated adds a different dimension to other works about the Holocaust by, say, Primo Levi.

Snow before Christmas!

2009-12-20T14:40:00.003Z

We had snow here in the UK this week - even down here on the tropical south coast! That's the second time this year - after major snows in February. It's still a pretty rare occurrence, although I guess as the effects of climate change become more apparent maybe it will become more normal. I can't remember the last time we actually had snow before Christmas! Anyway it's lent a lovely festive feel to the place. We're really looking forward to having our first Christmas with Eden, lots of people have given us special "baby's first Christmas" type decorations for the Christmas tree, which is nice. This morning I've been practicing carols for our carol/Christingle service tonight at church - we're doing some less well known ones so I needed to make sure I knew them!

Life is certainly quite different with a little baby around! Our sleep patterns are very different, and I have been extremely grateful for BBC iplayer online which has meant I can watch some really interesting programmes in the wee small hours. BBC4 has had some good stuff on recently!

I was back at work this week, which felt a bit strange having spent two weeks at home with Kate and Eden, but it went ok and Kate's done brilliantly at home.

Over the last 6 weeks or so I've been reading Divine Love Song by Elizabeth Mulloy. Some years ago some American friends of my folks gave me the book (signed by the author no less!), and just recently it felt like the right time to read it. It's a study on the Song on Songs in the Bible, and unpacks the imagery and story with terrific insight and depth - so one of the reasons it's taken me a while to read is that I've been trying to savour it as I go along. Each chapter finishes with some points for reflection and a short prayer. It's a most excellent book, and whilst I'm always glad to finish a book, perhaps the sign of a good book is when the act of reaching the last page leaves you longing for more. Not sure what I'll read next..

Nearly two weeks..

2009-12-09T10:08:00.004Z

Hi Folks, sitting here pretty sleepy after Eden's first week and a bit - she's very gorgeous but has understandably affected our sleeping patterns!! The time has flown by! Anyway she's doing really well, feeding lots and sleeping well too. Now that she's established on breast milk we've switched to the lovely re-useable nappies we were given by a friendly freecycler earlier in the year. They're just as easy to use as the disposables, obviously create massively less waste, and are softer on Eden too. We're quite impressed with them! God bless Freecycle!

Just before Eden was born I finished a really interesting book that my mother in law had given me "The Art of Compassion". It's the stories of the 12 or so songwriters who wrote an album of worship songs together, all of the proceeds of which go to charities helping to alleviate poverty round the world. What's challenged me is the constant reference to Micah 6:8 - that our "true" worship has to find expression meeting the needs of those who are needy around us, and not just singing nice songs to God (as much as he deserves it). Really interesting to read each person's personal journey on this one, and has got me thinking about how I can better serve those around me.

It's getting closer to Christmas, and while some of the build-up has passed us by (we've had our hands a little full!), we're starting to get into the festive mood! We've put the tree up and the icicle lights on the front of the house, done all of our Christmas shopping and most of the wrapping.. and are most of the way through the Christmas card list! One thing we really like doing this time of year is to watch some Christmassy films too, so we'll be making some time to do that as a family over the next few weeks..

Introducing Eden

2009-12-02T05:25:00.005Z

Hi everyone, I'm pleased to announce that our little bundle of joy has arrived! Our baby daughter Eden Rose Strickland was born on Monday morning, at 5.52am, weighing in at a healthy 8lb 8.5oz. She took us a tiny bit by surprise - Kate had backache really badly on Saturday, but was OK on Sunday, then after we'd gone to bed her waters broke at about 11pm and everything started. As planned we had Eden at home, and in our birth pool - this really helped Kate be comfortable and she did the whole labour with no pain relief at all!

It's been lovely to meet Eden and welcome her into our family, she's a peaceful little soul. We're all getting used to being a family, but are still a but tired.. I'm writing this at 5.30am!

Bits and bobs

2009-11-21T07:30:00.004Z

Hi Folks! Just realised I hadn't blogged for a few weeks so here's another post. Baby day is rapidly approaching.. only 10 days or so until the "official" due date, but in theory baby could come at any time. So we're just waiting, waiting, waiting! Yesterday we received in the post a beautiful knitted cot blanket from Kate's great-aunt.. soon to be a great-great-aunt!

We did a "Save a baby" course the other evening where we learnt what to do if the baby stops breathing or is choking. Useful stuff, but the roleplay at the beginning was a bit scary!

Busy couple of weeks at work. This week I spent a day in the Birmingham office - a sign of things to come, we're hopefully moving up that way next year. Felt like a small but significant step..

On the allotment we planted our garlic to grow over the winter. It's the nice stuff we got when visiting the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight, and we even planted some "Elephant" garlic which should be interesting!

The other weekend, in the torrential rain and gale-force winds, Tom and myself helped our friend Chris demolish his garden shed and fell a tree in his garden. Great fun, despite lots of big spiders! In fact I think I got a big spider in my jacket, because Kate wore it a few days later (her coats don't fit at the moment due to the bump) and after she hung it up a huge spider crawled out! Gross!

Been enjoying listening to folk/roots music these last few weeks. Even got my mandolin out from under the bed for a strum! Really fancy getting a banjo - I did learn a little bit when I stayed with some friends in Vancouver about 8 years ago.. he used to be a pro banjo player in Missouri I think. Anyone have a spare banjo?? (5 stringed..).

Staying on the musical theme I had a get-together for the musicians and singers at our church this week. There were nine of us, Kate played her flute as well - went ok - like it says in Zechariah 4:10 "Do not despise the day of small beginnings". I feel like I'm having lots of small beginnings at the moment.

Am reading a couple of good books at the moment, but reading them slowly to digest them. One's about the Song of Songs which I'm finding quite profound, and one is about social justice.. also quite profound. Challenged by Micah 6:8 just now. Anyway will write up properly when I've finished them.

Oh, can't remember if I previously linked a journal post I did at www.worshipjournal.com. Anyway it's here if you wanted to read and/or comment.

To end with some brilliant news, we rang the RSPCA this week and found out that Nelson has already been re-homed, which is excellent and probably a miracle! The staff there hadn't thought he'd find a home until after Christmas at least, since they had 183 cats there!

Sons and Fathers

2009-11-06T11:31:00.004Z

I remember waking up one morning in October 1987 to discover that the "Great Storm" had blown over loads of trees and caused lots of damage. School was shut, and I helped my dad help other people to clear the roads nearby etc. I was eight. My dad is a great craftsman, and he noticed that some wonderful old trees in Esher woods had blown down - oaks and chestnuts, so he gained permission to cut them into planks and keep the wood for furniture making. It seemed to take him years to plank them all and bring the wood home (in hindsight I'm sure it wasn't all that long), then he carefully stacked it at the end of our garden, sealed the ends so that it dried evenly, and covered it up. It takes at least seven years for wood to season, and so the log stacks remained immobile our garden as many seasons came and went.

A few years ago, over Christmas and New Year, my dad and I used some of the oak to make a set of bookshelves. It was great fun learning how to work the wood (oak is very hard) and use my dads tools. Now these bookshelves stand proudly in our living room and are full of lovely books, many of which I've read, many of which we've been given, and some which we haven't got round to reading yet.

One such book waiting to be read on the shelf was Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son. I don't know if you ever get an urge (or a nudge from above) to read a certain book, but this week I felt like I needed to read this book, so I did.

It's all about Rembrandt's painting of the same name, how the author fell in love with it, and how it taught him much about sonship. Initially, like many of us, he related primarily to the Prodigal, before realising that in many ways he was more like the Elder brother. Finally, he realised that e are all called to grow into the role of the Father - generous, compassionate and loving. It's challenging stuff, and Nouwen's honesty is disarming.

Much to think about, and timely for me, stepping into fatherhood shortly myself. I wonder if our child will be a son or a daughter, how will it change me, how can I be the all-embracing and loving father of the parable? I am so blessed to have a wonderful earthly dad with whom I can bond in the workshop making furniture, who I can ring for advice, who has provided for, cared for and welcomed me home. I am blessed to have a perfect heavenly father who knows me completely, knows the "distant lands" I have run to in rejection of him and frittered away my inheritance, and yet clothes me in honour and showers me with generosity. Now it is my turn to move from sonship into fatherhood - and I embrace it.

Busyness!

2009-10-31T08:13:00.004Z

It's been a pretty hectic week, so I'm really glad to have the coming week off work! Monday night we had an Ante-Natal class about looking after your newborn baby which was quite interesting. Tuesday lunchtime I went for a run, then after work we went to our Fellowship Evening at James Street Church, where we're currently working through a course based on John Ortberg's book "The Life You've Always Wanted". Highlight of the evening was a local drunk who shouted out "Sex!" in the middle of the meeting.

Wednesday night the Worship Central team from Holy Trinity Brompton had an event at Central Hall, and I had the privilege of attending a workshop beforehand for worship leaders. Tim Hughes, Al Gordon and co gave some great thoughts on using our creativity in songwriting as well as being more rigorous about it - I felt both quite challenged and really inspired. The main event in the evening was fantastic - there's something thrilling about worshipping God with nearly 1000 other people.

From the highs of Wednesday night, Thursday lunchtime I played a song at a funeral, having been asked to help out by a friend. I'd not played at a funeral before (done plenty of weddings!). Done a few baptisms.. what next?? Bar-Mitzvahs? Seriously it was a real honour to help my friend out and hopefully be some comfort to those mourning the loss of a loved one. It's all very well going to lovely and inspiring worship events, but the rubber hits the road in the everyday and I think that if those "mountaintop" experiences are to have a lasting value then they must have a practical outworking.

Kate started her maternity leave this week, and spent a few days with her family in the Midlands getting measured for a bridesmaid's dress. So Thursday night I had a few chums over, cooked a curry, put some beers in the fridge (I put some in the freezer to cool down quickly, then forgot about them until the next morning with predictable consequences!! Doh!). Was good to hang out, catch up and pray together.

Friday (in fact all week) I had the usual pre-holiday "ground rush" of getting things done etc, compounded by the fact that it was the end of the month therefore I had to check we'd delivered all the work we needed to so that we could get invoices out.. so I finished the working week pretty knackered. Perfect timing then to be running a half night of prayer at church!

During the week I'd felt God challenge me to step out of my comfortable worship-leading routine for the half night of prayer, so I ditched my guitar and led on the piano for only the second time in my life! It was a risk, but seemed to go ok. We had a good night too. I'll be back using my guitar on Sunday though..

All in all, a busy but rewarding week I think you'll agree! Now I need a week off to recover.. and to make some space to listen to God..

Conference pic

2009-10-27T21:50:00.003Z

A friend took this shot of us all practising at the New Community Conference the other day.. fun times! If you look closely you can see the "feedback buster" in my guitar's sound hole. Click on the photo to zoom in. How many people can you count? I think a few folk are hidden! We're smiling because I think we were playing Godfey Birtill's brilliant song "It's time to leave the old man behind", which isn't about running away from elderly people but is about stepping into the new creations we've become as Christians..

Impending parenthood..

2009-10-24T21:05:00.003+01:00

Hi folks, a busy few weeks since my last post. All around us the leaves on the trees are all shades of reds, yellows and oranges. Our dark evenings have been pretty full recently. We've had lots of parentcraft classes taking us through normal births, less normal births, instrumental births, pain relief, waterbirths.. all kinds of stuff. I've learnt lots of things I never thought I'd know! It's also making the whole thing very very real. Kate goes on maternity leave next week and will be full term in a short few weeks. We continue to get given loads of stuff - seriously I don't know where we're going to keep the zillions of baby clothes we've got..

A couple of weeks ago we had Kate's brother Ste to stay, which was brilliant fun. We went cycling in the forest, found a Reptiliary and saw adders and grass snakes, picked loads of sweet chestnuts, played Seafarers of Catan (a most excellent expansion to Settlers..), roasted the chestnuts on the woodburner, and generally had a great time. We love having family to stay!

Last weekend I was involved in a conference at New Community church for various congregations around the city. It was brilliant to play in a full worship band again - there were thirteen of us - and it was so much fun. We even did one of my own songs which went down really well. Do rate my songs, make nice comments and read my musical musings here.

Been keeping up the autumn running, at lunchtimes with my colleague Paul, and also on Saturday mornings with another Paul and his dog. This morning's run was particularly wet and muddy! I think this is definitely my favourite time of year to run.

This week I've read an interesting and revealing book about City Bankers by Geraint Anderson called Cityboy - Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile. To be honest it's a pretty shocking expose of the excesses of the City lifestyle and the irresponsible antics of stereotypical City bankers. Don't read it if you have a sensitive disposition though!

Unfortunately we haven't made it down to the allotment recently - a combination of busyness and bad weather. But there's not loads going on down there at the mo.. although we need to get the last few things out of the ground before the first frost..

Autumn is here

2009-10-10T08:05:00.006+01:00

Hello everyone, first blog for a while - sorry about that! I guess it's been a busy few weeks! So I am now in my 30s, but it doesn't feel so bad. My birthday was on a Saturday this year, but one of the first things I had to do was mend our boiler!! The pilot light kept going out. We have quite an old boiler, but the good thing about that is that it's relatively easy to fix. About 18months ago we'd had a new thermocouple fitted, and initially I thought we might need to change it again, but after speaking to my dad (plenty of experience keeping their old boiler going for 30 years!) he said to first check that the burner was ok. Sure enough the end of the burner was quite corroded so I cleaned it using an old toothbrush and then adjusted its alignment slightly when I put it back so that the flame played better onto the end of the thermocouple. Since then it's been working great. Phew! Fortunately it didn't take all that long, since it was my birthday! Kate took me out to lunch by the marina, then in the evening lots of friends joined me at the pub for a celebratory drink, which was great fun.

Work's been busy, and so has church. I've been leading worship most Sundays all year, which I've enjoyed, and although I've tried to arrange "cover" once a month it just hasn't always worked out. We also have fellowship group on Tuesday evenings, and Kate and I have run a couple of those recently too. One was a night of worship and prayer, and then the other week we ran a Taize style service, which went down really well. One older lady said it was the closest she's felt to God in years! We have lots of people coming "to faith" in our church at the moment, and the other Sunday morning we baptised three of them, which was a real celebration. Exciting times.

Kate is extremely pregnant at the moment, growing bigger daily! We're making our final preparations for baby's arrival, and have been really blessed by people's generosity with gifts and also by unwanted stuff from Freecycle. We made a short list of things we needed, and I'm pleased to say its even shorter now. I've also done lots of DIY chores round the house, including fitting our wireless thermostat, exterior gloss painting, staining the front fence and gates etc..

I've been running quite a bit, either at work lunchtimes with a colleague, or on Saturday mornings with my buddy Paul and his beagle Mia. Running with a dog is great fun, and Mia seems to get into it more when there's one of us running either side of her. As Autumn is developing it's becoming fresher to run, and I've noticed the colours of the leaves changing. Last night I went for a dark run for the first time.. and it was only about 7pm! I decided not to run through the woods..

For various reasons last weekend we re-homed our beloved cat Nelson with the RSPCA. Kate's done a lovely post on it at her blog. Basically he'd moved out because he was very jealous of our other cat, and was just living in other people's sheds and on the street up the road. As it was getting colder and wetter, and he refused to come inside we were getting more and more anxious about him. Then the other week next doors cat Jack was hit by a car and fractured his skull and broke his leg. We were so upset to see Nelson unhappy outside that we would rather he had a new family he could be happy with where he could be the only cat, so with extreme reluctance we made our decision. We booked to take him back to the RSPCA, who were very understanding, but taking him back left us extremely sad. We miss him but know we did the right thing.

I've done lots of reading recently too. Kate gave me the new Dan Brown book (The Lost Symbol)for my birthday (it was only a fiver in Asda!), which I couldn't put down. It's a fun page turner, but still definitely fiction! On a related note I read a book from the library about Freemasonry (for a few more facts!) by Giles Morgan. I've just finished a fascinating history book about the Chinese exploration and mapping of the world hundreds of years before European explorers called 1421 by Gavin Menzies (also from the library). It's a brilliant and well-researched book, and makes you wonder what might have happened if the Chinese hadn't chosen to isolate themselves from the rest of the world in 1423.. since they had literally mapped most of the planet and had solved the problem of longitude 300 years before anyone else! I noticed in Borders that the author has published a further book, so I may look out for that another time.

Do please listen to and rate my songs at http://www.worshipjournal.com/ . I've uploaded a couple which regular readers will be familiar with, although the sound quality is much much higher than previous links, mainly because I realised some time ago that when converting the files to mp3 I'd picked a really low bit-rate.

One decade into the next..

2009-09-16T19:41:00.004+01:00

Hi y'all. Blog time! Busy week or so, lots of catching up with friends. This included lunch with Billy Kennedy, a birthday meal with Rosie, dinner with the Boxalls, and seeing almost everyone ever at Mat and Rachel's wedding! Had a nice Saturday morning run with Paul and his dog Mia too, then cycled to our church bbq on Sunday.. 8 miles each way!

Kate's bump continues to grow.. only 11 weeks or so until drop-day. This weekend I am 30, and Billy said some helpful things to me over lunch the other day. He was saying that your 20s are a decade for building foundations, your 30s are a decade for finding out who you really are, your 40s are a decade for being who you know you are, and your 50s are for helping others to be who they are. Or something like that anyway. So I've been thinking about decades these last few days.

I'd agree that my 20s have been a time for building foundations - in this decade: I've lived in Southampton; I've gained a Civil Engineering degree; I've travelled to South Africa (twice!), America, Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the Falklands, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and lots of other places; I recorded my first album; I've completed lots of triathlons, 10ks and a half-marathon; I've gained my professional qualifications as a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist; I've bought a house; I've got married; I've shared two cats (Nelson and Flo); I've read lots of books; I've made lots of great friends; I've lost people close to me; and many other things.

I'm excited about my 30s - plenty of changes are afoot including becoming a dad, maybe moving city, all kinds.. bring it on!

I've got a few books on the go at the moment, but I read a short "pocket" Penguin the other week, The Coronation of Haile Selassie by Evelyn Waugh, a famous 1930s travel correspondent. It was fun, especially having read a book about gold hunting in Ethiopia recently as well. I think I do harbour a secret ambition to write travel books one day..

Recently I've really been enjoying the game Koi Koi on our Nintendo DS -it's a Japanese card game, and knowing some friends were on holiday in Japan I texted them to see if they could pick me up a pack of the special Hanafuda cards, since they seem to be impossible to get in the UK or online. Anyway, they came up trumps and brought back a beautiful set of cards.. made by Nintendo as it happens (thanks Chris and Kate!!). Apparently Nintendo started making these cards in the 1800s, and grew from there into the giant gaming company they are now. I've also enjoyed playing chess and poker this week on the DS, with mixed success.

The other week I uploaded one of my worship songs onto the Worship Journal website, so please go there to download it and rate it. The more downloads and 5* ratings it gets the higher profile it gets.. ! At the moment it's on the front page as one of the most recently uploaded songs, but if it's not then search for Luke Strickland in the search box near the top and it should come up.. Thanks in advance.

2009-09-06T18:00:00.002+01:00

Ok, some time since my last post - here's why! The weekend of the 22nd August (in fact straight after my last blog!) I went to my friend Mat's stag do. This involved camping in Lulworth in Dorset, a great big long walk along the coast, various custard-based activities for the stag, a big bbq in the evening, with port, cigars and cheese and biscuits to finish! I was sharing a tent (my old one in fact) with my old housemate Adie, and a good time was had by all. Fortunately/unfortunately I had to get up at the crack of dawn on the Sunday to head back to Southampton to lead worship at church.. slightly croaky and bleary eyed!

Over the bank holiday we managed to get on a free boat trip around Southampton Water seeing all the cruise ships up close, which was really good - even better because it was free. Ok so we had to queue for a bit, but that wasn't so bad because it was nice and sunny.

Work's been hectic because so many people were on leave, then last week Kate and I took a few days off and went to the Isle of Wight for a mini-break. Just as well that we weren't planning to sit on the beach the whole time, because the weather was pretty foul - the remnants of Hurricane Danny apparently. Still, we did lots of cool stuff including visiting Quarr Abbey, Rosemary Vineyard, the Garlic Farm, Shanklin Chine, Isle of Wight Zoo, as well as chilling out reading our books and generally relaxing. I did a few runs, including a steep one from the beach up to the top of Culver Down and the Yarborough memorial - watched a squall come towards me across the bay on my way down, and got utterly soaked in the last 5 minutes.

Annoyingly, just before the bank holiday I came down with a nasty cold (not Swine Flu though), which meant that I spent lots of the Sunday and Monday not doing very much. On the positive side I did catch up on watching the West Wing (on video!!!), although I am still miles behind the whole world, as I am only halfway through season 2.

On the book front I've just finished a book by Andy Martin called Beware Invisible Cows, which is kind of a travel book but all about the author's search to find out about the big bang. Actually it's pretty interesting, and I realised half way through that I'd read one of the author's previous books Stealing the Wave, all about surfing a few years ago. Although there's lots of complicated theories, it's quite accessible, and the conclusion.. well I guess the conclusion is that there is no definitive conclusion yet. I also finished The Bloke's Guide to Pregnancy, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Still digging up plenty of potatoes on the allotment, coming to the end of the courgettes and gherkins, but starting to cut the cabbages. Guess the parsnips and carrots will be ready soon. We've pickled our last batch of shallots (took me a solid few hours to peel them all last night, the ends of my fingers are a bit yellowy and I can't get the onion smell out), as well as gherkins and even courgette! Need to get some onion nets to hang our onions in the shed, and some hessian bags for all our potatoes.. our maincroppers are massive!

Solomon's Gold

2009-08-22T07:34:00.003+01:00

As some of you will have read on previous posts, I've recently taken to browsing bookshops looking for new books to read, then getting them out of the library. It's been working well so far, and my most recent read is another in the travel/adventure/history genre by an author I've not read before, Tahir Shah. In Search of King Solomon's Mines: A Quest in Ethiopia is pretty much summed up by its title! Does he find them? That would be telling, but his journey is full of interesting characters and a sharp attention to detail, without being too heavy. It's always a great feeling when you find a new author you like, then find they have a good back catalogue, so I expect I'll be reading a few more of his books in due course.

It is full-on harvest season on the allotment and in the garden, and this week we've harvested lots of potatoes, garlic, courgettes, tomatoes, blackberries, french beans, monk beans and gherkins. Satisfying.. even though we haven't weeded as much as we've meant to over the last few weeks..

Have to mention that I've been enjoying Godfrey Birtill's CD in the car this week - boy those songs are insanely catchy and pretty punchy!

Family Camping

2009-08-16T20:22:00.003+01:00

This weekend Kate and I travelled to North Wales for the annual Strickland family camping weekend. Although the weather was mainly a mixture of rain and wind, we all had a great time, just enjoying all being together. We were worried that our journey up might take ages, so had given our tent to my folks last weekend so someone could erect it before it got dark. Happily we had a great journey in the end so didn't arrive as late as we expected (but our tent was up and ready anyway). Our corral included one caravan (with large awning), one VW camper van, one large tipi and four tents!

We got up to some fun activities. Saturday morning my two brothers and myself went mountain biking round Llandegla forest with our two teenage nieces. Other activities included an epic 5 player game of Settlers of Catan, stargazing on Saturday night with my dad and one of our nieces, kite flying, playing the viking game Kubb, playing and reading stories to the 2 year olds, holding our latest 4 month old, reading, and enjoying sleeping in the tent!

Shame not to stay longer really! Back home now, doing the washing and getting ready for work tomorrow..

Moon Dust

2009-08-08T20:14:00.003+01:00

Hey y'all, thought it was probably time for a new post. Today's actually been sunny and even a bit hot after weeks of heavy rain - so much for the English summer!

I've just read a great book about the Apollo moon programme in the 60s and 70s called Moon Dust: In Search of the Men who Fell to Earth, by Andrew Smith. The author speaks to all the surviving astronauts and many of those involved in the programme, and it's quite interesting what they have to say and the author's observations about their life since returning from the moon. Given how competitive the astronaut programme was, and that many of them were ex-fighter or test pilots, it's compelling how the experience changed so many of them. Some had very spiritual experiences, which changed their whole outlook on life. For some the question of "what next" was hard to answer - I mean once you've been to the moon what else is there? The programme itself was a huge achievement, but its legacy is mixed - for all the cost, was it worth it? The book is not only about what happened to the astronauts, but the author's own "journey to the moon" in a sense. A compelling and very readable book - one of "Richard and Judy's" book list, so very much worth a read.

In other news we've continued to get the nursery ready for the baby, de-clutter the house, enjoy our fresh veg from the allotment, pickle a batch of shallots, go to work etc. Today we popped up to visit my folks, see some other members of the family, and pick up the oak TV stand my dad and I've been making. It's now sitting proudly in our front room - a good fit in the corner.

Searching for God Knows What

2009-07-29T19:45:00.003+01:00

When I travelled to New Zealand in 2005, a friend gave me Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz to read. I enjoyed it, and when I was in Hamilton I found a bookshop and bought another of his books Searching For God Knows What. As it happened I didn't read it while I was on that trip, and it ended up on the bookshelf along with Other Books I Must Get Round To Reading. Bizarrely, while I was on the plane on the way back I saw the obituary of Brother Roger of Taize, and in a twist of fate I ended up taking Searching For God Knows What to Taize the other month and reading it there. It's funny how things work out sometimes.

Anyway, I didn't quite finish the book while we were at Taize (wish we'd been able to stay longer and then I would have!), and so finished reading it the other night. I have to say that it's one of the best Christian books I've read for a while - reminding us strongly that the Gospel is relational and not just a bunch of legalistic formulas. I really like Donald's writing style - like Rob Bell he is great at putting across deep truths without getting hung up using too much religious language. This means his work is very accessible, and he gets to the heart of stuff, de-cluttering all the legalism on the way.

When I mentioned I was reading this book to some friends at our BBQ the other day, my friend Mat agreed that Searching For God Knows What is way better than Blue Like Jazz (good as that is), and that he'd bought loads of copies and given them to people. Which is as good a recommendation as any. The fact that Donald is good at unpacking the deep truths of the faith means that his work is quite challenging! As someone once said about the Bible - "It's not the bits I don't understand that bother me, it's the bits that I do understand". I found his "lifeboat" analogy particularly poignant - an I'll leave that as a teaser for you to go and read the book!

Escape to ...?

2009-07-27T20:41:00.003+01:00

Just finished another good book - Call of the Wild: My Escape to Alaska by Guy Grieve. It's the other book I saw whilst browsing in Waterstones the other day, and which I subsequently got out of the library. The title kinda says it all, one man's escape from desk-bound office inertia to the depths of Alaska, building his own log cabin and learning to sled with his own team of sled dogs. Guy is very honest - and the "call" must have been pretty strong for him to leave his wife and two small boys for a year. Interesting though, his final thoughts "What is certain is that I was unhappy before I went to the wilderness, and now I am happy". Quite challenging actually, especially in the midst of turbulent times in my own office - as Guy continues "better to seek out happiness now than to waste time scrimping and saving for a future that may not exist, and can never be tamed".

Back in "normal" life here in Southampton we've continued our tidy up/clear out ready for the baby. I'd say the nursery is pretty much there, and we're collecting a cot from freecycle this week which is our last big item to get. We've done well with hand-me-downs and freecycle and have hardly bought anything at all - part of our deliberate ploy not to get caught up in the pre-baby spending spree!

Last Friday I took some lieu time off work and spent the day with my Dad in his workshop, trying to finish the oak TV stand we'd started making together last summer. It's a shame we don't live closer, because it's great learning practical stuff from my Dad and I really enjoy working with my hands and building things. We made great progress, so now all that needs doing are routering the edges and varnishing it, which my Dad graciously offered to do since he has loads of space to hang it to dry in the workshop. It was a rainy day, and at one point the rain was really clattering hard on the roof. It sounded great - a happy and peaceful moment.

Tried a new run route on Saturday morning, a good 8-miler. Trying to keep up the high mileage runs with a view to completing another half marathon in the Autumn. Watched the killer penultimate Tour De France stage up Mount Ventoux on Saturday afternoon, which was pretty amazing, then we went to a 50th wedding celebration for a couple from our church -also pretty amazing. 50 years together - wow!

Sunday was a church sandwich - I was leading the worship in the morning as usual at our church (although we had a cafe style service with bacon butties, fresh coffee, singing, testimony and a powerful Nooma dvd - "Rain"), then strimming the allotment, a cuppa with Paul and Katty and the final stage of the Tour De France before being a "guest" worship leader for the evening service at a small church in Lowford. We had a great time, and were even back in time to catch the last part of a documentary we've been watching about a recent race to the South Pole! All in all a pretty good weekend!

Godfrey's unusual lyrics

2009-07-18T21:16:00.003+01:00

Busy week this week. Mainly cycling to work while my car's been in the garage, been quite enjoying it actually. Panniers make the journey so much more comfortable!

Tuesday night I went to a live recording of Godfrey Birtill's latest worship album - quite an experience. His songs are quite unusual in a few places, but there's no doubt they're full of God, and the evening was brilliant, if quite surreal (lots of people dressed as pirates, and a classic moment mid-song with a duck hooter..). I'll definitely be getting the album when it comes out in August, not just "because I was there", but because some of the lyrics really got under my skin in a good way. What's great about Godfrey is that he defies the steryotype of young trendy successful worship leaders - he's a grandfather!

Wednesday night our church hosted a fab community bbq for the housing estate it's on, including a steel band. We had loads of people come, and a good time was had by all I think! Kate and I manned the giant Jenga and Connect 4 games.

Thursday we had the 20 week scan for the baby, and I'm pleased to say that everything was normal and healthy. We decided not to find out the sex, keeping that as a nice surprise. As a treat in the evening we went to the cinema to see the latest Harry Potter film, which was brilliant but still some way short of the book.

I haven't run since the half marathon two weeks ago, keeping to the old adage of resting a day for every mile raced, and also because my knee had been quite sore from a deep bruise. However this morning I had a fantastic run, knee felt great and I felt like I was flying. See my previous post where I attempt to describe it. After that and a long queue for a haircut, we had our sister-in-law over with our 2 year old niece, having fun digging up potatoes on the allotment and watching the gigantic cruise ship Independence of the Seas sail off for another trip.

I've finished a couple of good books this week. The first is Palace Council, by Stephen L Carter. It's a political thriller spanning the 1950s to 1970s in America. I found it a slow burner, tokk me a while to get in to it, but once I did it was quite a page turner. Definitely enjoyable, and not the sort of book I normally read, so in a sense quite refreshing. Was lent it by my brother-in-law Ste. The second is more topical, Riding High by Paul Howard, which is about shadow-cycling the Tour De France. I like reading "adventure travel" books, and so I was browsing the travel writing section in Waterstones the other day while Kate was buying maternity clothes in New Look (supportive husband that I am). Anyway, this was one of the books that caught my eye.. and which I subsequently got out of the library! It's good for a few reasons. 1) I'm enjoying watching the Tour De France on tele at the moment 2) it's about an ordinary bloke doing an extraordinary thing 3) it's quite funny 4) I like these kind of books. Anyway, I'm on to the next book that caught my eye in Waterstones and which I got out of the library now.. but won't mention it until I've finished reading.

Saturday Morning Run

2009-07-18T18:11:00.002+01:00

Wake up - it's dry but overcast. Perfect for running. Have a banana and a cup of tea while I wake up. Kit on, slip into my trainers (elastic laces for triathlon), put on my watch. Out of the front door, right and downhill to the bottom of the road - remember to start the stopwatch. Past the bus stops and the row of three shops on my left, then turn left, over Tanners Brook and up the steep hill to the General Hospital. Pass the Hospital on my right, uphill all the way, then across the traffic lights and past house after house on my left. Southampton Municipal Golf Course is on my right, through the trees, but I press on, still uphill, the tarmac giving way to gravel then sandy paths as I enter Lordswood. It's cool and shaded amongst the trees and rhododendrons, the air is moist. Dodging puddles it's uphill all the way to the motorway bridge, I know I'm close when I can hear the barking from the kennels. Left before the bridge instead of straight over, and past the giant mansions before sweet downhill on the wide sandy paths, flanked by row upon row of pine to each side. Nodded hellos to early morning dog walkers, jumping puddles, adrenalin pumping, endorphins bringing a smile to my face. Sharp right at Tanners Brook then pounding along beside the brook, full of yesterdays rain, right again at the first footbridge then left over the second footbridge and up the steep gradient to the main road. Through the underpass, footsteps echoing, then along alleyways between the houses. Into a small wood until bursting into bright sunlight on the other side, warm on my face and shoulders. Right, nice and fla along the road, past two roundabouts then left and downhill, lifting up the pace back to the front gate. 5 miles and brilliant.

Sailing Round the World

2009-07-09T20:53:00.004+01:00

The other Christmas I gave my friend Adie a cool 1940s book by Francis Chichester about flying his Tiger Moth plane from New Zealand to Australia in the 1930s. He let me read it after him, then lent me Robin Knox-Johnston's account of his solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world in 1968 - Robin Round the World (in fact, it's the sea cadet edition of A World of My Own). I finally got round to reading it over the last few weeks, and it's a pretty remarkable story to our modern ears. He was the first person to sail non-stop, in his trusty little boat Suihali. No GPS, no working radio for most of it, Robin navigated using time-honoured methods such as sextant and stars. With no-one on hand to help, he single handedly mended everything that went wrong, using his practical skills and ingenuity. It took him nearly a year, and it was only near the end that I realised he was my age when doing it - 29!

I think we live in a different world these days, wanting everything instantaneously. A disposable mindset, always buying new - not Robin Knox-Johnston or Francis Chichester who mended their craft and achieved great things! Good old fashioned Great Britons! Makes my life seem rather dull by comparison. In a similar vein, on Sunday evenings we're currently watching the serial documentary about Ben Fogle and James Cracknell's race to the South Pole. Thinking about the many books I've read over the last few years, the travel/adventure/exploration genre is one I definitely enjoy. Along with history, sci-fi, religion/inspirational.. and others! Guess it's safe to say that I have an eclectic taste in reading material..

On a less adventurous note, my car is not working (electrical fault - nothing obvious I can sort out), so I've been cycling to work all week. I suppose it's been quite good "active recovery" after the half marathon last weekend, but I've also had a puncture and been knocked off by a fellow cyclist!

Half-Marathon

2009-07-05T08:44:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, probably time for an update on life in the Strickland household. We've been back from Taize about 2 weeks now, but as always after a holiday it feels like much longer! Normal life resumed pretty quickly, and we've both been quite busy at work. Kate's pregnancy is going well, she's about 18 weeks now. The garden and allotment are providing us with plenty of food at the moment: broad beans, chard, turnips, lettuce, spring onions, early potatoes, courgettes, strawberries, mange tout.. so lots of our meals have included our home grown food. Satisfying (and tasty).

Last Saturday I went to the AGM of a charity called CED (Christian Engineers in Development), which was really interesting. Great to meet like-minded engineers who have put their skills into practice for free for various rural communities in Africa and Asia. I'm hoping I can contribute my skills in some way at some stage.

On Tuesday we spent the day at Wimbledon - we had got Centre Court tickets through the public ballot. It was extremely hot, above 30C, but fortunately we were in the shade for much of the day. We watched the womens quarter finals, and a match of the mens doubles quarter finals too. A great experience, and fun to watch it all live.

We've started to clear out our spare room and study, to convert the study into a nursery, so have been trying to de-clutter. Lots of stuff we've given away on Freecycle. To make better use of space I thought it would be a good idea to put some shelves above the window, and we bought some "floating" shelves to put up. Suffice to say they're not that well designed, I wasted two evenings trying to overcome their design flaws, and we'll be taking them back for a refund. To add to the annoyance my car has stopped working (electrical problem - trying to work out if it's a loose connection, the alternator, or something else..).

This weekend we've been up visiting Kate's family in Birmingham, since I'd entered the Birmingham and Black Country Half Marathon, which was yesterday morning. After completing the Romsey Triathlon the other month I had an urge for a slightly different challenge, and decided on a half marathon. It's only two 10k's I thought! Anyway, I'd done a reasonable amount of training, so was confident I'd get round, just not sure on the time.

The day was relatively cool compared to the roasting hot week we've had, and the route was from Wolverhampton to Birmingham along the canal. I decided to aim for about 1hr 40min. My race plan was to get in quick miles for the first 3 or 4 (around 7min/mile pace), cruise (at around 8min/mile pace) to 10 then push for the last 3, and it pretty much went to plan - except that my legs (particularly my calves) began to feel quite tired after 10miles. Anyway, I finished in 1hr38 so pretty chuffed. Spent most of the rest of the day feeling knackered on the sofa watching the tennis and Tour De France. What to challenge myself with next I wonder??

Taize diary - part 5

2009-06-29T19:11:00.002+01:00

Saturday, our last full day, dawns. Despite a good night's sleep I am still sleepy when I wake up. I head for an early morning shower to beat the queues but they're not all that busy, The water's not all that warm either though - Kate's is entirely cold! Mine is at least warm enough for a shave. The day is breezy and quite cool, our bare feet actually feeling cold during morning prayer, although they warm up in the sun in the breakfast queue. Our last morning's work goes quickly with Chung, Josue and Emilien - we know what needs doing and can do it quickly - even cleaning the candle holders doesn't take all that long. We swap addresses and take a group photo, then there is just enough time before midday prayer to take a walk through St Stephens wood to the lakes below.

My stomach growls loudly in the silent prayer. The lunch queue seems to take forever! The day has warmed up a bit, and the sun is welcome when it appears from behind the clouds. In the afternoon Kate has a nap while I go to a fascinating seminar on Icons by Brother Christophe (at an earlier time of 3.15). This leaves a big gap afterwards until dinner, so we start packing our bits into the car, leaving only the bare essentials until tomorrow. Then Kate goes for a brisk half hour walk while I do some reading.

The site is quiet, the wind is rustling in the trees, and I feel able to savour the words of the Gospel of John and take my time over the text - perhaps a by product of our time here? A week has passed, but really it feels like we are only scratching the surface - we'd love to spend longer. It's time for some dinner, and the Swedes have made floral wreaths for their heads to celebrate midsummer. Evening prayer is extremely busy, so they open up an extra area to the rear of the church - many more people have bee arriving all afternoon - the car park is much fuller and more tents have popped up all over the place.

Midway through the service we all light candles to represent the light of Easter. We stay awhile with many others after the brothers have left, singing and enjoying the fellowship. Some of the Swedish parties leave immediately to hop onto their coaches for their long journey back. It feels a bit sad.

Every evening after prayer, a few of the brothers stay behind in the corners of the church if anyone wants to discuss something personally. Tonight, since it's our last night, we go up to one of the brothers together and ask for a blessing. He prays a lovely prayer over us about joy and peace, and makes the sign of the cross on each of our foreheads. It seems a fitting end to our week. Time for bed, with a long journey home in the morning.

Taize diary - part 4

2009-06-28T21:03:00.003+01:00

A few drops of rain on Thursday night, and Friday morning brings a heavy dew that drips through the tent. I shower early and have some food before the bells ring at 7.45. Kate is still very tired with her pregnancy so stays in bed. I really like the bells here at Taize. There are 5 bells in the belfry, with an hourly chime, a morning peal at 7.45 for a few minutes, then the call to prayer for 10-15minutes at 8.15am, 12.20 and 8.30pm.

During morning prayer this morning a coach load of Dutch tourists arrive - quite late - they troop in during the reading. One of my favourite songs of the week is in Swedish - Kristus Din Ande, and as I go up to receive communion we all start singing it. As it happens I am surrounded by Swedes and its really nice to hear their voices in harmony.

It's much cooler today, so not much chance of sunburn in the breakfast queue. Kate has hot chocolate for a change - the Dutch tourists are taking photos of people in the queue! Back to our tent to brush our teeth and then nearly time for our mornings work. We hoover the whole church, which takes most of our time, then we chat to Emilien and the guys over a cup of Taize tea and a biscuit. When we've finished we plan to walk round the wood, but it starts to rain so we seek sanctuary in the tent before going to midday prayer.

Lunch is a nice rice dish, then at 2.15 we attend the regional group for Brits, led by Brother Matthew. There's eight, including us, and we talk about why we came and what we'll take away. It's good to hear people's stories and to hear the Brother share. By the time it's finished it is raining quite hard, so we go back to the tent, drink soup, read and listen to the rain.

Around 5.15 we head over for a snack and some Taize tea, then we go to a seminar by one of the Brothers about hearing God's calling, which is brilliant. All we have heard from the Brothers has been well thought out, well presented and basically really good. Their delivery is reasonably slow paced - unhurried you might say - perhaps an outworking of their reflective way of life? The seminar finishes in time for dinner and then it's not long until evening prayer- the bells sound different, apparently the small ones have been broken all week and have just been mended.

After the "official" part of evening prayer has finished, the adoration of the cross begins. People form a kneeling queue and then take turns to kneel around the big icon cross of Jesus which is laid out flat in the middle of the Brothers' area, and to rest their head on it to pray. Many of the young people go up, which is great. We wait a while until the queue has gone down a bit, then take our place. Its 10.15 by the time we leave, the sky has darkened nearly to black, the clouds have cleared and the temperature has dropped. Time to cocoon ourselves in the warmth of the tent for the night.

Taize diary - part 3

2009-06-28T17:32:00.002+01:00

Wednesday morning arrives, after a cooler night. We arise about 7, and while Kate heads to the showers I brew up some instant coffee. Our powdered milk really is no substitute for the real thing and my coffee doesn't taste great if I'm honest. A bit of reading, then the bells chime and we walk up to morning prayer. The brothers leading the singing are in fine voice, I on the other hand am not. Something about being coiled up on the floor probably but my range seems lower, and out of tiredness my voice is a bit croaky. Still, I enjoy singing the bass parts, the deep notes feeling (and sounding) especially satisfying. The prayer before communion has a part in English, about carrying God's peace with us for the rest of the day.

The queue for breakfast forms quickly, fortunately we are near the front - we are both hungry and our stomachs are loudly growling. We have a nice chat to a Swede called Jon who has brought a group of Swedish young people. It's his 6th year here, and he says it is the start of the summer holidays for them, which is why there are so many there - it's often known as "Swedish week" apparently.

We are busy with our work between 10 and 12, hoovering and tidying the church, sorting the songbooks and papers out, cleaning out the candles.. it's all an ongoing task a bit like painting the Forth Bridge! We feel like we're getting to know our cleaning colleagues better and appreciate spending time with them. Time enough after for some reading in the sun (it's very hot today) before we are called to midday prayer by the bells.

The afternoon is roastingly hot and we swelter even in the shade. It's well over 30C and the heat saps our energy but makes us fractious as well. In the end we drive down the hill towards Cormatin and walk along a scenic cycle route - it's a bit cooler in the shade of trees and vegetation. It's cooled down a bit by the time we return, and before we know it it's time for dinner. There are more people arriving today, mainly from Germany - a few coachloads we think due to the start of their summer holidays.

We head to evening prayer early and bag a prayer stool each. I really like the diversity of languages for the songs, even the ones in Latin - it's fun that the Latin word for good is "bonus"! As always at the end, after half the brothers have left, the rest stay at the front to continue worshipping. They place a large icon-style cross about halfway down the church, and people come and kneel before it. This evening I am one of those people, it feels right to kneel symbolically before Jesus and worship him. The sunset is not as spectacular as last night, although there is a heart-shaped cloud in the sky.

It's a hot night in the tent, and the morning is already warm outside when we awake. We sit on our camp chairs and brew up some tea before morning prayer, but the powdered milk makes it taste funny. Morning prayer, breakfast, and it's already hot - Kate burns even in the half hour before work at 10. As well as setting out the brothers' area and doing our usual tidying, we mop the brothers' sacristy and other areas in the crypt.

By lunch the heat is getting oppressive, so after we take sanctuary in the air conditioning of the car and drive out into Cluny and the vineyards surrounding. It's picturesque, and we stop at the supermarket on the way back for some much needed milk to drink (Kate has been having cravings for it!). Kate's pretty tired by the time we're back, so has a sleep on the camp bed in the shade. I on the other hand go for a longer run around Cormatin and back - around 47mins, so maybe about 10km.

Dinner is pasta, and there are a few spots of rain which develop into a welcome mini-shower before evening prayer. Kate sleeps, so I go by myself. I have some asparagus soup when I get back, like the citronella candle and write my journal, as the strains of music and singing begin to waft over from the Oyak (the after-hours area on site), before heading to bed myself.

Taize diary - part 2

2009-06-28T14:03:00.005+01:00

Tuesday morning we awake earlier after a good night's sleep catching up after our long journey. We make it to the showers before the queues, and feel much better. Freshly washed, shaved and in clean clothes we start the daily routine with morning prayer. I find the songs sung in Swedish are particularly affecting - perhaps something to do with the melodic nature of the language?

The day is hot and sunny - a welcome break from the rain. No candle holders to wash during our morning's work, but we do have to help a little with the new organ being delivered. Mainly we watch helplessly as the forklift struggles to get through the doors of the church. It's nice chatting to Emilien, Chung and Josue as we work, and the time goes quickly. They tell us about Brother Roger's grave in the village church, so we talk a walk down there before lunch. The medieval church is small, quite dark and deafeningly silent inside. Outside, the graves of the Brothers are like small flowerbeds, covered in flowers and well tended.

The afternoon is roasting, but it has dropped a few degrees by 4pm, so I head off for a run in the direction of Cormatin (the next village). It's mostly downhill on the way out and therefore hard uphill on the way back. Only half an hour, but a good run.

At 5.15 a snack is handed out (Taize tea or chocolate to drink, and some biscuits), and after we attend a seminar given by one of the brothers about Science and Faith. It's really sensible and thought provoking - some helpful ideas to take back for our friends who struggle with the science and faith debate. It doesn't finish until supper time, and we get surrounded in the queue by hyperactive swedish teenagers. I'm quite surprised there are so many Swedes and Germans. Another big contingent is from Italy. Apparently lots of Lithuanians tend to come often - there are few Brits.

Evening prayer is more "earthy" this evening - from the heights of last night to the realities of people farting and old ladies singing loudly flat! Still, I sense God's delight at his people who have come to adore him. There is a beautiful sunset as the layers of high cloud cycle through hues of oranges and reds into dusk. We brew up some hot chocolate, say hello to a friendly purry cat then time for bed.

Taize diary - part 1.

2009-06-27T20:38:00.004+01:00

I promised I'd write up a blog about our time in Taize, so here's some of the thoughts and musings I wrote down while I was there. Check out their website for more info on who they are and what they do.

We arrived in Taize at about 2.30pm on Sunday. Registration was at about 3.30, and we were told about the rhythmic routine of the community, allocated work to do in the mornings (helping clean the church - not too strenuous due to Kate's pregnancy), given our meal tickets (after making a contribution for the week) and told where we could pitch our tent. As we erected it we could hear thunder in the distance and had the occasional spot of rain.

Dinner is at 7pm and is a well organised affair. It varies, but generally you are served a piece of bread, your main course, a piece of fruit, maybe some yoghurt or some biscuits. Simple hearty food.

8.30 is evening prayer in the church. The bells outside ring to call you to prayer, their peal echoing around the site, but the church is silent as you enter. The brothers have their own area along the central aisle where their prayer stools and songbooks are places. As you enter you collect a songbook, a reading and the evening responsorial psalm. There are plain pieces of fabric to cover your shoulders if you need to. The time begins with songs - chants in all different languages - German, French, Swedish, English, Polish. The translations are given. After singing and a reading there is a profound time of silence for ten minutes or so perhaps. The quiet is rich and textured - I found it helpful to use my prayer rope and pray the Jesus prayer with my breathing. Many people have prayer stools for kneeling with, and my main regret of the week is not bringing my own with me. I made a batch a few years ago and one would have been perfect this week. After the silence, the service ends with more song, and the brothers leave, although some stay to carry on singing and praying. Many others stay as well to continue in worship.

Sunday night torrential rain clattered on our tent as we slept, but morning brought respite, and at 8.15 the bells called us again to prayer before breakfast. I think there is something important about choosing to worship God first over food. The service follows a similar pattern to the others, and as the bells ring out the brothers gradually file in dressed in their simple coarse white robes. After the reading there are prayers said, and then communion is distributed to everyone by the brothers - all are welcome to receive it. There is no liturgy particularly, but I am quite moved by it, as I often am when receiving communion in a more formal way.

Breakfast, like many things at Taize, is simple and different. You can have a bowl of hot Taize "tea" (a syrupy, lemony mixture) or hot chocolate, with a bread roll and two thin sticks of dark chocolate. I found I was less hungry after communion.

At 10 we begin our work in the church, tidying the songbooks, collecting the readings, folding the shawls, and setting out the brothers prayer stools. We assist some "permanents" (people staying for an extended period of time), Emilien (French), Chung (South Korean) and Josue (Puerto Rican). We enjoy our time with them, and also have to clean out the candle holders, using hot water to get rid of the wax.

Midday prayer is at 12.20, and is similar to the morning and evening - songs and silence. It's good to be in a routine. Lunch is similar to dinner. There are study groups in the afternoon, but with Kate's pregnancy we are wary of doing too much, so Kate often takes the afternoons to rest.

There is torrential rain in the afternoon, although it is still warm, but we are informed that we have pitched our tent in the wrong field and have to move it, since they need to mow in the morning. By this time there is thunder and lightening. My coat has no hood and has ceased to be all that waterproof! At least it is warm. We pack up the insides of the tent and hustle them to the car, then un-peg the outer and hurriedly move it the the correct field and peg it in. We are soaked through by now, so just sit on the grass beneath the outer tent to catch our breath - this is what memories are made of we say!

It continues to thunder, and the rain just seems to get heavier and heavier, so we dash to get our chairs and the stove, boil up some water and have a pot noodle each - it's amazing how good they taste in tough circumstances. Suitably fortified Kate erects the inner tent while I ferry stuff from the car - fortunately I have remembered there is an emergency poncho in our camping box, so despite looking stupid at least I'm not getting any wetter. After dinner we change clothes since we are beginning to get shivery. Unsurprisingly Kate is tired after our exertions, so I attend evening prayer by myself. I am stirred in the silence to pray for friends and family, and am moved to silent tears as God gives me a deep sense of his compassion for those I am praying for. I stay awhile after the brothers have left to carry on worshipping before heading back to the tent and bed. The rain finally stops as we are tucked up and drifting off to sleep.

Tired after Taize..

2009-06-23T20:22:00.002+01:00

Hi Everyone, if you were wondering about the lack of blog posts or tweets, we've spent the last week with the Taize Christian community in France. It really is a remarkable place and we wished we could have stayed longer - one week really didn't feel enough. I have so much more to write about it but am a bit tired after a long drive back on Sunday then two busy days back at work, so you'll have to wait until later in the week or the weekend. Think I'm going to head to bed soon.. am knackered!

Long runs..

2009-06-13T10:44:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone! You may have noticed that I haven't done a book review for a while, and that's because I've been reading "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain" by John O'Farrell. My colleague Zane (yes that's his real name) lent it to me. Yes, I like "big picture" history (won't keep going an about it), yes I've read lots of history books over the last few years, and yes lots of them have been about Britain and Empire - I'll find a new topic soon (possibly the War of Independence..). This book was different in that it was a humorous take on the last few thousand years - and very funny it is too. Not in a "laugh out loud" way, but more a knowing smirk on most pages.. quite understated humour.

I realised this week that the half-marathon I've entered is at the BEGINNING of July and not the end.. which meant that my training was behind where it should be! So.. 4 miler on Thursday lunch, and an 8 miler last night. Both felt good.. in fact I'd say the 8 miler felt better! Times were healthy so just need to keep ticking over.

We've done loads of weeding down the allotment this week, and planted out our parsnips, gherkins and more butternut squash. It's looking great down there at the moment.. especially now the weeds are more under control! This year we've learnt our lesson and have got most things going in home-made paper pots in the mini-greenhouses at home. Last year we tried to plant lots out directly and they got devastated by slugs.

Next week we're off to Taize, a Christian community in France, well known for their mesmerisingly beautiful songs such as "Oh Lord Hear My Prayer". Not quite sure what we're in for, but we're driving over, so the whole thing should be a big adventure. Ferry to Le Havre, then 600ish miles the other side. Today we have a long list of things to sort out before we go - not helped by various things going wrong this morning such as a blocked sink!

Endless weeding

2009-06-07T19:11:00.002+01:00

Another week has flown by! Full week at work, wider church leaders meeting on Monday evening - good to pray with leaders from other church communities we're linked with. Tuesday we went to a parent information evening at the hospital, organised by the midwifes department. Lots of pregnant women and slightly awkward partners, loads of information and too much detail in some instances!

Yesterday we drove to Bristol to see my sister and meet her latest daughter Willow, who's 6 weeks old. Conveniently we also got her maternity clothes and some pregnancy books. Good time at church this morning, broke a string though. We all had a lunch together after, which was good fun. Then straight to the allotment for a mega weeding session - much needed.

Had been getting a bit low about the situation at work recently, but had a revelation on Friday which made me feel much better. Realised I'd obviously been finding too much of my identity in my status at work - when actually my value and dignity come from God - not how much I earn or what position I hold. Really freeing - feel much better about the whole situation now, regardless of what happens.

Found out that I'd lost lost of the quality of my recent recordings when I'd converted them to mp3s, so have re-saved them as much higher quality mp3s now. You can still listen to them (then better quality ones) through the links below. For free mp3 downloads you need to go to www.newcommunity.org.uk and follow the "listen" links to the Song Store.. although these are currently the lower quality mp3s until they are (hopefully) swapped early next week. (If you're not sure, check the bit rate quoted.. if it's 64 then they're the low quality ones.. if it's 160 then it's the good ones).

Sunny weather

2009-05-31T21:15:00.003+01:00

Time for another blog I think. England's been sweltering in lovely hot weather for the past week, and amazingly it lasted into the weekend! Even though it was only a four day week last week, it's amazing how draining it felt.. I find that's often the way after time off.

We didn't make a list this weekend, although we did have our work cut out for us on the allotment and in the garden - the weeds do take a stranglehold so quickly this time of year. I'm sure there's a spiritual parable in there somewhere about the need for us to keep ourselves de-cluttered to allow God's fruit to develop in our lives.. I guess weeding would be akin to repentance, and watering and hoeing akin to prayer and worship? Something to think over anyway. I was challenged at church this morning about how much time I am devoting to God - I mean, I know that he's always with me by his Spirit, and I do try and "touch base" in brief prayer throughout the day.. but I do feel the urge/need to devote more time to just "be".

Went for a run Saturday morning, but it was pretty terrible - Kate (in Sports Dietitian mode) says it's because it was too close to my breakfast. I hope so - I felt really discouraged! But that's just the way things go sometimes!

Minor panic this afternoon when I lost my wedding ring in the garden and spent 2 hours searching for it. Had given up when it appeared. Phew!

Last night I drove up to Woking to spend the evening with my parent's church, Lakeside Christian Fellowship. Not only were they celebrating 20 years of the church (Can't quite believe I have been gone 10!), but they had a really interesting chap over from Italy - Matteo Calisi. Check out his biog, he's a really interesting bloke who works hard to bring different denominations closer together. He led us in some worship (not often you hear a professor of music playing "My Jesus, My Saviour" on the keyboard!), then shared his testimony. At the end I asked him to pray for me, but it was all in Italian so I don't know what he said - not that I think it matters!

Just a reminder, if you haven't already to listen to my recent recordings of some worship songs.. do let me know what you think. Linked on the right hand side of the page.

4 days off..

2009-05-25T20:51:00.003+01:00

Enjoyed an extra long bank holiday weekend - 4 days off because I took Friday as leave too... could get used to 4 day weekends!

Friday morning I spent recording some of my worship songs with my friend Mark who has all the gear - super chuffed at how they've come out. Do listen to them (linked at the side of the blog) and let me know what you think. Friday afternoon we pootled up to see Kate's folks and tell the world that we're expecting our first baby in December. They took the news well, her dad was excited enough to go and mow the lawn! Saturday morning had a good long run in the Clent hills, one of my favourite runs. Was nearly 6 miles with over 200m of ascent, so nice and hard work. Spent the rest of the day hanging out with Kate's family watching a gratuitous amount of sport of TV! In the evening went to the cinema with my bro-in-law to see Angels and Demons, which was an excellent film! One of the best films I've seen for ages.

Sunday morning went to Zion Christian Centre in Halesowen, then more hanging out with the family in the avo, before driving home in the evening (in time for Britain's Got Talent).

Another long run this morning, about 5 miles around Lordswood. Then planting out french beans, monastic beans, courgettes and sweetcorn on the allotment. Have an exam on construction site safety tomorrow, so also spent quite a bit of time revising for that. The weather forecast completely lied about rain all day.. had none, so popped down to the allotment after supper to water it all in.

Phew! Back to work for a rest I think!

New recordings!

2009-05-22T14:44:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! This morning my friend Mark helped me record three of my worship songs, which I have linked at the side of my blog. I hope you enjoy them! He also showed me this classic YouTube parody of "I wanna be a rock star".. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbtkhB3cFGs about being a "worship star"...

Rain, rain go away

2009-05-17T17:39:00.002+01:00

A less busy weekend than normal for us, so quite relaxing. Nice not to be enslaved by a to-do list, and the heavy rain for much of the time gave us a good excuse to chill out! Caught up with our friend Andy on Friday evening, which was good - exchanging books and dvds like hostages!

Had a really good run on Saturday morning, in a rare gap in the weather. Slowly getting into the shape for my half marathon in July, so this run was about 5 miles. Actually it was 4.78miles according to www.runfinder.co.uk. which is a great tool for measuring run routes! Didn't take a watch, but my pace felt steady and I just enjoyed the scenery and tranquility of Lordswood (burnt out mopeds and motorway bridge aside..).

We chilled out over a coffee in Borders on Saturday afternoon, for the first time for ages! Got the prime people-watching spot too, so even better. At home afterwards, I struggled to write out the melody line for one of my songs as a "proper" music score - clearly my music theory is extremely rusty. Made some progress at least with help from a trial version of Finale, a score-writing programme.

One of our friends from our church community held a fundraising evening for an African development charity she's involved with on Saturday night, so we went along and ate lots of amazing African dishes! The beef dish was amazing, as were the banana filled doughnuts! We even won a bottle of wine in the raffle.. happy days!

Led worship in our church gathering this morning, even started with a kids action song which went down well. Great talk on doubt - which is an essential element of faith! Then just relaxing for the rest of the day... tough.

Velvet Elvis

2009-05-14T21:24:00.006+01:00

Have you ever read a book and thought "I wish had written this"? I've just finished Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis and thought just that! A few years ago it seemed like everyone was raving about it, but it's taken me this long to finally read it. I don't know if you've ever watched the Nooma films.. short, powerful sermons really, but Velvet Elvis reads like one long Nooma script.. which is great because the Nooma scripts are uncomplicated and powerful.

Rob seems to have a knack for getting "back to basics" in an encouraging way, cutting out jargon, religion (read legalism), and opening up familiar ideas with freshness and a different slant. At the same time his words are rich with meaning and he clearly knows his stuff. From experience I know that the simplest songs are the hardest to write, and I am certain this translates to books too. Velvet Elvis is simple but deep, deep, deep.

I absolutely loved this book - makes me want to be a writer! A few years ago (4? Is it that long??) a friend gave me Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, which is in a similar vein, and suggested I should write - actually that's kinda one of the reasons I started this blog (shame the content degenerated to cats and potatoes!).

Summary - if you haven't read Velvet Elvis then borrow a copy and get reading! It's only short, and it might just inspire you. Or you really won't like it.

Jigsaw Pieces

2009-05-13T21:05:00.003+01:00

We're all jigsaws right? Lots of varied and interconnecting pieces that make us up. Physical traits, emotional traits, giftings, crafts, skills... lots of stuff. I suppose sometimes we major on a few of our pieces more than others, or some at different times/seasons to others. At the moment I'm in a musical season, and I'm taking some time to develop the skills I have in that area. I think I have focused on my reasoning side rather than my creative side over the last few years, especially in my work as a professional engineer, but since Easter I've felt God directing me to pursue my musical side a bit more rather than burying it. I've started writing songs again, and the other week I wrote to a few folk whom I respect and who are experienced in this area asking for advice on publishing. Yesterday I had two responses that were both encouraging and insightful, and today I picked up a couple of books I'd ordered from the library about song and lyric writing. I even have a fresh pad of manuscript paper to write out the melodies for my recent songs.. will have to dust off my old music theory book so I get all the rests and notes in the right places - have realised that many of my songs are syncopated at some point.

Often at work when faced with a difficult situation or problem I'm tempted to bury my head in the sand and ignore it.. when instead I force myself to think "What would I do if I wasn't scared?". Usually it's making a difficult phone call, or deciding on a certain course of action. With my songwriting and performing it's a similar thing - it's scary to put your songs "out there" because they can be so personal, and it leaves you vulnerable to criticism. At the moment I'm thinking.. What would I do if I wasn't scared? And working my way towards doing that..

Luke is.. on Twitter

2009-05-10T17:07:00.003+01:00

Hello all. I have succumbed to the lure of Twitter... so do get in touch if you're on there too. This doesn't mean the end of blogging.. actually I'm hoping it will mean the blog will get more visitors!

The secret is.. not too much throttle

2009-05-09T21:34:00.004+01:00

Every day's a schoolday, as some people say. Today was for me. We had my folks down for a visit, and amongst other things my dad passed on some of his experience relating to troublesome 2-stroke engines - such as my strimmer's. Despite having it serviced, I still find it hard to start, and it's been a bit hit and miss. Sometimes I just cannot start it - quite annoying when I've lugged it all the way down to the allotment.

You see, the key to starting it is the balance between throttle and choke (as I learned). You only need a little throttle, and then you experiment with where the engine is comfy with the choke. Much better advice than instructions badly translated from chinese or japanese! Hopefully this means that my strimmer woes are behind me and I can now start it every time.. thanks Dad!

Church on steroids..

2009-05-08T19:10:00.002+01:00

Just been watching Hillsong videos on YouTube. They do write some beautiful worship songs! However I am staggered by the size of their church building - it's like a stadium! And I think they have more musicians on stage than we have in our entire church community!!!

Small victories

2009-05-08T07:08:00.004+01:00

There's always lots of small things that need doing aren't there? Or minor things that need fixing or sorting out. In our house recently one of those has been Getting The Printer To Work. You see last year we bought a wireless printer, and everything was fine until we changed broadband supplier a few months ago. This meant we had a completely different wireless network. You'd think it would be simple to just switch the printer over to the new network.. and maybe it's supposed to be.. but for us it wasn't, and so we've had a few months with the printer not working.

Now I tried lots of times. And nearly got it working.. but yesterday after threatening the printer that my friend Paul would come round if it didn't behave (Paul is good with computers), it decided to finally work... but only on my computer. The same installation CD claimed not to have enough files when inserted into Kate's machine! Ok. Small victory. Think outside the box.

So I ditched the CD and downloaded the software straight from the website.. and wouldn't you know it, it worked! Second time round anyway.. and at about 11pm at night.. but working anyway. Hah! I am victorious!

Modern day parables..

2009-05-06T21:08:00.004+01:00

Nelson's a bit of a prodigal at the moment. The story goes a bit like this. Once upon a time there was a cat called Nelson. He was a lovely ginger fluffy cat and he was rescued from the RSPCA by a mummy and daddy who really loved him. Nelson loved living with him mummy and daddy, and so they got him a little friend called Flo to keep him company. Sadly Nelson preferred being the only cat and got very jealous of his little sister, so he ran away to a foreign land called Number 35. Every day his mummy and daddy went to find him and bring him home. Usually he was pleased to see them, but sadly Nelson wanted to live at Number 35 for ever. Unfortunately this story doesn't have a happy ending yet.. so keep praying!

Here's another parable with a happier ending. One Christmas a loving husband bought his wife a wonderful book. However upon returning home from visiting family, this gift disappeared! The couple looked everywhere but to no avail. Many months later, after they had given up hope, the book miraculously appeared down the side of a table! And a packet of carrot seeds lost for a week miraculously appeared in a plastic bag! Hooray!

Lists

2009-05-03T20:21:00.003+01:00

Time for another blog I think. We're currently enjoying the long bank holiday weekend, and we had an extra day off on Friday as well, so a nice 4 day weekend for us! Saying that, we did set ourselves a huge list of things to get done around the house, allotment and garden.. so not quite as relaxing as it could have been! It's funny how we all try and reduce our lives to a long list of things to do. At work I have a list of things to do. At home we write ourselves lists of things to do, then become slaves to those lists! I wonder if it's something to do with being "grown up"?

On Friday we tackled our list like a whirlwind, made great progress but wore ourselves out in the process! Are lists pre-fall or post-fall? Did God make a to-do list before creation? Are lists compatible with living according to God's spirit? So many questions..

I don't think it helped that neither of us slept well, but Saturday we were pretty knackered. Despite nearly oversleeping I cycled down to New Community Church for a multi-congregation men's breakfast, which was quite good. Nice to chat and pray with chaps from different church communities around the city over some sausages and coffee. We pretty much flopped out for the rest of the day, but we were cooked a lovely chicken roast at our friend Rosies.

This morning it was nice and sunny, and we were up quite early, so I sat on our front steps reading for a bit, with one of our cats Flo. I was really looking forward to our church gathering - excited about introducing some of the new songs I'd learnt at Spring Harvest. As I sat there it clouded over a bit with big broody clouds and the wind picked up, noisily rustling in the birch tree across the road, so I came inside. It felt expectant.

Much as love them, I'm not a person who believes that Sunday meetings are the be-all and end-all of our expression of church. Saying that, we had a great time of worship and communion - it does feel like we are experiencing God's presence in a deep way in our gatherings at the moment. To top it off, we were invited for lunch by our friend Charlie.. mmm another lovely roast (lamb), and another good expression of community! I wrote a song the other day expressing how much I want God to be in everything I do, and we sung it together this morning, I think it blessed people.

Chinese State Circus

2009-05-01T11:36:00.004+01:00

The circus is in town! On the way to church the other night we spotted the big top in Mayflower Park.. the Chinese State Circus! A colleague of mine mentioned that you could get discounted tickets in shops displaying the circus poster, and when Kate walked up to the Post Office the other day she spotted a poster in a shop window so went in. She said to the man in there that she was just picking up a leaflet, but he told her to wait a second, then produced two free tickets from his draw! So we went last night, and it was pretty amazing. No animals, but unbelievable balance, acrobatics and quite scary Shaolin Monks breaking bricks and metal on their heads. We thought that the performers generally looked like they were enjoying themselves, except the monks when they were balancing on the points of spears and things..

Long Bank Holiday weekend now.. time to tame the allotment. Have had the strimmer flushed out, got fresh fuel, and a preserving additive to (hopefully) stop it getting clogged up again. Thanks to New Forest Garden Machinery - always really helpful and willing to give advice. Need to get out for a long run too, now that I've got the half marathon in July.

Beans, beans, make you..

2009-04-27T20:17:00.003+01:00

We've just been planting beans (french climbing beans from last years harvest and some extra special ancient monastic beans we got from a heritage seed catalogue). Not just potting them, but doing it in the rain. And the cold. And it's nearly dark. Now that's what I call commitment.

Or it may just be "allotment envy". We took a stroll down to the plot this evening after dinner, having not made it over the weekend (lots of seed planting at home instead.. equally important), to discover that some of our neighbour plots had already transplanted their climbing beans which were about a foot high! They must have a heated greenhouse to start them in..

Meanwhile, since the strimmer is being mended, our allotment has decided to turn into a jungle. I'd say that we were letting the side down, but there are plenty of plots worse than ours, and at least we've got loads growing, which is more than can be said for some folk. Our potatoes are coming up; asparagus canes have appeared; onions, garlic and shallots looking nice and big; turnips and beetroots also doing well.. and now we've potted our beans. Nothing like keeping up with the Jones's when it comes to the allotment!

Legs and shoulders a bit stiff from the race yesterday.

Romsey Triathlon

2009-04-26T15:07:00.007+01:00

A few weeks ago somebody suggested that I enter the Romsey Triathlon - it's only a couple of miles away and is in aid of the charity XLP. We were due to be elsewhere this weekend, but our plans changed so I decided to enter - it only looked short anyway.

So I entered, but then had my usual feeling of approaching dread that I get before races. I've hardly done any swimming for about a year, and ditto riding my road bike.. and although I've been running regularly it's only been for short distances. Still I kept telling myself that it's for charity and it doesn't matter if I come home last.

Whilst I was feeling sorry for myself on Friday night (self inflicted worry.. so even worse) there was a programme on telly about a chap who entered a 5 day 180mile race across the Atacama desert in Chile. Although he was a professional footballer, he hadn't done any endurance events before and only had 8 weeks to train. Admittedly he had help from top coaches, and was put in a team with two world class endurance athletes, but it still looked unbelievably hard. Each day was at least marathon distance, with one day double the distance! He got awful blisters, fractured toes, major cramps.. but he made it! After that I felt a bit less sorry for myself about the race.

As always, the race itself never turns out as bad as I expect. In the swim (only 250m) I amazingly had a whole lane to myself, and although I went off too fast I think I did ok. The cycle (16 hilly miles)was quite punishing - some nasty hills, but no-one overtook me and I overtook quite a few people. I was worried I might have been cold but the sun was out which made me warm. The run felt longer than it was (3.5miles), but again I overtook a few people and didn't get overtaken. Don't know results yet, but I certainly didn't come in the top 3 (we stayed for prizegiving), and according to Kate's timing I was within the 1.5hour time limit I'd set myself.

My next challenge is a half marathon in July. I've discovered over the last few years that the only way I can be bothered to stay fit is to enter races - too competitive you see. Better start doing some longer runs!

Near us there's a house which someone's been doing up, and the other day I noticed they had an old compost bin that it looked like they were getting rid of. So yesterday I bobbed over and asked, and now we have a compost bin for the allotment. It's amazing what you can get when you ask!

Finished uploading..

2009-04-21T21:49:00.003+01:00

Have uploaded the rest of Songs for the Kitchen this evening. I'm pleased to say it was much quicker tonight! Lots of people say that Part of Me is their favourite.. it's my favourite too.

Songs For The Kitchen

2009-04-20T22:05:00.003+01:00

Hopefully, if you follow the links on the right hand side, you will be able to listen to some of my first album "Songs for the Kitchen". It's taken me all evening to sort it out mind, and I've still got half of the album to upload!

I'll be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with some of the songs I've written in the past, but they express where I was in myself at that time. There's a couple of gems (in my own opinion), particularly One Day We'll Be and Part of Me (not yet uploaded).

There's a story behind this album. While I was travelling after Uni, I was in Tennessee and was given the opportunity to record some songs in someones studio. Most were first takes. The whole thing took about 3 hours! In my head I can hear the rest of the band that I imagined playing..

Anathem

2009-04-19T08:56:00.002+01:00

I went to a roller disco last night with my colleagues from work - it's safe to say that I'm not naturally gifted on skates. Only a slightly sore knee and back this morning from falling over. Some of my colleagues were great! Some were as bad as me. It's quite scary getting drinks from the bar when on roller skates.. fortunately all the glasses were plastic.

Just finished a big novel Anathem by Neal Stephenson. As regular readers will know, he's been a recent favourite author of mine for his scientific/sci-fi novels. This one is his latest, and the hardback version I borrowed from the library looked way bigger than its actual 891 pages. It's set in a world like earth, but where the scientific world and non-scientific world have been separated. Scientists live like monks in huge monastery type things, and the rest of the world lives a life of fast food and ignorance on the outside. One of the key themes is the "many worlds" idea, and the story explores this through the discussions of the avout (the scientific ones). As always there's a rich vein of humour, which helps. I find Neal Stephenson's novels fun and interesting to read - worth a look if you're into that kind of thing.

Sidelines

2009-04-18T12:04:00.005+01:00

Annoyingly, both Kate and I have been a bit unwell since we came home from Spring Harvest - a coldy/fluey/snotty thing. Nice 3 day week at work though, could get used to that! Last night we were awoken at 3am by a (drunk?) man kicking one of the lamp posts on our road for about half an hour - quite weird. After a while he got bored and wandered off.

I'm keen to find a way to upload my last (only!) album (Songs for the Kitchen - 2002) onto my blog page - anyone got any good ideas or gadgets they recommend? I've noticed that some of you have musical bits on your blogs. By the way, I've still got copies of this album on CD if anyone wants one - please get in touch - people seemed to like it at the time!

I'm planning to record some of my new(er) worship songs as well, and maybe upload those too. There's a few that we sing together regularly at James Street Church, and a few that we used to sing at the "old" Community Church evening congregation too that I used to be part of. I'm pleased to say that my prophetic act of changing the strings on my guitar had the intended result, so I've got a shiny new song of my own to introduce to church as well as the new ones I learnt from Spring Harvest. Hopefully I can record that too (thanks in advance Mark - have added a crate of London Pride to the shopping list!).

There's nothing like a recession to get you thinking what's really important to you. It's easy to just plod along doing your job and leaving everything for another day - then you realise years have gone past and your dreams/gifts are still boxed up in their packaging. I watched an interesting interview the other day on YouTube with a Russian-American author discussing what to do if the world descended into major depression and all your money became worthless (cheery stuff!). His recommendation was to develop a few sidelines now, cottage industry type stuff, that could help tide you through. And to buy things that would have value regardless.. like tools and sewing machines. And a boat, and live by the sea.. he went off on one a bit, but I think the cottage industry thing's interesting. Not having all your eggs in one basket, developing practical skills. One of his comments was that he thought Russia would cope better than America because they were better versed in this kind of subsistence stuff. Ho hum, we've learnt lots by growing our own food on the allotment. Now I just need to learn how to use a sewing machine... and convert all our money into gold sovereigns...

If you've never read What Colour is Your Parachute?, or Who Moved My Cheese? then now is a good time.

Spring Harvest

2009-04-15T19:06:00.003+01:00

Over Easter we went to Spring Harvest with a few friends from church. For those of you that don't know, Spring Harvest (SH from here on in..) is an annual Christian gathering over Easter held at various Butlins resorts but mainly in Minehead and Skegness. There's lots of teaching, worship and general opportunities to have fun, and this was my third time (previously in 1994 and 1999). Kate's been loads.. she used to go with her family every year.. we counted about 12 times..

Given the general doom and gloom about the economy, and all the redundancies where I work, it was brilliant to have a complete break from everything and spend a few days (re)focusing on God and being refreshed.

The theme this year was The Apprentice - not the TV series but being disciples of Jesus, and the speakers and teaching were inspiring and challenging. One of the key things that stuck out for me was the idea of God's loving disruption in our lives.. how often do I settle for routine and comfort instead? Too often I think.. but both Kate and I have come away with renewed sense of mission to our neighbourhood and workplaces. I was impressed with the "earthiness" of the speakers - validating that we are all 24hour Christians not "just" the anointed few who get paid to do it!

One of the highlights for me were the times of worship. I've learnt some great new songs and feel inspired to start writing again, having put that part of me down for a while. As a sign of a fresh start I've changed the strings on my guitar. I must admit to feeling slightly jealous of the worship leaders (my competitive streak), since I do sometimes miss leading with a worship band, but I feel that for me right now it is more important to be "journeying" in worship with the great bunch of people that make up James Street Church and keeping it simple and honest in our gatherings.

Speaking of competitive.. at 7.30 each morning there was a "stretch and jog", but I'm not sure jog is the appropriate term! Some of us proved to be quite competitive, and I'm pleased (too pleased?) to say that on the final day I was the first back from the out-and-back run to the pier, and in a faster time than any of the previous days. Not that I was taking it too seriously or anything..

Free as a bird

2009-04-05T19:51:00.003+01:00

It's Sunday evening, and with the window open a moment ago I could just hear the foghorn blasts of a ship leaving the port a few miles away. Might have been Oceana, one of the cruise ships we saw there on the way back from church. We've had a full few days, a real mixture of things. Starting with the annoying bits.. we can't get our wireless printer to work since changing our broadband provider, and yesterday I spent ages trying to get our petrol strimmer to start to no avail. Think it might need a new spark plug. My arm and shoulder really ache after pulling the starter cord so often!

On the plus side we had Kate's brother staying over the weekend, which was cool. He helped out on the allotment, where we planted some more potatoes, transplanted our turnips, and cut some of the long grass and edges (but only with shears since the strimmer was playing hard to get). We fired up the chiminea in the evening and sat outside until late in the evening playing Uno, and then drinking Peruvian beer and eating Peruvian sweets when Paul and Katty arrived (some cleverly disguised as Foxes glacier mints.. or maybe those ones weren't Peruvian after all!). The evening was beautifully still, the sky was clear and the chiminea was roaring and hot. Sadly I think it's on its last legs - some fairly terminal cracks have appeared over the winter. Shame, but it is about 8 years old now. Not sure there's much you can do to mend them?

This morning Kate and I awoke to some scrabbling and fluttering in the blocked-up chimney breast in our bedroom. A bird had fallen down the chimney and was stuck. I wasn't sure there was any way of getting it out, but eventually after moving the bed and unscrewing the plastic air cover thing I was pleased to discover there is a brick sized gap. Just as I had moved out of the way, two starlings flew out! Fortunately Kate had opened the windows wide so they flew right out. I'm glad we could get them out - otherwise it would have been a slow starve to death for them. A few years ago when I reinstated the fireplace in the lounge, I found a mummified pigeon behind the bricks!

Beautiful sunshine.. and fog!?

2009-03-30T19:06:00.004+01:00

We had a frost this morning (hopefully the last) but it was a beautifully bright and sunny morning.. just quite cold. I drove to work as normal (must get back into the habit of cycling.. shame I often have to be smart for client meetings), and savoured the lovely view of Southampton Water as I drove over Redbridge - the tide was in, the water was calm and the sun was glinting off the waves (that's about the only time it looks nice.. when the tide's out all that catches your eye are the docks and electricity pylons).

Suddenly, as I drove into Totton, I hit a wall of fog.. out of nowhere! It got me thinking that all winter, there's often been fog as I've driven through Totton and on to my office - it must be in a hollow or something. I know that the city generally has a higher ambient temperature than the New Forest.. when Simon and I used to go for evening thrashes round the forest on our road bikes we could feel the heat of the city when we cycled over the Redbridge Flyover. Guess the fog is the winter version in reverse?

The office was shrouded in foggy gloom by the time I arrived and the sun didn't make an appearance until mid-morning. Rubbish.

Cryptonomicon

2009-03-29T17:57:00.003+01:00

The clocks went forward this weekend, which means we are now in daylight saving time. It's amazing how much the lighter evenings can improve your mood. It's 6pm now and we've just returned home from a brief trip to the allotment - not so many weeks ago we'd have the curtains drawn and the lights on at this time, but as I write in the kitchen sun is streaming through the windows and lighting up the subtle tones of our wooden chairs, table and door.

The other night I finished another epic tome of a book by currently one of my favourite authors - Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Between November and December last year I devoured his trilogy The Baroque Cycle, kind of scientific historical novels set in the late 17th Century, and a precursor to Cryptonomicon. The story revolves around code-breakers in WW2, a large cache of gold hidden in the Philippines by the Japanese, and some modern day computer entrepreneurs keen to set up a global digital financial currency. As with the Baroque Cycle (which revolved around the formation of the Bank of England and the establishment of currencies..), it is eerily prescient in some of its theories about global markets.. which have subsequently come true over the last few years! I've ordered Neal Stephenson's latest tome Anathem from the library so am looking forward to reading that. It's quite a bonus when not only do you discover a "new" author that you really enjoy, but you also find they have quite a back catalogue to work through!

Last night I caught up with some good friends Tom and Chris at an "old fashioned" pub in the New Forest. Both are also bibliophiles and we had a great evening discussing books we'd read and generally reminiscing and having a laugh.

Not much to report from the allotment or garden this weekend. Various seeds sprouting which we'll transplant over the next few weeks.

I was very impressed with Daniel Hannan's rebuke of Gordon Brown in the European Parliament this week - have a watch on youtube.

Chores

2009-03-22T17:31:00.002Z

Lovely weather at the moment, which has helped us get lots of jobs done this weekend. Our "first early" potatoes are now in the ground, and Kate has planted lots of different seedlings as well well as transplanting some to the ground. Like fishermen mending their nets, we fixed netting over our (recently constructed) protective frames, "sewing" ends together with garden wire - very satisfying - and they are now effective barriers against birds and cabbage white butterflies. At home I mowed both lawns with our brilliant Al-co hand push cylinder mower - saturday late morning was obviously the time for everyone to be mowing their lawns. Ours has a better finish because everyone else was using flymos, which tend to shred. Did some varnishing of various bits of outdoors wood around the house, especially parts of the front and back doorframes - this was a job that's needed doing for a while but had to wait for the nicer weather. All in all, lots of things ticked-off the long-term "to do" list. Nice.

Making stuff

2009-03-15T20:45:00.003Z

Apologies for the radio silence over the last couple of weeks, haven't found time to post any blogs. Life has continued as normal. Work is still busy-ish, but the redundancies are starting to happen. Kate's planted lots of seeds in paper pots in the mini-greenhouse and they're all starting to sprout. The potatoes have been chitting over the last few weeks and will soon be ready to plant.

Last weekend I made us some cloches for the allotment with some wood from Wickes and some blue plastic water pipe - we saw them do it on Gardeners World last year. Ours aren't exactly cloches to be honest, rather than being covered in polythene we've covered them with netting - they're for all our various brassicas to keep the nasty cabbage white butterflies off them.. I was pleased with my handiwork - we made 4 of them, and they're 1.8m by 1.2m.

This weekend my task was to "tidy up" the log stack, properly screw down the corrugated plastic sheeting roof, and make it a bit bigger to fit in all the wood donated by Kate's parents. It's been a beautiful weekend, and I was almost too hot doing it all this afternoon, but I am pleased to say it's all sorted - slightly larger and more secure. And I fitted in all the new wood.

Recently I've been enjoying watching a great current affairs programme with Max Keiser called The Oracle. It's available on BBC World News, but if you're like me and don't have that channel you'll have to rely on YouTube. It's exactly the kind of programme I like - funny, insightful and topical! Max and his partner Stacy have also done some "Tweetcasts" on Twitter.. which I've also watched on You Tube.. I have been avoiding Facebook and Twitter for fear I will become addicted..

Yesterday I had a stormer with the crosswords in the Telegraph. Completed the cryptic (will send it in to see if I win), and got within one answer in the General Knowledge. Always satisfying.

Lightbulb moments

2009-02-28T08:32:00.005Z

The other day Kate's mum gave us a book by Alan Bennett called The Uncommon Reader. It's only a thin book, and she even wrote my name in the front cover because she thought I'd like it! After (happily) slogging my way through dense history books, it was a refreshing change and only took me a few hours to read. The premise is that the Queen takes up reading, after chancing upon a mobile library in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, and it changes her outlook on life. Even if the story was just this it would be a worthy read, however the genius of Bennett is that in the very last sentence of the book he both sums up and turns the whole thing on its head!

It reminded me of reading Primo Levi's books like the Periodic Table or Moments of Reprieve which are both collections of short stories, but in which Levi displays his craftsmanship by making the reader aware of the point of each story only at the very end, in the last few lines - a moment of realisation when everything you've read clicks into place. A lightbulb moment, and rare I think.

IKEA

2009-02-27T16:27:00.002Z

There's a giant new IKEA in the centre of Southampton - its huge yellow letters and blue exterior dominate the skyline! It opened a few weeks ago, but we only visited for the first time this afternoon. As a precaution against their fiendishly effective marketing, we cycled down (so we couldn't buy anything big) and were determined only to buy a cheese grater and to just enjoy meandering around. So far so good.

Bizarrely, as we had locked up our bikes around the corner and were walking to the entrance we passed Matt Le Tisser on the way out!

Apparently there had been at least a billion people visiting over the opening weekend (only a slight exaggeration), which was why we haven't been until now, and bearing in mind it was a Friday afternoon the place was still pretty busy - with a disproportionate amount of pregnant mums and pushchairs.

I don't know why we both carried a huge yellow bag round, since we were only getting a cheese grater (must be that marketing power again..), but in the end we managed to resist buying anything else. Except some tealights (such good value..). And a small frying pan (perfect for eggs). And a cushion for Kate's work colleague (doesn't count I don't think, she asked us to get it). And some crispbread. And some picked herring in mustard (mmm!). And some chocolate. And two hot dogs by the exit.

It's amazing how walking around shops like IKEA saps your will to live so that by the end you'll buy anything jut to get out of there quicker. And having their little hotdog outlet right by the exit, taunting you as you wait in the queues.. and 95p won't break the bank right? Especially since you get to put mustard and ketchup on it yourself..

A History of Britain

2009-02-24T07:14:00.005Z

Some of you will have noticed that I haven't mentioned any books I've read for a while. That's because I've been working my way through the final volume of Simon Shama's A History of Britain, which has taken me ages - but I finished it last night. I've said before that my experience of history at school was very specific - massive detail about WW1 and WW2, a little bit on the Tudors and that's about it - not wrong in itself but it has left me to fill in the blanks. I think it's important that young people are given more on the whole sweep of history, why we are where we are now, than just intricate detail on certain significant events (important as they are). Perhaps, as more of a generalist anyway, I just prefer "big picture" takes on different subjects. Anyway, Volume 3 of A History of Britain covers the period from 1775 -2000 and, for me, was really enlightening in terms of how "modern" Britain has emerged over the last few centuries. Personally I think the whole series is worth a read, but the chapters are very long which makes it harder to pick up and put down. I spread the whole process out - read volume 1 pre-blogging, finished volume 2 in August last year (see post of 14th August), and just finished volume 3 just now.

It was the final of University Challenge last night, I think the questions were harder than normal. Still got a few right, but Cambridge won (they had a really clever captain who was in the news for getting them to the final almost single handed!).

Cumulatively speaking..

2009-02-21T16:14:00.004Z

Another week has flown by, so it must be time for another post. Today has been gorgeously sunny, and as I write there isn't a cloud to be seen in the sky (recalling school geography I think that is officially zero octas of cloud cover). The mild weather this week must have helped everything grow on the allotment, as our first batch of broad beans are now poking their heads through the soil, along with some more garlic - highly satisfying. We collected two of our three bags of seed potatoes from the allotment trading shed this morning (second earlies and maincrop.. our first earlies haven't arrived yet), so will be setting them out on a windowsill to chit soon. This morning Kate dug over our salad beds in the garden and has planted various things under a cloche, and this afternoon we planted all the shallot sets on the allotment - hoping for a bumper crop to pickle. Oh, and we also now have lettuces and celery on windowsills upstairs. Our golden rule for growing stuff is little and often.. it all adds up.

On a similar theme, I was listening to the radio in the car this week (BBC 5Live is my station of choice) and they were discussing how technology had been instrumental in the success of different British Olympic sports such as cycling. In particular they were talking about the theory of aggregated gains - Clive Woodwood, former England rugby coach, used to talk about making one hundred 1% improvements across all areas to bring about 100% overall improvement. Well, we've been applying this principal with our bills and stuff. A few weeks ago I mentioned how I'd discovered that we'd been paying way over the odds for various mortgage insurances, and how by shopping around I'd reduced our payments by over half. This week my target was our buildings/contents insurance, which was up for renewal, and our phone and broadband deals. Again, just by shopping around (I am indebted to http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/) I found an insurance deal less than half the price of the renewal price I was quoted, and today we have also slashed £££s off our phone and broadband costs. These small savings all add up, and what's even better is that we've also made some extra small amounts selling off our excess books and stuff on eBay and amazon. De-cluttered as well as better off! Result!

We took our road bikes out for a spin this morning - having not ridden mine since last summer I was surprised at how tentative I felt! It was good to get out on the road again though, we're intending to cycle more often now after mainly running all winter. Must find at least one triathlon to enter this year.. and get back into swimming (I am definitely less streamlined than I should be at the moment!).

We're still enjoying the fruits of last year's labour on the allotment. Our garlic is now hanging in lovely dried bunches in the shed, we've still got red onions to eat, and still plenty of soup and veg in the freezer. Today we defrosted a spicy cabbage soup for lunch, and have some other veg defrosting ready to accompany dinner. Yum.

Spring?

2009-02-15T16:55:00.004Z

I think the cold snap has passed, this weekend has been milder and has even hinted at Spring. Our crocuses have flowered in the front lawn, a little smile of yellow. Since the ground wasn't frozen for a change we were able to have a blitz on the allotment yesterday. We dug in the areas of green manure, limed and dug over areas ready for the brassicas, and raked out the dead grass and weeds from under the mulch sheets ready for planing potatoes. My hands are quite blistered now, and (as usual) I've been bitten by a horsefly or something on my forearm which has now swollen up! Kate never gets bitten by anything.

Earlier we paid our second visit to the trading shed on another allotment site (ours doesn't have one), hoping to be able to collect our seed potatoes, but they hadn't arrived. But we did get 2lb of shallot sets and 1lb of red onion sets (old measures still abound there..) and a 25kg bag of lime (the smallest they had). I must confess it felt more than 25kg when I was carrying it from our house to the allotment! Compared to this time last year, when it was still almost entirely overgrown, our plot this year is well prepared and ready for planting. We've manured lots of it, limed some of it, and applied an organic potato fertiliser on the top third. We didn't cultivate that area last year - just laid out mulch sheets to suppress the weeds, and the plan is for the potatoes to break the ground up for next year.

After church today we popped to the annual Southampton seed swap that we visited last year. Just picked up some Brussels Sprout seeds this time.

An ongoing mystery is the whereabouts of a book I got Kate for Christmas. It seems to have completely disappeared from the house. Annoying because we want to read it!

Snow, snow, snow

2009-02-08T15:39:00.003Z

Hello from recession Britain! The snow cheered us up this week (don't think I've ever seen so much in Southampton in the decade I've lived here), although it made it difficult to get to work on Monday and Tuesday - there were loads of car crashes on the roads around our house on Monday morning as everyone skidded everywhere on the ice! Kate took the day as annual leave, got our sledge out and had a great time sledging down the road!

You know you're feeling the effects of the recession when you get excited when your savings account is still offering 7% for another few months even though base rates have dropped to their lowest level ever (in 300 years). Sad I know.

Annoyingly, when I first bought the house over 4 years ago, I got sold life insurance and payment protection insurance with it. Not that these are bad in themselves, it's just they're never very well explained and you're often conned into paying well over the odds for them. This week I've been doing some research and I've found I have been paying over four times more than I should have, and the product isn't even the right type anymore for the mortgage I have. Arse. However, thanks to the brilliant guides and advice on the Money Saving Expert website, and after half an hour of form filling, we are now better covered and paying a third of the amount for both. I'm quite annoyed at being ripped off.

With the snowy weather this week we've had the stove roaring as much as we can. Funnily enough after 3 years of steadily burning logs on the stove and in the chiminea, the log stack is still massively full of the gigantic fir tree we cut down in the garden. Happily the wood is really well seasoned now and is lovely to burn. Because of our log stack and well-publicised stove activities, we are a magnet for free wood any time our friends or family prune or fell trees. This week we've had a load more fir tree logs from Kate's parents, and two bags of assorted wood from our friend Craig. In the last few years we've also had a car full of beautiful (if slightly large for the stove) oak logs, and loads of thick apple tree branches (already nearly all burnt). This means that most weekends I spend time splitting logs or sawing down branches. Soon I'll need to completely re-build the log stack so that the fresh wood is on the bottom and at the back, and the dry seasoned stuff is at the front and on top. I do enjoy splitting logs, it's very calming.

We went to a charity quiz this week, and although we didn't win the raffle this time, we did learn a great new fact - the collective noun for a group of sea cucumbers is a pickle. Genius.

Gloom.. and hope

2009-01-24T17:20:00.003Z

There's an air of gloom pervading the media and the country at the moment. News of the credit crunch, recession, redundancies, bad weather, war - it's all there on every page.

I try not to discuss work on the blog, but this last few weeks the air of gloom has hung over our office as well. With the country in recession, and our business sector contracting along with most others, people are worried about the future. Many companies in our sector have already shed jobs, and our company is not immune - the possibility of job losses is very real. Add to this the normal post-Christmas blues and the atmosphere in the office has been flat to say the least.

Understandably, people react in different ways. My aim would be that more often than not, my faith and confidence in God help me to exude a spirit of hope in the midst of these turbulent times. Isn't it in the harder times that we tend to find more solace in the rich promises of our faith? In fact, God often calls us to step out in faith just when things seem the worst - Jesus called Peter to step out of the boat and walk on water in the midst of a raging storm. The message is this - so long as we keep our gaze focused on Jesus (and not the wind and the waves) then we can do great things.

At James Street Church our key verse for the year is this "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). The CEV translation phrases it "Christ gives me the strength to face anything", and the Good News Bible like this "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me". These are trusty words of hope we can cling to, especially in the midst of a financial storm such as this.

Kitchener's Last Volunteer

2009-01-13T19:49:00.003Z

For Christmas Kate gave me a book about Britain's oldest surviving veteran of the Great War, Henry Allingham, called Kitchener's Last Volunteer. It's an amazing book in which Henry, aged 112, recounts his life story and experiences in the First World War. What comes across is not only the tragedy of lives lost in the war, but of a hard working man who worked hard to support his family during the Depression and who has found new life in passing on his experience and wisdom to younger generations. Amazingly, he was 43 when war broke out in 1939, he retired in 1961 and has collected his pension for 47 years! There are now only 3 British veterans left who participated in World War One, since Bill Stone (109) died a few days ago.

The Ascent of Money

2009-01-10T10:41:00.004Z

Back to reality this week after our lovely Christmas break, a full week of work - but mercifully it went quickly so no major complaints really. The cold snap continues - we've become so used to milder winters over the last decade that a "normal" winter feels positively arctic. Temperatures haven't really risen above freezing all week. While I was running this morning I noticed that the local stream had frozen over too. So we have the fire lit already and it's only Saturday morning! Today I will be putting up some more draft-proofing tape around the external doors..

Over Christmas my father-in-law lent me a book by well known historian Niall Ferguson called The Ascent of Money. It's a fascinating history of finance, very readable at the same time, and eerily insightful about events that have happened since it was published in May 2008. The 6 chapters chart the rise of banking and finance, the stock market, the bond market, insurance and credit - interestingly the trilogy of Neal Stepheson books I finished recently are all set around the time that the Bank of England was set up in 1694 and were also about the rise of banking. The book has the best description of how the "credit crunch" began and it's factors that I've read. Well worth a read. I've read Ferguson's work before - while we were in South Africa I read his history of the British Empire.

Hob-nobbing with the stars...

2009-01-03T08:48:00.002Z

The other month Kate and I won first prize in a raffle, and the prize was a champagne tea for 2 at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel - the only 5 star hotel in town. So yesterday afternoon we trundled down there as the sun was setting and claimed our tea.

While we were sipping our expensive champagne, and before they brought out our posh food, we noticed that the people on the table near us were being quite loud and that one of the men had quite an annoying laugh. Closer inspection showed that it was actually Christopher Biggins and Barbara Windsor! They're both currently performing at the Mayflower Theatre, so must be staying at the hotel in the meantime. They did quieten down a bit after that anyway!

Cleaning

2009-01-02T08:53:00.004Z

I've had a bit of a cleaning frenzy recently - slightly out of character I must say! Father Christmas gave me a great little book called Thrifty Ways for Modern Days, which is all about living a simpler and cheaper lifestyle by giving lots of "old style" advice on all kinds of topics. Rather smugly, we already do lots of the things they suggest, like giving and getting from Freecycle etc. Anyway, one of the chapters is all about cleaning, which got me thinking about various Jobs That I Must Get Round To Doing around the house.

SO.. now we have clean windows and window frames (inside at least), a very clean bathroom (even the grout between the tiles and a scrubbed shower curtain), a tidied cupboard under the sink, various broken bowls and cups mended with superglue, squeaky door hinges oiled, spare wine glasses offered on Freecycle and a big bag of clothes passed on to a charity shop. Much better.

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-01T15:16:00.005Z

Hello and Happy New Year! 2009 has snuck up upon us and dawned clear and cold last night. We spent some time with a number of friends of ours from James Street church, eating far too much, drinking lovely mulled wine (non-alcoholic for me.. was driving), playing silly games and generally having fun.

This week we spent a few days with my side of the family at my parents house. Since almost everyone was staying, the house was very full, so Kate and I were sleeping in the caravan. My sister and her family were in their VW camper van.. and since the nights were about -5C we had to wrap up warm! My family all love being together (so do Kate's), so we had a lovely time. We played more Uno Extreme and Settlers of Catan, as well as trying to solve a multi-piece wooden cube puzzle my dad had made (so far there we've found 9 ways to make it work).

Kate and I went out for a New Year run this morning, after giving ourselves a bit of a lie in. Apart from that I've been tidying the house and having a bit of a clear out - to start the year with less clutter!

Oh, and I've finally finished the third (and final) book in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle of books, called The System of the World. Each of the three books are between 800 and 900 pages long, with small text, so it's been a bit of a marathon reading them, but highly enjoyable. In short, they're historic novels with a vaguely sci-fi twist set at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, and resolve around a number of different characters whose stories all gradually converge over the series. Follow the links and read all about them. I'm minded to read a couple of his other books, but think I'll have a break for now and read something else..

Christmastime, Mistletoe and Wine

2008-12-29T07:48:00.005Z

Hello and a happy Christmas to you all! Welcome to the new blog followers! We've had a really lovely Christmas this year, just home last night so will fill you in.

Last Sunday (22nd) we had our Carol service at James Street Church. As always the place was packed out, and there were some priceless moments, mainly to do with the local children singing their songs. Kate played her flute at church too, which was great - and we even had someone on the piano so it wasn't just me and my guitar!

After 2 final days of work for the year, Christmas Eve arrived, so we packed up the car, popped Flo in her box and drove up to Birmingham to see Kate's family. We decided that Flo would appreciate coming along because she's such a people-person, while Nelson would appreciate having a Flo-free house for a few days!

The traffic on the roads was pretty light, so we arrived by lunch, and I pretty much went straight for a run up Clent, the local large hill - desperately trying to make up for a chronic lack of training before our 10k race which was looming on the 28th. In the evening, by popular demand, we had a mammoth 6 player game of Settlers of Catan (rapidly becoming a family favourite!), with the special expansion pack Kate got for her birthday. This took most of the evening, which was good because we needed to stay up "past bedtime" to go to the 11pm service at Zion church (where we got married). The service was nice, and it was good to share communion together.

Christmas morning dawned bright and clear - a bit of fog was the closest we came to snow! Kate's family had all agreed upon a less consumer Christmas this year, so we did Secret Santa so that everyone got one present each, and we gave the rest to worthy charities. Everyone had been so thoughtful for the person they'd secretly picked out of the hat, it was a real success! Kate's 3 grandparents arrived and we had a lovely Christmas lunch together. The Queen's speech in the afternoon was really good this year. I've only really watched it twice, but continue to be really impressed by her openness and wisdom. In the evening I read Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol", which I'd spotted on Kate's mum's bookshelves and had been wanting to read for ages. It's really good, much better than the films of it. Short too!
Another game of Settlers later, then it was almost time for bed!

I read in the papers the other day that there's a campaign to re-name/revert Boxing Day to it's original name of St Stephen's day. I think that would be much better, and it would tie in with the carol Good King Wenceslas too - I had often wondered when "the feast of Stephen" was.. Anyway, we went for a brief run together on Boxing Day morning, to loosen our legs up for our race, then the day became a bit of a games marathon! Uno extreme ended up with a bit of tension, and with a slight (!) disagreement regarding the multiple use of the "swap hands" card! So we switched back to Settlers, won by Kate's brother and his wife (they chose to be a team because we could only have 6 players and there were 7 of us). Kate and I were cooking for everyone, so in the afternoon we made "leftover" soup with all the spare Christmas Veg, then a cottage pie (more precisely 2 large ones - Kate is one of 5 kids, and including two spouses, her parents and her grandad makes for very large meals!). After supper we played a murder mystery game which was hilarious and took up the rest of the evening - it was Jo's character who did it! I guessed wrong.

Saturday was a much less busy day than the previous two. We all had a lovely pub lunch together before Kate's brother Matt had to catch the train back to London. We did a brief shop in the sales at the gigantic temple of shopping Merryhill, and I picked up a much needed new pair of everyday trainers for less than £20 from TKMaxx. I think I get nearly all my clothes from that shop! We hadn't watched much TV over Christmas really, but on BBC2 they were having a University Challenge night (my favourite quiz show), so I watched that with a bottle of Port. (Obviously all my pre-Christmas hints worked, because I ended up with 3 bottles of Port as gifts this year!).

Sunday morning we got up early and drove up to Caythorpe in Nottingham for our festive 10k race we'd entered. It was a lovely sunny morning, but cold, and about 650 of us enjoyed the "out and back" course along a small road by the River Trent. As I've said, I hadn't done all that much training, just been ticking over really, so I was really happy with my time of 41.21. There were an awful lot of extremely fast club runners there - both course records were broken, with the winning girl completing it in about 33minutes - world class! We though it was possibly a slightly long course, Kate's Nike-plus measured is at 10.6km. Suitably stretched and watered we drove back to collect Flo before coming home. Nelson was pleased to see us.

We've both got this week off, so will be seeing my family as well as generally relaxing and catching up on odd jobs.

More pre-christmas whirling!

2008-12-20T20:16:00.002Z

More whirling about in the lead up to Christmas this week. Had my work Christmas "do" last Saturday night. Saw some friends for a pub meal out on Monday, had a church social on Tuesday, collected an old window (for making a cold frame) on Wednesday.. as well as really busy weeks at work for us both.

Today was more relaxed though I'm pleased to say, although we weren't all that impressed with the bin-men collecting our bins at 6.30am this morning! Apart from delivering the last of our Christmas cards and catching up with some friends over a cup of tea, we had a nice early morning run (10k race looming next weekend) and planted the remainder of our garlic on the allotment.

Bumper general knowledge crossword in the paper today - bliss!

The whirl before Christmas!

2008-12-13T09:23:00.003Z

This week's been a real whirl for us. Not only has work been manic, we've had loads on in the run up to Christmas. I'm sure the extra stress and business in the weeks leading up to Christmas leave you more worn out for Christmas itself!

Early in the week the cold snap from last weekend continued. Plenty of tough frost on the cars in the mornings. Now though, the weather is just wet and very windy. At least it'll be watering in the broad beans we planted the other week and helping the manure to break down even further.

On Wednesday Kate went to the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham, representing the British Dietetic Association and giving healthy eating advice to people that wanted it. A good thing to be doing at a fashion show I think!

Our friend Fred gave a recital at a small art gallery/coffee shop on Thursday evening, which was really great. I then popped over to celebrate Adie's birthday - two parties in one evening!

Last night I did some late night shopping in town - with mixed success. Usually I quite enjoy meandering around the shops in my own time, but last night I found the whole thing quite tragic and depressing. Firstly it was raining, secondly there was a sense of desperation hanging over everywhere - shops desperate to stay in business and slashing costs, shoppers desperate to get the right present and everyone looking a bit miserable. Even the music in West Quay was quite sombre! AND it was raining. No wonder there are more suicides than normal at this time of year! It was a relief to leave and come home - wish I'd done more shopping online!

Getting into the Christmas Mood

2008-12-07T08:20:00.004Z

We're slowly getting into the Christmas spirit, helped by the cold winter weather we've been having. This morning there is a heavy frost covering everything, turning lawns, roofs and cars sparkly white. On Friday evening we went to Romsey which is a quaint little town nearby. They were having late night shopping, and it felt really traditional and Christmassy. There were brass bands playing carols in the town square, jugglers and clowns, multi-coloured lights everywhere, church groups giving out free mince pies, and a male voice choir in the department store. It was great - really helped kick-start us into the seasonal mood!

Earlier in the week as I was leaving work the sky was cripsy clear and the crescent moon was beautifully flanked by the planets Jupiter and Venus. Stars are appropriate for the time of year too! Was a nice sight, as the week's gone on they've moved out of alignment, so I was glad the clouds were scarce that evening.

Having spotted a sign for free manure whilst running one lunchtime, yesterday Paul and I took our welly boots, a garden fork and some big (sturdy) horse feed bags and went to stock up on manure for the allotment! We filled 6 bags half full (otherwise too heavy to lift), precariously wheeled them across the wet boggy field to the gate, then heaved them into the car.. sitting down on it's axles a bit (although we tried to get the weight over the centre by taking the back seats out). Anyway, it was the right amount to fill up our asparagus beds and fork into next year's cabbage bed - a job well done. Next job is to fertilise next year's potato beds..

Bought some cheap winter bedding plants from B&Q for a few pennies.. Dianthus. Should liven up the borders a bit in the spring.

We've lit the stove alot over the last few weeks, so need to split some more wood now. Used up all the lovely apple wood given to us by Tom and Laura.

Got the results of my professional review this week - happily I am now a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist! Should look good to have a few more letters after my name on my business cards! A nice early Christmas present and a big weight off my mind.

We haven't put up our Christmas tree yet or decorated the house, but I did hang the icicle lights on the outside of the house (need some spare bulbs), and we've started writing Christmas cards. Last year we were very forward thinking and bought loads of great Christmas cards in the sales after Christmas!