Friday

I am not achieving very much. I woke up feeling like I had been squashed by alien beings on a rampage, I had a nightmare about the chips running out in a posh restaurant, and knocked over a glass of water on my NIV leather bound bible which was on the floor next to the bed. After I had recovered I watched country file (some sort of summer special that I have managed to avoid all summer) and waited for Mark to come back from the dentist - he has a very sore tooth and really needed it to be pulled. I had a list of things I need to do today:
- fiddle with the format and referencing of a PhD chapter
- make chicken pies for Eva
- make a banana loaf with all the black bananas
- hoover the house
- clean the inside of the car
- sort out the insurance on my mums car
- I need more lavender oil

I really can't be bothered with any of these things. It is the last day of the school holiday and I feel like Eva and I should be doing something really reckless. But she is happy playing with Shanola (firned from across the road) so as long as we don't have to watch High School Musical again I don't mind what we do.

after greenbelt - s club worship...

It has been nearly 48 hours since I got back from Greenbelt. I have had 3 showers, 6 poos, 3 proper meals (with vegetables), 4 sleeps, lots of cups of tea, a curry (which took ages to arrive), a trip to ASDA and watched lots of TV (including seeing High School Musical twice - once was the singalong version). I am now nearly back to normal. Tomorrow I am planning further reintroduction into polite society by visiting friends and sharing cake (I brought back a whole fruit cake from Greenbelt which I may need help with).

I had a bit of an S Club 7 moment at Greenbelt and have devised an S Club alternative worship service - based entirely on s club tunes and including a singalong and dance spot. The whole service starts with the following:


then there is a meditative bit in the middle which will have as its musical interlude:


and a prayerful section that will include:


ending with the uplifting classic:



I wonder if together (me and S club) we could put the fun back into alternative worship?

Greenbelt

We are just about to leave - well not exactly true. All the stuff is in the hall and I am still in my PJ's but the intention is to be off very very soon. So, unless I post from Greenbelt itself - which seems very unlikely - I won't be posting for a few days. I am sure the world will keep turning and you will find something interesting to do with your time while I am away. If you are going to Greenbelt I am venue managing at New Forms so do pop in, or perhaps you'd like to come over to our tent for veggie stew on sat evening? All welcome. Foundation Service is at 8pm Fri at New forms!

Elise is at Bristol Loudon HQ and Barry next door is feeding Benny so hopefully we won't come back to too much chaos (though I am not holding my breath).

see ya

not winning the PR battle

Mark sent me this video today. When I watched this I felt like I am losing the PR battle - is the Christian message really this stark? I guess to some people it must be. It is like the nugget of hope and the message of redemption has been twisted to sound like a deal. I wonder how it makes you feel?

getting ready for greenbelt

I haven't achieved much today in terms of sorting stuff out for Greenbelt. I have a list of food, camping stuff and bits and bobs that need getting before I leave but not one thing got crossed off today. Had a good time though. Trying to relax and not feel guilty about ignoring my PhD for a short while (the plan is to get back to it this time next week). I did go round to see Liz Hassall to chew the cud and do a bit of light shopping - we went to a Chinese supermarket type shop in St Pauls which was full of lovely stuff - oh, I did get a Greenbelt thing - noodles. Then we went back to hers and ate cake and chatted whilst Eva played with the kittens. All the young people are here - Joe, Harriet and Elise - so we are having Chinese food cooked by Mark. I am making some more cakes tonight then that's it. I need an early night so I can get up early and so Greenbelt prep.

me in the simpsons movie

You can make it into the movie by making your own Simpson's Avatar

greenbelt

Tonight Tim and I did some work on the artefacts for the Foundation Greenbelt service - in New Forms, 8pm Friday (put it in your day planner). I also made a fruit cake for Greenbelt - so it will have at least a week to 'mature'. It was a new recipe so it was a risk, but I think it has worked out very well. It smells lovely and is laced with rum so will have a good kick. You'll have to come a visit us to get a piece - it one of three cakes I plan to make for Greenbelt.

I took the liberty of checking out the weather forecast for Greenbelt weekend and all looks good at the moment. It got me thinking about how we should pray about such things. What do you think? Should we pray for good weather? Do these sorts of prayers feel like folk religion? When some people are suffering extreme weather conditions do our prayers for nice weather so we can have better fun seem a bit crass? or do you think it is a natural thing to take our concerns to God in a faithful and innocent way? I don't really know...I worry about bothering God about the weather but I am ok about asking for God's help in dealing with whatever happens. Of course it would be great (really great) if it was a fine weekend but I wonder if God can really 'fix it for us'. Not sure that I like the idea of a Jim'll fix it God!

i want my family back

This picture of Mark and I was taken by Colette Cuddihy whilst on the yurt trip. Ah!


I have finally written something for every chapter - which means I have a draft (not daft) PhD. So, I have met my target. The best thing about getting to this point is that I can have my family back together. I really miss Eva - I haven't seen her for 10 days and I just want to get back to normal.

I realise that I still have a long way to go. Only half of what I have produced this summer has been read by my supervisor and I am sure much of it will have to be reworked. I have no idea how many words I have written - but I am guessing at about 75.000 and I have to include appendices and footnotes which would add about 12,000. So, I think I have enough...

anyway, the next couple of days will be spent checking the draft and trying to get it all to look, read and feel like one document. Ready for inspection.

car shock

yesterday the gear box and clutch went on my car. I am gutted. It is going to cost nearly £800 and it is a nightmare. Really could have done without this worry this week. I am so close to finishing up a chapter and it is very distracting. I am trying not to let it take over my mind and push on with stuff. Hey ho.

Anyway, Mark and I got our Rotas for Greenbelt and apart from one blip (when we are down to work at the same time - bit of a problem for Eva minding) all is well. I am starting to get excited now. We may be poor but we are very happy.

mark

I had to post the picture of mark taken on our yurt trip. He looks so happy and ready for anything. he has been away at Scot's wedding - which I couldn't go to because I have work to do and Phil J visiting. Eva is still a my mums. It sounds like they are both having a lovely time. All three of us having different adventures.

Anyway, I have had a great weekend with Phil. We have had two drinks and nibble parties and some shopping trips. He helped me wash silk cushion covers and we have watched loads of TV and listened to pop music. It was great to just hang out and chat about stuff. Seems like a long time since we had the chance to do that.

Anyway, the weekend musical memory will be Robyn's singe - which got to no. 1 last night. This isn't the official video. That is a bit rubbish and distracting. This one is ok.

the one show

...is the best programme on the TV at the moment. I am trying to read Ian Bradbry's Believing in Britain at the moment (I say trying because I am finding it at once frustrating and fascinating - the jury is out) in it Bradbury discusses the nature of Britishness and points out characteristics and expressions of what he perceives to be British identity. Could the One Show be the ultimate expression of popular Britishness, the latest way in which the BBC attempts to catch the nation's common concerns? Even the title of the show (the BBC are good at this sort of thing) offers a subtle play on meaning - could it be a call for national unity, a definitive declaration of a nations oneness, a demonstration of our collective togetherness, or just simply the name of a show that is on BBC1?

I just love it. Like its grandparent - Nationwide - it comes to us from a television world in the middle of the country. Adrian Chiles' Birmingham accent comforts us into the middle of our land. The pivotal point of the nation. The axis around which we operate. The presenters are a gleeful mix of people from all over the country. The popular news items come to us from places some of us had forgotten existed. Unless a train disaster, flood, foot and mouth epidemic or the like happens we can forget that ordinary people get on with their lives concerned with the size of their cats, the urban fox, the 'wisdom of crowds', were the highest village is, jousting and the Pitou donkey (all items featured on this week's show). But the One Show is helping us to remember that we exist in community and that our small concerns can be the interests of many.





I love Adrian Chiles. Somehow he manages to mix respect with derision in equal measure and still maintain a hapless authority. His 'I'll fit in anywhere' down to earth look is complimented by Myleene Klass' (a Dickensian name if there ever was one) glitzy glamour. Oh and Myleene is pregnant you know!!!!

If you haven't given it a go please do. My only quibble (which I have informed the BBC about) is the strange coffee table that looks like an exposed rib cage. It really puts me off. But, as they say, nothing is perfect.

matthew street festival

...what a mess.
when I was in Liverpool at the weekend the news broke that the Matthew Street Festival might not go ahead this year. A serious blunder for the culture company which from we are just now doesn't seem to bode well for next year's capital of culture events. I know there has been much debate about how things are going re:CC and the city might be starting to look quite a different place. But as you travel out of the city centre it doesn't feel like everyone is getting a fair bite of the re-development apple. Of course it is easy to be critical (particularly if you are living half way across the country and are only visiting) but I really hope my worst fears prove wrong. There are still a lot of buildings to get up, infer-structure to secure and given the Matthew Street Festival problems health and Safety issues to resolve.

It looks like the festival will be saved by the intervention of Council leader Warren Bradley but whatever happens the unwelcome press reports have certainly tarnished the city's 800th birthday celebrations.

i fought the law

I can't believe how things turn on a pin. Particularly feelings. I came back from my holidays, had a great time in Liverpool, was feeling really optimistic. Then last night I read through the days 3,000 words and felt truly wrung out. I feel like I am not winning the fight to write this phd. I have worked so hard all summer and I feel like it is never going to get done.

I had a wave of freedom the other day. I was putting Eva to bed and I thought 'when this phd is done I will just be able to get on with my life, it will be over and I won't have it hanging over me any more. It won't steal any more of my time, my thinking or my feelings.' But, I can't see the end at the moment.

When all else fails listen to the Clash...

barry maguire

Barry is in Columbia and I have just caught up with his adventures via facebook. What a wonderful thing facebook can be. You get to see people's photos before they even come home. The one featured here is of Barry with a sloth. I have to say this is such a great photo of both Barry and sloth. They look so relaxed in each others company.

I am at the laptop keys again trying to write a tricky chapter about the emergence of music hall in the mid 19th century. Got to go out soon - meeting John Bimson and going to college for a short while. I am sitting here waiting for the red dye to take on my hair. It is a beautiful sunny day (there have been so few) so I need to get the washing out. See ya.

bath vs shower

I am back from Liverpool. Had a great time. Will report fully on curacy developments soon. Suffice to say we are very happy.




This is the Lido at Cirencester - great pool, rubbish showers (they do pot noodles and tea. Good chocolate selection and excellent floats to play with in the pool)









It is great to be home. We have been blessed with a great shower here. I much prefer a shower to a bath and last week (whilst staying in the yurt) I realised how much I love being clean - mainly because it as such an effort to boil water, carry it to the 'shower shed' then hand pump it through to get a slight trickle of luke warm water to wash with. It was so much effort for so little gain. In the end we went to the lido in Cirencester (which is great fun if you ever get the chance to visit) in order to have a shower. It cost 20p and was cool and ineffective. Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to list my top five showers:
1. the power shower at my Mum's flat in Virginia Water. Very powerful and invigorating.
2. the shower at my house. Once you get used to it it provides a hot, powerful hose down.
3. the shower at the hotel we stayed at in Florence. Aesthetically pleasing, like showering in the rain.
4. Phil Jackson's shower cubicle. Very clean and he always has good products.
5. The shower in our old house on Thornycroft Road. It took so long to sort out but it was great.

Showers to avoid:
1. the self generating one at the yurt camp. Stupid and ineffective.
2. the shower at the Lido Cirencester. Cold and cost 20p.
3. the shower in the middle bathroom at the Grange. Never quite felt comfortable.
4. the shower in Carter J corridor. Too small and like a plastic telephone box. Weird
5. the shower at the B&B in Belfast. Small, no ventilation and no shelf for bottles etc.

in and out

We are back tonight and then straight off to Liverpool in the morning. Had a fab time in the yurts. I will post some pictures as soon as I can. I was quite stinky when I got home (no shower since Monday) and my back is killing me (camping is bad for backs) but it was great to be away. Anyway, I must go to sleep because I have to be away early. Night night. xxx