A monestary near Harnia Airport.Back From Crete
I'm just back from Crete having had a really lovely time with fambly. The week improved with age and I was quite sad to leave. But we managed to sea and do a great deal as well as having some good rest and relaxation. I'll post a few more photos when I'm not so jet lagged.
A monestary near Harnia Airport.
A monestary near Harnia Airport.
The Homeless
Right, so this Shane Claiborne book 'The Irressistable Revolution' that I'm reading is good. Really good in fact. Actually it's turning out to be one of those books that shakes you up and make you think - shit, have I really been missing the point all along.
The crux of it is that Christian living has bollocks all to do with doctrine. We don't really find Jesus jetting around Jerusalem staying in hotels and preaching a set of rules for getting saved. Hell no! Jesus was a homeless radical dude, making friends with the homeless, the needy and the outcast. What he did radically was that he LOVED PEOPLE.
So what the hell are we up to in our safe churches, dressed all smart on a Sunday morning, singing our hyms or worship songs, getting feel-good sermons and then going home to a massive Sunday lunch in our many roomed house? Why are we not out there with the homeless, loving those who have so little and actually breaking down then barriers of poverty that separate use from those who need.
So here I am in Crete, in the tourist trap of Harnier where there are homeless ladies on the street. And there I am, not knowing how to relate to them. Not wanting to give money for all the times that I've been warned that that is futile. And not knowing how to communicate let alone love them. I know this is perhaps not the place I need to be actually getting to grips with this issue, we have enough homless and poor in the UK that I should break through to first, but I still feel that confused tugg of confused love trying to be expressed in a gentle, honnest and effective way.
The crux of it is that Christian living has bollocks all to do with doctrine. We don't really find Jesus jetting around Jerusalem staying in hotels and preaching a set of rules for getting saved. Hell no! Jesus was a homeless radical dude, making friends with the homeless, the needy and the outcast. What he did radically was that he LOVED PEOPLE.
So what the hell are we up to in our safe churches, dressed all smart on a Sunday morning, singing our hyms or worship songs, getting feel-good sermons and then going home to a massive Sunday lunch in our many roomed house? Why are we not out there with the homeless, loving those who have so little and actually breaking down then barriers of poverty that separate use from those who need.
So here I am in Crete, in the tourist trap of Harnier where there are homeless ladies on the street. And there I am, not knowing how to relate to them. Not wanting to give money for all the times that I've been warned that that is futile. And not knowing how to communicate let alone love them. I know this is perhaps not the place I need to be actually getting to grips with this issue, we have enough homless and poor in the UK that I should break through to first, but I still feel that confused tugg of confused love trying to be expressed in a gentle, honnest and effective way.
The Anonnamous Mac Right Click
I've discovered that Mac does actually have a right click!!! I quickly learnt that there was a two-finger stroke on my MacBook Pro for scrolling vertically and horrizontally through windows. But I kept bringing up the ctrl-click menu by accident without pressing the ctrl key. On investigation this morning I found that I could make this happen by tapping three fingers sequentially and then realesing them together - 1-2-3-relase. Low and behold a right click :)
Nice!
Nice!
Terminator 4 Short Film
A lovely short film for you guys to watch. It's a shame about the laughter over the top but there are some great points in it. I think that the Terminator would fit in well with the other deciples as they never got him either.
The Stench of New Sealant
It must be student accommodation there's the smell of freshly applied sealant lingering in the air.
We've had the 'fixit' man come in and repaired the shower. The present sealing round the bottom of the shower was incredibly poorly done and is now black and moldy. The shower also leaks a bit so we wanted to get it repaired.
Unfortunately the repair man just came, sealant gun in hand, and pretty much just covered over the old stuff. Yay. Whimper
What gets me is that, done properly in the first place, there should be no problem. My parents house doesn't do the same thing. In fact, other than student houses and grotty dives, I've never seen showers go bad. But it's a student accommodation so no care is taken to get jobs done properly. The only way to really do it is to do it yourself.
Oh how I long for my own house...
We've had the 'fixit' man come in and repaired the shower. The present sealing round the bottom of the shower was incredibly poorly done and is now black and moldy. The shower also leaks a bit so we wanted to get it repaired.
Unfortunately the repair man just came, sealant gun in hand, and pretty much just covered over the old stuff. Yay. Whimper
What gets me is that, done properly in the first place, there should be no problem. My parents house doesn't do the same thing. In fact, other than student houses and grotty dives, I've never seen showers go bad. But it's a student accommodation so no care is taken to get jobs done properly. The only way to really do it is to do it yourself.
Oh how I long for my own house...
Watch "SHERRY MICE!" on Google Video
This is a lovely little video from the end of the 80s. The last line of the broadcaster is a just brilliant!
SHERRY MICE!
Description: SHERRY MICE: 5.9.1986 Sherry, Spain's main export under threat by thousands of mice is now safe...by giving the mice regular drinks of sherry. Now the mice are too drunk to cause any damage!
Lillys in the Garden
The first of Mum's lillys that I planted in my rockery is now out
Shame I can't capture the smell for you tooWe have all the time in the world...
Yet we still seem to rush everywhere. I'm particulary bad at this, allways attempting to squeze everything into the day. I need to step back occasionally and rest in the knowledge that resting is OK (I'm allways tempted to feel bad about this and try and do something to fill the time).
This evenings sermon was on this popular atitude towards time. Somehow being busy is a really good thing. The sermon was further complemented by Francois and I watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The following tag line sums up the whole evening:
This evenings sermon was on this popular atitude towards time. Somehow being busy is a really good thing. The sermon was further complemented by Francois and I watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The following tag line sums up the whole evening:
Life moves pretty fast.
If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.
If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Decking for Dummies
Ground Force stand aside, the Kitchener Community do decking 'Scavenger Style'
Step one: hunt around your local neighbourhood for people renovating their houses
Step two: ask permission to take their old used pallets (I've generally had good response, but failing this go back late at night and borrow them - they are rubbish after all [at least I think this is right])
Step three: lay the collected pallets where you think Ground Force would put some decking
Step four: stand back and admire your workmanship - decking for nothing, the best kind of decking.
To the left
To the right
Close up of the new decking
(the bath will be sunk to ground level infront of the decking)
Blogging from the new decking
Step one: hunt around your local neighbourhood for people renovating their houses
Step two: ask permission to take their old used pallets (I've generally had good response, but failing this go back late at night and borrow them - they are rubbish after all [at least I think this is right])
Step three: lay the collected pallets where you think Ground Force would put some decking
Step four: stand back and admire your workmanship - decking for nothing, the best kind of decking.
Here is what we've done:
To the left
To the right
Close up of the new decking(the bath will be sunk to ground level infront of the decking)
Blogging from the new deckingI am doing excellent gardening...
Who'd Steel 15 Pallets and a Bath?
Well, the kitchener community would.
Highfield seems to be a hive of construction work of late with extensions being built left, right and center. One might think this a neusance, but not if you consider the flip side of construction waste. Building sites throw out a ton of rubbish, some of which is rather usfull. OK, to be fair the greatest use is in buring, but frankly it's hard to think of a better use for waste.
This evening two of the communities cheif scavengers went out on a late night mission to collect material. Our target was a site that I've had my eye on for a few days now. We collected about 15 wooden pallets to add to our now rather ludicrous mass of pallets (but more is allways better). But perhaps the best find, and something I've had my eye on for a week or so, is a bath. Granted it's not one of those lovely victorian free-standing ones, but a bath none the less which I intend to sink into the lawn to enable bathing in the summer months.
What a night.
Highfield seems to be a hive of construction work of late with extensions being built left, right and center. One might think this a neusance, but not if you consider the flip side of construction waste. Building sites throw out a ton of rubbish, some of which is rather usfull. OK, to be fair the greatest use is in buring, but frankly it's hard to think of a better use for waste.
This evening two of the communities cheif scavengers went out on a late night mission to collect material. Our target was a site that I've had my eye on for a few days now. We collected about 15 wooden pallets to add to our now rather ludicrous mass of pallets (but more is allways better). But perhaps the best find, and something I've had my eye on for a week or so, is a bath. Granted it's not one of those lovely victorian free-standing ones, but a bath none the less which I intend to sink into the lawn to enable bathing in the summer months.
What a night.
No Salt Please I've Had Sandwiches
Simply Crazy! I'd heard that bread can be a large part of people's daily salt intake, but I wasn't prepared for what I found.
I quite like bread. It's not a massive part of my diet, but I do go through some phases where I eat the equivalent of maybe one loaf a week. Generally I don't manage half a loaf in a week. I've also refined my position on the great Hovis Kingsmill debate - I still maintain that Kingsmill is the higher quality bread. Eaten as bread, Kingsmill wins hands down, especially the wholemeal 'Gold' loaf. But when toasted I've begun to realise that Kingsmill doesn't perform as well as Hovis. Hovis simply works better toasted, tastes shit plain, but works when burnt.
Kingsmill - superior, but made worse by toasting
Hovis - inferior but made good by a slight burning
Anyway, off topic there, back to the salt content. Not feeling like cerial this morning I opted for a slice of toast as I'd brought some Hovis 'Best of Both' (perhaps the best Hovis loaf). Investigating the packet I discovered that the single slice of toast I was eating (covered with some simply superb raspbery conserve I get from Aldi - square jars for 65p can't be beaten) was contributing an eighth of my daily salt allowance!!
Put another way, had I eaten four sandwiches I would have filled my salt quota. Thus no more salt for the rest of the day.
Lucky I don't like sandwiches.
I quite like bread. It's not a massive part of my diet, but I do go through some phases where I eat the equivalent of maybe one loaf a week. Generally I don't manage half a loaf in a week. I've also refined my position on the great Hovis Kingsmill debate - I still maintain that Kingsmill is the higher quality bread. Eaten as bread, Kingsmill wins hands down, especially the wholemeal 'Gold' loaf. But when toasted I've begun to realise that Kingsmill doesn't perform as well as Hovis. Hovis simply works better toasted, tastes shit plain, but works when burnt.
Kingsmill - superior, but made worse by toasting
Hovis - inferior but made good by a slight burning
Anyway, off topic there, back to the salt content. Not feeling like cerial this morning I opted for a slice of toast as I'd brought some Hovis 'Best of Both' (perhaps the best Hovis loaf). Investigating the packet I discovered that the single slice of toast I was eating (covered with some simply superb raspbery conserve I get from Aldi - square jars for 65p can't be beaten) was contributing an eighth of my daily salt allowance!!
Put another way, had I eaten four sandwiches I would have filled my salt quota. Thus no more salt for the rest of the day.
Lucky I don't like sandwiches.
Fruit Binge
As my migrane continued into the evening I became aware that I really should eat something despite feeling a general detest for food. I cirtainly couldn't face cooking the dahl that I've got soaking. Ben next door (where I happend to have crashed out after making my way there for Neighbours) offered my a nectarine which I accepted. It hit the spot and I realised that fruit would be the only thing I could feasibly eat.
So I popped a couple more paracetamols and crept off to Somefield - I say crept as that's the way I move when under the influence of a headache to minimise any head movement. There I was greatly blessed with a plethora of fruits, most of which seemed about right and half of which were on offer - bonus. So I fruit binged nickbailey style:
My fruit binge
So I popped a couple more paracetamols and crept off to Somefield - I say crept as that's the way I move when under the influence of a headache to minimise any head movement. There I was greatly blessed with a plethora of fruits, most of which seemed about right and half of which were on offer - bonus. So I fruit binged nickbailey style:
My fruit bingeMigrane
What brilliant timing, a migrane. Woke with a cracking headache despite 8 hours of sleep. Took paracetamol and asparin which did nout. I had a little sleep before lunch which did nothing either and neither has the paracetamol I took after lunch. A classic migrane day. Horah.
Nick
Nick
Webcam Effects
Ben and I taken with my MacBook webcam using PhotoBooth
My face has a little too much definition but Ben's works just perfectly
Baby Got Book (WhiteboyDJ.com)
| Greenbelt reminded me of this great internet video that got passed around a while back. I just love the spoofness of it all, and Greenbelt is just the place where it is fine to joke about the silly bits of faith/religion without getting all hung up on offending everyone. If you've not seen this then hit play and have a chuckle. CREDITS (evidently wasn't me that made this): Dan "Southpaw" Smith's parody of "Baby Got Back" as seen on VH1's WebJunk www.whiteboydj.com Posted from Google Video | |
Bedroom Net Cafe
What a pleasent afternoon/evening. James and I have been tapping away on our laptops on the desk I made for my bedroom. It's a long bench-like desk which has a very internet cafe ish feel. Plus I made a good coffee to accompany the actvity - perfection.
Working at Home
I allways said I'd not do this after my bad experience of never leaving my home during my third and forth years of undergrad due to the ammount of work. But now with the laptop, working at home is much more pleasurable. I can get some music playing, sit in the lounge with a cup of coffee and tap away. I'll be heading into work later (I'm still not planning on doing this long term), but it's good to know this is possible. Handy if I'm ill or need to wait in for a parcel.
Nick
Nick
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