Home Sweet Home!

It's been a while, in fact it's been too long, and a man's got limits you know?! So that's it, I'm off to Scotland to get myself a black pudding supper with a proper glass bottle of Irn Bru if my lucks in! There's also a wee bit of work to be done and some family and friends to be visited, but there is definitely a battered bit of sheep's blood with ma name on it!

I'm not sure about the High Road or the Low Road, but whatever road wur t' tak, we'll be taking it for the next 3 days(!) with two bairns in the back! Joy of joys!

From Friday onwards we will mostly be found here, in this shepherd's cottage, that is, if we find it of course!

16 (ish)

The number of miles Joshua and I have cycled together (in between the showers!) since fixing up his new chair!






And boy does he like his helmet!

Unbelievable?!

Along with the boys, Lisa has been visiting her Mum and Nan for the last couple of days in an effort to enable me to get on with a fair bit of prep. that's needed to be done - and by and large I've got through it. But then this morning on the phone Lisa commented that she knew I'd been watching The West Wing! How would she know such a thing? Has she employed one of these 'detective people' to make sure I get on with stuff?! How much of a procrastinator does she think I am? (Actually let's not go there!!) Are there cameras dotted around the flat?! Well, thankfully not, it turns out she read my blog and deduced, Poirot-esque, that recent quotes meant recent watching!

Well look what else I've been doing (Lisa!)... I've been reading the chapter in the book you left for me 'Baby-proofing your marriage'.

All joking aside it's a good read with a good mix of shared experience and humour. I'd certainly recommend it to anyone with little terrorists (sorry children!), or those thinking of having children, in fact it may become a common gift from the Hanover household.

I wouldn't want to put anyone off, but be warned...

'If a first baby is a hand grenade thrown at a marriage, then a newborn and a toddler are a full-frontal assault, complete with machine guns, heat-seeking missiles, and stealth bombers.'

because...

'when you have one child, one parent parents while the other does his or her own thing. With the additional demands of more children, it gets harder to carve out any 'me time'. Not having time to recharge and feed your sense of self is, for many, the real challenge of adjusting to having more kids. Personal time is like a search for the Fountain of Youth, or the Seven Wonders of the World. It's like winning the lottery.'

The problem being...

'that when we lose the 'joie de vivre' activities we get emotionally and physically drained. What is left over, we usually give to our kids first. When our internal reserves are low, our threshold for dealing with our spouse's annoying quirks (what quirks?!) also gets dangerously low. At times, we circle each other like wolves, ready to fight over the scraps of free time that do exist.'

And then...

'When you do get to talk, 90% of the time you talk about the kids. While those conversations are necessary, when we relate to each other only as whoever's parents, it becomes pretty hard to keep the spark alive.'

Thankfully the writers don't only make plain the harsh realities, they draw upon their own experiences to suggest 'survival techniques and strategies'! Which I'll share shortly.

More West Wing Wisdom

'A nation reveals itself not only by the men in produces, but also by the men it honours.'

Not one of Josiah Bartlett's, the credit goes to John F. Kennedy

The Provocative 'Art of life'?

In Simon Schama's wonderful book 'The Power of Art' the abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko is quoted, critiquing the developing art world of his day and the lot of artists within it...

'When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors... no critics. No money.

Yet it was a golden age. For we all had nothing to lose - and a vision to gain.

Today it is not quite the same. It is a time of verbage. Activity, and consumption.

Which condition is better for the world at large? I will not venture to discuss. But I do know that many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow.

We must all hope we find them.'

Not everyone connects with his art but his critique of the artistic millieu of his day would surely extend to society at large, including our own.

Like Rothko I reckon there are many people in our community yearning for opportunities, space to 'root and grow'.
As Rothko does, I can't help doubting that incessant activity and noise do not readily encourage 'pockets of silence'.
Yet I share Rothko's hope that we will encounter moments where we can 'be still and know'.

The challenge remains for us all individually and corporately for those who gather as church.

The challenge, as it was for the artistically provocative Rothko before us, is to discover how, amongst the hustle and bustle of 21st century living, to express distinct, yet viable alternative ways of living.

Love it or hate Rothko's work always produced a reaction, a response. Surely our lives must do likewise. After all, 'unless there is something about church, or Christians, or Christian faith that intrigues, provokes or entices, then all the evangelism in the world will fall on deaf ears. If churches cannot conyey a sense of ‘reality’ then all our ‘truth’ will count for nothing. Unless someone wants to hear, there’s no point in shouting louder. Churches need to become provocative, arresting places which make the searcher, the casual visitor, want to come back for more.' [Graham Tomlin, The Provocative Church]

Two big decisions!

'Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.'

Elizabeth Stone

[Elizabeth doesn't mention that your heart is likely to be sleep-walking outside your body as your eldest son might not realise that 5am is not the best time to get up!]

William Booth : the dog-shooting Hammer! (a.k.a 'The Founder')

Over the years much has been written about William Booth, the humble pawnbroker who began The Salvation Army. The sycophants have attempted to embelish and beatify while others have endeavoured to strip away the myths from the man. Either way, 'you pays your money and you gets what you gets!'

[I'd recommend Roy Hattersleys effort - a chunky read, but it's worth the effort.]

Actually one of the things that has stuck in my mind since reading Hattersley's account a few years back is the story of the ill-fated Booth family dog! It had been shot on William's orders after it had snapped at a servant (a 'SERVANT' is how it would appear on the vidi-printer!) who scolded it for leaping at bed linen which she was hanging out to dry. The dog was shot in haste and William Booth apparently regretted his decision when he realised that his children were heartbroken (strange that!). Eve a man of action, he decided, in an attemot to ease their pain, to retrieve the carcass and have the pelt made into a rug! Yet when they reacted with hysteria rather than thanks, he was 'bewildered by their lack of gratitude'!!! (clearly a gifted children's worker!)

Anyway, as far as I'm aware despite the blood and sweat of many a scholarly work few have shared the 'dog-shooting-story(!) and none have shed sufficient light on the really big issue that many of us want answered....

....which football team did he support? There's no denying that this is the nut we all want to crack?!

Hailing originally from Nottingham you might think it would be a straight choice between County or Forest, but apparently not!

It turns out that the man who made his name reaching the poverty-stricken masses in London's East End actually shared their footballing passion, because as this recently taken photo confirms, he was a Hammer!

It helps to have 'friends in high places' when your local team is fielding ineligible players!

Really?!

According to the IOC president Jacque Rogge it's "a truly innovative brand logo that graphically captures the essence of the London 2012 Olympic Games - namely to inspire young people around the world through sport and the Olympic values."

Seriously?

While Tony Blair reckons "when people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life."

Really? And this is going to do that? This is going to 'inspire' the masses?

Reportedly costing £400,000 to 'develop' one London 2012 spokeswomen claimed "it has a movement to it and it will evolve and change" - so hopefully if may yet 'evolve and change (completely?) into something else!

Mind you perhaps the logo accurately represents Stratford at the moment - a place of evolution and change (glorified building site would work just as well!). Work is well underway, but you still need a furtive imagination to envision the Olympic stadium rising from where this elegant electricity pillon currently resides!

Better late than never?

Fashionable or not, I've recently felt like I've arrived rather late for a number of 'parties':

1. Ebay - obviously I've been aware of it over the last couple of years(!) but I've only just started to 'interact'! Which isn't completely without peril, I mean any site with this much Lego is a dangerous thing for an overgrown 8 year old!

2. The work of Rufus Wainwright. I guess someone Elton John describes as the 'best songwriter in the world' is hardly a 'find', but until a friend recently introduced me to him I was none the wiser. Last week I bought his latest album 'Release the Stars', I use the word advisedly, but it's fantastic - pure class. Buy it and hear it, no, experience it for yourself!

3. Peep Show - A show with 3 series behind it is not exactly a breaking story, but a hastily purchased DVD box set is addressing our tardy appreciation. Bizarrely Peep Show is proving rather enriching for married life because while it's not unusual that Lisa and I laugh at the same stuff, it is pretty rare that we do so with the same enthusiasm! (Are we alone here?) So the fact that Lisa insists that I 'pause it' when she leaves the room is uncommonly new territory! It would appear that we love it in equal measure - rare indeed! Admittedly I think Lisa hates the fact that she like it, but a reluctantly shared passion is a shared passion nonetheless!

NB: one party I'm not looking to attend anytime soon, no matter how many 'friends' invite me.... is Super Malt - an acquired taste I have no inclination to acquire! (if you're not sure what it is I wouldn't worry!)