Last year year bryan adams was in Tampere I was in Turku Finland I thought about going but decided it would be crazy with the weather. Then a call from a friend here in london I know you wanted to go last year but couldn't  I've just got two tickets do you want one  for london.. So it's been a long wait but I'm just about to leave to go down to london for the night.

Music and Theatre are things that really refill me..

More later :)

Down to Downe

I'm off to Downe today for the weekend it's family camp for the scouts.. This is what they have to say about the place

Downe

"A beautiful, wooded 86-acre site situated close to Biggin Hill in rural Kent, only 16 miles from the centre of London. Downe Scout Activity Centre has welcomed young people from all walks of life and corners of the world for almost 80 years."


I was there last year for a weekend too and it rained and er rained and rained a bit more.. I was wondering if the pioneering skills should have been building arks from rope and logs.... and this time well after yesterday and the thunder and rain we had here  so bad that heathrow had to stop planes landing and taking off for three hours...I'm hopeing that the tents that were put up earlier in the week are all still standing.

Family camp is a bit different from normal as the cubs and scouts mums,dads, granny's granddads brothers and sister can come along and join in too..

all can come even those few who will come and not have anyone with them and be in tents with their friends

I've not done a camp like this before so and looking forward to seeing how you run this type of camp...

Post again after hopefuly a not too wet and windy weekend

My Patch out and about

Last night I had a invite to dinner at Allen Hall the catholic seminary just over Battersea Bridge. The carving above is in the refectory and really caught my attention. I was told it was designed by a former student unfortunately you can't really see it but the detail in the carving was amazing so intricate even the fur on the dog could be seen. It made a change to the normal carving found in refectories of the Last Supper. 

Going to another patch was really good, to another tradition and spending the evening talking debating and a tour round the seminary. 

Five Star Doorway

Mayfair Isn't my normal haunt especially on a saturday but today I was off to one of the most sought after postcodes in London. If you are familiar with the traditional version of the game monopoly you will know that Park Lane and Mayfair are the most expensive places on the board not much changes in real life. I've never been around Mayfair, and so walking past the houses and through a lovely park was really nice. I'm sure that on a sunny day this would be even more beautiful. But today it was icy cold and no-one was wanting to sit about in the park and maybe the place to have gone to eat my pack lunch (even if this time last year the picnic was at minus 28) but was far to cold and I made tea and stayed warm.

stayed warm not all could do that today!!! 

The reason for this little trip was to go to a workshop on Homelessness, Day after day in Vauxhall countless homeless sleep under the railway arches and in the underpass between the two blocks of flats where I live. The stark contrast between those who have and those who don't was in sharp contrast as I walked past a guy maybe my age asleep in a doorway. One of the things we were reminded of today at the workshop was that as one person said we are all 3 steps away from being homeless that’s a scary thought. 

The Lion Saves

I have a friend staying with me for the weekend so after a very late start to the day we took a walk along the Albert Embankment toward vauxhall bridge. I've taken this route a few times normally when walking my adopted fore-legged friend. Today though i chose to walk this way to avoid the slushy black mush that was being thrown up onto the pavement by the passing traffic there is nothing worse than when the snow becomes mush. 

Like it or love it the snow makes the place look so different... As we walked I spotted the lions that decorate part of the river wall with snow on them. So went to take a closer shot what i found made me smile. You can just see in the picture above that the lions have rings in their mouths. 

the one on the left though was what caught my eye and imagination instead of the stone ring like it's neighbour this lion has in its mouth one of the buoy's you normally find for rescue.. gripping it firmly in its teeth..

I wonder what was going through the mind of the one who placed it there.. had it been washed up on the slipway with the drift wood and other lost or cast off items. Did it just seem like a fun thing to do. I don't know it doesn't really matter. What I saw as I looked on was  

The Lion that Saves.. 

Jesus is referred to as the Lion of Judah. 

In the chronicles of Narnia C.S.Lewis uses this imagery with Aslan the lion who gives his life to save.

The week we come to the final week of advent as we think about Christ and His incarnation Jesus being born as a child, Emmanuel God is with us , the plan of God to save mankind to draw each of us back to himself.

That great act of salvation remembered at easter in His death and resurrection. Talking about the cross at christmas seems strange well maybe not as strange as you may think. 

Three gifts were given to Jesus by the Magi Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. the significance of these gifts gold it's a gift fit for royalty He is King,frankincense Ancient people burned frankincense, believing it to carry their prayers to heaven. Its use as incense illustrates His role as our Priest. Myrrh was used in incense, perfumes and holy ointments and also medicinally. The most notable use for myrrh was for  embalming, and was used in Egyptian mummies. As an embalming ointment it signified that He was born to Die for the world., Myrrh is mentioned as one of the burial spices of Jesus (John 19:39).

So from the very gift brought those of the Magi the recognition of who the small child was and was to become.

who is He to you at this time...

Disappointment,Frustration and Looking back

Ok so yesterday didn't turn out quiet how I had expected.... Disappointment and frustration for the last day of my house-elfs visit before scotland and then home , oyster cards went crazy ( and have just got back from trying to explain that there WAS something wrong with the card and getting my deposit back after it played up AGAIN today) , unhelpful sales assistants, un-customer service, mad swimmers (who thought they owned the pool). 

but it was redeemed, we ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum, but still things were not going to quite smooth as we had hoped...

My friend had read an article that there was a Greta Garbo exhibition taking place. we got there and asked at the desk only it turned out to be of Grace Kelly – and it was sold out. 

There is always something at the V&A to refresh and soak in and we looked round one of my favourite rooms which had had some new bits added to since I was there last.  Through the Large stall at the back leads to a alter and a great presentation about the piece. 

And wandered through other rooms that were new. and out into the garden and fountains. there is at the moment a free exhibition called 

1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces15 June - 30 August 2010

and part of this is out in the garden this building really caught my attention along with the video presentation that went with it. 

 

to see more about the tree here

On the way home we caught the tube and had to laugh at a scare-gaurd opposite where we had boarded the train.  

It would have been and is very easy to see yesterday as a waisted day, plans gone astray. We can fix our hopes on many different things and get let down by them, yeah my hands went in my pockets and I was miffed. It would have been very easy to spend the day like that.  

But you  know I had lunch with good friends, and got to see their gorgeous twins who are about 3months old now and was the first time I seen them. Had supper with the house-elf :) and talked. ( you can read my friends thoughts on the day here) so many little things made yesterday a great day. 


What we chose to focus on matters it guides where our thought actions and feelings go. Thinking through yesterday yeah there were disappointments, frustrations looking back there were so many positives so many things to be thankful for and to thank God for.

Putney And Plums

It seems a little strange taking your day off when most of the week has been spent doing very little due to a  virus. Feeling much more like myself I really just needed to get out of the flat. So with a friend we headed by train to Putney about 10-15 mins away.

What I love about Putney is that they have some great charity shops and we spent a hour or so just wandering through them. Then headed down to sally's @ St. Mary's for coffee and cake which is always good :)..

Then over Putney bridge and through the Bishops gardens and along the river to Craven Cottage home of Fulham FC.

The walk took a little longer than it should of when we spotted plums/damsons in the trees just ready for picking.. 

and not for the first time this summer picking wild fruit became a distraction. Where I'm living there are scattered around  apricot trees and cherry trees...

They all tasted very very nice.. We joked that stolen fruit tasted so much better than from the supermarket. We joked that even Eve understood this....

There being so many berries and fruit still on the trees, or on the ground going to waste makes me ask many questions.

In many countries today (and for me when growing up in the midlands) the summer tradition of going to pick the wild fruit, then washing and baking them, with memories the kitchen smelling of warm sugars, glass jars ready for the wonderful sweet liquid to go in) is still part of the culture. 

We are told that we are in a time when we have less disposible income that people are not spending... yet at this time that there are still vast amounts of fruit going to waste in a small area leads to a thought that we may have tighter pockets right now but even in this.... in the unpicked fruits and berries ... well it  shows me how well off we really are.  In days gone by these would have been picked as soon as they were ripe!

Swimming and Showers

Not sure really which way round to put that heading though the shower in the locker room was so much warmer than the one on my way home. Coming out of swimming today I got a few feet down the road when the heavens opened big time... 

View down the road toward Vauxhall Bridge on my way home 

It would be the day when I had left by waterproof top at home... getting soggy wasn't the worse thing nor was it that the washing was on the line doh!!!!!!! 

Sat on the coffee table is my cell phone hopefully drying out.. Maybe now is the perfect excuse to get the iphone at last.

Now the suns out gain 

When I moved to Lambeth one of the things that I decided to challenge myself to do was to make morning parish prayers at 9am and midweek Eucharist at 10am, and to get fit physically. 


Over the summer this time last year I got a job working in a cardboard factory which was a fantastic time and worked with some of the best guys you can meet. 


To get to work meant either catching the bus at silly o'clock am and getting in late, the other option was to cycle from Leigh-on-sea to Benfleet doing this July to October started as real hard work ( not to mention being back in a factory after 10 years of working for the church and being in college)and to begin with pain. 


yet as time went by the ride became easier an a time to pray, for the day, the guys, the company.. and much quicker it started by taking 45-60min and pushing the bike up something called bread and cheese hill by the time I left to come to Lambeth I could cycle all the way up the hill and was home in 20-30 mins 

The hill rises on a 10% incline(about 1.5km in road distance) That’s a long hill!!  and  yeah it seems much further an way steeper than that :( !!!. though going down it when your hot from the cycle in was always worth it on sunny days, agin not so good on wet one's. Why bread and cheese well as with many place name in England it was a practical name, coming about in the Edwardian era when motorcars on the way to Southend-on-Sea would boil over by the time they reached the brow of the hill.  Chauffeurs would eat their bread and cheese lunch while the engines cooled. It was not long before a public house (there is still a pub there with the same name  ) was opened to take advantage of the trade.


I missed the ride, the prayer time when I moved,   there is for me a link between spiritual health and physical health. When one starts to go off track it isn’t all that long before the other wanders too.

Swimming twice or three times a week has been a great start to the day, (though its been afternoons recently, and going with a friend) then prayers, then into the rest of the day. Cycling the mile each way.. 

Missing Lives

A walk along the South bank of the river led to a very different atmosphere  a quiet corner in the midst of a almost carnival style atmosphere.. A display caught my eye and being interested in photography I wondered over.. To find the last thing I'd expected.. A Large display that seemed out of place yet so much in place at the same time

London (ICRC) – Fifteen years on from the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and 10 years after the end of the conflict in Kosovo, almost 15,000 people remain unaccounted for, and the families left behind are still suffering. The Missing Lives photo exhibition and book, documenting the plight of 15 such families, has been launched today by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in partnership with the British Red Cross.

Earlier I posted about masks and how we use them, one of the most haunting stories as I read was that of a mask used in terror..  someone who had been a teacher came to the door of a home in a balaclava and forced a boy and his father into a van they were never seen again. this happened in the or on the last days of conflict. The teacher lived in the flat above his victims...

A friend told me a few years ago how he had survived the atrocities in Rwanda just short time after he was put on the school bus the village where he lived was destroyed. Another tells of how they left with their family their home in what was Yugoslavia  in the early days of the war.

The story's may no longer be top of the news but for thousands of people the struggle to find what happened to a father, brother, sister wife husband,mother, friend still goes on..

against one photo a mother said.. after dna tests on a bones found in a wood, she lost her husband and two boys. how can I bury a bone, mourn when I don't know which of my boys the bone belongs too...

ouch.....

If your in london then take a few moments for a detour and go

Riverside Walkway, South Bank, adjacent to the Oxo Tower. After the run in London closes, on 25 July , the exhibition will travel to 10 cities in the Balkans, Western Europe and North America

Or maybe think about supporting the work by getting hold of a copy of the book Missing Lives......

 For the first time in war DNA has been used to match blood and bone, reuniting families divided by death, enabling survivors to find closure and to begin to live again. These fifteen, heartbreaking Balkan stories - told by Rory MacLean and Nick Danziger, two of Europe's most sensitive chroniclers - represent a tiny proportion of an immense tragedy. 'Missing Lives' gives a voice to the unacknowledged suffering of these families, to all who went missing by force, and reminds us that in war - whatever the technological advances - there is no greater loss than the disappearance of those we love.