"More tea, Vicar?"

A tale of two cities

2009-02-11T19:24:00.004Z

While Sydney scorches and Victoria (as well as other parts of Oz) tragically burns, the UK has been in the grip of the coldest weather for 18 years. It seems as if the entire mainland island has been blanketed by heavy, chaos-causing snow, closing schools, cancelling the London buses and delighting newly-resurrected snowmen everywhere.

Belfast got comparatively little (alas!) but we experienced enough of it on 2 days to play in it while the sun shone down. These photos are deceptive as it gives the impression that Belfast had 48 hours of blue sky. The truth be told, it was more like 48 seconds-the remainder of the time over the 'snowy' days it was grey, freezing, icy, sleety, mushy...

...but it's still such a novelty to us, that we LOVED it! Can you tell?

100th post

2009-01-15T15:55:00.005Z

This is our 100th post which means we should have something profound to say.
True to form we don't, and will leave you with recently-taken photos instead.

Given an adjustment of ground colour from green to brown, and sky colour to a deeper ultra-violet, this photo could be the Aussie Bungle-Bungles but it is an area of north Belfast called "Cave Hill" (Cnoc na hUaighe) . We climbed it last week on a surprisingly clear day with no rain *gasp*

Cave Hill was the inspiration for Swift's Gulliver's Travels and overlooks the Belfast Lough ...

and while it was a steep climb down over not-oft trod paths (especially as we took the NOT recommended route) ...

we saw no signs of Lilliputians, Yahoos or Houyhnhnms. Although this is A's take on that theme with C and the spaniel standing near the ring fort on the summit...

The spaniel must be thinking that we have moved to Ulster just for him as we have spent a great deal of time exploring the coast near to where we are living. This is the beach at Holywood just 10 minutes drive from our house...

For an Aussie-born dog whose first public outing was to Narrabeen lakes and beach, he has been swimming on beaches more in our 3 months here than ever before. Not even the coldest and greyest of days puts him off. This day, there was was frost on the sand (never seen that before) and a temperature of 0 Centigrade. Zero.

Profundity (or our attempt at) to follow shortly ;-)

Belfast Christmas Past

2008-12-24T19:13:00.004Z

From the BBC news website today comes this archive film of Christmas in Belfast in 1978.

Thankfully much has changed in the thirty years since this report, and the wish for peace did come—even if it did take more than 20 years from the time this question was asked of the poor frisked folk in the city streets.

Northern Ireland has been so much luckier than all the areas of the world that still waits for peace.

Grace and peace to you, our friends. Happy Christmas.

cheaper than postage!

2008-12-20T21:19:00.001Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Factoid 2

2008-12-16T16:00:00.004Z

Some things are dangerous in Northern Ireland.
Take Picnicking for example:

Peace Walls and Song Words

2008-12-10T20:51:00.006Z

I feel that I should be able to write something more interesting than "it's cold and wet in Belfast", but this thought seems to take up way too much of our brain space at the moment. Even the spaniel (who wears a thick double-coat of fur) is feeling the icy dampness which IS Northern Ireland, as evidenced by his very sorry look and eternal hope to clamber up next to us on the couch.

I am also aware that, even though there has only been a couple of posts from Belfast, I don't want to give a false impression of what it's like only writing lighthearted quips and by linking attractive photos of beaches and hills (although these scenes really do exist just 10 minutes drive away from the city centre).

And so I am posting an article archived from 2007 which described Belfast from a political perspective:

"Compared to the decades of sectarian violence known as "The Troubles," when Catholic and Protestant militias fought it out with bullets and bombs, knee-cappings and reprisal killings, there is now relative peace on the streets of Belfast and elsewhere in the British province.

[However] it is a deeply scarred place, where violence left 3,624 people dead and 40,000 injured — scars that may take generations to heal. Although it's been 13 years since the first ceasefire was agreed upon by the opposing militias, on the ground there remains a heavily-segregated society, where Catholics and Protestants generally don't mix or live together...
there are 20 walls in Belfast built by the British government to separate Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods ...and no one is knocking down with picks and hammers."

Here some of the 'Peace Murals' which are found in parts of the city and often on the Peace Walls:

When I was a teenager and listening to Simple Minds in Australia, I had no concept of the meaning of the words to 'Belfast Child'-the hit of 1987. I could never have guessed that I would be thinking about the society, history and culture which provoked the writing of this song, that we would be learning to love the people of the city, of this song— and that the lyrics would come to mean something more personal; some of those 'empty, cold streets' are just around the corner.
Belfast is now our home.

We can truly hope that Billy and Mary (of the song) have come home-or will soon—but realistically, such a complete reconciliation will only be possible when Jesus, the Prince of Peace, returns to make all things new. Until then, we will do our best to make him known and loved, so that Billy and Mary will be reconciled to Him who is more important than any other.

Peace mural photos from belfastcitytours

It's a long way...Factoid 1

2008-11-24T16:42:00.004Z

C is settling into his job and at present has quite a different role to the last. He is, of course still feeling his way around in these early days. At this time, he has responsibility for discipleship and the home group ministry, and as there are approx 140 folk who are regular in the Sunday morning meeting, 90 in the evening and 110 folk in home groups, it means it a great privilege to be working and meeting alongside faithful Christians in what is becoming an increasingly secular society. He is also part of a great team ministry of four other All Saints staff and enjoys the interaction in 'the office' (...or is it a coffee shop?!)

A has responsibility for, well, not much at the moment aside from meeting ladies for coffee (not so difficult! ) although is looking forward to reading the bible "1-1" with folk as well as taking up membership at the Belfast Print Workshop–something she has sorely missed since leaving Sydney. It's got a great international reputation and currently hosting an exhibition of Australian artists, so is inspiring her to take up the ink and etching scribes again.

It may be a long way from Tipperary (well, 213.86 miles from Belfast) but Sydney is much further away—a staggering 17,500 miles as the crow flies! That's a greater distance than New York City, and unless we move to Reykjavik (unlikely), I don't think we can possibly move any further away than we already have.

The entire area of the province of Northern Ireland is not much greater than driving from Sydney to Wollongong.

However, we have both been surprised at some of the unexpected similarities between N.Ireland and Oz:

If we could ever see the sun, the proximity to white, sandy beaches and blue water is a clear similarity and attraction. The photo above is of North Belfast on a mythical dry, windless, sunny day.

You can count off at least 10 minutes for each shop transaction as the shop assistant chats to you—or any encounter in the street. There are many more dogs and dog walkers than we ever met in England, and the cafe culture is strong! It is a little bizarre being a foreign country that, at times, is so similar to our native homeland. However, just when we think we are getting comfortable, we only have to try and turn on our bath taps (that rotate in the wrong direction), or push our internal doors (which are hung back to front) or switch on our lights (upside down) to realise that this is Ireland, after all!

Belfast beginnings

2008-10-27T12:04:00.007Z

We have been living in Belfast for a little over 4 weeks.
Surely that can't be right?
That's what the calendar says, but it very hard to believe. Life has been a whirlwind of screwing together flat-pack furniture, orientation in a new city, waterproofing our clothing, dodging rainshowers and meeting people.
Lots of people.
Specifically, lots of people that are named Heather or Colin.

We have been introduced to the notion that this is a country where the national pastime is eating not-so-small cakes, slices, scones, sandwiches etc.
These are called 'traybakes'.

We now understand why houses don't have hosepipes or much in the way of lawn, preferring tarmac or paving. There's no need for a hose when the moisture content of the ground and air is 100% any day.
Belfast is a very wet place.

We are no longer offended when someone offers us a 'poke'.
It's an ice-cream.

We are becoming used to driving the 12 (or so) minutes from our home on the edge of Belfast into the city where our church is. Of course, there's nothing unusual about that if you're a Sydneysider/Aussie, but it does make a change for us who have become used to the 30 second commute in village England.
We are also becoming more familiar with the visibly apparent and more overtly "religious" nature of Northern Irish Society-in this 12 minute commute, we pass more than 10 churches and many more signs with a Christian message.
However it's a society that is rapidly becoming secularised-possibly faster than any other English-speaking nation in the West.

Despite a reputation as unsafe, Northern Ireland has one of the lowest crime rates among industrialized countries. According to statistics from the U.N. International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS 2004), Northern Ireland has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe and lower than the rest of the United Kingdom. In fact, the results of the latest ICVS show that Japan is the only industrialized place safer than Northern Ireland.
It's not the battlefield that the media seems to suggest it is. Parts of Northern Ireland have a very sad history and certainly suffered violently in The Troubles, but it is not the same today as it was prior to the Belfast Agreement 10 years ago. It's still not perfect-but then what place on earth is?

Prior to moving here, everyone we have spoken to has had very strong opinions on what they think Belfast must be like?
Do you have a vision of it as being large? small? highly urbanised? industrial? modern? rich?poor? diverse? mono-cultural? full of soldiers and police? full of leprechauns?
What do you think it is like? Please comment!

Ends and starts

2008-10-27T11:33:00.007Z

Leaving our friends and family at Sherbornes with Pamber has been one of the hardest things we have had to do. We felt sincere and deep grief-particularly after our final church gathering and in the days/weeks immediately afterwards. We are really thankful for our 3 very, very happy years there and for God's goodness to us in placing C in his first ministry responsibility in a church who has supported, encouraged and prayed for us all the way.

We love you and will miss you.

Please stay in touch. It is not right to say 'good-bye', because we will meet again.

(but we still don't have a clear answer as to why you English use a plastic bucket in your sinks...see "Quarterly Review" post)

See you later

2008-09-24T14:09:00.002+01:00

As of the next post, we will have to change our biographical details on the blog page as we have now left the Sherbornes with Pamber. C is no longer the Parish Assistant, and we will no longer be living in England. Next stop? Belfast!

As we are still tearful from our farewell last Sunday, we will leave the photos and written thoughts until we are in a better place emotionally. Meanwhile, we are resting/holidaying/sleeping/eating/swimming in Porto Soller (Mallorca).

This is the view from our hotel room.

Jealous? Excellent. Our work here is done!

Some things stay the same...

2008-09-13T15:26:00.007+01:00

such as the hypertension which is packing up a house.

This was September 2005:

And this is September 2008:

We have just a single week left living here in Sherbornes with Pamber. No, make that a single week living in England. We find it difficult to remember that we are relocating to another country.

So some things change. When we get to Belfast, and we unpack all these boxes, we will be living:

1. in a country where the only people we have met are the folks who interviewed C for his position at All Saints. Read that again-we know nobody.
2. in a house we have never seen apart from internet photos, and
3. in a culture we have yet to begin to understand.

In the mean time, we are trying to prioritise people over packing, and God's truthful message over stresses of relocation. This is a real challenge as we are also trying to sell our Sydney house with all of the logistical awkwardness and emotional weight that this entails...especially when it is in country A, we are living in country B and moving to country C.

Please keep in touch with us at this time, even though we may not get back to you right away. We are a wee bit busy...

2008-09-02T23:48:00.003+01:00

In preparation for our move to Northern Ireland (now less than 1 month away) we have reset our television and internet news to BBC Belfast. We know that we have a very limited knowledge of the culture (which we are desperately trying to change), but there are things which have us just gawping in wonder. Take this from this morning's news...

'Loose lion' turns out to be dog

Callers reported seeing a lion in north Belfast
A police operation launched following reports that a lion was loose in north Belfast has been called off after the animal turned out to be a stray dog.
A police helicopter had been used to search the area on Sunday night after officers received a number of reports.
Witnesses had said they had seen a sandy-coloured lion or large non-domestic animal in the Upper Hightown end of Cavehill Park.
Belfast Zoo had earlier confirmed that all of its animals were accounted for.

(And to prove that we're not making this up, here's the link)

So here's the question; if you woke in the morning, and looked out your suburban window, what would make you think that it was a LION wondering across your lawn? Golden retriever, yes...but native African savannah-dwelling beastie?

I like eating and watersports...

2008-08-30T10:47:00.002+01:00

Yep, that's our dog.

Churches we have loved being a part of

2008-07-15T12:18:00.004+01:00

In Chapter 2 of A's current work entitled Things of Procrastination, here are some photos of churches* we have loved being a part of. The photos are a mixed bag of Australia (Christ Church St. Ives, St. Peter's East Lindfield) and England (Market Overton Free church, Sherbornes with Pamber).

* some are just of the buildings

And a final one of where we will be going from 1 October. We are so looking forward to getting to know you!

Houses we have lived in

2008-07-15T11:46:00.006+01:00

A is feeling a little less than enthusiastic about packing up the house and moving again, making it the 6th move in 6 years (but not to 6 different houses but TWICE to England. Work that one out!)

It's all a bit boring to do it again...especially as we have accumulated so much stuff since arriving in England. Stuff that we have successfully got rid of when we departed Australia. How have we managed to get it back again??
So in a bid to procrastinate for a bit further, here's a selection of photos of some of the houses we have lived in during our married life together.

Be it known that we lived in a very, very small flat within this house. Let's say it was 'unique'; who'd ever thought that you could lay artificial turf under a gravel driveway, or have your water heater thermostat located in your nearly permanently overseas landlord's kitchen???!

God moves in mysterious ways

2008-06-23T13:56:00.003+01:00

Sorry about the large gap between this and the last post. We have been in a waiting room of decision-making, learning to be patient and to trust in God's goodness and own good timing.

So, contrary to all of OUR plans*, we are now heading off to...Northern Ireland!
Recently, C was invited to join a church in Belfast as their Assistant Minister.
C accepted.
So, we are remaining in full-time ministry and not going to college after all!

Evidently God, working with humour and irony, doesn't want us in a rural English parish for the moment, as this new opportunity to serve is pretty remote from that concept! And yet our hearts remain steadfast for those in the countryside who haven't yet heard God's message of loving salvation to them. If it is the Lord's will, we may return one day.

*
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." James 4: 13-15

So the countdown to change is on! Our final day here in Sherbornes with Pamber is Sunday 21 September, but there is much to do in the few weeks remaining. Would you pray for us that we manage this change with wisdom and grace? We are so sad to be leaving...but also excited about the future.

eeny, meeny, miney....moh?

2008-04-21T12:06:00.004+01:00

Today C is driving across the country to Ely (Cambridgeshire) to attend his Bishop's Advisory Panel conference—the final, pointy end of interviews, discussion and written papers of the selection process for ordination training in the Church of England.

This marks the 'near' end of about 16 months of interviews, discussion and written papers (as well as prayer and reading) which has been the road so far. This may seem very convoluted and drawn out, but we are really thankful that the process to date has been without anxiety and problem—and in fact surprisingly enjoyable! For this, many thanks go to C's Diocesan Director of Ordinands who has guided him well.

The Conference is 3 days long and in about a fortnight we will hear as to whether C has been given permission to begin study this September. And then the real decision making will start!
"Permission granted" will mean that we will have to decide to 'go ahead' (or not), choose a college to study at for the next 2 years, sell our house in Sydney (or not), buy somewhere to live in whilst we are studying (or not), and work out how to financially provide for ourselves for the next couple of years...amongst a whole lot of smaller decisions.

Hmmm...

We are reminded and comforted by this, this, this and this!
We hope you are you too.

New experience 2

2008-04-16T13:39:00.006+01:00

It's been cold (yes! even we admit it and there is evidence—C has been caught wearing LONG sleeves).
Despite this, we took a few days out to go camping. This is what we missed back 'home' in SSJ:

I almost sympathise with the spring flowers trying to establish themselves amongst all that snow. However, we were camping remember?

It looks quite civilised, doesn't it?

Well, it was. At least it was until the sun went and the temperature dropped to freezing. Never has there been two of God's creatures more pathetic as they shook and whimpered in the cold. (C was fine...we're talking about the spaniel and A).
This was despite C's mammoth fire-building exercise. Is it some latent Australian thing that he felt compelled to build a bbq to babel-esque proportions?

And what is with the English describing this as a beach? Pebbles everywhere! Where's the sand? In my opinion, it must be mighty uncomfortable to get pebbles in your swimmers after a long day in the surf.

That said, the spaniel did seem to enjoy it...

Now we back home with some big decisions to make, and be subject to...watch this space.

New experience

2008-03-23T14:07:00.002Z

Two words we have never used together before this weekend:

Easter...
...Snow

He has risen!

Cooo-eee!

2008-03-11T11:07:00.003Z

Hello Amy, Laura and William!
We heard you coo-eeing across the world, so we are now coo-eeing back to you! We miss you.
Lots and lots of love, Cameron and Alex

xxx

Sorry

2008-02-14T19:40:00.007Z

Yesterday, 13/02/2008, a sentiment was expressed by the new Australian Parliament that was felt by us, even though we are thousands of kilometres away. We may live in a different country, but Australians we are -through and through.

For our UK friends who would like an explanation, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to all indigenous Australians today, in particular the Stolen Generation, for the actions of previous Australian governments and their assimilation policies. A good article that summarises is this.

In his speech, the Prime Minister noted that "reconciliation is in fact an expression of a core value of our nation". We know that not every Australian thinks similarly but we stand with Kevin —how great is it to have a PM called 'Kev'!!— and are motivated to be reconciled with anyone who we have wronged.
For this is our motivation: As Christian people, we have been reconciled to God in thankful acknowledgement of what Jesus did for us in taking the blame that we deserve for shunning God. This is an amazing reconciliation! Our lives should show appreciation of this and reflect a similar attitude.

How great is the grace shown by this person shown with PM Kevin!

And as a final word, I think the best sentiment was summed up by a comment on the Sydney Morning Herald website that said

"...now that wasn't so bloody hard, was it?"

Images courtesy of www.smh.com.au

Insomnia Crazy part the second

2008-01-23T19:49:00.000Z

The agony of not sleeping at all (again) during the inky hours does pay off when you can find gems like this Youtube clip.

The music transports me back to 1980 and Miss Smith's primary school classroom where the girls of the lunchtime "disco club" practiced their moves in preparation for Moscow Olympic glory.
I don't think we ever matched the choreographic brilliance that was, evidently, Finnish and "Tisco Tansi"...

(Make sure you stick around viewing until at least 3:14...those moves can't be legal for someone that age)

Hmmm. What now?

2008-01-08T12:25:00.000Z

The local Christmas lights have been taken down...

and so has our Christmas twig...

and our personal Christmas stuffing (on Boxing Day) is over for another year...

so I guess it's 2008. What now?

It's traditional at the start of every year to think back over past events and make an inventory. Well, since the past 2 years have been—very poorly—described here in this blog, I thought I might go back just a little further in time. Please don't crowd the Tardis, there's room for all!

It's been 10 years since A was diagnosed with severe clinical depression. In fact, A only remembers this because the timing coincided with our great friends Rachel and Mike's wedding day, when she spent the morning of a very warm Sydney summers day in a very, very hot bath shivering, and then later with absolutely no recollection of having read the Bible passage at the ceremony. (There's no link with illness and the wedding in case you are wondering!)

I say that it's been 10 years since diagnosis because the illness was a combatant in life for much longer. And 10 years is a very long time, especially when you're depressed. And these past 10 years have been the hardest imaginable and far surpasses the anguish and grief of watching her folks suffer and die from cancer. Churchill's 'black dogs' were A's snarling mongrels also.
Lewis Wolpert wrote:

It was the worst experience of my life. More terrible even than watching my wife die of cancer. I am ashamed to admit that my depression felt worse than her death but it is true. I was in a state that bears no resemblance to anything I had experienced before. It was not just feeling very low, depressed in the commonly used sense of the word. I was seriously ill.

Professor Lewis Wolpert, CBE, Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Malignant sadness: the anatomy of depression, London, Faber and Faber, 2001

So, what now?
The visible darkness is still there; the dogs still occasionally snapping at the heels, but their nip is, thankfully (how thankfully!) less tearing these days.

I'm writing this to thank you, our friends, for still being our friends despite the many times when A has not been easy to be around, and for supporting C when he needs it to cope with living with an ill wife;

To implore you to seek medical help until you find the right treatment for you.

To encourage you to look after those friends who are similarly so unwell. It will be costly to you as it will be hard, but you may just save your friend's life;
and, because I love my husband, and my God.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

(written by the prophet Habakkuk (ch. 3), who evidently had a hard time of life too.)

PS. I've learned that it's a really, really good idea to choose with great wisdom which My Friend the Chocolate Cake tracks you listen to when you're not well. Great, great band....but with some seriously endorphine-numbing music. David Bridie, do you need my self-help booklist?

Happy Christmas!

2007-12-20T16:09:00.001Z

"because when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy"

(that's from the Bible in Titus 3:4,5)

We have joy because we have a savior–Jesus–and so we wish you a great day remembering him!

with our love, Cameron, Alex and Sasunnach Spaniel

and with thanks to the Dickens costuming department of Speckled Wood.

"It must be a busy time for you..."

2007-12-20T14:59:00.000Z

...is a comment we are now hearing more and more frequently (and seems to be the running joke among church workers generally). That's because everyone assumes that C doesn't do much work at any time of the year apart from Christmas time.
Of course, that assumption may be true...these church workers like to shroud their lives in mystery...(!)

Here IS what has been happening over the past few weeks:

1. The nights have closed in and it's now dark at 3.30pm. (Note to self-dog needs walking NOW)

2. It's cold (zero degrees in the day and night) and icicles form a significant element in our back garden. Huzzah!

3. We are sorely missing Thai food, Australian food courts, laksa and cafe culture. A week in Sydney was not good in quelling those cravings. Thankfully A has found an internet supplier of Thai ingredients, so as a early Christmas gift to ourselves, this was recently purchased:

Woo hoo!

4. Christmas services are full swing.
This means Advent Carols, Christingle, Children's Carols and Adult Carols have already been crossed off for this year with only the Christmas Eve Crib service, the 'Midnight' service and two Christmas Day meetings to go. Of course, this is addition to all the regular meetings and organisation that happens day by day, week to week.
Here are some pictures of the outside of The Priory and inside of St. Andrew's carol service that will show you nothing but how dark it is even with 1,000 candles. Click on the images for a close-up:

5. C has been progressing through the 'snakes and ladders' which is the process of selection for ordination in the Church of England. He has most recently met with the Bishop of Southampton and the pastoral and educational selectors and has this week received approval to advance to the final "knockout" round, which is likely to be in April.

If you haven't guessed by now, this means that C has come to the momentous decision to formally 'join' the CofE—after many months of soul-searching, head-scratching and deep-thinking. By no means does Cs positive route thus far mean that he will be approved in the final round of interviews and examinations and we ask for your continued prayers for us to graciously accept the decision—whatever it is—and the resulting future for us both.

Of course, if C is ordained, we are sure that every meal in the future will be like this (we're on the left of the photo evidently) :

6. A has decided to actively pursue illustration as a means to generating a small but vital source of (meagre) income. However she is still plagued by the migraine-elf which is not exactly the best for getting work of this nature done. Watch out for her flogging her greeting card samples on you very soon. You have been warned!

7. We are missing our Aussie friends.

Insomni-argh!

2007-10-31T20:33:00.000Z

also known as:
"The things I find when I can't sleep because I don't know what time zone I'm living in".

In fact, I think that this might become so popular (at least with me) that I will devote a regular section to it.

1. Some causes are just too important to ignore. This is my top pick.

2. (takes a few seconds to load)

Oh! those crazy kids!
I grew up on a seemingly unending diet of Herb Alpert and ponchos. No wonder I'm clinically depressed now...

3. I want a hobby like this
(and that's just the collection of banana stickers-click on back to check out every other fruit sticker this guy owns)

Hmmm...what will tonight's discovery be?

Observations from a trip 'home' - part 1

2007-10-26T17:03:00.000+01:00

Evidently there's a whole lot of people who are reading this blog regularly-who knew?! So we will endeavour to keep plodding along with it and try to make it a little more interesting—however, due to jet-lag, we are NOT promising any great works of literature just now! Give us a day or two and we'll be up to scratch in writing about our 10 days in Oz...

In the meantime, because it's coming up to election time both in the UK and Australia, let's create another opinion poll:

QUESTION
Is this the meanest mini-bar* in history?
Yes
No

It's what we were presented with at our Heathrow airport hotel before flying out-usually there's at the very least a packet of monkey nuts isn't there?!

* not that we ever considered selling our internal organs to pay for any of the contents, but it is always pretty exciting to open the fridge door and find out what we could buy if we had no common sense to walk across the road to the mini-mart and normal prices...

Chocolate Paddle Pops, here we come!

2007-10-07T13:33:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since the last post, but life has been freakishly busy as we continue with life here in England AND prepare for a flying visit back to Sydney!

We are in the really tortured position of not being able to spend more than about a week 'home'**** and therefore not being able to see everyone who we have missed so much in the past 2 years. It's remarkable that we HAVE been away for 2 years as time as sped by due to the busyness of the work here...and while we miss you, our friends, we have loved every minute of our time here so far. God has been true to His nature and very good. He has surrounded us with new church friends who have helped, encouraged and supported us all the way. It is our hope and prayers that we have honoured Him as well. It is no secret that we will be incredibly sad to leave Sherbornes with Pamber in due time.

And so it is that our emotions and thoughts are whirling around as we gear up for probably our final year in this parish, an uncertain 2009 and the very near reuniting with some our friends and family next week. The future? Watch this space...

Here is our list of things that we want to do whilst we are in Sydney (from 10-19th)
1. see friends
2. see friends
3, eat a paddle pop
4. eat fish and chips on a northern beach
5. see friends
6. covet the books at Kinokuniya
7. coffee at Bather's Balmoral (and for Cameron—just about everywhere else also)
8. eat Lebanese and Thai food until we sicken of it
9. stock up on Cherry Ripes, junket tablets and Violet Crumbles (there seems to be a recurring gluttony theme doesn't there?)
10. refresh our Orstryan accent

Because our time is so limited we hope that you will understand and forgive us if we don't get to spend much (or any) time with you. That will have to be our priority for next time...

****Or is it?

So, how wet was it?

2007-09-12T23:45:00.000+01:00

The answer to your question, dear Lib- (refer to previous post and comment)

It was beautifully sunny and dry for the 20 minutes it took to erect the tent as the following photo shows:

And beautifully dry when we packed the tent away...

But for every minute in between, THIS was our view:

That's the inside of our tent. The deckchair is INSIDE the tent as the rain is OUTSIDE.
It's amazing where, precisely, mud can get.
You get the picture....

And that was the highlight of our holiday!

Summer (while it lasts)

2007-08-14T22:48:00.000+01:00

Here's a few pics to prove that we have been visited by summer this year. Of course, as I write, the wind is HOWLING outside the rain-streaked window...

Blue sky.

Plants we have grown from seed and not killed.by us nor eaten by spaniel (*insert gasps of awe here)

Swimming.

Getting ready for the summer camping holiday.

Need we remind you that the wind is HOWLING against the rain-streaked window!
And that large areas of the UK are still flood-affected.
And that we are planning to camp in Wales-generally regarded as sharing significantly similar characteristics to a wet sponge.

Wish us luck! See you soon...

Holiday Club 2007

2007-08-05T15:02:00.000+01:00

May we introduce you to the Mighty Mighty King?

You will be joining the 60 kids and their parents who were introduced to Him last week at the annual Holiday Club.

Here is the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the week:

60 kids of ages ranging between 4 and 12 (with11 on a waiting list)
38 leaders, helpers and generally wonderful adult assistants
4 different craft activities, requiring 15,294, 556 pieces of sellotape
11 different tee-shirt colours in 13 different sizes
850 activity book pages to colour-in, trace around and scribble on
720 cups of blackcurrant squash
320 malted milk biscuits
6 really, truly bad actors in a well-loved drama
5 excellent talks that introduced the kids to who Jesus is
1 central theme-The Quest for the King

You may remember that we wrote about the Holiday Club last year. Once again, we are thankful for God's goodness in providing a solid week of fun, safety and reasonable weather (remember it was flood week here in England). More importantly, it was a week in which the church tried to honour God by telling children and their parents about the King who wants them to know Him.

There are 2 ways to live. Everyone has a choice. One choice is by having God as your mighty King.

Quote for the day

2007-08-04T22:34:00.000+01:00

"When you are a
Bear of Very Little Brain,
and you Think of Things,
you find sometimes that a
Thing which seemed
very Thingish inside you is
quite different when it
gets out into the open and
has other people looking at it."

A.A. Milne
from "Winnie the Pooh"

PS The sun is finally shining and the children are playing in the paddling pool...

Utterly exhausted

2007-07-27T21:08:00.001+01:00

Fact.
It is possible to be so tired that even earlobes can hurt.

Poppa - a rare blog from Cameron...

2007-07-25T23:31:00.001+01:00

Paper aeroplanes. That's what I remember. Not the regular dart, but a kind with intricate folds and tearing a piece that would become the body and tail of the plane. He always tore that part, never cut it, but it was always straight. You didn't throw those planes, you launched them, and they flew.

He made me a bush bass once. I think it was something for school. He used a special string. He got the string from the looms at the place where he worked as a security guard... He told me that he wished he'd had the chance to finish school and learn a trade like his brothers, but he had to leave school and work because things were difficult. It was the depression. He slept in a shed in the fields with a gun to protect the produce. He hated that. He felt bad that he had to stop people who were hungry from getting something to eat, but if he didn't stop them then he and others would go hungry.

He had a bicycle that he rode to the fields.

He didn't go to war because he had to stay and grow food.

The string was stored in his garage - there was so much stuff in there, how did the car fit? That great brown car. Was it a Renault? He took me to soccer in it and watched me play. It was that game when the ball bounced over my head. I was embarrassed about that. But he loved watching the soccer.

The garage was where he made the billy cart for us. It was great! I think he made one for Angus and Clint too. Steering was with feet and strings and a lever brake with a spring that worked on the back wheel. We rode the cart down the path in the back yard, down toward the clothes line.

The clothes line was an old one. The concrete it was set into had 'Pat' and 'Stan' written in it - is that right? It took me ages to work out what that referred to.

Below the clothes line was where we played 'sorries'. The bat and ball game where we said sorry every time we mis-hit the ball. We laughed a lot, but had to be careful not to hit the ball into the plants too much, and if it went into the plants you had to step carefully over them onto the planks of wood that ran between the rows of flowers. The bats were wood with a cork coating on the paddle.

There was that big tree that was to the right of the the cubby house, the cubby that he made for mum and her sisters when they were young - a perfect little house. The tree was where he built us our tree-house. He put up a thick rope so we could swing from the tree house. We would swing back and forth. I took some photos with the an old camera. They were blurry, but he was smiling.

I don't know where those photos are.

If we stayed on Friday night we ate fish and chips from the shop. We always had buttered bread. He never spoke at the dinner table.

He would come home late, very late, from his job. We would hear him come in while we were in bed. He would have been a good security guard - he was so tall.

Oh, typewriters... I remember typewriters on my back and on my chest. It made me laugh until it hurt.

Later he told me jokes. I loved the jokes. He would get them from the radio I think, and he would save them up until he saw me. I loved them. Sometimes they were a bit risque. Not bad, but for an older audience, which I had become. They really made me crack up. I loved them. They were a special highlight of visits and of Christmas.

So tall, always gentle, soft spoken, sharp humour that surprised most of us I think - it certainly surprised me. A lovely man who became a lovely old man. He loved the dog. The last photo I have with him is with the dog, just after he moved into the home. It's in the gazebo that out the front.

Poppa - I started calling him 'Pop' in the last couple of years. I wonder why?

I've just made one of those paper planes, to make sure I could remember.

Soggy

2007-07-25T22:59:00.000+01:00

It's really very wet here at the moment. Our house is damp and misty from the atmosphere, but thankfully we have not seen our home or street turn into a fast flowing river as some our our friends—and a very great part of the English Midlands—have.

We are especially thankful for the lack of flooding (to date) as church is running their annual Summer (!) Holiday Club for Infants and Junior School kids. We have slightly soggy but otherwise energetic kiddies each day for this week and so far, so good. However the forecast is particularly bad for tomorrow (Thursday). Your ideas on a postcard for how to keep 61 kids and 30+ leaders amused and safe in a modest-sized village sports pavilion if we can't venture outside for games...by midnight tonight please.

The winner gets our eternal thanks...
(and maybe some of our wet clothes to dry)

22 hours of today were rubbish until...

2007-07-17T23:01:00.000+01:00

At the end of a less than joyful day came this sublime surprise:

I'm not sure if I love Shaun Tan (gift) or Rowan and Geoff (gifters) more.
I don't need to choose do I?

I encourage you to accumulate your literary points by buying their books. Visit Shaun Tan and Rowan. In fact, the more of Rowan's books you buy, the more she will be able to buy for me!

PS Thanks guys for coming to visit and putting up withe chaos of tonight. It means a lot.

Hedgehog

2007-07-16T10:34:00.000+01:00

The spaniel found us our first hedgehog last night* Intrigued by why Sasunnach was spending minutes outside when there was a vacant and unguarded sofa to be sat upon, I went outside to find him very, very gently prodding it with his dinner-plate sized paws with the said hog of the hedge. I dare say we won't be seeing it again!

*yes, this does prove that I haven't got much energy to write about interesting things at the moment. It also shows that I adore hedgehogs and have been on the look out for one since we arrived 21 months ago. I envy their ability to eat slugs and roll up into a ball and pretend they don't really exist.
Okay—not so much the first.

Waste 5 minutes of your life

2007-07-15T22:32:00.000+01:00

Having a bad day? Not after watching this!

Love it!

Then there's this gem-this one brought to our attention by dear friends Rob and Clare. (Personally, I'm thinking of handing over my card details just for the chance to sing "O come let us adore me" at Christmas services this year. I've got a nice sparkly top to match my ego...)

What??!! You mean it's not about me?

Ruby, ruby, ruby

2007-07-08T20:04:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the world, Ruby!
We send our love. Wish we were there to meet you at your youngest...

x

All quiet on the northern front...

2007-07-01T22:35:00.000+01:00

Every day we pretend we open the Sydney papers (by logging on the www.smh.com.au) to be informed of what is happening in the world. Today is no different, and so we were enlightened by the news that we are presently in the 'grip of terror".

Alex did some baking for church supper this evening (!), but surely that's not the cause of the alleged terror. (You may disagree—especially if you realise that after baking, the next logical step for her are Liberty-print frocks. That's classified as HORROR.)

Well, looking out our window everything seems very calm to us...

... but we thought that we should be responsible and educated residents and thus checked www.bbc.co.uk.
There is a murmur of trouble with foiled bombings, but there is a much more significant issue at hand according to one of the leading stories on the website:

"Thorntons (confectioners) has been banned from selling rum and raisin ice cream to kids because of its alcohol content. "

(Apparently It would take 26 cones of the ol' rum 'n' stuff to equal one pint of lager. Not a real threat in my guess.)

No need to panic. On either account.

PS. That's an aerial photo of where we are near Boringstoke. We are the ones waving in the middle-ground.

Random photos

2007-05-19T22:21:00.000+01:00

I've just been clearing out the digital photos and I thought I'd share some entirely random images I've come across from the last few months. They make no sense, I don't know why we took them, they are not remotely good quality—so of course, you need to see them.

C buys the dog a beer.

C breaks property that we do not own. (Dear Landlord, don't worry, this isn't yours...)

Sasunnach catches an intercity train for the first time. He didn't think much of the coffee service.

Evidence that C may be too old to play football, but isn't the colour pretty?

The box in which ukulele number 2 arrived (there's 3 of them to date)

We don't know which way to go either.

Ooh! Finally, my favourite:

This is a REAL road sign found Staffordshire. It must get very wet, or the sheep must be brilliantly adapted.

A sticky supermarketing moment

2007-04-07T19:44:00.000+01:00

A supermarket chain here in England got itself into a huge muddle over the meaning of Easter this week, in its attempt to sell more chocolate eggs...

“ Brits will on average be enjoying over 3.5 eggs each over the Easter weekend alone. But over a quarter don’t know why handing them out symbolises the birth of Jesus. . . .” Press release from Somerfield Supermarket, April 3

Oops. Take 2:
“ Brits will on average be enjoying over 3.5 eggs each over the Easter weekend alone. But over a quarter don’t know why handing them out symbolises the rebirth of Jesus . . .” Revised press release

Oh dear: Take 3
“ Brits will on average be enjoying over 3.5 eggs each over the Easter weekend alone. But over a quarter don’t know why handing them out symbolises the resurrection of Jesus” Second revision

Pheeeeww! At least they got there in the end (sort of).

It has been suggested that Easter eggs represent the stone rolled in front of Jesus’s tomb, but the tradition has pre-Christian roots: in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals. I'd like to suggest that the 'tradition' of giving chocolate eggs has more to do with greed as I'm pretty sure that the Bible doesn't mention it. Let me check...

Er, no.

Actually the Bible is pretty clear on what we SHOULD be celebrating this weekend—the fact of Jesus' death and God raising him back to life, as witnessed by many and a necessary sacrifice that took care of the offences we cause God forever. And therefore, for those who recognise this, Easter is a celebration that we no longer need be self-imposed enemies of God.

That's more like it. (As if the creation of chocolate wasn't enough to prove that we have a loving and merciful God!)

Have a very happy and meaningful Easter, dear friends.

Spring

2007-03-02T11:18:00.000Z

Looking back at this blog's entries reveals that precisely one year ago, we were feeling the cold in Devon. Today however is warm and sunny...how utterly disappointing! The thermo guage may only read 9 degrees, but somehow it feels so much warmer. C is in short sleeves and A could be (if only she didn't feel compelled to wear something vaguely seasonal as a slave to fashion).

Even the roast dinners* are early this year...

*Sorry, for all you folk who don't like to know where their casserole comes from. If it makes you feel any better this pic was taken last Spring and lamby is leading a happy farm life. Aaah!

Proving that age is no barrier to idiocy

2007-02-08T16:56:00.000Z

Travel Warning!
England in grip of severe weather!
Heavy snow across large parts of England leads to travel chaos and hundreds of schools being closed!
Travel disruption at-a-glance...
Have you been hit by the snow?
Hazardous ice risk!
Icy roads become treacherous!
After the snow, ice and freezing fog will become the problem!

This is what we woke to this morning...a copy-editor with a feral desire to place exclamation marks at the end of every news report(!), or so we thought until we soon realised that it EVERY copy-editor in the land was doing the same(!)

Once again, the spaniel brought it to A's attention at 0245 hrs this morning that it was snowing (how does he know?)

and by 8am everything was blanketed under 10cms of icing sugar...

We had to learn a new procedure for driving in England (clear the windscreen)...

So of course, we decided to ignore the travel!! warning!! and venture out to the nearest hill...

And do what the natives do!

P.S. Headfirst is SO much faster. Thanks JH for lending us your sleds!

Help us

2007-01-26T00:05:00.000Z

Help us celebrate Australia Day 2007...

Send! Send now!

(We may not be girt by sea in exactly the same way here in England but we are proud to put beetroot, pineapple and a fried egg on OUR burgers)

What be these cold white particles?

2007-01-24T02:31:00.000Z

I'm writing this in the very unsociable hour of 2am because the spaniel has stirred me by his constant staring out of the window (how this can 'wake' me, please don't ask...it just can..). He's been staring at the almost imperceptibly small flurry of snow that is currently falling. SNOW! Here in Southern England!....

Could this mean that it may be getting c-o-l-d at last?
Will I get to finally wear my new, never before worn coat?
Will C concede and perhaps roll his shirt sleeves down past the elbows?
Will British train timetables be catapaulted into chaos because it's the 'wrong kind of snow'?

I just hope it falls hard enough so that it feels a little bit more than Thor just shaking out his dandruff.

How fast does a snail crawl?

2007-01-18T18:25:00.000Z

If you are anything like A, and sit through endless nights battling insomnia, you may be a fan of trivia web sites. Oh! the things one can learn! For example,
Q. What is the average speed of a crawling garden snail?
A. 0.00036 miles per hour or 0.5842m per hour

Q. What was the average speed of a garden snail in Sherbornes with Pamber/Basingstoke today, given that there were gale force winds of 78 miles per hour?
A.12,553m per hour. That's a snail with serious speed.

It was VERY windy.

Something to aspire to

2007-01-15T12:38:00.000Z

If we weren't crystal clear on why God had brought us to England, we are in no doubt NOW*...

Over the years C and A have been entertained by the eccentricities of The World Beard Championships.

Seriously.

The Rugby World Cup, The Olympic Games and The Commonwealth Games only occur every four years, but such is the popularity of The World Beard Championships that it takes place every second year...and this year it is being held in England...and not just that, but relatively close by in Brighton! Joy of Joys! The diary has already been updated!

Men who have a particular penchant for emphasising the artistic capabilities of their facial hirsutism gather with the following aims:
1. to promote good relationships between members of moustache and beard clubs throughout the world and,
2. to encourage and celebrate standards of excellence in the growth, design and presentation of facial hair.

What more could you want from a hobby?

And so the training begins for C as he has a bit of work to do in the next 8 months. The standard is very high as this is a serious global event as you can see by these chaps below (You can check out more contestants at the previous championships here.)

You can see C sizing up his anticipated style below. He likes to call his style "The Assyrian".

* Ok, so we're being a bit cheeky about pretending we don't know why we are here, but isn't God good that He created this 'coincidence' for us!!! (wink)

*

Oops! We seem to have been somewhat remiss...

2007-01-12T20:54:00.001Z

Hello?

Are you still there?

We do apologise for our absence-we accidentally sort of paused writing didn't we...but we ARE back now. Some things are just too deliciously significant in this world to simply ignore.
This is why we have returned to blogdom—where else would you ever see this? And 'More Tea Vicar?' wants to be a part of it!

Now to address our absence without a permission note...
The choice was to
(a) explain why we went AWOL
(b) update everything that has (or hasn't) happened since the last post on August 15, or
(c) just start again from now as it's still close enough to the beginning of 2007 to pretend that nothing happened.

...and the winning suggestion is, of course, C...the lazy person's friend!

One thing we did learn whilst blogging last year that it is wonderfully, heart-stoppingly encouraging to occasionally get a comment from you when you read this...it sort of makes us think that spending a few minutes every couple of days to sit down and think of something moderately interesting is all worthwhile to you, our friends. We were assuming that noone in the ether was reading us...please let us know if you are (even if it's just to tell us that's it's rubbish).

See you again very soon!

Switching the labels

2006-08-15T22:56:00.000+01:00

Picture 1-UK
Picture 2 Australia

Who'd have thought that Hyde Park (London) could ever look like Hyde Park (Sydney)?
And what's with the dark skies and that white stuff on the ground in Sydney? Someone, surely, has switched the labels!

And just a little eye-candy for our Aussie friends...

Things may be very expensive here, but at least the Bananas don't require a second mortgage.

We're having a bit of a break now for a wee bit, so we shall wish Liam, Amy and Emma very happy birthdays! We hope to speak to you soon. We miss you!

I think I may live to regret this but...

2006-08-04T00:15:00.000+01:00

We are having a bit of a crisis at church with a distinct shortfall of musicians—a typical problem I am sure. Alex had a spark of inspiration and thought some time ago that she should begin to learn an instrument in order to help out at the odd occasion when there were no able-bodied, card-carrying musicians around. What did she do? By beginning with (as any sensible former questionnaire-writing-for-a living-person would do) a list of appropriate and helpful musical instruments. These are the findings:

Requirements: portability, easy to learn, able to provide solid sound for congregational accompaniment.

Results (in order of helpfulness)
1. Piano (forced to learn it as a child, not going there again)
2. Guitar
3. Trumpet and assorted brass
4. Recorder (are you kidding? Being a Christian person is persecution enough)
5. Flute (see point 1)
6. Violin
7. Melodeon
8. Drums
...
89. Tuba (already tried and failed)
107. Bagpipes (already tried and failed-Part II)
...
327. Ukulele
328. Tenor Ukulele

So which one did A decided upon? Check out her other blog site (purely experimental of course) for photos and a very poor first uke recording.
http://smockdog.typepad.com/smockdog/

Rock of Ages will never be the same again (and nor will Middle England)

and a partridge in a pear tree...

2006-08-02T16:56:00.000+01:00

Phew!
What a week. Let me just count up some essential facts about last week's Holiday Club:
• 61 fantastic kids
• 36 amazing volunteer helpers (many who took annual leave in order to serve)
• 684 activity book pages
• 8,340, 581 pieces of glitter and other assorted craft bits now released into the atmosphere
• 5 exhausting mornings
• 101 adults at church on Sunday morning
• 34 water balloons
• average temperature of 30 degrees (hotter than Nigeria by the way)
• 544 glasses of squash
• 128 t-shirt transfers that had to be designed, printed and ironed onto
• 96 T-shirts in 11 different colours and 15 different sizes (all too large)
• one message: "What's the greatest treasure in the whole world?"
• answer-"Peace with God!"

Thanks to everyone who prayed-the week was a triumph as the gospel was shared with kids who had never heard it before and the only injury was a very minor wasp bite. Our God is good!

PS C took on the personal of 'Captain Oz' for the week as the theme was that of pirates/finding true treasure. Perhaps he has missed his true calling?...

Welcome Caleb!

2006-07-18T01:51:00.000+01:00

Congratulation Jenny, Brendan, Ethan and Liam on your new family member!
We wish we were there with you guys. xxx

You can turn the oven off now please!

2006-07-18T01:27:00.000+01:00

Yes, you see correctly—the hot weather continues. It's been 6 weeks of heatwave and water shortages in the south of the country. And just to rub the mentholatum a little more into that open wound, is the fact that we live directly under the bright orange square that screams 37.
37 Degrees, that is. Remember, this is meant to be England-the land of woollen tea cosies and sensible weatherproofs...

We REALLLLLLY hope that it cools down a little next week as that is when the church is running a 4-day Holiday "camp" in the village pavilion/rec ground/marooned pirate ship. We are sure that 61 small children and sunstroke will not be the best combination! (But we don't want rain either because that's just too dreadful to even contemplate...)

Meanwhile we soldier on, placing orders for the nearly 100 t-shirts needed for kids, leaders and the helpers, sewing pirate costumes (have you got it that it's a Pirate theme, or did you think we had just lost it?), printing indemnity forms (!) designing activity sheets, asking for lots of help in thinking up games to play, and a WHOLE lot of other stuff that would be impossible to even consider without the help of a dedicated group of people who desire for the primary-aged kids in the village and environs to know about the God who made them and who wants them to know Him.

For our friends who know that God hears the prayers of His people, would you please remember the Holiday Camp. Things like safety, continued enthusiasm and positive responses from the kids and their parents are a great and much welcomed start.

Where are we again?

2006-07-01T22:21:00.000+01:00

It's all a bit bewildering.

We live in England, further away from the equator than we have ever done and yet it is, well, hot. It has been hot, it is currently hot and the forecast is for continued 'hot'.

Our lush green, green grass has become familiarly brown and crunchy.
We have rushed to the shops and purchased shorts and tees (because we chucked them, in a seriously unwise move, upon upon leaving Sydney).
We need to purchase a fan, because English houses are designed to keep the heat IN.
There's continuous sport on the t.v.
We have attended barbeques in back gardens well into the night, our ice tray is getting a good workout and we have smothered ourselves in suncream because our pasty bodies are burning.

Remind us again, where are we?

Today's weather for the SE England...and this will be the coolest day of the week.

da veni, vidi, vinci...by Dr Seuss

2006-06-07T10:35:00.000+01:00

The only thing that we will mention about the Da Vinci Code. Thanks to Ruth Gledhill of The Times for posting this gem that came to her via an unnamed source.

I would not watch it on TV,
I would not watch on DVD.
I would not watch on VHS,
I would not watch on CBS.

I would not watch it in a car,
I would not watch it in a bar.
I would not watch it with my dad,
I would not watch it when I'm sad.

I would not watch it in my bed,
I would not watch with my friend Fred.
I would not watch it on a box,
I would not watch it shown on FOX.

I would not watch it on a table,
I would not watch when it's on cable.
I would not watch it in a chair,
I would not watch it anywhere.

I wish I had not paid eight bucks,
This movie really really sucks.

Caption contest!

2006-05-19T17:26:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the first "More Tea, Vicar?" caption-guessing contest!
The rules are simple:
1. Write a caption for the attached photo by clicking the Comment button below the image
2. You may enter as many times as you would like
3. Open to all Australian and UK residents.
4. Rude entries will be censored and/or deleted at our discretion

The winning entry (as determined by us, of course) will win a pack of English smarties complete with tube packaging.

An additional prize of of a Mars Bar—currently known in England as a special edition (World Cup) "Believe" Bar will be awarded to any entry that can correctly identify the passage of scripture Cameron was teaching when using these props. Hint:
(a) it was to young children (b) New Testament (c) David M, you are NOT eligible to submit an entry to the additional Mars Bar game because you were there.

Good luck!

Winning entries will be selected on Friday 26 May, 2006 and names will not be published anywhere apart from this blog.
Prizes not transferable and discussion will not be entered into once prizes have been allocated. The judges decision is final.

Woodland happenings

2006-05-18T18:21:00.000+01:00

Spring is glorious...have we have already mentioned this? The daffodils and tulips are officially over but there is a carpet of bluebells lining the woodland floor. Who said that the ground should be green (or brown) when it can be bright blue?!

Alex has decided that the ideal outside temperature for her is 14 degrees celcius—warm enough to take a walk in a t-shirt and not need a jacket. However, we do note that in Sydney, 20 degrees was most definitely "too cold" and the airconditioning had to be turned off! I guess this fact means that we have either moved to the right location, or are adapting very efficiently indeed!

Here are some (of the squillions of) photos we have taken recently of our typical dog walk in nearby Morgaston Wood.

The wood is full (as you'd expect) of wildlife. Sasunnach has added the following things to his ever growing list of "Things I have chased": pheasant, muntjac deer, roe deer, butterfly, wood pigeon, mallard, canada goose, hare, rabbit, mouse, robin, heron, balloon (lost in wood), sheep, cow (last two not in the wood but close enough to it to warrant a sturdy 'woof').

Finally, we can hardly contain ourselves—we have reason to mention the Four-Lettered-C-Word: CAFE!
We stumbled upon a decent cafe in Winchester (a 30 minute drive away). It won't win any awards if we were to compare it with any of our favourite Sydney haunts, but as England is still in the clutches of (what we call) the 'Tea Room with net curtains and copper kettle' mentality, and has not as yet progressed to the finer awareness of a Cafe Culture, it really is pretty good. What joy is was last week to open a menu and have the choice of selecting from a full choice of muffins, cakes, salads, sandwiches...you get the picture!
And C's coffee score out of 10? Probably a 7, which means "definitely worth trying a second time". Stay tuned-same time next week.

The green, green grass of home

2006-04-30T19:08:00.000+01:00

Who could have imagined that a lawn could be, well, so GREEN!
None of the crunchy, brown needle-tipped variety here...it almost feels incorrect to call it 'grass' without bindi-i.
(Walking across a lawn without sporadic hopping and cursing? Where's the fun in that?)

We even went so far as to purchase a lawn mower! We felt that an inexpensive prehistoric mechanical push-pull jobby would be just perfect for our postage stamp*, and as the evidence shows, it fits in nicely with C's fitness regime. No room for recreating memories of early morning Saturday's when the sounds and smells of two-strokes permeated the suburbs!

A has rounded off the week by practising a little more of what the natives do best—gardening. Garden fixation appears to be the national past time. Alex has weeded what she assumes are weeds, sown lettuce and herb seeds and is now eargerly awaiting the next installment of Gardener's Question Time on the Beeb. (Are we blending in yet?)
Tomorrow is May Day. Let's see what Rites of Spring we can create...

* For our British friends, please don't think that we are being derogatory regarding the size of our garden—we love it! We are simply comparing our new outdoor area with our enormous and enormously neglected Sydney bushland, a.k.a. "Redevelopment Project".

P.S A requiem for those plants whose lives have been tragically cut short in A's attempt at gardening will be held at a later date...

The most recent 7 days

2006-04-24T22:02:00.000+01:00

Hello again. Transmission is resuming as we're now back from an all too short week-long break...thanks to everyone who replied to our Easter email (and apologies to those we accidentally left off the group e). It's really fantastic to hear from you as we do feel a bit 'out of the loop' at times with life in Sydney. Did you know that you can write a comment or send a quick email from this blog? Just click on the icon at the end of an entry—we'd LOVE to read something from you!

Some messages while we think of it:
• Welcome to the world Rafe! (and congrats to Rowan and Geoff)
• Thank you Andy and Mary for having us stay with you all day last Wednesday. We came away from you sooo thankful that we have you as friends. We have missed you and your Wintry tribe.
• How are you doing Jane? Have been thinking of you...
• Hello (and woof) to Michelle, Daniel, Arianne, Jack and Molly! Thanks for leaving your blog comments in the past...Have you got an email address so we can write to you directly? We miss everyone at the dog park. Life is simply not the same when you are not standing around in the dark for hours at a time whilst your spaniel is tearing around with other mad things!

We've just cleared the camera of it's contents from the past week. Nothing too special to look at. Just like us really!

The decoration in the Priory chapel is simple.

Cam plays educator and tour guide to Ellie (Alex's mother's cousin's daughter's daughter) and Sasunnach at Foxton Locks, Leicestershire

Our friend Ishaya after his first Chinese take-away meal. No ill-effects.

Farm life is truly exhausting but Sasunnach and Bobby get the best seat in the house

Happy Birthday Your Majesty! Sorry we didn't send you a card.

Heaven is a chocolate biscuit

2006-04-16T20:37:00.000+01:00

A little tale of surprise and good works.

You can know that you have connected with a good thing when friends ('A'+'B') invite you to a meal where you then meet one of their equally charming friends ('C'). Over coffee, you casually mention how, after only a few months of abstinence, you are missing certain foods from home.
Now, here is the good part: a few months later, new friend 'C' travels to Australia and brings back to England, not one but TWO, packs of Tim Tams...we are happy on sooo many levels today!

Thanks so much, Maryanne, Pippa and Tim!

We are having a week of holiday now that Easter is over and so will be away from all things technical and internet-related until next weekend. We shall be driving back to Rutland (where we spent Christmas) and are very much looking forward to both the Rutland countryside and a short peaceful break.

Would you like to know some interesting facts about England's smallest county?

•It's so small that most English have never heard of it.
•It has a castle in the county town of Oakham that looks like a shed.
•Rutland Water is the largest man made lake in Europe.
•Rutland is only 18 miles across in each direction.
•It was home to the world's smallest man (Jeffrey Hudson), the father of tourism (Thomas Cook), the 6th worst Briton of the past 1,000 years (Titus Oates) and Sir Isaac Newton.
•It schooled Boris Karloff, who was born the significantly more mundane name of William Henry Pratt
•... and a distant cousin of Alex's created the strongest beer in the known world at 22% alcohol content (Baz's Bonce Blower')

See you again in about a week-as long as we steer clear of the local brew!

Easter

2006-04-15T20:36:00.000+01:00

See God's salvation plan
Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice
Fulfilled in Christ the man
For He lives - Christ is risen from the dead!

Happy Easter friends!

Picking is a bad habit

2006-04-12T20:27:00.000+01:00

I've just written a crackin' good entry (if I do say myself) about why we haven't posted for a while, and where we have been, only to see Blogger swallow my words and crash. Aarrgh! I'm not in the mood to rewrite, so I'm leaving that for another few days.
Rest assured, we are still here! (thanks Rach for your concern)

I'm a little disappointed that only one person has commented on my aspiration to become an udist, as outlined in our one-line blog bio. (That's right no 'N'-that's completely different!)
I'm not discouraged, despite your complete lack of interest, but have decided that Ud teachers would be a rarity in wild Hampshire. So I've changed track just a little...let me introduce my new pickin' stick...

It has a trademarked name of a Mcnally Strumstick and it is basically an upright Appalachian Dulcimer (oh! Sooo much clearer you say...). It sounds a bit like a mandolin, a bit like a banjo. It looks like a wedge of brie on a stick. You are laughing I know, but I promise it came from a famous folk music shop in the big smoke of London. So ner.

Officially Spring

2006-03-21T17:28:00.000Z

First day of spring (or so the calendar says...).

The weather isn't really any different but we have noticed the sudden sprouting of daffodils and the odd crocus in our walks in the fields. There is a slightly more animated chatter in the birdsong also.
However, most significant is that we have observed PEOPLE in our street! Doors to houses are opening and the first tentative steps of Residenticus Britannica are being made outside. It's even possible that we may even meet our next door neighbour before too long! Forget David Attenborough documentaries about the post-hibernation activities of bears, hedgehogs, tortoises (whatever), there is a virtual National Geographic episode on our doorstep! It really is amazing to see the difference in everyone's activities as the days grow longer and the weather taunts us into believing that the sun is just around the corner. People's attitudes are changing also—smiling and waving seems to be a little bit more regular—and not just by fellow Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans!

Oh, and a note of clarification: We don't live in London. I guess that when most people leave Australia to move to England, they do take up residence in the megalopolis but we live over an hour away (in a fast car on a motorway). We live in a southern county in a semi-rural location. Lovely—but no capital city. We are close(ish) to Reading on this map....sort of above Southampton...west of London... I think there has been some confusion...

P.S. You must have all been content in the acceptance that we came to no harm during our recent Devon expedition as we arrived home to no phone messages from the antipodes checking on our safety! So you don't really care—we're tough! But we will punish you by showing you some photos to make you jealous! ;-)

Why we own a good vacuum cleaner

2006-03-09T22:38:00.000Z

One

Two

Three

And it's still only 2 degrees outside. Someone PLEASE tell that to the spaniel!

2 get frostbite in Devon

2006-03-09T22:23:00.000Z

Friday 3 March, 2006
Dear Diary,
Today I felt cold. Actually, very cold. To be honest I couldn't feel anything I was that cold.
Who'd have thought that a beautiful Devon farmhouse could mimic Artic weather conditions so effectively? I never knew that my hands could go THAT colour blue, and that a fully grown woman could forgo personal dignity and wear 4 pairs of trousers all at once (not me, I might add-someone even colder than I).

But Diary, how wonderful!

PS Man in giant snowpea/mangetout outfit consistenty claimed he wasn't cold. Evidence suggests otherwise.

Two go mad in Devon*

2006-03-02T22:51:00.000Z

A quick test for you today, dear readers:
Where are we going for the next 36 hours? Use these images to confirm your answer...

Yes! We have been very generously invited to go to Devon! We were a bit bewildered at first as to why we were invited to go to an area of outstanding natural processed luncheon meat, then realised that it was a region in the West Country (and that there is ANOTHER use of the word "devon". Who'd have thought?!)

So, in the spirit of all things Famous Five, we are off on a walking weekend adventure. Look out for news reports of Australians being stranded in snowdrifts...Do you think we'll be warm enough in our Stubbies?

*with sincere apologies to Enid Blyton, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders

I've always wanted to learn the catarrh

2006-02-25T21:05:00.000Z

We are finally emerging from the fog which has been sickness, and much to our relief, it doesn't seem to be some Australian-low-immunity-to-British-bugs as EVERYONE has succumbed to this sickness. (And the newspapers are worried about "Bird Flu"!)
Even Sasunnach has been put out because our routine has been so interrupted, but we, ever faithful, have trudged through the fields for him. Being outside in the strong wind and cold has allowed us at least to experience February...

This from the TImes On Line (February 12, 2006)
"Don't hibernate, embrace February in Britain!
It’s February: blustery, soupy, murky, boggy, booty, squelchy, shivery, frost-biting, scarf-wearing February. The perfect time for a walk, says Vincent Crump. TS Eliot was just being provoking. The cruellest month is February, and everyone knows it. Christmas is long forgotten, spring still seems years away, and you’re cooped up in the house for weekends on end, breaking your new year’s resolutions and perfecting your scowl.
Psychologically, how do you survive? You try to insulate yourself from it. You turn up the heating, eat more puddings, hurry from duvet to desk and back, through monochrome streets under concrete-coloured clouds, wishing the greys away.

I’ve got a better strategy, and it’s far more fulfilling. Embrace the winter. Reconnect with the elements. Hug the cold. One of the pleasures of living in Britain is that we have seasons, extremes of temperature and colour and light — but only if you expose your senses to them."

Well, Vincent Crump, we HAVE exposed ourselves to the February of Britain, and while it is enjoyable because it is novel for us antipodeans, the suggestion of 'eating more puddings' goes down a winner when you make gurgling noises each time you inhale and leave puddles of crumpled tissues in your wake...

We don't enjoy THIS type of cold...

2006-02-19T13:43:00.000Z

I am quite convinced that noone is reading this because the posts are getting less and less frequent, so I will make do and write as if we DO have friends—imaginary ones are always fun!

We have the worst headcolds. Ever. Even my teeth hurt (perhaps I have scurvy?)
So once again, we are too poorly to write of anything of interest as our life for the past week and a bit has been:
Cough
Splutter
Sniff
Gurgle
Moan
...and there is no sign yet that we are on the mend.

P.S. I am being VERY considerate in the image I have uploaded to accompany this post...it wasn't my first idea...

Interruption to programming

2006-02-07T18:31:00.000Z

Apologies to those few that actually DO read our feeble musings...we've been a bit remiss with updating since our last post. C is pretty busy at the moment (see previous post) and I have succumbed to migraines. Unfortunately, they have not let up since our arrival here in England and I am visited by them on average about twice a week—still. Thankfully, they haven't increased AND I don't have the humidity of Sydney to deal with as well!

So, with 4 days each week with some monstrous troll pushing knives into my eyes and through my temples, and 3 days with post-recuperative exhaustion, I haven't had all that much time to feel happy, and less time to sit in front of a computer. Until I get over this particular trough in life's highs and low, I'll have to leave you with some archival footage.

Thank you to Jane, Lib & Ben, Rach & Mike, Jen &Bren, Jen & Mike, Mark & Leanne, Stephjeff, and everyone else who I have temporarily and shamefully forgotten who have expressed their concerns over my health. It means a great deal.

Normal programming will recommence shortly. Stay tuned—it may even be tomorrow!

What a week is like

2006-01-26T16:38:00.000Z

I have become aware that we really haven't described what our lives are now like—on a day to day basis—now that we have moved to England and C has been working for a few months as Parish Assistant. We've been asked what C "does" and so will attempt to describe a typical week...but that will be difficult as no week seems to be like any other and he is still developing his role to the needs of the church. Anyhow, here it goes...

Get it?
It's a copy of C's diary for an upcoming week. Admittedly it's a bit hard to read because it is on an angle, but also hard to read because it is so full—and these are only the work items that he is aware of today. What is not recorded are the telephone calls, additional reading, study, thinking and face-to-face meetings that can't be scheduled in. (I don't think he has to prepare a sermon or talk for this week, if so add another 16 hours or so into the schedule).
Days begin at about 6am and finish on average around 10pm...of course there are variations on this when some weeks are less full, but generally 6 days a week are completely full of trying to serve the church—that is God's people and the Lord Himself.

We are grateful to the parish that C (and I) are able to be financially supported in a way that means he doesn't have to work in a second paid job, and we know we are fortunate as there are those who have to work in another job AND lead and be responsible for congregations and their own lives of faithfulness to God and His Word. We are not sure how they can do this...we hope that they are at least supported by prayer and fellowship.

The week displayed on the calendar is a somewhat unusual week in the life of the parish in that it is a special week of organised events and activities designed to introduce the Christian faith to people who are interested. The churches of SWP have six students from the Cornhill Training Course
coming for a 'mission' week and they will assist us all in talking to invited friends and families to the many events, large and small that are being organised. There's a Teddy Bears Picnic (for toddlers and the parents), a 'Question & Answer' panel at the local pub, small dinner groups, a large organised breakfast, a countryside walk... just to name a few.

The theme of the week is "This World Is NOT Enough".
It's a bold statement–it suggests that there is more to life than what we think there is, and that even if we possessed the whole world, there is still something more important worth having.

I wonder if you agree?

Newsworthy

2006-01-26T15:49:00.000Z

Poor whale. It died whilst being rescued.
What is astonishing is the amount of media and general interest there was in this event...television subtitles were flashed on the screen announcing the animal's death and it was the headline news item on the BBC News 24 for many hours. I wonder what it says about society when we are THAT interested and affected by a lost and sickly animal. I, too, was upset that it was in trouble, but find it hard to place it in the same (or higher) context of the millions of people who are also displaced and sick—and yet get no television coverage with minute-by-minute updates of their welfare and need for assistance...

On another item of news, a portrait has been found last week, in London of what may be the only image in existence of Lady Jane Grey—the "Nine Day Queen". Lady Jane was beheaded at the age of 17 following her short reign in 1553.
The Protestant Lady Jane was the grand-daughter of Henry VIII's Catholic sister Mary, who proclaimed herself rightful queen under the terms of Henry's will.
It had long been thought that she was the only English monarch since 1500 of whom no contemporaneous portrait survived. Until now, perhaps.
Here is the portrait...

Many tests have been carried out on it, to determine its authenticity. One of which was an X-ray, which delivered surprising results...(click on image to enlarge)

Of course, this confirms my long-held suspicions that we are related. Grey is not a particularly common surname and of course, as you know, I have been instituted with all the grace and demeanour of a que..

P.S. Having a whale of a time!

2006-01-21T10:59:00.000Z

There's a whale in London.
Not in an aquarium (although I'm sure that there might be, if London has an aquarium), but a 'proper' one...in the Thames! There have been sightings up and down the murky waters, but the focus is concentrated on the tourist area near Tower Bridge.
Is it sightseeing?

This is the ABC's new take on it...
"A rescue effort is under way for a seven-tonne whale that has managed to find its way into the River Thames in central London.
Hundreds of Londoners flocked to the banks of the Thames to catch a rare glimpse of the five-metre long whale. Television cameras followed the whale as it swam past a series of landmarks in the British capital, including Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Authorities were notified by a man who spotted the animal on his way to work.
He told them he thought he was hallucinating."

I LOVE the last line!

Supermarket sweepstake

2006-01-17T19:24:00.000Z

The weekly supermarket shop is usually pretty predictable and dull and this week appeared to be no exception...until we spotted THIS:

Funky Fish.
Doesn't really sound very appetising does it...It's pasta (if you can call the vague mixing of flour and water that). At the time, we were oblivious to the other pasta varieties for sale on the shelves, but after doing some research (truly!), I found this magnificent devotional to all things tinned and pasta-like available in the UK.

I'm especially keen to know what the sales of "Animal Hospital" pasta is? Are there little pasta-forms of Rolf Harris? Or surgical equipment?
What does impress me is the dedication of the website's owner to tracking-down, purchasing, opening, dissecting, photographing and documenting food! Check out the website (www.spaghoops.com) to see what the inside of chocolate bars, biscuits...and more varieties of pasta look like!

Anyway, supermarket shopping can now be pursued with a little more excitement, especially as we are going to go armed with our camera. Things like this are far too good not to record...

Yes, it does say, "Mr. Brains' 2 faggots in rich sauce". Hmmm...

That's the questionable side of buying food in Basingrad. What we have recently done is sign-up to a weekly delivery from www.farmaround.co.uk which supplies organic British produce at (we think?) reasonable prices. Each week the selection varies, depending on what is in season and so far we have not been disappointed. We receive the "mini bag" which is supposed to be enough for one person for a week, but the name is misleading—a huge sack arrives filled with all sorts. It feels a bit like a grown-up version of the Sydney Easter Show Sample Bag as there are vegetable-y things in there which we have never seen before. It is especially comforting to see produce as it is before it has been polished, waxed, sprayed and made uniform by the supermarkets. Personally, I like a little bit of dirt, bug—and character— with my food!

May the (organic) force be with you...

Prehistory

2006-01-12T23:12:00.000Z

At the time of departure from Sydney, we didn't really know what things we should pack that might help us settle in a new place—aside from the essentials of a few bits of clothing, some household doodads, decorative stuff and a whole mountain of books. In a fit of desperation, we threw in a 20 cent bag of mixed photographs that included a lot of baby images (in case we needed to remember what we looked like), a few of the seminal 'growing up moments' (for those awful "guess who" competitions at church weekend aways and school fundraisers etc) and this one from Prehistory...

This is, as well as being visual evidence for all that was rotten in the state of A's parents' wardrobe, is a group of friends who have stayed close and have shared marriage (some to each other, some introducing new people to the recipe), mortgages (our combined debt must be quite ridiculous), relocation overseas, interstate, intrastate and back again, deaths of loved ones, career upheavals, weight fluctuations, health concerns and babies. Our lives, on the surface at least, look nothing remotely like they did when this photo was taken some 8 or so years ago!

What has been constant, however, is our bond as Christian brothers and sisters. How good is He to us that we have been provided with each other!
Excuse me whilst I tear up because we are so far away (and because I look atrocious in black floral patterning...).
Come and visit soon!
P.S Happy birthday Rach! (1970's green dress, flirty look, third from left)

Quarterly review

2006-01-05T20:42:00.000Z

It's been 3 months since we departed Sydney; time for the Quarterly Review.

Things achieved:
1. relocation to England and the successful transit, via container ship, of (a) things we own, to (b) where we are living
2. perpetuation of the myth that all Australians have kangaroos as pets (and if you're wondering where ours is, British readers, Skippy is in prolonged quarantine...)
3. local purchase of Milo, Vegemite and Anzac biccies
4. utter confusion as to why one can rewire a house in the UK without need of an electrical licence, but can't have a power point in a bathroom
5. moderate intrigue as to why the English do their washing up in little plastic tubs that rest INSIDE their kitchen sink
6. marginal frustration at not knowing what the correct name is for the "flap in the door that the mail is pushed through". It can't be a 'letter box' (as it's not a box) and 'mail hole' sounds so wrong in sooo many ways...
7. an indeterminable amount of clay and mud accumulated onto footwear from the fields outside our house
8. a love of the following BBC panel shows: "Q.I.", "Never mind the buzzcocks", "Have I got news for you", "A question of sport", "Top Gear" (amongst others)
9. a total of 5 streaming head-colds between us-more than we would normally get in a couple of years
10. a desire to own a real log fire.

Things not achieved:
1. the adaptation of our accent to allow for the word 'holy' to sound like 'hoe-lee' (as is the case with Hampshire folk)
2. the painting of our house despite 23 zillion paint charts collected in the first week of arriving here
3. an understanding of why some English folk like to drink 'Hot squash", that is, heated-up orange or other fruit-based cordial. Yes, you read this correctly...
4. the successful location of Tim Tams in any supermarket despite being available in, of all places, Oakham Tesco's two years ago
5. a consistent, reliable, decent coffee from a Cafe. Give us a moment while we reminisce...and a moment's silence for all that burnt latte milk and mega-oversized cups that we've had along the way.

*Sigh*

Colder than Iceland

2006-01-01T23:52:00.000Z

While Sydney melts in 44 degree plus temperatures (we are soooo thankful that we are not there), we have been experiencing our own unusual weather. What be these cold white particles that droppeth from the heavens?

SNOW!

Boxing Day in Rutland presented us with -14 degrees (yes, that's MINUS...) and beautiful crisp snow. Enough snow to make everything graphically black and white. Enough snow to make A addicted to weather reports to see when more will be on the way and produce a portfolio of 8 inch tall snowmen around the yard. Enough snow to make the spaniel take up the doggy equivalent of stage-diving from even the tiniest embankment in order to plow headfirst into a cushion of it. In fact, enough snow to lure C away from reading by the fireside...

Happy New Year friends! Hope you can escape the heat.
PS. More Christmas/Rutland/Snow/Dog pics can be found here
here

New Dawn, New Day, New Year.

2006-01-01T23:37:00.000Z

Two thousand and six. It has a nice sound to it; fresh and new, full of exciting possibilities...it must certainly mean that the 'festive season' is finally over and that we can push Christmas to the back of the cupboard for another year. Doesn't it?

C did a admirable job amongst the battling nativity scene angels (not of one accord) and headbutting shepherd boys to deliver his talk at St. Andrew's before Christmas. Here it is in summary...

"How often do we see a child doing something and then apply it to a profession they might have when they grow up?
We see little Jane building with blocks and we say, "Ooh, maybe they'll be an architect". Proud parents see Charlie bump a ball around the room and closely follow it wth comments about playing for England one day. We recognise that babies grow up to be something: Baby Jane and Charlie will not always be 'baby'.

At Christmas we remember a baby—we remember Jesus. However the importance of Jesus is not that he was a baby but that he grew up to be the focus of God's plan for history. This plan of God was for Jesus to buy back (redeem) all those who do not submit to God—that is everyone, you and me.
Jesus, the baby we remember, grew up to die for others. This was the price of buying us back."

Not to be put back in the cupboard.

Message from Albert

2005-12-23T23:29:00.000Z

The presents have been wrapped (sort of), mince pies have been eaten (to excess) and every Frosty the Snowman viewed with contempt. Now all there is to do is relax, enjoy time with good friends and family and focus on why Christmas exists.

Happy, hope-filled Christmas friends!

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

This is the birth announcement, as told by the prophet Isaiah, about 6-700 years in advance, of the King of Kings; the Christ of Christ-mas. This is where God and history meets.
Celebratory.

Hmm, should I admit to this?

2005-12-21T15:12:00.000Z

I'm pathetic. I have the tiniest cold but combined with my less than spectacular record for a headache-free life, I have been completely floored by it. At least I can practice having a good moan because I have spent the last two nights alone with only crappy television as consolation; Cameron AND the spaniel have gone Christmas Caroling (is that a word??) around the village streets with a group of friends from church. I wanted to go with them, not flunked out on the sofa with only echinacea and cups of tea for comfort. I am positively wallowing in my own self-pity.

One thing has cheered me greatly—I want to become a MORRIS DANCER! I always have and now the possibility awakens! Three things makes this a viable proposition for me:
(a) there exists a local group (what is the collective name for Morris Dancers?) It's named "Basingclog" and meets in Monk Sherborne, only the very next village away...
(b) the uniforms are cool in that entirely uncool fashion (although I'll have to readdress my 'never wearing a skirt again' philosophy if I go throught with it)
(c) it's a entirely useless hobby and therefore fits in nicely with my collection so far—speaking Gaidhlig, 17th century print production and playing the tuba...

They also wear red socks and the coolest shoes...

Homophone alert

2005-12-15T08:50:00.000Z

Note to self: Whenever we talk about Australia's "surf culture", ensure that it's not misinterpreted as "s-e-r-f culture"...

(Look John, I didn't even have to reference you as the one that created for us a full night's worth of belly laughter and dreams of Aussie peasants hanging ten!)

On the first day of Christmas...

2005-12-10T18:15:00.000Z

I've been amazingly slack in updating this blog, but I'm going to put it down to the general run-up-to-Christmas chaos. So, it's no longer officially the "first" day of Christmas and the partridge and pear tree has been a No Show, but we have been experiencing our own Advent Calendar with a new activity almost every day.

Highlights?
1. The evening service at Pamber Priory (warm mince pies and mulled wine nestling nicely with our new warm coats, 12th century oak effigy and candle-lit Norman architecture),
2. The Christingle service for the kiddies at St. Andrew's (rumours of oranges, candles and skewered jelly babies left us a little confused in anticipation of what exactly this could have to do with Christ and Christmas, but we're satisfied now! Check out www.christingle.org if you are just as curious about this widespread European activity as we were...
3. The Nativity play performed by the infants students of Sherborne St. John school. Special applause for the little chap on the left!

I've also come to the conclusion that C & I don't really have a Christmas 'tradition' that we look forward to each year. This may be because we haven't had a predictable Christmas Day since we have been married. The only thing we have done consistently is NOT had a Christmas tree and, instead—whether because of lack of planning or an overabundance of enthusiasm for something a little different—we have had the Christmas "Twig".
This year, despite being in an environment where a spruce, fir or pine would not look out of place in one's living room, we continue to decorate a twig. Welcome to our world!

Even Sasunnach looks underwhelmed at the whole twig-dressing debarcle...

My life as a newt

2005-11-30T17:03:00.000Z

The most common reaction of our new friends, upon learning that we have moved FROM Australia to live in England is...."WHY?!!" Expensive and generous television airtime is devoted to programs outlining ways to move TO Australia; images of sunny beaches, hot weather, sun-kissed complexions on minimally dressed persons enjoying beer and bbqs, fascinating wildlife designed to withstand hot dry conditions, and oh, did I mention the sun?...You'd think that every Brit was somehow deprived of essential sunlight, somehow long-term subterranean creatures in a land of grey and damp...

Well, I, Alex Grey, LOVE it.

As each day passes I realise more and more that I am attracted to the gloom, the bitter, the melancholy. My ardour for the bleak is reflected in my attraction to gustavian grey colour schemes of the paint charts, the choice of holidaying in the Outer Hebrides and Scottish Highlands in WINTER, my bookshelves which capture the lives, fictional and real, of heroes wuthering on the heights and tramping the moors. The explorers of the warm Pacific hold no interest for me-it's the lives of Oates, Scott, Shackleton, Franklin and Parry who grab my attention. Not only valiant were they in venturing across the ant/arctic in desperation to win either an unwinnable race or fleeting honour, but my goodness they were English gentlemen! When the corpses of Franklin's officers and crew were discovered, miles from their ships, the men were found to have left behind their guns (necessary for food) but to have lugged such essentials as monogrammed silver cutlery, a backgammon board, a clothes brush and a copy of The Vicar of Wakefield (presumably to be read as they polished their uniform buttons with the tin of polish also accompanying them). Incompetant? Yes. Bungling? Yes. British? Definitely!

So my love affair with Bleak is well-founded. I hibernate not in the winter but am...(wait for it) "aestivate", like a salamander, a newt*. I slow down and conserve energy when the sun is out, but wait for the temperature to drop and all humanity to run grumbling and moaning inside to their safe centrally-heated homes and I
e-m-e-r-g-e.

* How convenient that we live beside the North Hampshire protected reserve of the Great Crested Newt...

What we are reading

2005-11-28T16:57:00.000Z

How satisfying it is to be able to find a comfy spot, howling wind outside, and read an interesting book-or four! This is what we are reading. (I wonder if you can guess who is tackling what?) However, we are soon to finish and need some new titles to get stuck into. Suggestions VERY welcome!

Small Island by Andrea Levy
"I was christened Victoria Buxton. My mother had wanted me to be christened Queenie but the vicar had said, "No, Mrs Buxton, I'm afraid Queenie is a common name."
"Common!" my mother had replied. "How can it be common? It's a queen's name." The vicar had then given an impromptu sermon which my mother, father and their gathered guests had to listen to as they stood round the stone font in our bleak local church. The vicar went on at length about monarchs having proper names like Edward, George, Elizabeth while everyone, dressed in their pinching church-best shoes began to shift from foot to foot and stifle yawns behind their scrubbed hands. "Take our late queen," the vicar finally explained, "her name, Mrs Buxton, was not queen but Victoria."
So that was how - one thundery August day in a church near Mansfield, dressed in a handed down white-starched christening gown that wouldn't do up at the neck - I, the first born child of Wilfred and Lillie Buxton, came to be christened Victoria yet called forever Queenie."

Watching the English by Kate Fox
"I don't see why anthropologists feel they have to travel to remote corners of the world and get dysentery in order to study strange tribal cultures with bizarre beliefs and mysterious customs, when the weirdest, most puzzling tribe of all is right here on our doorstep."

Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy
"The application of biblical theology to expository preaching-The aim of this book is to provide a handbook for preachers that will help them apply a consistently Christ-centered approach to their sermons."

Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, de Botton examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness.

Ice, Ice baby

2005-11-22T16:23:00.000Z

It's cold!

We're told (constantly) that we're nuts, but we are loving it! We have been waking up to hard ground frosts and freezing fogs caused by subzero temperatures all this week. Sasunnach dances around on the ice when he goes outside to pee and the gum tree in our back garden (how good of our landlord to anticipate our coming years ago when he planted it) is FROZEN.
(Note to self—must invest in a dressing gown...early morning bathroom trips may be chilly)

Daily temperatures are reaching a dizzy 7-8 celcius whilst overnight it has been minus 4. Thankfully, the days are clear and bright with some sun so we are being introduced to wintry Hampshire with gentlenesss. And as any meterologist worth his or her salt knows, winter doesn't actually start until the solstice, 22nd December—another month away.

This does not appear to coincide with the untimely release onto the unsuspecting public (i.e. me) of Christmas Carols which have been playing in naffly decorated shops for some time now. Let the reader understand that I am not happy! Plastic holly has no place in a country where it grows as a weed naturally...and as for inflatable elves—that's another moan.

The price is paid

2005-11-10T17:11:00.000Z

I've been struggling these past few days as to what to write. What would be interesting to read? Surely not the prices of supermarket items that I was thinking would have to do (4xLamb Chump Chops £4.89, 7x loose bananas £1.48 etc.)
Do you want to know that there is a village duck pond? Or that it is now dark at 4.40pm? See my dilemma——only a month in England and I have already run out of interesting things to write. So it is with great relief that I can recall an illustration told to us by this morning's speaker at St. Andrew's church (thanks Ian).

Today is Remembrance Sunday when the nation remembers those men and women, service and civilian, who have fallen during the Great War, WW2 and all conflicts since (http://www.poppy.org).
In the Great War—the supposed "war to end all wars"— it is estimated that there were more than 8,500,000 MILITARY deaths alone. The number of service personnel who have died in all twentieth century conflicts must be almost breathtakingly inestimable.

So what then, if we could hear the voices of the fallen soldiers, who went to war prepared to defend their country and paid the ultimate sacrifice and died to protect OUR freedoms, and they said to us now:
"We fought for you, endured pain and hardship for you and then died, so that you can enjoy peace and freedom from fear and oppression. Take our gift, it's yours to have!"
And we replied...
"No thanks. Not interested. We'd rather stay in conflict."

How foolish we would be! To reject a free gift that is priceless and at no cost to us...we would be the ridicule of all!
And yet, this is what we do when we reject God's greatest gift to us—Jesus' death in our place; the blameless in place of the guilty. To reject the loving offer of a reconciliation with God is foolish—for we are choosing to stay in conflict with God—a certain punishment & death—instead of the eternal life which is promised if we accept God as the rightful ruler of the world and our lives.

Precious words.

"Oh, to see my name, Written in the wounds, For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death, Life is mine to live, Won through Your selfless love.
This, the power of the cross: Son of God - slain for us.
What a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross."

(Townend/Getty copyright 2005)

General observations

2005-11-07T20:40:00.000Z

Today we were playing social anthropologists. These are today's top 5 feeble observations of North Hampshire folk (chapter 1)

1. The common use of the word "feeble"...

2. Lunch is referred to as "dinner"; dinner is referred to as "tea" or sometimes "supper" and/or something hot that you drink (always white and sugared). We think. We are a bit confused as to what we are being invited to...

3. 'Desert' ( dĭ-zûrt '... noun... usually sweet course or dish, as of fruit, ice cream, or pastry, served at the end of a meal) is, in England, called "pudding". A pudding ( pʊd ' ĭng n. a sweet dessert, usually containing flour or a cereal
product, that has been boiled, steamed, or baked) may be part of the 'pudding' that follows the main course. Unless it is a Yorkshire pudding, when it the main course. We are confused about this also...

4. The English LOVE to queue. They queue when they should, they queue when they are not required to. Even a single person, apparently alone in the world, is still forming an orderly queue...

5. We have only seen the very young or the very elderly ride bicycles. No person anywhere near the age category 6-86 has been seen cycling along. We have just been given a bike—we feel like we are revolutionaries...

6. Risking cementing a wholly untrue but commonly held belief that Aussies are a bit s-l-o-w, we write this observation with a great deal of trepidation, but it has to be said that Hampshire folk speak extremely quickly.Infact,theyspeakatsuchadisturbinglyfastspeedthatwearehavingimmensetroubletryingtoconversewiththem...

Remember, remember the 5th of November

2005-11-05T17:28:00.000Z

The sky is ablaze with fireworks, and pyromaniacal Brits are stoking bonfires with anything vaguely flammable—it's Bonfire weekend!
The 5th of November 2005 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the Gunpowder plot. For reasons not entirely clear to us, the anniversary of a failed 17th century coup, lead by Guido (Guy) Fawkes, has now become a national holiday celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and food. We have just celebrated this with our new neighbours by contributing our own little bit to global warming...building a bonfire (complete with TWO 'Guys') and setting off fireworks in the fields just behind our street. What a great night...thanks for the invitation Speckled Wood road!

Mole people

2005-10-30T16:50:00.000Z

British clocks changed from Summer Time last night and so we begin the descent into wintry darkness...we celebrated by checking out a local pub, "The Mole" at Monk Sherborne.

It's our first attempt at meeting the natives of the next village. We were enthusiastically introduced by some new friends and found all to be friendly. We may make The Mole a regular spot, especially as it houses a very welcoming open fire and a friendly attitude towards accompanied dogs and colonials.
Is there a local Hampshire beer? Can anyone advise us?

*Not the pub sign exactly, but a picture of a mole nonetheless—and from one of the best books ever published!

Settling in

2005-10-26T18:09:00.000+01:00

We are slipping into our new life pretty easily, although we haven't, as yet, conquered the infamous Basingstoke roundabouts! (we'd like to know if any foreigner ever has...).
C appears to be still employed after leading the evening service and taking the 'children's spot' last Sunday—this week he attempts to explain Mark 11:12-26 in his first sermon at St. Andrew's, Sherborne St. John.

S is loving the chance to romp through the fields behind our house, the scent (and sight) of hares, pheasants and deer, stirring up something innately Springer and gun dog in him. The pheasant shooting season has just begun, and as exciting as this may seem to him, we must be careful to keep him to the bridleways and footpaths as the sight of another native—the gamekeeper—may not be so pleasant! Sasunnach has been succesful at springing 2 or 3 birds from the ground cover as the very blurry photo suggests...that smudge on the right side IS a cock-pheasant!

We are overwhelmed with thanks at the generosity of God and our new friends at SWP. We arrived at our new home and found 2 huge boxes filled with food and general supplies! This was so thoughtful and useful and really sums up how, as Christians, we are to 'practice hospitality'. Hospitality, in the literal sense, means 'love of strangers' (philo~xenia), and that is what our new friends have done so well, in loving us—strangers. Thank you!

We are doing a fair amount of reading. This will be a considerable component of C's work generally, but especially at the moment as we study Hampshire bus routes, paint colour charts, new electrical appliance instructions, telephone lists, insurance disclosure statements etc. etc. A is trying to get her hands on a copy of Kate Fox's acclaimed book, "Watching the English" (Not available in Oz at the time of leaving, for some reason) in the hope of understanding cultural differences. It might not be a radically different culture, but we have already learned NOT to describe someone as wearing "thongs" unless we want raised eyebrows. They are "flip-flops" here, thongs are worn on a very different area of the body...

First day at the office

2005-10-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

Here's a picture of the new boy on his first day at the office (Sunday 16 October). The building's a bit on the old side, but fully functional...

If that was the prologue, this is Chapter 1

2005-10-21T11:05:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time since the last post, and we wonder if we have any readership left...but much has happened! We have now successfully pulled the door to on our life in Sydney and arrived (and begun to settle) in England. I am tempted to write a potted history of the past four weeks, but (a) I am too tired after living through it once to live through it again in prose, and (b) I think it would be too boring to read. Instead, please find some photos and some general observations that hope to sum it all up!

Observations for today.
1. Our Teva sandals are sitting, rather incongruously, next to our very thick fleece jackets.
2. Reflecting our new European bias here in England, I wonder if we truly need to know that the Hungarian word for 'cotton' is 'pumut'. Apparently it's important when you buy towels from Ikea as they list this, as well as 17 other translations on their products...
3. Never, ever attempt to shop in Ikea Bristol on a Saturday afternoon unless you need visible evidence of a fallen world.
4. We are so thankful for so many things—for the warm 're-welcome' from our friends at Market Overton church and the very warmest of new welcomes from our new friends at Sherbornes with Pamber, for 99% of all transport and relocation logistics going perfectly smoothly, for the incredible greeting by our great friend Andy who drove 2.5 hours from Hinckley to Heathrow on the "off-chance" of meeting us as we arrived into London (!! We shall NEVER forget this!!...) and for the messages from our friends back in Sydney who are thinking of us.
5. Sasunnach really is a Bird Dog. All history of puppy play aside, his natural instinct has been to spring the pheasants from the field directly behind our new house. You should watch him go!

... #18

2005-09-22T04:14:00.000+01:00

...and showers with good water pressure. *sigh*

"These are a few of my (our) favourite things..."

2005-09-07T12:02:00.000+01:00

Now that the countdown is officially "on", we have started to ponder over the little (and large) things that we will miss about living in Sydney. So, as we think of things, we will post them. This may bore you, dear reader, but will serve us a great purpose in acknowledging how much of Sydney life we love. So, in random order:

1. friends
2. friends from church
3. friends from the dog park (can you see a theme yet?)
3. Thai food
4. picking up a bbq chicken at the railway station after work
5. crickets chirping on a summer evening
6. The Sydney Morning Herald's Saturday quiz
7. good chocolate milk
8. icy cold beer on a hot day
9. the chorus of lawnmowers which heralds Saturdays
10. good coffee (and the general knowledge of what a "flat white" is)
11. Hamburgers that are only truly real when they have beetroot, pineapple AND egg in them
12. the word "crikey" when used in everyday language and not uttered from the mouth of Steve Irwin
13. the following words when used as Aussies use them—thongs, esky, bugger, dodgy, chips, pie floater, chook, maaate!
14. junk mail. Really.
15. the notion of taking as few steps as possible to avoid bindies on the lawn (brown and crispy) as you collect the mail from the letterbox
16. having a letterbox
17. having a lawn (even if it's brown and crispy)

And this was when it was neat...

2005-09-07T11:58:00.000+01:00

And this was when it was neat...
Originally uploaded by smock+dog.

Today marks just 4 weeks to go until we fly out of Oz. Are we panicking? Well, not exaaactly-but we have been a little busier than usual preparing to leave our Sydney life. For everyone who has ever moved before, it will come as no surprise that we have been living in chaos...and an incredible amount of useless, unidentifiable STUFF. We have photographed some of the identifiable goods that we *hope* will fit into our new, bijou Brit-pad...

Cameron, Alex & Sasunnach Spaniel

2005-08-11T12:55:00.000+01:00

Cam, Alex & Sasunnach Spaniel
Originally uploaded by smock+dog.

The beginning is usually a good place to start, so here's a mugshot of the three of us. Alex's eye isn't normally squashed against Cam's head and Sasunnach has two in real life, in case you were intrigued. We also own a goldfish named Freud, but he has a thing against the paparazzi...