Since you asked!

Never one to turn down a request (unless it's really strange!), Here's a picture of what my engagement ring has been turned into



You can see what it used to look like here.

I've had a tough time, knowing what to do with this ring. I was trying to find a blog entry about it, but it seems that I didn't initially blog about the receiving of it.

It was a gorgeous ring and now it makes me even happier that it's a cross, something that I can wear to show my faith and with the knowlegde that two people love me very much, firstly to take it away from me and secondly to change it into something that can only be positive. I love my friends very much!

Give us a break!

This is probably the final 30 mins I will get to myself for the next week or so, so I'm blogging! Having caught up with all my regular blogs, I realise that I'm falling behind on the news reporting side of things, so here's a miniture update before I have to leave in 20 mins!



Firstly, here is a picture of me, dressed in my finest for my birthday, which happened in the weekend just gone... I spent a lot of time with friends and family this year, which is not unusual, but more so than I can remember. I started my birthday celebrations nearly two weeks ago, so I was really raring for things to get going when my actual birthday came around. Unfortunately some of my plans were scuppered by 'flu sypmtoms, but hopefully I will be able to see those people soon (Get well soon Lou!)! I went for lunch with Heather on my actual birthday and then for cocktails with some others on Saturday evening. (I would really recommend the southern comfort based cocktail!) Mercifully, Sunday morning was spent painting with the children, in church, we're creating a stained glass window that reflects our Heroes and Heroines series over the summer... no-one pulled me up to the front to sing happy birthday... phew! I will post a photo when we're done!

SUnday afternoon saw the arrival of family and friends for a BBQ. We expected to feed 40 people, and I think we got about 30, but mostly in the form of boys who could eat for two, so most of the food disappeared really quickly. My thank you's go to every member of my immeadiate family and to Chris for all their support over the weekend - apparently a stressed Liz is funny! They all did an amazing job!

I received a really special present on Sunday... my engagement ring had been sent away by Heather and Helen, and was returned into my possession in the form of a necklace and a cross pendant. I will treasure it forever.

There are more things that I want to write about, like the week of work away from home that I am about to embark on, but I've run out of time! I will blog when I have thought about afore mentioned 'holiday' and see you in August!

Something to get you thinking!

I bet you're thinking now!

Well, more like wondering why is there a picture of a badly drawn sheep on Liz's blog...

It's for the weekend away that I am doing next weekend... we're doing the Lost Stories, from Jesus' ministry, so this is the sheep... looking happy that he's been found... but guess what? he's lost his tail! So we're going to play pin the tail on the sheep!

Now you're really thinking!

This is just to give you something new to ponder on, because I don't know when I will return... It could be Monday with news of turning 25 (yes, it happens on Saturday!) or Friday morning, in a panicky moment... and then after that I'm away for a week...

I have a lot of preparation to do, so we'll see how it goes!

I hope to see you all soon!

It's been a while...

A lot has happened recently, so forgive the lack of blogging!

A couple of main things that have been keeping me from my online writing, namely Torchwood, Take That, Solid and my social life! Obviously that is not in any order of importance, it's entirely random, so I'm going to talk about them in a random order too!!

Let's start with Take That. I was going to dedicate a whole blog entry to the day I spent in London, with Kay, but I feel that it would be a little of an over kill, and really my effort would be lost on many of you! The concert was astonishing, it was a show, a performance. We thought about it a bit while we were waiting for the boys to appear on stage, and realised that it's 15 years since I last saw Take That on stage. I was 10 and it was at Earls Court. I don't remember the whole thing, but the bits I do remember are really vivid and this time it was no different, my emotions however were hugely different. I was surrounded by people who have shared a lot with me and after a long day, I just couldn't wait any longer. I'd brought the tickets 8 months ago, I'd spent 9 nervous minutes waiting for the website, the phone, everything, and when we got the tickets, I lost my voice from screaming so much... all that waiting to hear them live again got the better of me, and I still don't think I've really recovered yet.

The two hours that they were on stage was just so amazing, you can see that they really love performing. It was better than Girls Aloud and Boyzone put together, and I think now, every time they tour again, I will be there. Every time I turned on the radio, someone was talking about how good the concerts were and the hour Radio One gave to it last week made me cry again. I just hope that I don't have to wait 15 years to see them again. The only thing that would top that show, would be to meet them. Words can not really describe it...

What's next - Torchwood! If you haven't seen it, I would ask that you get iPlayer up and have a look. I really enjoyed it, though we got to the middle of the week and I started to complain that they were drawing the storyline out a little. But I watched the final episodes yesterday and am now wondering if Captain Jack will ever return to our screens! Here's hoping that he will do in the future. Russell T. Davis is so good at creating iconic characters, it would be a shame to see Captain Jack disappear, but I know that everything has it's season.

Solid was good this year, for my first year in charge, I've learnt a lot of lessons, I understand how it works now, what to do, what not to do, how to deal with some people, better than others. I gratefully adopted some young people over the weekend too, and I think spending time with them, chatting about difficult issues and talking though some theology, has been really good for all of us. It's a shame that some of them are moving to college in September! Still the future is rosy and their are already plans in my head for next year as to how we can get everyone involved!

Finally, a brief word on my social life...this weekend sees me turn 25 and I feel immensely blessed that I get to spend a lot of time with my friends and family chatting, eating and generally being surrounded by wonderful people! 2 of my best friends took me out for drinks last week to celebrate being 25, and being a youth worker for a year!

Yes, I've been Christ Church's youth outreach worker for a year now... maybe over the summer I'll do a review for you!

Fix up, look sharp!

I've got a new car!

So this vauxhall corsa is the car I will be driving for the next 5, 6, 7 years... who knows what will happen between now and tomorrow for that to change, develop, etc. But this is the plan. Keep the car for as long as is possible and then change it again.

It's slate grey and the interior is black. If i give you any more than that I'll get in trouble.

Not a lot else is happening...i'm waiting patiently (hint) for tomorrow, so I that (hint) I can take (hint) all of my friends to the concert of the year (hint)!

Weekend activities

I wanted to use the word frivolities, but then I checked the definition and realised that the weekend holds more weight that I could every imagine, and I haven't spent the weekend being silly in the slightest. So activities it is, because before 9 on a Monday, there is little in my brain, other than, when's the next time I can eat/sleep?

These activities were certainly important for all involved, it seems I have spent the weekend helping, in some form, to raise money for various projects, doing things from just attending, to organising and shopping.

Firstly, was shopping for the food for the Summer Party, with Heather, who has been great at not letting me panic and always had a back up plan! It doesn't take much money to feed 100 people, really, we did a basic BBQ for £30 this year and quickly sold out (two hours!)...a full report of the party will appear further down this blog.

Secondly was a Viz-a-Viz Ministries fundraiser. Liz and Katey, who I have known since they were 10/11, decided that the best way to raise some money towards the £1000 that Liz needs before September for her year out, was to put on a concert. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the publicity, but I did know that it was going to be loud and a lot of fun! The event was called Out of the Box.

So here's a quick band review for you...

First on were 'Adrenaline'



This is them, plus the girls who were leading us through the evening, they were singing living on a prayer. The lead singer is incredibly good, for such a young boy (I think they were all early secondary school children) he did amazingly well, firstly to get the crowd going and then vocally, they are all really talented and could go so far. They are on the Kings of Leon side of pop, they are covering songs and writing their own.

Time between the bands was filled with questions from 'The Box' for the audience to get to know the bands. Some of the answers were really funny, some were inappropriate for the audience.

Secondly was 'Was Broken', made up of slightly older people, these guys are lead by Katie, who I did my year out with and they are a Baptist Church members.



I love Katie's outfit! She looked and sounded so good, and their version of American Boy went down a storm! These guys are also writing their own songs, and they are very good, despite that it seems they are only doing it for fun.

Then we had a break, for tea and cake...a ploy to raise more money and a chance to catch up with some of the young people who had made it to the gig. Half an hour later and we were ushered back to our seats for the second half.

The third act for the night was 'Platform Location' - which is a band, but the other band members couldn't make it, so it was just a singer and his guitar... I didn't catch his name... but here he is anyway.



Again, he was brilliantly musically, I don't know where Katey and Liz found these people - but they found a couple of gems.

Fourthly was 'Name is Renown'

(just for real time effect - I have just pressed play and am now listening to La Roux's debut album for the second time - it's good!)

The were the 'heaviest' band of the night.



Again really good musically. All their own songs, which had a really good structure (I've heard some amature bands like this that have difficulties with this), but the balance on the sound wasn't quite right, so the voice was a little lost, shame really, because I would've loved to hear what they were singing about!

Finally, 'Showerhead', a mishmash of all the bands across the night and a really good way of ending the concert.

Here's their best shot (ANTM for you there - culturally relevant or what!?!)



They really enjoyed themselves. We had about 10 minutes of thank you from the girls, you never quite realise how much work goes into one of these events - you certainly can't do it on your own!

So that was Saturday....and now for Sunday (we're almost there folks - because I'm getting cramp in my left hand!)

Sunday started with a couple of hours in the office for me and then to Praise in The Park. I was volunteered to do a notice for the Summer party, and as I love a challenge I gave it the nod, and spoke to the relevant people before the service. I wasn't us on the trailer for very long, but came back shaking so much! I didn't sit down for another hour - I couldn't. I get such a kick from being in front of people, nervous energy has the same effect as an espresso! To see a better review - and a picture, head over to my Dad's blog for a look.

Then I headed back to church to wait for the Bouncy Castle to arrive. We started setting up at 2 and opened the doors at 3 for the party of the season. Two bouncy Castles, one big BBQ, face painting, cake, ice cream, cards and games. It was busy, and all in aid of Christ Church's link school in Kenya. We raised £100 after expenses. I am chuffed! We can help a school buy more books, or pay for their electricity! Thank you to everyone who help out, organised and worked really hard on the day!

We headed to the pub for a celebratory drink and then I went home. I thought it would be quite relaxing, but we managed to find ourselves watching last nights Top Gear. About 5/10 mins in - when the gang are talking about car insurance in the offices, you can see The Stig, behind Richard Hammond, photocopying his face, obviously he's got his racing helmet on, it was just something that made me laugh...The whole episode did, the adverts do, Top Gear has definitely got it's sense of humour back...they even 'killed' Richard Hammond at one point!

I have loved this weekend very much. It has been fulfilling, tiring and a lot of fun. I'm hoping that the summer will continue in a similar vain!

One some slightly more selfish notes...

I'm getting a NEW CAR! Saturday morning was spent talking to the lovely man at Essex Ford, so the monies are being sorted out and the car will be mine by the the time we head to SOLID, hopefully!

My best friend is back in the country after a week away, and I can tell you that I am grateful just knowing that I can call her again if I need to!

The end of this week will be another huge high - after 8 months and a week of waiting, Take That will be graced with our presence on Saturday evening... I am sooooo excited. We are right at the very back of Wembley Stadium...but I will still take photos!

So....

2 famous people have died within a day of each other...that doesn't happen much really.

Me winning tickets to a gig and not being able to go doesn't happen that much either.

If you're wondering what on earth I'm going on about...HMV were giving away tickets to see La Roux, who is my new favourite artist, and to get these tickets you had to pre-order her new album. I thought that loads of people would do this and I wouldn't stand a chance of getting tickets, I just wanted to hear the rest of the album. I love Bulletproof (so much that I can't get it out of my head!) so it's only natural that the rest of the album would be of the same quality (yes, I know that sounds slighty too hopeful, but I haven't learnt my lesson yet!). So I pre-ordered and didn't think much else of it, until I got an email, literally 40 mins ago telling me that I'd got two tickets.

Sadly, between wednesday of this week and Monday 13th July, I don't have an evening free and the gig is on 1st July. I can't get the organisers to change it, so I'm having to give my tickets to someone else, if possible. It's truely rubbish, I never win anything...

And if you really have had your head stuck in a sand pit of the last 24 hours, you won't know that Michael Jackson has passed away and so has Farrah Fawcett. Both very famous. I don't have much else to say, but then I didn't know either of them personally and will just sit back and watch the worlds emotions unfold for the next few days.

Costing an arm and a leg!

I got my car back... after being told that it would only take an hour and cost a little over a hundred pounds, I was a little annoyed that at 6pm, I had to collect it and was charged nearer £150 for the privilege for not having a car for the whole day.

To be fair the garage have replaced a part that was split (I would be clever and try to tell you what they replaced, but fishing out the piece of paper is too much work!) so that I won't have problems with it for a while.

The next step is changing car now. I would like something a little bigger and better looking. And sturdier! So I'm going for a VW Polo.

Scool was good fun as well this week. It's been such a blessing to be allowed to go into St John's and then be invited to everything that is going on there. I got to sit in on a PHSE lesson for lower 5th. I haven't been in a PHSE lesson since lower 5th (year 10, 14 and 15 year olds) so it was fascinating to be an outsider. They are taught by the head of R.E. who has taken a very serious view that Christian teaching should come first. So the students attentively listen to the Bibles teaching on relationships and then teaching on STD's.

As always there are silly question and some serious, but the teacher dealt with it all really well.Then she asked me if I wanted to add something, and I did. My heart was thumping, but I know that when it's going like that, God wants me to say something, and will lead me, speak through me and help everyone to listen.

Young people get told most of the ways to avoid getting pregnant or std's but they aren't told (without being preachy about it) that the 100% proof way that you'll never get anything is by not having sex at all outside of marriage.

It's just something thats not taught, it's full proof though and it's what God's plan is! And if we ignore it, it costs us and arm and a leg emotionally.

Anyway, I've got to get ready to go to Viz-a-viz's fundraiser and then I'm saying goodbye to Stu, as well as seeing Heather!

Out and About

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending time with the year eights from St John's School. They were visiting different places of worship to compare and contrast for R.E. It was good to spend time with them and other members of staff.

We headed to St Mary's, Little Burstead, which I must confess that I've never been in, in my adult life. It's a wonderful church and I can see why many people want to get married in it. Margaret, the Church Warden, and I were discussing church history. I find it interesting that there have been churches or places of worship for hundreds of years... why that particular spot? How did it become a church? Questions that I can't possibly answer, but I'm grateful for the people who said yes all those years ago and continue to say yes today when it comes to keeping buildings and congregations going.

We travelled through Chelmsford to Chignal to the URC Chapel - which is again in the middle of nowhere but really a great place to go to for some quiet and being away from everything. That's only been there for 169 years in comparison to St Mary's which has records of vicars dating back to the 1700's.

Finally we visited a Greek Orthodox Monastery, which I didn’t even know existed, but it’s a great place, again, in the middle of nowhere, out towards Tiptree, I couldn’t take you there if I tried! It was amazing though, the orthodox part of Christianity focuses on icons, which are paintings of bible stories and saints. I sat in their main chapel with everyone else and just felt the presence of God, it was totally different to what I have felt before. It was a shock, but a good one, in awe of what was going on around me and having so many young people excited about being in church.
We headed home to the best and longest thunderstorm I’ve seen in a while, and news that both comprehensive secondary schools would be closed for a day due to flooding and no electricity.

That’s probably the most exciting thing I’ve done this week. I’m back into school later on this week and my car is being fixed so that it won’t back a horrible noise when I drive it at low speeds!

Under Canvas

This week I have been mainly living in a Tent...

Ok, so that's not strictly true, but the week has been punctuated by being under canvas, at the Bishops House, listening to everything he has to say and speaking to people from various parts of the diocese about their projects and where they feel youth work is going.

The Bishop is totally at home with everyone, through all the ages, and of varying importance, it's great to see him answering questions with a story rather than a one word answer (though that makes it difficult to keep answers short!). This is the man that put his back out at the beginning of the week and thought that he wouldn't be able to be at any of the events... faithfully, he was at every one, chatting and sharing, seriously or not, his life and why he puts on these events. His wife is wonderful too, you can see their partnership and how grateful they both are for all the people in the diocese!

The funniest picture by far of the weekend has to be this though...


A picture of the Bishop eating ice cream!

Not something you see every day. I have been assured by his wife that he has eaten very well this week!

The food was amazing and the company was great. Two of the church's young people joined me and we served drinks for most of the evening.

It was great to see a lot of Billericay people there as well.

If you ever get invited to a do by a Bishop, I suggest you go to it! You (hopefully) won't be disappointed... I will be taking a full quota in two years for the next one.

This weekend has been really busy for me personally.

I spent the whole of Saturday at a planning meeting for a holiday camp during the summer, which was a lot of fun, an opportunity to make new friends and talk about what we're going to do for three days with twenty young people and one boat!

Being away all day Saturday meant that I missed the event of the year in my home church.


My contribution* to the afternoon event for my sister. She has now reached her target of £11,000, way before she even sets foot in an airport to go to Uganda. We are hugely thankful to everyone who has given to her and for her presence at the weekend.

On Sunday, I went on my first ever church walk, which was great. Spending time with family, young people and friends. We headed to Remus Horse Sanctuary, Buttesbury. It's not that far from where we started, but it was through fields that held horses, over stiles and through quite a lot of mud. I am the sort of person who doesn't do that countryside really well, I don't own a pair of wellies, or a set of waterproofs, so I was laughed at for much of the way for holding up my jeans, I'm also suffering from being outdoors for most of the day this morning, my hayfever is the worst it's been for a long time.

But when the world looks like this...

How can you refuse?

The rain held off until the evening and the horse sanctuary was packed, even though it had been really wet in the morning.

So on with another week of planning and thinking into the next academic year, plus finishing off this term.

*This chalk board and artist are available for free to anyone who needs a temporary sign...

Another Week

Yet another week has gone past and I've not blogged.

That's probably because nothing of much significance has happened... well, actually, I had my best friend from Bristol visit me and she attended her very first concert, so quite significant, really*.

Here is a picture of what happened when we went to see Boyzone at Wembley Arena


Proving that they had the same stage management crew as Girls Aloud, by flying over the audience, except, Boyzone were far more stylish about it, though Mikey Graham looked like he was going to throw up!

It was a really good concert, punctuated by the boys dressing as Queen, Stephen Gately replicating Beyonce - almost perfectly and hearing the songs that have put the boys in the limelight for 16 years (so Ronan Keating kept reminding us!).

Kay and I have already agreed that we're doing this again, that we have to go into London more often and Bristol too... any suggestions for nights out?

The two things that spoilt the night for a hardened concert goer like myself, where the support act and some over zealous fans on the way home. Egg-on Quigg (pronounced Owen Quigg, I'm told), that wonderful** X factor finalist, who cried when his then girlfriend got voted off the show, performed a couple of covers to backing tracks, namely Busted and Michael Buble. This boy over sang everything, everything, and was far from any thing I ever imagined in a support act for Boyzone. He ruined ever song he tried, even John Lennon's Imagine, and that's hard to do, cos I really hate that song. He wouldn't ever win SingSTAR if he sings like that all the time.

The over zealous fans, bless em**, were singing Boyzone tracks from Wembley Park to King's Cross tube station, badly, loudly and repeatedly, that's half an hour of a 2 hour concert being ruined, and guess what? They were Irish!!! What is it with these people?? You'd think they'd give their countrymen some respect by not tarnishing their wonderful music and perfect image, with atrocious singing late at night when people are trying to relish something so wonderful or get home after a long day, or fall asleep!

Any way, well done to the oldies for staying on stage for two hours, much better than GA (as much as I like them, they don't understand how to keep a crowd going, yes, that's a lost art!), I really enjoyed the evening and I know that Kay did too!

The rest of the weekend was spent recovering, shopping and sitting in my cousins sun-trap of a back garden, eating and chatting with family.

I love this weather, but I found out yesterday, that it's no fun to do exercise in it, though I need to be out during the day... walking, running, whatever to get my wii fit age down to 24 (it's 26 atm) and to generally get fit after finding out that I wasn't. I walked to church this morning, I will be walking back, this time with my bags! I'm currently aclimatizing myself by sitting in a boiling office... it was freezing cold earlier and people think at its a good idea, but I will keel over when I go outside if I'm not ready for it!

*I need to think before I start typing!
** Can you hear the sarcasm? No? Well thats what astericks are for!!

Catching Up!

A bit of a catch up post for everyone tonight... so much has been going on that I've not had time to blog or breathe. So here goes a rundown of the last five days, with a couple of pictures!

So last week was a major time in the calendar for the year 7's and Religious studies department at Mayflower - they spend a day out of the classroom (two for staff members) at Canterbury Cathedral, learning about the differences between a cathedral and a church for their church project. The last time I was in Canterbury, I was visiting someone, and I’ve never been there specifically to see the Cathedral , so last Thursday it was great to spend time with the staff and students, learning something about where the Archbishop lives! I won’t bore you with the facts but I promise that you won’t be bored if you head to Canterbury and take a tour. The funniest thing I remember from the day was making the connection between sermons and stained glassed windows – they used them as sermon prompts! Made me laugh... what didn’t make me laugh was the coach breaking down and it taking four hours to get home!

The place where Thomas Beckett was killed

Friday was spent recovering in part, but spending time with the Baptist Mission Society people, who have started a four week tour. I love hearing about Africa, so it was good to talk to them about their time in Uganda. Then in the evening we said goodbye to one of our members of staff at Shaken Up! She’s worked with the young people for at least 5 years, so we are sad to see her go, but very grateful for all her help.

Saturday was extremely busy, I went to Chelmsford to sort out my eye situation – I’ve been wearing glasses for nearly 10 years, so I thought that I would try contact lenses... thankfully I took to them really well and now I’m on the lookout for a pair of sunglasses. Then I raced back to Billericay to get in my sisters car and head to The Hoop in Stock for their beer festival, for dad’s birthday, we were joined by everyone in our family who lives in Essex which was wonderful! I loved the food and the beer. After four hours there, we rushed home, for me to get ready to go out again. Jen and I headed towards the 02 Arena in North Greenwich to see Girls Aloud in concert. It was a really good though not the best concert I’ve been to. We eventually got home, just past 1am and quickly fell asleep. (National Express are going to get an email once I’ve taken some time to think about what I want to say)

A bad picture of Girls Aloud flying over the audience

Sunday was spent getting ready for and travelling to Cambridge for punting fun...a little exam time fun, I’ve seen how hard these young people work and I know that they need time out, so seven of us got on the river and shared some food, and the tour guide did a good job of not getting us hurt, and telling us about the different colleges. We got an ice cream afterwards and headed home. After that we headed as a family to stock Brook to celebrate Ryan’s 21st birthday party... he’s my brother’s friend and it was a great chance to see everyone and have a bit of a dance.

Monday was mainly spent sleeping – as I tend to do on my day off. I managed to stay awake enough to see Star Trek at the cinema – after seeing Wolverine last week (which was really good, though a tad of a pointless movie, still nice to see Hugh Jackman back in the role!) – it was great, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like crying right at the start of the movie and the humour was spot on, as well as the casting. And I wasn’t disappointed by Sylar from Heroes – he plays a good Spock, though I really would still like to see him when he’s not being serious!
Today I have given blood, been on the radio and been Go Karting. I do enjoy giving blood, it makes me happy that I can, and that there are regular donating opportunities in Billericay. Being on the radio is wonderful too, it’s nice to be taken seriously by people, and for the voice of my generation to be heard. I’ve been on BBC World service before, talking about R.E. in the curriculum and today I was asked to comment on Scientology, the little I know about it helped me to make some very good points, including talking about taking money from people. It makes me really nervous, because I know so many people are listening, and I don’t want to mess up. Dad has put the link for the podcast on his facebook, I’ll post it here tomorrow for you to listen to!

Go karting was so much fun, I love driving and I love watching F1, so getting to do some racing was really quite a lot of fun! I came third in both the races that I drove in, and was the second fastest leader. We were with the St John’s youth group so I’ve got stories to tell about them and an experience that we will be talking about for a really long time! (Mainly because all the boys thought that the leaders were cheating – we’re never going to get rid of some peoples pride!)
So it’s now Tuesday evening and I’ve just watched the funniest episode of CSI in a long time... bless Hodges! (Mum’s just made a comment about CSI Miami – she’s watched it too much!)
Tomorrow I’ve got a planning day booked (SOLID, Summer party etc!) and then Kay arrives in time for us to see Boyzon in concert! Fun weekend!

All the small things....

I've just don't a blog check and am quietly surprised that I've never used the above phrase before!

Any way... I'm blogging because small things make me happy at the moment... like it taking me a tiny amount of time to do my expenses claim and getting a list of some of my young peoples exams so that I can pray for them and know what they are going through when they tell me they've had a horrible day... but mainly I'm happy because I've rekindled a skill that I love


Click on it, if you can't see what it is.

OK, had a good look? If you're from Christ Church and you recognise at least some of the objects on the page, have a go at naming them... if not here are the names of the objects in alphabetical order, and you can play the matching game

Altar, Community Cross, Font, Lectern, Pulpit, Organ

Exciting, isn't it!

I haven't done any proper drawing since I left 6th form (after scraping an E at AS level) so I did one rough sketch and took a few photos so I could sit in the relatively comfortable office and draw the final product. I'm pretty proud of myself, I got my brain cells going.

Why I hear you scream? Well the Beavers are coming into church in a few weeks and I wanted something really easy for them to do before the tougher second side of the worksheet (there's nothing like having to have evidence that you've visited somewhere). I just have to make sure that they get given all of the answers before I hand them the sheet so it's not too hard!

Now, I am homeward bound, after watching Josh and the Big Wall at St John's and wanting Taco's after Larry's Silly Song about Cebu!

Recreational Pursuits!

So CSI wasn't all it's cracked up to be...it was more conversational and character interaction based than ever before, and for me that just doesn't work. I hope next week it gets back to normal and we're given a story that follows the facts and the evidence. I think after 200 episodes they may be running out of ideas for unusual deaths... we've had zombies, talking corpses and series crossovers, to name only a small handful of story lines, there is only so much, as a fan that I can take of montages and character development that doesn't actually give you anything extra (i.e. in Vegas, we haven't seen Catherine's daughter Lindsey for a while and Greg and Nick don't seem to do anything outside of work, plus we don't know a lot about Riley Adams, other than she's female and Warrick's replacement).

On the other hand I am totally captured by Patrick Jane, who is the lead character in The Mentalist, which is currently airing on Five and one of my favourite TV shows. He's an awesomely well written character who's actions are explained by the people he's trying to get an answer out of. If you haven't caught an episode yet, it's free on Demand Five, go and have a look now!

I have learnt today that I'm useless at Wii tennis and boxing, but that I'm getting better at SingSTAR!

In and Out

My time with the youth workers/schools workers, both full-time and volunteer and Bishop David was amazing. I'm slowly getting to know all the people in the area. We now are very fortunate to have 3 full time area workers, all of whom are brilliant at what they do and are very encouraging as a team.

We're also blessed with having a Bishop who is passionate about young people and their leaders, asking us what he can do to support us, to grow our ministries and make them sustainable.

From these kind of meetings, the youth strategy was created and there are various other things that have come from time together in a forum, particularly a strong feeling that what we are doing is growing church in so many different ways. We're pulled together to help each other, to share ideas, and to be empowered to go out and develop those ideas. Rachel (DYO Colchester) was saying that sometimes we can feel like we're in a dead end, but coming to others in a similar work situation (this is a C of E setting and we're all youth workers) helps us to figure out a solution and opportunity for growing church.

Opportunities not problems.
Once I've digested it a bit more, I'll write out the day in full!

I decided that as we were in Chelmsford I'd take the opportunity to jump on a bus and see what the journey is like, now I've spent almost a year away from that sort of commute. It hasn't changed, other than I clearly got on one of the newer buses on the way home, there still wasn't much space for me to sit comfortably, despite my rather short legs. Still the journey, not having to wonder about where I was heading until after I got off the bus, gave me time to start re-reading my favourite novel



If you've never read this book and you're a fan of a complex endearing love story, I'd suggest that you either click on the photo (and hope it takes you to Amazon) or pop to W H Smiths - or any decent bookstore and buy it soon. The two main characters are well written and draw you in immediately. The author has a way with words that has left me wanting more, she's releasing another novel in October, so I may buy that. IMDb.com tells me the movie is to be released in August, so we'll see how well that does, I had no expectations when I first picked up the book, but I've read it so many times that I can't help but wonder what the movie will focus on, how they will deal with the time traveling and what the characters will be like.

Still haven't seen Star Trek or Wolverine... I may spend my day off in the cinema if the weather is awful!

An update

As today is a day off...it's an ideal time to blog.

I've been very keen on the progress of the building for the 2012 Olympics... you can see it happening in front of your eyes when ever your travel into London from Essex.

I find many things fascinating and when you can see progress, there's that added 'ooo, that's what they're doing' factor - considering I spent the whole of 2007 and 2008 saying it wouldn't happen and we'd have the same problems as Athens and the price of the whole thing just keeps getting higher, I'm really impressed with a lot of the design and the rate that it's going up.

So from February to now this is how things have changed



I sometimes wish I could get closer, have a look at how big it really is, but for now, every time I go into London for the next three years, you'll get an unofficial updates on the building progress.

why was I in London? Well I have a very good friend who works as a nanny in Clapham and we decided to all meet up at the science museum and have lunch/some fun together! I really enjoy the going to 'hands on places' (who doesn't) and it's free, so all the better, we saw some really cool things - they have two F1 McLarens and this



It's a tiny bit of dry ice on water... they scoot around an create a really cool cloud effect! I got a little bit excited by it all!

We said goodbye to my friend and the little girl she looks after (the cutest one year old on the planet) and headed to Westfield - I've been there before and I do love shopping very much, it's the largest covered shopping area in Europe, and a very well kept secret by Londoners! I've got some summer clothes to wear and still can't find a tunic from H and M that I'm looking for!

Tomorrow, I'm off to Chelmsford to spend some time with youth workers and the bishop!

Time to watch football and find something to drink!

The Solution

It seems that every time I go to blog, I get as far as signing in and then the internet connection dies... so here's my fourth attempt in two days... I implore you never to buy a dell laptop.

So the solution to my bank holiday pain and John's stair related issues, is to exercise, to use the limbs, that seized up so dramatically, regularly and at a faster pace than normal.
So yesterday I walked to work, it took me 28 mins, and although I didn't time the journey back, it was probably very similar. My brother then decided that we were going for a quick walk. He’s about 6 foot and has really long legs, so a longer stride, he also plays football three times a week plus training, so a walk down the hill and back up again is nothing for him, but a huge effort for me. It took 11 mins and is something that I should be doing every other day for the next couple of weeks and then ‘stepping it up’ to every day, moving on to a further distance and eventually running. You do have to start somewhere and I think this is probably the best place for me.
The good news is that I didn’t over strain myself, I didn’t get a stitch and I was only in a small amount of pain this morning.
The bad news is that my right hip joint was where most of the pain was, which makes driving painful (and I think it’s definitely an injury that I’ve gotten since I started driving).
So the plan for the sunny months, at least, is to work up to running and getting fit, then maybe the winter will bring a gym membership and a chance to run indoors and start doing something a little more complicated.

This is my 600th post, which nicely coincides with the 200th episode of CSI Vegas tonight, which after the departure of Gil Grisson and Sarah Sidle, I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve got. We had a hostage situation last week, so we’ll see where we go. I’m also sad that Heroes finished last night, but as always with this particular set of writers, there’s a twist in the last five minutes (and I fully believe that it’s written to be boring for the first 35 mins), so we shall see how the next chapter plays out, if it gets any crazier though, I’m dropping it!

P.S. I wrote this in word, because the moment I finished writing my first sentence, the internet died! And I've figured out how to stop the html problem I've got too!

Reading and Walking

Yesterday saw the second 'The Gathering' event - this one was a 'takeway' - which is kind of a facilitator for young people, a practical teaching and we were focusing on personal worship. It's always a good idea to listen to how others do things and develop them for yourself.

So to read a verse slowly three times and then pause to see what God says about it was a first time and very interesting experience for me. I sat in St Mary's with a kneeler under my bum to stop me from getting too cold, away from everyone else, with a pencil and a piece of paper and a bible open at psalm 139. I got something from it, I will go back to it and test it.

Try it, perhaps with your favourite passage or scripture that you've never read or haven't read in a long time, see what you get.

Bank Holiday was eclipsed by a huge amount of pain after walking from Luton to St Albans - which in total was 15 miles. I completely seized up, because I don't do any exercise at all. So I have to start doing something that will work my heart and then figure out which exercises are best to keep me in shape so I reach 50 at least without any major problems. At 24 I shouldn't be crying with pain from just walking.

At St John's

For a little over a year and a half I've been spending my Thursday evenings at St John's Church in the Outwood common area of Billericay. And I'm sure I said this last summer, but didn't take a photo, but look at this


The stained glass windows in the Church are illuminated for a couple of minutes at this time of year when the sun is right. The are like a beacon in the dark church, it's amazing!

This is the other picture I've been meaning to share, its the cross we used for our lessons on Jesus, in our secondary school jaunt! it's quite a powerful image for a lot of people, and the amount of 'what's that?' we got whilst we were carrying it around school was really cool.

St John's is something that is at the centre of my working life, it's something that I think and care about a lot and it would be a shame to see it fold... we're really struggling for leaders at the moment, but we're fully aware that the young people love being in the church and it would be really hard for us to let go. We have a really good relationship with a lot of the young people, not without issues sometimes, but we want to show them that they are loved and cared for, we can't do that without leaders to show by example!

The Highway Code says so....

244

"You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs."

No I don't know what the penalty is, but if you need proof that it's wrong to do so, here it is!

I still haven't seen a traffic warden!