Happy Monday Morning

I've been away for the weekends. I went to visit some rellies up in the Yorkshire Dales and I received a very warm welcome and I was extremely well looked after. Here are some photos from my wonder and ponder up Conistone Dib:

The eagle-eyed amongst you will may have spotted the "odd one out". Yes the last photo is Four Oaks station Monday morning. What a contrast! One train had been cancelled and the train that arrived was already packed. I couldn't resist asking for "tickets please" as I battled my way off the train at Aston.

So that was November

It's been a while, I know, but I'm glad that you're back checking to see if I've written anything since my last efforts. So here's your reward some rambles about the month of November.

A lot has happened since my excursion to Carsington Water at the end of October. The Ashes has started, the German Market has once again set up shop in town, I've started a 9-5 job, I've been to the theatre to see Danny the Champion of the World, I've been to Leicester and I've celebrated Thanksgiving. Not all in that order.

The second Test in the Ashes series started today in the small hours and I begrudgingly padded downstairs to watch the last half hour of play at 7am. I was hesitant preparing myself for the news that England has been bowled out already or that Australia had declared on some whopping total. I was pleasantly surprised to see them on a respectable 223-3 or some such total. A good days work at the office England but we need another tomorrow!

I watched some of the first test in a similar vain, catching the last half hour of play before going to work. The match was being played at the Gabba, a place where I've been lucky enough to see Australia play India. I remember FreelanceNerd phoning me telling me he was watching the game back in England and trying to spot me and my friends in the crowd. It was an odd experience being at a game that was being broadcast to the other side of the world where my brother was watching what I was seeing in front of my eyes. There was a similar moment when I happened to come across a live Villa came being broadcast in Oz whilst FreelanceNerd was on the Church weekend away and didn't have radio reception or a tv on which to keep up with the scores so I dutifully kept him up to date with text messages. He used to ring me at the oddest of moments usually as I was doing a shop round Coles. I wonder whether he thought I was just doing grocery shopping throughout my stay there! We shared a similar soft spot for Australia. It's no secret that I love the place and the friends I've made there, all thanks to FreelanceNerd. I'm looking forward to being able to go back and see them all and thank them for there thoughts and prayers. Who knows maybe I'll even be able to watch some cricket.

FreelanceNerd was a qualified nerd, whereas I am a training nerd. When it came to discussions about nerdiness I think his trump card of "at least I get paid for being a nerd" is one that at least I can use for the duration of my placement. Perhaps he would argue that I'm more a junior nerd or something like that. Something's for sure. I'm here today on my lunch break in my nerdy job because of his influences!

So entering the world of work. It's made me think about work ethic I think it's called. It stems I think from my earlier musings, what makes you who you are. I wanted to avoid a 9-5 job but here I am at least till the end of September. Perhaps I'll grow to like it, but I doubt it. My current musings go something like this. I don't want the job that I end up in to be the only thing that I do with my life. I don't want to be sucked into the 9-5 world never to emerge again until I'm 65 or older! There are no answers I've found to this but to trust in God. After all He gave me this placement so I'm sure He's got a great job lined up when I've finished my degree.

Well lunch break over. Sorry if it's a little disjointed.

Carsington Water

A couple of weekends ago I escaped the urban jungle of Birmingham for some much better scenery and much cleaner air! It was my first day out of Birmingham for almost 8 weeks and it was the first road trip in Gregory Julian or Jules (my new car!) with me behind the wheel. My two trusty companions for the day were Jen and Martin.

We arrived early afternoon with the needle pointing firmly below the red. We needed petrol but first we explored the offerings of the visitor centre. After eating lunch, buying a monocular and enquiring where the nearest petrol station was we headed off round the reservoir. The weather was blustery but the skies were blue, white fluffy clouds drifting by and the sun shining.

To be honest we didn't get that far round but what we did see was a welcome change to the urban sprawl. I love being able to look in a direction and not see loads of buildings, but instead see hills, lakes, fields, sheep, cows, just something that isn't grey and box like.

After a while of walking along the path and stopping periodically to have a look at things through the trusty monocular we came across a bird hide. A place to sit and watch birds. It had a log book that we perused and came across some very interesting entries. It would appear that the CIA had been spotted amongst some bushed looking for Osama bin Laden. I wonder if they saw the floating cows that had only been spotted days earlier?

Time was marching on and we started heading back to the car. No need to worry about anyone stealing it because they wouldn't get far on the remaining petrol. Left out the main gate, left at the end of that road and then left again and this brought us to the nearest petrol station, that just so happened to be closed. Joy. A kindly boy racer gave us directions to the next nearest petrol station in Belper 7 miles away he reckoned. I tried to drive as economically as possible as the tension rose. Thankfully we passed a petrol station on the way, a honk your horn for service style one. The price reflected the service but at least we were not running on vapours any more.

We returned to the road and once again started laughing at the funny sounding place names. Well I was at least. I was chuckling to myself as we approached Duffield just as Jen told us her Aunt lived there. We wondered about dropping in unannounced, and after a couple of phone calls, we did just that. I like spontaneity! Martin was sold at the promise of biscuits, and he wasn't disappointed and neither was I, I got to eat some fruit cake! We were warmly welcomed and not once did I feel awkward about dropping by at such short notice.

I'm already looking forward to getting out of Birmingham again!

Thanks Jen for the photos.

Doing too much

I can't believe another couple of weeks have gone by. It all seems too fast looking back at it from where I sit now, but I know that at points during these weeks it has felt all too slow.

There are two things that I have learnt over the last few weeks that I'd like to share with you.

The first week I went back to Uni I went to all my timetabled lectures and labs and by the time Thursday afternoon arrived I'd had it. I had run out of energy, physically and emotionally. I guess being at uni distracts me from the pain and grief and when I'd stopped it was still there. I feel like it's attached to me on a long piece of bungee cord. When I start walking away from it the tension builds in the cord, it stretches, and then when I stop all I see is this huge ball of grief and pain shooting towards me. So I have been learning what it means to "not do too much".

The other thing I have learnt is what it means to "be yourself". This kind of links in with my experiences on my trip to Brazil. When Moses was having a yarn with God via the medium of burning bush he asked God what His name was. God simply replied "I am that I am". I'm sure Moses was thinking that's a weird name. I am that I am. Now I'm not particularly good at English but I have it on good authority that "I am that I am" is the same as "Be". Now I'm getting myself confused and loosing the point I want to make.

I am Alan.

People might look at me and see that I am, a student, a geek, in need of a haircut, a white middle class male, I'm sure you can think of many other labels. How does Brazil fit in with this? Well the people I met weren't interested in what I did but as much as who I was. Increasingly I feel that this is contrary to the society I live in. I'm wondering whether what defines us is increasingly what we do, teacher, student, youth worker, plasterer, electrician e.t.c rather than who we are.

Perhaps I'm making a big deal out of nothing. I'm sure that what we do is a part of who we are, but surely that isn't the only thing that defines who we are.

So two things, "don't do too much", and "be yourself". The not doing too much thing is proving to be a bit of a steep learning curve, whilst the being yourself thing is a little easier. Although being yourself shouldn't be confused with not giving a stuff. I've found that being myself involves having to trust God with things that I can't take on because I don't have the physical or emotional reserve. I guess that links with the first point, "don't do too much".

Well I feel that that's enough of that for now. Hope these rambles make some sort of sense. I'd be interested in your thoughts.

The Barge

I'd like to tell you about the day Dom and I moved a barge this Summer. Warning: contains mild peril.

Let’s start with a description of the boat in question. It is an old banger of the canals, the equivalent of a classic car that needs a lot of work, a 25 year old barge with an engine in need of an overhaul. When the engine starts a rhythmic chug chug chug greets your ears. Moving forward any faster than about the medium speed it does is combined with an emission of small clouds of black smoke from the back. Then there’s the noise. Dom and I thought “oh we’ll take a radio” but you wouldn’t have heard it over the din of the engine. Steering it was ok until we had to navigate moored barges and barges coming the other way. Bearing in mind that these are people’s retirement homes, there pride and joy, and then there’s us with a battered shed! Last thing we wanted to do was crash into them and put scratches down the side of their barges! We were doing alright until we got to a T-junction, then the fun started. We had to turn left and as we were going under a bridge that was on a corner a barge appeared coming the other way, queue reverse gear, then engine cuts out. Sprinkle in some expletives from me and Dom and a look of amusement from the guy driving the other barge and really that was the tone for the rest of the day!

Geeks and Nerds, some definitions

Nerd, a stereotypical or archetypal designation, refers to somebody who pursues intellectual interests at the expense of skills that are useful in a social setting, such as communication, fashion, or physical fitness.

A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination, usually electronic or virtual in nature. Geek may not always have the same meaning as the term nerd

Geek or Nerd, What's the Difference?

What is the difference between a geek and a nerd?

Uncharted Territory

If you're reading this chances are you know who I am. You will have heard that I have started a blog and are interested in what I might be writing. I feel therefore that I do not have to explain the events of the last few weeks as you will all be aware of them.

What I am going through now is uncharted territory for me. I feel like I'm running a race, but I've hit a wall of pain. I look to the people on the sidelines and I see all my friends cheering me on, it's such a big support that it helps me keep going. I wanted to say thank you because you are more than likely one of the crowd cheering me on.

Friday saw the celebration of my Birthday. A day, that in fairness, I was not looking forward too but a day that turned out to be one of my better Birthdays. Birthday presents tend to say a lot about the person that receives them, here is a short list of what I received:

• a coffee plunger thing (later I found this is called a cafetière)
• ground coffee
• two espresso cups with saucers
• a bottle of stella
• four cans of john smiths
• an etch-a-sketch
• bilko (or the phil silver's show) on dvd
  

This isn't all the presents I had but make of it what you will!

In the beginning...

Well here I am again. Back to the world of blogging. I wrote a blog during my time in Australia, volunteering for Scripture Union Queensland, that was three years ago now.

I have been toying with the idea of starting another blog, but i don't know what the future holds for this one. I can't promise I'll post regularly, or with anything that comes close to decent spelling or grammer, but I hope to bring you observations and reflections on those observations.

As I stumble through life trying to make sense of it all I hope to bring you some of my musings.

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

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