Summer time and the weather is awful

That's must be because I'm on holiday. Its just some time to catch up with life - repairs and things I've been promising to do for people.

Liz has a new car. The bank of Mum & Dad has helped with the purchase, but its one of the few banks that does not lend to unreliable customers, so that should be OK. She had tried to buy a slightly cheaper one, but they sold it before she made up her mind. Still its good news - she had lost faith in the other one - too many creaks and groans.

I spent the morning researching broadband contracts for friends at church. Where have all the small specialist providers gone? There used to be loads. I guess the industry is maturing.

Yesterday I travelled home by bus from the garage where we bought our car - it was in for its four year service (1st year for us), and back again in the evening to pick it up. The car was due to be ready at 5pm, I arrived at 5pm EXACTLY. Two buses, and a stop in the middle to buy the season ticket for getting to work. I was amazed. The service went well and the MOT was passed, so it is all legal.

I was going to go out, but it is still raining - I'll just have to shop on-line!!

Epson Stylus SX200 - Ink Cartridge Change (Offline)

Had my first attempt at an ink cartridge change last night. One hour later I went to bed, cartridge changed, but Oh how frustrating.

It's a good idea - it just doesn't work.

The light has been flashing for ages, but prints have been OK. I tried to photocopy a document and just got some grey patches on the paper. The light was still only flashing.

OK, clean the print heads - multiple times, I've owned Epsons before.

In off line mode the printer just doesn't do what the book says it should.

Switch it off, switch it on while holding down 'stop'. Listen to the head move, the clicks, bangs, whooshes and whirs. Wait patiently for the print - it didn't come. Second time it did. 3rd, 4th, 5th it didn't. Now the light is on solidly, so I can change the cartridge. Open the printer, and the head moves to point at the cartridge that needs changing, then to the place where it can be changed. Take the old one out, put the new one in. The click is perceptible, but not satisfying. (Its much better on the Brother.). Close the cartridge lid, close the printer and wait while the ink warning light continues to flash. Eventually it goes out.

How to change a non-empty cartridge off-line? The book says refer to the on-line help (Great I'm not on-line!). The on-line help says (for the 400 + only) refer to the book. - This is an absolute classic IT issue. Companies like Epson should be beyond these problems by now. If it can't be done, which is the case from the evidence I have, then please SAY SO.

I thought chipped cartridges were supposed to know when they were empty. Clearly not.

The photo quality was disappointing for the two or three photos that I have printed. OK I'm using HP paper, but it shouldn't make that much difference.

I note that several reviews give this printer just one star. On my current experience I'd say that was generous. The reviews weren't around when I bought the printer, and it was one of only two all-in-ones that fitted in the space I have.

All this reminds me of a recent Dilbert cartoon:
(I don't know what's happened to the image quality - it was fine before it was uploaded)

10:30 @ St. Mary the Virgin, Little Burstead

I do enjoy going to Little Burstead, the congregation is relavively small, very friendly and welcoming. The church is ancient, and on the top of a hill and provides not only a lovely view but also a place of quiet and prayer. One of the congregation said this morning that you can feel the centuries of prayer there - I could only agree. When I am invited I willingly go.

Todays sermon on Mark 6:1-13 is here.

It was a very hot morning, and once robed up I was soon struggling with the heat. The sound system was not switched on, so the lady who relies on the loop was having difficulty hearing. Our service to the Lord is never perfect, I read the name of one of the marriage banns wrong, but God uses them to good purpose, and I managed a chat (and apology) with them at the end. There were some good conversations afterwards, and 'on topic' too - the sermon was discussed with me.

There is something going on at St. Mary's, I am pleased to be a part of it in some small way. I watch with interest.

Physiotherapy session 10 / More on the Bus

Physiotherapy session 10
At last a new exercise. Like climbing the wall, but once you are up there, take a step back, and lean in toward the wall bowing your head. It pushes the arm further up - further than its been in six months. One or two of those are very painful, and as a result of that I think, I have lost the stability in my right hand again. I 'get the shakes' when trying to feed myself! Keyboard work is OK though.

After the Encounter with God, I am a lot less inclined to accept that there will always be limitations. It should help me to get more motivated to do the exercises. I was shown in the class that some fairly basic resistance exercises can loosen the muscles and give me further reach.

I think it was Luther that said "Pray as though everything depends on God, work as though everything depends on you" - not about healing I'm certain, but the principle stands. This should help me to be more motivated to pray, and ask for prayer.

More on the Bus
After Physiotherapy class, I catch the bus to Chelmsford. It is the first OAP bus, and is packed. Today it was also full of chatter - lots of noise. I want one of those people who measure the noise footprint of heathrow to try a trip on the bus!

We stopped just outside Billericay, the driver walked up the back of the bus and returned to his cab. He then walked up the back of the bus again. A few moments later a young man stormed off the bus, and judging by his waving good bye gesture (his thumb touched his finger tips as he waved his hand up and down) was none too pleased to be leaving. First time I've seen that, but because of the chatter the exchange with the driver was lost.

Sunday Afternoon Fun

Bouncy castles and I don't mix. That's OK, no-one was trying (very hard) to get me on one, and my shoulder is the perfect excuse. The barbecue was good, and ice cream was also available on arrival. I walked a lot yesterday - to and from Praise in the Park, and to and from Christ Church. That was good, and a very lovely day it was too. I have the sun burn to prove it!

Back to the event. Liz and her friends in the Twenty somethings organised it, and many young families came - some we had not seen before. The children looked like they were enjoying themselves and as children rarely pretend to enjoy themselves they must have been having a good time. There's a little more info in this very long post.

For me is was a chance to relax and chat with a few people. Some of whom I had not seen for longer than is good for us who are supposed to be members in the same church. Then a stroll back home through a very quiet High Street to work on my sermon for Sunday.

Later we went to the Dukes Head for supper. They were not serving food outside - they must have gone mad.

Praise in the Park - Lake Meadows, Billericay, 11:00am

A proper English summers day. Very warm, but dry because the thunder storms had happened the previous night. Sun cream on. We carried our chairs through the town and joined the gathering throng in front of the open backed lorry trailer. The annual CTB service in the park always works better when the weather is at its best. Somehow people are better able to praise when the sun is out. By the end it was clouding over, still warm but with a bit of a breeze.

A very enjoyable service - nice and simple. In previous years there has been too much else going on. Followed by a picnic, which we couldn't stay to, because of the fun afternoon and barbecue at Christ Church requires our attention.

Musalaha = Reconciliation

"Genuine hope for the Holy Land"

We have has many vicars in the past who have had interests in what is going on in Israel and the immediately surrounding territories. One left us to become Chairman of CMJ. The church I did my training placement in supports the Palestinians, by trading goods for them that they find difficult to get traded any other way - simple things like soap and olive oil.

While for me this is not the most important part of my ministry, it is interesting. Just what is God up to with his Chosen race?

So here was a chance to hear more -from a Palestinian Christian.

Dr Salim Munayer from the Bethlehem Bible college came to speak to just a few Christians from Billericay - perhaps 50, but I didn't count. Saleem see the problem from the ground up, rather than from the leaders down (although he had some interesting things to say on that as well). His ministry is about reconciliation, not at the country level, but at the individual level.

He is trying to change the world one person at a time - what other way is their?

This involves taking a group of people, some Israeli, some Palestinian into the desert to learn that the other side are people just as they are. He is concentrating on women and young people, and looking to the future. The desert is significant because it helps the group to gel, it puts them in a difficult environment and makes them rely on each other.

In the days when 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland were at their height I remember hearing of Christian play schools dedicated to getting children from either side to mix, and make friends.

Will it work? - For some undoubtedly. Other will refuse even to take part. Things happen in the world and we cannot see the source, even when we are close to the 'action' In Northern Ireland peace has (officially) returned. It is not everywhere, and there are still things to do, but the news stories are now often positive.

As Christians we make the effort to be well informed and to pray intelligently. That may be all that I can do, and I must do my best at it.

Saleem has a greater calling and a greater task and we give thanks to God that he is pursuing it.

Click the title for his web site, or follow this link

Expanding in the blogosphere / Sermon posting

I received a message from Bebo this morning, it was the equivalent of spam, I think. I'd almost forgotten that before facebook I had signed up to Bebo.

I've been signed up to Sermon Central for a long time, but decided to try and post my sermon there. So last weeks sermon is in the usual place here and also on sermon central. Sermon central claim to vet their content before it is published - but I assume that's so that the content is not offensive and really is a sermon.

Bus Conversations

OK, its not the buses that are talking!

When I used to travel by train the rule was sit in your seat and pretend the world ends a few inches from your body. Buses are different. There is a level of conversation that just simple happens.

Two old ladies have told me their life story, but this is to be a short post.

It's the conversations you just overhear that I'm talking about. You are compelled to continue listening to because they are happening right behind you. Two resent ones come to mind. The first I only caught part of as the other person in the conversation was miles away.

"....... ..... Carrie and Dan have split up"

I know a couple called Carrie and Dan - it is very unlikely that they have split up, but my attention is grabbed.

"He came in the other day and said he was leaving." pause "And now he's gone". Dan I think is a painter and decorator - definitely not the Dan of the couple I know - back to my own world.

"The sixties were great, much better than now" ... "I was engaged, but he took all my money so I shoved him" .. "The one I've got now has always been good to me, has yours?" ... "Yes, the sixties were great, much better then than it is now". If you know the typical Monty Python woman read it in that voice. The conversation was repeated a few times. Each subject was interspersed with memories of the sixties. "I'm sixty-one, and I've never known a better time than the sixties, I saw the Beatles you know, shook their hands I did". "You could go anywhere then, not like now"

I thought that the lady was old, by the way she was talking, but no - she is only a few years older than me. I have my own memories of the sixties, I was just about a teenager in that decade. I thought of San Fransisco. I though of my early ideas of hippies, and 'free love', by which I now know they mean sex, and it all sounded very good. There's a line in the song, 'there's a whole generation with a new explanation' - lovely ideals - especially then, but not very practical. There was only ever one generation with a new explanation and the explanation split history from BC to AD, and involved some of the least gentle people. I digress.

At the hospital I bought a ticket from the driver and as I couldn't find my money it was a daily, not a weekly, but he gave me a return to Basildon not Chelmsford. At Basildon bus garage I spoke to him about it and he agreed to let me buy the weekly - I had found my money. His relief drive arrived part way into the conversation and said "Can't do that!". You can, he did.
Some of the drivers don't know how to get the ticket I have out of their machine, so I've listened to those that do, and can tell them the menu its on. They are a mixed bunch, the company does not seem to have any policy about how its drivers respond - odd in the noughties.

Re-union @ the Rising Sun

Every once in a while my old team from about 2002 to 2004 get together for a re-union. I missed the last one due to my shoulder. So I last attended a re-union in June. We meet at the Rising Sun near St Paul's Cathedral. Last night was one of those events. There are usually only four of us, but we have been trying to contact some of the others. Last night was the latest get together now titled "Meet & Eat in the City". That's by far the best title we've had. There were five of us eventually. Two who I haven't seen since they left, and two other regulars. Some people have changed, some are still pretty much the same. There was something that team which is difficult to work out. It jelled better than almost any other team I've been in. We were not great friends at the time, but as the company split us up we became better friends.

It is always a great evening.

To get to London I have to buy three rail tickets because I go from work and back to home. Chelmsford to Shenfield (£4.70), Return Shenfield to London (£10.30), Shenfield to Billericay (£2.70). The cost per mile varies dramatically. Why are one stop journeys SO expensive?

On my return Jo kindly agreed to pick me up from the station. I called at Liverpool St to let her know the train I was on. I called again t Shenfield, but didn't get through. A message 'unregistered number' appeared on my phone. I phoned her mobile and left a message. By now I'm at Billericay and still cannot call our home land line, nor Jo's mobile. There had been a power cut in Billericay which disrupt the mobile phone service it seems, as its working fine today.

Comedy Club (2)

Sunday Evening we were out again. I can't remember the last time we were out on Saturday & Sunday evenings. The weekends seem to get busier and busier.

So to the comedy club ..
In a smaller room this time, and only 3 comedians. They all did quite long sets.

Sharon, the compare and one of the organisers get the room 'warmed up' between acts with a song and lots of encouragement to join in and be noisy

Miles Crawford
This was generally a good set, and Miles has a way of picking on people and using them for his act. The comments go back and forth, and there is lots of laughter. He uses his colour to good effect. There is a little too much leering at the women, it wasn't that funny, and the younger women in our group were uncomfortable with it.
The 'invisible pack of cards' was very funny and very well done. He manipulates the audience to think of a card (most of his act has lead to this point). Some (less than) witty person shouted out the right card, and there it is picked out of a real pack. In these situation my brain refuses to do what its told, so the 5 of Hearts would not be the answer he was looking for.

Del Strain
A Glaswegian comedian who's basic line is that Glasgow is a tough city, with hard men. Certainly true when I was there many many years ago. He is quite funny, but some of his humour is lost in his accent. I found myself translating, then laughing, and missing the next joke. He has a few props with him and makes excellent use of them.

Ricky Grover
At last one who has his own website. According to wikipedia much of what he said in his 'act' is true! Well you couldn't make it up I suppose. Ricky was a worthy headline act for the evening. His set was long and consistently funny - his life story with asides. Ricky was the only one to have to deal with heckling, and he did so mercilessly. It was one of the funniest parts of the night. I will watch out for Ricky and try to see him again, if possible. He's like a hard version of Fred Scuttle (Benny Hill). That'll be the mix of hairdresser and boxer! I appreciate people who can play the idiot intelligently and make it funny.

All of the above still need to think about their use of the F--- word. It really isnt funny, and it often detracts from what you're trying to say.

Sharon the compare splits the room in two and gets them compete for clapping, singing and general noise making. Things went a little far, with one young(ish) woman dropping her trousers and lifting her top (not at the same time). Not a pretty sight I'm sure, but I couldn't see where I was sitting - thankfully. The compare is there to keep things going and must be careful to keep the atmosphere simmering, not boiling over.