anniversary blog

Somewhat amazingly (for me at least!), this is my blog's first birthday.

Happy birthday blog!

radiohead

Radiohead’s new album “In Rainbows” is brilliant. Just brilliant.
The band has chosen to release its seventh studio album as a digital download through the Radiohead website at a price determined by each consumer willing to part with an email address. Within two days of its release, reports say that more than 1.2 million copies had been downloaded.
You’ve got to have it!

blue is the colour

Apologies. I now seem to be focussing on writing a Rugby Blog these days!

Crucial moment of the match was nothing to do with Joe Worsley’s great tackle or Jonny’s drop goal. It happened in about the 55th minute when I realised that I wasn’t wearing the “lucky blue Cotton Traders” shirt (even against “Les Blues”!). Once this error had been rectified, victory was never in doubt (well ok, perhaps just a little bit).
Photo: Jonny’s drop goal.

holding my breath

Yes, I know that last week I said “the semi-finals are of absolutely no consequence” (having beaten Australia), but I’ve subsequently actually been dreaming of England getting to the finals (we’re not talking football here, by the way!)!

I’ve been having a number of “wouldn’t-it-be-brilliant-if-we-made-the-finals” conversations with various friends (notice how it becomes “we” if the team is doing well and “they” if they aren’t!).

I’m saying no more…..

dear peter

I was delighted that Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with the UN’s Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change. I don’t know if you’ve seen his film “An Inconvenient Truth” but, if you haven’t, I would certainly recommend that you to do so. There is comparatively little in the film/documentary that I wasn’t already aware of, but I still found it compelling viewing. To my mind, I think it would be hugely beneficial for pupils if they had an opportunity to see the film at School (albeit with the “accompanied guidance” prescribed by a British Judge this week!).
The following extracts from an article by Andrew Lee (a member of the Geographical Association)(see http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/themes/ for suggested ideas for using the film with students) echo my own thoughts:
“Whilst his message is hardly new, the significant thing is that the message is all in one place, and it is explained by a highly profiled credible person, who happens to be an American. Gore quotes Churchill from the 1930s, who whilst speaking in another context, as ever made a poignant and universal statement: 'The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences …'. Yet the biggest threat to our future may not be climate change, it just might be our own apathy, or even our resolute refusal to acknowledge what just might be an inconvenient truth. Take your children to see this film, take your partner, take your parents, take your class, take your school. Make a pledge to get as many people as you can to see this film”.
I’d be happy to lend you the DVD if required!
Let me know what you think.
Many thanks
Steve
Note: This is an e-mail I’ve sent to the Headteacher at our School.

hiv+stephen fry

Watched both parts of Stephen Fry’s excellent documentary on HIV Aids on BBC tv. Completely absorbing; moving; challenging; sensitively produced; lots of myths exposed; brilliantly presented. It reflected on how, in the early 1980s, little was known about Aids or how to treat it and how, in the UK, people were warned of its dangers via the "Don’t Die of Ignorance" campaigns. Twenty years later, infections are rising, particularly amongst three groups: the young; black African communities; and heterosexuals. The number of new infections amongst straight people now outweighs those in the gay world. I’ve read some of the messages on the BBC messageboard. I was particularly struck by this:
“I was diagnosed HIV+ 6 years ago, when I was 16. To date I haven't told anyone in my life other than the relevant medics. As was highlighted in the programme, it's not the fact that I have HIV that makes me wary of disclosing, but the way by which I undoubtedly caught it - I was an IV drug-user, involved in prostitution and did neither of them safely. My mistakes, my consequence”.
Check out the GIJonny link.

facebook

Found these rather amusing (many thanks to Kymberley Jane Ashwood via John Simmons’ facebook page):
a) uncertain about being able to pay next month’s rent/mortgage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNIolPG5qtE
b) so what is facebook all about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-fJxzpK7s

world champions

Yes, I know. I feared the worst when England took on the might of Australia in the Rugby Union World Cup quarter-finals earlier today. In the event, it was an entirely justified 12-10 English victory and I feel very good about it all!
I watched the game in the John Cabot pub in Bristol’s Corn Street with a group of friends from school and the atmosphere was amazing (even to the extent that people were calling for “hush” when Jonny Wilkinson was taking his penalty kicks – as if it made any difference to him!). Initially, we had considered meeting up in the Australian “Walkabout” pub just opposite but, on reflection, I think we made the right choice!
The semi-finals are of absolutely no consequence – England will probably lose whoever they play…. but it was VERY important that we beat the Aussies!

I might even e-mail my cousin Keith in Australia later!
Photo: Andy Gomarsall celebrating victory.

burma crisis

no postings – just a banner
support burma: international bloggers' day

pure fantasy

At the start of the football season, I was persuaded (independently) by good friends Miles and Glen to manage a Fantasy Football team. You have to pick a squad of 15 players up to a total value of £100 million (pish!). Somewhat amazingly, Game One went very well and I thought “you’re a natural at this, Steve”. However, after eight games, it’s pretty obvious I haven’t got a clue and I’m slipping down the various leagues on a very consistent basis (I’m currently ranked 218,205th in England!)! For example, despite dipping into the transfer market a few times, none (yes, none!) of my forwards has yet scored a goal for me all season!! Yesterday just confirmed my ineptitude… my two squad goalkeepers (ok, you can only use one at a time) played against each other in a game that finished 7-4! As you might appreciate, you score decent points if your goalkeeper doesn’t concede any goals – fat chance of this yesterday! On a positive note, the goalkeeper I DID select for my team was the one who only conceded the four goals AND he also saved a penalty - and therefore got “extra” points for doing so!
Maybe things are looking up?
Photo: David James: one of my “goalkeepers”

bristol self-help group

Good friend Andy’s been going on about the Bristol-based teachers at school getting together in some quiet bar on a fairly regular basis during the course of a working week. Clearly, he didn’t want to be seen by the powers-that-be as one of those irresponsible, unprofessional, beer-swilling individuals who’d rather go for a drink than mark books or prepare lessons – so he persuaded me to send out a round-robin e-mail to members of staff asking the Bristol contingent to sign up for this exciting new venture instead! The reaction has been very interesting. We’ve now got an equivalent “self-help group” being formed for Bath-based teachers and we’ve even received e-mails from staff who live between Bath and Bristol saying they’ll try to attend both groups!

Somehow, I think my imminent Performance Review might be adversely affected.

Photo: me practising for the self-help group at the recent Bromyard Folk Festival

kielder challenge

Back home after four days in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland.
The bare facts are that our team (four pupils from our school working with four pupils with severe learning or physical disabilities from Fosseway School) finished a great 10th out of 287 teams who entered this wonderful annual national event.
These young people demonstrated impressive teamwork, communication and huge enthusiasm in dealing with six (pretty complicated!) problem-solving tasks but, much more importantly, they learnt an awful lot about themselves, about relationships, about the needs of others and about learning to value their own abilities and those of other people - in short, an amazing, humbling and inspirational few days which, I feel sure, have already started to influence a number of lives (young and not so young!).
Key personal memories:
1. Lots of “chats” with a young boy named Ryan, who had severe speech problems (plus lots of other issues) and learning to “sign” various names – including “Doc” (one of our team members) – but also eventually succeeding in getting him to say “Oc” (for Doc!), which was a really great moment. Unfortunately, he then went around saying “Oc! Oc! Oc! Oc!” ALL the time and it was just like having our own pet seal!
2. Being “volunteered” by our team to take part in one of the extra “fun” challenges and ended up having several gallons of water poured over my head and getting absolutely soaked!

3. Ending up with my camera not working (due to the wet weather?) and fearing that the problem might be terminal!

off up north

I’m flying up to Newcastle tomorrow for four days with eight of our students (from Norton Hill and Fosseway Schools) to compete in the Challenge Plate Finals of the Kielder Challenge at the Kielder Forest in Northumberland – a national outdoor adventure competition for teams of 13 to 16 year old young people. We’re competing in the category of teams which includes four pupils with physical, sensory or learning disabilities. It won’t be about winning or losing; it will be about the experience of taking part in this wonderful competition.
Photo: Ryan, Doc, Tom, Beth, Emily, Andrew, Stacey and Montana (plus helpers Rachel and James).

bromyard folk festival

Well, another great weekend at Bromyard with my brother Alan. We’re not desperately into folk music - but they DO sell beer at these festivals you know! In the event, although there didn’t appear to be any significant performers on the bill that we liked, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing/hearing Eliza Carthy and The Ratcatchers, Last Orders and the brilliant Mabon (see the middle photo below). Much to our surprise, we were also really impressed by the Saturday night Ceilidh (I must stress, we didn’t dance!) - the band (with the awful name of Whapweasel!) were amazing and the energy+enjoyment of the dancers was contagious. We even sang sea shanties (even though you can’t much further from the sea than Bromyard!). The weather was lovely and Alan+I had plenty of time to talk (+talk!)(I’d apparently forgotten to tell him that our daughter Alice was expecting baby next month!) over the odd bacon sandwich at breakfast and the odd glass of red wine or beer at virtually all other times!
PS: one of the troubles with camping is that I needed to get up 4 times on Friday night to go to the loo - and those tent zips make enough noise to wake the dead!!

PPS: we still don't know why blokes want to become morris dancers.

bromyard and me bruvva

Looking forward to spending the weekend with my brother Alan at the Bromyard Folk Festival this weekend. We went there in 2004 and sampled a fair amount of the local ale and enjoyed the music, so have decided to repeat the experience!
Photo: “Show of Hands” at the 2004 BFF

de la warr pavilion

A wonderful weekend with good friends Felicity and Chris in East Sussex. As well as time spent eating, drinking and laughing, we visited the impressive Sissinghurst Castle Garden (rescued by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s) and Battle Abbey (was Harold really killed by an arrow in the eye?!) in glorious sunshine. However, the true highlight of the weekend was our visit/architectural pilgrimage to the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. Designed in 1935 by architects Erich Mendolsohn and Serge Chermayeff, it was the UK’s first public building built in the Modernist style and was re-opened in 2005 after extensive restoration and redevelopment.
Photos: sea terraces, stunning staircases and Aalto chairs at the De La Warr Pavilion.

iris is one

Helped Iris celebrate her first birthday at the end of yesterday afternoon. Lots of giggling, pointing, calls for “more”, “high fives” and great entertainment!

Put me in mind of these words from Khalil Gibran’s book “The Prophet”, which were read out at a Baptism last Sunday:
"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.' And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable".
Photo: Ruth+Stu made Iris a fantastic kitchen!

staffa

While I was on Iona, I was persuaded to take the 50 minute boat trip to the island of Staffa and was really pleased that I did. I knew about Fingal’s Cave but hadn’t realised that Staffa was at the “other end” of the Giant’s Causeway in Antrim – with its amazing basalt columns formed from molten lava. I made a recording on my mobile phone of some of our group singing inside the cave (and, of course, am currently looking for a record company!). We’d just missed the puffins, but we did have six or so bottlenosed-nosed dolphins accompany our boat out of Iona which was absolutely amazing (unfortunately, the only photograph I managed to take makes it look as if we were being attacked by “Jaws”!)(perhaps I should contact “The Sun” newspaper?).

iona

Back from a magical week on Iona – with the huge bonus of having enjoyed pretty good weather. Great to have experienced a week with the Iona Community and to have had time to enjoy this wonderful tiny island.
Photos: some quick images.

iona people

Moira was unable to make the trip to Iona, so I was somewhat concerned at the prospect of living for a week with a group of complete strangers. In the event, it was the lovely people I met who made the week so special – living, eating, talking, walking and laughing together. Over 40 of us, from completely different backgrounds and with a wide range of ages. It was a very special, refreshing and renewing week.

The challenge will be see if I can use the experience positively over the weeks and months ahead!

Photos: just a few of my lovely new Iona friends.

results

I went into school earlier today to be with pupils as they opened their GCSE results. Overall, there were great scenes of rejoicing, with some excellent grades acquired through hard work. The half dozen pupils I’d been specifically mentoring all did pretty well – although I know that two of the boys could have done better (and I think they know that too). I thought that another of “my” boys(!) was going to drop out of school altogether last Christmas, but thankfully he was able to turn things around and had gained really impressive results. He was delighted (and I’m sure his mother was too!).
Hopefully, for most pupils, the results will provide a boost to their self-belief and act as a springboard to higher education and particular career paths. Inevitably, for a few, there was disappointment – I passed one boy as he was on his way out of school; he’d clearly being putting on a brave face to his friends but now, as he left, reality was dawning and he couldn’t hold back his emotions any longer as tears started rolling down his face. I came across two other boys - both with disappointing results – who were laughing and joking in a typical macho, “we-don’t-care” way and maintaining that they’d only come into school to see their mates. For them, their GCSE results could be the wake-up call they need – or perhaps they could simply be the next steps in lives of disillusionment and under-achievement. Hopefully, it’ll be the former; unfortunately, for those particular individuals, I fear it might be the latter.

iona

I’m off to Scotland tomorrow to spend a week with the Iona Community. I think this will be my fifth visit to this wonderful place, but it’ll be the first proper extended visit (last year’s two-day stay was in low cloud and heavy rain!). Hopefully, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time exploring the tiny island (some 3.5x1.5 miles) and the rest of the time working alongside members of the Community and visitors like me.
It won’t quite be the luxury living we enjoyed in Italy last week but I’m really looking forward to it!
Photo: sea shore at the south-east corner of the island

casa pietro berrettini

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our lovely friend Ken, who’d invited us all to Cortona to help celebrate his 50th birthday (it was actually his birthday in April, but we didn’t want to say anything), Gail+Ian+Moira+I stayed at this amazing place near the highest part of the steeply-sloping medieval city (Berrettini 1596-1669 was a painter/architect/writer). Wonderful accommodation and a stunning garden (100 paces long - I counted!) with breathtaking views across tiled rooftops over the valley.
How incredibly lucky we were!

Photos: terrace; kitchen/dining room; bedroom window view; bedroom suite; garden dining area

friends

Sorry, but somewhat inevitably, the next couple of blogs contain the odd reference to a certain Italian holiday! Obviously, it’s lovely to spend time in a wonderful place but even better when you’re with great friends (Ken+Debby, Ian+Gail, Terry+Carol and Moira) – to enjoy the pleasure of talking, relaxing, eating, drinking and laughing with them. Our get-togethers normally started at 10am at the café for coffee and pastries(!); sometimes we would meet up for lunch in a restaurant and then, in the evening, perhaps eat bread, meats, cheese, roasted tomatoes at the table in the garden overlooking the valley as the sun went down.
Whatever we did, we didn’t need to hurry…..it was tough!

Photos: eating in the garden; at Max’s; at the café; reading in the garden; eating again

return from cortona

Moira+I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Cortona with six great friends. The sun shone; our lovely friends were just lovely; the food+wine were excellent; Cortona was magical – and the place we stayed was amazing (more to come on this in due course!).

Photos: some quick images

balloon fiesta

Ruth, Stu, Iris and I got up at 5am today and went down to Ashton Court to watch 97 balloons (just 97!) take off on an absolutely beautiful morning. You still wouldn’t get me up in one of them, but it was very impressive.

Photos: this morning’s pictures (they look remarkably similar to those I took in 2005!)

cortona again

Ciao! We’re about to return to beautiful Cortona in Tuscany for a week – to help celebrate Ken’s 50th birthday (again – it was his birthday in April!) at his favourite restaurant. We’ve been invited along with some other great friends, so I anticipate that much red wine will be consumed during the course of our time there!

Someone's got to do it!

Photo: Cathedral, Cortona in the early morning

relaxing on holiday?

I seem to have spent an awful lot of time in the bathroom recently! Even with a plumber coming in to deal with the technical stuff (and that’s had its problems too!), I knew that the proposed modifications would be a complicated and frustrating job and, in this respect, it hasn’t disappointed. Doing-it-yourself is clearly going to cost less than “getting someone in”, but isn’t it amazing how much more money you end up spending than you’d originally thought – it always seems to be a case of needing just a few more bits of timber or screws or paint or wall tiles or whatever. The job seems to have been going on for ages (we’re currently without a wash basin) and shows every sign of taking up the rest of the school holidays (at least!). There have certainly been times when I just wanted our old bathroom back, believe me!
Photo: bathroom in progress (sort of)!

antony gormley: hero

When I grow up, I want to be Antony Gormley (except that he’s younger than me, so I’m not sure if this will work). Visited his Blind Light exhibition at the Hayward Gallery yesterday and thought it was wonderful. Two things stood out. Blind Light, the “brightly lit, cloud-filled glass box” is about entering the space and experiencing complete disorientation (with virtually nil visibility), but also observing the space from outside the glass box and seeing figures emerging as shadows as they come close to the edges. In total contrast is Event Horizon: where (some 20?) life-size figures are placed on rooftops and walkways within 1.5sq.km area of the gallery and seen from the gallery’s three sculpture terraces (and from elsewhere).
Quite beautiful and surprisingly powerful.

Photo: Event Horizon figures plus real people at the National Portrait Gallery

end of another school year

For most of us at school, today is the end of term (unfortunately, I have to work an extra day – together with a few others – but that’s another story!). It means I’ve been working in education for a whole two years since retiring from my architectural practice. The time seems to have flashed by! I’m going to miss the good friends who will be leaving – some retiring; some for new challenges in other fields; and some just moving on. I worked with Tony, Head of Art, on Friday as part of the school’s Activities Week (he’s also retiring after over 25 years at the school). Some Year 8 pupils were trying animation for the very first time and the results were just brilliant. It was just wonderful seeing Tony at work - with his humour, enthusiasm, knowledge and encouragement and then to see the children respond so positively (and clearly feeling really proud by their achievements at the end of the day). Tony might be retiring, but he’s still got what it takes!
Humbling and inspirational stuff.
PS: the animations weren’t quite “Wallace+Grommit” standards, but Aardman better watch out!

people’s music: another update

I’m continuing to receive great favourite music suggestions from lovely friends and family. I’ve already compiled a list of over 30 tracks (note: see blog posts 8+23 June).
I’ve been playing the following tracks a lot recently (the running order is brilliant, with each track running into the next beautifully!):
1. “Heartbeats” by Jose Gonzalez (Catherine P)
2. “Break on Through” by The Doors (Hannah B)
3. “Still Ill” by The Smiths (Paul B)
4. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who (Felix H)
5. “I Might Be Wrong” (live version) by Radiohead (Ian A)
6. “Beautiful Day” by U2 (Gail A)
7. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley (Catherine P)
8. “Cold Water” by Damien Rice/Lisa Hannigan (Ruth B)
9. “Staralfur” by Sigur Ros (Gareth R)
10. “From The Morning” by Nick Drake (me!)
Still keen to receive further suggestions!
PS: the somewhat impossible criteria was: “ if I had to choose just ONE piece of music, this would be it” (it might be just a great piece of music or something that has special significance)…. and, in addition, there was an opportunity to add another track under the general heading: “Steve, I think you might also like this”.
Photo: Radiohead (of course!)

city life

Last night I went to a lecture. It was entitled: What changes will the city need to make to deal with climate change, and will it be able to survive at all? I went thinking it would be a thought-provoking and challenging evening; I came away somewhat frustrated and feeling it had been a wasted opportunity. There were two speakers: Professor Susan Roaf offered what was billed as a “mind-blowing picture of the history of the end of the city” – but I found it all rather bland and it hardly scratched the surface of the problem (eg. her solutions included “battening down the hatches and stopping building altogether” and “avoiding building above six storeys high”!) and George Marshall, who was more interesting - in a somewhat homespun, make-do-and-mend sort of way - with an emphasis on recycling/re-using materials and illustrating these with photographs of his own house (which totally failed to persuade me I’m afraid!). Maybe the title of the talk was just too ambitious, but it just didn’t work for me.
The biggest irony was that, during the course of the evening, George Marshall admitted that he was actually moving from the City of Oxford to Powys, Wales to build himself a new home in the middle of nowhere!!

where in the world?

Perhaps it’s just the thought of breaking up for summer, but I had one of those conversations recently when a friend asked where in the world I would like to visit (money no object!). Somewhat pathetically, my answer was “Upper Saltings in St Ives”. I know there are much more exotic places but, in all honesty, I would gladly settle for this. It’s the top floor of a converted sail loft; it sleeps 10-12 people; it’s just stunningly beautiful and it overlooks Porthmeor Beach and the ocean…. turquoise sea+white sand. The photograph is taken from within the main living/dining space at Upper Saltings – Felix is cooking supper; Ruth is preparing the dining table; Stu is painting; and Hannah+Moira are just chilling in the wonderful huge bay window seat.
It’s an absolutely magical place (but don’t visit St Ives in high summer!).

nurture

Spent last Wednesday evening watching a DVD of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. There was comparatively little in the film/documentary that I wasn’t already aware of, but I still found it completely compelling viewing. It made me think about what kind of world our grandchildren will inherit from us. Then, strangely, I found myself watching “Who Do You Think You Are?” on BBC1 immediately afterwards (even stranger because I seem to watch very little tv these days). Tracing back Nicky Campbell’s adopted family history some 150 years in Australia, via Scotland, seemed to somehow help put the Al Gore DVD into context and emphasise the massive changes the world has witnessed since the mid-1850s. In turn, thoughts of Nicky Campbell’s adopted family put me in mind of our own adopted grandson Mikey. Campbell emerged at the end of the tv programme saying what a huge part nurture (within his adopted family) had played in his life; and I reflected on the vital importance of nurture within Mikey’s life with Alice+Dave as his adopted parents.
It then dawned on me, of course, that nurture (this time, of our planet) was also at the heart of the Al Gore film too.

goodbye mr chips

Staff gathered together at the end of the afternoon yesterday to bid farewell to a much-loved and highly-revered Dave Watson, Deputy Head Teacher, after some 32 years at our school. A brilliant teacher and someone who was genuinely interested in and concerned about people (rather than numbers or statistics). I can recall a long conversation I had some time ago with a very difficult Year 11 pupil, who spoke with huge respect and in complete awe of this larger-than-life teacher. I’m just finishing my second year at the school and can certainly recall feeling somewhat overawed by Dave in the first few days in my new career (afterall, he’d been in education all his life and I was a complete novice)…. but he was just great – asking me how things were going; encouraging me; making me laugh – and, very soon, I realised he was a very special man. You could have asked anyone in the staffroom yesterday and they would ALL have said similar things about him (young and not-so-young alike). Dave spoke a few words at the end of the afternoon (when he wasn’t being interrupted by well-wishers!) and he made us feel very proud to be working in education (even new “boys” like me!). He’s going to be greatly missed in school by staff and pupils alike and those of us who have worked with him feel very privileged to have done so.

sounds of summer

We usually spend a lot of time outside in the summer, but certainly haven’t done so this year, so far. However, we did actually manage to read the Sunday paper and have a relaxed lunch in the garden yesterday. Perhaps summer has arrived at long last (yes, I know it really came in April!)? The only downside was the fact that the neighbours at the back our house thought it would be a really good day to play music ….. very loudly. It was just like being at a rock concert, but without being able to see the stage!
Photo: lavender+shadows in the garden

david soul and me

In an idle moment(?), I followed Ellen Loudon’s advice and checked on my “celebrity profile”. It transpires that I’m a dead ringer for David Soul (of “Starksy+Hutch” fame)….. I’ll settle for that, I thought. I ended up googling him and discovered that he’d actually aged somewhat from his “Hutch” years. Then, of course, I realised that he and I really DO look like brothers – but only if I compare our current somewhat haggard appearances!
Photos (clues): me (blurred football captain, aged 10), him, him and me.

birthday weekend

Despite the gloom+doom of the weather forecast, the Smith birthday weekend was just brilliant. One of those perfect weekends with a group of great people and made even better because we were able to stay with lovely Gail+Ian at Old Walls. We barbequed in Mags+Jez’s large(!) workshop extension to their house on Friday; we chilled during the day on Saturday – but also went for a lovely afternoon walk around the estuary - and then all met up for wonderful food+drink at Pig Finca in Kingsbridge; and on Sunday, we all met up on Thurlestone beach and watched huge waves and played an hilarious game of rounders (boys won!) before returning to M+J’s place for yet more food.
We hardly got wet at all (except for Brian, Luke+Rob who decided to go for a swim)!

Photo: birthday team photo on the beach

more 50th birthdays

This weekend Moira+I will be joining up with the lovely Smith family and lots of great friends to help celebrate Mags+Jez’s 50th birthdays in Devon (continuing our theme of only mixing with people younger than ourselves). A barbeque tonight; meal at Pig Finca, Kingsbridge tomorrow plus general celebrations; and a beach party on Sunday. Unfortunately, having just checked the forecast, it looks as if we’re in for Glastonbury-like weather (ie. today: reasonable; tomorrow: heavy rain; Sunday: heavy showers).... and I don't own any wellingtons!
We’ll probably be playing “happy families” in a pub somewhere!
Photo: Mags (right) and Jez (left) with Moira in the middle from a previous Devonian weekend. They're wearing well aren't they (even if Jez does seem to need a walking stick these days)!

facebook

Fellow blogger Matt Rees made the following comment in one of his recent blogs: “It looks like everyone has been well and truly bitten by the great bug that is facebook - I know I certainly have. And it looks to me like there's far less blogging happening as a result”.

I’d never really paid much attention to facebook, but his comment spurred me into checking things out and I’m now a fully-registered member! I immediately discovered that there were lots of facebook people at school and so I’ve been able to make contact with some of them (even if I do see most of them every weekday!). It’s clearly very early days (ie. about a day and a half!) and I realise that I don’t really know how to do things in the simplest way or appreciate all that I could do using facebook. However, thus far, I’m finding it all very frustrating (and somewhat disappointing) and it seems little more than an on-line chatroom. In order to contact anyone, I think I need to send them a message (assuming that I’ve managed to track them down – and it’s not always easy to be sure you’ve got the right person!) and wait for them to respond before you can read their profile etc. I also haven’t yet worked out how to import photographs to accompany any notes I might write.
Not sure this is for me… may just have to keep blogging?

www.number40.net is back

After what seems like absolutely ages, our number40 website is back on-stream at last! A combination of server problems, hackers, software problems and my own inability to obey simply instructions I’m afraid. It might take a little time to update everything, but I’ll try to do so over the next fortnight if possible.
Apologies - bet you’ve been trying every day just in case we’d sorted things out (then again).
Photo: some of Ruth’s hand made baby clothes

update to “people’s music”

You need to have read my 8 June blog to make any sense of this! It’s been great to continue to receive such a lot of brilliant feedback. Somewhat pathetically, I’ve been downloading most of the suggested tracks and seem to have compiled an amazing list of wonderful music as a result (and I now find myself relating each piece of music to the person who suggested it, which is rather nice!). I know I’ve slightly cheated by including two tracks from some people but have just put together the first of a number of compilation CDs (in no particular order) for playing in the car and it’s just brilliant (and incredibly varied):
1. “Small Hours” by John Martyn (Si S)
2. “Where are you Tonight?” by June Tabor (Cara H)
3. “Meet on the Ledge” by Fairport Convention (Ellen L)
4. “Coulibaly” by Amadou+Mariam (Dave M-D)
5. “How We Operate” by Gomez (Alan B)
6. “Beat Bop Part 2” by The Rammellzee (Pete R)
7. “That’s Entertainment” by The Jam (Pete R)
8. “The Osmonds” by Denim (Si S)
9. “Kathy’s Song” by Simon+Garfunkel (Cara H)
10. “Thunder on the Mountain” by Bob Dylan (Bob F)
11. “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke (Chris H)
12. “To Be Alone with You” by Sufjan Stevens (John H)
13. “I Heard it through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye (Moira)
14. “Newborn” by Elbow (Su S)
15. “When I go Deaf” by Low (Su S)
16. “All I Want is You” by U2 (Alan B)
If you’ve not yet let me know about your two tracks, please do so!
Photo: John Martyn
PS: I’m pretending that Si’s wife Su submitted a couple of the tracks (somewhat predictably, Si keeps coming up with his latest favourite pieces of music – which, I must say, are always brilliant!)

mayBe on the quantocks

Spent a wonderful time on the Quantock Hills with lots (26 of us, I think?) of old and new friends from the mayBe community, Oxford over the weekend. Worship, liturgies, prayers, stories, laughter, conversation, music, great food, drink, swimming, face-painting, football, frisbee, cricket, long walks, silk-screen printing, huge campfire and even some Andy Goldsworthy-type art installations!
Now need another weekend to recover!

apprentice

As captivating as “The Apprentice” tv programme has been, I can’t help feeling uneasy about the dog-eat-dog recipe for “success” that it seems to provide as the essential “must” for all successful business people. It’s all a little too much like “Thatcher’s Britain” for me, I’m afraid. It all appears to be about "winning at all costs" and I can certainly recall an advert on one of the Business pages in a national newspaper a few years ago declaring that "The Rules of Fair Play were invented for Losers" – which I found deeply depressing. I know that this is not how it should be.
This might sound somewhat precious (who me?), but I included the following prayer in the intercessions I wrote for a church service at the time:
“Dear Lord, life often seems to be all about pace; about pressure; about agendas; about deadlines; about instant action and urgent decisions; about lies; about greed; about worry and stress; about ourselves - but not about others or you. Help us to keep our lives in balance and to reflect your love for us”.

Amen (even though I loved the programme!).

there are good people out there!

A couple of weeks ago I was very depressed about my camera. The zoom only worked if I used super-human strength and, even then, it wouldn’t actually allow me to take photographs! I took it into Jessops for their advice; they were very nice, but essentially told me that it would probably cost me £200 for someone just to look at it and that it would be more cost-effective to consider a new camera. I returned home duly depressed and started looking on e-Bay for a possible replacement - I just couldn’t afford to splash out on a new camera. Moira suggested that I took it to a local repairer (and even downloaded details from google for me!). I made some comment about them just telling me what Jessops had already told me (gracious to the last!). Anyway, I DID ring the firm (Luton Camera Repairs, Bristol) and they agreed to look at the camera; the man there was really nice and said he was optimistic he could help me. He rang me back a week later and told me he’d fixed it. I duly collected my camera and paid the bill….. £29.38!
Moral: always listen to your wife and don’t just assume everyone out there is out to get you!

song of the earth

As Moira will tell you, I’m not a ballet fan. There was the famous occasion when we attended a premier performance by Ballet Rambert in Oxford (we’re sophisticated like that!). It was a Friday evening; I was tired, the theatre was hot and unfortunately I fell asleep(!). The performance finished and was met by loud applause; it woke me up with a huge jolt and I immediately shot up out of my seat and discovered that I’d led a standing ovation for the performance (much to Moira’s embarrassment)!
However, there was a piece on Channel 4 News last week about Darcy Bussell’s imminent retirement as principal dancer of the Royal Ballet and it featured excerpts from “Song of the Earth” which was to be her final performance. I found myself sitting absolutely transfixed by its shear beauty - the amazing intricacies of the choreography and the incredible skill of the dancers. I even found myself watching the final performance on the BBC on Friday night – just spellbinding!
PS: there is no truth in the rumour that we’re having wall mirrors fixed in our basement!

people’s music

I’ve been irritating family+friends alike recently (what’s new?)! This followed a conversation I’d had on the back of such things as “Desert Island Discs” (8 favourite records for your desert island) and Fi Glover’s “Inheritance Tracks” on Radio 4 (where people select a piece of music from their childhood and another they’d like to pass on to their children – or something like that!).
I thought it would be “interesting” to receive feedback from friends/family suggesting two pieces of music on the following basis:
“if I had to choose just ONE piece of music, this would be it” (it might be just a great piece of music or something that has special significance), and
“Steve, I think you’d like this piece of music” (or "Steve, I think you should listen to this”)
I duly e-mailed lots of people and the responses received to date have been fascinating and, from a purely selfish viewpoint, could well open my eyes/ears to new musical horizons (eg. “Beat Bop” by Rammellzee and K-Rob; “Where are you Tonight?” by June Tabor; “Coulibaly” by Amadou+Miriam; “Thunder on the Mountain” by Bob Dylan) plus well-known classics (eg. “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke; “Kathy’s Song” by Simon+Garfunkel).
PS: my selections (and I realise that everyone’s selection will vary on a day-to-day basis): perhaps 1. “Love Letter” by Nick Cave and 2. “Early Morning Ramblings” by Beth Rowley?
Photo: Nick Cave

trinity cakes

Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday and I spent part of my morning trying to explain the concept of the Trinity (God the Father/Son/Holy Spirit to those who don’t know these things) to a group of 11-14 year-olds. What I should have done was to have got my lovely friend Ellen Loudon to do it! At the Foundation service in the evening, she got us all to “imagine God” in pictures, sounds, numbers, words, sacraments, lights, thoughts, stillness, laughter…and cakes!

Well it worked for me – and the cake tasted REALLY good too!
PS: cake photo taken from Ellen’s blog without permission!

did golfing opponents take bungs (again)?

I didn’t cry (see yesterday’s blog)! In fact, it was definitely a case of déjà vu and I played pretty well and ended up within 2 shots of my 15 handicap (this will mean absolutely nothing to non-golfers, so please accept my apologies!). Once again, and much to my embarrassment and my golfing partner’s pleasure, we beat our gracious opponents with 6 holes still to go! Back in October, I claimed to have discovered the magic formula for golfing success and vowed to wait another 3 months before playing again.
Clearly, the formula still works even if you leave it 7 months!

I used to be a golfer…..

There WAS a time when I used to play golf with my brilliant mates Pete+Ken+Steve every Friday afternoon, throughout the year (in the winter, we sometimes only played 4 holes due to lack of daylight – but at least we DID play!). This has undoubtedly been the most difficult adjustment in coming to live in Bristol. Unfortunately, I hardly play these days (the last time was October 2006) and have just relinquished my membership at Stockwood Vale (I played at total of 3 rounds there last year!). But I'll be back(!) and I’m actually travelling up to Oxford very early this morning to play golf with Ken+Steve+Colin at my old club at Studley Wood. Having not swung a club for such a long time (and I’ve only just managed to locate my ancient golf shoes!), it could be quite interesting!
I might cry.
Photo: Steve+me+Coach+Ken at St Andrew’s in 2003 on our wonderful Scottish golf tour (met the amazing Tony/Coach for the first time when we played golf in New York State in 2001 – a truly lovely man).