Fog in Channel - Europe Cut-off

Well it was not quite as dramatic as that. Last Thursday I had to go with a colleague to the Channel Islands. We arrived at Guernsey OK and saw the customer. It was drizzling and murky when we arrived, by the time the meeting finished the fog closed in. The lunch-time Red arrows display which was due around lunchtime was cancelled.

We went to the airport to get our flight to Jersey. All flights were delayed with some cancelled. Rather than tell everybody the airport was closing they kept us hanging around. Eventually we decided to call it quits and just made it to the last ferry of the day at 17:30. A two hour plus crossing saw us in Jersey for a rather late customer dinner!
We were rather concerned that we would not be able to make it back home on the Friday, fortunately the weather lifted and there were flights back to the "large island". Just as well really as Saturday was a Diaconal Study Day at Wonersh.

 From this above to this below

So all was well that ended well!

Wise words from a wise man

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered: "Man. Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."

 

 

And the sky did not fall in

At Mass yesterday we used, for the first time, the new Missal. I must confess that I was strongly against it; being a post Vatican II convert I did not want the service and liturgy that I cherish changed in any way. However as the Mass progressed I found that I was paying more attention than usual; the fear of saying something wrong made me pay attention the liturgy and what it really meant. I came away with a deeper sense of the wonder that is the Mass and the sacrifice of the Eucharist. No doubt in a few years we will come to think it strange that there was all this fuss and bother. 
Perhaps the revolutionary idea would be to change the liturgy every ten years or so in order that we never say things by rote but always have to search out the full meaning and mystery of what we are about.

Thought for the Day

Picked this up from a friend:

Kids with special needs aren't weird or odd, they only want what everyone wants....to be accepted!

Devon Delight

Julia and I spent a very pleasant 9 nine days down at the Lodge with our son Lawrie and Emma his partner. Being with them encouraged us to go out more than we normally do - to be fair last year Julia had a bad leg ulcer which rather curtailed things. So for the first time this year we were able to enjoy the glorious Devon countryside. We even went horse riding on the moors, you see so much more from the vantage point of a horse's back and you don't have to worry about falling over when viewing the scenery (just falling off). Coupled with good food and beer it was a great break.

 

Rioting in the UK

We have received several emails and telephone calls from our overseas friends and relatives. We are all OK and have been unaffected by the troubles. Fortunately our youngest son, Lawrie, who is a policeman is away on holiday and so has not been involved in trying to quell the riots. This is a great relief to Julia and I as you can imagine.
There have been many reasons put forward for the riots; the best one I heard was from a black pastor on TV. He said that many parents are now frightened to discipline their children for fear of social services descending on them; schools do nothing as many are put off by all the legislation; the police feel hindered by all the human rights lawyers that appear out of the woodwork. The result is a generation (or two) who have never known discipline. While this analysis may be simplistic I believe that there is a kernel of truth within it. Discipline must start in the home as does education.

Mainz, Germany

Last week I had to go to Mainz in Germany to help with a class that was being run. Julia came with me so while I worked she went to see the various sites.  Mainz is a lovely town; I have been about twenty times over the years but Julia has seen far more of it than me in just four days. We did manage a couple of evenings out with a colleague and his wife and saw some of the area as he had a car.

We found a bar!

View across the Rhine

And at night

Street market

A typical street in a Rhine village