Big deep thinking.

I've been trying to write a post on Intelligent Design, and whether or not it's a valid scientific theory. And it's difficult. It's a huge subject area, I've been doing so much reading and I'm still not quite sure what I stand. At the moment as I see it the biggest issue I have with ID is whether it's a theory that is truly falsifiable.

A much simpler theory to prove is that it truly is a STUPID idea to play badminton with a bad foot. It really is.

Not for cat lovers

I found this game rather randomly. I like it. I don't like cats.

http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html

The wisdom of Lenhoff

I've decided to interrupt my Sri Lankan series to share with you a snippet of the wonderful wisdom that frequently emanates from Brittney Lenhoff. This wisdom comes like a volcano, unexpected in the night. We have a saying in my country; the Lenhoff feeds on the carcasses of the young, and the blood drips down. This is why we should listen to her wisdom:

"Yeah, who needs the Geneva convention? The Swiss are crazy anyway, caves in mountains, nothing that is done there can be trusted."

Sigirya

Having spent yesterday writing about some of Sri Lanka's hazards, I feel today I should take a more positive light. So I'm going to write about Sigirya, which is honestly awesome. Look!

The rock is 200m tall, and completely dominates the surrounding area. It formed the palace of the king at the end of the 5th Century AD. I think that the king used to live at the top, and then all his servants and everyone else lived in the grounds below. It has a moat, and a rock shaped like a cobra, and when you go up the final bit to the top you go through a huge stone pair of lion's feet, which originally had a mouth as well. So you got to the top by walking into the mouth of a lion. How cool is that?

Also there is a stone mirror, which doesn't really work, and cool fresco painting things, and lot's of very rusty iron staircases that were installed by the British in Victorian times that cover sections that have been destroyed.

I've been there twice, the first time was in the middle of the afternoon, and it was heaving with tourists, an absolute nightmare. It was still amazing, especially getting to the top for the first time. The second time I went we were smarter though, and set off from our hotel so that we got there at 7:30am. It was empty, we were pretty much the only people there, able to spend as much time as we looked seeing everything, then we got to the top. It was glorious, it was unbelievably clear, warm without being hot, and there were just the three of us up there. We actually did feel like the rulers of all we could survey. It must have been a great palace to have.

And so... one of my favourite places in Sri Lanka. I'm taking bookings for tours....

Sri Lankan Driving

Ok, to continue with part two of this special Sri Lankan series I thought I'd talk about one of the islands most notable features: it's drivers.

Although I'm not a big fan of drivers in Liverpool, and their particular fear of indicating, they are just not in the same league as Sri Lankans when it comes to driving. Obviously they aren't helped by the fact that there are no laws on vehicle maintenance, so if it drives, you can drive it. This means you get an incredible variety of vehicles on the road, from world war 2 era lorries to 1960's English Morris Minors and Hillman Imps, to little 3 wheel tut tuts, to all kinds of Japanese cars and 'wans'.

Add to this heady mix the fact that I'm not sure that there exists such a thing as a Highway Code in Sri Lanka, and you get a recipe for chaos. Here are my favourite 3 Sri Lankan driving stories.

1) Driving into Colombo in Rodney's car with his two sons and one of their friends as passengers. We were going to test out the first McDonalds to be opened in the whole island, well sometimes you just have to. Anyway once we'd eaten there we were going to head to a really cool ice cream shop, but as we were heading to a roundabout I noticed there was a bit of a problem. I'd taken my foot off the accelerator, but the car wasn't slowing down, in fact it was accelerating. I managed to slam on the brakes and somehow get round, but I realised we had a problem. In the end I had to drive back from Colombo to Kandana, a distance of about 15 miles with the throttle stuck fully open the whole time. It was lots of fun, and required a good mix of changing gears, trying not to destroy the brakes and messing with the clutch, but we got there.

2) Driving back from the hill country late at night after having spent a couple of days doing outreach, I had the joy of driving the 'wan' down about 4,000 feet over about 50 miles with no brake pads, which meant slowing for hairpin bends was a definite challenge. It was again with immense relief that we got home in one piece.

3) Sri Lankan bus drivers own the road. They must, considering the way they drive. The most emphatic example of this that I encountered was when I came round a bend onto a reasonable straight stretch of road to find 2 buses heading down the road towards me side by side. I'm thinking 'he's going to yield, he's surely going to yield, he'll move over soon, won't he? He's not going to yield!' and so I slammed on the brakes and took to the grass by the side of the road. This is not an unusual experience.

And so, there it is, my 3 favourite experiences of driving in Sri Lanka, though there are many others I could share.

Sri Lanka - part 1

Something that's been on my mind a lot recently is Sri Lanka. I think the main reason for this is that I'm considering my future, and it's a place I'd definitely like to live in at some stage in my life. So I've decided to do a few posts that contain some of my favourite memories of Sri Lanka. Sorry if I'm repeating myself to anyone.


Here's a handy map. How handy.

I thought the first post should really cover my arrival there in the first place. We ended up going because dad had met a guy called Rodney at a christian business conference. Rodney is a Sri Lankan pastor and evangelist, but before that he worked as a hotel manager. So he offered to organise a tour of the island for our family, and so off we went to South Asia. It was my first time out of Europe apart from a trip to the USA, so this was a real culture shock.


It was a pretty exciting moment as we flew in over the coast for the first time, and all we could see was jungle interspersed with rice paddies. Sri Lanka's airport is just south east of Negombo, if you'd like to refer to the handy map. We landed fine, though it was a bit daunting to realise this was also the main Sri Lankan Air Force base. This meant there were an awful lot of soldiers wandering around with very big guns.

Then we had our first experience of Sri Lankan timing. We were expecting that Rodney would be there to pick us up from the airport, and so we headed out into tropical heat to see nothing. He wasn't there. However there were a lot of taxi drivers who were very eager to drive us anywhere we'd care to go. The only problem was that we didn't know where we were supposed to be staying or where Rodney lived. So for what felt like hours, but I guess was about 30 minutes, we waited having no idea what to do. I'm not good in situations like that, where I really don't have a clue what to do. Fortunately Rodney then appeared, and we headed off to our hotel.

I'll never forget the journey there, as we headed down the main road. There were stalls on both sides for most of the way, and it was weird how they were all grouped together. For instance there was about half a mile where all they were selling on both sides was clay pots. Then we headed off the main road to the hotel, and it was a huge juxtaposition between the poverty we saw there and the comfort of the hotel when we arrived. And so I was in Sri Lanka...

Dude Where's My Car - a social commentary.

Some time ago Dr Steven Atwell and I discovered that a film we'd only ever thought of as an immature tacky comedy was actually a profound critique of american teen culture. That film was Dude Where's My Car.

Our two heros Chester and Jesse, while appearing to be complete boneheads, are in fact the logical extension of an American education system that spoon feeds young people without ever encouraging them to develop enquiring, outward looking minds.

The premise of their journey is that they are looking for Jesse's car, but as with so many films of this kind the key point is the journey itself, and all the discoveries they make. Their journey takes them into the marketplace of ideas, where they find several different ideologies competing for their attention.

The first is the hot babes. They represent commercial America. They are all appearance and no substance, they make promises that appeal to the basest natures of Jesse and Chester.

Ahhh, I can't be having with this anymore. Anyone who was still reading seriously is officially gullible. It was fun winding DK up with it though....

ahhhh, noble country

Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?
Wider still, and wider, shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!

Truth and Right and Freedom, each a holy gem,
Stars of solemn brightness, weave thy diadem.

Tho' thy way be darkened, still in splendour drest,
As the star that trembles o'er the liquid West.

Throned amid the billows, throned inviolate,
Thou hast reigned victorious, thou has smiled at fate.

Land of Hope and Glory, fortress of the Free,
How may we extol thee, praise thee, honour thee?

Hark, a mighty nation maketh glad reply;
Lo, our lips are thankful, lo, our hearts are high!

Hearts in hope uplifted, loyal lips that sing;
Strong in faith and freedom, we have crowned our King!

Exec Fun

Today has been a good day for a number of reasons. Church was excellent, a clear and challenging sermon from Dave, had some really good Chilli made by one KC Clark, got to spend some time at the pub with an old friend, and went to a party to say goodbye to someone from church who's heading off to serve with OM for two years.

However the highlight was (and apologies to all of the above) our exec reunion meal. It was one of those times which felt really blessed by God. The joy of seeing old friends, catching up on news, joking, reminiscing, it was superb. They are a truly remarkable bunch of people, and the year we spent together on committee remains one of my most positive memories. I think the most exciting thing though was that now, nearly 3 years after we finished on committee, we remain good friends, and we can reflect on how God has worked faithfully in each of our lives since then. Also, that we can be together for the first time for 6 months and yet there is total relaxation when I'm with them, it feels like we've never been apart. It makes me want to jump up and down and praise God for his faithfulness, and his provision of friends.

On a slightly more scary note, 4 out of the 8 of us are now either engaged or married. It's now a critical time. If only one more of us fails to take Paul's advice, then the singlies will suddenly be in the minority. On that day, I will feel old.

Good grief, the Americans are coming...

I had been looking forward to the 27th December for a while. It was the date when an American invasion was due to take place, the like of which hadn't been seen in those parts before. Elvetham Heath became the hosting base for Kevin, Lauren, KC, and Rich (who although not American did speak with an American accent a lot of the time.)

I really don't know where to go from there. There's so much I could write about, it was a lot of fun. One of the continuing highlights was the fact that Kevin wanted to keep surprising Lauren with where we were going. There were so many times where we came close to giving the game away, and a couple of occasions where we actually did. There was always a great sense of relief when Kevin did tell her what the next part of the trip was going to be.

We finally managed to find the New Forest, but not many trees. The Americans were taught the essential British values of perseverance and endurance whilst walking round a pond that never seemed to end while it was freezing cold and getting dark. I hope it was a lesson well learnt.

The following day saw us in Oxford, only an hour or so from my home and yet I'd never visited. We felt suitably intellectual as we sat in the Eagle and Child, the pub that CS Lewis and Tolkien had made their favourite. Then we ended up in Blackwells, which is ENORMOUS!! At the second time of asking three of us had come away with CS Lewis books, and a mystery package (it was a mystery to me anyway.) The rest of the day featured KC drinking man beer, Rich learning what spooning was, dinner at my local, and then a trip slightly further afield to my favourite pub, which is an amazing old mill complete with water wheel.

It was a hard prospect to follow a day like that with one equally as good, but we did. The omens weren't good in the morning, it was a beautiful English winter day, apart from the darkness and freezing rain! We were joined for some of the day by Anna, a friend from Relay! (Yeah, RELAY!!) Highlights: walking to Westminster, made me feel very patriotic. British Museum, boy oh boy did we rob a lot of places. It really is an amazing place, the building, and everything in it. Dinner at a fantastic little Thai cafe, YUMMY! Scrooge the Musical (where we were sat on the very back row, about 2 miles above the stage), made me remember why I love going to the theatre, and given me a burning desire to see more plays! Touch my robe! After 8 McFlurry, cultural. It really was a brilliant day.

And finally... with 5 of us and luggage packed into Rich's Punto we did manage to get moving back to Liverpool. The mystery package turned out to be a Marmite Cookbook, hahaha, there will be no mercy! We stopped at Warwick, a town packed with history and a castle, which initially appeared to have become a McCastle, so commercialised did it seem. I did really enjoy it though, despite a lot of loud Americans (some of whom we'd brought with us). And so we came back to Liverpool, and the Breaking of the Fellowship. Thanks guys, it was ... awesome.

Festive Fun and Frolicking for the Family

Ok, having not properly blogged for a bit this is part 1 of a festive two parter. I had the shock of my life on the day I travelled home. I'd written a list of things I needed to do, and had mentally tried to work out how long each one should take me. I had enough time ... just! The problem with these plans though is that they inevitably face diversions and distractions, and so imagine my shock when everything went exactly according to my plan and I found myself with 15 free minutes before I needed to leave the house! The shock was further increased when both trains I needed to catch arrived on time.

It's always a bit odd to go home now, as I neither live there nor am I really a visitor. It's an odd tension, and one that I haven't quite worked out how to deal with yet. Having said that it was really good to see my family and friends again. A lot of my friends have moved home and into different social groups, but we managed a couple of evenings where a few of us were together, it was lots of fun.

Boxing Day was our big family get together, and I loved it! It was hard at times becaused it was the first Christmas since Grandpa died, but generally a good time was had by all. I got given a missile launcher by my parents, the first step towards global conquest. It was also excellent to see my sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces again. Emma is now 2 and is incredibly energetic, if rather shy at times. Beth is 4 months, and a very vocal baby. She provided great dinner table entertainment by being sick over one of my cousins.

And that's my christmassy roundup.........