giving the people what they want since 1981...

Today's post is a competition. Hurrah! I've decided to bow to the immense pressure, and create a caption competition for this picture...

Whoever comes up with the funniest caption will win...... my undying respect and possibly a sticker I pinched from Kids Club. Let the games begin. (plus this allows me blogger laziness for at least a week)

Steinbeck says...

"We're a violent people, Cal. Does that seem strange to you that I include myself? Maybe it's true that we are all descended from the restless, the nervous, the criminals, the arguers and brawlers, but also the brave and independent and generous. If our ancestors had not been that, they would have stayed in their home plots in the other world and starved over squeezed-out soil."

"That's why I include myself. We all have that heritage, no matter what old land our fathers left. All colors and breeds of Americans have somewhat the same tendencies. It's a breed, selected out by accident. And so we're overbrave and overfearful - we're kind and cruel as children. We're overfriendly and at the same time frightened of strangers. We boast and are impressed. We're oversentimental and realistic. We are mundane and materialistic - and do you know of any other nation that acts for ideals? We eat too much. We have no taste, no sense of proportion. We throw our energy about like waste. In the old lands they say of us that we go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening culture. Can it be that our critics have not the key or language of our culture?"

Welcome to Siberia...

We have been promised that one of the consequences of global warming will be more volatile weather. Today it delivered, with more snow than I can ever remember seeing in England. Sefton Park is a beautiful place anytime, but with the snow it was fun...

The Brits weren't going to be put off by a mere bit of snow though, I particularly admired the guy with the walking stick.

Look, more snow, and some water too. Seemed strange that we had so much snow but the pond hadn't frozen over.

I wasn't sure if these critters were fighting or just trying to do some exercises to keep warm.

Last but not least, I think this was some of the most fun I've ever had on a bike, so much opportunity for skidding and getting the wheels spinning. Also you could ride straight into a big drift, climb off and the bike would stay standing.... Love it.

A grand day out

In yesterday's news, I had my UCCF staff interview. What joy, what boundless happiness was in my heart as I rose from my slumbers at 5:00. At 5:30 I began my intrepid journey, I knew I had to catch a 6:27 train, so decided to wait for a bus until 5:50, and after that I would take a taxi to make sure I didn't miss the train. I think it was the beginning of an exercise in trusting God, as the bus duely appeared at 5:49, just as I was making my other plans. This pic shows the beautiful Lime Street Station at 6:13am.

Ah, the many wonders of travelling by train, not least the opportunity for reading. I combined a potent combination of the Bible, The Purpose Driven Life, and East of Eden. Intoxicating stuff, especially at that hour. Behold the wonderfully blurry british countryside in the early morning:

Feel the power, feel the roar. I ended up deposited at a grey and rainy Leicester at 8:50, with 40 minutes before I needed to appear at UCCF HQ. I stepped from the station with not a clue as to how I would spend that time, looked around, and saw a familiar face. The face belonged to one Tim Dennis, a guy I have literally known since I was knee high to a grasshopper, as we grew up in the same church. Ha, wonderful surpise! It turns out he's also in Leicester for an interview with UCCF, so we're able to spend the 40 minutes catching up on life. Then it was onwards towards our target, being menly men we were determined not to ask directions or use a map, and so we nearly missed our destination, the understated UCCF HQ:

The next 6 and a half hours were spent in presentations and interviews of various kinds. It was actually a very positive experience, being able to joke and talk with the other candidates, feeling that the whole day was about God leading the right people to the right positions, rather than a great big rat race. Also, only UCCF would thank candidates for attending a mandatory interview by giving them a book. I love those people :-)

Then, it was the homeward journey. I got to spend a fair bit of it with an American guy called Dan, who was also there for an interview. He was travelling back to Glasgow, and we discovered a shared interest in apologetics and literature. It was a great time. And then back to Liverpool, which looked suspiciously similar to the way it had been 12 hours before:

East of Eden

I'm currently reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It's an awesome book, and this bit made me laugh a lot:

Olive had great courage. Perhaps it takes courage to raise children. And I must tell you what she did about the First World War. Her thinking was not international. Her first boundary was the geography of her family, second her town, Salinas, and finally there was a dotted line, not clearly defined, which was the county line. Thus she did not quite believe in the war, even when Troop C, our militia cavalry, was called out, loaded its horses on a train, and set out for the open world.
Martin Hopps lived around the corner from us. He was wide, short, red-haired. His mouth was wide, and he had red eyes. He was almost the shyest boy in Salinas. To say good morning to him was to make him itch with self-consciousness. He belonged to Troop C because the armory had a basketball court.
If the Germans had known Olive and had been sensible they would have gone out of their way not to anger her. But they didn't know or they were stupid. When they killed Martin Hopps they lost the war because that made my mother mad and she took out after them. She had liked Martin Hopps. He had never hurt anyone. When they killed him Olive declared war on the German empire.

Good book, interesting views on sin, hopefully they'll become more developed as the book goes on...

What a difference a day makes

On Wednesday Liverpool seemed to be heading gently towards Spring.



On Thursday we returned to a very surprising Winter wonderland. Which was nice.

That DK, he's so hot right now.

At last, a photographic tribute to the wonderful Danny Kwon, showing his great versatility. Fortunately we were able to resist his suggestion of pictures showing him making coffee wearing just his underwear. Maybe next time....