Ice Skating, Cristmas trees, Yoyos and Little Brothers

So Christmas has come and gone it seems. Just want to share a few special happenings.

The first made my month finishing off at school. After 15 weeks of 'challenging' kids, I decided to tag along with the year 8's on their year group outdoor ice skating trip down in Greenwich instead of marking books. I loved it, all these kids that I've struggled with all term coming up to me "Sir can I skate round with you this time". I'm looking forward to my return to school now in some funny way.

The second was my free Christmas tree, left outside a primary school by Victoria station. It was a bit too tall though so I had to chomp through it with my Leatherman, picking up a few interesting looks and comments throughout the ordeal. But after dragging it home and propping it up I was quite satisfied with the priceless aquisition.

My third was my yoyo. I got a yoyo from my lucious Lucy. So I'm rocking the cradle and walking the dog quite happily at the moment.

The forth choice thing that makes the list has been my little brother Andrew who's come over for a visit. He's so cool to have around and it's so nice just hanging out. We played rugby yesterday for the Old Alleynians, we both got a few tries. After not having played together for about 5 years we managed to find each other now and again.

So that's me. We're off to Windsor tomorrow to visit her majesty. Then spotting some sparkly things in the sky come midnight, followed by a 5 day trip around the the south coast in a wee rental car. Sweet as.

The Disorientating effect of a Northern Hemisphere Winter

It's only 16 days till Christmas, but I am feeling awkward on a few different levels. First it's supposed to be hot and I'm supposed to be at the beach. All around me is supposed to be a bright crimson backdrop of Pohutakawa trees flowering. School is supposed to be breaking up for 6 weeks, and my feet are supposed to pop out of their shoes in a green puff and slip wetly into my jandels as soon as I get in from work.

The reality is, it's cold, we're eating delicious hot roasts and yum soups. I'm ducking from bus to train to bus to bus to avoid raindrops, the trees are skeletal and no one has jandels on. When I get home, I massage my toes to get the blood running through them once more and then eagerly pop them into a nice warm pair of slippers.

And then there is the sun. In winter time down under when I look to the east (not religiously or anything...just trying to make a point) the winter sun is supposed to be a bit lower in the sky on my left hand side (learning moment: Towards the equator), but in this crazy winter up here when I am looking to the East (for the sake of argument) the sun is in fact low to the horizon on my RIGHT HAND SIDE. A trivial matter you might think, but pause and ponder the implications for my delicate at the best of times sense of direction here. Midday when I subconsciously feel as if I'm facing east with the sun on my left hand side, I'm actually well and truly facing west. Craziness!!!!

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my wife says that if I have 3 posts before christmas she'll link to me again.

...and a few weeks on.

Someone asked me today at school, "why are you still here?". I wonder why quietly. I used to work for a Christian group called Student Life on a university campus, when I first started I wondered if I could work with a group that had 'To change the world' in it's vision statement. I find that really hard to imagine. Yet surely that's why we do anything, to try and positively influence our little part of our ginormous world. My wife Lucy has really helped me to see that changing the world is not just some mythical unattainable dream, because she's doing it most days of the week. I'm praying pretty much everyday now that God can help me try and do it too. Being a follower of Jesus I've got a bit of an advantage in that respect.