Why are the London Underground Pro-Life?

Even Kate’s Got One!

I saw a woman today as I was strolling my son to Sainsbury’s and she looked at me merrily and I wondered whether there was a particular reason and my question was answered by a badge she was wearing. Have you seen them? Expectant Mothers who may not be visibly pregnant are given these badges so that people will give up their seats for them. What do the badges say? ‘Baby On Board’ of course! Yes, Transport for London are clearly of the opinion that a woman carrying an unborn child — no matter how for along — is carrying a BABY. The badge does not say ‘foetus on board’ or ‘potential offspring on board’. What a lovely smile she gave me.

Blewog’s Firey Diary – 05/11/2010 (Love Letters, Boardgame Settlers and Cymru Cheesecake Trend-Setters)

This week we’ve had:

• Early mornings (if waking up at 8 can be called early?)

The thing you begin to realise when you’re getting up at a semi-reasonable hour of the day is that you need to go to bed early. Now, I am still suffering from a state of mind I lived with in childhood, it’s called inevereverevereverwanttogotobed syndrome, the main symptom of this disease is a connection in one’s mind of sleeping at night with a ceasing of ‘fun’. I’m slowly recovering, but the knowledge of 24 hour Spar is always a demon.

• Some exciting letter writing.

I found myself trying to scan some of the old files in my cerebrum for files on ‘how to write a letter’ I remembered that there were all these formatting rules and courtesy regulations, it took me back to my penpal days with a certain Tiger Tim of Thirsk.

• Readings and spectatings of some good examples of post-dramatic theatre (Martin Crimp, Cupola Bobba).

No plot, no characters, no words, no conflict, no stage, no actor, no audience, no life, no earth, no God. Well, it’s not exactly that, but that description is getting close.

• An evening of home made burgers and a session of cheese tasting followed by a game of ‘Settlers of Catan’.

We found ourselves in Morrisons, talking to the lady at the deli counter, sampling some of the country’s finest cheeses, in the end settling for some Australian cheddar which I didn’t even know existed and doesn’t sound particularly appetising, it was good though. I also enjoyed some onion chutney. Friends are good for recommendations like that aren’t they, they’re also good for German multiplayer boardgame related joy.

• A blessed Welsh CU meeting thinking especially about The Creation or should I say Y Creu.

My Taid was our speaker this Thursday, and what a joy it was to have him there. A good number, and a clear message for us to chew on.

• A baby birthday celebration, a victorious game of Articulate and a surprisingly engrossing viewing of first twenty minutes of Finding Nemo.

We had chocolate cake and cheesecake, and as we consumed, the topic of ‘why do Welsh people talk about cheesecake more than other nationalities talk about cheescake’? I’d never heard such claims. I have no opinion on the matter, do you?

So, as you can see, this week’s been a busy one and on top of all that, I feel that most of my time has been taken up with trying to learn lines, and then desperately trying with oh so much of my strength to make my sultana sized brain remember them during the rehearsals! I hope we’re making progress on the play. I really do hope so.

Listening to:

Virally Contracted:

Banksy fancy dress costume.

Picture: Cutest. Thing. Evuuur.

(Via. Huffington Post)

Sorry, can’t help it.

Recently on soopersnail:

Video: Baby Startled by a Breaking of Wind

Video: ‘No, Mr. President’ – a powerful answer to abortion.

I am fully aware that the readers of this blog are divided on this crucial issue. Everyone should watch this video to the end, post your views in the comments if you feel it necessary.

Sibyl’s Travelblog – Issue 17

After recovering (slightly) from our sickness in Agra we made our way to Khujaraho, a small town half way to Varanasi. It wasn’t an easy journey as we had to get the train to Satna first and then get on a bus to Khujarho. It took about 10 hours. Long ting.

We met a gorgeous little Indian girl on the bus though who had incredible English for her age. She had her baby brother with her too, who decided he would only be happy if his mum lifted him up so he could see us; his poor mum! His mum couldn’t speak English but the little girl managed to keep up a conversation with us for a few hours. The entire bus listening to our conversation of course. She tried to give us her bracelet which was really sweet but I wouldn’t let her. She also asked about currency in England and if we had dollars – she didn’t know what pounds were when we told her so we gave her a coin Lucy had in her purse. She and the entire bus (it got passed around) were fascinated by it for a long time!

We spent a few nights in Khujaraho. We visited some of the karma sutra temples around our hotel which is what the region is famous for. On the last day we also went on an Indian safari type thing which is what we had come to the region to do! We wanted to go elephant riding at the national park because we thought they would be kinder to them. The elephants on the street can be treated so cruelly that we decided to make the trip out to Panna National Park. First we drove around looking for tigers, leopards, panthers, crocodiles and peacocks. It was like something out of the Jungle Book! We got to see a leopard which was very exciting and some crocodiles. There were deer everywhere but there were no panthers or tigers that day unfortunately – sightings are very rare.

When it came to the elephant riding (what we had been waiting for) it turned out we couldn’t do it as it rained the day before and the ground wasn’t stable enough for the elephants to walk on. Instead they let us get very close to them and I was happy enough with that. I think they are actually very scary creatures when you are next to them! They are so big; you realise how easy it would be for them to step on you. We were with a mummy and baby elephant and the mummy was very protective (understandably)! The little one kept picking up dirt with it trunk and chucking it at the keeper. The poor thing was chained because apparently it could get aggressive but at least the mum was able to walk around freely and get to her baby if she needed to. It was really sad though – it reminded me of Dumbo.

There were some very strange men working at our hotel in Khujaraho that decided to attach themselves to me and Lucy while we were there so we were glad to leave. Men in India almost decide that you belong to them and won’t leave you alone. We were constantly asking people to stop taking photos of us or declining to have our photos taken with groups of men – often they would ignore this request and follow you around anyway. It could be quite intimidating. Women would even hand us their babies and take photos.

We got the train to Varanasi – which was another 12 hour journey. The trains are possibly the most Indian experience you can get while you are there. You decide to be in seated (which is very crowded and you are sitting up all night), in sleeper (you have a bed but it’s not gauranteed so you can end up sharing it with lots of other people) or in upper class sleeper (a little bit nicer and they are actually reserved for you!) We got one sleeper train while we were in India – not pleasant at all and two upper class sleepers. It was all an amazing experience (looking back on it). Finding your train, getting on the right carriage and then getting off at the right stop is all adventure enough. You also have to avoid the man going around attacking people’s foreheads with red paint and then demanding money. Throughout the night there are chai men walking up and down the train shouted ‘chaaaiiii’ in a very deep voice – quite difficult to sleep through and luggage carrying men with the turbans wrapped around their heads (to balance the luggage on) also patrol the trains and will help you with your bags if you pay them enough.

We arrived in Varanasi from Khujaraho very early in the morning. It is a maze of small, dark, dirty alleyways surrounding the Ganges (the river that runs through India that is considered holy by Hindus.) It is a very interesting place but quite seedy and dark in places and apparently full of crime. I tried to find a church on the Sunday but couldn’t find a thing! I do hope that some Christian work is going on in Varanasi.

We stayed in a nice hotel overlooking the river and because we arrived so early in the morning we were able to watch the sunrise over the river! It was beautiful. It was horrifying how many people bathed in the Ganges because they believe it is holy (according to Wikipedia) 2,000,000 people ritually bathe in the water daily while the bacteria count is 120 times more than is considered safe!

We caught another train back to Delhi. We got to the train station by cycle rickshaw by a man that kept pretending he was a helicopter while not looking at oncoming traffic. Very scary! We stayed in the Tibetan area in Delhi for a few days before flying out. It was a very different experience of India. For a start everyone was Tibetan, it is tiny and there are ‘free tibet’ signs everywhere. Even the TV in our room had the message flash up before it turned on. We experienced a few joys of a major Indian city while we were there such as McDonalds, KFC and Connault Place which is full of western shops! Yay! After a month it was a welcome break.

We left for the airport at 4am to fly to Australia. In true Indian style the roads were as noisy and scary as in the middle of the day! It was a complete shock when we arrived in Melbourne at 6 in the morning and the roads were deadly silent (no crazy rickshaw drivers swerving and beeping.) It took me a while to realise what the difference was – it was quite unnerving at first. We got through customs fine too – a relief! I was worried because we were coming from India and they are so strict with what you can bring in to Australia (there is a whole show on customs) and dirt on your shoes (to protect their wildlife) I thought they might decide to fumagate us, but we survived.

A Miraculous Testimony?

One of the first thoughts of God I remember having as a child was one of ridicule.

“How on earth can people not believe in God? It’s so obvious that there is a God, when a man and a woman get married; God sends them a baby! Where else could a baby come from but from God!?”

I was later corrected on my somewhat naïve logic, but my theories on God didn’t stop there. A few years later, I found myself saying and thinking things like:

“How can we be sure there really is a God?”

“I really do hope there isn’t an after-life, because then we could actually enjoy our time here on earth, instead of having to follow a set of rules and regulations.”

My parents always encouraged such honesty, and my Father was used to answering such questions as he was the pastor of the church I had been taken along to since I was a baby.

As life went on I found that if things were going well in my life, I would only give God the odd thought or two; however if things weren’t going too great I would find myself turning to God and praying to him often.

I decided that if I was going to be part of this Christian thing I should ask for forgiveness for my sins, that’s what I’d heard was the right thing to do. I did that, or at least I tried, but there was no light from above and no change of feeling inside. This was not as romantic as it had been made out to be.

Going on in my early teens I found myself more and more drawn towards the world’s way of thinking. People in school seemed to find me funny and as puberty wore on, my hormones were pulling me in all sorts of directions. I was never a naughty boy in school, but I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t get in trouble on a daily basis from various teachers.

I was having a great time, Sundays were a drag but it was something that I didn’t want to let go of. I felt that I wanted to have a foot on each side of the fence. Have a great time in the ‘real’ world, and have a bit of time to think about spiritual things.

I felt I was “on the fence” so to speak.

My answer was always the same if someone asked me whether I was a Christian, “I’m not sure”. I don’t think I was lying when I said that, I really wasn’t sure, I had asked God to forgive my sins but I wasn’t living as a Christian; and looking back – I wasn’t a Christian.

Summer 2004, I was 14 years old. I had been booked to go along to a Christian camp in Wales, under canvas and all that. It seems that God really does bless such ocassions, and he did so on that week. I suppose it was partly due to me having many examples from older Christians, as well as being out of the context of ‘a church’ and also having a real focus on God’s word. I know that people were praying for me, and God spoke to me throughout that week. I was really persuaded that to ask God for a new life was the right thing.

Looking back on my story, in a way I wish it was different; more romantic. I think to myself,

It would sound better if I wasn’t brought up in a Christian environment, or if I had gone off the rails a bit more, taken drugs, gone to prison – it’s those conversions that are truly miraculous.

But that isn’t true. I was a lost soul. I was heading for destruction. I had no hope.

God saved me. God helped me, and he continues to do so to this day. Through Jesus my sins are forgiven, that is a miracle!

This post can also be found on new theology blog, Onward Motion.

TV: Pocoyo

Logan watches this all the time these days, I never thought Stephen Fry’s voice could get this annoying.

I can’t doubt how well designed the whole thing is though. It’s very modern, or perhaps even post-modern. Apparently it was originally Spanish.