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Another quick update about the weekend. On Friday night we helped out at 21, which was mostly preparing for the youth service on Sunday night.

Then on Saturday we did some shopping in the morning, followed by some Moore Course revision in the afternoon (the exam is on 27th, so just under two weeks left to go now. It will go by quickly!) Then, in the evening we had AJ and Jen round for dinner. We made a curry, and it seemed to go very well. AJ even took a picture of the bombay potatoes in the dish and set it as his phone wallpaper! I’m not quite sure why, but they did look good. Afterwards we played games, mainly a game called “Cranium” – which was great fun, although it was probably one of those evenings where you had to be there – and then we played Uno. It’s the kind of evening we should really do more often!

Anyway. On Sunday we went to the Mothering Sunday service in the morning, then back for lunch and a bit more revision, then out again for the youth service. So, there you have it, that was our weekend!

I’m getting very slack – it’s now Wednesday and I haven’t updated with a usual weekend style update. Well, if you’re lucky, I might toss in some news of what we’ve been up to mid-week :p

Anyway. Friday night – 21 as usual. Saturday – I spent most of the day preparing for Sunday morning. In the evening Phil went to Chelmsford for Rich’s party, unfortunately I was still preparing so couldn’t go. But I did go to Sarah and Jon’s for a couple of drinks – they are leaving Colchester (sad times), so I thought it would be nice if I could pop round once I’d finished my preparation. It was a really good evening anyway – I caught up with them, and Andy B and Helen. We also played ‘Buzz’ and ‘Singstar’ on the PS2, which was good fun! At the 21 Christmas party this Friday we will be having a Singstar competition, should be good fun.

On Sunday I spoke at church, as I have already mentioned, and then we went round to Dennis and Christine’s for a sort of student lunch. I say “sort of” because they invited a few students along, but also invited us. But it was a nice afternoon anyway – I was very full by the end of it! And then we went to Sunday@6 in the evening.

So there you have it! And the mid-week update, as promised. This is very exciting stuff, as I’m sure you can image: on Monday Phil had a PCC meeting, so I stayed in and started re-watching Torchwood (“Children of Earth”). Then, last night we went out for dinner with Jo, who now lives just round the corner from us. (She has a 6 month old baby so she appreciates having adults to talk to!)

Um… yes. Not much else to say at the moment.

It was half-term last week, so we had no 21 to go to! Phil was wedding dress shopping with her sister though, so I was left on my own. Fortunately, Alison had a birthday meal on Friday night so I was able to go to that :) It was a really nice evening – we went to the Lemon Tree, and then the Hospital Arms. The dinner was lovely, and then I discovered at the Hospital Arms that they serve Bitburger (a beer which I first had visiting Andy C in Trier). They also had a Weizen beer which looked interesting but I didn’t get around to having any. Afterwards, as Alex was staying round, we stayed up light chatting about random things (ah, I’ve missed those crazy random chats from uni days!)

On Saturday, most of the morning was spent doing various catch up things (i.e. shopping). In the evening we went round to Phil and Jenny’s for Jenny’s birthday party (“we” being Phil, Alex, Phil P, Esther, and myself). It was a great evening – really good to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while, including Steve and Karen and Chris and Louise, as well as the aforementioned Phil P and Esther.

So, two parties in one weekend, I’m such a party animal ;)

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and then went out for lunch with the Reynolds, with a few other students who had been working on some sort of drama together (long story, don’t ask). And then we went to Sunday@6 in the evening! So… a full weekend. But we didn’t have to cook once, not bad going!

Well, this week was a bit more busy, but in a really nice way.

On Friday evening we had 21, and then afterwards Alex came round to stay for a couple of nights (he had a party near Ipswich to go to).

Anyway, on Saturday morning we did a bit of shopping and general sorting out of stuff. In the afternoon, Laura came round and we had dinner, then watched lots of various comedy things (as well as the Doctor Who episode ‘Blink’). It was a really nice evening!

Then, on Sunday we went to church in the morning, then had some lunch with Alex, and then went to Sunday@6 in the evening. So not a very exciting day but quite relaxing!

Not much else to say at the moment. We started the Moore Course last week, we’re doing Ephesians this year. I keep seeing Ephesians everywhere – at the prayer meeting last week, on someone’s blog! Strange. As well as reading through the course notes, I’ve also bought a couple of commentaries on Ephesians and will be reading through them as well.

This weekend was quite a nice one! On Friday night we helped out at 21, and I did the talk. This week, it was on the parable of the sower. The kids all seemed knackered, but I think they took at least some of it in!

On Saturday we spent the day doing shopping and various things that needed to be done. Then, in the evening we headed round to AJ and Jen’s house for a games night. We all ate together, and then played a variety of games. It was really good – quite a few people from Fordham were there: apart from AJ and Jen and Phil and I, there was also Laura, Pete, Rachel, and James and Tash. We played “Pass the Bomb” to start with, which went down pretty well. Then we played the hat game (guessing the names of celebrities people write down and put in a hat), and then we played the Pit game. I can’t exactly remember what it was called, but it was about trading cards to get all of a particular set and score points. Fun, although I wasn’t very good (although James and I did come second, so perhaps we weren’t that bad).

Anyway, that was all good fun… hope we have another one sometime in the not too distant future! On Sunday morning we went to church as per usual. In the afternoon I spent some time looking at the Moore Course (we’re doing Ephesians this term), then went to Sunday@6. Afterwards we watched “The World is Not Enough”, which I haven’t seen in ages!

So that’s pretty much it for the weekend.

This weekend was relatively busy, things are picking up after the summer and we’re now virtually back to a full schedule. On Friday night we helped out at 21 as per usual. Then on Saturday morning we did some shopping, and then in the afternoon popped round to see Jo and David’s new flat.

Then we went to Colchester Baptist Church for a performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. Anne-Marie was singing and narrating (not at the same time), so we went there and joined Sarah to watch it. It was a really good performance, took me right back to primary school (I was in a performance of it then, although we didn’t do all the songs). The band and singers were all great, with the exception of one poor girl who got so nervous she had a little trouble keeping time! Afterwards A-M and Sarah came round for a cup of hot chocolate.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning as per usual. And then in the evening I went off to Sunday@6! After that we came home and watched “The Boat that Rocked”.

I quite enjoyed the film although it was a bit long. It was a “Who’s Who” of British comedy, part of the fun of the film was trying to identify all the actors! One thing I wondered about was that the soundtrack contained absolutely no Beatles songs. Given that it was set in 1966/67, I found that quite strange. At the end a lot of album covers were shown, and “Sergeant Pepper” was one of them. I thought perhaps the Beatles hadn’t given permission for their songs to be used, but can’t find anything about it on the internet.

Anyway, that was our weekend!

This weekend we made the journey down to Somerset to see Matthew and Ellie. We started out at about 9:30 on Saturday morning, and got there without too many problems at about 2:00PM. The roads were surprisingly clear, except for the A303 by Stonehenge!

On Sunday morning we went to church with them in Shepton Mallet. It was nice to have a slightly more traditional Anglican service, although the church was rather traditionally cold! That’s the problem with these big stone buildings – they’re a nightmare to heat, especially in August when you’re not expecing it to be cold!

Afterwards we went to a local pub for lunch, and then we headed back and watched some “Fawlty Towers”. Then we had some tea and played “Mexican Train” – followed by making some rather random, silly models of various things out of the domino style bricks. It was a fun evening!

On Monday we headed into Wells to have a look around. Wells is best known for its beautiful cathedral, and we had a good look around. It was indeed stunning, and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. But the other reason we wanted to go to Wells was because it was where “Hot Fuzz” was filmed! Apparently Edgar Wright grew up in Wells and wanted to film it there. We saw the church (St Cuthbert’s, where the reporter was … decapitated), the fountain (where the human statue was stood outside), and The Swan hotel (where Simon Pegg’s character stays). In the evening we watched Hot Fuzz again and could actually recognise the High St – they’d digitally removed the cathedral from a few shots but it’s very recognisable as Wells!

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend in general – we’ll have to go down and have a proper explore sometime. The area is beautiful, if a little rainy (well, it was at the weekend – but then I say that coming from an area which apparently has the least amount of rain in the country).

In other news, we are on holiday this week and next! This week we’re at home doing various things, but next week we’re going up to Edinburgh and we’re really looking forward to it :)

Just realised I forgot to update with what happened at the weekend! Doh! Well, a quick update: on Friday night, we had the last 21 of this term. In a way it was quite sad to say goodbye to some of the kids (they’re going up to the next youth group which we’re not involved in) but it was nice to know we’re now free on Friday evenings for the summer!

On Saturday afternoon we headed over to Ipswich for Sheri and Pete’s wedding. It was a lovely day – although the weather was a bit variable it didn’t rain, and everyone seemed really happy. And it was really good to see some of the old uni people again – particularly Chris and Louise and Phil and Esther, who we hadn’t seen in ages.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then didn’t do much in the afternoon, and then went to Sunday@6, and then went to Wivenhoe to have fish & chips with Alex and Elisa. The first time we’d been to Pop’s fish & chip shop in a long time! Unfortunately he wasn’t there, but the food was great. Then we went to the Greyhound for a bit to have a drink and play some darts. So, there you have it! All in all, a pretty good weekend.

This weekend has been a good one! On Saturday afternoon Foz came up from London. We went round to see Bob and Ruth, who Foz knew from his student days and who now go to Fordham.

Afterwards we headed round to Steve & Karen’s for a gathering of people and spent most of the evening chatting and hearing random stories from a friend of Foz’s who I hadn’t met before.

On Sunday morning we went to church, and then in the evening we had the youth service. I was playing piano in the band, so we had a music practice for it beforehand. It all went well – the whole service! There were more people there than at the last youth service, and I think they all seemed to enjoy it. Apart from one or two minor blips the music went without a hitch, and people were able to sing all the songs without problems. AJ’s talk was really good as well – it involved a lot of audience participation which I think went down well!

Fordham are going to start up a second service on Sunday evenings which I think is going ot be more like a youth service. Hopefully that will pick up some momentum and will go as well as the youth services have gone.

Aaanyway, that’s all for now!

I’m getting slack with updating this blog! I do apologise… NOT!! Bwahahahaha.

Ahem. Anyway. the weekend, then… on Friday evening we helped out at 21 again. We were leading this week… it went pretty well for me – it was the first time I’ve ever played my guitar for a group of people! I only did one song but I think it went OK.

On Saturday, I picked up Jon B and we went down to The Great Lodge Experience at Great Bardfield for Andy B’s stag do. We had a look round the grounds and the vineyards, and the proprieter (Alan) explained to us the wine making process there. Then we tasted some of the wine, and had a ploughman’s lunch. All in all, it was a very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours! The wine was really good – I didn’t buy any bottles afterwards (mainly due to lack of funds…) but will see if I can find some soon.

Afterwards we went back to Southend to see Andy B’s new house (well, bungalow). We went to the pub for a bit, then came back (getting an Indian takeaway on the way), and in the evening played a “Pub Quiz” game. Unfortunately I had to leave fairly early as I was making my way back to Colchester that night, but it was a really good day. I liked all of Andy’s friends (me and Jon being the only people there from Essex Uni apart from Andy) – although the conversation did get incredibly dodgy at times! (Even dodgier than the CU…)

On Sunday we went to Fordham in the morning, where Mike preached a very good sermon about contentment. It did rather make me feel quite guilty — I don’t think I’m very good at being contented! There’s always something that needs doing, or stuff you need to get. Doing up the bathroom, replacing the car, getting a new boiler… sometimes I think we just need to sit back and relax a bit! All of those things are or will be necessary, but we could relax a bit in the meantime.

Aaaaanyway. On Sunday afternoon we didn’t do very much (unfortunately Phil had to work), which was followed by not doing very much on Sunday evening. So now you know!

I’ve been off work today with a cold – I had it over the weekend, but I felt awful this morning. Seems to be going now though so hopefully I’ll be back in at work tomorrow. Right, that’s all from me for now!