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I had a rather nice weekend, although unfortunately Phil was away at a hen weekend (I should point out that Phil being away had nothing to do with me having a nice weekend!)

On Friday night I went to Rollerworld and Quasar with 21. I didn’t actually skate, but I think all the kids did and really enjoyed it. After what happened in May (i.e. breaking my tooth while ice skating) I’m rather wary about doing anything like that, so I was quite glad just to sit it out and watch from the sides! Afterwards we had a round of Quasar, which was quite good fun. Although I am absolutely terrible at it – I would fire off about ten shots at someone without hitting them, and they’d turn round and shoot one at me and hit me!

Aaaaanyway, that was a fun evening. On Saturday we had a guy round from British Gas to service the boiler. Although he did manage to service the boiler OK, it seems like we’re actually going to need to get a new boiler installed in the fairly near future. That’s an expense we could live without, but I guess these things have to be done. It will actually save us a fair bit of money in the long run (our boiler is currently very inefficient) so it will be worth having. Annoying about the timing, but there you go! Such are the perils of owning your own house.

In the afternoon I did a bit of shopping in town, and then in the evening I went to Pizza Express for Sarah’s birthday. There were quite a few people there – I didn’t actually know a lot of them, but there were one or two of Jon’s old work colleagues and Sarah’s friends who I’d met before so that was good.

On Sunday morning I went to church, and then stuck around for the student lunch afterwards. There were quite a few students there in the end – around 35, I think. I helped out with a few bits and pieces like clearing up, but mostly I was just there to eat the food and talk to the students! I hope we have a few come back to the church, they seemed like a nice bunch.

After I got home, I decided to get the decks out as I’d been listening to a few of my old mixes and felt rather nostalgic. They haven’t seen the light of day since we moved house, so I was a little rusty, but I really enjoyed it! Digging through some of my old tunes, great fun. What I need to do now is retrieve the rest of my old records from my parents’ house, quite when that will be I don’t know.

Right, I think I’ve rambled on for long enough now… that’s pretty much it!

We had a quieter weekend this time round! On Friday evening were at ’21′, where I was doing the talk (on Grace). It seemed to go pretty well, Grace is a very big subject but I hope that the kids understand it a bit better now :-)

On Saturday we did the usual shopping in the morning, and then spent the afternoon in the garden. I mowed the lawn, which hopefully will be the last time we have to mow it this year! In the evening we met up with Anne-Marie and Sarah and went for dinner at Sloppy Joe’s. Although it was very busy we managed to find a table and had a nice dinner, and then afterwards we went to see “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect about the film because I didn’t know much about it other than the fact that Simon Pegg was in it. It was very good – reminded me a bit of “The Devil Wears Prada”… but much funnier! There were some absolutely brilliant moments in it, although it has to be said – it wasn’t as sharp as Shaun and Hot Fuzz. In other words, it was more like “Run, Fatboy, Run” than the Simon Pegg / Edgar Wright style films. Still it was a very entertaining watch and definitely worth seeing / buying if you’re a fan of Simon Pegg :-)

Anyway. On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then went round to Simon and Lara’s for lunch. We were meeting up with a few other people to discuss the student work at Fordham over the next academic year, and it all seemed quite positive. In the evening we went to the service at Eight Ash Green, and then came back and watched “James May’s Big Ideas” on alternative energy.

I’ve been watching the news over the past few months and it does seem that we’re quite close to a breakthrough in alternative energy. I reckon in 10-20 years, 50% or more of our energy will come from renewable sources. We’re certainly closer to a viable renewable energy source than we are to Artificial Intelligence or flying cars!

Aaaaanyway. I think that’s just about it from me!

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!

We were doing some more entertaining this weekend! Two weekends in a row, gosh… but more of that in a moment. On Friday evening we helped out at 21 (in the new John Owen Barn at Fordham, which is very impressive). It has an earlier start time than it did last year, so we had dinner at lunchtime and then just had a light tea when we got back.

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping during the day, and I mowed the lawn. Again. (The lawn has been growing like wildfire since the GreenThumb treatment – not a bad thing, mind, as it was in a bad state – but it’s quite unusual for this time of year!).

In the evening Foz came up by train. We got a Chinese takeaway from EXP, and then watched “The Beast with a Billion Backs” which Foz hadn’t seen before. Foz stayed the night, and then in the morning we all went to Fordham.

Afterwards, we went to lunch at Bob and Ruth’s – Foz knew them from his student days (they went to the same church), but a couple of years ago they started coming to Fordham so we know them as well. We had a lovely roast dinner anyway, and a very enjoyable afternoon sitting outside in the garden.

We left there late afternoon, dropped Foz off at the station, and then headed back home to relax for the evening. Ah, it’s a busy life – not that I’m complaining! Haven’t seen Foz in ages so it was good to catch up.

And, I think that’s pretty much everything for the weekend. Ta ta for now…

It’s been a fairly busy week! I’ll try and remember what we’ve been up to… on Friday night we helped out at ’21′. That was the penultimate study for this term – the last one will be on Friday, which we are leading (scary!).

On Saturday evening we went round to Anne-Marie’s to watch the final part of this year’s Doctor Who – “Journey’s End”. I really enjoyed it – they haven’t been particularly kind on the Behind the Sofa blog, but I really enjoyed watching. (Note: if you haven’t seen it, this may contain a few spoilers…) Donna has definitely been my favourite of the new companions, and her story at the end was just heartbreaking. Catherine Tate really silenced all her critics, she was absolutely “fantastic”! Bernard Cribbins has been a real asset throughout the series as well – I never realised before how good an actor he was! He really nailed the scenes, particularly memorable to me are in the first episode, the scene with him and Donna; in ‘Turn Left’ with “That’s what they called them before”; and in the final episode on the doorstep. Oh, and Julian Bleach was fantastic as Davros.

Right, that’s enough Doctor Who for now, roll on the Christmas Special!

Aaaaanyway. After Doctor Who we went to Zizzi’s in town for a meal with Alex, Elisa, Dan, Alison and Tom. It was sort of a celebratory meal because Alex has got a promotion at work (well done, Alex!), and sort of a “catch up as we haven’t seen each other in ages” kind of meal. It was a good time anyway, and the food was delicious!

On Sunday we went to Fordham in the morning, and came back home to watch the Wimbledon men’s tennis final in the afternoon. Unfortunately we missed the third and fourth sets because we were out at a youth service (again at Fordham), but — what a match! I’m so glad that Nadal won, he had worked so hard and really deserved it. Federer, too, played an excellent match – I hope we see more of them both in the future!

This weekend turned out to be fairly quiet, for a change!

On Friday evening we helped out at ’21′, which went well. On Saturday we went out to a BBQ at Roy and Janette’s (friends from home group).

Afterwards we headed over to Wivenhoe to watch the new Doctor Who (“The Doctor’s Daughter”). It was a pretty good episode, but there were a few things that bothered me somewhat:

• If the ‘clones’ (for want of a better word – the output of the machine) couldn’t create clones from clones, how come they’d managed to survive through generations?
• How come the general was so comparitively old? Unless they just had a shorter life-cycle, but that wasn’t suggested by anything else.
• The death scene with Jenny, and then the coming back. It was a little cheesy… to put it mildly.

Still. Afterwards we watched Nancy and Pushing Daisies (which I’m liking more and more with each episode).

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then headed out to Mersea: one of Phil’s colleagues was opening a gym there, and it was the “grand opening” on Sunday. After popping in, we had lunch at the Art Cafe, which was delicious. Then we headed back home and did a bit of gardening (well, Phil did at least!)

In the evening we went to “Sunday @ 7″ at Fordham, where Andy Saville was talking about the Divinity of Christ. It was a really interesting talk, and most of it will be available to download from the Fordham Website shortly (unfortunately the mic gave out five minutes before the end, doh!)

After the service we came back home and watched “Wild Hogs”. I quite enjoyed it – it wasn’t the best film in the world ever, but it was quite entertaining and good fun to watch. If you’re in a video rental store of an evening and don’t know what to get, I can recommend it.

Well, it was a less “Weddingy” weekend this time round!

On Friday night we helped out at ’21′, a youth group at Fordham for those in school years 7-8 (or something like that). It went pretty well, although I was a little apprehensive because I haven’t done any youth work before at all. We’ll be helping out there every fortnight for the time being, so hopefully I’ll get more confident with it as time goes on!

On Saturday I spent the day not doing very much! – Phil was out sorting out wedding stuff with one of her work colleagues, so I stayed around and did a bit of gardening, playing the guitar etc. In the evening we went round to Anne-Marie’s and watched Doctor Who – and I must say, I rather enjoyed it! It was probably the best Helen Raynor episode to date, although there were a few things that were a little cliched: villains wanting to take over / threatening the whole world, check. People all over the planet buying the same piece of technology, check. Still, it was well paced and written with some humourous moments – I loved the “explosion” of the SatNav unit!

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then came back home to sort out a few bits and pieces for various weddings! – it turns out that we have been invited to the wedding of one of Phil’s cousins which is happening in May (the day after Phil and Esther’s wedding!). This means that we’re now going to have three weddings in May, the total for this year being seven so far. Anyway, there wasn’t much to do – just research transport!

In the evening we went to the “firm foundations” course at Fordham, led by Andy Saville, where he was speaking about the evidence for Jesus. It was a really good talk, but unfortunately it wasn’t recorded because Andy wasn’t miked up. Still, it’s good to know that there is enough evidence for believe in Jesus to be rational, even if it isn’t coercive!

And that pretty much brings us up to date.

This weekend was quite… “weddingy”. I know that’s not a word, but I just made it up. So there.

On Friday night we didn’t have much in the way of weddings to do – Phil was out helping at the Fordham youth group 21, and I … well, I stayed in and didn’t do much!

On Saturday evening, we went out to a wedding reception for one of Phil’s colleagues. It was good fun! We stayed for most of the evening, and danced the night away… the DJ was pretty good and played all the cheesy classics. The only problem was, he played a lot of good stuff while we were eating, which meant we couldn’t get up and dance! Ah well.

On Sunday morning we went to church, and then afterwards had AJ round for lunch. We were discussing helping out at 21 – neither of us have done any youth work before, but we’re going to start helping out on a fornightly basis. A bit scary, but I think it will be enjoyable!

In the evening, I went out to Ian’s stag night dinner in Ipswich. I got a lift over with Matthew, we made up the Colchester contingent! We went to an indian resturant called Dhaka. The food was good but it was quite on the pricey side. Anyway, we had a good evening, and it was also good to meet some of Ian’s friends from Ipswich.

Afterwards, I came back home and watched “Planet of the Ood”, this week’s Doctor Who, which I’d recorded on Saturday. I thought it was a really good episode, even if some of it didn’t quite make sense to me (the whole ‘Doctor being chased by a giant grabber’ scene didn’t quite work for me). It also had some more references to the lack of bees on earth, and the Doctor’s song “ending” … all in all, this series is shaping up to be pretty good!