Category: Uncategorized

No, not my Grandma. The book.

You can have a browse inside it here – some of the pictures are genius! 🙂

Yesterday morning, we got up relatively early and took the train down to Orpington to pick up our new car. Everything went smoothly, we picked up the keys and transferred all the documents in about ten minutes, and then it was ours to drive back. Exciting stuff! We had lunch with Philippa’s parents, and then drove back home – stopping off to get our shop at Tollgate Sainsbury’s (that’s a rant for another day – it was a nightmare! So busy, ugh. Horrible. I’m glad I don’t have to shop there every week, or even every year come to think of it).

So, first things first, our previous car – the Hyundai Lantra – is now up for sale on eBay. I gave it a wash and vac this afternoon, not that it will make much difference! I don’t know whether anyone will be interested, but looking at the price of the other Lantras on offer (most of them are more expensive) I think we might be in with a shot with some bargain hunters.

I would like to talk about the Saab though. It’s a 2000 (W-reg) Saab 9-3 (not a 93 apparently, that would be too obvious), 2.0 Litre Turbo version. The engine size is bigger than the Hyundai, which will mean that it’s less petrol efficient. However, it doesn’t seem to be a gas guzzler so far (30mpg roughly), so hopefully it won’t make too much difference to my wallet! I did notice that on the A12 driving back yesterday, at 70mph the rev counter was only at about 2,600rpm – on the 1.6 Hyundai it would have been just over 3,000. It also accelerates much quicker (when the turbo kicks in), and is a bit quieter in the car going at those kind of speeds.

And it feels ten times better to drive – everything is solidly built and well put together. It also has a few more features than the Hyundai did (which I suppose is not surprising given that Hyundais are budget cars): remote locking, alarm (not sure whether an alarm is a good thing but still), on board computer, climate control, and lots of other little niceties which demonstrate that Saabs are well designed, well thought out cars.

Aaaanyhoo, I’ll stop going on about it now – I just hope that it proves to be a reliable car to run!

… Now stop worrying and enjoy life. This is the slogan from the atheist bus campaign – although it’s been in the news for a while, it is starting today. It was brought to my attention my Anne-Marie’s excellent blog post earlier today.

I always found this statement to be quite funny. “Probably” no God? Most atheists I’ve talked with on the matter are more convinced than that. Although I believe the original wording was supposed to say something like ‘almost certainly’ but for some reason they had to change it. The other thing is, it implies that people who do hold religious conviction are worrying and not enjoying life. That doesn’t seem to be my experience – but maybe I’ll come onto that.

It does seem ironic that the bus campaign should be starting now, when we are in the midst of a financial crisis. The slogan brings to mind the parable of the rich fool. This parable tells the story of a man who was rich in this life, but spiritually poor. He selfishly stored up goods for himself, and didn’t worry about God.

Does this sound familiar? I think a lot of the problems we’re in have come from greed. Too many individuals and companies have acted greedily, trying to make as much money as possible. Storing up goods for themselves. The thing is, I think this is a consequence of not believing in God and “enjoying life”, as the bus campaign puts it. OK, so the financial crisis is a very exaggerated version of it, but it still remains that if there is no God and no accountability then people can pretty much behave exactly as they want and there are no repercussions other than what you might have in this life. So, really, if you’re the right kind of person you can get away with murder (sometimes literally), and there will be no justice.

I don’t think a message like that is going to go down too well in the current climate. And it certainly doesn’t provide a reason for us not to worry and enjoy life! But this is what I found interesting: immediately after the parable of the rich fool, Jesus says these famous words:

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
…
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”

That’s strange! People of religion are apparently worriers and don’t enjoy life. But Christians are told not to worry! That God will provide! (Surely a much more appropriate message given the financial situation). Of course, we are not promised riches, or lots of material goods – but we do at least have the hope of heaven, and that justice will be done (“will not the God of all the earth do right?”).

Jesus came not to make us feel guilty and force us to do things we don’t want to do. He came to liberate us, to give us hope. I think the Christian message is the most powerful message in the world, and it’s more relevant than ever. Hope is a powerful thing, and I think the atheist bus campaign is rather underestimating it.

Hmmm, this blog post has ended up being a tad different to how I envisioned it. Guess that’s why it’s a bit rambling and incoherent… like every other one of my blog posts :p Apologies to Anne-Marie for nicking her idea.

Well, some good news: the car has been fixed! Yay! It wasn’t too expensive either, I said that I was going to sell the car in a week and so my mechanic friend managed to find a second hand radiator from a scrapyard. (If we’d waited for a new one, it would have been next Monday before it arrived).

So that’s a relief – all that remains is to sell the car. Anyone want to buy a ‘V’ reg Hyundai Lantra which has done nearly 110,000 miles? Hmmm… maybe I should try autotrader :p

Well, after having the little rant about the car, I thought I’d post up something a bit more positive! I bought a new guitar yesterday. It’s a Squier Stratocaster Classic Vibe. Squier used to be cheap knock-off copies of Fender guitars… now they are expensive knock-off copies of Fender guitars! Just kidding. Apparently it’s one of the better Squier guitars, it seems pretty well built and plays nicely.

I also tried a few other guitars in the shop – notably an Ibanez and an Epiphone Les Paul. I liked the sound on both of them, really ‘warm’ – but I thought the Strat would be the best all-rounder. Plus it was in my price range – the Epiphone was a bit more expensive.

So, I am now the proud owner of my very first electric guitar. And it’s been great fun so far! Although it took a bit of getting used to, I think I’m getting the hang of it so I can do pretty much the same things on the electric that I could do on the acoustic guitar. What I’ll have to do now is learn to play with distortion and some powerchords, and then of course learn some solos… but there’s plenty of time for that!

Anyway, I’m dead chuffed with the guitar – it seems like a great little guitar to get started on, and I think it will last me for a long time. So, yay!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we we looking at buying a second-hand Saab 9-3. I was just waiting on the insurance premium quote to come back. Anyway, I did get the insurance quote back and it was OK, so we called up and made an offer on the car. We said we would be able to pick it up next weekend.

So far so good. That’s where the good part of the story ends, however. When I had the car MOT’d back in August, they said there was a problem with the radiator – it had a slow leak. While they patched it up for me, they said it might well need a new radiator putting in.

… guess when the radiator chooses to give up? Yes, that’s right: today! One week before selling the car. I was just driving it back from Halfords (where I was picking up a few bits and pieces to clean the car with), I noticed that the temperature gauge was going through the roof. Fortunately I was only about half a mile from home, so I managed to get back OK. When I stopped, I noticed a fair amount of water leaking out of the bottom.

D’oh. Looks like we’re going to have to get a taxi into church tomorrow. Looks like I’m going to have to get the bus into work this week… it seems fairly pointless getting the radiator replaced at this stage, but I think we’re going to have to because it’s just so inconvenient *not* having a car and working where I do (it’s about an hour on the bus, at inconvenient times).

Irony sometimes has a way of slapping you til it hurts 🙁

First all, let me say – happy 2009! I hope it is a good year for you 🙂

Well, the past few days have gone by pretty quickly. Last Sunday, Phil and I travelled down to Kent to stay with Phil’s parents for a few days. We had a great time – very restful!

We also test drove a Saab 93… we went to see Julie and Dave, and as we were leaving Dave happened to ask whether we wanted to buy a car! So we went back on Wednesday morning on the way back home to give it a test drive. It was very nice, very smooth. Saabs are well put together cars generally, and it showed with the nice smooth ride and quiet interior. The only problem is, it has a bigger engine than our current car (it has a 2.0 Litre turbo) – which means it will be less fuel efficient. I don’t think it will make a huge difference depending on how you drive it, but it does have a good kick of speed if you need it.

Aaaanyway. On Wednesday evening we had a few people round for a New Year’s Eve party. Matthew, Ellie, Phil B, Anne-Marie, Sarah and Alex all came round. I think everyone had a good time – despite the rather hard quiz we made up!

And… I think that’s pretty much us up to date. I’m going to go into town later on to look at guitars… I may even go crazy and buy one! (Oh, the crazy mixed-up world we live in. Well, I live in at least).

Just thought I’d better update before I forget everything that’s gone on at Christmas! On Christmas Eve we went to the carols by candlelight service at Fordham. It was absolutely packed! Around 300 people in the church – a church which has a seating capacity of about 150. We put out a whole load of additional chairs but there were still people standing at the back. It was lovely to see so many people there, though – and I think everyone enjoyed it. The music went well and Mike did a good talk.

Afterwards we went to Ipswich to stay with my parents for Christmas. We had a great time with my family, we played a few games and what have you – all the kinds of things you usually do at Christmas! And on Saturday we came back home after lunch, and as of yesterday we’ve been down at Phil’s parents.

So… in general, it’s been busy but great fun! My Mum got a webcam for Christmas which looks brilliant – we had a chat with my aunt in Australia using Skype. I might have to get one.

We’ve watched a fair bit of TV over Christmas too – haven’t seen the Doctor Who special yet (curse our Freeview recorder which didn’t record!) but we will catch up on the iPlayer soon. We also didn’t see Top Gear Vietnam special (we watched The 39 Steps instead), so another one to watch on the iPlayer. The new Wallace & Gromit was good but I didn’t think it was as good as the previous ones.

Aaaand, I think that’s pretty much up to date. That’s all from me for now!

Had my work Christmas meal at lunchtime yesterday. We have our Christmas Eve carol service at Fordham tonight. I feel like Christmas has finally arrived!

Aaanyway. I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas this year, and do spend some time reflecting on the Christmas story. Remember, despite all the cute pictures of Joseph and Mary and the baby in a manger, Jesus is so much more:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:15-20

The reason for Jesus’ coming to earth? To “reconcile” us to himself – to make us friends with himself, instead of enemies!

Take care and I’ll probably update sometime over the Christmas period.

Well, we had the final wedding of 2008 yesterday. It went well! It was a civil ceremony at Vaulty Manor near Witham, followed by a reception there. Very nice ‘service’ (not sure if you can call a civil ceremony a ‘service’ but still), followed by a delicious dinner (great beef), followed by me DJing. Ah, the fun. We picked up the DJ stuff from Essex DJ in the morning.

I have a music quiz in a minute so not really much else to say… I’ll try and update later. Or tomorrow. Boooyah.