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“He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”
How true.
As the day of our house move grows nearer, we find ourselves in an awkward position - we’ve got no place to go to.
We have set ourselves the date of August 15th as moving day for going to Grimsby. We chose that day because it is the only date that we can fit the move into - everything else between then and now, and the time subsequent to that date are full up with activity: overseas trips, conferences, visits, etc.
But August 15th really isnt far away any more, and yet we’re apparently no closer to finding a new home. To be honest I find this hard, I have really been trusting that God would provide an answer to the problem, and I still am trusting. But all I see around me is options being stripped away, which is kind of disheartening.
On top of that, well meaning friends encourage us with words like ‘oh, do you really have to go?’ or ‘we’d love you to stay here’, which are very touching, but not terribly helpful when we are trying to push through into the new stuff.
We have a basic conundrum which is that we dont have enough income to support a commercial rent, but we cant get housing from the local housing association either, cos we’re not high enough priority candidates - which I can understand.
The thing is that I dont want to have money, we manage on very little income, which is good in my book, but suddenly it poses me with a problem. There seem to be no alternative options for those who want to live another way. We may be forced into spending some time with family members, which would be fine, except for the fact that we have a house full of stuff, and there are four of us…
My heart is to follow Jesus, the nomadic prophet, the penniless rabbi, the homeless God-man, yet for me to be homeless means for my children to be homeless too, and that’s awkward, especially seeing as they want a new school to go to!
So we need a new home, somewhere we can live our way, which means simply, hospitably, happily.
If you have a spare moment, please remember this in a prayer.
Oh yeah, and hello - sorry I havent posted for an age, been having a blogging holiday, and had parents to stay, my brother got married, Kel and I went to a gig, cool stuff like that - so I havent bothered posting - hope you havent missed me.
It’s been a long time since I blogged - a number of important things have taken place since the last post:
1) I turned 31
2) I completed the Llanelli 10K race - I took about an hour and came 601st out of a field of about 830… I was pleased.
3) I got temporarily obsessed by ebay, as I bought some dj kit and two cd’s with money I got for my birthday.
4) Some potentially massive steps forward with the organic cotton project have taken place - I will update as they become more or less concrete.
5) I had my hair cut.
6) I got told off by my daughter for driving to the swimming pool. She was right.
7) I got paid for some work (forgot what that was like for a bit).
We set a date for moving - despite not having anywhere to move to: August 15th…
So on we go… I’ll write more soon I promise.
really interested to read a series of posts by Mark Sayers, who writes thoughtfully about some of the reasons young adults are so fed up with church… starting here. (ht: hamo)
go here to read all about my brother’s forthcoming exhibition in the USA, wish I was clever like him 
bibi van der see gives some helpful pointers about how to protest and survive!
archbishop of the weird hyper charismatics John Crowder answers some of his critics here…
and finally TSK had the legend that is David Pierce (from whom I first learned it was possible to be a Christian punk) on his site a while ago, well worth a read. I love that guy - here’s my favourite quote from his interview: “…Can you imagine an anarchistic band ever saying, “We’re not an anarchistic band. We’re just a band of people who happen to be anarchists. We don’t want to push anarchy on people. We just want people to see anarchy in our lives”? If everyone else can speak clearly and give their ideas without restraint, how come Christians always feel like they have to keep silent, especially when there is so much authority in their message?”
sorry for not writing much recently, been doing lots of work, and by the time I get round to thinking about blogging, my eyelids are drooping.
Had I been blogging I would probably have droned on about Jesus for president, (so good!!) which I am currently reading when I get the chance, the whole thing of post charismatics, todd bentley, and christians who wear bling, I really must get round to writing about the birkman test which was much better than I thought it would be, I’m having a love affair with Miles Davis’ ‘Kind of Blue’ - again, I might even tell you what an impact the slow worm in my garden has had on the slugs, how much better the lettuces I planted up with home made compost grow than ones in shop bought compost, lots of talk about sunshine and beaches (another reason I’ve not been blogging) - and all about the salmon and a brand new dance - killer track from last year - which I’m gonna leave you with.
I’ll be back! But till then…
I’m off to London today, then to Northampton and other destinations before ending up at the New Monasticism conference in Coventry on Saturday - that means dont expect to hear much from me over the next few days, not that you have over the last few 
Today is the birthday of my son, Ajani. Sadly it is also the day he died.
Exactly one year ago he was delivered at Singleton Hospital, Swansea.
He should have been born with a sign that read: Just passing through.
His life touched mine, and many others, and I am grateful to him.
Ajani Cross, much missed by all of us, never forgotten.
This is a poem I wrote for him:
Oh bonny, bonny lad.
How I wish I could have known you more.
How I wish I could have held you more,
Loved you more.
Made you laugh, and dried your tears,
Seen you grow and change over the years.
But you are gone, gone from here.
How I weep, how I mourn for you my precious child.
Your skin so cold, your limbs so still.
Oh I ache with the pain. My tears flow like rivers.
My bonny little boy, you’re gone from me.
But is that it? Is that the end?
Is this pain, this dull ache, all there is now?
No.
You have life still, though not in your body.
Not with breath, not with blood.
Life eternal, life supreme.
Somewhere beyond the bird song,
Beyond the horizon, beyond the material, beyond the natural,
Beyond pain, sickness, suffering, and beyond death.
You stand, feet apart, sword in hand.
My warrior baby. My bonny boy.
You fought. You won. You were great fun.
We miss you so.
The increasing awareness of the fact that people around the world are starving, and its partly our fault, is leading more and more of us to recognise that we need to change our eating habits.
Most of the publicity at the moment is going towards the demonisation of bio fuels, which we already know are in danger of being described as a crime against humanity.
That is good, we have to acknowledge that switching from petroleum to bio fuels isnt enough, we must cut our consumption instead.
But we also can no longer ignore the issue of meat. My opinions on the future of meat eating are already clear, and I feel there is a growing ground swell of opinion which is supporting this view. George Monbiot writes today about the need to cut our meat consumption - he tried veganism for 18 months apparently, and turned grey… I’ve never been a vegan, but I’ve been a vegetarian for many years now, and am full of health!
Monbiot advocates what I call the ‘meat as treat’ solution: “The only reasonable answer to the question of how much meat we should eat is as little as possible. Let’s reserve it - as most societies have done until recently - for special occasions.”
Amen brother.
Meat production is hugely damaging to the environment, and continuing to over consume it is just not a viable option. It is not true to say that all cattle are grazed on grass land and so they arent harming grain stocks, which is an excuse I have heard some give. Apart from the methane emissions alone, which are huge, cattle account for a vast amount of grain and water consumption per kilo of beef.
Even for those who can write of environmental concerns as less important than human concerns, this has got to be a big issue - all over the world people are starving and food riots are happening. We need urgent action on this, if you eat meat, please consider your posistion. If you are a Christian and you eat meat, then that’s doubly true.
And in case you havent got enough wonderful images of feudal lords and castle bound malcontents… now some guy wants to have wolves back in Scotland! Hoorah, I am cheerful once more.
(If memory serves, they’ve tried this one before, and it met with a predictable response, but well worth another go I reckon.)
We’re just back from a couple of weeks or so away from home, a good visit to the folk in Grimsby, and then a lovely few days up in Northumberland - all of it very enjoyable, saving perhaps the eight hour drive home.
So I expect I’ll be posting more nonsense on the blog before too long, it’s my writing day today, so I’ve been hard at work this morning, apart from a trip to get some bike paniers - and that’s paniers, not paneers… the latter is a kind of cottage cheese stuff.
Anyway, what with spring being very much in the air once more, and thoughts turning to gardens, this interesting article from George Monbiot may serve as inspiration to many of us who dont quite manage to grow as many vegetables as we’d like to. I’m a little distressed by his assertion that anything within ten feet of a compost heap will get eaten by slugs - for definite, no question… seeing as that is nearly my whole garden…
more anon
Gareth Jones is the leader of World Horizons UK - his two week old daughter, Macy Lou is critically ill.
After catching a virus, she grew very ill. She has now been diagnosed as having blood poisoning, and her internal organs have begun to stop working.
She is being flown tonight to Great Ormond Street hospital in London, where there is a unique machine which can properly oxygenate her blood.
It has been a major battle to get her to this point - she has until late this afternoon been too poorly to move. She is currently reliant on heart and lung bypass machines.
Please will you join us in praying for her? She needs the touch of God to heal her body, and her parents Gareth and Helen need all the support we can give.
Macy means ‘weapon’ and Louise means ‘renowned fighter’. These names are significant – Macy is in a fight for her life, our adversary would love to steal her away, and even more he would love to divert our attention from the truth of who our king is.
Our heart’s cry, our desire, our desperate plea is that God would show his great power and heal our little sister.
Please pray for her.
A beautiful sunny morning yesterday lent itself to a spell outside with the kids, and a first outing for the Kelly Kettle I was given for Christmas. It was such a lovely day we cleared some stuff out of the garden and then I got my flint and steel out, we put some sparks into some cotton wool, and set the Kelly Kettle going.
Just right for some hot chocolate and some magic moments as flames licked out of the top of the kettle - the kids thought it was great, I loved teaching them to use the flint and steel, and they were amazed to be allowed to take part in something which involved fire!
Sadly the rain returned for the afternoon, and our fun in the garden was over. I had to walk over to a shop, and on the way back I noticed this…
which reminded me what fun it is to wear stuff out.
Happy new year to anyone who reads this blog, which includes a number of people who I know, and some who I dont, who find themselves here after having searched for an eclectic selection of phrases…
sorry its been a bit quiet over the last couple of weeks, I was away all Christmas, and I’m in the thick of organising a conference which is on this weekend. I’ve hardly put pen to paper or finger to keyboard in the name of writing for a fortnight, which is kind of depressing, lets hope that will change this month.
My other commitments for the year? To make progress on some writing projects I have on the go, to take the organic cotton project forward significantly (watch this space for more news) and to take part in (but perhaps not win) the Llanelli 10K race - yeeks.
I was sad to hear today that Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset alzheimers disease.
I’ve known a number of people suffer from Alzheimers, and its a horrible disease. My gran had it, and I found that particularly tragic.
Here’s hoping Terry, one of the world’s best writers of fantasy and satire is able to manage his disease, he certainly seems to be taking a very positive approach at the moment.
Seems people are begining to come round to my opinion.. come on Scotland!
And for all the talk - I think this must be one of the strongest ’second string’ teams around - certainly the best we’ve had available for many a year.
onion goggles for goodness sake!
I spent quite a bit of time while I was away freeloading, or trying to…
I was given a freeloader for my birthday, its great! At least it would be if I could get it to work properly. I can get it to charge no problem, it works either by soaking up direct sunlight (not through glass) or by taking a USB charge, but I have difficulty getting it to charge my Nokia phone, the problem is intermittent, and by jiggling the cable it will sometimes start charging.
I’ve written to the company, and asked them if they’ll look at it and replace the faulty part… we’ll see what they say.
Meanwhile my N70’s packed in too, nobody can hear me if they ring me, funnily enough I’ve had no complaints so far!
Here’s a nice little picture of the freeloader doing its magic beneath a warm Phillipino sun.
.
we set off back to the Uk on tuesday, and arrive early wednesday morning, just in time for a quick turn around and get ready for the Grapevine festival in lincoln at the weekend.
we’ve had a great time here and in Cambodia, and maybe I’ll get round to bloging more about some of the people and things we’ve seen and learned from… maybe!
one last thing - we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum last night, which was about what you might expect it to be, except… spookily… one character is a journalist called Simon Ross, early thirties, hint of a northern British accent, think we all know who that is based on! Paddy Considine, you better not be attempting to steal my identity!
One day, if we get the chance, ask me about the time I spent being a semi spook, of course after I’ve told you, I’ll probably have to kill you!
this week is again crazy, hence hardly the time to post any blog entries! Tomorrow packing up to go away, off on Friday to see some people, then on to Thirsk for the weekend with Gareth representing World Horizons amongst our frineds in the Biker/Motorcyclist community, then next week preparing to go off to Cambodia again, and then to see my folks in the Phillipines - and while we’re away… the kitchen will be getting sorted out! Blimey, maybe no more slugs will get in after that.
Plus, I really need to get my accounts done.
In terms of blogging, I really want to post something about the correlation between madness, magic, mental illness and mystery… I might get time next week.
its been a pretty busy couple of weeks - dont seem to have had much time to update this blog - instead I’ve been at Steve and Charlie’s wedding, visited Swindon, moved offices, walked around the Cotswold water park, talked revolution, painted walls, laid a floor, been in meetings, managed to get out on my bike, and squeezed in an hour of a movie - about which I shall blog next….
(post number 3 in the ‘War on slugs series’)
In a series of daring raids, our troops have taken the battle back to the slugs - capturing them in their hideouts, and showing them who is boss!
Our brave boys… and girls… take the fight to the slugs.
“Now the war has really stepped up a gear” commented one official, who explained he doesnt like “the way slugs are all slimy and stuff.”
With precise timing, a series of attacks were launched on known slug hide outs, which included paving slabs, and an area of rockery. During the rockery raid, one slug was discovered hiding only feet away from the runner bean plant which suffered a devastating attack only days ago.
“To find the slug hiding in the very area in which we lost so many young leaves…” said one onlooker, “is chilling. I can only thank heaven that we got to him, before he got to the pumpkin plant.”
Hiding in the rockery… the slugs are everywhere.
A full scale seek and destroy mission is still underway for the slugs spiritual leader, Oslima Bin Sluggin, who is believed to be in hiding in the wall between the garden, and Harold-next-door’s garden.
“The problem is that there are so many caves, a real network of hideouts” admitted a spokesman. “But we are in this for the long haul, he wont beat us.”
A cave system in the wall adjoining Harold-next-door’s garden.
In addition to the attack missions, a renewed defence system has hurriedly been put into place, three new beer traps have been put into effect, and it is hoped that these will help cut down the number of slugs who can roam freely in the garden.
Commisioned: three new beer traps.
One thing is for certain, the longer this goes on, the more difficult the diplomatic situationwith Harold-next-door, who now claims that extremist slugs are holding training camps in the compost bin.
Now Harold-next-door claims the slugs are in the compost bin!
More to follow.
superb youtube video posted on the howies site, apparently this guy is just 16, but this has to be one of the best amateur parkour videos around.
look out, I have turned 30… a good crop they turned out in ‘77.
you’ll notice the party hat is set at a jaunty angle, denoting my excitment at this milestone!
been a busy week, sorry no posts… what with getting old, a new person on my team at work (hooray for Melissa and her graphic designing ways), setting up new websites for things, more birthday celebrations, and a trip ‘oop north’ (what I would call the midlands, but its north of us) for visits and a trip to the dentist (its all glamour) … there’s scarcely time for anything else except the occasional meal.
Anyway, meeting Steve later on, to discuss comic books and a few other things, we’ve just done an entry for a competition organised by Nate Butler of COMIX35, lets hope we win. Actually, on another note, I was really touched by Nate’s support, and that of many others whom I have never met, during the situation with Ajani. So even if we dont win… he’s still a good guy.
Actually I had a dream the other night, that somebody wrote a sequel to SAM119, which probably means I better get on with it myself, before someone does. But I’m also planning our imminent trip to Asia, as well as all the other things that we got going on… gosh I’m so hard done by.
The other thing of course is that my new computer has arrived, which took a few days to sort out, migrate email, remember passwords, change settings, load software and etc.
Aint got nothing to stop me now though! Just got to catch up with what everyone else has been posting, back with you again at the start of the week!
apologies for the lack of anything pictorial lately - I am getting a new computer soon which will replace the one I use now, which almost dies at the thought of dealing with pictures and video these days. Poor old thing. Normal service will then be resumed.
A well spent afternoon today, discussing issues concerning the production of organic cotton, and the practicalities of running an ethical business.
Such meetings leave me feeling exhausted, partly in a good way, as I am glad to be able to put effort into things which make a difference. But also there is a negative side, as conversation often takes a turn for the depressing when one examines the reality of ethical business.
There is a real question over whether many of the ethical brands we see out there are really sustainable.
Some of the biggest name brands have severe difficulties making the books balance, and are reliant on the deep pockets of supportive investors, who are concerned more with doing some good, than getting financial return.
If you have, like me, spent a lot of time talking to retailers and consumers of ethical clothing, you would hear a lot of negative information about some of the biggest ‘name brands’ in the industry. And yet those brands continue to be seen as the best.
Why? Well in part it is because of journalists, (I know, I’m guilty) who return to the same old people everytime they want to site an ethical trader. Inevitably, they are going to be the people who have spent a lot of money getting their name known.
And that is the second part - money. One of the brands I refer to in the preceding paragraphs is run by someone whose partner is a big time banker - (not a euphemism) which makes riding out those pesky sales problems a lot easier.
Another of the biggest brands, and this time I can name them - Howies ( great clothes, great catalogue, great brand, great blog etc) - had to sell out to Timberland in order to sustain the growth they needed to acheive.
In business its grow or shrink, and if you shrink, you aint gonna last. They needed to grow, and the only way they felt they could do so was to effectively sell out. As it goes I dont blame them, after all, the founders had remortgaged their home a number of times, etc etc, and it isnt like they arent doing their bit.
I know of other brands, who I cant name for reasons of commercial sensitivity, who appear very succesful, but are in fact struggling hugely, and only able to survive because of constant baling out.
I hear many other tales from people who say that they are only just surviving, unable to even think about starting to pay back the original investments, others are doing less well.
Occasionally I hear about people who are doing better, because they have found a way of making it work, and generally that has to do with staying small, meeting local needs.
So it appears that the terrible truth about ethical business is that when independent ethical brands try to take on the competition, they collapse under the strain.
The ones which do have what it takes to succeed in the big wide world - Howies, Green and Blacks, etc, are snapped up by bigger, less ethical companies. Notable exception of course - Patagonia, which took its own unique route, chronicled in Yvon Chouinard’s excellent book which you can see in my side bar.
Staying small, a business may survive, and perhaps flourish in the right market - but in clothing there is a problem, meeting the minimums. You must order a minimum quantity of product which would perhaps be 400 garments per colour.
So say you wanted to do a tee-shirt range, which you would manufacture yourself, and you wanted four different colours, you would need to order 1600 garments. A tall order for a brand new outfit. Especially since the price you pay per unit at minimum order level is much higher than you would on a big order, so your profit is immediately lower.
Some small brands buy blanks off companies like SAF or others which offer much lower minimum order quantities, but at much higher unit prices, plus you need to relabel and so on. So you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.
Of course the finishing of an ethical garment, (if you are using safer dyes or less harmful printing) is also more expensive, and often more prone to problems, than conventional harmful processes. The small ethical brands lose out again.
And that isnt all, if you were to go to a big retailer - I notice Next and New Look are among the high street brands using organic cotton now, and were to ask their buying department ( Ihavent tried this yet - so I may be wrong, but I bet I am not) where the cotton they use comes from, they wont know. Why? Because they simply buy it through an agent, who buys it from somebody else, and etc and so on, until at the bottom of the chain somewhere you get to the farmer.
What I am saying is that the accountability of this sort of product is always suspect, because unless you can trace your cotton from seed to shelf (this can be done, and some are doing it) then you cant really have a truly ethical supply chain.
Clear audit trails are key in ethical business, and as far as I know, the big chains cant provide that in most cases. The smaller ones sometimes can, but not always.
This my friends, is the terrible truth about ethical business.
What is the conclusion of this long and rambling spiel? When you have to buy stuff, keep buying ethical products. Buy local as much as possible, buy second hand as much as possible. Support the smaller pioneering ethical enterprises, with more customers they might be able to break a decent profit one day. Dont be fooled by the hype, your best way of finding good ethical product is by word of mouth, and a bit of research.
And if, like I was today, you are in Ammanford any time soon, stop by Damien and Michelle’s Organic Pantry, which is a good example of how a small, ethical, local business can do well - and serve a community. Their shop is cool, their veg boxes are excellent, and their teeshirts are really good too. I only popped in for a couple of minutes, but it was worth it. They are nice people.
a very good place to visit today is Calabash Music’s Tune Your World site.
Not only do you get some excellent free downloads, and lots of interesting news about world music, including two k’naan tracks for free and nothing… (hip hip hoorah) but they also have a good idea! Well thats a start aint it.
The tune your world thing is quite intriguing, I’ve pasted below their description of the concept.
” Do you believe we can change in the world through music?
At Calabash Music we’ve just launched a new campaign that we’re calling‘Tune Your World’ as a creative approach to economic development in Africa.
In the United States our foreign-aid programs do not support our belief that we are a nation known for its good works around the world. The public believes we spend a great deal more money helping other countries than we actually do. Polls suggest that most Americans think the federal government spends about 10 to 15 percent of its budget on foreign aid.
The truth is that we spend less than 1 percent, the lowest of any industrialized nation.
All of sub-Saharan Africa receives just over $1 billion in economic aid. If everyone in the United States gave up one movie a year we could double our current aid to Africa.
We have an even better idea. Tune Your World.
If every American would buy 10 downloads by African Artists — We would DOUBLE the amount of money the US is currently sending to Africa. This is what we mean by ‘Tune Your World’
Where does the money go?
At least 50% (in some cases 100%) of your purchase will go to African Artists, or an African relief NGO and stay in Africa. With this money, musicians will be able to buy new instruments, recording or performing equipment, complete their education, or put a new roof on their house.
Together we can create a thriving music economy in places where the music industry has never worked very well.
How can you make this change happen?
1. Buy 10 songs by African Artists.
2. Forward this URL www.tuneyourworld.com to your friends and family.
It’s that simple.”
So this has put me in mind of a little project which I might undertake, to link you… gentle reader… to some of the sites which host some excellent music by Christians of other cultures. I understand that the excellent George Luke does a radio show called World Beat on UCB which covers this sort of thing, and that will doubtless be worth a listen - its on at a difficult time of the week for me to listen to sadly.
seeing as Adam has especially requested it…
SOAP NUTS - Get them now!
They are little nut shells that you put in a small cotton bag, and chuck in with your washing. It seems like they shouldnt do anything, but somehow, your washing gets clean.
I find that the most effective way to use them is to combine them with a few drops of essential oil (lavender is best) to scent the washing. After the washing is dry there is no noticable smell, but when they come out of the machine, it smells great.
So you stick your nuts in the washing machine, (your soap nuts obviously, any other alternatives are either painful and or ineffective) and wash your clobber. I find that a smal bag of half a dozen soap nuts last for quite a few washes. After a while they seem to sort of disintegrate, so then you sling the little blighters in your compost.
It should be said that we dont use them exclusively, we’ve taken to doing a wash with soap flakes every now and again too. It just feels like it cleans the machine out a bit, and it is also environmentally friendly. I think probably one soap flake wash to every six or seven soap nut washes works well. We bought a big bag of soap nuts ages ago from inasoapnutshell.com (see link in side bar) and still havent finished the bag.
It is honestly cheaper, easier, and better for the world to use soap nuts. No measuring, or any of that nonsense, just a few nuts in a bag.
Soap nuts contain (I’m told) a chemical called Saponin, which is what cleans stuff… or something. You can apparently use them for cleaning all sorts of things, including ones own self. Never tried that one I’m afraid.
In terms of household cleaning by the by, I reccomend white vinegar, and a little elbow grease. Can cause a slight fish and chip smell for a little while, but soon fades.
So there you go, soap nuts really are the biz, and well worth trying out. Likewise the old vinegar thing, and catching slugs in beer. I caught about 300 last year. They look like gherkins when they’ve been caught in beer, which is another good reason not to eat gherkins (aka snozcumbers).
ps. you dont need softner if you use soap nuts! bonus!
After reading the following story in the guardian, I’ll be looking at the flamingos at my local wwt centre with new found interest…
It is interesting on a number of points, I recall people saying that homosexuality was peculiar to humans, not true. I also hear lots of people saying same sex couples shouldnt be allowed to rear children… my reponse is that what children need most is parents who love them…
We’re back… Corsica was lovely, everything I have always thought it would be and possibly more.
So life begins to take its normal shape again, albeit that normallity will always be rather different now. I’ll be blogging away before you know it… subjects to come:
bullroarers, camping, bread, world music, christian mission, emergence, rugby, and more on organic cotton….
I’m even planning to get a flickr account so I can share some of the Corsican sights with you. Mainly beaches - be warned 
the cremation is done,
the memorial meals are done,
so now we’re off for a week.
I’ll be back on the blog after we get back, till then, thanks so much for all the calls, emails, letters, cards, flowers and prayers.
back soon!
wordpress seems determined to delete everyone’s comments, as it says they are spam.
Sorry about that.
Please feel free to try again, and I’ll try and persuade wordpress not to delete them this time.
are good for your brain.
Apparently.
Cant say they do much for mine, except get it tied in knots.
I like cryptic crosswords, but the reality is that I like the idea of them, more than the doing of them. Mainly because, like so many other things, I’m not very good at them.
But one thing is for sure, you can spend a lot of time on a cryptic crossword - and so on that basis, I’ve been thinking of a few people to give a good book of them to, and currently I think that a large batch should be shared out among the Russians, who all seem to be niggling at each other.
There’s Berezovsky saying Putin must be brought down by force… there’s the chess guy who is about to take to the streets, there’s Vlad busy scheming in the Kremlin… trouble is I suppose if they had cryptic crosswords Vlad and Gary (good russian name there) would finish them pretty quickly and start fighting again. Not sure about Boris…
Imagine what would happen if old Bush baby had to do one a day. That would be a case of ‘crypticification’. Bushism for the day: “After all, Europe is America’s closest ally.”
Darn.
conversation between woman and girl.
Scene - hot sunny day in car park.
Girl: “Wow, the sun is really hot. In fact its made the car so hot, I almost burned my lips.”
Woman: “Why did you nearly burn your lips?”
Girl: “Because they were touching the car.”
Woman: “Why were they touching the car?”
Girl: “To see how hot it was.”
Obviously.
establishing shot, a sunny day on the beach.
enter two protagnists.
Protagonist one - adult male, 29 years old, degree level education. “Daddy”.
Protagonist two - his daughter, 3 years old, no particular level of education. “Girl”.
Scene update: the sea is a little way out, the sand is soft and warm, the sun is shining, a summer beach scene in early spring.
Daddy: “Lets go to the sea and have a paddle!”
Girl: “Yay!!”
The two head, hand in hand, towards the gently lapping surf.
Girl sees worm casts on the sand.
Girl: “Daddy, what are those wormy things?”
Daddy: “They are called flesh eating foot biter worms.”
Girl: “….. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Fade to black as girl cries unconsolably and refuses to let her feet touch the sand ever again.
Me and my big gob.
Toadzilla has been captured in Australia. This is when life gets a bit too close to comic book fiction for my liking.
I read the little Johnny Vegas feature in the Guardian, sad to see the same old story coming out about the perceived divisive nature of religious establishment.
“…”I lost it gradually,” he says of his own faith. “I mean, I’ve not lost it. It’s not God that I have any beef with, I think it’s sometimes how religion is administrated.” At the age of 11, Vegas went to St Joseph’s seminary in Upholland, but left after four terms. “I thought it was somewhere that I was going to develop my faith. And actually it felt like you’d joined this organisation that was about restricting the amount of questions you could ask. There wasn’t that kind of open forum about what is God, and what is faith. It was more about, ‘You’re not to question this, you’re just to follow these rules.’” …”
There’s always the question, I realise, over how much this is a perception, and how much a reality. After all, we’re always trying to find good excuses to avoid any kind of discipline arent we, well I am anyway. All the same, this is such a recurring theme, it simply goes to reinforce all my prejudices. Which is kind of ironic huh.
I’ve put up a short video of Ajani doing some of his ‘moves’ - which you’ll find here, thought I’d give it a separate page, so it wont get lost, and so that you can avoid it if you want to
Hi, this is a new blog I’m working on, I’ve previously blogged on Undercurrents, which you can find at the undercurrentcomics.com site - but this one will be a more personal blog, less about comics, more about general stuff.
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