Grey Matters

Too Much Energy Needed to Swap Tariffs!

2011-09-20T19:29:00.010+01:00

We've heard from Chris Huhne at the Lib Dems conference today that energy companies are going to have to make it easier for consumers to spot cheaper deals and switch suppliers. Take our situation for example. We've been with e-on for nearly a year now - the deal was good at the time I took it out. They have written to me to say the deal I had with their SaveOnline 3 tariff is coming to an end and they are transferring me to their Energy Online tariff. This they will do automatically if I don't get in touch; as they say, "you don't need to do anything else, we'll take care of everything."

But it then says, if I don't want to renew, I should have a look at their website where they are sure there's a deal just right for me.

So I have a look, and there is one, namely SaveOnline 10, which seems just about the same as what I'm already on! So I ring them up and ask why they haven't suggested I go onto this tariff. Ah, well, they tell me, that would involve going on to a new contract and they are not allowed by the watchdog to tell me about it!

Either there is something very badly wrong with the current regulations or they are lying! Or maybe it's a bit more complex. Maybe they make the most attractive tariff a new contract, so they don't have to tell me about it. Then they can try to 'con' me by automatically moving me to a more expensive rate.

Whatever the truth of it is, something needs doing about all this! With my estimated consumption for a year, this is how the monthly figures work out according to the spreadsheet I have created in order to try to compare prices:

Current tariff (which I'm on at the moment):	£80.45
New tariff (that they will put me on if I don't do anything):	£96.83
Alternative tariff (according to their website):	£90.07

As Chris Huhne said today, "We want simpler tariffs." Indeed we do!

(sorry about the big gap above, but the nice blog editing program seems to want to put lots of extra lines in before my table; even though I delete them, it puts them straight back! The trials and tribulations of blogging!)

Birthday

2011-09-19T22:16:00.007+01:00

It's my wife's birthday today and we began it with breakfast in bed - Buck's Fizz and croissants! Then we went up to London and on to the "London Duck Tour". If you've been around Central London you've probably seen it - an amphibious craft from the second world war, now painted yellow and a tourist ride around London. Two other modifications, they've put a roof on it and removed the machine gun from the bonnet!

The great thing about it is, not only does it tour round the roads of Central London, it also drives in to the river and we went from Vauxhall Bridge (where there is a slipway) up to Westminster Bridge and back. See photo below to prove it.

Then we had lunch in Strada at the Royal Festival Hall (with a little help from Tesco vouchers). Finally we walked back along the river to Tower Bridge, then to Fenchurch Street Station and the journey home.

A very pleasant day, rounded off with supper at home. We weren't very hungry after out 3 course lunch, but fried egg on toast fitted the bill nicely! And completely scuppered any last shred of my wife's diet today. But it is her birthday! Back to yoghurt and Ryvita tomorrow!

Westminster Bridge with County Hall (where I worked many years ago) and the London Eye.

Living Less Safely?

2011-09-16T11:57:00.008+01:00

I went into Wlkinsons (other cheap shops are available) and bought a pair of cycle clips. I know you don't wear them if you're young and trendy and riding a bicycle, but if I don't use them, I manage to get grease and dirt onto my trouser leg from the cycle chain.

To my surprise, they aren't "cycle clips", they are "trouser bands". Nothing like a new name to make something (a bit) more fashionable!

But then I noticed the card they came on (see below). There are two cyclists, and NEITHER are wearing cycle helmets!

What with that AND the proposed abolition of "Sell by" dates, are "health & safety" a little on the back foot? Maybe life is becoming a little more exciting again!

Eating out

2011-08-27T20:34:00.004+01:00

For our wedding anniversary we went out for a meal to a nice restaurant. Although it was Tuesday evening, most tables were taken and I think most (if not all) of the people had booked.

My wife had read an article about how people can't be without their mobile phones, even when eating out. So we looked around, and there they were. Quite a number of people had sat down, taken out their phones and placed them on the table next to the cutlery. What is this "I can't be without sight of my mobile phone for a minute" complex that so many of us seem to have? I'm sure they weren't all "doctors on call" or afraid the babysitter couldn't cope.

I must confess that we did have our phones in our pockets, but we had no contact with them during the meal at all - honest!

By the way, the chef is clearly taking the mickey on this wonderful county. Obviously he has seen The Only Way is Essex on the tele. On the dessert menu was

Essex rhubarb fool tart

Every word an insult!

Simple shopping made complicated

2011-08-23T23:00:00.005+01:00

This shopping business is too much for us to understand!

My wife went into our local 99p shop, which has huge posters saying (not surprisingly) everything is 99p. So she bought two items and went to the till to be told the bill was £1.88.

How does that work? Confused, she asked for the receipt, and that's what it says, £1.88. It also says it was one item (which it wasn't, it was two) and she was served by a girl, which doesn't quite tie up with the man's name on the receipt!

But never mind, mustn't complain about a bargain!

Wedding anniversary

2011-08-23T22:34:00.010+01:00

It's our forty second wedding anniversary today. After my wife's brilliant birthday card to me last month ( see www.ericgreymatters.blogspot.com/2011/07/birthday.html ), she
triumphed again with my anniversary card. I could have kicked myself that I didn't think of it ...

Here's the outside:

And here's the inside:

(Of course, you have to be a Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy fan to understand. If you're not, too bad!)

2011-08-22T13:12:00.005+01:00

First of all, I must say that there's no justification for the riots that happened a fortnight or so ago. And the courts are right to come down hard on those arrested and found guilty. But people are now asking why it happened. Do the poor have a reason to at least protest in our country's current situation?

We are told by the Prime Minister that we must all "tighten our belts". But on the other hand, the government want to abolish the 50% income tax rate on income over £150,000 a year. Most (if not all) of those who caused the banking crisis were in that income bracket. The poor, who had nothing to do with the crash are suffering all kinds of cutbacks in welfare, benefits and so on.

Even for the young who are fortunate enough to be in work, mortgages are near impossible to get unless you have a whacking great deposit saved up, rents are hitting new highs, commuter costs (petrol and rail fares) just keep rising and let's not even start to talk about escalating fuel bills. Those who leave university are being saddled with great debts which are likely to hang over them for many years.

Patrick Collinson, the editor of the Guardian's Money section, wrote on Saturday that he would be the last person to condone the mindless destruction that we've seen recently, but adds,
if we step back a few paces, and we consider how we are abandoning that far larger, law-abiding, younger generation, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

============================

Meanwhile, in America ...

Warren Buffet, one of America's richest people, wrote in the New York Times last week about how little tax he pays. He said about his tax bill last year,

what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens averaged 36 percent.

He concludes,

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Is it any different in the UK? I fear not. Those who are struggling to survive have many reasons to feel aggrieved. The question is this, will the government listen to them before there are more riots?

Compelling Reason for Cutting carbon

2011-08-22T12:40:00.008+01:00

They say it's the "silly season" in August concerning the news; i.e. nothing much is happening so news stories bordering on the ridiculous get 'aired'. However, with what's happened in the UK recently and what's happening now in places like Libya and Syria, one can't say there's little news around.

Even so, I read last Friday that there's a new compelling reason for cutting our carbon emissions and this is from a report from no less than Nasa.

And the reason is - to lessen the danger of alien attack!

They surmise that as global warming on our planet can be observed from outer space, there just could be alien races out there looking at what's happening to our planet, and they just may be ecologically aware and decide to destroy us before we destroy our planet.

So, two things to learn from this:

1. Cut down your carbon footprint;

2. Learn to say "I'll take you to our leader" in as many languages as possible.

Flying too fast?

2011-08-17T09:20:00.004+01:00

It was billed as the world's fastest plane, the Falcon HTV-2, which could fly from London to Sydney in less than an hour (just think, it wouldn't matter if you hadn't paid for an in-flight meal - not long enough to eat it anyway!). HTV stands for Hypersonic Technology Vehicle and it's been developed by the USA.

The first test flight in April last year was aborted after nine minutes. It reached a speed of mach 22 then "the onboard computer detected an anomaly" & it ditched the plane into the ocean "for safety reasons". I've heard of 'anomalies', they encounter them in Star Trek, and they can be very nasty!

A couple of weeks back they were ready to for the second test flight. But apparently they lost contact with the plane and they say they assume it ditched into the sea again.

But I don't believe that. I reckon when it reached full 'hypersonic' speed it crossed to another dimension - probably through one of those anomalies. Or maybe it shot into the future and one day it will appear again ...

How to waste £11bn. It's easy really, just ask the NHS!

2011-08-04T20:53:00.008+01:00

The £11bn NHS computer system to create and make available all patients' records has been a failure, so a report from MPs says. £6.4bn has already been spent on what turns out to be an unworkable system.

What on earth have they been doing? It's not that they have to do anything complex with the information - just collect it and make it available. No complicated maths or manipulation of the data, it beggars belief! How many extra operations could have been paid for with the money they've wasted ?

I worked in "information technology" thirty years ago (although it wasn't known as IT then). In those days a systems analyst investigated the systems being used and how they could be transformed by a computerised system. To do this, you had to "get your hands dirty" by investigating what people actually did, and what system they actually needed. Sometimes people didn't do that step rigorously, as they thought they knew best what the customer needed. It was those computer systems that turned out to be disasters.

But that was, as I said, 30 years ago. Surely the industry has learned that basic lesson by now? Apparently not. The committee of MPs said, "the department could have avoided some of the pitfalls and waste if they had consulted at the start with health professionals."

In other words, highly paid managers think they know what's best without bothering at ask the people who will actually work the system.

Sadly, lessons are never learnt. And the same story will be told in the future about some other massively costly computer system. And it's our money that's being poured down the drain.

Holiday Drinking

2011-08-04T13:45:00.003+01:00

As we sat on the beach, I said to my wife, “I need to hydrate.” What I meant was, “I’m thirsty.” The reason for the comment was the news that much of the nonsense told us by companies that sell bottled water is just that – nonsense. You don’t need to drink umpteen litres of water a day in order to stay ‘hydrated’. Our bodies have been telling us for thousands of year when we need to drink – we get thirsty.

Other nonsense about tea and coffee not counting has also been debunked. What’s more, there’s water in fruit and vegetables, so eating your five a day is also helping your fluid intake. Coupled with the price of most bottles of water, it’s quite a relief! Although I find that the thing by the sink provides a good, cheap, drinking source, even if you’re on a meter!

But just one point – Hooray for Euro Shopper’s bottle of water purchased in the Isle of Wight – 29p for half a litre! Less than half the price you norally pay. And a sell by date of a year’s time. Well, you know how water can go off!

GDP = Gloom, Doom & Pessimism

2011-07-29T15:49:00.003+01:00

The good news is that the UK’s economy has grown in the last three months. The bad news is, apparently, the 0.2% growth isn’t enough. But there are extenuating circumstances, of course.

First up, there was a royal wedding. Forget the 'feel good' factor, what counts is it's bad for the economy! Presumably not enough commemorative mugs and union flags were sold.

Then there was the unseasonably warm weather. But that’s good, isn’t it? We’re always being told to conserve our energy. But that’s the problem; when we do, we spend less on gas and electricity! So come on everyone! Turn up the heat and give our GDP a boost! Forget the carbon emissions; after all, we all want Britain to be great again, don’t we?

Quote of the Week

2011-07-29T15:47:00.002+01:00

According to the financial section of the paper, the company BG is drilling for oil and gas in Brazil and has recently doubled its estimate of the reserves there. Their CEO, Frank Chapman, explained it thus, “The reservoirs are really performing at the extreme upside end of the expectation spectrum.”

Oh dear!

Chocolate

2011-07-18T19:34:00.006+01:00

Do you remember a certain brand of chocolate used to advertise "a glass and a half of milk in every bar"? Well, this lunchtime I ate one such bar, and happened to notice in small print on the wrapper:

"The equivalent of 426ml of fresh liquid milk in every 227g. of milk chocolate."

It may satisfy weights and measures but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Birthday

2011-07-18T19:15:00.009+01:00

It was my birthday on Saturday. First of all, thank you to all my Facebook 'friends' who wished me a happy birthday! I took the day off as I'd seen a kite festival advertised on Dunstable Downs, not far from where one of our daughters lives.

So we arranged with them to meet up there at noon, have a picnic lunch and enjoy the kites. However, this was Saturday, the day of the downpours. It's quite interesting six people having a picnic in one car, with the windows tight shut to keep the rain out! But it was a good day. It cleared up long enough to see some kite displays, including four kites 'dancing' to music. I never knew people did such things! There's a whole unexplored world out there...

Below is the card my wife sent me, which she made herself (as she does all the cards we send). I know it gives away my age, but I thought you'd like to see it. On the front it says:

And inside:

Grammar, the Bible and Translation

2011-07-11T20:13:00.007+01:00

I was preparing my sermon on Psalm 23, ("The Lord is my shepherd ..."), and I found out the the New International Version of the Bible, which I use, has just completed a revision. Its last major revision was 1984. The new revision has been available on the web since last November and you should now be able to buy the books.

I also didn't realise that the Committee on Bible Translation meets on an ongoing basis to review the latest scholarship and also common English usage. Although they say 95% of the latest revision remains the same as the 1984 revision, I found that Psalm 23 had five changes!

My own opinion on why this is the case is that in previous revisions, they had not wanted to stray too far from the King James Version when it came to well known passages like Psalm 23. However, that seems to be no longer the case. So gone is "the valley of the shadow of death", replaced by "the darkest valley", which just about every other modern translation has. Also gone are the "paths of righteousness", replaced by "right paths", which is much clearer (or, to put it another way, what exactly are "paths of righteousness"?).

I think their latest translation of Psalm 23 is very good, and for your interest, here it is (italics indicate the changes I've noticed):

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Another aspect of English interested me as I read the translators' notes. It was the use of gender neutral 'them' to refer back to a singular noun or pronoun, rather than having to say, "him or her", or something similarly clumsy. We all do it in spoken English, for instance, you might say to a group of people, "If someone can give me a lift, I'll wait for them in the car park." The plural "them" refers back to "someone", which is singular. But this is now officially alright to use! I need no longer sweat about what to me is bad grammar.

In fact, in a recent blog below on political correctness I wrote,

For instance someone isn't deaf, he or she is hearing impaired.

But I could have said "someone isn't deaf, they are hearing impaired." Not only is it politically correct, it's now grammatically correct as well!

Posh crisps

2011-07-01T14:56:00.011+01:00

We have a picnic basket- you know, the proper wicker type with cutlery, etc, inside. We hadn't used it for some years and as the Sunday School were going for a picnic up to Westley Heights on Whit Sunday, I said, "Let's take our picnic basket!"

So we did, and it poured with rain and having a picnic on the church hall floor wasn't quite how I'd imagined it ... But we did still use the basket and the picnic blanket!

So I said, one Monday off when it's fine, we must use it again! Well this last Monday was VERY fine, so down to Chalkwell we went with our picnic. Brilliant!

I offered to go out to buy some items for the picnic and my wife said to buy some crisps, but some 'nice' ones! So off I went to Lidl and bought their own brand 'Ideal' crisps, which were very nice and I can recommend them.

What amused me was the front of the packet. You can see they've done a tasteful arrangement of the ingredients: a sack of potatoes, a dish of sea salt and a stack of peppercorns. But the vertical writing on the left hand side reads, "Serving suggestion"!

Presumably this was to ensure no-one was expecting the bag to actually hold a sack of potatoes (a clue would have been its weight). But, actually, it's not a serving suggestion. I defy anyone to serve up crisps looking like a sack of potatoes!

Quote of the Week ...

2011-06-28T22:54:00.006+01:00

As I've blogged before about the silly things that are said in rail announcements, I enjoyed reading an article recently by David Marsh, on "why Railspeak should be terminated".

Having given some examples, he says,
The result of all this is not effective communication but the creation of a gulf between the language used by its speakers and those on the receiving end... Hyper-correct, hyper-polite language may be well intended but comes across as patronising and insincere.

I must admit to thinking on a number of occasions, when listening to an announcement, "Why doesn't he forget the script and just talk in normal language?" Of course, the answer probably is, if he did so, it would be a disciplinary offence and he'd receive a verbal warning - if he could understand it.

Read the full article at

www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/jun/26/railspeak-terminated-train-station-language?INTCMP=SRCH

Newspapers

2011-06-27T20:44:00.004+01:00

I read an article in the paper today about the threatened demise of the newspaper, as people are using the web and so on for news. I mean, all you need to know is on Twitter! It doesn't matter if it's true or not, the gossip's the thing!

But on second thoughts, can you believe what you read in the newspaper? Apparently most people think not. In a recent Ipsos Mori survey asking people whom they trusted to tell the truth, journalists obtained only 19%. But they weren't bottom! Politicians scored 14%. Most trusted were doctors with 88% of people generally believing they told the truth.

It was a bit of a shock, though, that clergy only got 68%. Maybe I need to stop telling funny stories in my sermons. Perhaps people take them seriously.

2011-06-27T20:34:00.003+01:00

I saw an advert in a local Southend paper for a 'mobility' shop. It said it was also "continence specialists". I know that we have to be politically correct and positive about things. For instance someone isn't deaf, he or she is hearing impaired. But I think the shop meant they were "incontinence specialists". After all someone who is continent doesn't need specialist help.

But the thing that really caught my eye was an "all terrain mobility scooter". What?? Do they want to go down the Olympic bike track (near Hadleigh castle)? Or do some people in Southend have such really dodgy pavements between their houses and Tesco's?

Sorry to go on ...

2011-06-20T10:10:00.004+01:00

I'm sorry to go on about this, but the latest in our abuse of the vulnerable is that many elderly people who are "cared for" at home are having their human rights ignored. Problems include visits far too short, with the client having to decide whether to be washed OR have a meal prepared for them; being left in bed for 17 hours; being left in filthy nightwear and bedding after a visit; and so on.

Unfortunately, this is not news for people in my profession. We see it far too often. It's another case of the "private sector" not doing the work it's paid to do. It follows on the Panorama expose of Winterbourne View where vulnerable people were being shockingly abused by staff. and that place cost the taxpayer £4 million a year!

So, are we learning from all this? Of course not! The NHS must have more private sector involvement, we are told by the Government. It will save money. Yes, it might, but at what human cost? Winterbourne View and home care for the elderly give us a clue as to that cost.

New Life!

2011-06-16T13:38:00.005+01:00

In the garden at our church an acorn has managed to germinate in the stump of an old tree. New life growing out of dead wood!

That must be a sermon illustration for something. Except that I'm not convinced it will survive, and that wouldn't bode well for the sermon!

So just enjoy the picture.

More batteries required!

2011-06-14T19:06:00.008+01:00

A week ago I blogged about how so many things that used to just work, now need power. For instance, watches and clocks that we quite happily used to wind up, now require batteries.

And so it continues. I heard on the radio a brief mention of electronic gear changing on a bicycle. Mind you it costs over £1,000!

And one of the best yet - an electric salt and pepper mill! Yes, you don't have to do the grinding, just press a button and it's done for you. Wow! I'd heard of this some time back, but on the front of a catalogue for a well-known office stationers, I see they are giving away one free when you place your next order. And alongside the advert it tells you not to forget the batteries! You can get two packs (you need six batteries) from them from only £9.16 (plus VAT, of course).

So that's it - £10 to get a free gift to actually work. I'll stick to the old manual grind, I think!

Quote of the Week ...

2011-06-13T20:39:00.002+01:00

My quote of the week goes to Simon Hoggart from his 'week', in The Guardian on Saturday.

More and more this is a country run by the rich and well-placed on behalf of the rich and well-placed. Which is how they organised things in Soviet Russia, until the people realised they were being conned.

Charity Bags

2011-06-13T13:09:00.003+01:00

Do you get as many bags to fill for 'charity' as we do, I wonder? With about two a week coming through our letterbox, how much spare clothing do they think we have??

Today's is "Do not delay!" and is to help prevent breast cancer in Lithuania. It does not appear to be a charity, so there's no way of knowing how much money is raised and how much of it goes to breast cancer screening.

Kidney Research UK, whose bag arrived recently is a charity, and according to its most recent published accounts, just over 50% of its expenditure was on its charitable activities. I'll leave you to decide whether or not that's a reasonable amount. Just for comparison, the Baptist Missionary Society spent around 94% of its income on its charitable activities, according to their latest accounts.

A few days ago it was "The Hand of Help", who admit they are a commercial company "who helped the disabled children and will do so in the future." Good for them! But their bag, like the rest will be turned inside out and used for putting out our rubbish, as our council is no longer supplying us with plastic sacks.

If we have clothing, etc., we want to throw out, we it take to a local charity shop, so we know where the money is going to.

Private sector make millions at our expense - again

2011-06-11T22:13:00.005+01:00

So let me get this right. Southern Cross are running of lots of care homes for the elderly. Then they thought it a great idea to sell off the properties and lease them back. But now they can't afford the rents and have asked the landlords to accept a 30% reduction of the rent (just for the time being, of course!).

In fact I heard that's what happened to Woolworths. It wasn't that trade was that terrible - they just could no longer afford the rent on the properties they had previously sold.

When are our political masters going to "get it"? Public services are services for the public - the clue is in the title! It's not that difficult! But when you put public services into the hands of the private sector, they are in it to make money, not to serve the community. So the shareholders get their whack and the bosses get ridiculously high salaries and the elderly, vulnerable people suddenly find their future very uncertain.

Of course, we could go back to Railtrack. You remember them, the private firm that ran the railway track and made wonderful profits, until surveys after a fatal crash showed that they were not, actually, doing the job they were supposed to. Then for months on end rail travellers were burdened with longer journey times because of speed restrictions, and massive engineering works at weekends.

But back to the sale of care homes. The question I haven't got the answer to is this - where did the £1 billion they got from the sale of the homes actually go to??

Electricity and Climate Change

2011-06-06T21:52:00.009+01:00

I read last week that carbon emissions are up again and we are well on the way to a two degree rise in global temperatures, which is not good news for our grandchildren, although I'm sure I will be well gone before it happens.

It started me thinking on how much more we use electricity these days - either mains or batteries. To start with, we used to just have a telephone which was plugged into the landline, and didn't need a mains cable. Now we have a cordless handset so we don't have to jump up to answer it - it's there by our side - but, of course, we CAN walk around the house whilst speaking on it! Also we need to regularly charge up our mobile phones.

Then there are simple things that used to be mechanical, but now have to be electronic for some reason; like bathroom scales and kitchen scales that worked quite well with a spring. And do you recall when we used to wind up our watches and clocks?

My old 35 mm camera didn't need a battery to work - I adjusted it myself, but now one can't even zoom on digital cameras manually (yes, I know on the expensive DSLR ones you can, but they're not the most popular models!).

Do you remember the old days when you switched off things like TV's? Now you switch to standby and a little red light reassures you it's still using up power.

And of course, what's the latest gadget? An electronic book! Those old paper things you could borrow free from a library - now they really are old fashioned!

About time too!

2011-06-04T21:14:00.006+01:00

A report damning the sexual commercialisation of children is due out on Monday, but 'leaks' are in the papers today. Thank God someone has spoken up! It is, in fact, the CE of the Mothers' Union (which, interestingly is a man!) who has written the report, which makes a number of recommendations, including:

- banning advertising hoardings with "sexualised imagery" near schools and nurseries (why can't they be banned everywhere? After all, children are everywhere);
- a clampdown on sexual & violent stuff on TV before 9 pm;
- music videos to have age ratings, like films do;
- stopping the sale of inappropriate clothing for children which exploits their sexuality.

Mumsnet is also involved in this, and more power to both organisations! But it's also up to you concerned parents to speak up; don't think you are the only person who is worried about these things.

It is outrageous how commercial organisations are taking away our children's childhood. May this new report, entitled Let Children be Children begin a sea change in what is acceptable and unacceptable in society today concerning our children.

Detectives on TV

2011-06-04T20:36:00.005+01:00

We watched the first episode of Scott & Bailey, the new ITV female detective duo. It began with one of them breaking up with her boyfriend and the 'angst' got worse as the story went on.

Why can't they do drama where there's a crime, which they solve, without the all calamatous personal life that seems to be compulsory these days?

Why can't they go back to the good old days with programmes like Dixon of Dock Green? Good clean police drama and no disfunctional families. I mean George Dixon used to live happily with Andy, his son-in-law, who was a detective. It was all so much simpler then.

Although, wait a minute, I hear Jack Warner has been accused of corruption ...

Those who rule ...

2011-06-04T16:04:00.003+01:00

I noticed in the paper this week (and it was mentioned in passing on Have I got news for you?) that whereas 0.14% of the UK's population are in prison, 0.62% of MP's at the last parliament are in prison. That's over four times the national average.

I'll say no more.

Back in business!

2011-06-04T15:44:00.003+01:00

My sincere apologies to my loyal blog followers. But now I'm back! It's 4th June and I'm blogging again.

But what about superinjunctions? Maybe I'll unwittingly let a cat out of a bag! And then what?

Superinjunctions seem to me to be a bit like working for the secret service. They used to say (and maybe they still do) that not only could you not tell anyone what you did, but also you couldn't tell them you couldn't tell them. So you had to say something vague about being a civil servant when asked by anyone what you did.

Superinjunctions work the same way. Not only can you not report a story, but also you can't say you can't report on it. And there, as far as I can see, is a big problem. Say I'm down the pub and someone mentions something about somebody famous (say, a footballer, to take a random example). If that's the subject of a superinjunction, how do I know? How can I possible know NOT to say something when no-one is allowed to tell me I'm not allowed to say it?

Or maybe there's a list somewhere. But that would rather defeat the purpose! And THAT reminds me something I heard of many years ago. A publisher had brought out a new edition of the works of Shakespeare, but with all the naughty bits cut out. Thus it was suitable for schoolchildren. But they put all those bits in an appendix! So now, little schoolboys didn't have to read through page after page to find the best bits, they were all conveniently listed at the back!

But I've gone off the original subject.... Suffice it to say that if I stop blogging again, it just MAY be I've violated someone's very expensive superinjunction.

All dressed up

2011-02-20T22:44:00.005Z

I'm often the only one wearing a tie in church these days (although this morning one other person was). So it was comforting to see the weatherman, Matt Taylor on BBC1 this evening.

First of all, he did the Countryfile forecast in a casual open-necked shirt. But when he did the later forecast after the News, he was wearing suit, shirt and tie! It's good to know there are still some standards at the BBC.

So come on Nicholas Owen, put on that DJ ...

In the News ...

2011-02-18T21:58:00.005Z

So the government have backed down on their proposal to sell of loads of publicly owned forests. The idea was that charities and businesses could buy bits and so through the "Big Society" people would have a say in what happened to them.

But there was such an outcry against it that the Minister got up in Parliament and apologised, admitting they got it wrong.

Perhaps the "Big Society" is working after all ...

And then, apparently (according to BBC Radio 2 News), a small Australian town called Speed is being renamed for a month Speed Kills as a road safety initiative. Also, one of its residents is changing his name from Phil Down to Phil Slow Down.

Just think, if he was proprietor of the local petrol station, he could change his name to Phil Up Slow Down. Just a thought.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T22:20:00.010Z

According to the poster in their window, Argos suggested you buy a laptop for the one you love as a Valentine's Day present. WHAT??

I thought we showed our love by sending an unsigned card; not by shelling out 100's of £'s!

In fact, the card I sent my wife said,

Bunches of flowers could never convey
my total devotion on Valentine's Day

- and I added, "So I bought this card instead!"

But I DID buy some red roses today at Sainsbury's, as a result of their advert in the paper. And they were Fairtrade red roses (it seems awful that supermarkets and their buying power can so ruin things in a third world country, that we even have to consider whether or not flowers have been fairly traded - but I digress ...).

Back to the traditional card - according to legend, the first card Valentine card was sent by the saint himself, signed "From your Valentine". Hear the story on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show "Pause for thought" from Fr. Brian D'Arcy at

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00yj1gb/The_Chris_Evans_Breakfast_Show_Monday_Effort_Equals_Reward

about 2 hours 44 minutes into the show (but it will only be up there for a week).

Oh, and if you didn't buy that laptop for your beloved, I'm sure a son or daughter could do it for Mother's Day, when the aforementioned shop will no doubt have more great offers.

A better place?

2011-02-10T08:52:00.008Z

We have watched the first two episodes of Outcasts, BBC's new scifi drama. A group of people are trying to set up home on planet Carpathia, as things have got so bad on earth. Mind you, setting up a new society isn't easy, as the programme explores.

A good manifesto for them could well be the "sermon on the mount" - words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew chapters 5 to 7 in the Bible. In it he tells us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be hallowed
may your kingdom come
may your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

I think the "on earth as it is in heaven" applies to all of the three statements above it. Not a bad prayer for the inhabitants of Forthaven, their settlement on the new planet. Although, of course they would have to change the prayer to "on Carpathia ..."

But it's an important prayer for us, each day, here on planet earth. We are praying that our society may be modelled more and more on God's heavenly order. In other words, the coming of God's kingdom here on earth.

If you pray the Lord's Prayer, keep praying!

Needing a job?

2011-01-20T12:58:00.005Z

I've just received an advert for someone to work in the local Methodist Church community cafe for 20 hours a week. The advert says they are "looking for a part-time person to manage the Basildon Methodist Community Café project."

The first question I would want to ask any would-be applicant is, "What are they when they are not being a person?"

Height restriction

2011-01-16T16:52:00.004Z

Queuing at our local Tesco petrol station, I noticed the height restrction sign. You may not be able to read it in the picture, but it says:

Height restriction 13' - 12" (4 m)

Now, when I was at school, if I remember rightly, 13' 12" was actually 14' !

You can't even get the staff at the sign writers!

Mobile muddle

2011-01-16T16:21:00.005Z

I haven't told you about my recent problems with T-mobile, have I? It all started when I topped up my Pay-as-you-go phone with £15. I walked out of the shop with my receipt saying "payment successful" and waited for the text message to come telling me my account had been updated. But it never came. So I went into our local T-mobile shop and he rang "customer services". They said there had been a problem at that time and it would be credited within 72 hours.

Three days came and went, and nothing. So I rang them up on the said telephone. After a maze of options I finally managed to find someone to speak to. Although I needn't have bothered. You see, he wanted to know the name of the person who bought the phone. It was so long ago, at that point I had no idea, but he confirmed it wasn't me! He said without knowing who the account's name is, he couldn't talk to me about it. I said I didn't want him to tell me anything - just investigate why, in spite of my "payment successful" receipt, the amount hadn't been added. But he couldn't even initiate an investigation!

At one point he even suggested I returned to the shop I topped it up at, and asked them for my money back. As if our local newsagent would say, "Oh yes, it says payment successful, but if you say wasn't we will refund you your money." I don't somehow think so!

I later got a text asking that as I had recently spoken to one of their customer services staff, could I do a survey. This was by texting. So I did. Having gauged things like his helpfulness, whether I was satisfied, etc, I was able to add anything else I wanted. So I told them how useless I thought they were, especially as they had admitted to a problem that day and it should have been easy enough to look up their records and see what had happened.

These surveys are all clearly done by computer and I expect they get out a figure that tells them what percentage of people were satisfied. But if, as a result of it, they can't even be bothered for a human being to look at the results and give me a call when I'm clearly NOT satisfied, what IS the point of doing it?

But back to my missing £15. My wife then went back to the T-mobile shop and spoke to the manager. It transpired that my wife had bought the phone, and she guessed at her password and got it right. Now, she had the phone, the "payment successful" receipt and the Top-up card it was made on. But "customer services" (note the quotation marks!) were not happy with that. They needed it faxed to them and we would hear within 5 working days. They took my wife's mobile phone number so they could get in touch with her. Neither my wife nor the manager were happy about that. Especially as they had spent getting on for an hour trying to sort it out.

I realise now what must have happened. They didn't just have "some problems", but a pretty catastrophic systems failure that meant not only did they not update accounts with the money they had been topped up with, but also they didn't even know what accounts this had happened to. This, to me, can be the only explanation - but, of course, they wouldn't admit to it.

Well, five days later, no contact to my wife, but I got a text message to say, "Your faulty voucher has been received and the credit has now been added to your account." What a cheek! My faulty voucher? No! Their very faulty systems! Any word of apology? Of course not! After all, it's T-mobile.

Travelling by train, continued

2011-01-10T15:33:00.003Z

Further to my tale of our train trip (below), an observation.

Remember when trains pulled in to a station? On Virgin trains it is now a "station stop" (after all, why not use two words when one will do?) and on Cross Country trains it is a "calling point"(!!)

That reminds me, on our black plastic rubbish sacks from Basildon Council, it very sensibly asks that we wrap up any sharp objects before putting them in the sack. Why? To ensure no injuries to their "collection operatives". What happened to good old-fashioned bin men?

Train travel

2011-01-09T16:42:00.005Z

Whilst we were on holiday (see blog entry below), my wife and I had to go to a funeral. It was in Warrington and we were near Totnes, in Devon. We entered the stations on the Internet and found we could do the journey in about four and a half hours, with only one change of train. Although on the way back it was quicker by half an hour to do two changes, so we opted for that.

I know some some of my blog followers work in the rail industry, so I thought they in particular would be interested to hear that for the return journey (3 trains) the punctuality rating was 33%!

Let me explain. We had about 12 minutes between train one stopping at Wolverhampton and train two timetabled to arrive there. However, our first train was running about 12 minutes late! It was a Virgin train and we explained this to the conductor when he came round to check our tickets. He knew of the situation as a number of passengers needed that connection and promised to update us over the PA system. And he did. He explained he had been in touch with the signal box and they were ensuring that our train arrived first.

Then a few moments later another message; he had learned that we were arriving on platform 2 and our connection was arriving on platform 4! So he advised us to make haste, but explained that the station staff were aware of the situation and would give us a reasonable time to get across.

So full marks to that Virgin conductor! And it illustrates that as it is possible to be in contact with stations and signal boxes, they can pass on information to passengers about what is happening when there's a problem.

So, all was going well and we were on time for the Cross Country train from Birmingham New Street to Totnes. BUT, when we arrived at Birmingham, the information boards said it was running 50 minutes late! Our hearts sank. But my wife said that for once she was pleased that I'm a bit of a nerd. You see, I'd picked up a timetable for our route when we first arrived at Totnes in the morning. And I could see that the next train from Birmingham to Totnes was due in 30 minutes! And if this one was not delayed, we could catch that. As this one started in Manchester and the one we were due to catch started in Edinburgh, I thought this was quite possible. And it was!

So we boarded this one. We did not have reserved seats, but we found out there were NO reserved seats on this train and as it was not crowded we got a seats at a table. Unfortunately, although it started on time, it was 20 minutes late by the time we arrived in Totnes- no explanations.

So that was our foray on the trains. We were pleased we were able to get to the funeral and see relatives we had not seen for some years. All in all, not too bad a service on the railways. And as we had bought our tickets in advance, they were at the 2010 rate.

Back from a holiday

2011-01-09T16:13:00.004Z

We've had a week off. Down in Devon with the family. We had a cottage on a farm. Luckily a local farmer had ensured the roads were cleared of snow. You have to travel for at least a mile before you get to a road that is more than a single track! The main Exeter to Plymouth road (the A38) is dual carriageway, quite a good quality road. We turned off for the farm we were going to; up the slip road and you are straight away on a single track road. Very rural!

The local village had no shop, but it did have a pub and a church. We visited both on Sunday. There was a family service at the church, but the two or three usual families that attend were away, so it was just our grandchildren. I think the vicar was quite pleased, he had a talk about advent calendars (I'm not telling what he said as I've made a note of it to use next year!). I have to say they were very friendly and didn't mind our two year old running up and down the side aisle.

The car park for the church and the pub was the same. So it was easy to slip from one to the other for lunch...

As we walked back along the single track road to the farm, we came across this note pinned to a gate.

Ah! The countryside!

Christmas happiness

2010-12-28T17:03:00.006Z

I read a little while back that some researchers were surprised that the more well off in this country were not necessarily happier than the poor. Why does this idea persist that "money=happiness"? Haven't they heard of the old adage, "Money can't buy you happiness" (and, of course, its rider, "but at least you can be miserable in comfort")?

And in yesterday's Guardian, an article by Larry Elliott, its Economics Editor, blew out of the water the idea that Christmas is a peak time for suicides. He says it's not. In fact, statistically, in December, the suicide rates are down. Christmas actually "cheers them up. Generally, it makes them happier rather than sadder."

The myth about suicides is probably put about by humanists who want to discredit Christmas. But their cover has been blown! People actually enjoy the preparation for 25th December and the time off work, gatherings of family and friends, good food and, of course, the giving and receiving of presents.

I did a straw poll at our Christmas Day service to see whether people preferred giving presents or receiving them. The "givers" had it. Although it may be that people thought that's what I wanted them to say, or that's what they ought to say! Or, maybe not! Maybe people really DO enjoy giving presents!

Of course, things may go downhill in January, when the credit card bills come in, but even so, we like to spend to give - and that's rather nice, I think. Elliott commented that those thrifty people of fiction, Silas Marner and Scrooge are "two of the most pitied characters in English literature".

Good point!

And when Mr. Cameron's new happiness index gets into gear in the New Year , we will all know how happy we are!

Mind that Battery

2010-12-27T23:27:00.005Z

In amongst the grandchildren's toys were some helpful instructions about batteries, which are needed by so many of those toys. An A4 sheet, printed on both sides, told us how to use batteries in toys. Yes, TWO sides of an A4 sheet. OK, there were pictures and it was in 12 languages, but even so ...

I like, "Batteries should be replaced by an adult". Actually some children are probably better at this than their parents!

Of course, some (important) instructions can't easily be pictured, but that doesn't stop them. Like, "Remove dead batteries and all batteries from toys which are not going to be used for a long time ..."

Also, of course, "Non-rechargeable batteries are not to be re-charged". Actually, the clue is in the name "Non-rechargeable".

Well, I hope you've learned from this useful tuition. But I have to ask, "Are we really this stupid?"

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T22:23:00.007Z

It's 10.30 pm and the rest of the household are in bed! But I must admit we didn't go to bed until about 2 am this morning. We went to our local Anglican Midnight Communion and saw Christmas in that way. Which was a very nice way to do it. Including a good sermon from Colin the vicar.

Then it was our morning service - about three quarters of an hour of Christmas Day praise. It included the allegory of Claude and Carol Candle (well, you had to be there!) and my Christmas meditation, God came down at Christmas, which I will try to blog when I get the opportunity (it's so old I only have a "hard copy").

It has been a nice day - just three of us, including my sister-in-law. Tomorrow is the family day - on the floor with the grandchildren, probably playing "sardines in the dark"! That will also be a good day!

As for today we had a lovely three-meat roast - as advertised in Aldi. And very nice it was, too. I even had four sprouts! We played Yahtzee (that's a blast from the past - but I bought it in a charity shop recently) and Crazy Cuts; a simple game where you are given the name of an object on a card and you have to cut it out from a piece of paper and the first person to recognise what it is gets a point - and so does the cutter. Simple, but actually good fun! Thank you to our Barnet friends for buying it for us!

We also watched Dr. Who - well I had to as someone bought me a pair of Dr. Who socks for Christmas! A bit more silly than usual I thought. Not as patch on the Christmas edition which featured Kylie Minogue a few years ago.

Well, that's our Christmas. Not long to Boxing Day now. Although I've been told if you Google "Boxing Day" it doesn't happen on a Sunday. So Boxing Day is officially Monday - yes I know your diary says it's Sunday, but what do they know?

I hope you had a lovely Christmas also. Keep the Light of the World central to your heart and life.

Do Gooding

2010-12-22T12:04:00.005Z

Did you catch Ian Hislop's "Age of the Do-Gooders" on BBC recently? He looked at various reformers in the Victorian age and, rather than poke fun at them, as people are wont to do, he took them seriously and realised how society had benefited from their work and campaigning.

Among the people he looked at were Wilberforce, Barnardo, Lord Shaftesbury and Gladstone. They helped abolish slavery, stopped children being sent down mines and up chimneys to work, campaigned against drink and sexual immorality and much more besides.

It was interesting how many of them were "evangelical Christians", as Hislop pointed out. The Christians were mocked then and continue to be mocked in many quarters today, for their "do gooding". But it's a force that still has a great effect.

I saw recently the figure of £3m estimated as what it would cost governemnt to run all the work that Christian charities and churches do now for the community, much in a voluntary capacity. And in general it's work done well, as people are motivated by love and wanting to serve. In other words to be Christ like in their lives.

Well done Mr. Hislop for your programme and your look at the Victorian "do-gooding". I also enjoy you on Have I Got News for You, by the way!

Christmas Nativity continued

2010-12-22T11:54:00.003Z

The second epsisode of The Nativity was on last night (see blog entry below for the 1st episode). Things are beginning to happen! Mary learns she is to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. She goes off to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

The Magi continue to debate the impending conjucntion of heavenly bodies and have an interesting discussion about whether God interacts with his people or not. Three Magi decide to leave to head for Judea.

In the meantime, poor old shepherd Thomas has some of his flock taken to 'pay' his taxes and the medicine for his sick wife has run out.

Then Mary has to return to Nazareth, but it's obvious by now she is pregnant. What will Joseph say and do? Cue cliffhanger ending to be continued tonight!

Christmas Nativity

2010-12-21T15:57:00.004Z

Last night saw the first episode of a four-part drama entitled The Nativity on BBC1. It's a re-telling of the Christmas story and it's on at prime time - 7 pm. It's ousted The One Show leading up to Christmas. Chris Evans & Alex Jones, move over for the Nativity!

It started well last night; Mary meeting Joseph for the first time and then getting betrothed, Caspar, one of the Magi calculating there will be a conjunction of three heavenly bodies and working out the significance of it and Thomas a shepherd who's wife is ill and who can't afford to pay his taxes.

The episode ended with Gabriel visiting Mary with some news - you could almost hear the "thump, thump, thump" of the Eastenders music as the episode ended!

My wife quipped, "I wonder what will happen?" Actually we know, you see, we've read the book!

Penetrating the Church

2010-11-24T09:32:00.004Z

I've just read this comment about the church:

We fence Jesus off from everyone, hiding him behind religious jargon, impenetrable church services, music which has no connection to popular culture. Then we have the nerve to complain that no one seems interested in religion any more. Perhaps they would be interested in Jesus, if only he wasn't hidden from sight behind the strange trappings of religion.

Although it was written about 15 years ago, it has a familiar ring! However we try to make church "accessible" (to use modern jargon), it's so easy to slip into it being an "in" club, where only those in the know really understand things.

If you go to church, next Sunday, try and view everything from the point of view, "If I'd never been here before and know little about Christianity, would I understand what was going on and would I know what I was supposed to do?"

See how you get on!

Fairtrade

2010-11-21T23:03:00.005Z

A couple of weeks ago the Institute of Economic Affairs issued a fairly negative paper on Fairtrade. One is tempted to say, "Well, it would, wouldn't it?"

The trouble is, Fairtrade isn't free trade, and that's what they don't like. Their line is that free trade in the long term is best for the developing world.

Like, I suppose, "free trade" in this country where our own farmers are shafted by large multi-national supermarkets.

In a free market, when the price of, say, coffee slumps on the world market, the 3rd world producers are left penniless. How does that benefit the growers? But Fairtrade promises not to pay less than a certain price, whatever the markets do.

I was surprised and heartened to read an article in the Money section of the weekend Guardian in response to the IEA paper. It was written by the editor of Money, Patrick Collinson, who has been to Tanzania and actually seen how Fairtrade has benefited the lives of people out there. He ends his article by saying:

Fairtrade is an easy target for people who, for reasons I can't fathom, want to attack "do-gooders". We should be proud of it. It is a global movement but one that is outstandingly successful in convincing British consumers to pay that bit more to help the less fortunate. These are do-gooders who have done good.

So, don't be put off by those who try to denigrate Fairtrade. Keep buying the tea, coffee and whatever else you can get hold of!

Go to www.guardian.co.uk/money and search for "Fairtrade" for Patrick Collinson's article. The article has a link to a report on the IEA website about its paper on Fairtrade.

Post very early for Christmas

2010-11-05T13:25:00.004Z

Last week we ordered a number of items over the Internet - most of them for Christmas. Then we waited for them to arrive. As both of us are often out for large parts of the day, it didn't surprise us when we found one of those notes saying they had tried to deliver a parcel.

This one was from UKMail. On the note there were two boxes the driver could tick - one to say he'd left it with a neighbour, the other to say he'd try to re-deliver tomorrow, or for us to phone a number if inconvenient. As neither boxes were ticked we decided to call the number and arrange to collect the parcel ourselves, as that was one of their options.

So, the next day my wife goes down, as arranged, after work and rings the bell at the desk, by the note asking customers to be patient if no-one comes immediately.

After ten minutes of waiting and being ignored by two people who walked through, her patience ran out! When finally someone did come, they said the driver had re-delivered it that day! But she had arranged with them to pick it up! Oh, well, he said, the telephone number on the form isn't theirs, it's another office!

Actually the parcel was NOT delivered. My wife has made a formal complaint and they are looking in to it. In the meantime, the parcel has gone missing! What a fiasco!

Welcome to the world of privatised mail.

A pill too far

2010-11-03T09:28:00.003Z

I read that contraceptive pills are to be available to girls as young as 13 on the Isle of Wight. They will be available over the counter at some pharmacies, without the girl's parents or GP knowing about it. The aim, Primary Care Trust says, is to cut down teenage pregnancies.

But I haven't read of any evidence that this type of action actually works. Furthermore, what does it say to these kids? Let me suggest three things:

1. Society says it's alright to have under-age sex.
2. Society says it's OK to sleep around.
3. Society will collude with you to ignore your parents' wishes.

If this is the kind of society we now live in, then society stinks.

Hallowe'en

2010-11-01T22:57:00.006Z

Yesterday was Hallowe'en. We had 17 kids knock at the door in total, although often in groups. What does one do?

In the morning I preached on the subject, and if you are really interested, your can hear it at
www.laindonbaptistchurch.org/sermons/halloween2.mp3 (the Scripture readings are heard first).

We prepared a little leaflet which we gave to the parents of those who called, and offered the children something from our basket of "goodies", which included little books with Bible stories, pencils and rubbers with either a Bible verse, or "God loves you" written on them.

The little leaflet read:

As Christians we have reservations about celebrating Halloween. We believe that it is better to celebrate things that are good and ‘light’ rather than concentrate on dark things. However we do not want to disappoint children who call at our door so hope you will allow them to take something from our basket and accept this short explanation of our views. If you want to talk further please call again or get in touch via Laindon Baptist Church.

Whether or not the leaflets were read, only God knows. But it made us feel a little happier about a rather dubious evening in our society's calendar. As I said in the sermon, at any other time of the year, if a parent allowed their child to go around knocking on the doors of complete strangers and demand gifts to prevent vandalism, they'd be reported to Social services.

To the Cinema

2010-11-01T22:47:00.004Z

Earlier this evening we went to see the film Africa United. It's about a group of kids who travel across Africa to see the World Cup in South Africa. A light-hearted film which, however, managed to touch on HIV/AIDS, child soldiers and trafficking, almost without you realising it. As well, of course, addiction to football!

It was in one of the "Studios" in our local mutiplex, and it has 50 seats. My wife said, "It's obviously minority viewing." It turned out even more than we thought as we were the only people in the place!

A good evening out - why pay £1,000's for your own home cinema?

Folding your shirts

2010-10-28T22:28:00.010+01:00

I've never been able to fold shirts nicely - or sweatshirts for that matter. That was, until we came across the Ikea chopping board!

All you have to do is lay the shirt "face down" and place the board on it, so that the board's handle is just on the collar.

Then smooth the shirt out and fold it over the edge of the board.

Then fold it up, remove board using its handle, turn the shirt over, et voila!

What's even better, the board comes in a pack of two - so that your daughter or granddaughter can fold up dolly's clothes also! (as long as it's a reasonably large dolly).

And I don't get a penny commission from Ikea!

More about signage

2010-10-28T22:07:00.007+01:00

Another photo for you. The Council in its wisdom have put up a sign helpfully warning drivers of a roundabout and pedestrian crossing ahead.

However, if you want to go to the station, you may well miss it as the new sign just about completely blocks the station direction sign.

It makes you wonder who actually erects these signs.

A letter to the editor

2010-10-26T10:35:00.004+01:00

I wrote a letter to the editor of one of our local newspapers but they didn't publish it. So I'll have to publish it instead!

It arose because just after Mr. Osbourne announced all his cuts, there was yet another announcement from our local council about their ambitious £1 billion project for the centre of Basildon. This time it included "inspirational plans". To fill in a bit of background, the council is currently building a big "Sporting village" and it was exposed recently that to help finance it, the Council is trying to sell off a number of open spaces.

Here's what I said:

Dear Sir

I was astounded to read all about the £1 billion revamp of the town centre of Basildon in your newspaper last week. And I thought that nice Mr. Cameron had said we‘re in a recession and need to make cutbacks! Or does Basildon Council exist in some kind of parallel universe? In fact, in the letters page last week, I read that the Council can’t even afford to trim the foliage along the highways (cutbacks halting cut backs, if you see what I mean). So how on earth is the Council going to afford all this? Or have they secretly agreed to sell off lots more open spaces around the Borough?

Another letter writer last week quite rightly bemoaned the appalling state of the Laindon Centre “regeneration”. If the Council can’t get that right, what chance has it on a £1 billion project?

Another thing I’d like to know is how much the Council has already spent out on fees to BWB to produce “inspirational plans”? How many hedges could that amount of money trimmed back?

Just to say, our own shopping centre in Laindon, mentioned above, is supposed to be redeveloped, and has been for a number of years now. But all that has happened, some years ago part of it was demolished, and hoardings surround it It really is a disgrace. One day soon I might take some pictures and share them with you.

By the way, I hope you liked the "cut back" pun in the letter.

Say cheese and let me have your passwords

2010-10-26T10:21:00.005+01:00

The story of Google getting into trouble about their "Street View" service, where cars mounted with cameras drive round the world to obtain pictures down your street, continues. Yesterday in the paper it was reported that our privacy watchdog is investigating them after it emerged that as they drove down your street taking photos of your house, they also collected emails, usernames and passwords from any unsecured computer network they found.

Is it me? If drove down a street and took photos, I couldn't possibly - 'inadvertently' or otherwise - have collected stuff like that. It's a CAMERA, for goodness sake!

OK, OK! I realise it's a high tech camera and it's probably streaming the images in real time to a remote mainframe (see, I know the jargon!). But even so. How can you 'inadvertently' collect AND save such stuff?

Their spokesman gave the usual catchphrases. They are "profoundly sorry", they are "strengthening privacy", "more training", "better procedures", etc., etc.

It all sounds worryingly familiar doesn't it?

Spelling problems

2010-10-25T15:16:00.005+01:00

Barstable is an area of Basildon; the Council knows that.

What it's not so sure of, is how you spell it.

Temptation

2010-10-20T10:13:00.013+01:00

We recently looked at temptation in our Sunday service, as we have been studying the Lord's Prayer and got to "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil". We saw that "temptation" could be seen as testing - and the object of a test is to pass it. Similarly, the object of a temptation is to not yield to it, and so come out stronger as a Christian.

We sung a hymn which has all but disappeared from recent song and hymn books, Yield not to temptation. When I re-read the words, I was struck afresh by their practical common sense and their constant reminder to look to Jesus to help us in testing times.

I got eight copies of the words laminated, so if people wanted to keep a copy, they could. I have only one copy left, so there were those who did appreciate the words!

If don't know the hymn and I have sparked an interest, here are the words:

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;
Each victory will help you some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through.

Chorus:

Ask the Saviour to help you,

Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain,
God’s name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true;
Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through

All who overcome now, God will give a crown,
Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down;
He who is our Saviour, our strength will renew;
Look ever to Jesus, He will carry you through.

Horatio R. Palmer, 1868

If you want to hear it sung, there are a number of versions on YouTube

The Commonwealth Games

2010-10-15T20:37:00.003+01:00

Did you follow the Commonwealth Games? After so much gloom and doom before they began, all seemed to go quite well really.

Paul Hobson, writing in the Baptist Times on 1 October said about the Games, "It'll be fine. It's India". And those who have been fortunate to visit the country, as we have, will know what he means.

He ends his article by saying, "Do not be surprised if the 2010 Commonwealth Games are a huge success." I think he got it right! Except, perhaps, for the fact that England came third in the medals table, behind the host nation.

Actually, on the BBC web site they had alternative ways of showing the medals table. One was medals by population. We come a miserable 18th. But out front by far is Nauru which, with one gold and one silver and a population of 10,000, they are easy winners!

You may be thinking, where on earth is Nauru? Good question! Apparently it's a Pacific Island to the north of Papua New Guinea. Economically it's not in a good state, so especially well done to the Nauruians!

My return

2010-10-15T20:30:00.003+01:00

First of all apologies to all my loyal readers. I realise it's been some time since I blogged, but I will try and do better in the coming weeks.

As always, you can check to see how many days, hours, etc it is to Christmas on the right hand side of my blog page. Which brings me to what started me blogging again. It's the old 'chestnut' of Christmas starting too early.

This morning Chris Evans on his breakfast show said that in his village the Christmas lights are already on! And, no, it's not a test.

And in Iceland you can get "Christmas at Iceland deep fill mince pies. Best before date 25 Nov. " Can someone tell them Christmas is actually 25 DECEMBER please?

Bankers and Snails

2010-09-15T21:22:00.004+01:00

Comments on two items of news today.

First of all, the main story of the Guardian today is about the Real IRA saying it will target UK bankers. So they are trying to win the hearts and minds of the British public then.

Even the Governor of the Bank of England admitted today the part the "financial sector" played in producing our current economic climate.

But enough of all that, the big story I heard on the news this morning was that snails have a strong homing instinct and if you want to rid them from your garden you have to take them at least 100 metres away. That means throwing them over the fence into your neighbour's garden won't work . You need to throw them at least three doors down.

But what I don't understand is this, why do they want to return home, don't they carry their home with them at all times?

Spending Cuts

2010-09-14T22:12:00.004+01:00

When I heard last week that the Police service will need to make spending cuts, the obvious objection would be it will mean cutting back officers on the streets and crime will increase.

And, of course, it has been said. And it makes sense. From what I understand, the number of officers out there has been increasing in recent years and crime has fallen. To be honest, as they say, it's not rocket science!

But we have to make cuts! So the number of officers will be reduced and crime will go up. Then what will happen? There will be research into why crime is increasing. Consultants will be wheeled in. Long reports will be written and the "bottom line" of the reports will be there that needs to be more police out there on the streets.

And the consultants that were brought in will go away with massive fees and expenses and will be laughing all the way to the bank. But that's democracy for you.

Google-eyed

2010-09-09T22:57:00.004+01:00

I read that Google have announced their new search engine which is so fast it can take five seconds off the time of a search. It apparently guesses (sorry, 'predicts') what you are typing in and starts to go to the appropriate (or not) websites.

So, if I do twelve Internet searches in a morning, I save a whole minute!

I'm thinking about how I can use all that extra leisure time already.

Actually, my wife pointed out that it would save even more time if, when she searched for "cheap hotels in Bath and Bristol", she did NOT get hotels in Coventry. I see that minute's leisure already disappearing before my eyes ...

Wedding anniversary today!

2010-08-23T17:17:00.005+01:00

Yes, we've been married 41 years today. Only nine years left to the Golden one.

One of the cards, as you can see, has a window in it, and suspended by a piece of wire is a picture of two champagne glasses. A great card!

But there are hidden dangers! There is a warning on the back!

It reads:

WARNING!

Not suitable for small children under 36 months due to small parts.

Please retain for future reference.

Of course its not suitable for a baby - a baby isn't going to be celebrating a wedding anniversary!

But I must remember when the cards are taken down. I'll cut out the warning notice as I must keep it for future reference. I mean, you never know when you might need to know that kind of stuff.

Arachnophobics, don't read this.

2010-08-23T17:02:00.005+01:00

On Friday morning Chris Evans mentioned "wing mirror spiders" on his show on Radio 2. I remember having one of them a few years ago, but not recently.

But blow me! Later that day I went out, and as I drove off, I saw I had a wing mirror spider also! So there I was, driving slowly down the road, but even so, the web was 'vibrating' madly! But he didn't want to run off and hide behind the mirror! However, reality kicked in and I began to concentrate on the road.

And soon I had forgotten about the spider and it was 60 mph down the Southend Arterial Road, and come to think of it, I haven't seen it since...

But in the evening, I noticed a larger spider in his web behind the loo at home! I ask you, how many flies will he catch there? My wife, armed with her just purchased loo brush (actually there was nothing wrong with the old one, why spend out a whole 39p on a new one?) managed to "sweep" it up, but did it get washed down the plug hole of the wash basin or did it get away?

I think it got away. Or, it's another one that's just spun its web by the computer. I think there is even less likelihood of a decent lunch there.

It's a pity really, I don't like to think of the poor thing staving to death.

P.S. to this blog - 39p loo brushes available from IKEA.

Strike averted

2010-08-17T20:58:00.005+01:00

When the Unite union announced that their members had voted to strike in their dispute with BAA, David Cameron called on the union to halt the threat of strike action. "These sorts of strikes never achieve anything apart from damage," he said.

But as a result of impending strike action, the two sides got together at ACAS and came up with an agreement that the union are recommending their members accept.

Au contraire, Mr Cameron! I would have said the threat of strike action achieved a lot!

Did they listen?

2010-08-17T20:48:00.005+01:00

Further to my rant about road signs blocking other roadsigns -

http://ericgreymatters.blogspot.com/2010/06/traffic-mismanagement.html

- they have moved it! You can now follow the sign to Laindon again - assuming you want to come to Laindon, of course.

Now, the big question is, "Did they move it because they read my blog?"

By the way, I have another sign-blocking-sign to bring you; just as soon as I get my camera out ...

Le Saucier

2010-08-09T22:53:00.007+01:00

We're back home from France now, and we'd like to say a big thank you to our hosts whilst there - we had a great time!

One particular item of interest was their "sauce maker". It heats up the liquid whilst continually stirring the mixture. See the (very) short video, just to give you a flavour of the sauce maker (but not of the sauce itself!).

We were so impressed, we started trawling the Internet to see where we could purchase one in England. But we could find no mention of it. However, we managed to get our one on French eBay. Vive Le Saucier!

The wonders of technology!

Decisions, decisions ...

2010-08-06T20:43:00.006+01:00

Whilst away on holiday, I read an article in The Times. It was about the difficulty we have making decisions, because we have too many choices. It says the average supermarket has about 10,000 different products on its shelves.

I remember when we went down to our local shop, run by Mr. Griffiths, for our groceries. You couldn't fit more than about 6 people in the shop, yet we managed to buy most of what we needed. AND he served you! Do you remember those days? He had a marble counter and he wrote on it the price of each item you bought on the counter with a pencil, then he added them all up. Do you remember those days when people things added up?

But back to today. If you shop online at Tesco's and search for 'cereals', you get back 346 items. It used to be just Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Weetabix or Shredded Wheat. And Mr. Griffiths stocked them all!

So there's the problem, we have so much choice these days, it makes us more indecisive. The article tells of the jam experiment, where, apparently, people bought ten times less jam when presented with 24 varieties than when their choice was six! But even six seems about three too many!

But back to the article again. They reported on various surveys and we are a "nation crippled by too much choice". In fact, in one study a third of people described themselves as "very indecisive". But what I want to know is, How did they manage to come to that decision?

Steak and Kidney!

2010-08-01T18:42:00.006+01:00

When the kids were young, we had a touring caravan and used it for a number of holidays. We did a minimum of cooking (we were on holiday!) and couldn't afford meals out, so a favourite was a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie, with tinned new potatoes and tinned peas. Just a tin opener was needed!

This is clearly fondly remembered by one of our daughters - for when we suggested we might have one a few weeks ago, the response was, "I'm salivating already!"

But back to our week here in France. We went into the local supermarket - Carrefour - and I noticed a small section of one aisle labelled Angleterre. Interested to find out what they considered English, there they were! Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies! As you can see, the picture proves it!

Clearly steak and kidney pies are quintessentially English.

Click on the picture for a larger image and to see what else is 'English'.

How to get an extra craft knife ...

2010-07-29T14:30:00.003+01:00

Wandering around the local market (see blog below), I found a way of getting a craft knife free! The packet (pictured) says there are three, but look, a fourth has crept in unseen by the chinese manufacturer!

What a bargain!

It was, actually, a bargain, as it was in the "everything costs 1€" box. We also bought a jumbo thermometer, for our garden back home. It is currently registering 36 degrees here. Just thought you'd like to know!

2010-07-29T14:09:00.004+01:00

Here we are in the South of France! We have snatched a week's holiday with one of my wife's cousins who lives over here.

Just to make you envious, the picture is taken from the kitchen window.

As soon as I'd taken the picture I scuttled out of the kitchen - well, I am on holiday!

Well packaged

2010-07-25T12:24:00.004+01:00

I received a small parcel recently. I ripped off the cellophane to reveal a cardboard box. In it was a plastic tray, which had another cardboard box in it. So I removed the box from the tray and opened it, to reveal some bubble wrap. After I got rid of that, there was more cellophane wrap, and inside that - my card reader for my new Tesco savings account!

In order to log on, I have to type in my customer number, then digits of my PIN, then characters from my password. For certain transactions I have to put my recently received card into my recently unwrapped card reader and type in yet another PIN!

They say all this security is for my benefit. What they mean is that managing an account online is a highly hazardous thing to do and they are making it as difficult as possible for fraudsters to gain access to my money - and by so doing, it's pretty hard for ME to access my money.

I'm not sure which took longer - accessing my account through all the layers of security, or accessing my card reader through all the layers of packaging.

The letter that accompanied one PIN told me to memorise it immediately and destroy the letter. Like I'm supposed to do with all the other PINs and passwords I have - from other savings, credit card, debit card, even my library card!

And of course, if someone DID manage to hack in to my account, it must be my fault for not keeping my PIN secure!

I have to admit that I almost cancelled the account because of all the security. But then I remembered the interest rate! But I also must remember that, in a year's time I'll have to go through it all again, when the bonus interest rate ends.

Oh dear!

Out for the night?

2010-07-20T20:29:00.003+01:00

A few days ago I asked my wife if she wanted to do anything that evening. She asked, "Like what?" So I said, "Well, we could go out and paint the town red!"

But we agreed we were too old for that, so I suggested we might go out and paint the town beige.

Actually, we stayed in and watched tele ...

The joke I didn't tell.

2010-07-20T14:08:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I went on a one day course organised by the Eastern Baptist Association for ministers. It was called "Peer Supervision." I'd said to the family that if they asked all the attendees at the beginning of the course, "Why have you come on this peer supervision course?" I would say, "Because I hope to get a job with Southend Corporation."

Well, the course leader asked that very question, almost word-for-word. But I bottled out!

Perhaps I don't want to always be the "class clown".

This really is the end.

2010-07-11T18:52:00.002+01:00

When a Southend bound train comes into Laindon station, even if it's only four carriages long, it goes right up to the end of the platform. This is rather annoying, as the exit is at the beginning of the platform.

I asked a friend of mine who knows about these things (as he works for a major train company) and he told me why. In order for the driver to ensure all passengers are safely aboard, he looks through a large mirror situated on the station, just by where he stops. At the four carriage stop, the mirror had been smashed by vandals shooting at it from the road bridge.

The railway replaced it (and they are not cheap, I'm assured), only for the same thing to happen again. At which point they gave up, and now the trains run to the end of the station, where the mirror is out of range of the bridge.

I did have a rather radical suggestion, "Why doesn't the driver lean out of his window and look back down the train?" But that was greeted with a sharp intake of breath! To me, sometimes the obvious solutions are not only the cheapest, but also the best!

But, hey, who am I? I'm not a railway manager!

Actually this whole thing reminds me of something I read some time ago. In the days of the USA versus Russia space race, both nations had a problem. A ball point pen would not write properly in zero gravity (try writing with the pen going upwards and you can see the problem).

The Americans put in thousands of dollars of research in order to create a pen that would write in space. The Russians had another idea - they sent their astronauts up with a pencil.

Simple, but effective.

Taking leave of our Census

2010-07-11T18:44:00.002+01:00

(Sorry about the pun in the title!) The government announced yesterday that next year's census would be the last of its kind. They say there are more efficient ways of picking up information, from the Post Office, local government and credit checking agencies.

But they've forgotten another source of information. With our Club Card, Tesco knows more about us than anyone else!

Fakes and mistakes ...

2010-07-08T20:38:00.005+01:00

Last Monday we went to the National Gallery to see their new exhibition, Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes & Discoveries. It tells the stories behind various paintings, whether they are genuine and changes that have been made to them.

As various scientific methods have been employed on the pictures, it's a kind of art meets science. Like when Doctor Who visited Van Gogh (OK, that's science fiction meets art!). Being more on the science side than the arts side, but knowing I ought to appreciate art, I thought I'd enjoy this exhibition and I did.

There was, for instance, the painting "Woman at a window", a picture of a demure Victorian lady. But when they got to work on it, they found she had been "touched up" and she was originally much more provocative and probably no lady! See for more information:

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/woman-at-a-window

Then there was the portrait that had been altered, so that the man now had a cleaver in his head and a dagger in his chest! But his vague smile was unaltered.

But perhaps my favourite was the restorer in the 1930's who was working on Il Tramonto (The Sunset) by Giorgione. At one point the canvas was so damaged, it had to be replaced, and to disguise this, he painted on it a mounted St George slaying the dragon. Maybe he wanted to put an English 'stamp' on the painting!

As I said, a very enjoyable afternoon, well worth the visit, including the 15 minute film giving more detail.

Traffic Mismanagement

2010-06-30T22:17:00.007+01:00

Have you noticed how there seems to be a never-ending array of road signs that go up all along our roads.

For instance, there a "New crossing ahead" sign two doors down from us, concerning a zebra crossing that has been there ever since we moved in nearly a year ago and judging by the state of the crossing markings, has been there considerably longer!

I bet it's no-one's job to take old signs down, only to put new ones up. But I must admit the sign does act as an indicator that I'm just about to get to my house, so I don't drive past it!

However, the photo (right) is of another incredible bungle by someone. On the Southend Arterial Road (A127) there's a direction sign off to Laindon, where we live. However, they've just put in a speed restriction, so they decided to erect a "Speed cameras" right in front of the direction sign, as you can probably see from the picture. Sorry it's not very clear, but it was taken through the windscreen as we travelled down the road.

So here's a message to all those who may come to visit us from the direction of Southend:-

Take the turning where you would have read "Laindon" if the direction sign was not totally blocked by the "Speed cameras" sign.

Joke just in

2010-06-30T22:08:00.004+01:00

Just received the following from a friend:

The Family Court was in session. The judge had to decide who was to have custody of the sons. The judge asked the boys if they wanted to live with their Mum. They said no, because she beat them. So he asked if they wanted to live with their Dad. Again, they said no, because he beat them. So the judge asked them, "Who do want to live with?" They replied they wanted to live with the England football team because they don't beat anyone.

My thanks to Zac's nephew for that!

Be still and know ...

2010-06-25T09:23:00.004+01:00

"Be still" says the Psalm (Psalm 46:10). But I don't find it easy. When I get down to the church office in the morning there are always plenty of things to do, so I want to "get on". But God wants me to be still and know his presence.

So I've developed a new tactic. The temptation is to switch on the computer straight away as it takes a fair amount of time to load everything up. But if I do that, I get distracted by emails, etc. So I don't turn on the monitor. When it goes quiet, I know it's time to enter in my password, and I can do that without the screen. Then, as I have an email "hot key", I can press that and know the emails are loading up.

Then, when I've had a time of quiet, I can switch on the monitor, and all is ready to go!

This morning I was pointed to the hymn "Dear Lord and Father of mankind", so I re-read the words. It reminds us that our words and works can drown out the "tender whisper" of his call and cause us to miss his blessing.

Then I read these words, God whispers in order to draw us closer to him.... Through his voice, I begin to recognize not just the handiwork of what he does, but the heartbeat of who he is. (Margaret Feinberg, The Organic God, p. 96)

I still need to learn the lesson of being still, and knowing God's presence, but maybe I'm slowly getting there. One day I might even be able to NOT switch on my office computer as soon as I get in!

Fond of a font

2010-06-24T20:07:00.005+01:00

I read an article recently that said most typesetters despise the font "Comic Sans MS". What a travesty! It's a great font!

In fact I shall attempt to type the rest of this blog entry in that very font. It has a friendly, informal look to it. AND the font is one of the few that do a small 'a' in the way we actually write it, so my wife confirms that it's helpful for children to read.

So let's hear it for Comic Sans! My friends, use it whenever you can! Show these 'experts' what we think of their disdain!

(If the above hasn't come out in Comic Sans, then you've probably not got it in your font library, so why not?? It also shows I've been mugging up on using HTML, in order to get the font to come out in the first place!)

Would my Grandmother have watched the football match?

2010-06-24T19:52:00.004+01:00

As I sat thinking about our football win yesterday, and the fact that Basildon town centre was very quiet (as no doubt were other town centres), I began wondering whether my Grandma would have watched the game.

You see, she only ever watched one game a year, the FA Cup Final. I don't know why this was, it just was. And I started to think, maybe she would have added that game to her football watching portfolio.

And then I realised - of course she wouldn't have watched it! It was on a weekday afternoon and you don't watch television on weekday afternoons! There were so many other things to do on a Wednesday afternoon, no time for that football nonsense!

Sadly, our country's work ethic has deteriorated over the years...

Sorry about the lack of entries

2010-06-23T13:01:00.004+01:00

Sorry about the lack of entries on my blog page in recent days. But I'm back now!

So, what can I comment on? Well, there's the budget. Is it the necessary medicine the country needs as the Tories are saying? Or is it a terrible mistake as Labour are saying? (note, for obvious reasons the Lib-Dems are saying very little!)

My answer is, "I don't know." I hear both arguments but don't know which, if ether, are right. And, of course, we'll never know, unless we pull very swiftly out of recession, which seems unlikely. And if we don't, would Labour's solution have been any more effective? Quite simply, we'll never know!

But onto more important things - the World Cup. It's the crucial match this afternoon (if you're reading this later, I'm referring to the match against Slovenia).

I hear that a Primary School is closing half an hour early so people can watch the match! What IS that all about? School finishes at around 3 pm anyway, so they'll only miss about 15 minutes! And they can always press 'record', so any goals scored in that time can still be seen (assuming they are scored by England in the back of the opponent's net!).

Football Season

2010-06-08T21:16:00.008+01:00

My wife bought a second hand 'fluffy' football, suitable for our small grandchildren to play with indoors, in keeping with the current World Cup mania.

Because it was second hand she decided to wash it. It came up well, see picture.

You see, she took note of the washing instructions, which read, "Do not iron".

Just as well she read them; I mean it's an easy mistake to make ...

Maybe not, if you wanted a rugby football!

2010-06-04T10:08:00.003+01:00

We had need to visit Chadwell St Mary and saw a sign to "Grays Beach". It was one of those brown tourist signs. Those of you who know this part of Essex may well be surprised, like us, to find a beach so far down the Thames towards London (maybe it's the "last resort").

Intrigued, we followed the signs, and found a park by the river. The river shore itself was mud. But "land" side of the high sea wall was a large children's play area, with sand. Also a paddling pool and adventure golf, although this was closed due to tree roots growing in it! I'd have thought that would have just made it more adventurous!

As the large power station (or whatever it is) is to the east, it doesn't block the sun. However,it was pleasant enough. But we had to go to Basildon town centre so off we went. I must admit, until that moment, I didn't think I'd be saying we were going up-market to Basildon!

We parked in the multi-storey car park. The minimum rate was 90p. The machine had two notices on it:
"No change given"
"Overpayment accepted"

They could have been more honest and written, "You're bound not to have 90p in coins, so just pay us £1 and we'll keep the 10p!"

That's over 11% as a tip to NCP. (Yes, it is - work it out, it's 11.1% to be more accurate!)

But I DID have 90p in change! So, got you NCP!

In the news ...

2010-05-28T09:14:00.006+01:00

I heard on the news this morning that those who clean their teeth once a day or less are 70% more likely to develop heart disease.

So, forget the healthy diets! Eat the doughnuts and the fried breakfasts!

AS LONG AS YOU CLEAN YOUR TEETH AFTERWARDS!

A2A - the finale

2010-05-24T20:39:00.003+01:00

Ashes to Ashes bowed out on Friday. All would be explained we were told. And it was, or at least I think it was. It turned out that they were all in a kind of purgatory for police officers killed on duty. DCI Gene Hunt was their saviour leading them through to heaven and Keats was the devil trying to entice them down to hell.

In fact Ray, Chris and Shaz were also 'dead' but they didn't realise it until the final episode. After the last triumph of law enforcement, they were ready to enter the 'pub' - which had an ethereal glow coming from within.

There was even a time when Keats had a punch up with Hunt and looked as if he, the devil, had won. Hunt didn't exactly rise from the dead, but recovered enough to have the final triumph.

So Alex Drake had been dead for some time and wasn't going to see her beloved daughter after all. But Hunt said she'd be OK, so I suppose that's alright then.

Who'd have thought that A2A was deeply spiritual? It just goes to show you can't get away from our spirituality!

However, there were a few things that made you think the script writers only thought of this ending about half way through the last series. Why didn't Ray Chris and Shaz realise they were in fact dead, or at least in a different world, as Alex did? Why did DCI Gene Hunt have to stay in that purgatory - he was dead as well, did I mention that?

Maybe it was because Hunt had more people to see through purgatory into 'pub' heaven. In the very last seconds, someone else suddenly appears in the police station, demanding to know who's nicked his Ipod. Oh no, I hope that's not a signal for another series!

Spotted whilst wandering

2010-05-21T20:21:00.007+01:00

Well, is this advert meant to be upside down?

And I think someone took the sign a little too seriously.

Tolerance or not?

2010-05-20T10:32:00.004+01:00

I was reading the 'aims' of a worship service held in a hospice. It had two aims. The first was to provide a service of worship for Christian believers and the second was to provide a period of reflection for all, regardless of faith (and all the other inclusivities). This second aim is clearly so as to appear inclusive and not offend anyone. However, the two aims are rather mutually exclusive.

If you are holding a service of worship for a particular religion, it is not easy to bring in other faiths without compromising your own beliefs. I would not feel comfortable in worship service of another religion and for most religions, they would not feel comfortable in a Christian service.

And there's nothing wrong with that! It's all about having a faith which we really believe in.

At the Baptist Assembly (held in Plymouth recently), Amy Orr-Ewing spoke powerfully about tolerance of other faiths. She said there was nothing intolerant in saying we believe that only in Jesus can you be saved and go to heaven. We are intolerant only if we do not respect others with differing views.

So the PC lobby have turned 'tolerance' on its head! They suggest it is intolerant to say that your religion is right and others are wrong. What in fact is intolerant is them objecting to you saying it.

A basic Baptist principle is freedom for everyone to practise their own faith, or to have no faith. That is far more tolerant than many PC people would want!

Hung or Balanced

2010-05-14T10:57:00.004+01:00

Some journalists and commentators have said that the people of Britain voted for a hung parliament. No they didn't! If they voted for the Tory candidate, they did so because the they wanted a Tory government. Similarly for Labour voters. It may be that Lib Dem voters wanted a hung, or 'balanced' (as Nick Clegg preferred to call it) parliament, but they weren't in the majority.

The general view has been that a balanced parliament is not a good thing. We need a "strong" parliament, so we are told. But do we? A strong parliament means the majority party can push through their nutty right- or left-wing (depending on their colour) policies.

What we have are what I would call 'measured' decisions, to be made by our coalition.

If this coalition works (and that's a big 'if'!), could they change things so I could actually vote for a coalition next time?

Presumably that would be much more likely to happen with a PR system. And that's why, of course, the two main parties don't want it, and the Lib Dems sooooo do!

Money matters - so the markets say

2010-05-11T22:26:00.004+01:00

In my blog on 7 May, I mentioned Mariella Frostrup's frustration about why we as a country still seem to be at the mercy of the money markets. I was interested to read yesterday Gary Younge's article in The Guardian entitled, The People have spoken. Don't let the Money Markets shout them down. It included this paragraph:

So the very sector we bailed out with public money, run by incompetent people who are once again paying themselves bonuses, is now threatening to destabilise the next government unless it fires thousands of low-paid workers, cuts their wages and withdraws the services to millions of mostly poor people.

I think that says it all really. Thank you, Gary.

You can read the whole article at

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/10/people-markets-democracy-capitalism

The result of voting?

2010-05-08T18:03:00.003+01:00

A lady interviewed by the press was upset. If she voted Lib Dem but didn't get Nick Clegg as Prime Minister she thought it "was a poor sign of our society." She gave an illustration, that if she ordered cheesecake in a restaurant she wouldn't expect to get apple pie !

Presumably she doesn't realise that voting in an election is a little different from ordering a sweet.

On the other hand, say all the customers had a vote on their favourite pudding - the choices were apple pie, cheesecake or ice cream. Then, everybody had to have the sweet that came top!

Unless, of course, there wasn't a clear majority. Then maybe the apple pie could get together with the ice cream. That sounds quite good, actually. Although I'd prefer custard.

Maybe I need to re-write this blog ...

Parliament is Hung Out

2010-05-07T15:45:00.005+01:00

So it's a hung parliament. Or a balanced parliament as the minority parties prefer to call it. My view is whichever party runs the country they are going to be in for an extremely rough ride. They are going to have to make cuts, which won't be popular. What is happening on the continent will have its affect here, even though we are not part of the Eurozone.

On the election reporting last night, when it was mentioned that the 'markets' would not respond well to a 'hung parliament', Mariella Frostrup indicated her frustration that even after the banking crisis, we as a country are still at the mercy of the money markets. I'm with her there! Our country seems to sink or swim as a result of the 'markets'. Honestly, what is all that about?

But back to my original point, any party is going to have a rough ride and will soon be pretty unpopular with the voters. So my advice to Gordon Brown is, let David Cameron lead the country. He'll then get all the stick and in a year or so's time when we have another election, you can say your policies would have worked better, and maybe get a swing back to Labour!

Who knows?

Voting or betting?

2010-05-05T21:22:00.004+01:00

On one of the BBC Radio News slots this morning, Alan Dedicote reported the high percentage of people who "hadn't yet decided who to back" in the election.

What?? Is tomorrow polling day or a horse race? I thought you voted for the person you thought was best for the country, you didn't back the one you thought would win!

Or have I got it wrong?

Train Journey

2010-05-04T09:12:00.005+01:00

As our train was about to pull in to Fenchurch Street Station, the announcement told us we were about to reach our final destination. Isn't that tautologous? The final place the train stops at IS its destination.

I'm hoping my final destination is heaven! And that's got to be better than Fenchurch Street!

Five Daughters

2010-04-28T19:07:00.007+01:00

We've just finished watching the final episode of the BBC drama Five Daughters which tells the story of the murders of five girls in Ipswich in 2006. We lived in Ipswich at the time of the murders and in a way we re-lived those difficult days through the drama. It was very well done, in spite of the uses of the 'F' word.

It is said that everyone knows where they were when they heard of President Kennedy's assassination. Well, I don't. But I will always remember where I was when the news broke that they had found two more bodies just off the Old Felixstowe Road. I was driving down the A14 from Felixstowe back to Ipswich in the afternoon, heading back to the church office to work. I saw the police helicopter hovering overhead and at the same time heard on the radio that their bodies had been found. There was that ache in the pit of my stomach. Instead of going back to the office, all I could do was drive home. Mercifully they were the last bodies to be found.

As we lived through those days and saw the press reports and the police news conferences, we were impressed that the police did not call them prostitutes, but women. This was in sharp contrast to some of the media. A charity was set up by the local paper and the local Council, Somebody's Daughter Memorial Fund to help users of addictive substances and their families; relieve distress amongst people working as prostitutes and education in misuse of drugs, etc.

Yes, we needed to remember that the young women were victims and that they had families - which the drama brought out.

I'd like to share with you some of the ways the churches were involved during that time. Clearly there was support of the families and the taking of the funerals, and some of my colleagues in Ipswich were involved in that. The churches organised prayer meetings, praying for the victims' families, praying that the killer would be caught and praying that the streets of Ipswich would become safe again. One of the meetings I went to, the father of one of the murdered girls spoke to us.

The centre of Ipswich had for some time been patrolled by our "Town Pastors" on Friday and Saturday nights. At the height of the investigation, in the days leading up to Christmas, the police asked if the Town Pastors could go out every night, which they did until the arrest was made.

Churches in the town centre were also reaching out to the girls on the streets, one church I know had a drop in centre.

Finally, currently in the advance stages of planning by churches is a Christian Therapeutic Community which will offer a residential programme to help women out of life-controlling addictions. This will be located on a farm outside Ipswich.

It is easy to forget how the churches were involved, were alongside the community and were reaching out. That part of the story is not often told. But that's what being a follower of Jesus is all about. Being, as Jesus said, "salt and light" in the community; and bringing hope and love where there is suffering and despair.

No New Tricks for Essex

2010-04-26T22:36:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we watched an episode of New Tricks. It was on the television a week or so back, we recorded it and have just got round to viewing it.

And I must object. When Det. Chief Inspector Sandra Pullman said a body that was lost in the Thames, "was washed up in Essex", Gerry responded, "They're all washed up in Essex!" This is a slanderous slur on good Essex folk! If the Welsh can object when they are insulted and ginger haired people can object when they are insulted, then so can Essex!

So I want a statement made by Strickland, or some other officer of the Metropolitan Police please!

Oh, isn't it real? It's just a drama? The good people of Essex will be devastated to hear that!

More random ramblings

2010-04-26T15:09:00.009+01:00

The "Green Chilli" Indian Takeaway has been relaunched! I know this because their menu has come through the letterbox. "Where is it?" you may ask. And that's the problem, although it's a takeaway, the menu doesn't actually give you their address!

But they do deliver and they list the seven local areas they cover. A pity they spell three of them wrongly! Come on! Employ an English proofreader!

But they do have a web site and you can find out their address there. And people have rated their service very well! Someone from Basildon gives them maximum points for Quality, Delivery time and Service. She says,

very freindly and polite staff ill definatly be back.

Maybe forget about the proofreader!

Oh, and we think that "Smothies" are not designed to asphyxiate but are "Smoothies".

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We went into Basildon on Friday evening to the theatre and found that they have finished the improvements to the town centre. The new clock tower is there -- but the clock was half an hour slow!

And the new lighting is there. There are groups of six lights (see picture) and other lights, all painted purple. Except that, when we came out of the theatre and it was dark, the lighting wasn't working!

But never mind, when we went into the town centre this morning at 10.30 am, they were working (and the clock was still half an hour slow)!