Yay a look at the Next Dr Who

Hot off the press, here's a new preview clip for the next Doctor Who special, Waters of Mars:



This clip was shown earlier today at a special Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con in San Diego.

Amazing

I have been looking at this amazing video it makes me smile and is a real feel good video I have posted it on Facebook and various other places... enjoy it and see what people can do just for the sake of doing something.

Green Cars?

I am slightly confused, I follow Robert Llewellyn on Twitter and do watch the odd Carpool, a wonderful weekly show on his website please do go and have look.

He is really pushing electric cars as the saviour of the planet?

Now an electric car needs charging, to charge this car, you need to go to the national grid, which means power stations burning millions of tons of coal (fossil fuel) everyday to feed the grid, and this obviously sends millions of tons of carbons and other poisons into the environment just like petrol, being that they are both fossil fuels. Now there is an argument that this would happen anyway as they need to produce the electricity for the country to run...well they need to produce petrol anyway as cars need to move, it will get produced anyway as the petro-chemical industry produce Petrol and LPG, Propane, Oil, Diesel and other refined oils and various other bi-products anyway.

I am not against electric cars or even hydrogen powered cars as there is a 100% clean exhaust, but it burns loads of fuel getting the hydrogen too separate from oxygen to get at that fuel. Are there any other forms of alternative fuelled cars apart from Bio-Diesel? Don't say LPG that is just another bi-product of petrol.

I am against being told electric cars are the answer to all of our problems, they are not, they may be one small solution, but as making the electricity to charge them up is still causing massive pollution, how can it be the solution? it is just moving the pollution from the car to the power station it is not removing it. Wind farms don't supply enough electricity into the grid and everyone seems to be against having a wind farm near them...and no one seems to want nuclear power stations... there doesn't seem to be an answer...or does there? Am I being too blinkered to see it?

We live in a world that we are killing by pollution and greed...the alternative clean fuels like wind power, solar and wave power never seem to get above a small taster without locals saying we don't want that in our back yard it looks awful.......so what can we do?

Is there a clean answer to car fuel? I really don't know? kinetic energy seems to be one answer but how that would work? I don't know? You can't shake a car like you can a wrist watch..or can you?

Also what happens to all of the batteries from electric cars when they are no longer useful? a 2 - 3 maybe even a 5 year life span on the batteries seems to be the going life span...that is a heck of a lot of batteries to recycle...can you recycle the old new super batteries?

As I said I am confused about electric cars being the answer...maybe I can't see the wood for trees, I am open to being sold on them, I really am... but all I can see is moving one problem and creating yet another.

Michael Jackson 1958 -2009

I was a fan of Michael Jackson. not a die hard must buy everything fan, I like his early music, the Jackson 5 stuff, I loved "Off The Wall", Thriller and Dangerous. I didn't take much notice of his personal life, his Wacco stuff as it was called. I enjoyed his music and felt sorry for him. I cried when I heard he had died at just 50, Mrs EB and I were on our Narrow Boat, we had tea and put on some of his music and shed some tears. I have a few favourite songs, Ben, ABC, One Day the list goes on and on.
But this song being my most favourite song of Michaels. It was used last night at the Thanks Giving Service, I cried again. I also cried when Jermaine sang, when Marlon spoke and when young Paris spoke my heart broke for her and her brothers.

I pray the press will leave Michael and his family alone now, they need time to grieve and be a family. Rest in Peace Michael thank you for the all of the music you brought us, they joy you shared with us and the most amazing dances you danced for us. God Bless you and your family, I pray you knew Jesus as your own personal Lord and Saviour and you are dancing and singng for him now.

The Glass Harp

Via twitter and the QI Elves I have found this chap, he is amazing and a talented chap with a few wine glasses. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Qustions of Faith

My faith is my life really, I know that may sound trite but it is the truth, I try base how I am by what I believe. I am awful at it and in no way an example of a good Christian so please do not look at me and expect something worth looking at.

This is very hard at the moment especially when people I know and care for are hurting. I get angry with God for these people. I don't know why people get ill, I don't understand cancer or why people get it, but it does make me question my faith sometimes. This is no bad thing, when my two friends died in an awful car crash I questioned my faith long and hard. and because of it I believe I am a stronger and better Christian. A young Lady who is one of Mrs E.B's staff has a growth on her brain, why? she is in surgery Today after it being diagnosed on Sunday evening. I pray that God will look after her and after the surgeons and I pray that what they find can be removed with no damage to her brain and she will make a full recovery.

An amazing family I know, the wonderful wife has tumours in her lung and hip, they have two children and have spent many years working for God in the Mission Field in Mozambique...why does this happen? I pray the new treatment will work miracles and the tumours will vanish and she will be healed of Cancer.

I don't understand any of this, my heart is crying, my insides feel awful? I really don't want to praise God at the moment, but these are the times I will Praise God, I don't really want to go to Church or be involved with Church activities, but I will go and do them with even more vigour because I trust God, I am questioning God and this means I am questioning my Faith, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in God or that Jesus died for me, just why God gave man free will and with free will comes all that is crap, why cancer can take hold in his servants when so much work is left to do. Why take the Good and amazing people when there are murderers and evil people about???? I know I wont get the answers I want but I am allowed to question my faith.

Saint Georges Day or not

Thursday April 23rd is a good day really, it is my Brother-in-Law David's Birthday, it is St Georges Day the Patron Saint of England if you believe in Saints of that sort, personally I don't, well actually scripturally I do, as all Christians are Saints. I just don't Deiatify dead people, or pray or talk to them. The Bible says leave them alone and I do. I will let God sort out that sort of thing on Judgement day, it is his job not man's. (argue with me as much as you like, but the pope is just a man, he aint God, he is elected by men to lead a denomination of a Church, but he has no special powers or special direct line to God, he only has what any other Christian has, sorry to shock you, unless I am reading a different Bible to you?)

Anyhoo April 23rd was my Friend Matthew's birthday, someone who should be here to share a curry with me on that day, but he was called home with our friend Christopher on September 10th 2006. I still really miss Matt and Chris, but the pain is not as sharpe now, it still cuts deep, I still weep tears at times, but the momories make smile and chuckle. I have taken a few photos of my Cherry tree blossom, Matt loved Cherry Tree blossom, and I know his Mum loves it too.

Cherry Blossom for Matthew Milford Sellers and his family

Websites and Photos

Wow sorry I haven't blogged for a few weeks.. What's been happening? I have been updating my website I have had a website on www.thebaynhams.com for about 7 years now and it was looking very tired and needed pages taking down and other things doing to it. So I revamped for want of a better description. I have taken all of the old pages down now. I have my CV on there and some of the better photos I have taken that I think people may want to see, I am not saying they are great photos, far from it, but they are composed photos that I have enjoyed taking. I don't have an all singing all dancing megga camera with interchangeable lenses just a Fuji F810 and patience and sometimes I have seen something worth taking a picture of. I hope you like them if you go and have a look. There are several different pages. Underwater, Underwater 2, Animal, Bird, Panorama and General These pages are in an update phase and new photos are being added as and when I find them in my vast files of photos and edit them.

We have been to The Robber Button most weekends and had some fun with friends tootling up the canal. I have been enjoying Easter, the most special time in the Christian Calender, we have been to a wedding and Mrs EB has been working megga hard. I have had a few meetings but nothing I can really write about as stuff is in the air.

I found this on You Tube the late great Johnny Cash


That is about it really.

Weekend away with Church

We spent last weekend away with our Church at The Pioneer Centre, Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire. Well that was were I ended up after a trip across Birmingham thanks to O2.

I ordered Mrs EB's and my new phones after a deal was struck with O2 and they were to be delivered to me here Friday AM. 10:30ish my DHL delivery driver arrives and gives me just 1 box? I said there should be 2 parcels? he went and checked nope just the one? He said maybe another driver will have it. I waited until after 12 and phoned O2 to check both had been sent, they said yes and gave me the delivery number of the 2nd parcel. I phoned DHL I then had to phone the local branch... The wonderful lady there did a load of checking, it would seem the local guy who delivered my parcel wasn't telling the whole truth, he had had two parcels the other didn't have my house number on it, so he sent it back!!!

DHL Lady said it was with a driver who was prepared to have me drive to where he was and collect it from him as long as I showed ID and proof of address. I phoned him, he was in South Birmingham, I was in North Birmingham and was I needing to head to West Birmingham across the city? So I drove to a very dodgy looking estate where lots of houses and flats were boarded up, and saw this white transit van all on its own that was like a beacon to all muggers and ne're-do-wells in that area, the guy jumped out thrust a parcel in my hands ,I signed and off he went. Anyone witnessing this must have thought a drug deal was going on!!!! I certainly didn't stick around in case I was mugged or the police came and stripped searched me. What fun on a Friday afternoon. To get to the Pioneer Centre would normally take about and hour, it took just over 2!!!! As I had to drive through Birmingham City Centre on a Friday afternoon to drive all the way down the Hagley Road to Kidderminster and beyond.

I was looking after the sound and when I got too The Pioneer Centre, time just vanished and I was busy doing various sound and I.T things. We had Phil Collins as speaker for the weekend, he has spoken at our Church as is a great person who always challenges you and makes you really belly laugh. Saturday afternoon was set aside for activities, Mrs EB did the rope slide and other daredevil things and I did archery. I have to say after some coaching I really enjoyed it and I got to be OK. The weather was wonderful and we had a wonderful time of fun friendship and fellowship.

Trace Bundy

A good friend of mine Andy has invited me to a gig I think it's at DeMonford Hall to see this guy, Trace Bundy, he plays an acoustic guitar ..... no that's not quite true, he REALLY PLAYS the acoustic guitar like no one I have ever seen or heard, enjoy this video.

A Catch up

Well in just over 10 days I can rejoin Facebook. To be honest I have missed some parts of it and I haven't missed other bits at all. But it will be good to see some old friends again.

Our phone contracts are up!!! and last night I did a new deal for two new phones which should be arriving tomorrow morning all being well. I am having the Nokia 5800 and Mrs EB is having the Backberry 8900. Both come with unlimited interweb and loads of txts and minutes each month which is good. Tomorrow is the start of our Church weekend away at The Pioneer Centre I am really looking forward to spending some time with friends. The last church weekend away was excellent and I will be remember my friends who I spent much of the last weekend with.

Last weekend was spent on The Robber Button with Mrs EB's sister Liz, we had a wonderful trip to Wolesely Bridge and back with an over night on the cut. We really would like some good weather this year to enjoy some good times with friends on TRB.

After my last cooking exploits at Church cooking for Alpha I have been asked to cook again!!! April 29th thats 4 weeks time I am guessing for 50 people again.

You Tube and copyright

You Tube has removed one of my videos, saying it breaches copyright? I don't really know how it can, it played everyday in Las Vegas and all I have done is to film it and redub the same music in time with the original played so it sounds like it did in Las Vegas. Ho hum. Anyhoo here it is now on my blog.

Blacking a Bottom

For the past 3 days I have been very busy Blacking the Hull of our Narrowboat The Robber Button. I have never really done D.I.Y on the boat before but I had a go. There are a few blogs here about it.

Apart from that not a lot has been happening.

People come People go

Life is strange, or maybe my life is strange. You have contact with people you make friends then they drift out of your life for various reasons then: Hey presto they are back again for short while. Over the years I have had friends from church who have moved on for millions of different reasons. One chap just drifted away, came back into our lives for a short time then drifted away again. I didn't see or hear from him for years and years, then I bumped into him one evening in my local shopping mall. We hugged and chatted for a few minutes, then I gave him my mobile number as he didn't have his with him. That was about a month ago....and nothing.

I received an email from someone this week who I made contact with again via facebook, we have been friends or over 20 years, he and his lovely family are in another country and work in the mission field, he is leading a hard but rewarding life, I was really blessed to read what he is up to and it is a privilege to pray for them. They have moved to a knew town in a different part of the country, they have new jobs teaching in a seminary and their daughter is in a new school. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch via blogs and emails and one never knows....

The 3rd and final ones are a few new people in my life I guess, I have 3 blogs, this one, one about the mission I took part in Mozambique and one about our Narrow Boat. The narrow boat community is a lively one and a lot of narrow boaters have blogs, I really enjoy reading about other peoples lives on the waterways. Their blogs range from the very informative, the technical to the musing of every day life. Life on the waterways is usually a friendly and helpful place and boaters in general enjoy the community and social life (usually involving pubs and grub) I feel after 18 months of owning a narrow boat we have been excepted into the life of our marina and that of narrow boat blogging world and community. Our biggest problem is we don't get enough time to enjoy our narrow boat.

Feeding of the 5000 less 4950

Yesterday was a completely different day, I spent the day cooking a meal for 50 people. As a Church we cater for many events one being Alpha and Alpha+ on a Wednesday evening. So armed with a small budget and knowing what the last few weeks meals had been I went to Tesco Tuesday afternoon. I had decided to make a beef and redwine stew with goose fat roasted spuds and a Apple crumble.

9am Wednesday I was peeling my many, many pounds of spuds, and an hour and half later they were pealed and cut and were washing off, then I was peeling my many lbs of apples, then onions and garlic. As I walked past one of my trays of goodies I knocked a box and broke a bottle of wine!!! then my mum phoned me, to see where I was as I wasn't at home? I told her I was cooking a meal at Church on my own for 50 people, I said I had just broken a bottle of wine. She phoned me back abut 20 minutes later to say she was going to pop down and give me another bottle and she also wanted to help me...

So about 30 minutes later my Mum was in the kitchen pealing the rest of the onions then making my crumble pastry, I was starting the cutting of the joints of meat then frying that off then frying off the garlic and onions. By 3pm the basic stew was slowly cooking with a bottle of red wine. I had started the vegetarian meal, of Mediterranean Roasted veg (they were roasting) in a spicy fresh passata I was reducing the tomato with garlic and fresh chilli. About 4pm my Mum had finished making the crumble and that was slowy cooking in the oven,I had done the first few batches of washing up, and we had called my Dad to collect her.

I had par boiled the spuds and they were going in the oven, the veg's had roasted and had a wonderful flavour and I had chopped the olives and all was well. I had no problems all day apart from the bottle issue... At 7pm I was serving up the meal into bowls to put on the tables. Mr and Mrs Church Administrator helped with the serving and washing up and I was home at 9pm.

I had a few compliments and I was very happy overall by the food I cooked, if I do it again there are maybe two things I will do differntly...so all in all a sucksess.

Boats and Food

We had a really nice weekend, Friday evening we arrived separately at The Robber Button, I arrived about an hour before Mrs EB and I spent the time cleaning the boat and getting it nice and warm. When Mrs EB arrived we drove up to Stone and had a wonderful curry. Saturday was far to windy to go out so we stayed at the marina, I helped Jon and John move a couple of boats and made us all bacon and egg sandwiches.

Sunday I couldn't get out of bed as I had a horrid migraine. Today I went to the dentist ...all very good mouth wise. Then I went to Tesco to do a shop and I also looked to see what they had for a large meal I am cooking for Alpha and Alpha+.

Cooking for Alpha and Alpha+ means cookin for 50 people... I haven't cooked for that many people for many years and I am a little anxious, I went to have a look at the kitchen this afternoon and to see what ingredients they have in the kitchen... they have nothing... Oh well I have a budget of £2 a head and I have 3 or 4 Vegetarians. All good fun.

Facebook

Well I haven't been on facebook for a few weeks now and to be honest I haven't really missed it, I do miss the funny comments I read on the front page but apart from that ...not so much. I guess come Easter Sunday I will log back in and turn my account back on...but there again I may not.

I phoned o2 I was supposed to be able to upgrade my phones today, I phoned o2 and no.... not until April 13th... ho humm so next month then.

Passion

I am one of those people who likes the TV on in the evening, but I also surf whilst watching it with one eye. But recently I have stopped watching even with one eye when the soaps are on, there is something so unreal about east enders and coronation street that I have lost complete interest even with one eye. I used to love The Bill and I do enjoy watching that but that seems to have come off the boil... maybe its the budget cuts or maybe I have changed?

I have loved watching Heston Blumenthal's new cooking programme on Channel 4, he is a genius and I love his way of solving a problem... A layered drink... click this link and enjoy I am one of those people that really do want to go his restaurant and try the tasting menu. There are people everywhere in all walks of life who are just natural brilliant people from social workers to brain surgeons, preachers to chefs, we all know them, we have seen them , heard them or watched them they stick out a mile at what they do, Heston is one of those people. It isn't a secret ingrediant that he or they have, it is just a passion for what they do. The greatest of all Passions is about to happen again, the Easter Story, Christ's Passion for Man.

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It is the commemoration of Jesus's death and his rising from the dead, also known as the resurrection. It comes at the end of Lent. The week leading up to it is called Holy Week.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week and celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Crowds of people came out of the city to greet him, throwing down palm branches on the road. Many churches give out small crosses made from palm leaves, as a reminder of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem and his death on the cross.

On Good Friday Christians remember when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, breaking bread and drinking wine, which is now known as the Last Supper. Since then this meal has been symbolically re-enacted by many Christians as a way of drawing closer to God. This is called the Eucharist or Holy Communion, which means 'thanksgiving'. It is a reminder that Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind and is also a part of many services throughout out the year.

The Bible tells us that, later that night, Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. After his arrest, Jesus was brought before the Jewish high priests who found him guilty of blasphemy because he called himself the Son of God. They handed him over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.

As was the custom at the time of the Feast of Passover, Pilate gave the crowds the choice as to which of the two prisoners should be freed: Jesus, or Barrabas, a notorious criminal. Ironically, the the same crowd who had welcomed Jesus with palm branches a few days earlier now chose Barrabas to be released, and Pilate condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion.

On Good Friday, many churches hold services meditating on the events leading up to Christ's death: his interrogation, flogging, the mocking by the Roman soldiers, and his journey with the cross to Golgotha, the place of his death. Finally he was stripped naked and nailed to the cross, where he hung in agony for three hours, jeered at by the crowds, before he died. This is the day when people traditionally eat hot cross buns, because the cross on the bun is a reminder of the cross Jesus died on, and a reminder of the Christian belief that Jesus died to save us all.

Jesus was taken down from the Cross and laid in a Tomb to be made ready for death, this couldn't be done as The Sabbath had started and it would be another dau before Christ could be made ready for a burial.

Easter Sunday marks Jesus' resurrection. The Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to make Jesus ready, followed later by some of Jesus' disciples. They discovered Jesus' body had gone and that the tomb was empty. Jesus then appeared to Mary and many of his disciples, speaking with them on separate occasions during the following forty days. As he left them for the last time, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit so the disciples would know God would never leave them. He then ascended into heaven. The Church celebrates this on Ascension day.

an Update

We had a wonderful time in a cold Barcelona, the Gothic Area is a labyrinth of back streets crammed with little shops and Tapas Bars, which we visited a few of. It was wonderful to get away and spend a bit of us time.
Arriving back in the UK we got home and planned to visit The Robber Button, when I woke Saturday, Mrs EB was already wide awake and had been up a couple of hours, the sun was shining and we set off for Great Haywood Marina. We set off for Tixall Wide and had a few hours there enjoying the peace and quiet.

Barcelona Update

Mrs Eb and I are in Barcelona at the moment enjoying a mini break, the city is a busy city and itis full of charm and has someamazing eating places. Last night we went out to look for somewhere to eat, it was drizzling and cold so we wrapped up warm and I put my sweedish style hat on, as we crossed Las Rambles a man looked at us and said "English?" and asked us to go to his bar...we declined. How the heck did he know we were Englsih?

Anyhoo we are having an amazing time exploring the back streets, finding little tapas bars and just chillin' out. This lunch time whilst at El Xampanyet a world famous Cava Bar, Mrs EB and I were enjoying some Tapas and Cava and my phone rings... a chap from Norway asked if he could buy a photo of mine taken whilst diving...yay I thought. We will see what happens.

It all ends so soon, be back home tomorrow