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

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.

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.

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.

Another week

Well I seemed to have had a migraine most of last week...which was a real pain. I woke this morning and it still there, but it isn't as bad. We popped up to the boat on Saturday, that was brilliant. The marina was frozen solid. We grabbed mugs of hot coffee and had a walk around the basin. There is something so beautiful but sad about a frozen marina... Nothing can move and boats are made to move, but it so peaceful.

Anyhoo I spent a bit of time doing boat things, like checking the oil, the coolant/anti freeze, water levels and eating bacon sandwiches. We also programmed the heating to come on a 2nd time in the night as the weather forecast for this next week is awful, and we really dont want any sort of burst on-board.

Mrs EB was out on Saturday night so I had a chinese takeawy and really enjoyed it, I watched QI XD on BBC2 its an extra 10 minutes and it is extremely funny. Sunday morning I went to Church and felt awful, my migraine had returned and I just wanted to go to bed, my Mum and Dad had invited us out to lunch and we went to The Speckled Hen a brand new pub in Mere Green. It was a training day and we had a free meal, it was wonderful, but I really couldn't do it justice, but I did try my best.

When we got home I went to bed and stayed there for the rest of the day, and that really was my week... ho hum.

Christmas Day

I loved Christmas day, it started off with a wonderful service at Church, by far my favourite service of the year. Team leader always enjoys doing the service and that just rubs off all the way down. The general hubbub and and noise in the Church is just so exciting and as always the sermon was just spot on.

After Church we went to my parents for Christmas dinner, we got to their house at about 12:30 and my Dad took us to the Pub for a beer, we got home just about the right time, my Mum had made us a splendid dinner. In fact I think I ate a little too much!!! I know me? After dinner we settled into some chairs and watched a tiny bit of TV but I was getting a nasty headache, I didn't say anything, but we headed home. We got home and by the time we got home I felt awful and yes I had a fine old dose of Man Flu!!! urgh...I had some co-codamol, we got some drinks I lit coal fire and we settled down and opened our Presents, and what a wonderful lot of presents we had. We have the most generous friends. My big prezzie off Mrs EB is a trip to London to see Avenue Q, I am so looking forward to seeing this. It is a sort of adult Sesame Street for want of a better description. One of our friends bought us the Sound Track fr Christmas....as I write this blog in my Studio I am listening to it...it is brilliant.
So in early January we are off London for an over night stay a night at the theatre and a wonderful meal out.....Yay, woop, woop woop.

My good friend Baddog who has an amazing blog that I always enjoy reading posted an Amazing U2 Video and I have pinched that link to add to my Blog. One of my Favourite Christmas Songs is Greg Lake's "I believe in Father Christmas "(yes I know, how ironic). U2 have covered this in a way only U2 could.... please Enjoy this.

Mozambique Mission Part 3 (A few Problems and what we did on some of the Rest Days, rest days indeed)

On the Mission we did have a few problems, most were concerning health and the heat, I had a migraine one day, that took me out of action. I sent out a txt to Mission Team Leader back at home and I was prayed for and it had lifted by the evening!!! A couple of others had upset tums and were taken out of action for the odd day but over all we all did very well.

The other problem we had was after the first dedication we were all full of the joys of an amazing day. After we arrived back at the men's house (there were a lot of us as about 6 or 7 extra people had arrived from The Organisation to join in the dedication) we were visited by the Police and immigration. Obviously we all kept a low profile and let Missionary Man + J deal with this. There was a lot of talking at the front of the house, a couple of armed police kept their eye on everything. Missionary Man and J would update us and say things like...well they want to check our passports and visa's, then, what the man from immigration really wants is a bribe!!! There was no way we would pay him a bribe so, things got a little worse. He wanted all passport numbers, names and visa numbers. J started to write these out for him then he said no, no, no I want everyone to come down to the Immigration Office with Passports.

So off we all walked. There will have been 20+ people all standing in his office, the armed Police waiting over the road with an eye on us. And one by one we had our passports and visa's checked, well the team from the Mission Organisation couldn't have theirs checked as they didn't have them with them... and Missionary Man hadn't had his passport stamped at immigration, he had given in his passport along with Missionary Girl and Boys and they hadn't stamped his passport. This was a big problem or so the Immigration Officer said. Missionary Man would have to go back to Nampula and try and sort it out. J would stay with us and Missionary man and Missionary Boy along with the Mission Organisation team would go to Immigration in Nampula.

Missionary Man's passport should have been stamped when he entered Mozambique, but they hadn't done this. This is a way of generating some money as they charge you $50 a day for not having it stamped!!! Well Missionary Man spent a very frustrating morning in Nampula, the Immigration man had caused himself a whole heap of problems!! when they got to Nampula and the Organisation team arrived with their passports all sorted with the right Visa's his boss was not well pleased and told him so. Mozambique are trying to encourage tourism and this was a real spanner in the works. Anyhoo Missionary Man couldn't get it sorted so J told him to come back and see what happens at the Airport. (Guess what? he left Mozambique without any problems at all, the Power of Prayer is amazing)

We all felt a little deflated and attacked back at the Men's house. I made us all some Homemade Soup for out tea, a hearty soup with loads of fresh vegetables. After Tea I lead the devotions I felt it was a good thing to debrief about the day in full. I started off by reading from John and the washing of the Disciples feet. Then said how I been so affected by this service, the washing of our Hands, the food and how I felt we had helped lay a massive foundation stone for the Church in Angoche, and if we do that Satan would be really cheesed off and we should expect to be attacked and this really felt demonic. As a group we had a great discussion and a wonderful time of Prayer and reclaiming of the day for God.

The day after the dedication was a rest day. I had a walk up to the shopping centre or Down Town Angoche ..... well this is an amazing thing. I think there are about 12 shops all selling virtually the same thing. I walked down to the town with Mr and Mrs Administrator he was buying some provisions for the team, cokes and other bits and bobs.

Mr & Mrs Administrator buying things in one of the shops in Down Town Angoche

I thought I would have a look at what was available....not a lot to be honest. As I have said Angoche is really a subsistence town so I guess there is no point stocking trinkets and nick-knacks that wouldn't sell in a month of Sundays. But there again in one shop window there was a clutch from a Morris Minor? I think there must be 30 cars in Angoche and not one of them is a Morris Minor.

Rush Hour Down Town Angoche

With Pipi in the shopping centre of Angoche

So we had a few rest days, on one of these I went to the market with Missionary Girl, the market is a wonderfully colourful place full of colours, smells (some not so nice) people and dust. I went with Missionary Girl as she can speak Portuguese and would help me buy some Kapulana's (a wrap worn by ladies) I wanted some as gifts. Missionary Man asked us not to take any photo's of the market as it a Muslim area and it may cause some problems. So I don't have any photo's from there.

In the Men's House we had a house man called Assani, Assani was Mr & Mrs Missionary Man's House Man. And as Mr Missionary Man said he is a golden find; he is honest and a very hard worker. He will look for work, he would do our washing, ironing, if the water was off he would walk to the Girls House and fetch water.... and he would cook a meal for us on the rest days. This is a photo of him cooking for us. He is an amazing cook

Assani Cooking us a wonderful meal

Now when I am away on I usually keep my head shaved, it saves time and its so easy to keep tidy, well don't let Missionary Girl and Mrs G loose with your razor........

The Men's unlike the Girls house only had Water for part of the day, also the Girls house had Air-con in the bedrooms...we didn't. I had a fan in my room that was louder than an aircraft taking off, which is more than Mr and Mrs Administrator had in their bedroom. A shower usually consisted of.... Standing in the bath next to a large container of water with a Jug, poor a jug of cold (well luke warm) over your head, this felt wonderful as by then I was boiling hot. Then washing yourself down, get another Jug of water and poor away. 1 shower completed, the toilet cistern needed to be filled the same way after use.

More about Dedications and 8 weddings in my next posting.

A Mission Trip Part 1

To get to Angoche was a mission on it's own. We left Sutton Baptist Church around 2pm Friday and arrived at Heathrow at about 5:00pm ish. We all congregated at fast check in (Mr Administrator had already checked us in online) and I went to find Mr C (an ex elder from SCBC now living in Devon) who was a few yards away!!!! We said our good-byes to Ms G who was taking the minibus back to SCBC and checked in.

We flew at just after 8pm and arrived in Johannesburg at just after 6am local time . We were met by Mr & Mrs R who work for The Missionary Organisation as fixers, getting things that the guys in Mozambique and other places need. We were taken to their house and made to feel very welcome, we showered and had tea and coffee, melon, biscuits and sandwiches. In the afternoon we went to a craft market, where I met Picaso who sculpts rock, photo below. We then had tea at R & R's a fanastic cooked meal and a time of just wonderful sharing and fellowship. Later Mr C, Cameraman and myself were taken to an amazing guest cottage somewhere in countryside that was so peaceful (apart from the peacock!!)

At 6:30am the next morning (Sunday) we were taken to the airport and off we flew to Maputo (International Airport hahaha) a short 1 hour flight. Maputo is a funny airport for an international airport, it is tiny and cannot receive anything bigger than a 737? ho hum. We had a 6 hour wait also Ms T would be joining us here. We had bumped into her at Jo'burg airport earlier that morning. Two guys had gone to find Ms T from immigration but she had been taken somewhere else. After they had been gone an hour and they hadn't returned I was a little concerned and mentioned to Mr Administrator that I would like to see what was happening. Mrs G and I went outside and were heading to arrivals when I heard a small cry of "English Blogger!!!" I looked around and there was Ms T running up to us. She was OK but a little shaken. Immigration had tried to put her on an earlier plane and other things.

From Maputo we flew to Nampula and 3 and half to 4 hour flight. For a meal we were given a small can of coke and a bag of crisps?. The flight went very smoothly and we met up with E and P in the baggage claim, E and P are friends of Missionary Man and Missionary Lady from Holland, Missionary Lady trained with E as a midwife. Missionary Man and B.G a fellow worker for The Mission Organisation met us at the airport and took us to the Organisation Campus. We had a Boys and Girls house, and a few screams in the night. hahaha none of mine.












After a shared breakfast on Monday we had a tour of the Organisation Compound site and saw the offices and "Kithaapuo" the work that Missionary Man and Missionary Lady Missionary Girl and Missionary Boy have spent the past 12 years working on!!!!











Then we had a dust ride!!!! a 2 and bit hours ride to Angoche, most of the road is a dirt road.......well a dust road and we got filthy our landrover unlike the other two cars going to Angoche had no aircon so we had the windows down....I am sure I still have red dust in my lungs.
Well it was a great ride and I learned so much from our driver, J (who is Missionary Man's boss!!!) he was telling me about the tribal systems and the way things work in the villages and stuff like that it was just amazing. As we were driving we saw hardly any wildlife apart from the odd chicken or goat, Most of the houses along the road were made of grass, mud or weaved palm leaves. It was very Tarzan for want of a better description. I was so amazed at the beauty of the place and how peaceful everything seemed to be.... We stopped a few miles out of Nampula and looked at a Mountain...."Old Man" it's called.....
Hardly any cars or trucks, plenty of push-bikes and people walking. Having a convoy of the three 4x4 vehicles did turn a lot of heads...this would be one thing I did find hard, which I will mention in a latter blog. Anyhoo after just over two hours of dust and very fast driving!!!!! We made it to Angoche safe and dirty Monday late afternoon!!!! 3 days of travelling and we would need to do this again in 8 days time!!!!!

Cast on Mission
Missionary Man (Translated 4 books of the Bible in to Koti)
Missionary Lady (Translated 4 books of the Bible in to Koti)
Missionary Girl (Daughter of Missionary Man & Lady)
Missionary Boy (Son of Missionary Man & Lady)
Mr Administrator (Church administrator & Team Leader)
Mrs Administrator (Team Leaders wife and Joint Team Leader)
English Blogger (Me)
Ms A (a great lady and my seating companion on all the flights)
Cameraman (Videoing the Mission)
Mr C (Ex Elder from SCBC and very wise man)
Mrs G (singer and French)
Miss C (American and Youth Volunteer at SCBC))
Mrs R (Called Pipi "Grannie" in Koti)
E & P (Dutch friends of Missionary Man & Lady)
Dr S (Wonderful Doctor and man of God, and totally bonkers)
Ms T (a Youth worker and new member of our Church)
J (Missionary Man's Boss) + a few other friends from the Organisation.

A good weekend

I had a good weekend all the more so as Mrs EB had returned from her camping trip with GB. Mrs EB had a very husky voice due to her losing her voice on camp.... I am just really pleased she is home safe and sound. Saturday evening we went to Simla for a curry, it was a welcome home meal and I told the guys at Simla that I was checking up on the food for Tuesday when 16 of us go for my Birthday Balti...Mmmmmmmmmm tasty.

I was on sound again this weekend at Church and I also did the sound at a very quiet wedding on Friday, about 20 people and the Bride and Groom, they had been on Alpha and wanted to marry. It was a very special wedding.

Team Leader did his final sermon on Hebrews...and of course it was amazing, we really are a very blessed Church to have such an amazingly humble and fantastic teacher. Team leader told me a very funny joke on Sunday.

Patient: Doctor, I think I'm a moth!
Doctor: (looking at his notes) You are not my patient your Doctor is next door
Patient: I know but your light was on.

Made me chuckle.

After church the usual suspects went to the Jockey, well the usual minus a few on holiday and those heading to Cornwall. It was a nice crowd last night and we had a good chat and laugh. Later today I am off for another Jab to allow me to travells to Mozambique and later this week my good friend Skip will be coming round to hopefully do some more guitar and bass on the album. I really need to start the vocals and think about artwork and stuff. I am also going to pop up to the mission we are doing on Falcon Lodge and do some balloon stuff....

All in all good fun.

Wednesday

I have had a trip out to the MASTA Clinic!!!! the what? well if you intend to visit places that don't have the same diseases as us you need to visit there for a Cholera injection as my GP clinic doesn't do that one? well if only it were that easy!!!

Monday I called to make an appointment, the message said leave your name and number someone will call you back, I believed this statement of fact and did just that. I phoned at 10am and by 6pm no one had called me back? So yesterday I went to Handsworth Wood and visited the centre to ask for an appointment I have one for next week. Joy of joys....

I have a friend...well I like to think I have a few friends, but one friend who emigrated to Beijing a couple of years ago, we worked together at GWR Creative in Nottingham knocking out adverts by the dozen every day. Well my friend Richard has started a blog!!!! only a few years behind everyone else...but he was always like that (a little slow) It is good to welcome Richard to the blogosphere. I hope you enjoy Richard's slant on life, which seems to be a hankering for American food? I think I would want a good old English Roast or British Balti, each to his or her own huh?

Lastly, I have heard off Mrs EB from the Girls Brigade Camp that she has laryngitis via a text as she couldn't phone.. what luck huh, she never has that here!!!! I knew I could never be that lucky.

Whilst the Cats Away

Well whilst Mrs EB is away...I have been out with my Mum and Dad to The Lodge for a curry, very tasty it was as well.

As a reader of my Blog you will know music is in my blood and I am often taken by a piece of music and then I can spend ages tracing it and today was one of those days, armed with a £15 Itunes voucher I went a hunting.
1st one was by Karl Orff a piece for Xylophone that is used in the HSBC bank commercial, I have used a few times making Radio ads and traced it on Itunes a well spent .79p then was a the toughie. Just what is the music used on the MFI advert? I knew it, I have heard it time and again, in films and adverts, but not who did or a name. Good old google and Youtube.


It is an oldish tune called "Music for a Found Harmonium" by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra, the ones that did the amazing piece called "Telephone and Rubber Band" that was used in the old One2One telephone advert, I'll stick it up here as well so you know the one I mean.



I do love You Tube, so I went a hunting and found it was by an Irish Folk Band called Patrick Street...another 79p well spent well I bought 2 versions by Patrick Street a live and studio version and I think I may be buying an album called Irish Times as they really are amazing.

So that has been my Saturday, apart from seeing Mrs EB off to GB Camp and a bit of soldering and pre-mixing my album tracks so that the vocals can be done.... I am off to my Parents for a Sunday Roast tomorrow as well....top banana

The smoking debate

My good friend Bob and I have been having a chat about smoking, Bob is a smoker and hates being told what to do..well that isn't quite true as he doesn't really go in to bars and pubs, but doesn't like the thought of Big Brother telling him he can't enjoy his cigarette when he wants one. The latest Highway Code was the straw that broke this smokers back as it recommends not lighting up whilst driving as it can distract you, being an ex-smoker I actually agree with what Bob is saying, no one uses two hands to light up, fag in gob, light fag with cigarette lighter with one hand whilst still driving, no more harm than changing gear....apart from when you drop a lighted fag in your lap, there should be no distraction at all. I did drop a lighted fag in my lap twice and it is a scary thing to do.

I don't agree with what Bob is saying about we should let each pub, bar, private club decide if smoking should be allowed on their premises or not as this could lead to confusion and also the breweries would soon be dictating this and not the landlords and within a few weeks we would be back to how it was June. Smokers can still "enjoy" their poison outside (most pubs seem to have a new area with heaters and roof just for this) and it is also a great incentive for those smokers who want to give up too do just that. I know when I gave up it was nearly impossible to stay stopped smoking by going into a Smokey pub or club, so really it is a good thing having a smoke free pub isn't it? I can list a few benefits from a non-smokers point of view, I don’t come home smelling of stale smoke needing to have a shower so I can sleep, I am not being poisoned by just breathing and chatting to friends, food tastes 100% better without smoke in the air and best of all my clothes stay fresher for longer.

Facebook

Well after receiving loads of requests Ok about 3 I have now joined Facebook. I am not 100%sure as to what it does apart from another website to keep updating? If you are a member add me via my email address or I am sure you will find me if you look hard enough...

I have had a little bit of work this week wooohoooo, that always make me happy, so a very big thank you to God and anyone who has been praying for me and work, health wise not to brilliant at the moment, I seem to be in a bit of a down with very bad headaches and that causes some nasty stomach upsets...but I am feeling slightly better so thank you for the prayers.

We are off out for a meal with some friends tonight, I am really looking forward to catching up and just chatting, chilling and having a nice meal. After reading Rob Bell's book it is so scriptual to eat and spend time with friends. I am not going to argue with that.

Oh Happy Day!!!

There is an advert on TV for a biscuit and it is the most amazing biscuit. On our weekend away to Bournemouth, Amy bought a packet and I have to admit I must have eaten a large amount of them. Well today in Tesco a packet of them just appeared in my shopping basket….Mmmm they are so tasty…Oh happy day when I eat them. They are great to dunk in tea, or just sit and watch tv and munch away at...no wonder I have a big tum.

IPods and ITunes

I am one of those people that likes things in some sort of order!!! I know if you are Mrs EB reading this you have now raised your eyebrows so high they have hit the ceiling. But I do, I am a messy person. I can't keep things tidy to save my life. I love it when they are tidy I just have the ability to mess things up in seconds. But that doesn't mean I don't like order. I load the dishwasher I put things in, in a certain way it gets things clean and I can get a full load in the dishwasher, its neat and tidy...I know, I know...it must be some form of OCD.

Anyway I like order, that is why I love my IPod. In ITunes I can order my albums and music into various categories and folders. (Before I had my IPod I actually couldn't stand ITunes, now I think it is the Bees Knees) Both Mrs EB and I use the same ITunes to load our IPods, and I generally load the music, so I know where all my music is. Order!!! with over 4200 tracks there needs to be some sort of order.

Whilst in Vegas (told you I would mention it again) I went to NAB, a media trade show, one of the reason we went to Vegas when we did was so I could go this show. I bought some more Sound Effect CD's for my studio. These are extension packs for a Collection I have already called The General. There are 110 CD's in this collection and I have plenty of other collections as well. I have decided to rip them all in Tunes and Burn DVD ROMs as a back up and stick them on my Spare Hard Drive ...

"Why?" I hear you cry.

Well I like order and when you rip them you get a full track listing and with the search engine I have it will be 10x faster to find the tracks off HD rather than CD.

I have had a really nasty stomach bug since Palm Desert and I am in a bit of pain, the past two days things have been a little worse and I am stuck in the house in leaping distance of the loo, so with my time I am being quite a nerd with CD's and Itunes and DVD ROMS, nothing new there then.

Next posting will quite possibly be about Camp Snoopy!!!!! in LA

Guess the weight!!!

So at our hotel in Vegas "The Excalibur" was a first floor with various food stuffs and entertainment offerings, the buffet!!!! Had 4 long serving areas which were about as long as it is as far as the Chinese in Boldmere to The Vesey!!!! Plus it had other food station areas as well!!!

Anyhoo aside from all this food were Bars and various activities, one was a guess your age, Mrs EB and I were sure I could win this one!!! We paid our $2 and he looked at me and said 42!!! Where the heck did he get that info!!!!!

Las Vegas is one place I did enjoy and we both has a top time there, I am sure we will bore everyone to death with our stories...

Today after a very hectic day at Knotts Berry Farm, plenty to say about that place!!! and our drive to L.A. We are just taking it easy, what a shame these little guys can't do the same.

Whist eating breakfast on our balcony this morning a hummingbird was out collecting cobwebs for her nest!!! how wonderful......

What a top evening

Songs from the shows!!! what a fantastic evening. All of the acts were amazing, though I have to say Aaron's Johnny Cash was tops, Megan and Shelagh's Cosette and Madam Thenardier from Les Miss's Castle in the Clouds and Amy's Winner Takes it all, were the best in show for me. Well that is apart from Ed's ventriloquist act with a stuffed yellow duck in a plastic box which reduced me to tears and a near asthma attack. Ask him next time you see him if he's in a gox?

All of the acts were excellent and the people I spoke to yesterday after the show were raving about how amazing and talented our church is, I had to agree. But the biggest praise has to go to Amy, she held the show together on Piano.

Saturday lazy day (Not this Saturday)

I am having a "doing" Saturday, I am doing things, I have cycled into Boldmere!!! no big feet on its own, but small steps. I then started to prepare Sunday Dinner!!! I know, but Mrs EB is leading Worship in the evening and after the morning service it is always a rush to make dinner, tidy up and get to Church for 5:30; especially if we want our afternoon nap! So we tend to have a snacky lunch if one of us is doing something on a Sunday. So I thought "lets have a nice roast dinner" and I would pretend I am a chef again........

So in Boldmere I window shopped and saw a nice joint of fresh Welsh Lamb (mmmmm a certain favourite of mine) a new green grocers shop had opened, so I popped in there and got a nice looking cauliflower and some rhubarb and apples

We are having Roast lamb (with a breadcrumb coating made with some stale bread, garlic and herbs, chilli, black pepper, salt... smells nice, but I have no idea what it tastes like), a Cauliflower Cheese (made and in the fridge.) Roast spuds and mashed spuds (just peeled) followed by Rhubarb and Apple crumble (again made and in the fridge) made with Pink Lady Apples and the first of this years rhubarb? where the heck that has been grown I have know idea.

I had a real hive of industry going on in my kitchen, apples and Rhubarb simmering, crumble being made, a rue being started my cauli being boiled, when the doorbell went, one of my neighbours...."is your drain blocked?" "pardon!!!" I say, he repeats, "is your drain blocked?" "I don't think so" I said, "why?" he replied "I have had a new drain in my back garden by the kitchen and it isn't clearing and neither was the neighbours on the other side." I said "Oh dear, I don't think ours is blocked but lets go check". I turn on the tap in the kitchen and we pop outside and check the drain and its overflowing, (I am thinking ahhh this could be a real big beggar and very expensive) I get my power washer and turn it on and squirt it at the drain head , a piece of paper floats away and the drain is clear and all the water drains away in less than a second, pheeeeeeewweeeee!!! I thought.

His drain man arrives within seconds from next door. I tell him it was sort of blocked, but it isn't now as I had cleared it with the jetwasher. "naaa its blocked," seeing all the water from the paper blocked drain and the jetwasher on the patio area "YOUR drains blocked!!!, there is no way you could clear it with a jetwasher" he said accusingly. So I get a hammer and remove part of the catpen!!! and check the drain head, its clear! I turn on the hose and its just flowing away. I said, "its not blocked?" He looked at me and says "No it isn't is it?" he said it as a question with a hopeful look in his eye, as if I was going to have the answer to his questions about my neighbours drain. he went off looking very sad and bemused.

Miss Amy and Amiability will be joining us for Sunday lunch..I have just thought I could be wiping out nearly all the talent from Sunday nights Worship group in one go!!!

Friday Diner

Oh heck, Mrs EB is out this evening seeing Keane so my Pancakes are on hold again!!!! Will I ever get any pancakes? (I think the saga of my Pancakes will run longer than my Blog at this rate!!)

I took my Mom to Friday Diner today, it didn't seem busy but they did over 50 meals!!! this is such a wonderful Outreach idea. Baked Spud and filling and a cake and tea or Coffee for £2 all done in the Church, it gets people into the Church in a non threatening way and there is food at a very reasonable price.

We sat with Ian L and his dad Ken, and Ian explaied about the renovation project and how so far the Church as raised over £400,000 by just giving from within the Church, this totally amazed her

My Mom also met Phil Mullins who was welcoming people, he made her laugh, and she seems interested in the outreach Lunch next week "Creation or Evolution?" by Donald. lets pray she will except the invite I give her....Maybe even my Dad will come as well.

So this evening I think a Chinese Curry and some TV and a few cuddles with my megga moggies.