The Simple Things

This afternoon I got an email from my housemate telling me about something good that had happened in her day. It was nothing important- just something nice that she wanted to share with me straight away! It's fun to get messages like that. 

It got me thinking about the highlight of my working day today. The best thing, and the reason why I stayed on ten minutes after my shift had finished, was that I made a cup of tea. 

Yes. I made a cup of tea. 

But this wasn't any old cup of tea, this was a nice cup of tea, in a blue cup, with two sugars!

I can see you're still not very impressed. But it was a wonderful moment. It was the moment I connected with a patient for the first time; the first smile; in fact the first food or drink he'd accepted all day. And it was a cup of tea (in a blue cup). And it was nice. And he enjoyed it. 

So I went home. My job there was done. 

Not a Minority Mindset

Wednesday was a busy day. My bike was in the shop getting some working breaks fitted so I had to get up super-early to make the 40 minute walk to work in time to arrive by 7. It was a busy shift with such adventures as the boiler breaking and having to wash the old-fashioned way by pouring kettles of water into the bath. Fun times! It was also kidz klub visiting day- the first time back after half term so I was looking forward to getting out and seeing all the kids again, though not excited at the prospect of the rain and drizzle that has been falling from the sky all week! A series of events meant that I had to make it into town and out again within an hour of finishing work to pick up our visiting pack with all the colouring sheets we take out to the kids, so I jumped onto the bus after work.

Sitting there, catching my breath and minding my own business, a couple of people got onto the bus and started having a fairly loud conversation just behind me. I defy anyone to sit on the bus and not listen to the conversations going on around them- the human being is innately nosey (but what's most fun is to try and imagine what the people you can hear behind you will look like, and being surprised by how inaccurate you were when you/they get off). So these people were talking, and one girl was describing her job and what she did- it was some kind of charity. She went on to describe how there could sometimes be conflict between Christian and non-Christian service users and staff, and how that was a shame, and then started talking about her church and an event that was happening soon. Hmm, I thought, another Christian on the bus! So often I assume that I am the only Christian in whatever environment I find myself. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it can feel lonely sometimes.

As I was getting off the bus (and had a quick peek behind me- as always my imagined image of these two was very far from the truth!) I overheard a couple of old ladies talking about the new Christian bookshop that's just opened in Leeds near the bus stop, and whether they'd been in there yet. This bus is full of Christians!! I carried on my way, a little amused by what had happened.

Visiting pack collected, it was cold and wet and the prospect of walking home in order to walk for another two hours was just too much, so I opted for the bus again. I stepped inside the bus stop to shelter from the wind and rain, and the only other lady there was on the phone. "Don't worry," she was saying, "only God knows our future. Just trust in Him." Seriously. Christians everywhere!! It made me smile to myself that everywhere I went, people were relying on and trusting in God. I'm part of a big family, and it's good to remember that.

I'll take any excuse to post a video, and this one's pretty clever, though maybe be careful if you get motion sickness...

Hello again.

Wow. It’s been a while. One thing and another- moving house, lack of internet, spending waaaaaay too much time on the M1- has prevented me from having space to even think about writing the past couple of months. But here I am, writing, and it’s nice to be back.

So what’s happened? I’ve moved house, and now live in a lovely little terrace in the much-sought-after neighbourhood of Harehills (jokes, it’s got a pretty poor reputation but I love it; name any country in the world and I’ll bet you there’s someone from there living within a mile of my house). I’m coming to terms with the fat that my church community and my local community are pretty separate now, but I’m sure you’ll here more about that in months to come. I spent every weekend of September in London completing my work for “the Challenge” which was definitely a challenge for me! LOTS of hours spent on buses and trains and tubes and all sorts, but it was good to see it through to the end. And I enjoyed spending time with London-based friends that so kindly put me up. October has been the month of students and Freshers- we’ve had our student “Re:fresh” barbeques outside of City Church, and have spent Sunday afternoons hosting student lunches for all the shiny new faces that have turned up to meetings. That’s been pretty hectic in its own special way but slowly things are settling into routine and this week has been a quiet one. I needed one of those.

Kidz klub = great, I’m loving having my own visiting round and am being trained up to be a bus captain soon which is a terrifying thought but a welcome challenge!

Work = still going, I’ve just sent off a CRB form to volunteer at a local school and got some work experience with the SLT from the trust I work for so those are developments. Eventually someone will pay for my services but apparently they’d much prefer them for free. Same as anyone I guess. God is faithful all the same.

I’ve got a few things I’ve been thinking about the past few weeks that I’d like to write about so hopefully they will be along soon. I kind of intended to write one of those tonight but this little round-up has been pretty constructive actually so maybe I’ll leave it there. Not too long til next time, promise!

Strike Two!

I have had a second article published... this time on "Dawn Comes," the blog of some friends who are doing a brilliant job writing and publishing articles from all over the world, and I feel very privileged to have been asked to write for them :) They post something every week, usually on a Tuesday. Have a look here.

I have a fun story coming about the acquisition of my new house (woop!). It's been quite an adventure. Hopefully get it written up at the weekend.

M:Powered by Cod for Life

... so said the pens that were once printed for the summer camp- unlucky the print just wasn't clear enough!

So another M:Powered has been and gone. I vaguely remember posting about last year but that seems so long ago now. My overwhelming impression this year was how much my little ones have grown up! Most of them I have known since they started secondary school, and many of them are now starting college. Enough to make an old-timer like me feel, well, old.

But it was a beautiful time. We focussed a lot on going home, and how everything we learned could be transferred into 'real life'. In that sense, only time will tell whether it was a successful week or not! But I believe it was.

I don't really know what else there is to say about M:Powered. I just thought it deserved a post. It was fun. Rachel Munn is my hero.

Cool Dudes

I recently read a great blog article entitled "The Concept of Cool" which I thought I might share with anyone passing by. I liked it, you might too.

The Big Smoke in pictures

Maybe I should reflect on London as well? It is kind of a major city and I did just spend a month there (although admittedly most of that time was spent at City of London Academy- an impressive school but a little repetitive nonetheless).

I have an oyster card. These things are amazing! A £4 journey without a card is reduced to £1.80 with. However they are also very confusing and I get a 'seek assistance' message on pretty much every journey I take because something's wrong, I'm out of money or didn't scan the right thing or I don't even know. Also Tubes are horrible if you actually want to get anywhere. On holiday it's lovely because you probably didn't even realise it just took you an hour to travel between 5 stations on about 3 different lines, but when you actually want to get somewhere it's a nightmare, especially with the whole being in the belly of the earth thing and no phone signal to express your apologies that the only tube closures are on the tiny strip of line that you wanted to use. Frustrated much?

However I did visit the V&A museum. I had several hours to kill whilst waiting for my bus and I'd seen a photo of one of the exhibitions (Architects build small spaces) which looked interesting so I spent a happy 3 hours lost in other people's creativity from over the ages. And it was free! I'm getting old; part of me really wanted to stay and look at all the other museums too, but I didn't get chance.

Other claims to fame- I drove past the houses of parliament, spent a day at BBC (didn't see anyone famous apart from possibly a newsreader that no-one could remember the name of) and spent 3 weeks in Greenwich without ever reaching the observatory! About halfway through the first week I spotted the 02 arena and in my excitement said something about the millennium dome. These kids were born in 1994 and didn't even know what the millennium dome was!I am very familiar with the walk between Victoria coach station and Victoria tube station. This is beginning to sound a bit like a bizarre personal statement so I'd better stop, however I will comment that the grass is DEFINITELY greener in Leeds! None of that Southern drought stuff up here I can assure you!

My team was great. The other residential mentors: Bri, Eva, Tabitha and Bobby were brilliant and we all got on so well. That was commented on every week and was a real strength because it's a tough week if you're on your own. Tallulah was the 'logistics officer' for the Team challenge so she did all the organising (and is still going now for another 2 1/2 weeks) and is amazing at what she does- she held us all together and solved all our problems and was generally super. I don't know that any of them will ever read this but I reckon they deserve a special mention anyway :)

And finally... I don't have a photo but I spent the weekend with Maj and Seb in their beautiful new flat in Colindale. We didn't do much; just talked speech therapy and had crazy ideas for making resources (yes, we are planning whole weekends of colouring in!) and discussed being Muslim and ate good food. I miss those guys; gutted that they live so far away but happy that I discovered £4 coach tickets so I can visit them lots!

Sorry this hasn't been very entertaining reading. I expected better of myself after such a long break. Maybe next time.