Day Off Week 9 2024

Typical day, mostly spent reading and catching up on one or two blogs. From what I can see Post-impressionism is not really a thing just a way of noting how artists took in what impressionism had to say then moved on. Started the Banner biography of Beza. In the evening I did go out for a Bible Study with some friends, postponed from last night when we were seeing my nephew off. In the evening we began watching this futuristic Welsh drama about Port Talbot. Interesting.

Day Off Week 7 2024

A good day on Tuesday. I was going to read about Post-impressionists but my copy had been damaged at some point before I bought it so I had to bin that and turn to the one on Expressionists (Schiele, Munch, etc). Didn't enjoy them as much as the impressionists. I worked on one or two of my other blogs, including this one here. In the afternoon Eleri and I went to see One Life the olm about Nicholas Winterton and his rescue of children from Prague in the thirties. Very moving. When we came out of the cinema we heard of the death of Steve Wright, who we have both enjoyed over the years. An emotional moment after such a film. No pancakes today but we enjoyed hoe made burgers and then watched the last in the current series of BBC's Silent Witness. We enjoy it but it is a funny old series with more quirks than Quirky Mcquirky.

Day Off Week 41 2023

I seem to have missed making a report on my day off on October 3 and can't remember much of it now (althoough I think I bought Yarg and there was cheese blogging and the viewing of BBC documentaries on the Nazis). Anyway, on October 10 I was up early to take Eleri to work as she was not only out all day but had an evening meeting too. On the way back I grabbed a coffee and read my Bible, etc. There was a prayer meetng at 11 am - four of us gathered for a cuppa and a time of prayer. I was reading two art books during the day - one on Degas in the wonderful series I collect and another on Turner in Wales. I had forgotten he had painted Newport Castle. We had house guests so I spent a little time with them but they were out much of the day and soI went to Chipotle for lunch. I bought some ort Salut to reort on at my cheese blog. I also watched the BBC docudrama on Jimmy Savile, which proved to be surprisngy theological on the whole.

Day Off Week 36

The holidays over it was back to a more formal day off this week. There were the common components - an art book (Michelangelo this time - stunning genius indeed), some cheese from Waitrose (Jarlsberg this time) and some TV in the evening (BBC). I also read some more from Calvin on Titus, the book for the reading group at the Pastor's Academy at the end of this month. I also took an hour or so out to chat over hot drinks to a very interesting Iranian man who has started to come along to us. I alos made a start on a paper I'm giving in November.

Day Off Week 21 20223

I had to ophne the doctor first thing. I failed to get an appointment but was then able to get a ring back and that happened fairly soon so all tothe good Started on one of my birthday books - the one from my sister on camoflage. Very interesting. Had lunch in West Hampstead (and a coffee). In the evening we watched the final episode of Steeltown murders a fac based drama about murders in Port Talbot in the seventies on the BBC.

Day Off Week 26 2022

I decided on my latest day off to head to our nearest Leon, where I had lunch. Near the restaurant is a Waterstones and I picked up a book on eugenics by Adam Rutherford which i more or less finished. I also read Derek Thomas's helpful new book on worship. In the evening we watched the final episodes of the BBC's latest detective drama Sherwood.

Mozart's Requiem ENO

If you have an hour to spare check BBC Iplayer and the ENO performance of Mozart's Requiem. Well worth a listen. Skip to 7:38 if you only want the music. Link here.

Bragg on the covenanters

I notice that tomorrow morning at 9 am on Radio 4 Melvyn Bragg has an In our time on the covenanters. Should be interesting. The "experts" are Roger Mason, Laura Stewart and Scott Spurlock.

Day Off Week 46 2019

A fairly typical day off this week. I read the new Private Eye and the newspaper over coffee. There was some transferring of files from one computer to another and some blog work. I also finished two books I might have mentioned, Michael Messenger on Elgar and Laurence Binet's novel come reportage - very interesting style (a bit of a pain in places) - on Reinhard Heydrich and his assassins. Also some TV later.

Day off Week 45 2019

This week's day off was a little different in that it started off with a trip to the doctor's for an appointment with the nurse. I also bought the paper and had a coffee in Cricklewood after that then came back here and spent the day in editing. First there was the latest edition of In Writing which needed to be put to bed. Then there was the finishing touches to a local church history which I have now finished and that you can view here on Amazon. Eleri was out at the women's meeting in the evening so I caught up on University Challenge and the latest episode of Name of the Rose in the new BBC series. (I have never watched it or read it though I am very much aware of Umberto Eco's novel). I also read a little of HHhH my latest novel, picke up in a charity shop recentkly.

Day off week 30 2019

I did take a formal day off last week and want to record it to encourage myself and other ministers to take it seriously. I chose Thursday, which turned out to be the hottest day of the year, etc. As we are now in the holiday season I spent the morning preparing for Sunday as I had rather frittered parts of the first three days of the week. The day was then dominated by two activities. First, I went with Eleri down to the Hilton on Park Lane for tea. This is not our usual patter. This was a kind gift from members of the church who arranged it in celebration of my turning 60 this year. Getting there was tough in the heat but then we sat in the lovely and cool lobby at the Hilton and then went into their Podium restaurant where we enjoyed open sandwiches, scones, beautiful cakes, tea and a champagne alternative. Very nice indeed. We then headed home and binge watched most of the BBC drama Keeping Faith. Can't recommend this to everyone due to the swearing but it is an amazingly good drama on its own terms. In Faith Howells they have created a very real flawed but attractive figure who is compelling. The supporting cast are brilliant too. The drama is recorded in Welsh and in English. My Welsh is insufficient to enjoy it. Eleri tells me, however, that because the Welsh one needs to be shorter to allow for S4C adverts there are minor plot differences, which is always interesting. Good day then.

Day off week 23

This last week's day off was a bit different, partly because, having had most of it on my usual Tuesday I also carved out an hour or two to visit Thomas Carlyle's House in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, on another day as it is closed on Tuesdays. On Tuesday I was dog free for once and having this new 60+ oyster card I thought I'd see ho far I could go. I ended up in Stratford (not that far). I think I'd seen the Olympic Stadium but I'd never been to Westfield - nice Foyles' there. In the evening we watched the final two episodes of the BBC mini series Summer of Rockets which has been fresh. Through the day I was reading The Secret Barrister which I bought recently.

I have been meaning to visit Carlyle's house for ages. I don't know much about him but he moved from Ecclefechan to London aged 35 and the house became a hub for the literati of the time. The house has been made to look as it would have in the 19th century and filled with pictures of the great man and his wife and cards briefly recalling some of the great and good who visited. It seemed to me that (apart from Jack the Ripper, Florence Nightingale and R L Stevenson) nearly every famous Victorian was mentioned.

Edward Irving is one. Having read Arnold Dallimore's biography some years ago I was aware that the two had shared origins. Irving's story is a very sad one. I liked the comment from Jane (who sounds a fascinating character) years later ‘If I had married Irving, the tongues would never have been heard.’

There was also a reference to Charles Darwin. Jane (who was connected with Erasmus Darwin at one point) said "But even when Darwin, in a book that all the scientific world is in ecstasy over, proved the other day that we are all come from shell-fish, it didn’t move me to the slightest curiosity whether we are or not. I did not feel that the slightest light would be thrown on my practical life for me, by having it ever so logically made out that my first ancestor, millions of millions of years back, had been, or even had not been, an oyster. It remained a plain fact that I was no oyster, nor had any grandfather an oyster within my knowledge; and for the rest, there was nothing to be gained, for this world or the next, by going into the oyster-question, till all more pressing questions were exhausted."

Day off Week 11 2019

So it was back to the day off this Tuesday. I got up early and dressed in jeans and trainers eager to make the most of the day. It was the usual mix of dog walking, coffee, newspaper quiizzes, reading adn TV. I managed to read Peter J Williams Can we trust the Gospels? picked up at kast week's conference. It is is not only an excellent apologetics book but is full fo all sorts of others good things too. I enjoyed, for example the brief chapter on contradictions, where he lists any number from John. His quotation from sceptic Bart Ehrman make the latter look pretty shallow in the light of what is said in the rest of the chapter. Not that this is a points scoring exercise. Williams simply wants us to see that there is every good reason to trust the Gospels. In the evening I enjoyed the last episode of Shetland with my wife who had been out working. Yes, it is not ideal for her to be out when I'm having my day off but it hard to see a way round it. No-one else is at home at the moment. The rest of the day I was busy catching up on the blogging front.

Strawbs - Lay Down

Seventies pop music, eh?

Day off Week 7 2019

This week's day off came around rather quickly this time. I woke in an unhelpful mood and could not settle to anything at first. I had arranged a mid-morning coffee time and prayer meeting around 11 (we are having a week of prayer meetings). The wives of our two deacons came, one with her three home schooled children. We were joined for good or ill by two ladies from the area we know. Like others from the area, they are very exercised about a plan to remove over 90 trees from the immediate area this month and that issue threatened to dominate rather but we got through somehow. After that I took Alffi for a walk and made a big dent in this Costa prize winning book The cut out girl which is very good. In the evening after Eleri returned home we watched the latest Shetland on BBC. We love Shetland. It not only gives you a detective mystery to ponder that being in an isolated community has that Agatha Christie Country House quality that these things need but there is a sort of stillness that you get that is very attractive. I'm always planning to visit while watching but probably never will.

Two interesting biographical documentaries

I have watched two interesting biographical documentaries recently. First, on ITV there was one on Cliff Richard - Sir Cliff Richard: 60 Years in Public and in Private. There was not much about Cliff's faith but there was one section suggesting he is a man who still prays and professes Christ. It is very easy to criticise such a person but he does seem to be seeking to live up to the light he has.

The other one was on the BBC more recently and was intended to be overtly religious as it is part of a series called My faith and me. No mention of Gavin's few months at London Seminary understandably but sadly. It was interesting nevertheless as he went from place to place capturing memories and telling his story so far. the move to Canada makes a great deal of sense and highlights how difficult celebrity can be.

Both are still available on iplayer or whatever at the moment.

Silent Witness Pro-Life

The BBC's Silent Witness is now in its 21st seasson. It has its strengths and weaknesses but is a nice watch on Monday and Tuesday evening or when we can catch it. Last week was a surprisingly pro-life double episode, knocking euthanasia and disregard for the weak and vulnerable. The One Day episodes featured actress Clarissa Mullery, who plays Liz Carr. Liz Carr was born in 1972 and is an actress, stand-up comedian, broadcaster and international disability rights activist. She has used a wheelchair since she was 7 due to a rare condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. This link is current at the time of blogging but it will go out of date.

For more on the writing of the programmes see here. Tim Prager is unsurprisingly the father of a child with a disability and presumably a Roman Catholic. The programmes did have plot flaws (SW seems to be consistently down on the police) but comments such as unbelievable propaganda and gratuitous show it got under the skin of the "atheist lobby" at least.

Reformation: The Story Of Martin Luther on BBC 4

There are a pair of 90 minute German dramas that were shown on BBC 4 still available here. The dialogue is in German (with some Latin) and English subtitles. Reflecting modern scholarship the dramas focus not only on Luther but also by way of contrast Thomas Muntzer. Carlstadt also features and Spalatin and Cranach get more of a role. There appears to be no Melanchthon. Under 16s are warned off becasue of some violence. All this helps to narrow down to the essential elements but like so many such dramas eagerness to be relevant means that we get a rather 21st century approach, the main characters not appearing to be from another age at all. The one thing it perhaps does do is to give one an opportunity of entering into the sort of mindset that lived through Reformtion.

Tyndale, Cranmer, Foxe

I was pleasantly surprised to see this programme recently. See here. Marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Janina Ramirez tells the story of three books that defined this radical religious revolution in England. Tyndale's New Testament, Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and Foxe's Book of Martyrs are sadly no longer commonly recognised titles, yet for nearly 400 years these works formed the backbone of British life. Their words shaped the English language, fuelled religious division and sparked revolt.

Tyndale's Bible made the word of God accessible to the common man for the first time; The Book of Common Prayer established a Protestant liturgy; and Foxe's Book of Martyrs (they say) enshrined an intolerance of Catholicism, although it did a lot more thna that. Woth catching.

I haven't seen the other three programmes in the series but this was okay. See here.

Gwyl San Steffan 2015

A Boxing Day Walk is a good tradition and we sort of managed it last Saturday (not officially Boxing Day I understand but still the day after Christmas). We started with ambitious ideas but in the end we strolled round Waterlow Park in Highgate, somewhere I'd not been before. I had a smart phone for Christmas so I was able to execute my first real selfie. Back home there was preparation to do for Sunday but we found some TV time for Agatha Christie (so so) and Dickensian (which is looking really good - the combination of snow and Victoriana is just magic).