Day Off Week 38 2025

I

t was back to the more traditional day off on Tuesday as my wife had to work. In the evening I had a church officers meeting so the length of the day was truncated. I sill had time to read a little book o the fascinating Josiah Wedgwood, most of an art book on Seascapes and a little book on Lust by Flavel. I also did some work on this blog and my sermon blog and had a coffee out.

Day Off Week 12 2024

There was some waiting to do yesterday. In the morning for the gas man to fix a leaking boiler, which he wasn't able to do and will have to come back. Then later it was for a new microwave we have bought. I eventually got oout to West Hampsted and had a coffee and bought some cheese (apres soleil - see here). Otherwise, I was working on blogs (especially here), reading the Mike Parker book and watching University Challenge, which I wasn't abe to the day before. On Monday and Tuesday this week I have unusually bought The Times newspaper. I bought them chiefly for the full page obituaries of rockstar Steve Harley and IRA supporter Rose Dugdale. Yesterday I also did several of the puzzles.

Day Off Week 11 2024

Another day of reading and working on some of my blogs with TV in the evening after the regular Bible Study up the road.

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 4 2024

After a funny old start to the year, I'm trying to get back into a routine so I took the day off on Tuesday in my ususal manner, as best I could. I had an annual check up at the doctor's to start the day and then I spent some time blogging and writing in connection with various projects I am currently working on. I also spent time reading Matthew Roberts' very worthwhile book Pride whcih we are due to discuss next Monday at the Pastors Academy. In the evening I watched some TV. Fool me once is a flawed Harlan Coben thing with a crazy plot but it kept us watching. 

Day Off Week 25 2023

This week's day off was unusual in that it started very early. It must have been around 5 am when we heard noises outside. It turned out to be a police raid. Someone has been growng cannabis a few doors up. After the commotion I wasalready to go and so I went down for devotions and to read. I did go back to bed for a while, however, I confess. I spent much of the day reading this book one of my sons gave me on Hitler and art by Charlie English. Very interesting and written with a firm grasp of the subject. I also spoke to my financial adviser and did some painting as can be seen. At some point I was out for a coffee and to buy cheese - Red Leicester, which I then added to a small and quite basic blog. See here.

Day Off Week 7 2023

We've not heard much about the old day off recently. That's because life has been a lttle bit random for the last few weeks (a visit from the family and trips to the west country and the north east) and so there has been no conventional day off. I tried to have one last week, however. Time went on a brilliant biography of Galileo by David Wootton that I am reading, lots of blogging (I have many blogs) and then soem TV in the evening.

200 Articles

 

I now have some 200 articles on my Published Articles blog. See here.

Day Off Week 25 2021

This week's day off was made up of watching the EMA Conference on YouTube. I didn't watch it live as I had arranged to meet a former missionary for coffee in the morning. It was good to see the EMA getting back to its roots - exposition, exposition, exposition. We had Rico Tice on Zaccheus first then Andrew Sach on Ezekiel. I remember Ezekiel being tackled at one of the earliest EMAs. I think it was John Woodhouse who did it. I watched the football in the evening, of course, and did some blogging. I also got me required walking in and did the crosswords, etc.

Day Off Week 47

To be frank, I'm not coping with this lockdown very well. Couldn't settle to anything really today. I did do some work on my Tabernakel blog and my Beddome blog but I struggled rather. Also read the paper. Ended up watching some reruns of Would I lie to you and then sat in front off the TV all evening.

Sending out an SOS
Sending out an SOS

Sending out an SOS

Sending out an SOS

Sending out an SOS

Sending out an SOS

Day Off Week 40 2020

Really threw myself into this one, wearing jeans and a T-shirt and making a to do list (yes, mindset and order I've found is important even on a day off - it is also not a good thought to think I've got all day, I'll do my devotions later - which I managed to avoid thinking this tine). I got a number of little jobs done and did some tidying and sorting which is always important to keep up with. I also had a coffee, did a little blogging, watched some TV, read a bit more Moby Dick and completed a church history item for a journal. Remembered to out the bins out - unusual! In the evening Eleri and I watched the second part of a disturbing fact based drama Honour.

Blog of the Week 17

Rather late with this once again.

Benjamin Francis 1734-1799

Benjamin Francis came from Wales

But he soon spread his sails.

First he went to Bristol College

To increase his knowledge

Then pastored a church in Horsley

For years - over forty!

He preached sermons, wrote elegies,

And words for melodies.

This blog was started in April 2016 and is about the 18th century Baptist Benjamin Francis, a pastor and hymn writer who grew up in Wales. There are 50 posts by now. The hit count is low - about 2300. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog is the second part of a piece on John Heskins one of the deacons at Shortwood, Gloucestershire, where Francis ministered. You can find it here. 

Blog of the Week 16

It's been a funny week so I have failed to give you a blog of the week. Perhaps I can slip this one in here, therefore.

Some old Jokes

Hey folks, here are some jokes,

You know it's not a hoax.

I hope that no-one chokes

As my blog some joy provokes

This blog was started in April 2017 and is a repository for old jokes (as the title suggests). I like jokes but am not very good at remembering them unless I get a good trigger. There are over 100 entries and so well over a hundred jokes. The hit count is low - about 1700. It can be found here. (Go on - you know you want to). Most popular post on the blog is a Trappist monk joke I heard years ago You can find it here. Any suggestions for material would be appreciated. One day I will have a look at humour in the Bible, perhaps.

Blog of the week 15

Conscience  - Quotations

Queen Elizabeth One
She says to everyone:
If your conscience is clear
You'll have nothing to fear.
Elvis says of conscience
When your intelligence
Don’t tell you something's wrong
Don't say to you "Hold on!"
Don't give your arm a shake
You know you are a snake.
(Just two brief quotations
To raise expectations.)

This blog was started in 2015 and contains quotations on the subject of conscience, on which subject I have a published book. There are over 100 entries. There have been more than 2,000 hits. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog is a quote from Elvis Presley You can find it here.

Blog of the Week 14

Proverbs and sayings

This blog's about words
Sayings - two thirds
And the rest, words alone.
Forgive me please
And do not tease
As on and on I drone

This blog was started in back in early 2010 and contains various things loosely connected by the idea of words, a lifelong area of interest. There are over 300 entries there. There have been about 23,600 hits. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog with about 1500 visits is on the phrase You have to eat a peck of dirt in a lifetime. You can find it here. I would like to do a sort of 2 minute podcast on words but I don't know if I'll get round to it.

Blog of the Week 13

Anne Steele 1717-1738

There once was a woman, Anne Steele.

To nominative determinism I appeal

Anne is a girl's name, it speaks of femininity

And Steele points to strength, to backbone, rigidity.

In Anne Steele's hymns both of these things you'll see -

A zeal that can feel and a steel that is real.

This blog was started in 2016 as we were approaching the anniversary of Steele's birth. There are only about 70 articles there. There have been about 1300 hits. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog with about 30 visits is The Cottle connection. You can find it here. Anne Steele was a contemporary of Benjamin Beddome so there is a little bit of cross over. As with Beddome, there is no portrait which is a shame.

Blog of the Week 12

Published Articles

It's not remarkable

But when I've written an article

In a magazine

Then on this blog screen

It's sure to be seen.

I have written various articles over the years and this website seeks to collate them. I started doing this in 2015 and there are now about 140 articles there on a relatively wide range of subjects. There have been less than 8,000 hits so it would be nice if there were more. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog with nearly 500 visits is 40 Good Things to do on a Sunday afternoon. You can find it here.  Lots of other interesting things too. DO check it out.

Blog of the Week 11

I'd quite forgotten to do this this week so perhaps this is the time to slip this one past you

Focus on Focus

Focus is the best of all bands

They are based in the Netherlands

Their mainstay is called Thijs van Leer

They play their music far and near

They play mostly instrumental

Sometimes rowdy, sometimes gentle.

The Dutch band Focus have been an obsession since I was a teenager and in 2007 I decided to make a blog, chiefly cataloguing their various tracks. My aspiration was to do something like Ian MacDonald did in Revolution in the head regarding the Beatles. I've never got near in reality but I continue to try and have added various other bits and bobs over the years. Perhaps the best thing is the way that it has opened up connections with other Focus fans. I think chiefly of Peet Johnson in Australia who has gone miles beyond me with a whole biography of Focus, which I have ended up giving editorial advice on. I think a new edition is due soon. See here. There is also Kjell Arne Nordli who very kindly sent me a stack of live recordings of Focus for free one time.

There are over 300 posts at present but I am conscious of many needing improvement and at least one series unfinished. There have been about over 67,000 views. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog with over a thousand hits is one entitled Jan Akkerman - the classical element. You can find it here. .

Blog of the Week 10

Bible Lists

This blog consists of Bible lists,
Those that are in the Bible found.
Some seem mundane, some seem profound,
None that exist should be dismissed.

Regular readers of this blog will know my penchant for lists. In 2017 I decided to make a Bible List blog. Since then I have added about 250 posts. There have been about 1800 hits. It can be found here. Most popular post on the blog is one listing eight cities founded by Nimrod. You can find it here. .

Blog of the Week 9

John Elias

They said he was the Methodist Pope
With his hardline ways they could not cope.
He'd thunder and flash,
Turn falsehoods to ash,
He gave Wales the message of hope.

John Elias was one of the leading preachers of Wales in his time. I first heard of him as a teenager, when Banner republished Edmund Morgan's biography. I'm not sure what prompted this blog. I began it, however, in 2007. It can be found here. There are 82 posts there. There have been about 1440 hits or so, 

Most popular post on the blog is a notice about the translation of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Fathers, which has two chapters about Elias. You can find it here.