Day Off Week 30

I started my day off this week by slipping in the shower. Not a good start. Anyway, I decided to walk the final part of the northern Thames Path. I got the train to Canary Wharf and had a coffee then headed to Blackwall DLR where I began again on the route. It is quite built up in that area and I found it difficult to stick to the Thames even though I did many many steps. In the end I got back on the DLR at Royal Victoria and headed first to West Silvertown where I snapped the Tate & Lyle factory and then on to Pontoon Dock and the Thames Barrier. So it has been an interesting exercise walking along the Thames. I wonder if I'll manage the southern route before I move. The rest if the day there was time for reading, etc. Eleri was out for the evening.

Trinity Lightship/SS Robin

On the Prime Meridian

Thames Barrier Park

Tate & Lyle

Thames Barrier

Day Off Week 29

Nice day off Tuesday. There was some cofee, a little walking and some TV but the main thing was reading this excellent book by Dan Peters on distinct communion with the different persons of the Trinity.

Day Off Week 27 2026

Slighty odd day in some ways. I had hay fever all day, which can happen even though I take an antihistamine every day throughout the season. I spent the morning cataloguing books in LibraryThing (I took loadsto the Evangelical Library on Monday). Eleri was home until lunch time then going out so we had our main meal at lunch time (salmon). Because of the hay fever I didn't feel like walking the Thames and then two books I ordered weeks back arrived so I decided to go to Caffe Nero, West Hampstead, and sit in the air conditioning, reading them both which I did (only 60 pages each). Very helpful but I got quite depressed after and so after watching the news I headed for bed.

Day Off Week 26 2026

I carried on with my Thames walk on Tuesday, although things didn't turn out quite the way I planned. I got the Jubilee line down to Canary Wharf, where I had a coffee in a Black Sheep cafe. I then headed for the path but at that point the Thames makes a big loop and so you can get to it in three directions. I'm not sure what I did but by the time I eventually got to the path I was quite a way on and so I walked back, eventually getting to Island Gardens DLR, where I headed home. I notice that at a certain point references to the Thames Path are replaced by ones for Riverside Walk. By then I had walked well over 12,000 steps in the heat (although there were breezes to be fair). As for the rest of my day off, I did some reading (a book on Spurgeon and the Sabbath which I'd almost completed the day before and a chunk of Owen on Gospel Evidences of Saving Faith). I also had a nap so I was awake for the England game against Ghana - a rather boring nil-nil draw.

Day Off Week 25 2026

Yesterday I started back on my walk along the Thames Path. I went down to Wapping overground station to get near the start of my next section and had a coffee in the Urban Baristas coffee shop there. I then walked over old ground and onto new as far as Canary Wharf where I managed to find a Jubilee station thanks to the help of two young ladies bent onthe same quest. One was a Nigerian Brit student and the other an Iraqi German visiting her. Nice chat. During the day I sarted reading The Voices of Pompeii on kindle and in the evening watched lots of TV. Lovely weather.

Day Off Week 20 2026

There were a few thigs to be done first thing but once they were sorted I could focus on reading. There was time too for a coffee out and a bt of TV but it was mostly reading.

Day Off Week 18 2026

We haven't had a formal day off for a while but we tried to have one last Tuesday. There were a few things that needed to be dealt with but otherwise there was time for reading, coffee and to receive a parcel of books by Benjamin Beddome, vry kindly sent by someon eno longer needing them. In the evening I drove up to The Stables, Milton Keynes, to catch Focus on their latest tour. Bed by midnight.

Day Off Week 13 2026

 

For my day off this time I spent time reading, bought some cheese, bought a little cheeseand walked some more of the Thames Path. I went down to Tower Hill and had a coffee nearby. (Met an interesting Somali young man called Mahomet, reading Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics). I then went down to Tower Hill and rewalked a little and then on into Wapping, as far as the Shadwell Basin. Pretty much all new to me and not over interesting. I walked back to Wapping Overground and headed home. Reading was from a book on ANE peoples piacked up last Saturday, Christian biography and dictators (on my kindle).

Day Off Week 12 2026

The day off this week was  a little different as we had a friend here from Aberystwyth. He arrived with a carer on Monday and left on Wednesday. On the Tuesday we went to the RAF museum, walked the dog, went to Brent Cross for pizza (Ian's shout) and watched an episode of Heartbeat (something I've never done before). He also found time to do some weeding and cleaning for us. Eeleri and I watched a bit of Capture on BBC in the evening.

Day Off Week 10 2026

 

Last Tuesday wasn't quite a day off in that I spent much if it in St Giles Christian Mission planning the next Westminster Conferences with the committee. Once I was out though I walked another section of the Thames Path, from Somerset House to Blackfriars. all very interesting once again. This is where we leave Westminster and enter the CiIty. Relasing evening too.

Day Off Week 9 2026

On my day off last Tuesday I headed down to Westminster and walked another two sections of the Thames path. It was all very interesting and included New Scotand Yard, the Savoy, Cleoatra's needle, Tyndale, Raikes, etc. I ended near the Savoy and walked upfrom there to the STrand where I hada coffee in Caffe Nero, reading this new biography of Pascal that I have agreed to introduce at the enxt Theological Study Group at the Pastors Academy. In the evening we watched a recording of last week's The Apprentice.

Day Off Week 6 2026

There was the usual reading today (Hague on Wilberforce) but I also resumed walking the London Thams Path, something I started a little while ago that I seem to have left no record of. I have  abook by David Fathers that divides the walk up into 20 odd north shore and south shore pieces. I did the first part of the north shore with my wife last year and this Tuesday I did the next two parts. For the first part (Fulham) we went down to Putney Bridge Underground and walked west as far as Fulham Palace and then came back east all the way to Wandsworh Bridge, where we had a cuppa. (Sasdly it was very windy and so parts of the Thames Path were closed then). This time I headed to Imperial Wharf Overground where we ended up last time. First, I headed back west as far as the large Sainsbury's near Wandsworth Bridge and then headed east again as far as the end of Cheyne Walk where I caught a bus to Sloane Square and had a coffee in Cote before headingto Five Guys in Victoria and home on a 13. Lots of famous people are connected with Cheyne Walk as you may have noticed in a previous post. I also saw Crosvy Hall, the statue of Thomas Moore, what was Lots Road Power Station and Chelsea Harbour. I'd been to Cheyne Walk before, to Carlyle's House, but before there I hadn't known so it was good to see how the further west fits in to the whole. On the opposite side I saw at one point the impressive St Mary's church where Blake was married. It was a dull wet day but not too cold.

Day Off Week 4 2026

It was a typical reading day yesterday. I carried on reading Nick Wallis's book on the Post Office scandal on my kindle and, over coffee, completed Ian Shaw's excellent on book on Christians and slavery which is highly recommended (more on that later). (I did have a day off the Tuesday before too when I finished Caleb Morrell's A light on the hill - more about that anon). In the evening we went to the cinema to see Hamnet. The film is about Shakespeare's family life. The first part of the film, set almost exclusively in Stratford, is okay but nothing special. (It also includes an unhelpful and unnecessary scene be warned). It is in the latter part of the film when the focus switches to London and the famous play that things take off and we are presented with a very moving and interesting sidelight on things. While taking the bare facts Maggie O'Farrell has used a her imagination to well to present a compelling drama. Ended the day with a bit of TV including the News.

Day Off Week 51 2025

Had another reading day last Tuesday. I read the various books that I am reading day by day at the moment. With those I also read a book called Entitled about Andrew and Fergie. It is rather a depressing book in many ways as it describes, I think fairly accurately, the lives of two once married individuals and the excesses that they have given themselves to down the years. I don't suppose they are very different to the average Jack and Jill but because they have been exposed to so many temptations and have so often given in, we end up with a pretty discouraging state of affairs, to the extent, in Andrew's case, that he appears to be guilty of punishable crimes. Not at any point in the book do they seem to have come under the sound of the gospel and they do not seem to realise the need to repent and find forgiveness in Christ, which is their only hope. We do not know how it will all turn out before they die but it would not be a surprise if more came out. Andrew Lownie has thoroughly researched the story. He presents quite a different version of how the infamous interview with Andrew came together and appears to be quite convinced that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself. He is also quite convinced that Andrew is guilty of sex crimes.

Day Off Week 50 2025

Had one of my reading days last Tuesday. There are a number of books that I am reading day by day at the moment. With those I am reading other Chrstmas books including this Washington Irving book that I picked up recently and have now finished. The book contains the most beautiful writing in a most beautifully illustrated book. American Irving simply describes a few days in England at Christmas, staying at an old house whose lord is a great lover of the old traditions, especially at Christmas. The book is charming and also provides a limited amount of information on the background, particlalrly in a series of footnotes at the end of the book. Undoubtedly, the Puritans took a wrong turn when they banned Christmas. They certainly meant well and it would be a mistake to suppose that an Irving Christmas is typical of pagan celebrations but the idea of enjoying yourself in winter is not something any Christian should have too many qualms about.

Day Off Week 48 2025

Nearly a week gone by since my day off but I do want to record it. I won't really be having one this week. Four things - 1. Reading. I read a large chunk of Dianarama, a new book about the infamous interview and the facts surrounding it. Finished that now. 2/3. Watching. First, the new Frankenstein on Netflix, which I enjoyed. Director Guillermo Del Toro takes the Mary Shelley idea and does his own take. It's a great film (apart from some of the cgi) but misses a few tricks that a Christian worldview might provide help in. Great pre-Christmas film with all that snow. (I now recall that I have also seen his Shape of Water but not his Pinocchio, which I met get on to). Second, a couple of episodes of Prisoner 951 (there are four altogether). It is interesting becasue the family whose story is related lives nearby (I have met her) and we have a lot of Iranians in the church. 4. Eleri came home with a coat for me, from Costco. She's so kind.

Day Off Week 44 2025

Managed to fit in a day off this week, mostly reading but I alos watched some Alan Partridge, which is funny enough but for me, only ever mildly so.

Day Off Week 41 2025

A little bit different this time as we have a week of prayer this week and there was a prayer meeting in the morning. Seven of us there so that was encouraging. We also headed off to Heathrow in the afternoon to meet our son Owain back from Las Vegas. I bought the newspaper while we waited and read the obituaries (Jilly Cooper, Soo Cat Woman from the punk era and a man who was an official translator of Russian). I also did the crossword and one or two other puzzles later. There was time for reading too and in the evening I watched the first two episodes of The Hack about the News of the World scandal.

Day Off Week 39 2025

There was the usual reading and walking and coffee last Tuesday but things were  alittle different in that I had to be at a meeting in Ashford in the morning. I went by train and had a McDonalds there for lunch before getting back. By the time I was home I was not quite relaxed and rather wasted the evening indulging in Milton Jones and Tim Vine videos (all clean which is a blessing).