10 Places not where you think

1. Hampstead School is not in Hampstead (it's in Cricklewood)

2. Charing Cross Hospital is not in Charing Cross (it's in Fulham)

3. St Marylebone Cemetery is not in Marylebone (it's in Finchley)

4. Clapham Junction is not in Clapham (it's in Battersea)

5. The Kansas City Chiefs are based in Missouri not Kansas. There are two Kansas cities and one is not in Kansas (it's in Missouri)

6. Cardiff airport is not in Cardiff (it's in the Vale of Glamorgan)

7. Munich West airport is not in Munich (it's in Memmingen)

8. Gibraltar Point is in Lincolnshire and Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is in Canada (neither are in Gibraltar)

9. The dead centre of Europe is not at Europos Park, Vilnius, Lithuania, as claimed but eight miles away from there, as the French scientists who calculated the spot had to admit to errors,

10.  The Greenwich Observatory Monument marking the Greenwich Meridian is in fact 102 metres (334 feet) out. Marked in 1851, the calculation was later called into question and GPS and modern instruments have now shown the real spot is in a  park to the east of the observatory.

Last week

Last week seems a long time ago now but it was quite a busy week. We started off at the school for our regular chat about our youngest, with whom they are very pleased. He was off to Go Ape on Wednesday. We were back the next day in the evening for what was billed as An evening with the stars, showcasing the music, dance and drama the school has been putting on this term. Another of our sons was hosting it with a friend of his and a very good job they made of it. Then Wednesday was the graduation in Cardiff (see above). Around 200 were graduating, mostly females. The ceremony was in the St David's Hall, which I don't think I've ever been in (I do know that Focus played there once and the magnificent pipe organ was used for a rendition of La Cathedrale). I slowed down after that but Eleri just carried on with another trip to Wales to drop off two sons (one an officer, one  a camper) and others at camps. She also got to see our new grandson for the first time. Back here I was saying goodbye to Dylan off on holiday and hello to my niece staying with us en route to Norwich. Busy days.

School prizegiving

Here's Owain getting a handshake from the headmaster in the red tie last week after winning a silver medal for best improvement in art for his year.

Midsummer Night's Dream

It was good to be at the school yesterday night for a production of Midsummer Night's Dream, in which my son was Oberon. He did very well, as they all did on the whole, especially a very funny Bottom. The setting was the eighties for some reason. My son looked like a cross between David Bowie and Michael Jackson. Bottom wore Freddie Mercury gear. I thought the best joke was the girl taking the part of wall in the play wearing a Pink Floyd The Wall T-shirt. They're at it again tonight.

Bugsy Malone

At the school last night to see my fourth son Gwion (tall guy with the moustache) as Dandy Dan in an excellent production of the prohibition era musical Bugsy Malone.

The Wiz, etc

The two middle boys (*) left from Euston today with friends for the CCIW Camp in West Wales. They will be joined by Rhodri and Sibyl and others from the church. They managed quite a quick turn around as they were camping on the Gower until Thursday with Sibyl's family. Eleri and my youngest had been meanwhile at the annual School rendezvous at the Urdd Centre in Llangrannog. That left just me and Gwion back here. I didn't get as much reading or tidying done as intended but made some progress. Wednesday was my busiest day with a long 'phone call; a short visit from my wife's brother-in-law Ian, who drives up here regularly; a good chat with Barry King about church planting in Wales, a quick visit to the pharmacist for a member plus the midweek meeting in the evening, looking at Jeremiah 18. Thursday evening we were all at the school to watch Gwion in the chorus of a production of The Wiz! It's not a great musical I guess but the kids did fine. One or two were amazing.

An Update

I decided not to go to the Met Tab Summer School of Theology this year. (I wasn't fully conscious of this but I would guess that one reason was that there were no overseas speakers - I wonder if numbers were down). I've still been very busy though. Where shall I begin?

Last Monday we had our friends Georgina and Graham and their son Calvin here. They moved to live in Christchurch, New Zealand six years ago so had interesting stories to tell. Graham showed us this fascinating website tracking the continuing earthquakes there (see here). We know them, as Georgina was converted here many years ago (rather out of the blue) before moving straight onto Crawley (Maidenbower then Three Bridges). In Christchurch they attend an Anglican church - must be this one I think. They informed me that Australian LTS graduate Rob Harrod is now the pastor in the Grace Baptist Church, news I'd not kept up with.

We also had a visitor with us over the weekend, the son of Murray Brett and his wife Paula. I met Murray in Georgia a few years back. He is pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Commerce in Georgia and is currently here preaching for my father-in-law Geoff Thomas (currently in Australia and New Zealand) in Aberystwyth and "doing" the UK and Western Europe. He is the author of Growing up in grace.

My sons and others had a nice time with Ethan Brett doing a bit more of London. It's been good to have Rhodri and Sibyl around for a while. We celebrated Sibyl's birthday with Krispy Kremes on Wednesday before the midweek meeting as they headed west yesterday.

There have been a few school things too. Yesterday night at Hampstead School Gwïon received a gold medal for Year 7 Science. He's busy on The Wiz at present. The Friday before it was Y Mabol gampau for Owain and Yr Ysgol Gymraeg (Gwïon's sports got rained off). The celebration went off quite well with a well run prize distribution and a guest speaker who was brief and to the point (contrast the graduation when Dylan also got a prize the other week).

Those have been the main things apart from dealing with decorators and along with meetings for children, young people and the elderly plus the usual Sunday and Wednesday meetings at the church. It was also a privilege to be involved in some late interviewing for next year up at LTS. 

Westside Story

My second son Dylan was playing the part of Riff last week in the school production of Westside Story. It's a musical he's loved for years, especially the Jets song, so it was great to see him perform in it so well. Interestingly, just as Rhodri died on stage two years ago as Bill Sykes in Oliver, so Dylan died on stage too. Furthermore, they played alongside siblings who again both died on stage (Nancy and Bernardo). Coincidences are common I guess. An interesting and appropriate touch in this production was a sequence reminding us of the problem of knife crime especially here in the capital. It was well done.

Peldroed

Dewi was playing in goals for the school at the end of the street today so I sauntered down to look. They were only one down when I left. They must have tired in the second half.

Another week

It's been a slightly odd week in that Eleri and the two youngest have been away in Llangrannog for the Urdd camp so I've been 'looking after' the three oldest - basically feeding them and keeping them out of mischief. It's been Arts Week in their school so things have been unusual for them too. they seem to have enjoyed it.

On Monday I had an Evangelical Library committee. We seem to be making progress slowly but surely. We have a major task on hand at present putting everything on one floor for the moment.

On Tuesday I met up with my good friend Paul Pease, pastor at Hook Evangelical Church, down on the southbank by the eye (he can't come north of the river any more :-)). We used to meet weekly when he was in West Kilburn but that was many years ago. He is now in quite a different set up to me and we are still very different in some ways but with core beliefs meshed and many shared experiences we can talk and talk and talk. And we did. We also played 'who is this?' on each other's i-pods. Good fun. In the evening I had the church officers meeting here which is another sort of fellowship and also very good.

Wednesday night it was the midweek meeting, looking at Deuteronomy 8.

Nothing very special then the rest of the week. Tried to read, downloaded and burned some CDs, worked on certain projects and preps for Sunday, etc.

Another three days

On Wednesday I was at Spring Court with the older folk in the morning. I also had a haircut on the Kilburn High Road. At night it was our usual midweek meeting for prayer and Bible study. In the afternoon headed into town to Tottenham Court Road, had a nose in the electrical shops and drunk a coffee then met up with another member of the Westminster Conference committee to look at The American Church. The buildings date from the fifties and obviously get a lot of use but will be adequate for our use next December. A very nice man with a penchant for irony helped us sort out what we were going to do. Various auditions appeared to be going on in the different rooms. One interesting room had some historical artifacts including a portrait of Whitefield that I'd never seem before. I'm not sure how old it is. The site is where Whitefield once had a church. Augustus Toplady is buried somewhere on the premises I understand.

I spoke this evening on Christ's intercession using something I found in Turretin. After the church meeting we had a short church members meeting where we heard a testimony in preparation for an intended baptism on Sunday. Eleri and Rhodri joined us for this. They had gone to the Hampstead School prizegiving. The speaker was a former pupil who is now a backing singer for Amy Winehouse (Eleri pointed him out to me when we saw a bit of Glastonbury while she was looking for footage of Cerys Matthews there - she now has a child in the same school as our youngest two). Rhodri's girlfriend got a biology prize. Guess what they gave here? Richard Dawkins' God delusion. It is a pretty humanist school I know but considering that is not a biology book and Sibyl is the one we are baptising it seemed a little odd.

Thursday went mostly on preparation for Sunday. Up in Golders Green Jews for Jesus were out in full force. It was nice to meet Stephen Pacht their UK director. I also got talking to a Jewish PR man called Nick who saw me reading the Calvinistic Methodist Fathers book and struck up a conversation with me. He took note of the book for further reference and recommended some Jewish reading for me.

On Friday we had a meet up over a Chinese meal (Green Cottage) to say farewell to a former member and assistant here who is off back to America on Monday after a six month stint in the UK. Mark Raines is about to become assistant to Mark Chanski in the Reformed Baptist in Holland, Michigan. Among his hearers will be Al Martin, now in retirement from Essex Fells. In the evening we had the clubs for children and young people. I was leading - on Jairus's daughter. We also got the baptistry prepared.

Saturday morning we had a bit of a clean up over at the church in preparation for the baptism. The rest of the day it was more preparation and more reading from Welsh Methodist history while listening to Thijs Van Leer.