The Empty Tomb

I know it's a couple of weeks after Easter, but it is always worth sharing the view of the Easter miracle from the perspective of the "empty tomb".

We read in the Bible that the Romans guarded the tomb, but the guards claimed that they fell asleep and the disciples stole the body of Jesus. Now, since they were asleep, they must have been lying or at least making up the story, as how would they know who took the body. Either way, there was no reason why they would guard the tomb to prevent the body's removal and then not be able to explain where it had gone if they had removed it themselves.

If the Jewish leaders took the body as soon as the new "Christians" started creating a new religion and undermining theirs, they would have produced the body of Jesus to prove that it could not be founded on the truth.

If the disciples took the body, why did they then start rejoicing in the Risen Christ ... and go on to found the Christian church on this belief? Surely they would not have been prepared to suffer in Christ's name if they knew it was a fraud. In fact, the new "Christians" were also surprised to see the risen Christ, but on that the Christian faith rests.

Therefore, the empty tomb points to the only possible fact. Nobody stole the body from the tomb. Christ was raised from the dead and escaped his three day prison.

Hallelujah!

What am I reading now?

68% through A Question of Belief by Leon, Donna on Kindle for Android! http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindleforandroid/

How is my technical reading going?

34% through Quantum by Kumar, Manjit on Kindle for Android! http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindleforandroid/

Holiday 2011

By the time this is published our annual holiday will be over again for another year.

Holiday in October ... and in the UK?  We could be mad, but let me explain why and what we have done.

We did originally intend to go away at the beginning of September - as soon as the schools went back whilst the temperature was still (supposed to be) still quite warm.  We've not been able to do that for a number of years due to my Open University courses always ending, usually with an exam in October.  Not this year.  (See previous posts for why).

However our planning did not happen this year and we were faced with either a holiday when we wanted it in lousy locations or a holiday in good locations at another time - which we opted for.

So now we are on a two centre holiday (in Wales and Cornwall) and a bonus night thrown in at Padstow with a meal at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant.

In Wales, we attended Choral Mattins at Brecon Cathedral (lovely organ, enthusiastic organist, bored-looking choir), spent a day in Hay-on-Wye (which is actually in England), climbed three-quarters up a mountain (until the strong wind was literally blowing us over), went on a steam train ride (on the Brecon Mountain Railway), wandered around the plentiful paths around the cottage, which itself was comfortable although had a ladder to get up to the bedroom.  It's not a holiday for us without a mention of a pub (or two) and with the local village (Llanfrynach) having one of our all time favourite pubs and places to eat (The White Swan), we were truly blessed.  The standard has not gone down at all in the four years since we last visited.  Anyone who wants to run a pub should visit this establishment to find out how it should be done!  The Star at Talybont-on-Usk is another highly recommended pub for good honest quality, welcome and beer.

In Padstow a delightful, slightly quirky hotel gave us somewhere to rest our heads, whilst Rick Stein (OK - probably his staff) gave us a meal to remember.  Langoustines (massive and in their shell) were my starter (I don't get Oysters the way my other half does), but we both had the Singapore Crab - a massive thing, broken up and stir fried in a spicy sauce, but still in its shell.  Certainly a challenge to eat but definitely rewarding the effort.  This was washed down by the best Pinot Grigio I have ever had.  Coffee and liqueurs was all we could face after that.

The journey to Mevagissey would only take 45 minutes, so we took a scenic route, including the King Harry Ferry.  Our sat-Nav took us a very obscure way into the village and it took us a while to find our bearings and get to a one-down, one-up, one-more-up cottage with a spiral staircase (an improvement on last week's ladder).

First couple of days have seen us meandering about the village and essential food shopping in nearby St Austell.  Monday dawns wet and windy (as is the forecast for most of the week to come).  The Eden Project beckons!

Whilst the Eden Project was good (although over-run with half term holiday-makers), the big news was that port of Mevagissey had been flooded while we were away and we missed all the drama.  Meanwhile, a new saga begins - the rat in the cottage!

It turned out (after a builder's inspection and a couple of "rat"-free days, or rather, nights) that the rat that was running around the joints above the bedroom (on the middle floor of three) and rattling something incredibly noisy turned out to be a combination of the neighbours' early morning activities (whatever they were) and the wind rattling some loose slates that clad the building.  I guess though was all for the good - apart from the fact that the neighbours ours could have been doing almost anything!

The rest of the week was spent mooching around Mevagissey, sometimes avoiding the rain and at other times enjoying bright Autumn weather in a lovely harbour-town.  We discovered that the best lunch was to buy a crab from the fresh fish stall in the harbour and make sandwiches ourselves, using mayonaise from the local shop and, even with an over-priced bottle of white wine from the same shop, lunch was better and cheaper than you could get anywhere else.  So we did this for three days (although once it was for tea rather than lunch)!

And so we come to the monster journey home, some 385 miles, taking eight hours including a couple of short stops arriving home at six in the evening and discovering that one of us (but not me) has left a coat hanging behind the door at the cottage in Cornwall.  Quick phone call to the owner and it will be in the post in a few days.

Holiday over.

Now life can go back to normal :-)

Two extremes

Today I have encountered two extremes encapsulating my mortality.

First I did my usual Saturday morning run, this week of five miles, a little earlier than usual because of the high temperatures during the day.

Then I went for my annual 'flu jab, because I am in a vulnerable category.  I have chronic asthma.  It affects me all the time but is totally under control by medication.

When I finished my morning run, my breathing and heart rate were back to normal in minutes.  Although vulnerable, more than medication keeps my asthma under control.  And I was told at my last routine asthma check up that "with blood pressure like [mine] I should live for ever".

So the moral is, don't simply rely on medication to treat physical symptoms.  Although, with luck I won't get 'flu this year!

Distance

Isn't Google Maps brilliant!

I often play with it to see how far apart places are.  Sad, I know.  But tonight I thought I would measure the distance of one of my regular weekly runs (jogs, really).

I had guessed that I was running about 4 miles on this particular run and it turns out to be 2.0 miles.  In each direction.

It's almost like I willed it to be!

Wedding

Last weekend was my second niece's wedding.  Now, have I lost a niece or gained a nephew-in-law?

Ian is such a nice name and he also is such a nice man.  They seem devoted to each other and well suited.  I've added a picture below.

I think, therefore I blog!

Having got myself set up to be able to write blogs on my mobile phone (although for the use it gets, I should call it a pocket computer really) I am once again in the position of not really getting into blogging.

Of course, in a Twitter culture, we are used to expressing our thoughts in 160 characters (or fewer).  So this raises a interesting question: how long should a blog be?

I have read blogs by people who's instinct was to just keep on writing and not know when to stop.

So I have decided that I should write short blogs, each representing a thought.

I think, therefore I blog.

161 characters should be long enough!

Insulation

Today I've been insulated.  Well, not exactly me, but my cavity walls.  This supplements the additional loft insulation added last month, all subsidized by grants, making it dirt cheap.  I'm hoping for it to pay for itself in one winter.  If it doesn't, it will be because instead of saving money, we will be enjoying a warmer home.  Or hopefully we'll be able to do both!

Blogging Heaven

At last (and quite by accident) I have discovered the tool that will allow me to make use of my phone to write blogs.

Of course I will now have to find subjects worth writing about.  Some of them may only interest me.  Let the reader beware!

The Cathedral Choir: We was brung up proper!

The Cathedral Choir: We was brung up proper!

Getting closer ...

... as I am now only a week (okay, a week and about two hours) from being guaranteed the result of my last course and, of course, degree.

I know that the OU publish the result online early, as the date they give is when the letter confirming the result should have arrived by. Or so it used to be before they promised to publish the result online. In fact, the letter often arrives a day or so early. Second class post, mixed in with Christmas! So would it be posted maybe on Tuesday? Monday? Wednesday? And when would the result be online - when the letter is posted or due to arrive?

It brings to mind the paradox of the unexpected hanging, where a Judge sentenced a convict to be hanged on a day in the next 7 which would be unknown until the hangman arrived that morning and if it was expected, the convict would be released. The defendant's lawyer claimed that his client was as good as free, as on the 7th morning, it would not be unexpected if his client had not been hanged for the hangman to arrive. So, if the 7th day was not possible, the 6th was not either, by deduction. And so, not the 5th day ... and so on. So it was unexpected when on the 4th day, the hangman arrived and the convict was hanged.

So the day I don't expect to receive my results will be the day that they arrive. However each day, I expect it to be that day. The countdown begins in earnest!

They think it's all over - it is now!

A while ago I contemplated what it would be like to finish studying for my OU degree and now it has become reality!

Is it how I expected? No! It is a bit of an anticlimax.

Since beginning this post, we've had visitors staying with us for Halloween, been for a week's break in Shropshire, but there still does not seem to be any more time available in the day!

I am still quietly trying to forget that after one month, I still have to wait yet another month for the result.

... waiting ...

Getting ready to relax

I’m getting ready to relax.  This is something that I do have to work at.  In fact, I’ve been working towards this point for the last nine years.  I’m about to complete my Open University degree and, for once, I will be really able to devote my time to my own projects, initiatives, hobbies etc..  Oh, and … relax.  But I’m so busy getting ready to relax and think of all the things that I can fill my time with, I rather think that it will be a bit like the switch from being busy at work to having a stressful holiday and then going back to work to relax, only to find out that it really is no picnic.  Not that you had one on holiday, if you take my bizarre analogy.  Anyway, the real reason for writing this is that I’m testing out the Windows Live Writer software to write to my blog.  Good luck, Microsoft – I’m a hard customer for you to please :-)

Heal, heel

I've been suffering a bit recently.

...

Sympathy over?

Well I can reveal that it must have been self-inflicted.

For my birthday party (barbeque) I bought a new pair of boots to go with my new jeans and shirt. I thought I'd better wear them before the day, so wore them on my actual birthday walking to the pub (well, local Thai Restaurant) and back. On the way there, the left boot felt uncomfortable, so I loosened it a bit and ended up with a raw and bleeding heel.

On the day of my birthday party, I wore a pair of trainers that I knew did not really support my feet properly, but never thought twice about it. For the evening, I put back on the new boots (with a plaster where the heel was rubbing). When I took them off, my tendon was tender, but again, I thought nothing about it.

Anyway, the next time I went for a jog I came back feeling almost lame in my left leg. I blamed everything but the new boots, but a week or so later after continual stints of resting, exercising, limping and walking in the new boots, I discovered that in the heel of the left boot at the top on the inside, something was sticking out from the seam which was a sharp point responsible for (at least) the initial pain.

I've had the boots replaced (thanks, Amazon), but I still have not totally got rid of the sensation in my left tendon that it is not quite right. It even appears to be not quite straight, but difficult now to do a "before and after" check. I'll carry on with a combination of rest and exercise (managed to run 5 miles last weekend for the first time since this started), but it really does show how important it is to look after your feet and ankles, especially if you want to rely on them for exercise.

So, please heal, heel! And really soon, as I don't want to have to keep thinking that I might not be able to run as far as the rest of my body is able to.

Let us pray. O Lord, give me patience. Now!

Through The Wormhole – Is Time Travel Possible?

Through The Wormhole – Is Time Travel Possible?

50 - am I old?

I recently reached the glorious age of 50. Now don't get me wrong, I neither think I am old nor young. In fact I am probably more ambivalent about my age now than I ever have been. True, I am older than I ever have been, but then I am also younger now than I ever will be (unless time travel is invented/discovered or if the mythical elixir of life can de-age as opposed to prolong life).

So why do I feel the way I do?

Firstly, I am certainly more experienced, especially life skills. When I was younger (probably most apparent in my mid to late teens and very early twenties) I was very shy. I overcame this by putting myself in places where I was forced to interact with people. The most extreme of these were as a wine waiter in a restaurant while I was at University and as a direct salesmen selling Life Assurance and Pensions. Talk about kill or cure! However, I still think that it has taken me another twenty-five to thirty years to stop feeling that I am simply pretending not to be shy and to actually be comfortable in group situations. That may sound a little sad (which was what I was thinking as I was typing it) but I have moved on to a level of confidence that allows me to even enjoy being the centre of attention when I am in a group of people.

Secondly I've also discovered in the last year what it is like to be fit. Now for the last few years I've been relatively healthy, with only occasional blips (the 'flu a couple of years ago which affected my balance and prevented me from driving to work; it did not stop me from being driven to church to play the organ) and an unbroken run of about 15 years without a single day off work until the 'flu incident, even though I am a chronic asthmatic. My asthma is, and has been for a long time, well under control and very few people who know me realise that I have it. But I've pushed the boundary even further in the last year by turning to exercise, in the form of running (well, jogging really), cycling and swimming. The cycling has yet to take off; swimming has got to the point where every time I swim I will swim a mile breast-stroke (64 lengths of a 25 metre pool), although I tend to only swim during the winter. Jogging, I am up to a regular 5 mile trip, with 7.5 miles being the furthest and my idea of a "short" run (to the next village and back) is about 3.5 miles. I jog two to three times a week.

Thirdly (and lastly) I am about to complete an Open University degree which I started eight years ago. I have taken my time and am on track (on my calculations) to obtain a first class honours degree. I just have to last this year and pass the course, including an exam in October. I will get the result in December, just before Christmas. This is not exactly a flash in the pan. Since I left school and University (with a mediocre degree in Music) I have never stopped "collecting" qualifications and certificates through work and even funded myself (as is the degree), but it will be the icing on the cake to me.

So from where I am, I probably have as much to look forward to achieving as I feel I have achieved in all of my life and now I feel equipped with the skills, knowledge and fitness to achieve them. Life can only get better.

Why should I feel old?

Sad Saturday

Following such a good beginning to the long Easter weekend and celebrations, a firm dampner was put on the whole weekend when one of my choir suddenly passed away. Tony was singing with the choir for the first time, although he had been a friend for a number of years. Larger than life, very generous and always a shade from the edge of risquee, Tony had his own strong personality and we shall all miss him a great deal.

Rest In Peace, Tony.

Good Friday

Every year on Good Friday I take a number of singers to St John Timberhill, Norwich to sing the Passion and Veneration of the Cross. The choir comes together about four or five times a year to sing for services, usually at St Giles-on-the-Hill, Norwich and have become known as the St Giles Singers. This year I was lucky to have four singers (out of the fourteen this year) who had not sung in this service before. I'm not putting all the credit to them, but this year's service was the best we have sung over the six or so years that I have been associated with it (first as singer, then as conductor). It was, indeed, a Good Friday.

Twit, twit, t - who?

Since my last post (hmm again some gap) I have been twittering.
When I started, I thought I'd just let any Tom, Dick or Harry see what I was writing. As time went on, the only people who seemed to want to follow me seemed to want me to look at their tweets and, well, buy something. They were commercial organisations using Twitter as a way of reaching - well - anybody really. I didn't buy anything, turned my twitter account into a private one so prospective followers would need my permission. All went quiet, except that I managed to keep on follower whose identity is completely blank, so I put this down to being a system bug. Well, as an IT professional, of course I would.
Then last week I had two new prospective followers. A BBC Norfolk journalist and a Norfolk hospital. Spot the link? Yes, my resume does say I am in Norfolk, but I think it must be hard to track down information like that at random. My link to a Norwich church seems relevant, but to a hospital?
I'm therefore not sure what makes people - or organisations - try to track people down on Twitter.
I'll still carry on twittering, however!