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What a Year!
Brexit
The last 12 months has been quite a roller-coaster. Dominating everything has been Brexit, with Linda being given impossible timetables whenever the deadline for a no-deal Brexit came close. I.e. working 12-14 hours a day every day of the week. I went to some of the debates, particularly the one on 1st April when the Extinction Rebellion naked protest took place before me! I campaigned for the LibDems in Kensington, sad about the result. But the prospect of no-deal at the end of next year is a pretty terrifying – just look at the value of the £.
Talks and Blogs
I gave a monthly talk on the Bible at St Cuthbert’s, from Genesis 1 to Revelation, via the Gospels, Psalms and Old Testament history and Holy Week. One week before i was due to give a talk on John’s gospel I read a book which turned all my thoughts about it upside down. Instead of some unknown author, I now think it was written by a Jerusalem disciple who was there! (Otherwise, apart from chapter 6 and 21, why are there only 22 verses that take place in Galilee?)
Books
Two revisions and one work in progress. I have brought out a new edition of “Job”, one which allows it to be used in a small group discussion session. This was launched on Remembrance Day (11/11) with a performance by the Earls Courtiers in St Cuthbert’s. I have almost finished revising “Discovering Psalms as Prayer” to enable it to be used more easily as a framework for prayer. And I have continued with my survey of the first 20 years of this century, describing the bewildering amount of change in technology and people’s thinking. I hope to publish this through a traditional publisher, and that entails more work, including assessing “Competitive Titles” such as Harari’s “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”.
Church
I have continued worshipping at HTB Queens Gate (St Augustine’s) plus their fortnightly discussion group, as well as at the church in our road, St Cuthbert’s. Sadly, Brexit has kept Linda slaving away at her computer on almost Sundays. I have also discovered a brilliant little informal communion service on Monday at St Mary Abbot’s Kensington which is followed by a simple sandwich lunch. It opened up the chance for me to lead a Quiet Day on the Psalms in a delightful Anglican convent in Chiswick. In May I started taking monthly communion services for the two churches in the parish where the Grenfell fire happened. I also took two baptisms and two funerals. A great privilege.
Social Media
I have posted on Facebook and Twitter most weekdays, and am getting used to scheduling. I enjoy my Secret London posts, which has included the Roman amphitheatre, the room where Christopher Wen drew up the designs for St Paul’s Cathedral and the site of the Tower scaffold – the smart place to be executed! My to most popular posts were “What Lent Means?” and “Black Friday at Bible in Brief”, both of which got a reach of almost 2,000. Otherwise I plod along in double figures, but I like them.
FILMS AND MUSIC
Linda and I aim to see a film a week in the cinema. Three outstanding ones were “Woman at War” (Icelandic), “Never Look Away” (German) and “Official Secrets”.
In September the music society which I support on Friday lunchtimes (musicathill.org) had to move from St Mary-at-Hill to St Giles in the Fields by Tottenham Court Road tube, because the City church was charging us too much. Numbers have dropped, but we hope that in better weather things will improve.
The Proms this year were brilliant! I saw Mendelsohn’s Piano Concerto played on Queen Victoria’s 1856 piano. The sound was so delicate and precise and Chopin sounded quite different. There were four Bach Cantata sung by Solomon’s Knot with not a sheet of music for anyone, choir or musicians; it felt as if all of us were being addressed personally. Plus a wonderful late night concert of Duke Ellington’s sacred music.
HOLIDAYS
Yes, we had them! In June Linda’s cousins Albert and family came over from Nova Scotia and we went down to Bigbury, Devon for a great holiday with Linda’s parents, Peter and Anne. The only problem was that our car broke down 200 miles from our destination and it took a week to repair.
In October Linda, Peter and I had a marvellous 2 week holiday in Japan, (Linda’s Christmas present to us). We stayed in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto and Myajima Island (near Hiroshima), and one night in a ‘ryokan’ – an inn with hot springs – which had been run by the same family for 1250 years! Amazing places, friendly, helpful people, we want to go again. The only problem was finding food that Linda as a vegetarian coeliac could eat.
Then at the end of November, Linda and I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia for 5 days for Albert’s daughter’s wedding. A very good time, though cold and I found Canadian roads not easy. The Farmer’s Market at Halifax harbour was great.
Linda and I are going down to Peter and Anne’s for Christmas. Peter will spend Christmas day with his girlfriend Helen’s parents; (a charming young lady). How life moves on!
WHAT ABOUT 2020?
A bit of a change of gear. I intend to stop talking about the Bible in St Cuthbert’s, and instead have more general discussion like “Religion – good, bad or both” either in a room in a pub or local cafe, in the hope that it may attract a wider range of belief and non-belief. Is there are a question which you would like to have discussed? Do drop me an email.