Tour of the City

I was a little bit naughty, and sloped off on the Thursday afternoon of the week long conference to do a bus tour of the city. The first stop was the science museum. Ooh! - look at the scary dinosaur. It moves and roars as well!

I knew that giong on the tour would be very educational for me- but how much!! I was able to put this exhibit to immediate effect when I went back to my HIV clinic in Mumbai. I have no concept what the dancing-Indian-pixy-boy in the centre has to do with immunology. I guess that must be another of lifes imponderable mysteries.

This was my favourite- a glass pipe about 1m in diameter stretching from floor to ceiling, and completely filled with obsolete microchips. It looked really cool. (I guess you had to be there - sorry)

How old do you think this govenrment building is? 100 years? 200 years? Nope, it is 5 years old, and constructed entirely of concrete! Impressive though.

The inside of Sultan Tipu's palace. It was constructed entirel from wood. He was a great military strategist, and defeated the British with long-range ballistic missiles, which looket alittle bit like large "rocket" fireworks!

Possibly the high-light of the tour for me was this cow lying acros the central reservation of a busy junction! You see cows everywhere. They are sacred, and so no-one eats them. They can become quite mangy and sick looking- ironic really. One might have been forgiven for thinking that this cow pictured must have been a victim of a hit-and-run, as it certainly couldn't have chosen to lie in such an uncomfortable position. Shortly after this photo was taken though, the cow got up and walked off!!!!

Just a cool guy! I think this will remain one of my favourite portraits for some time.

Now you know where he went after retiring from formula 1??

In the "Lal Bagh" or "Red Garden", so called as it is well known for its red flowers in season. There weren't many red flowers when I went, but...

...I managed to get one picture of a red flower especially for my father-in-law John! It's only a wee bit past it. (he likes taking photos of flowers!!)

In India it is often the traffic that stands still, but not at this busy junction, thanks to the help of Bangalore's finest!
Window cleaning anyone?

On approach to the Bull temple. There is some link to one of the God's - Laxmi perhaps (the goddess of wealth). I think she rides on this bull. Or it might be Shiva - the goddess of creation and destruction. I'm not too hot on Hindu theology.

This is the statue of a bull, around which the bull temple is constructed. As I walked around the back of the bull, some young lads who had been selling trinkets outside came and introduced themselves as guides, and proceeded to ask me for some money. They made a bit of a show of seeming holy- presumably to impress me into giving them more money- however their pretence collapsed somewhat when some other devotees dropped some money into a small offering at a shrine, and one of the lads quickly looked around and shoved it in his pocket.

As I went to leave the temple, the man pictured above in the entrance held out a tray with 50 rupees on it, and then after i had left swapped it for his usual 10 rupee inticement that he usually uses for visitors that are not foreign.

I must say that I left the temple with a bad taste i my mouth. There was no feeling of anything sacred about the place at all, but more of just people trying to rip other people off. Shame.

All of the photos above were actually taken in one afternoon on my city tour. I guess something worth noting is that most of the things I enjoyed were nothing to do with the tour, but were just things you happen across at the side of the road. India is so like that. So much to see in every direction. Don't blink! You might miss it!

MMMMMmmmmmm

I found a very nice bakery in Bangalore- something we really do miss in Mumbai.
One day I ate 5 of these donuts!! It was an accident! I bought them for someone else!

Bangalore continued

Sorry about that random diversion to the "who needs a truck" thread, it's just that I took that photo in Bangalore, and just happened across it just now! Below are a few more pictures of Inside some of the sessions at the conference.


There were 150 delegates. The maximum number that we could accommodate. Nice group of people, many of whom were already doing some form of care for people with HIV/AIDS. The problem here in India is that there is so much need, that people don't know where to start. In some ways it makes sense for people to say "well those people are going to die anyway" or "why should we help them, it is their own fault". I have unfortunately come across these attitudes too often. One church pastor even asked me "why are you trying to help these people, when God has already shown them his judgement"!!! I was pretty gobsmacked by that one- what did Jesus do when he was on earth? He went round healing the sick, cleansing lepers (HIV today is equivalent to leprosy in Jesus time)

The opening ceremony. It was blissfully short thankfully. On occasion, these ceremonies can take up half the time allotted to a program. It seems that everyone has to be thanked, and everyone has to be given flowers, and then everyone that has been thanked has to give a speech to thank the thankers for thanking them, and while they are at it, thanking everyone else again too. It is even more lengthy and protracted than the above sentence in real life, let me tell you!

Yours truly in full swing!

Everyone had an opportunity to use some educational flip-charts that we were given. Very useful for use in the field. Many pastors go to outlying villiages with no electricity or running water.

Who needs a truck

Clearly not this guy! He's coping quite well on his 80cc moped. Is his rear mudguard actually touching his wheel?

Bangalore

OK, I realise that I rarely get things added to this blog when it happens, but at least I do get it added eventually!

Recently I was fortunate enough to be added to a list of speakers at an HIV/AIDS conference in Bangalore run by an American charity called 'Samaritans Purse'. The conference was mostly for church pastors, and it was to encourage and equip them to be able to reach out with love to people suffering and dying of HIV/AIDS. There is a lot af fear and lack of understanding about the illness, and as much as anything, people just need to know the truth. Often people are scared of catching the virus unnecessarily.


This photo is of the main shopping street in Bangalore- it is called MGM Road. It is very westernised, with bars, coffee-shops, cinemas, and even the occasional pool-hall!

I had some chicken from this KFC in 1998, and later had a bit of a tummy upset! I avoided their delights on this occasion (I didn't have time)

I was able to feel quite at home with the "Bombay store" supplying all my Bombayite needs??!!

I loved these "Ironwallahs". I have not seen these in Mumbai, but I saw several of these in Bangalore. The iron actually contains a charcoal burning compartment. This fellow was delighted to have his photo taken, which was nice. Often when you show peope their photo on the back of your digital camera they start to giggle- grown men no exception.

An interesting trip to the barbers?

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:

"I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. If God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:

"You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber."I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist becauseif they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."

"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Reports 2000 killed by cyclone in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh - More than 900 bodies have been recovered in Bangladesh following a devastating tropical cyclone, but local news reports put the death toll at more than double that figure.
I received an email from a friend in Calcutta a few days ago asking for prayer as they were expecting a major cyclone to hit, and had been warned to stay in their homes. She remarked at the time that she felt bad praying for the cyclone to miss calcutta, as she knew that it would just hit somewhere else.

A couple of days later another email told me that she had heard that the cyclone had moved eastward, and would not be hitting Calcutta, but Bangladesh instead. Below is an article from CNN, along with some extra photos from the BBC website. Perhaps the statistics would have been a lot worse if the storm had hit the crowded streets of Calcutta that I witnessed in August.

People often say "if there was a God then he wouldn't allow the suffering caused by natural disasters". I don't fully understand it either. Actually I'm not expecting to be able to understand a lot of things in this life, but I do believe that God is just, and our understanding of how he hands out his justice is very limited.
I believe that much more human suffering is caused by man's complacency than by natural disasters. Perhaps events like these help to awaken human-kinds sense of compassion and mercy that so often lies dormant, and brings about some form of a greater good? I don't know.
Our perspective of natural disasters is based on our understanding of this temporary and fleeting physical existance we call "life" But I believe that God's understanding of "life" goes much much further. I believe in a life that continues beyond the grave, and gives a great hope to people who have had to suffer in this life.
Although I cannot begin to comprehend eternal and righteous judgement, I know a man who can, and about 2010 years ago he said when he was surrounded by crowds of people (possibly living similar lives to many of the people that have been affected by the cyclone in Bangladesh)
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." (Matthew Chapter 5)- did you notice that Jesus-the-son-of-God said that people who are poor in spirit posess the kingdom of heaven? Did you notice the people who will be blessed?- Mourners, meek, righteous, merciful, pure in heart. There was not a lot of room there for people who sit at home criticising others and going to Church once a week (I'm sorry if this attitude offends some of you). Jesus also said that a good tree bears good fuit, and that a tree will be known by its fruit.

Some people who look at the Church today do not see God's love being acted out, but instead see people focusing on conversion and salvation, preaching damnation for anyone who has not put their faith in Christ.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Chalke, a remarkable Christian, and someone who is not afraid to make a difference. He started an organisation called "Oasis" about 20 years ago. That organisation has accomplished so much around the world to help the suffering and afflicted, and I have recently been involved in a small way with an HIV/AIDS project they have recently started in Mumbai.

Steve Chalk recently wrote a book, and I haven't read it, but I believe it said something about Jesus not paying for our sins on the cross. The Christain west has been outraged, and I believe he has received a lot of criticism. Someone told me yesterday that he has been basically excommunicated from evangelical christian circles. I don't know if that is entirely true.

What I do know is entirely true is that I can only admire a man who realises that what he believes goes against the grain, but rather than go with the flow, grow old, and die without telling anyone, he is willing to be different. Willing to think outside the box, willing to stand firm. Couldn't we ALL stop-just-doing-things-the-same-way-that-everyone-else-is-doing-them. God has called us to be willing to step outside our comfort zones to make a difference for him.

What I do know is that through oasis Steve Chalke is reaching out and saving lives all around the world. He is showing poverty stricken Indian Prostitutes with HIV the love of God. He has orphanages. He has health projects. He is impressive.
He has recently been given a huge contract by the government in England to build about 8 new academies. He is establishing a cutting edge youth centre in an old cinema in Clitheroe (where we're moving next year). Has the wider body of the evangelical church done better?

I really fail to see how this man is not a powerful and positive force being used by God for good.

I find it hard in my heart to criticise the man. What have I accomplished in comparison to him? Do I know scripture better? I doubt it. Do I go to Church more often? Do I pray more? Do I Feed orphans and widows more often?

I may not agree with his doctrine, but I don't think that is centrally important. What I think is more important is to recognise the fruit in his life, and to focus on producing fruit in our own lives.

For me the central concept of being a Christian is loving God and loving your fellow man, and Steve Chalke touched upon this passage of scripture in his talk yesterday-
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? "Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." If all the Law rests on love, lets just get on and do it, and stop worrying about the detail.

Families stand amid the wreckage caused by the cyclone Friday in southern Bangladesh.

This new-born baby, cradled by its grand-mother, survived, and has been called cyclone

As flood waters recede, aid workers say they expect to find scores more bodies when remote villages are finally reached and the counting is done. They face debris-blocked roads, no electricity and almost nonexistent communications.
The government said on Saturday that at least 915 bodies had been recovered, but news media, including a United News of Bangladesh report put the death toll at 2,000.
United News said it had reporters deployed across the cyclone region.
Cyclone Sidr, with sustained winds of at least 131 mph (210 kph), made landfall Thursday night along the western coast of Bangladesh near the border with India, unleashing floodwaters.
"We still don't really know the extent of the damage. There are so many areas inaccessible," World Vision spokesman Vince Edwards, who is in the capital Dhaka, told CNN.
Adding to the tragedy is the loss of rice crops, normally harvested in December, Edwards said.
In Dhaka -- about 200 miles north of the worst-hit region -- there were power outages, massive traffic jams and spotty phone service, CNN's Cal Perry said from the city.
"From an infrastructure perspective, the country absolutely has been brought to its knees," he said.

Elephants help move fallen trees that have blocked many roads and hampered the efforts of relief workers trying to reach stricken areas.
Areas along the coast received the brunt of the storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The worst-hit districts were Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi. Sixty percent to 70 percent of homes in those areas were destroyed, according to local officials.

Nabiha Chowdhury, spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said 150 fishing boats were missing. The fishermen may have been caught in the storm and were unable to return to land, she added.
Chowdhury said about 600,000 people had fled, adding about two million people lived along the coast. She said the latest number of people injured was 15,000 with 1,000 missing.

Tousands of people have fled to state cyclone emergency shelters

It is possible rainfall from mountains will swell rivers, and by Sunday night or Monday the surge could reach already flooded locations in Bangladesh.
Sidr's powerful winds and lashing rain uprooted trees, leveled homes and even damaged buildings where residents sought shelter. Video footage from the height of the storm showed high, rolling waves along the coastal areas and winds blowing so hard palm trees were flattened.
Video footage shot from a helicopter Friday showed villages flattened and large numbers of people without shelter.
The U.N. World Food Programme announced it has enough high-energy biscuits to feed 400,000 people for three days.
Members of the Bangladesh army and navy were trying to help.

Bangladesh has a long history with deadly cyclones.
In 1991, a devastating cyclone killed at least 140,000 people, according to the United Nations. And in 1970, Cyclone Bhola struck Bangladesh -- then East Pakistan -- killing 500,000 people. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers that storm to be the 20th century's "greatest tropical system disaster."
While the storm was one of the worst in the last hundred years to hit the country, improved warning systems and shelters have kept the number of deaths far lower than the disastrous cyclones of 1970 and 1991, when the death tolls were in the hundreds of thousands.

Married life

A man and a woman who had never met before, but were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping compartment on a Transcontinental train. Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly - he in the upper bunk and she in the lower.
At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying, "Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you mind reaching into the closet there and getting me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold."
"I have a better idea," she replied. "Just for tonight, let's pretend we're married." "Wow! That's a great idea!" he exclaimed.
"Good," she replied. "Get your own blanket!"

After a moment of silence, he farted.

Count Your Blessings

There is an old hymn that goes "count your blessings, name them one by one, then you'll realise what the lord has done" Being in India has really helped me a great deal to see just how blessed I (and we as a family... ...and for that matter most of those living in the West) am (are!)

I received this in an email today, and I don't normally forward these things (although I do like receiving them), I've cut out some of the text, but I thought some of the statistics in the following paragraphs were quite eye-opening;

'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.

'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'

'What blessings should they acknowledge?' I asked.

'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy .'

'And if you are reading this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.'

'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'

'If you can attend a place of worship without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world .'

'If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.'

Stress Indicator

A friend sent me this picture on Facebook recently, along with the following text "I've attached a picture you can use in your medical practice. It's a stress indicator and is a pic of two dolphins. If the patient can see the two dolphins, then his stress level is acceptable and there's no problem. However, if he sees anything other than two dolphins, he is severely overstressed and requires treatment. Try it yourself. I think there's an Indian version using two elephants."

After I had examined the picture for a moment in some confusion, I sent him a return message asking "what does it mean if you can see two cows?"

A virtual tour of our neighbourhood

Alistair recently got a new bike (an early Christmas present as his trike had 'died' from so much use). On one of the dry afternoons in monsoon I took him for a ride, with Freya in the buggy. This was quite a novelty as usually it is far to hot to do anything resembling outdoor physical exercise.
These shots give you an idea of the streets around where we live. This first one is right outside our gate and features the ever-present rubbish dump. This is it looking pretty minimal actually and without the usual array of 'wildlife' namely pigs, dogs and crows, that feed off whatever they can find.
In the mornings the rubbish is collected from outside our flat, loaded into big buckets then taken across the road and dumped here. Ladies then spend several hours picking through the rubbish looking for anything salvageable. This is one of the many sights in India that makes my heart cry out. Why are they destined to this life, purely because of the caste they were born into? This has to be one of the most degrading occupations. Imagine the stench, in 35 degree heat...

This picture of Alistair is not just a nice one of him but also, I think, quite poignant. The contrast between all that he has available to him by virtue of his birth versus the simple, difficult life of these children in the slum behind. I felt really quite uncomfortable taking this picture although, as always, I was greeted with smiles.

Round the corner. . . and here you can see one of many luxury high rises going up all over Thane and Mumbai. Another stark contrast between the homes of the middle classes who are increasingly purchasing these kinds of properties, and those of the construction workers who build them.
This is just one of 8 or so similar towers under construction right outside our window. The families of the construction workers (like those in the 2nd picture) live on site in slum dwellings. When the building is finished, their homes are pulled down and they move on. We have posted pictures before of the slum outside our window.

The tour continues

For all the grandeur of the finished piece, the way in which these buildings are constructed is, in many ways quite archaic. Check out the bamboo scaffolding, used for buildings of almost 30 stories - usually with nothing in the way of safety precautions. The towers are painted by men suspended on a platform held by rope, using a paint pot and brush! Quite scary to watch.

Urban India is fast becoming inundated by western-style supermarkets. 'Tru Mart' is one such example, just 5 minutes from our home. I do shop in these places, lured mainly by the air-conditioning and the imported goods that you can't get elsewhere. However, I prefer to use the small traders as much as possible. Their fresh produce is by far superior and I prefer my money to go to them than into the pot of some chain.
Interestingly, yesterday, many of the small local traders shut up shop and gathered in central Mumbai to oppose these corporate giants. The 'Times of India' called it 'perhaps the largest protest against organised retail in the country'. I hope it had some impact, although I know that to make a real difference people like me could start by boycotting the 'Tru Marts' altogether. When does conscience overtake convenience....?

Ashamed to say it but here is another popular chain that we frequent, also just 5 minutes from our home. Our local coffee shop, which actualy sells a reasonable cup of coffee. This was Alistair's final destination. He likes it here (often in the middle of church he announces "Can we go to Cafe Coffee Day now?' as we often do go after church) and as you can see, was glad to have arrived for some air conditioning and a cool drink.
Yet again, the contrast between this kind of existence - which can, if wished, be lived blinkered with no thought of the 'other' India -
and that of the folk that, for example, Adam works with everyday is marked.

Homeward bound. We live on the eleventh floor of this tower block in a very comfortable flat. We have our complaints, a clean garden of our own would be nice and a constant clean water supply and no power cuts . . . but really we count our blessings to have the provision of such a nice place to live.

Who needs a truck?!

Ever wonder what happened to those gas Cylinders!?

For those of you who have been following this series, here is another one for the collection. I think this guy has 12 gas cylinders on his reinforced bike. I wouldn't fancy going up even a slight incline with those. Not only that, he doesn't have any gears either. Hey, I hope his brakes work for going down hill as well!!

Shadow Puppets

Having recently discovered how to add video and youtubes to my blog, I'm tempted to innundate you with daft and interesting videos I've received. My sister Penni sent me this really cool shadow puppets video.
If you have any cool videos you're keeping to yourself, please do email them to me, and maybe if they pass the strict censors and the even stricter selection committee, they'll find their way into the heady heights of the clanblack blog (life just couldn't get any better, right?). I have tried to upload another couple of videos, but their file format wouldn't convert.

here's a cool youtube called "cigarette"

I was a smoker for a few years at university - during the 'bad boy years'. smoking is bad for you, and causes lung cancer (and lots of other types)! Everyone knows it, but so many people still do it! For years! And they don't even enjoy it! There are a few other cigarette related youtube links at the bottom of the video window once you have viewed the initial video. Some of these are also worth looking at. these are added automatically by the "youtube guys" YEA! THOSE GUYS!

Depressed man diagnosed as Scottish

I thought this was quite amusing, but not true of course! Scotland is a beautiful place!!!! Also, most Scottish people are quite lovely, although you do get some dour characters like the Alistair described below!

Alistair McGregor, an expatriate Scottish man living in America, was recently diagnosed as clinically depressed, tanked up on anti-depressants and scheduled for controversial Shock Therapy when doctors realized he wasn't depressed at all... ...only Scottish.

Mr. McGregor, a Scottish man whose characteristic pessimism and gloomy perspective were interpreted as serious clinical depression, was led on a nightmare journey through the American psychiatric system. Doctors described McGregor as suffering from Pervasive Negative Anticipation – a belief that everything will turn out for the worst, whether it's trains arriving late, Scotland's chances at winning any international sports event or even his own prospects to get ahead in life and achieve his dreams.

"The satisfaction Mr. McGregor seemed to get from his pessimism seemed particularly pathological," reported the doctors. "They put me on everything– Lithium, Prozac, St John's Wort, Ginseng", said Mr. McGregor."They even told me to sit in front of a big light for an hour a day or I'd become suicidal. I kept telling them this was all pointless and they said that it was exactly that sort of attitude that got me here in the first place."

Running out of ideas, his doctors finally resorted to a course of "weaponsgrade MDMA", the only noticeable effect of which was six hours of speedy repetitions of the phrases "mustn't grumble" and "not too bad, really". It was then that Mr. McGregor was referred to a psychotherapist. "Suicidal?" DrIsaac Horney explored Mr. McGregor's family history and couldn't believe his ears. "His story of a childhood growing up in the drab back streets of a windswept grey town with treeless streets of identical run-down houses where it rained every day, passionately backing a football team who never won, seemed to be an idealized depressive memory – I thought all that was a myth…"

Mr. McGregor had six months of therapy but seemed to mainly want to talk about the weather – how miserable and cold it was in winter and later how difficult and wet it was in summer. I felt he wasn't responding to therapy at all and so I recommended drastic action – namely ECT or shock treatment".

"I was all strapped down on the table and they were about to put the rubber bit in my mouth when the psychiatric nurse picked up on my accent," said Mr. McGregor. "I remember her saying 'Oh my, I think we're making a terrible mistake'." Nurse Alice Sheen was a big fan of Scottish comedy giving her an understanding of the Scottish psyche. "Classic comedy characters like Chick Murray, Will Fife and The Crankies, all hopeless cases with no chance of ever doing well or escaping their circumstances," she explained to the baffled US medics. "In Scotland, being depressed to the point of suicidal is considered the norm and is not seen as pathological at all." Identifying Mr.McGregor as Scottish changed his diagnosis from 'clinical depression' to 'rather quaint and charming' and he was immediately discharged from hospital, with a selection of brightly colored leaflets and an "I love NewYork" T-shirt.

Summer Days Drifting Away.....

Although the Summer feels like a long time ago now, here I (Jo) am with some more photographic memories of our time in the UK in June and July. Very delayed and out of synch but still worth posting I think.

We spent a great week in Leeds at the end of June with my eldest brother Steve, wife Naomi and their 4 kids Sam, Asher, Minnie and Laurie. At the end of the week my Mum and Dad, brother Chris and his wife Ruth (whose wedding was at the beginning of June) spent a night in Leeds too. As the families on both sides (Black and Simkins) expand it is increasingly difficult to all get together so times like this are always precious.



Here is Alistair with his cousin Laurie (Steve and Naomi's youngest). There is only 8 days between them so it is always nice to see them together. There was slight anxiety expressed by both sets of parents over who may have the upper hand in this relationship, but this was clearly unfounded as they got on really well with only a few territorial moments! This photo proves it!



Picking raspberries in the garden.

Pennywell Farm, Devon

After Leeds, I went down to Exeter with the kids to stay with my parents. Adam went to a Developing Health course in London and joined us a week later.
Among other things we enjoyed a fantastic day at Pennywell Farm. Alistair and Freya loved all the hands on stuff with the animals.

The expression says it all!

Superheroes and Ladies

Alistair was pretty chuffed to be wearing cousin Rory's Spiderman outfit, as you can see by his face! He is quite taken with all things Spiderman at present. His understanding of Spiderman is of someone who helps people and stops people doing bad things (he's a bit too young to grapple with the finer complexities of the plot and has obviously never seen Spiderman). Quite where this ranks with his current understanding of God (who also helps people) I'm not sure but we do our best to keep his theology right!

Freya and Maisie exploring Gran and Pop's garden. Rory and Maisie are my brother Paul and his wife Karen's kids. They were also staying in Exeter.