Parked

I believe it was Tory politician Norman Fowler who quit Thatcher's government in order to (as his statement of the time read) "spend more time with my family". When he appeared back in Major's government, satirists were not slow to ask if he had had quite enough of them and now wished to spend rather less time with them.

This is all a rather long-winded way of saying that I am having a break from blogging, a rest, a sabbatical, a fast, a cessation of banalities, call it what you will. This is actually in order to "spend more time with my family" especially over the summer when they will be off school and requiring a lot more hands-on, and not delegating my parenting responsibilities to CBBC so that I can blog!

So - the blog is parked for now, but may be resurrected in the new term.

Thankyou and goodnight!

Summer Hillwalks

The dates for hillwalks over the summer have been posted. All the walks leave from the car park of Perth Baptist Church, all are on Saturday's and most of them are full-day walks. The first one on June 23rd and will be a trip along the delightful ridge of Meall nan Tarmachan north of Loch Tay. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join the walkers, and details of the rest of the destinations wil be available soon.

23 June
21 July
11 August
15 September
20 October

Playing Blog-Tag!

Brodie has tagged me in a game of blog-tag entitled "tell us seven things about yourself" under the headings: (1) a baby (2) beer (3) girls (4) time (5) dislikes (6) hobbies (7) tomorrow. Not wanting to duck such a challenge here goes:

1) As a baby: I was greedy - incredibly greedy. In the hospital the staff were concerned that I wasn't feeding enough and was then being sick. Careful monitoring however revealed that I was guzzling twice what I needed in half the time and shedding the surplus.

2) Beer: I am a big fan of English Real Ales, such as Bishop's Finger, Spitfire, Adnam's Broadside and Fuller's London Pride. Like Brodie I have developed a taste in Scottish Single Malt Whisky, however this is an expensive habit to cultivate and gets saved for special occasions.

3) Girls: There are two in my life; my wife of nearly 11 years, and my two year old daughter. Prior to getting married I had had two serious girlfriends - thank goodness I married the right one!

4) Time: Time is a weird thing. I used to laugh when adults told me that time was not a fixed thing but that years, months and weeks get shorter as you grow older - but I have discovered that they are right. I can remember when a six-week summer holiday from school lasted years!

5) Dislikes: Rudeness, Nescafe, Reality TV and soaps, Dirty Nappies, Lager, oh the list goes on and on and on!

6) Hobbies: Hillwalking whenever possible - which with the demands of family life and commitments at church is far too rarely. Getting to the occasional gig is a rare pleasure, and my wife and I love good food

7) Tomorrow: We're going to spend tomorrow with some really good friends who we haven't seen for over a year because work took them abroad. Can't wait!

OK now then:

Lins

Simon

Doonhamergeordie

Andy

Your turn!

Quote of the Week: Tim Keller on Community

“If you come just as an individual to church to get information and inspiration, and not submit yourself to community, you’re frustrating the very purposes of God’s saving power and you can’t expect his renovating power to work in your life like that."

-Tim Keller

Hermitage

I seem to have spent a whole week in self-imposed isolation in my study, surrounded by books of one sort or another. First I have been trying to complete a distance learning module, the next step in my tortuous route towards getting a degree. Secondly I was involved with helping with the church services on Sunday morning, which again involved a lot of thinking, listening, reading and praying to try and get my mind wrapped around some fiendishly tricky texts

My Mum came up from London to help with Boris, Norris and Doris for the week - which they thoroughly enjoyed. Today they have got me to contend with once more; and their verdict on the matter? "We miss our Grandma!"

Knowing when I'm not wanted I'll just stay in the study then- my 'books to be read' pile has rarely looked so appetising!