Made it this far...

On my way!

Despite my losing something and tfls attempts at delaying me, i am now on my way.
I am doing a separate travel blog called upside down James.

New zealand

It's really not speaking next but new zealand it's only 2 days away.

A small request...

I'd like to ask you to consider signing this petition. Last year a girl was killed in Colchester by an elderly driver, who also later died. This man had been involved in an accident days before and the police attending found his eyesight was not up to standard and I imagine had other concerns about his fitness to drive. Short of locking him up, all they could do was file a report to the DVLA. This report may have still been sat on the fax machine as he got in to his car and began the journey that ended in the tragic loss of two lives. If the police had powers to temporarily suspend licenses until a medical examination was completed then maybe this may have been prevented.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/21244

 Also if you have concerns about a relative or a friend's fitness to drive, do all you can to encourage them to stop driving...

March Hare

Guess I'm going to Australia and New Zealand... argh...

There's a voice...

One of my notes from the weekend is:

How can you have a gifting in hospitality without a home?

I don't know if I mean that as a question with potential for an answer or more of a challenging statement.  I am suspecting it is the latter, although I am open to people coming back to me with answers if you have one or more.

Where I am staying at the moment is as a lodger in someone's home. The initial arrangement was for two weeks, it's lasted 20 months so far. While I have freedom to come and go and make use of communal areas, I don't feel I have the freedom to have friends or family visit. In fact my parents don't even know where I live, and have to send post to my workplace.

Through my early 20s I was blessed by the hospitality of friends at many of the churches I attended. I knew that I would not be able to repay this hospitality to those that had offered it to me, so I resolved to do so when I was in the position to offer it to others in the future. The growth of a community of 20s and 30s within my current church is spurring a desire to hospitalise* the young people of this group.

I don't know what the future holds in this regard, there's been some interesting conversations about options for places to live, that hopefully will enable hospitality. Moving into a new place in this town will require a commitment to staying here for a certain amount of time, and for other reasons I'm not sure I'm ready to make that commitment to this town...

More thought and prayer needed...

( * - I imagine that this isn't the right word. But I hope you recognise I do not mean cause them injury, but to show hospitality to them).

Ring ring?

Had a good weekend at Retreat to Advance, a New Wine event for 20s and 30s. I've come away I think refreshed encouraged and blessed. There's some things to think about though...

I'm not going to go into detail now, I'll possibly blog a bit more about the weekend over the next few days, but now I'm going to put my laptop away have a little bit of time with God before I sleep....

visa

applied for

A puzzling question

Is there a difference between 'Half a Baker's Dozen' and 'A Baker's Half-dozen'?

Making money go further...

So in my last blog I mentioned I'm planning travels later this year. 3 or 4 weeks of travel to far flung destinations isn't cheap. With today being a late start at work I've had opportunity to look at my finances.

Well I made a start...

A lot of filing (starting with refiling the stuff on the floor, then the stuff on the side, maybe tomorrow I'll make it into my drawer of stuff 'to file').

Spent ages trying to find the renewal for my breakdown cover, which I know is for more than I'm willing to pay given my current level of car usage is dropping, however found out it's still at my parents, so will have to wait to deal with that.

Being self-employed, I have the January Joys of an online self-assessment to complete. So I got a few more details into that. Sufficient for them now to do a calculation. Knowing I was overtaxed in my PAYE work this year, I was hoping it might balance out the tax on my self-employed work and student loans repayments that are due. Sadly it doesn't. I've still to enter a few more bits, which will reduce what's owed by a little. Still wish I hadn't left it so late to put everything in, like every year!

On the plus side,  I found two £10 notes among my receipts and the receipt I've been meaning to claim from work worth £50. Woo...

But despite that, it's clear if I want my money to take me around the world, I need to be a bit more careful with what I waste my money on (so less take out and more home prepared food...)

Going a long way...

One thing I haven't done since being a student is taken a proper holiday. I've had the good fortune to see many places through work, with visits to Ireland, China, Italy, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Poland, along with many places in England, Scotland and Wales.

But rarely has free time and finances come together and enabled me to go somewhere for my own enjoyment, I've served on a residential holiday most years, and had short trips, mostly to see friends in this country, when the opportunity has arisen.
But this year I plan to do something different, a full on holiday. No work, just seeing new places, chilling out and doing my own thing for 3 or 4 weeks...
Leave is pencilled, I'm researching flights, and looking forward to doing something special.

2012

It's a New Year. I don't know how many people are dusting off their blogs today, but I have decided to revisit this one.

The new year is when most people review the year gone and look forward to what is in the year to come. We make plans and resolutions. (So you know, blogging regularly is not a resolution).

So what has 2012 got in store?

Well London is getting ready to host the Olympic and Paralympic games. I visited Stratford twice in December and I wouldn't say there is a sense of anticipation and excitement hanging round there yet.

2012 has been the subject of some end-time prophecies. I am not remotely an expert on what these are, but I do not intend to live my life expecting the world (or just my own life) to come to an end at a specific time on a specific date.

2012 will see some endings though.

Looking back on my 2011, I see a year when a lot of things in my life stayed the same. For the first time I have spent a full calender year working in the same job and living in the same accommodation. It was the first year since 2003 where I did not seek work or attend a job interview. Today I removed 'seeking stability' from the title of this blog

For me, I see 2012 being a year of changes.

I don't know what needs to change. I realise that there is an extent to which being settled and committed begins to scare me. I recognise though that there are other things that I've settled in to that are not good for me. I hope and pray that this year will see positive change in my life. Not change for change's sake, but for God's. That I can discern His will and his purpose.

So I am still unsure what's next... But I'm ok with that...

Long time no speak...

Working a bit more at the moment, which is good, got a full-time contract going on, which is nice. But in just over a month that finishes. Still doing bits and pieces elsewhere too, so that's good too.

That's it I guess.

Ok, in another area of my unsettled life, there's something I'd like to see happen. All the signs seem to say it's not going to (or at least not imminently), but over the last few days, I've been feeling like it's something I want to fight for. I don't know if it's a good or a stupid idea. Any thoughts?

Something to think about...

We are in the house group I go to looking at Amos, and started from looking at how the people of Israel were adhering to the religious rituals, were failing to please God in the way they were acting in their day to day life. God's message to them is 'Go Away' as the injustice and oppresion of the poor are making the Israelites offerings of tithes and worship displeasing to Him.
MWe moved onto thinking about this issue in our settings, and didn't get very far, as we considered the challenge that just being diligent in our work (turning up on time, putting in the effort required) is not really getting to grips with God's call to fight injustice and to help those in need. It does not set us apart from other diligent people in the work place either. We considered the impact that Christians had upon matters of social justice in Britain 100 or so years ago, such as abolition of the slave trade, the introduction of universal education and others.
What we couldn't get to grips with was what this might actually mean for us as individuals in our varying contexts and to some extent as a church.
I'd be interested in hearing comments on this,

"Get on the f***ing path, you d***."

Not my words, but that of a passenger in a car as it passed me on a hill in the early hours of this morning. I was approaching a junction at the top of a hill on my bike on the way back from work. I wasn't going that fast as you might expect, but at that time of night I'm not going to delay people that much, as with less traffic it's easier to overtake.
I hate this attitude that cycles belong on the pavement, and as far as my memory of the Highway Code and road law is concerned, cycles aren't supposed to use pavements unless designated as a cycle lane, whether segregated or shared use. I consider that as a confident adult cyclist with a suitable bike (and lights etc.) you are safer on the road than on the pavements as you can see more and be seen easier because of your road position, less risk of coming across pedestrians, and in theory level surfaces. Also it gives a major advantage in terms of journey speed, as you don't have to slow down and give way at every side road, or slow for pedestrians or people coming out of houses and so on.