Observations

In Bristol there are lots of:

1. Smart cars parked at jaunty angles (which annoys me for no real reason apart from the fact I think they look pretentious.)

2. Talk about the M32. It's the Orion found in every conversation. 

(I don't own any photos of motorways, sorry)

3. North face jackets, hats, bags, gilets (especially gilets), fleeces, trousers etc etc

4. Balloons (but only at certain times of the year)

And other things such as art, coffee, beards, spiders, hills, fancy dress shops, students (especially today) rain and bikes.

Recent photos.

The pope coaster has been dusted in celebration of this week.


I'm doing a 10 week art course - this is my first painting.

Completely unposed, unprovoked snap taken at Greenbelt. I don't know this man. 

I love this photo.

brothers and sisters

A guy I went to Uni with had a theory about people who have 4 or more siblings being 'different'. Good different, in the way that they exude confidence, sass (I've never used that word before but it seems to fit) and better social skills than the rest of us and our tiny, shy families.

I think he's got a point. Being around people takes a certain amount of skill,  and these multi-sibling-ed creatures do seem to work it better. A lot is written about the affect of parents on their offspring, but the effect of siblings on character development must have some interesting insights too. I only have one brother, so my knowledge ends here. 

Avon

I'm now living in Bristol. This is unexpected. 

It's come at exactly the right time both emotionally and logistically. My flatmate is getting married and the stress of finding properties in London is almost too hard to bear. I'd been looking for new challenges for a while and applied for many jobs in New York and California, yet ended up in Bristol. Hmm. Not quite the glamour I was expecting, but a true testament to God not stretching us beyond our capabilities. If this year has taught me anything, it's how important my family are to me. I'm worried about the 4 hour drive distance, I don't know how I'd cope with the 12hr flight distance. 

So it's my first night, and I miss London. I miss going round to P, L+R's for tea. I miss an invite to the pub with A+L, and possibly R. I miss L taking me to an amazing gig or something wonderful at the BFI. I miss CCB. I miss Balham. I miss those spur-of-the-moment evenings out. I miss having friends.

But, I need a break from London. I need distance to make the heart grow fonder and the purse strings stronger. London was becoming a stress, not a joy - an exhausting hamster wheel of work and commitments and self imposed benchmarks that I was failing to meet. So this is my 6 month escape, where I revel in having no friends* and saving money and learning to cook and walking home from work and learning to love London again. At least this is what I think it is. God's hand has been evident in this from the start. Maybe He'll surprise me yet again. 

* I am planning to get some friends. In fact I'm meeting three tomorrow. I won't be a total recluse. Hopefully. 

Exciting news

I'm a published author! Woop de woop. 

Worrying thought

The more I read about being a Christian, the more I wonder if I am one. 

The different turns of phrase used to word salvation can confuse rather than encourage me. 

Something so simple and necessary, easily becomes a competition of knowledge. 

In many authors trying to write to please many people I feel quite inadequate by the amount I should know, read and be. Am I alone?

TV programmes that you don't expect to be brilliant but are #1: Doctor Who Confidential

I'm a recent convert to Doctor Who, and that may have more to do with Matt Smith than I care to acknowledge (insider fact: he has very soft hands)

I'm even more of a fan of DWC, as I will now call it. It sets itself up as a behind-the-scenes show, but it's much better crafted than your run-of-of-the-mill 'this show is so popular let's see what else we can get commissioned' genre. Like a good conservative evangelical, I'm going to give you three reasons why...

- It's well structured. It's a magazine show with the expected behind-the-scenes bits, but interwoven with this are great standalone films and interesting chats with the crew, rather than just bog standard talking heads. Which leads me to..

- Cast and crew buy-in. There is obviously a huge amount of passion that goes in to making the show, which is reflected in the team waxing lyrical about why they chose to do that scene in a certain way. The actors especially seem to welcome DWC like an old friend, something I've found very rare in my experience...

Maybe it's due to proper scheduling of filming, or just a belief that DWC is as important as DW - whatever, it works, and it's a joy to watch. 

- Also a joy are the special filmy bits. Be that Matt Smith going to Venice to find out about vampires, or Karen Gillian's trip to the Greenwich Observatory to see if time travel is real. They cover the juicy bits of the story line, with great experts whilst revealing another side of their personality. Really factual and educational, whilst still being entertaining. Plus the last DWC had a brilliant Football Focus pastiche which obviously took ages to set up but was so much fun and gave an extra dimension to what could have been a throw away comic scene. 

It's great. iplayer-tastic.