Heathrow departure queues!
Originally uploaded by bobweasel.
This is what terminal three was like tonight. A queue as long as the building:-(
Monthly Archive for October, 2006
I was watching a bit of TV at home on Friday night and found myself laughing out loud at Nikki Graham of Big Brother fame on 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Famous for being both spoilt and self-obsessed, the bleached blonde embarrassed herself admirably in the first 10 minutes by not knowing Heather Mills-Macartney only has one leg, not having a clue who Stephen Hawking is, and not realising the former home secretary David Blunket is blind. The other contestants had a great time explaining each and every joke to her.
The highlight for me though was during the question ‘What is the top reason to celebrate?’ Nikki quickly jumps in and shouts: “A funeral!” After much laughter, she declares with total innocence, “I went to a funeral once… but I never got invited back!”
See the amazing video below. WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE MAY CAUSE OFFENSE!
The last 2 days, The WIRE have hosted another group of Danes who have come across the water (via Stansted at 1am) to witness our shining example of community work 
The guy leading the team was none other than Peter Senholt who until recently was a teacher at Skovbo Efterskole.
The last time I saw Peter he demonstrated his suicidal tendencies by taking his youth group on a fun-filled outing over the local by-pass. I just happened to catch it all on video, but I seriously do not recommend this as an activity for your young people! Check this out:
(If you’re viewing this post in a feed reader, you’ll have to click through to the site to see the video)
Mr & Mrs Barkaway try pretty hard to lead an ethical and eco-friendly lifestyle and have some great articles on their blog to reflect this. Check out buy ugly… and where the hell does our food come from? for some thought provoking and inspiring ideas.
This past week Kirsty and I have started booking our 2 week holiday to Malaysia. It’s been uncertain whether we would be able to go due to buying a house recently, but Kirsty has managed to pull it off on the cheap. That’s the advantage of being married to a Travel Agent!
We go really soon and are flying into Kuala Lumpur for 2 nights before flying across to Sandakan and enjoying the 4 Day Jungle Tour and the Orang Utan Sanctuary. After that it’s over to Kota Kinabalu for 6 nights exploring the islands and surrounding area before heading home again via KL!
Our last holiday was back in November 2005 when we went across to Australia. Although it was a fantastic time, it really was a while ago and after recent work stress, Kirsty’s exams and both of us studying, I think it’s going to be a well deserved break…
Mark O has an interesting article on exuberance (what it means) and the tensions between churches and Youth Workers. While you’re at it, I suggest you subscribe to his blog. He may be American but he knows what he’s talking about!
Bleep.com came to my attention this week after winning the Best Music Store at this years Digital Music Awards. Although the store is still relatively small, it beat iTunes and Napster to the title due to its eclectic and abstract content, high encoding rates and insistance of having all music DRM free. From the site:
This summer Bleep passed the million downloads threshold, and is now home to over 300 labels and counting. All new music to the site is now encoded at the maximum bitrate of 320kbps, with everything still as standard drm-free MP3s of course.
If you’re looking for alternative and indie music online, then Bleep is the place to go!
Just a shameless plug to remind you all that if you need a DJ for your event or celebration, pureDisco are available! We’ve got a great track record locally for providing fun-filled evenings, so spread the word and keep us in mind!
JacksonPollock.org, Simply drag your mouse across the page. Click to change colour. Great Fun!
The last 2 weeks have probably been the hardest I have yet had to face in my vocation as a youth worker because I have spent much of my time supporting particular families in crisis situations while wrestling with my own role at work. I have felt singularly useless and found myself exhausted of practical ideas or suggestions. After much effort, I feel I have come to the end of myself and have nothing left to give. This frustration and emptiness is new to me. Generally, I tend not to get too emotional or let situations effect me much so I have been learning a great deal about true faith and hope in the face of adversity. It reminded me of Rob Bell’s words in Velvet Elvis.
Ultimately our gift to the world around us is hope. Not blind hope that pretends everything is fine and refuses to acknowledge how things are. But the kind of hope that comes from staring pain and suffering right in the eyes and refusing to believe that this is all there is. It is what we all need - hope that comes not from going around suffering but from going through it.
This actually makes a lot of sense to me now. Although I’d understood it on an intellectual level before, I have actually experienced a tiny amount of the pain and suffering to which it refers. I have come to an understanding that sometimes I can’t do anything to help others apart from just being with them, silently lending my sympathy and support for their situations.
As youthwork has its heritage in the Christian faith, it makes sense that “being with” others is also a fundemental value of youthwork (or informal education). Jeffs and Smith put it well in “Informal Education: Conversation Democracy and Learning”
In other words, we should not be looking at other people, as looking with them at what they are seeking to communicate
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