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  • Common Wealth?

    Now I know this is a naive post, that issues are complex and I don't really know what I'm talking about but...

    The Commonwealth Games venue in Delhi is not ready, there are big problems to be overcome in not a lot of time and so what happens... nations that are relatively rich huff and puff and threaten to walk away.  So where is the 'common' in 'commonwealth'?  Rather than mud-slinging why can't we as a group of nations pull together and show the world something different?

    I'm sure India has worked hard to get ready, the last thing they need is a kick in the teeth from other nations.  A bit of 'common' sharing of the 'wealth' would seem good to me.  But as I said, that's just naive.

  • Divine Mischief

    Yesterday I was chatting with someone about the wonderful number of students who landed at our doorstep over the weekend and the general excitement this had created among our people (rightly so).  She told me about the evening service and an example of the mystery and wonder of God's humour.  A couple of young male students had set off on Sunday evening to find a specific charismatic C of S church in town.  Getting well and truly lost, they landed on our doorstep just as this couple were passing on their way to the joint service with our local C of S.  Offered a lift, the lads accepted (pretty brave of them) and arriving at the service, one discovered he already knew one of our folk through other interests (cue spooky music) and then offered to collect the books after the service because that's what he did in his own church.  Wow!!

    The most heard comment from all the students over the weekend was that they felt welcomed and wanted - what more could we wish?

    Don't you just love how God's mischief makes more sense than our planning and fretting?

  • Exploring New Worlds

    If nothing else, the turn my life has taken is introducing me to whole new worlds I didn't know before.  It is an unchosen adventure, but it is not without its lighter moments.

    Yesterday saw the foray into the world of wig-buying.  Well, the NHS did the buying (and a scary amount of money it was too when I looked at the price tag afterwards).  The shop was one of those delightfully olde worlde places that is located on the fifth floor of a mutli-purpose building in a lane in the centre of town.  A lift carries you upwards from ground level and deposits you in a narrow tiled corridor facing a frosted glass door that would look entirely at home in a 1950s film set.

    But this is no ordinary lift, it is the old fashioned gated type, complete with jolly, uniformed lift attendant who announces himself as an angel descended from above to escort you on your journey.  It must be a strange job, riding up and down all day, waiting between floors for someone to summons you to take them where they wish to go.  He must see all manner of people riding upwards to the wig-shop, clutching their NHS vouchers and anxiously wondering what lies beyond the frosted glass door.

    So, the wig-shop.  Thankfully free of weird and wonderful theatrical oddities, it was far less daunting than I'd feared it might be.  The majority of items on display were remarkably ordinary, which was reassuring.  No bizarre shapes or colours, just fairly ordinary looking styles in normal colours.  Apologies all those who anticipated some wacky session trying on weird wigs, but that was never going to happen, and I'm glad the possibility didn't arise... my inner shy person would have simply crumpled.

    Amusingly, the background music was Katrina and the Waves singing Walking on Sunshine and it didn't take too long to find something I felt I could cope with - a bit lighter than my natural colour, parted the other side and with a hint of the Jennifer Aniston's about it, but overall something I'll be comfortable to have a go with.

    For someone who has never been bothered with hair and beauty, being thrust into a world of specialist brushes and sprays and goodness knows what else is quite an eye-opener.  I can't quite see me emerging the other side of this as fashion-woman (way too many more interesting things to do/be) but I am certainly discovering whole new worlds.

    And the divine humour of the self-professed angel and song playing in the background just made me smile.