As i cycle around the Sussex streets passing pub after pub i am reminded of my dear friend Eric, sadly no longer with us.
Eric was that rare animal capable of charming all and sundry with his giving personality, modesty and wit. It is true to say that in all the years i knew him i never heard anyone say a bad word against him. There are few people i can say that about.
I first met Eric in the Half Moon public house in Crawley in early 1987. I was playing the quiz machine with very little success and Eric came up and introduced himself and invited me to a quiz there that evening. Martin, the landlord subsequently told me that the reason why i was having little success was that Eric had already taken the machine for a considerable amount and it was now in defence mode. Eric you see was a professional quiz machine player.
We soon became great friends and would have a day out together every week travelling around our pub circuit which included every establishment with a machine south of the Watford Gap. I was a non-drinker and would order a half of something and pour it into the nearest plant pot to deter landlords from barring my entry. We had some great laughs. As time went on, between us we learnt every answer on Crosswords, Give Us A Clue (Genus 1), Treble Top, A Question of Sport, Quiz Vaders, Every Second Counts, Inquisitor, Turnover, Wise Moves, Bar Quest and Give Us A Break, which meant we had all bases covered. We also both knew all the answers of a machine called Concentration whereby you scored points and then had to remember where pairs of cards were that flashed up on the screen. Together we were invincible on this machine as we would merely remember the top and bottom half individually and then pool our answers. On one occasion we found a box in the Romford Odeon (Eric was a past master at seeking out machines in the unlikeliest of places). We had clocked the machine up to £99 (we never went above £100 as we were always afraid it might reset itself as they only had a double-digit display) and were now very nervous at pressing 'collect' as these machines were notoriously noisy and we liked to keep a low profile as we were unsure we should really be walking in off the street and playing the machine without purchasing a ticket. As we pressed the button £80 in pound coins (that was all that was in the tubes) rifled out in quick succession, some initially shooting across the floor. The cinema staff rushed over and Eric as quick as a flash in order to allay attention uttered "we just won the jackpot but it has paid out in ten pences" to which the cashier replied equally as quickly "well done, i'll change them into notes for you". All seemed lost until Eric responded "no that's ok i actually collect ten pence pieces in a jar" - all the while i was surreptitiously stuffing the pound coins into my pockets.
The truth is Eric was never motivated by greed and he would invariably spend his profits in the pub he won them. He might spend an hour or two talking with the bar staff and quite often would either get roped into participating in their quiz nights or asked to host their quiz. This was the measure of the man that despite having a great talent for looting the pub quiz machine he was often the most popular person in the pub with both customers and bar staff.
Eric was a gentleman and a gentle man. He taught me a lot about people and how to interact with them in this alien environment to me, I initially did not buy a drink and wondered why i was constantly banned from pub after pub!
Eric was a great friend. He helped me prepare for my Mastermind efforts by asking me hundreds of questions about Elizabeth I and Mary of Scots. He also often helped out by setting questions for my fledgling British Quiz Championships. Eric was a considerable talent himself and is one of few people to have ever beaten the mighty Kevin Ashman on a television quiz show (Winner Takes All). More than his great brain and his gentleness and even his friendliness and accommodating manner was his humanity. Eric was a human being who had no side, no hidden agendas, no hatred, no vanity. You could rely on him - trust him implicitly. He was a good friend to me and i have many friends locally who miss him as much as i do. He was one of the good guys and i just wanted to remember him today and i wish he were still here. He inspired me to take part in quizzes. He had an over-inflated opinion of my ability but instilled great confidence in me and i almost wanted to be a good player in order not to let him down. He had an infectious laugh and humour played a big part in his life. He was brought up in the Liverpool of the Beatles era and knew them second hand from his older brother who played with a famous Merseyside band.
Eric was knowledgeable, interesting, funny, loveable, vulnerable and always capable of surprising you with a story or snippet of factual information. He was a class act.
Eric was my friend and i pray that he will live again
Monday, 1 June 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Shush - there's a Christian about!
Worried Christians worship in secret. This was the headlines of an article in The Daily Telegraph today.
The Very Rev John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, said believers were increasingly keeping their faith to themselves. He went on to criticise the decision to suspend a nurse, Caroline Petrie, who offered to pray for an elderly patient.
On the same page was another headline – Prayers got me fired, says GP. This was the case of a Muslim doctor, Musarrat Syed-Shah, who says she was sacked because she wanted to attend a mosque for prayers every Friday.
Both these stories highlight the growing religious intolerance prevailing in every aspect of human life.
I think I mentioned in a previous blog how I became persona non grata after visiting a children’s home in my locality and made the mistake of handing out Bibles to the kids and was subsequently refused entry. At the time I merely thought the home had something to hide but in hindsight it has become very clear that the chap in charge probably felt I was recruiting for my Christian army – God forbid!
Tony Blair has publicly stated that he hid his Christian beliefs while running the country and of course his master of spin Alistair Campbell once interrupted a question about the prime minister’s faith with 'I'm sorry, we don't do God.'
Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has also publicly declared that he daren’t mention his Christian faith on the radio for fear of reprisals.
What can we glean from these examples and would it be a good thing to abolish religion completely?
Of course there is no easy answer. Spiritual matters tend to be made very complicated by fickle human analysis and arguments for and against the worship of the God of love are fundamental to the ongoing ‘war’.
Take the John Lennon classic song Imagine as an example – One of my favourite songs begins:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
John asks us to imagine a world where there is no fear of repercussions for what we do. A worthy sentiment, if only the human spirit lent itself to always doing the right thing!
The song goes on
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
I love this idea of a global village with no boundaries of race, creed, or culture. Sounds like Heaven to me! Unfortunately John was blissfully unaware that was what he was describing so beautifully. Yes it is true that people kill each other in the name of patriotism and religion but the perpetrators of such crimes would operate within any context. To kill in the name of patriotism is only a very small leap from the mentality that prevails among football hooligans. Those that kill in the name of religion are not doing God’s work – He is more than capable of defending himself. To suggest that the world would be safer or more peaceful without religion is naïve bordering on delusion. Humans lie and cheat so naturally, even the best of them practice nepotism and a state of chaos would soon persist if human life was left to its own devices and God abandoned us.
The song finally describes Heaven on Earth – A way of life alien to so many people but those truly touched by the Holy Spirit. Of course John wrote these words in his disillusionment with human beings and the mechanisms by which they choose to remain disparate from each other – patriotism, religion and greed.
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Far from being the atheists’ anthem that it would appear to be this song is every Christian’s dream for their fellow man. Yes we would love to live as one, live in peace, live in equality – often this is the initial appeal of converting to Christianity (or any religious denomination I should add) but since man’s first disobedience he has shown himself to be untrustworthy, fickle, irrational, moody, inconstant and several other adjectives of the same ilk which all add up to the same thing – man will ultimately cock up – every single time, without fail.
There is no such thing as a good person – we are all tainted – but we place an acceptable level of behaviour in the category of being good despite our shortcomings which without guidelines will eventually supersede the good. These guidelines are necessary, essential even, they are part of what we call religion.
Take the example of MPs’ expenses. Virtually every MP has been found guilty of abusing the system. Irrespective of what the fees office might allow all MPs should have enough foresight to know that they are going to be judged harshly by making speculative claims and I for one could not trust any public figure who blatantly milks the system for all its worth and then expects me to believe they have the necessary integrity to make important decisions in the public interest. Inevitably these people are tarnished in the same way as the bejewelled evangelists and defrocked priests. Guilty of bringing their profession into disrepute but not devaluing the message in any way, in fact the message is enhanced rather than diluted. We need good candidates.
Things are never quite what they seem in this world. On the whole people are greedy and self-serving. Those that become financially successful often throw a few crumbs about to ease their conscience and inflate their ego, those that become financially very successful tend to become megalomaniacs – true philanthropists are a rare breed indeed and all the ones I know are touched by the Holy Spirit.
I suppose Richard Dawkins is the most famous atheist in the UK. His method of rationalising religious beliefs is to concentrate on all the negative aspects of faith without ever giving a balanced view of the positive aspects. They do not exist to him!
I could write an A to Z of the negative aspects of Religions and it would be a far larger tome than his, larger than my A to Z of Everything – by far. I would though feel compelled to write about the positive aspects too and fear my life span is too short to complete such a book.
The Very Rev John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, said believers were increasingly keeping their faith to themselves. He went on to criticise the decision to suspend a nurse, Caroline Petrie, who offered to pray for an elderly patient.
On the same page was another headline – Prayers got me fired, says GP. This was the case of a Muslim doctor, Musarrat Syed-Shah, who says she was sacked because she wanted to attend a mosque for prayers every Friday.
Both these stories highlight the growing religious intolerance prevailing in every aspect of human life.
I think I mentioned in a previous blog how I became persona non grata after visiting a children’s home in my locality and made the mistake of handing out Bibles to the kids and was subsequently refused entry. At the time I merely thought the home had something to hide but in hindsight it has become very clear that the chap in charge probably felt I was recruiting for my Christian army – God forbid!
Tony Blair has publicly stated that he hid his Christian beliefs while running the country and of course his master of spin Alistair Campbell once interrupted a question about the prime minister’s faith with 'I'm sorry, we don't do God.'
Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has also publicly declared that he daren’t mention his Christian faith on the radio for fear of reprisals.
What can we glean from these examples and would it be a good thing to abolish religion completely?
Of course there is no easy answer. Spiritual matters tend to be made very complicated by fickle human analysis and arguments for and against the worship of the God of love are fundamental to the ongoing ‘war’.
Take the John Lennon classic song Imagine as an example – One of my favourite songs begins:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
John asks us to imagine a world where there is no fear of repercussions for what we do. A worthy sentiment, if only the human spirit lent itself to always doing the right thing!
The song goes on
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
I love this idea of a global village with no boundaries of race, creed, or culture. Sounds like Heaven to me! Unfortunately John was blissfully unaware that was what he was describing so beautifully. Yes it is true that people kill each other in the name of patriotism and religion but the perpetrators of such crimes would operate within any context. To kill in the name of patriotism is only a very small leap from the mentality that prevails among football hooligans. Those that kill in the name of religion are not doing God’s work – He is more than capable of defending himself. To suggest that the world would be safer or more peaceful without religion is naïve bordering on delusion. Humans lie and cheat so naturally, even the best of them practice nepotism and a state of chaos would soon persist if human life was left to its own devices and God abandoned us.
The song finally describes Heaven on Earth – A way of life alien to so many people but those truly touched by the Holy Spirit. Of course John wrote these words in his disillusionment with human beings and the mechanisms by which they choose to remain disparate from each other – patriotism, religion and greed.
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Far from being the atheists’ anthem that it would appear to be this song is every Christian’s dream for their fellow man. Yes we would love to live as one, live in peace, live in equality – often this is the initial appeal of converting to Christianity (or any religious denomination I should add) but since man’s first disobedience he has shown himself to be untrustworthy, fickle, irrational, moody, inconstant and several other adjectives of the same ilk which all add up to the same thing – man will ultimately cock up – every single time, without fail.
There is no such thing as a good person – we are all tainted – but we place an acceptable level of behaviour in the category of being good despite our shortcomings which without guidelines will eventually supersede the good. These guidelines are necessary, essential even, they are part of what we call religion.
Take the example of MPs’ expenses. Virtually every MP has been found guilty of abusing the system. Irrespective of what the fees office might allow all MPs should have enough foresight to know that they are going to be judged harshly by making speculative claims and I for one could not trust any public figure who blatantly milks the system for all its worth and then expects me to believe they have the necessary integrity to make important decisions in the public interest. Inevitably these people are tarnished in the same way as the bejewelled evangelists and defrocked priests. Guilty of bringing their profession into disrepute but not devaluing the message in any way, in fact the message is enhanced rather than diluted. We need good candidates.
Things are never quite what they seem in this world. On the whole people are greedy and self-serving. Those that become financially successful often throw a few crumbs about to ease their conscience and inflate their ego, those that become financially very successful tend to become megalomaniacs – true philanthropists are a rare breed indeed and all the ones I know are touched by the Holy Spirit.
I suppose Richard Dawkins is the most famous atheist in the UK. His method of rationalising religious beliefs is to concentrate on all the negative aspects of faith without ever giving a balanced view of the positive aspects. They do not exist to him!
I could write an A to Z of the negative aspects of Religions and it would be a far larger tome than his, larger than my A to Z of Everything – by far. I would though feel compelled to write about the positive aspects too and fear my life span is too short to complete such a book.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Holy Thursday
On this day, almost 2,000 years ago, Christ shared His last supper with His disciples and when He broke the bread and shared it with them He said six words which became the foundation of the daily Catholic Mass ‘Do This In Memory Of Me’ (Luke 22: 19).
The Eucharist (Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper) in its various forms of Holy Communion is celebrated daily, and often several times a day, in all Catholic churches and so every day this request is carried out, but today the anniversary becomes more poignant as we focus on the events that followed this meal.
My local Catholic Church, the Friary, reopened this evening after six months of much-needed refurbishments and but for it being Holy Thursday, commemorating the Lord’s Last Supper, one feels laudatory speeches would not have been out of place.
The building, recesses, wall icons, lighting and acoustics are all magnificent and to have all these elements coming together at the beginning of the always emotive Easter Vigil, with a congregation of hundreds, made for a very special evening.
I know some folk will think that it is obscene to spend huge sums of money on church decoration but isn’t it our duty to make the best possible use of our resources on earth and surely the spiritual home of our Lord should be the first charge on our income.
Remember that rare occasion when Jesus showed temper in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem when He witnessed it being used as a market-place (John 2:14-15).
Remember too when Mary, sister of Lazarus anointed the feet of Jesus with a pound of luxurious spikenard and Judas Iscariot, the keeper of the money-bag no less, asked why the ointment wasn't sold for three hundred denarii instead (about a years wages) and given to the poor. Jesus answered this accusation with ‘The poor you will always have but me you will not always have’. (John 12:3-8)
Doesn’t this give us an insight into how the Lord is a God of truth. Doesn’t this give us an insight into the Lord’s perfect reasoning skills and also how this God of love implies that we should budget responsibly, make honest assessments, not be judgmental of each other and above all –have a relationship with Him. Doesn’t this also tell us the way He would like us to feel about our blessed and holy places designed for His worship. For this is what a church is, make no mistake – a place of worship.
So although I believe the most modest of churches is of equal importance to the greatest of cathedrals in God’s eyes (as any church is only as good as the Christianity of its congregation) it is the Christian’s duty to strive to maintain or improve that household.
The Friary was crumbling, paintwork was peeling, and the PA system intermittently failing to the detriment of the service. All this created an air of despondency and uncertainty within the congregation as it became difficult to pay homage to the Lord with feedback ringing in one’s ears.
Yes, we are in a global recession and there is much wrong with the world, but we need to change the minds of man, not make false economies.
Praise the Lord for our churches – those hallowed havens of hope for all Christians
The Eucharist (Christian sacrament commemorating the Last Supper) in its various forms of Holy Communion is celebrated daily, and often several times a day, in all Catholic churches and so every day this request is carried out, but today the anniversary becomes more poignant as we focus on the events that followed this meal.
My local Catholic Church, the Friary, reopened this evening after six months of much-needed refurbishments and but for it being Holy Thursday, commemorating the Lord’s Last Supper, one feels laudatory speeches would not have been out of place.
The building, recesses, wall icons, lighting and acoustics are all magnificent and to have all these elements coming together at the beginning of the always emotive Easter Vigil, with a congregation of hundreds, made for a very special evening.
I know some folk will think that it is obscene to spend huge sums of money on church decoration but isn’t it our duty to make the best possible use of our resources on earth and surely the spiritual home of our Lord should be the first charge on our income.
Remember that rare occasion when Jesus showed temper in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem when He witnessed it being used as a market-place (John 2:14-15).
Remember too when Mary, sister of Lazarus anointed the feet of Jesus with a pound of luxurious spikenard and Judas Iscariot, the keeper of the money-bag no less, asked why the ointment wasn't sold for three hundred denarii instead (about a years wages) and given to the poor. Jesus answered this accusation with ‘The poor you will always have but me you will not always have’. (John 12:3-8)
Doesn’t this give us an insight into how the Lord is a God of truth. Doesn’t this give us an insight into the Lord’s perfect reasoning skills and also how this God of love implies that we should budget responsibly, make honest assessments, not be judgmental of each other and above all –have a relationship with Him. Doesn’t this also tell us the way He would like us to feel about our blessed and holy places designed for His worship. For this is what a church is, make no mistake – a place of worship.
So although I believe the most modest of churches is of equal importance to the greatest of cathedrals in God’s eyes (as any church is only as good as the Christianity of its congregation) it is the Christian’s duty to strive to maintain or improve that household.
The Friary was crumbling, paintwork was peeling, and the PA system intermittently failing to the detriment of the service. All this created an air of despondency and uncertainty within the congregation as it became difficult to pay homage to the Lord with feedback ringing in one’s ears.
Yes, we are in a global recession and there is much wrong with the world, but we need to change the minds of man, not make false economies.
Praise the Lord for our churches – those hallowed havens of hope for all Christians
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Suffer Little Children
Today, as with so many recent days, it rained, and this, coupled with various email received from friends, cycling team-mates and loved ones, led me to reflect on the problem of suffering.
In his poem ‘The Rainy Day’ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) concluded Into each life a little rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.
These words were possibly inspired by the premature death, in childbirth, of his first wife, Mary Potter, but in any case later proved to be prophetic for the great man as he lost his second wife, Frances Appleton, in even more tragic circumstances when she accidentally set herself alight. Longfellow never really recovered from this second tragedy and took to his bed for long periods, too scared to sleep in case of not waking.
I've been very lucky with my health generally but I have always felt that when these human indignities are thrust upon us it tends to steel our spirits in a necessary way. Each time we suffer makes the next time just a little easier and we become more aware but more tolerant of our mortality. I remember when my dad sat me down a few years ago to discuss the merits of whether he should bother having surgery for cancer as he didn’t much fancy the treatment and knew that his restricted oesophagus and reduced stomach capacity would mean the loss of his gourmet lifestyle. To me he seemed to be taking an almost business-like approach to his life but I now know it was just the wisdom of advanced age and the human mechanism to rationalise and come to terms with the finite term we experience on Earth.
My dad is still going strong in his 88th year having made the right decision.
Coincidentally I have today received updates about several friends who are struggling through that despicable burden of ill-health. Mark and John have cancers, Sue is in a hospital bed not responding to any stimuli, Mario is worried that his wife Suzanne’s cancer has returned and Luke has had to have his right arm amputated after a mystery virus created complications.
May I ask anyone who reads this blog to pray earnestly for all of the above, with a repentant heart, as I believe the repentant heart has great power. In Luke 13 Jesus talks of the certainty of death of unrepentant sinners. You see it is all just a timing difference. We may die today or tomorrow but we shall hardly ever die when we, or our loved ones, are ready. The repentant sinner shall never die according to Jesus.
An earlier line in Longfellow’s ‘The Rainy Day’ goes Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. The man truly knew the nature of suffering. All things must pass and indeed some tragedies are played out with joyous endings.
I have a friend who broke his back falling out of a tree. He is in constant pain and his paralysis has worsened over the years to the extent that he now requires 24-hour care and is confined to bed for long periods. Despite this Brian always has a joke to brighten your day and is an inspiration to all and sundry. He would actually tell you it was the best thing that ever happened to him as he didn’t really like the path his life was taking before that fateful day.
My brother Kevin had a similar accident to Longfellow’s second wife Frances, last year. He survived and visited me from his home in Ibiza this last Christmas.
It rained and then the sun shone.
In his poem ‘The Rainy Day’ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) concluded Into each life a little rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary.
These words were possibly inspired by the premature death, in childbirth, of his first wife, Mary Potter, but in any case later proved to be prophetic for the great man as he lost his second wife, Frances Appleton, in even more tragic circumstances when she accidentally set herself alight. Longfellow never really recovered from this second tragedy and took to his bed for long periods, too scared to sleep in case of not waking.
I've been very lucky with my health generally but I have always felt that when these human indignities are thrust upon us it tends to steel our spirits in a necessary way. Each time we suffer makes the next time just a little easier and we become more aware but more tolerant of our mortality. I remember when my dad sat me down a few years ago to discuss the merits of whether he should bother having surgery for cancer as he didn’t much fancy the treatment and knew that his restricted oesophagus and reduced stomach capacity would mean the loss of his gourmet lifestyle. To me he seemed to be taking an almost business-like approach to his life but I now know it was just the wisdom of advanced age and the human mechanism to rationalise and come to terms with the finite term we experience on Earth.
My dad is still going strong in his 88th year having made the right decision.
Coincidentally I have today received updates about several friends who are struggling through that despicable burden of ill-health. Mark and John have cancers, Sue is in a hospital bed not responding to any stimuli, Mario is worried that his wife Suzanne’s cancer has returned and Luke has had to have his right arm amputated after a mystery virus created complications.
May I ask anyone who reads this blog to pray earnestly for all of the above, with a repentant heart, as I believe the repentant heart has great power. In Luke 13 Jesus talks of the certainty of death of unrepentant sinners. You see it is all just a timing difference. We may die today or tomorrow but we shall hardly ever die when we, or our loved ones, are ready. The repentant sinner shall never die according to Jesus.
An earlier line in Longfellow’s ‘The Rainy Day’ goes Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. The man truly knew the nature of suffering. All things must pass and indeed some tragedies are played out with joyous endings.
I have a friend who broke his back falling out of a tree. He is in constant pain and his paralysis has worsened over the years to the extent that he now requires 24-hour care and is confined to bed for long periods. Despite this Brian always has a joke to brighten your day and is an inspiration to all and sundry. He would actually tell you it was the best thing that ever happened to him as he didn’t really like the path his life was taking before that fateful day.
My brother Kevin had a similar accident to Longfellow’s second wife Frances, last year. He survived and visited me from his home in Ibiza this last Christmas.
It rained and then the sun shone.
Soap Opera Continuity
Having always been a fan of kitchen-sink drama I do occasionally dip into the nation’s favourite soaps Eastenders and Coronation Street. In recent years my enthusiasm has been tempered somewhat by a mixture of unbelievable storylines and little or no continuity. To me it shows scant disrespect for the viewing public.
To give recent examples of each of these misdemeanours might serve to highlight the waywardness of the respective writing teams.
Jack Branning and ‘tough guy’ Phil Mitchell had an altercation two years ago resulting in Phil duping his mother into signing over the car lot to Jack. This in itself was totally unbelievable as Phil had already ‘sorted out’ Jack in the past and is hardly the sort of bloke to roll over and play pussy. The premise was meant to be that Phil ‘got lucky’ the first time around but now Jack was ready for him………………… I ask you!
All was not lost I thought as Phil vowed vengeance on this dastardly lowlife former bent copper who had dishonoured him and, worst of all, his family. The retribution was going to be swift and bloody as everyone in the world knows “you do not mess with the Mitchells!”
Almost two years on and Jack and Phil have become almost bosom pals, teaming up in their fight against the even more dastardly Psycho Sean. Even when Jack’s brother Max solicited Phil’s help to make Jack ‘disappear’ Phil did not rise to this obvious opportunity to settle old scores.
Yes I know Jack Branning is a good character and the writers are loathe to kill him off but they should have thought of that before jeopardising his character’s existence.
A good example of an unbelievable storyline is the present Carla/Tony/Liam ménage à trois. Of course the viewer is privy to the information that Tony had Liam bumped off (literally), but when Maria tells all and sundry that Tony confessed to her is there no one with the nous to give her the benefit of the doubt as she is hardly a straitjacket case and the clues are there as Sir David Frost might say. Surely Carla would have a long meaningful chat with Maria in order to make sense of the death of the love of her life. What sort of friend is Fizz to simply dismiss her mate’s earnest pleas. Even normally supportive brother Kirk is seen constantly kowtowing to Saint Tony by apologising for his errant sister’s foolhardiness. And as for Norris…….well he has been a victim of Tony’s menacing threats first hand so you’d think he’d put two and two together and come up with four, especially in light of the disappearance of Jed Stone.
Perhaps Kevin might even suspect that the man who sabotaged his business is not likely to gain imminent beatification.
Again, I know Tony is a strong character and the writers are trying to prolong his soap life but please can we have just a hint of reality in our storylines.
To give recent examples of each of these misdemeanours might serve to highlight the waywardness of the respective writing teams.
Jack Branning and ‘tough guy’ Phil Mitchell had an altercation two years ago resulting in Phil duping his mother into signing over the car lot to Jack. This in itself was totally unbelievable as Phil had already ‘sorted out’ Jack in the past and is hardly the sort of bloke to roll over and play pussy. The premise was meant to be that Phil ‘got lucky’ the first time around but now Jack was ready for him………………… I ask you!
All was not lost I thought as Phil vowed vengeance on this dastardly lowlife former bent copper who had dishonoured him and, worst of all, his family. The retribution was going to be swift and bloody as everyone in the world knows “you do not mess with the Mitchells!”
Almost two years on and Jack and Phil have become almost bosom pals, teaming up in their fight against the even more dastardly Psycho Sean. Even when Jack’s brother Max solicited Phil’s help to make Jack ‘disappear’ Phil did not rise to this obvious opportunity to settle old scores.
Yes I know Jack Branning is a good character and the writers are loathe to kill him off but they should have thought of that before jeopardising his character’s existence.
A good example of an unbelievable storyline is the present Carla/Tony/Liam ménage à trois. Of course the viewer is privy to the information that Tony had Liam bumped off (literally), but when Maria tells all and sundry that Tony confessed to her is there no one with the nous to give her the benefit of the doubt as she is hardly a straitjacket case and the clues are there as Sir David Frost might say. Surely Carla would have a long meaningful chat with Maria in order to make sense of the death of the love of her life. What sort of friend is Fizz to simply dismiss her mate’s earnest pleas. Even normally supportive brother Kirk is seen constantly kowtowing to Saint Tony by apologising for his errant sister’s foolhardiness. And as for Norris…….well he has been a victim of Tony’s menacing threats first hand so you’d think he’d put two and two together and come up with four, especially in light of the disappearance of Jed Stone.
Perhaps Kevin might even suspect that the man who sabotaged his business is not likely to gain imminent beatification.
Again, I know Tony is a strong character and the writers are trying to prolong his soap life but please can we have just a hint of reality in our storylines.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Don't be Surprised by Joy
Sometimes in the bleak mid-winter months my mind turns to contemplation of shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings.
As a new year starts and the stark waves of mortality wash through my brain I appraise what’s gone before, what is now and what is to come – for me - and for you.
For myself – at this moment in time - I feel that incredible emotion that CS Lewis described so beautifully in several of his works – Joy. Those three simple letters, which score so well at Scrabble (in almost any company) can be a Christian’s most potent defence against the vicissitudes of life. God in his wisdom withholds it from his children at some moments, and in his mercy pours it out on them at others.
Joy is at the heart of Christianity – it is that blessed gift that compels men and women into the fellowship of the Cross and transforms a wide, diverse throng of sad, lonely pilgrims into a community full of faith, hope and charity. In John 15: 11-12 Jesus says to His disciples “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you”. These words ultimately brought a motley gang of proud and competing sinners together into a fellowship of joy.
To understand Joy further I must hark back to the celebrated Clive Staples Lewis (Jack to his friends).
He distinguished joy from both happiness and pleasure. “Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is”.
Jack Lewis gave many examples of joy and almost all contained a defining characteristic of longing—a deep yearning or poignant desire for something agonizingly elusive. Just as one’s pleasure in spring contains a memory of winter longings, joy for Jack Lewis always contained "the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing". This underlying quality of joy was "that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction."
The German language has a word for this emotion - sehnsucht. This is the haunting longing that full, heavy, enveloping nostalgia for a fulfillment that awaits.
I have experienced this feeling many times in my life. At church mainly but in everyday life it might even be a smell – of leather as a reminder of my first day at school and my sparkling new satchel, or of something I know not what. Yes I have a smell from time to time that I have never been able to work out what it actually is, but whatever it is that I smell I am transported back to my childhood and an attic room in Limerick with a treasure chest moneybox and key in my hand, whereupon I first wondered what that magnificent odour was.
The really merciful times I have experienced this wonderful feeling of joy is when everything seems to be dark and gloomy and I am either feeling sorry for myself or for someone else.
I am immediately reminded of King Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 1 and how he came to realise that although he had experienced every pleasure available to mortal man it was all just vanity and man’s propensity to strive after wind. The end of this verse goes like this “For in the abundance of wisdom there is an abundance of vexation, so that he that increases knowledge increases pain”. This applies to many bright people I know but only the Christian ones are shielded from their pain by this gift of joy. It is this gift that allows someone who has suffered great human tragedy, perhaps the loss of a loved one, to come to terms with their suffering.
I have lost several friends this past year. It began with Jeremy and then Francis, and then John and then Audrey. The year before a great Christian man died. I had read his book which was a testimony of a Christian pastor. I had only met the man once, at the Whyteleafe Pentecostal Church, and he had given me a great laugh with his dancing and hopping about while still managing to say goodbye to a friend of his. He was full of joy you see.
After he died I visited his widow, Joan, and although not surprised at her reaction to her husband’s death, I was heartened by her faith that he was now with other saints who had slipped from this mortal coil. Joan showed me old photos and spoke with such joy that he was now fulfilled. But as I left she explained that although she felt joy at this particular moment she had also shed tears for her beloved husband. You see that is how joy is given to us by God.
It can be a respite from pain and grief.
Jack Lewis was even blessed enough to have married his joy, Joy Gresham to be precise – now how cool is that!
At the funeral of all four of those I mention above I felt an overwhelming joy at the celebration of life. At Jeremy’s humanist funeral I looked around at others I knew and I shared their grief for a personality which was simply irreplaceable. For Francis it was the same solidarity and love for someone we knew was a gentle man in every sense of the word.
John Piper was my old headmaster and I felt real grief to begin with that this great man went largely unheralded. But then the joy cut in. I remembered how I had knocked the top of my finger off playing football and how he had driven me to the hospital after his secretary had fainted at the sight of the bone sticking up. John waited with me all evening and right through the operation. Apparently he had always had a soft spot for me since my first year when I was awarded a 5/- book token for coming top in Maths, English and French but he had refused to hand out my selected choice of book, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (my affinity with CS Lewis was already apparent it seems), as it was far too childish for a 12-year-old young man!
Audrey was a tough one on the surface. She had always treated me like a son and I was invariably invited to all the family bashes. I was also friends with all her four sons, Wayne my ex-hurdles training partner and golfing buddy had tragically taken his own life a few years earlier, Mark had become business man extraordinaire, Tony was now a successful Manchester poet and Dave was/is and always will be one of the most special guys in the whole world. Audrey had suffered from mental health problems in recent years and this illness had alienated her from many old friends but magically everyone remembered the kind and loving Audrey we all knew for so long. I was touched by joy that day too.
This Christmas my brother Kevin came home from Ibiza for the first time in many years. It was an exhilarating time for me but tinged with great sadness as unlike him I was unable to enjoy the company of others in my family at this time. I initially felt pangs of grief but this was taken away and replaced by joy. Joy for everyone’s happiness and delight – mine too. You see, I know everyone is fit and well and happy and so all is right with the world.
Now all we need to do is experience joy through this latest credit-crunch. Read more books instead of clubbing it – not mine necessarily – give up the booze, stop smoking, cycle perhaps instead of using the car. Forget the rat race for a while. Try praying some time, read the Bible, give church a go. All these things are economically viable and can be very joyful.
As a new year starts and the stark waves of mortality wash through my brain I appraise what’s gone before, what is now and what is to come – for me - and for you.
For myself – at this moment in time - I feel that incredible emotion that CS Lewis described so beautifully in several of his works – Joy. Those three simple letters, which score so well at Scrabble (in almost any company) can be a Christian’s most potent defence against the vicissitudes of life. God in his wisdom withholds it from his children at some moments, and in his mercy pours it out on them at others.
Joy is at the heart of Christianity – it is that blessed gift that compels men and women into the fellowship of the Cross and transforms a wide, diverse throng of sad, lonely pilgrims into a community full of faith, hope and charity. In John 15: 11-12 Jesus says to His disciples “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you”. These words ultimately brought a motley gang of proud and competing sinners together into a fellowship of joy.
To understand Joy further I must hark back to the celebrated Clive Staples Lewis (Jack to his friends).
He distinguished joy from both happiness and pleasure. “Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is”.
Jack Lewis gave many examples of joy and almost all contained a defining characteristic of longing—a deep yearning or poignant desire for something agonizingly elusive. Just as one’s pleasure in spring contains a memory of winter longings, joy for Jack Lewis always contained "the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing". This underlying quality of joy was "that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction."
The German language has a word for this emotion - sehnsucht. This is the haunting longing that full, heavy, enveloping nostalgia for a fulfillment that awaits.
I have experienced this feeling many times in my life. At church mainly but in everyday life it might even be a smell – of leather as a reminder of my first day at school and my sparkling new satchel, or of something I know not what. Yes I have a smell from time to time that I have never been able to work out what it actually is, but whatever it is that I smell I am transported back to my childhood and an attic room in Limerick with a treasure chest moneybox and key in my hand, whereupon I first wondered what that magnificent odour was.
The really merciful times I have experienced this wonderful feeling of joy is when everything seems to be dark and gloomy and I am either feeling sorry for myself or for someone else.
I am immediately reminded of King Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 1 and how he came to realise that although he had experienced every pleasure available to mortal man it was all just vanity and man’s propensity to strive after wind. The end of this verse goes like this “For in the abundance of wisdom there is an abundance of vexation, so that he that increases knowledge increases pain”. This applies to many bright people I know but only the Christian ones are shielded from their pain by this gift of joy. It is this gift that allows someone who has suffered great human tragedy, perhaps the loss of a loved one, to come to terms with their suffering.
I have lost several friends this past year. It began with Jeremy and then Francis, and then John and then Audrey. The year before a great Christian man died. I had read his book which was a testimony of a Christian pastor. I had only met the man once, at the Whyteleafe Pentecostal Church, and he had given me a great laugh with his dancing and hopping about while still managing to say goodbye to a friend of his. He was full of joy you see.
After he died I visited his widow, Joan, and although not surprised at her reaction to her husband’s death, I was heartened by her faith that he was now with other saints who had slipped from this mortal coil. Joan showed me old photos and spoke with such joy that he was now fulfilled. But as I left she explained that although she felt joy at this particular moment she had also shed tears for her beloved husband. You see that is how joy is given to us by God.
It can be a respite from pain and grief.
Jack Lewis was even blessed enough to have married his joy, Joy Gresham to be precise – now how cool is that!
At the funeral of all four of those I mention above I felt an overwhelming joy at the celebration of life. At Jeremy’s humanist funeral I looked around at others I knew and I shared their grief for a personality which was simply irreplaceable. For Francis it was the same solidarity and love for someone we knew was a gentle man in every sense of the word.
John Piper was my old headmaster and I felt real grief to begin with that this great man went largely unheralded. But then the joy cut in. I remembered how I had knocked the top of my finger off playing football and how he had driven me to the hospital after his secretary had fainted at the sight of the bone sticking up. John waited with me all evening and right through the operation. Apparently he had always had a soft spot for me since my first year when I was awarded a 5/- book token for coming top in Maths, English and French but he had refused to hand out my selected choice of book, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (my affinity with CS Lewis was already apparent it seems), as it was far too childish for a 12-year-old young man!
Audrey was a tough one on the surface. She had always treated me like a son and I was invariably invited to all the family bashes. I was also friends with all her four sons, Wayne my ex-hurdles training partner and golfing buddy had tragically taken his own life a few years earlier, Mark had become business man extraordinaire, Tony was now a successful Manchester poet and Dave was/is and always will be one of the most special guys in the whole world. Audrey had suffered from mental health problems in recent years and this illness had alienated her from many old friends but magically everyone remembered the kind and loving Audrey we all knew for so long. I was touched by joy that day too.
This Christmas my brother Kevin came home from Ibiza for the first time in many years. It was an exhilarating time for me but tinged with great sadness as unlike him I was unable to enjoy the company of others in my family at this time. I initially felt pangs of grief but this was taken away and replaced by joy. Joy for everyone’s happiness and delight – mine too. You see, I know everyone is fit and well and happy and so all is right with the world.
Now all we need to do is experience joy through this latest credit-crunch. Read more books instead of clubbing it – not mine necessarily – give up the booze, stop smoking, cycle perhaps instead of using the car. Forget the rat race for a while. Try praying some time, read the Bible, give church a go. All these things are economically viable and can be very joyful.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
OK So I'm A Grumpy Old Man
As it’s the season of goodwill I thought I’d offer some advice to all those poor people who get taken in on a daily basis by unscrupulous salespersons.
Beware salesmen they often come in sheep’s clothing!
Eleven years ago my insurance company rep from Royal Sun Alliance knocked on my door and invited me to take out a 10-year savings plan. “Of course I can’t give you precise information but at the current rate of interest your money should almost double”. I can see the chap now and I remember thinking “I wonder where you will be in 10 years time”. On a beach in Lanzarote perhaps!
Last Christmas my plan matured and you might think it was a nice little earner as the previous 10 years had been a time of boom bang a bang bang – alas nooooooo. My final figure was far less than I had paid in and when I had the audacity to question this I was told “admin fees”.
While I am on the subject of RSA (now called More Than I think) I’d like to warn people at this stage that they are probably the most customer-unfriendly insurance company in Britain.
I have had my motor insurance and home insurance with them for most of the 30 years I have lived at my current abode and have never yet made a claim on either – however – I had the misfortune to be banned for speeding after speed cameras were placed on the road I live on and in total ignorance I sped through them at 38, 39 and 39mph on the first day they were implemented in February 2001. Three months later, in May, the summons’ arrived on my doorstep all at once and in September I was banned for four months on the totting-up procedure as the magistrate thought it wise to give me three points for the first offence, four for the second and five points for the third, although they were all awarded for a 24-hour period. Incidentally, I subsequently found out this year that I should never have been taken to court in the first place as there were three months between offence and summons!! Anyway my insurance company RSA took it upon themselves to write to me to the effect that I was now persona non grata and that was that. A little irked but undeterred I have continued to pay them my home insurance premium and in September put in a claim for structural damage to my hall wall as a gaping crack suddenly appeared. I sent the builder’s estimate in (£660) as they asked me to but eventually was told this was cosmetic and they would not be honouring my claim. Be warned everyone
Now back to investment issues. This Christmas I had been looking forward to a Capital Bond maturing. I opened a bank account with NatWest five years ago and immediately a personal investment banker called me into his office to tell me that my money would be best served by taking out a Capital Bond. He told me there were three types of Bond, High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk but all of them would DEFINITELY serve me better than the interest earned in the account I had opened. Yes, I fell for it again I’m afraid (but remember I didn’t know about my savings plan at this time) and the letter duly arrived on my doorstep last week congratulating me on my bond maturing and relaying to me how pleased they were to inform me that all I needed to do was sign the letter and send it back to the bank. I smelt a rat immediately when no figure was mentioned so I rang the bank and was eventually told that my bond was worth considerably less than five years ago. So much for the words of the investment banker who wasted several hours of my time five years ago and completely unsolicited I might add. Be warned everyone
It seems Christmas is not always the time for good cheer. On 28 December 2004 I purchased a laptop from PC World in Crawley. It never held a charge and had to be plugged in constantly.
I was busy getting my sports book out so didn’t have a chance to take it back initially but rang them up several times during the course of the year to inform them of the situation and they told me to bring it along when I am next in town. Unfortunately for me this was 29 December 2005 and the chap in the store seemed to take great relish in informing me that my warranty expired the day before. My explanation stood for nothing and another lesson was learnt. I bought another laptop this Christmas – from Currys : )
With me it is usually the principle and so the worst crime of all is when you know someone is taking advantage of you but you are helpless to do anything about it. I bought an ear cleaner from a mail order catalogue called Healthy Living in September – it cost me £15.99 i.e. £9.99 +p&p. It was advertised as having a ‘gentle suction action’ but laughably it was just a whirring noise with a light. My GP told me it was useless so I duly sent it back as the company asked me to. I checked my bank account in November to see that £9.99 had been credited and when I rang them last week was told they do not refund postage. Now come on guys I would have expected my original postage back plus the carriage in on the return. More than that I asked for an investigation as I felt this was a con and far from believing this was a faulty machine I rather fear that there could not possibly be a ‘gentle suction action’ on any of the stock as it has a solid head with no compartment for residue wax!
Be warned everyone Healthy Living could ruin your health.
The lessons learnt are twofold. Never be swayed by smooth-talking men in grey suits and if something seems to good to be true then it usually is.
A very happy new year to everyone
Beware salesmen they often come in sheep’s clothing!
Eleven years ago my insurance company rep from Royal Sun Alliance knocked on my door and invited me to take out a 10-year savings plan. “Of course I can’t give you precise information but at the current rate of interest your money should almost double”. I can see the chap now and I remember thinking “I wonder where you will be in 10 years time”. On a beach in Lanzarote perhaps!
Last Christmas my plan matured and you might think it was a nice little earner as the previous 10 years had been a time of boom bang a bang bang – alas nooooooo. My final figure was far less than I had paid in and when I had the audacity to question this I was told “admin fees”.
While I am on the subject of RSA (now called More Than I think) I’d like to warn people at this stage that they are probably the most customer-unfriendly insurance company in Britain.
I have had my motor insurance and home insurance with them for most of the 30 years I have lived at my current abode and have never yet made a claim on either – however – I had the misfortune to be banned for speeding after speed cameras were placed on the road I live on and in total ignorance I sped through them at 38, 39 and 39mph on the first day they were implemented in February 2001. Three months later, in May, the summons’ arrived on my doorstep all at once and in September I was banned for four months on the totting-up procedure as the magistrate thought it wise to give me three points for the first offence, four for the second and five points for the third, although they were all awarded for a 24-hour period. Incidentally, I subsequently found out this year that I should never have been taken to court in the first place as there were three months between offence and summons!! Anyway my insurance company RSA took it upon themselves to write to me to the effect that I was now persona non grata and that was that. A little irked but undeterred I have continued to pay them my home insurance premium and in September put in a claim for structural damage to my hall wall as a gaping crack suddenly appeared. I sent the builder’s estimate in (£660) as they asked me to but eventually was told this was cosmetic and they would not be honouring my claim. Be warned everyone
Now back to investment issues. This Christmas I had been looking forward to a Capital Bond maturing. I opened a bank account with NatWest five years ago and immediately a personal investment banker called me into his office to tell me that my money would be best served by taking out a Capital Bond. He told me there were three types of Bond, High Risk, Medium Risk and Low Risk but all of them would DEFINITELY serve me better than the interest earned in the account I had opened. Yes, I fell for it again I’m afraid (but remember I didn’t know about my savings plan at this time) and the letter duly arrived on my doorstep last week congratulating me on my bond maturing and relaying to me how pleased they were to inform me that all I needed to do was sign the letter and send it back to the bank. I smelt a rat immediately when no figure was mentioned so I rang the bank and was eventually told that my bond was worth considerably less than five years ago. So much for the words of the investment banker who wasted several hours of my time five years ago and completely unsolicited I might add. Be warned everyone
It seems Christmas is not always the time for good cheer. On 28 December 2004 I purchased a laptop from PC World in Crawley. It never held a charge and had to be plugged in constantly.
I was busy getting my sports book out so didn’t have a chance to take it back initially but rang them up several times during the course of the year to inform them of the situation and they told me to bring it along when I am next in town. Unfortunately for me this was 29 December 2005 and the chap in the store seemed to take great relish in informing me that my warranty expired the day before. My explanation stood for nothing and another lesson was learnt. I bought another laptop this Christmas – from Currys : )
With me it is usually the principle and so the worst crime of all is when you know someone is taking advantage of you but you are helpless to do anything about it. I bought an ear cleaner from a mail order catalogue called Healthy Living in September – it cost me £15.99 i.e. £9.99 +p&p. It was advertised as having a ‘gentle suction action’ but laughably it was just a whirring noise with a light. My GP told me it was useless so I duly sent it back as the company asked me to. I checked my bank account in November to see that £9.99 had been credited and when I rang them last week was told they do not refund postage. Now come on guys I would have expected my original postage back plus the carriage in on the return. More than that I asked for an investigation as I felt this was a con and far from believing this was a faulty machine I rather fear that there could not possibly be a ‘gentle suction action’ on any of the stock as it has a solid head with no compartment for residue wax!
Be warned everyone Healthy Living could ruin your health.
The lessons learnt are twofold. Never be swayed by smooth-talking men in grey suits and if something seems to good to be true then it usually is.
A very happy new year to everyone
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