another education in quality music fom my archive :
1. Under the broadwalk - Tom Tom Club
2. Enjoy yourself - The Specials (whatever happened to the "AKA")
3. Land of ... - St Germain
4. I don't feel like dancing - Scissor Sisters
5. I'm gonna lasso santa claus - Brenda Lee
6. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow - Dean Martin (for the Die Hard fans!!)
7. Price tag - Jessie J (Live on Jules Holland 2010 - acoustic version)
8. Fools gold - Stone Roses
9. Games without frontiers - Peter Gabriel (Live version on the B side of Steam)
10. Stuck In The Middle With You Lyrics - Stealers Wheel (Resevoir Dogs)
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Fast lane theocracy ...
Good to heard Dave Holden give an old testament story relevance to living in living in the twenty first century. It was a thorough but you need to do a personal study of the 14ish books of the Bible to get a good picture in your mind of what is really going on. David becomes king - but it took some time from 1 Samuel 16 where God tells Samuel that David will be king, to 2 Samuel 5 where David actually is made king.
This time period is interesting - what happens if someone kills him or is he unkillable?! David has an interesting time - he is a theocrat (I think I've just made that word up!! Based on the word "Theocracy" he could talk to God and get an instant answer). David asked God direct questions and got direct answers - and all because of 1 Samuel 16:13b "... and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power."
David enquires of God : 2 Samuel 5:19 "Shall I go and attack the Philistines?" God instantly answers "Yes". David enquires of God again in 2 Samuel 5:23 and God again gives a very precise instruction as to what he should do. Theocracy in action - the Spirit of the Lord being upon him is what gave him this hotline to heaven!
Reading on from this story we get to see how David knew how to worship God and he wouldn't allow anything or anyone interfere with how he wanted to manifest this worship! But lets backtrack to 2 Samuel 5:13 where it kindly tells us a bit about Davids sex life - "he took more concubines and wives" oh how times have changed!! But on the downside, that's an awful lot of nagging!! And then onto chapter 6, David decides to transport the Ark of God. Again we see something interesting about David, he appears to be angry with God "David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah". Get over it!! You where told not to touch the Ark and he did so booosh!!
So David looses his bottle and leaves the Ark with Obed-Edom who reaps the benefits of having it in his house! But then David plucks up courage again to bring the Ark up to the City of David. But this time what on earth is flowing through Davids mind?! "Every six steps they sacrifice a bull and a fatterend calf" 2 Samuel 6 13. And then, David is dancing in such a way that I cant really imagine - the nearest I get is some kind of hippy dance from Woodstock which was acid induced!! But in the process I think he may have exposed himself in front of the young slave girls. Read it for yourself - Michal daughter of Saul didn't think to highly of the dance and had the audacity to confront David about it (2 Samuel 6:20).
That olde song we used to sing "I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King" (Matt Redman - Undignified), has a whole new meaning!! The challenge to get people to clap their hands in church, or go beyond tapping their foot to a upbeat number - well David wasn't reserved in his worship. But I don't think that is what Matt Redman had in mind!! Maybe a jump up in the air occasionally, or a pogo - nothing as extreme as a King Kurt concert!! But wow, David, would it be acceptable to dance like that today?!! People get upset at the sight of pants showing out the top of your trousers - imagine how those poor slave girls must have felt - scarred for life!!
So in summing up, somewhere between toe tapping and dancing like David there is a place where you should feel comfortable - but more importantly, what ever dance you manifest needs to be pleasing to God, so it needs to reflect what is going on in your heart rather then just being an act. God isn't looking at the act - He is looking at the heart. If it was the dance that counted then He will be excluding disabled people. If it was the singing that counted then He will be excluding the deaf and dumb, and those that are tone deaf! Worship is manifest in lifestyle and is reflective of what is going on inside you.
This time period is interesting - what happens if someone kills him or is he unkillable?! David has an interesting time - he is a theocrat (I think I've just made that word up!! Based on the word "Theocracy" he could talk to God and get an instant answer). David asked God direct questions and got direct answers - and all because of 1 Samuel 16:13b "... and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power."
David enquires of God : 2 Samuel 5:19 "Shall I go and attack the Philistines?" God instantly answers "Yes". David enquires of God again in 2 Samuel 5:23 and God again gives a very precise instruction as to what he should do. Theocracy in action - the Spirit of the Lord being upon him is what gave him this hotline to heaven!
Reading on from this story we get to see how David knew how to worship God and he wouldn't allow anything or anyone interfere with how he wanted to manifest this worship! But lets backtrack to 2 Samuel 5:13 where it kindly tells us a bit about Davids sex life - "he took more concubines and wives" oh how times have changed!! But on the downside, that's an awful lot of nagging!! And then onto chapter 6, David decides to transport the Ark of God. Again we see something interesting about David, he appears to be angry with God "David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah". Get over it!! You where told not to touch the Ark and he did so booosh!!
So David looses his bottle and leaves the Ark with Obed-Edom who reaps the benefits of having it in his house! But then David plucks up courage again to bring the Ark up to the City of David. But this time what on earth is flowing through Davids mind?! "Every six steps they sacrifice a bull and a fatterend calf" 2 Samuel 6 13. And then, David is dancing in such a way that I cant really imagine - the nearest I get is some kind of hippy dance from Woodstock which was acid induced!! But in the process I think he may have exposed himself in front of the young slave girls. Read it for yourself - Michal daughter of Saul didn't think to highly of the dance and had the audacity to confront David about it (2 Samuel 6:20).
That olde song we used to sing "I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King" (Matt Redman - Undignified), has a whole new meaning!! The challenge to get people to clap their hands in church, or go beyond tapping their foot to a upbeat number - well David wasn't reserved in his worship. But I don't think that is what Matt Redman had in mind!! Maybe a jump up in the air occasionally, or a pogo - nothing as extreme as a King Kurt concert!! But wow, David, would it be acceptable to dance like that today?!! People get upset at the sight of pants showing out the top of your trousers - imagine how those poor slave girls must have felt - scarred for life!!
So in summing up, somewhere between toe tapping and dancing like David there is a place where you should feel comfortable - but more importantly, what ever dance you manifest needs to be pleasing to God, so it needs to reflect what is going on in your heart rather then just being an act. God isn't looking at the act - He is looking at the heart. If it was the dance that counted then He will be excluding disabled people. If it was the singing that counted then He will be excluding the deaf and dumb, and those that are tone deaf! Worship is manifest in lifestyle and is reflective of what is going on inside you.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Greenwich - the place to be ...
And about time to! I've been banging on about this for years and now the rest of the world has finally caught up!! Greenwich has made the top 10 global places to visit in the Frommer's travel guide. Yes we have the Mean Time and the Meridian Line, great museums and places of interest. Totally geared for tourism with the O2 and Greenwich town centre. We have overground, Underground, DLR, river boat, easy access to the City Airport. Next year we are hosting a chunk of the 2012 Olympics and the whole world will be watching. We are getting a new station in the form of Crossrail, and I think I heard there might be a new port built for luxury cruisers to dock.
When the rest of the world is going down hill, things are looking bright for Greenwich. A great opportunity to show the world what Greenwich is all about next year for the Olympics/Paralympics and to bounce off that we have the London Marathon starting in Greenwich Park every year. Everyone has heard of us!! Greenwich is the place to visit and spend your money!
Get to the new Sammy Ofer Wing in the National Maritime Museum, and then to the Fan Museum in Crooms Hill, then to the Royal Observatory and state-of-the-art lazer show in the Planetarium, followed by a night at Greenwich Theatre or the O2. And soon to return - the famous tea clipper the Cutty Sark and the redesigned Cutty Sark Gardens and the revamped Greenwich Pier. The foot tunnels in Greenwich and Woolwich under the river Thames are getting a face life.
I think you'll be spoilt for choice! You could easily spend two weeks in Greenwich and leave feeling you haven't seen it all! The O2 was voted the worlds most popular music venue for the forth year. The Thames Barrier should be one of the wonders of the world!!
Come on - don't go abroad on holiday next year - come to Greenwich!! If its on your doorstep then you've got no excuse. For a taster have a look at one of my virtual tour websites www.virtual-greenwich.net .
When the rest of the world is going down hill, things are looking bright for Greenwich. A great opportunity to show the world what Greenwich is all about next year for the Olympics/Paralympics and to bounce off that we have the London Marathon starting in Greenwich Park every year. Everyone has heard of us!! Greenwich is the place to visit and spend your money!
Get to the new Sammy Ofer Wing in the National Maritime Museum, and then to the Fan Museum in Crooms Hill, then to the Royal Observatory and state-of-the-art lazer show in the Planetarium, followed by a night at Greenwich Theatre or the O2. And soon to return - the famous tea clipper the Cutty Sark and the redesigned Cutty Sark Gardens and the revamped Greenwich Pier. The foot tunnels in Greenwich and Woolwich under the river Thames are getting a face life.
I think you'll be spoilt for choice! You could easily spend two weeks in Greenwich and leave feeling you haven't seen it all! The O2 was voted the worlds most popular music venue for the forth year. The Thames Barrier should be one of the wonders of the world!!
Come on - don't go abroad on holiday next year - come to Greenwich!! If its on your doorstep then you've got no excuse. For a taster have a look at one of my virtual tour websites www.virtual-greenwich.net .
Friday, 11 November 2011
Jesus - Author of the Decalogue ...
As you may or may not know, I created the website for Templehouse Publishing for Adam. And his book The Jesus Discovery is well worth the cost if you want to know more about who Jesus was and who his father Joseph was. Sad to say I have gone years with the thinking that Jesus was a carpenter, just as I thought the fruit that Adam and Eve ate was an apple! The book suggests another school of thought as to the profession of Joseph and who Jesus was in the society He lived in.
During reading this book I couldn't help but repeatedly thinking "oh that bit makes more sense now!". The idea that Joseph was an architect working on building the Temple for Herod, to Jesus being a rabbi rather then just an ordinary uneducated citizen makes more sense. He knew the Torah because he spent His "missing years" studying it in the Temple. Taught by word-of-mouth rather then being read from a book.
Jesus is God - a part of the Holy Trinity. He is co-eternal. He was there in "the beginning". He is co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit and as such Jesus would have been co-author of The Ten Commandments or Ten Words or Decalogue. So He knew the spirit behind what these words where about. So from His Spirit He could talk confidently to rabbis and teachers of the law about what they really meant having divine insight. When He lost His parents (or His parents lost Him!) He was found teaching the teachers - at a very young age, and they where amazed! I have never appreciated that Jesus had any involvement in the writting of history in the Old Testament - He as strictly New Testament!! DER!!
If I owned a big software company and found an 8 year old boy that could write very good Perl scripts and was teaching me things I didn't know after spending my life studying the language, I would but him on the payroll!! Adam Bradford suggests the same - Jesus would have been "encouraged" into spending more time in the temple teaching the teachers new things - things they previously didn't understand. And they would have wanted Him there as much as possible. "not today guys - I've got to help my dad make tables and chairs" - I dont think so!! "We'll pay for that - and keep your family happy. You just keep teaching us what you know!" is a more lightly scenario.
After watching the Revelation TV interview of Adam, I discover how poor the English translation of our Bible really is. A lot has been lost over the years in terms of "context". Just looking at modes of transport in those days is very interesting, and how people communicated over long distances. Mark chapter 8 gives an account (I hate the term "tells the story"!) of Jesus feeding 4000. A familiar story but look again - "some of them have come a long distance". "Long distance" in our time is different to "long distance" in Jesus' time. Consider how those people who travelled "a long distance" would have even heard that Jesus would be at a "remote place" at a certain time. And what was their mode of transport. Was Jesus just a carpenter doing some spare time preaching?!! Or was He a very interesting "Teacher of the Law" that was recognised by His attire?
Jesus spent a lot of time in various synagogues teaching. Can any Joe Bloggs go into a synagogue and teach? He appears to be respected by rabbis and pharisees to the extent that they followed Him and listened to His every word. Something has been lost in translation!!
I would urge you to buy the book ;) and have a read for yourself. If you conclude that Adam is wrong in his school of thought then please let me and him know!!
Ephphatha!
During reading this book I couldn't help but repeatedly thinking "oh that bit makes more sense now!". The idea that Joseph was an architect working on building the Temple for Herod, to Jesus being a rabbi rather then just an ordinary uneducated citizen makes more sense. He knew the Torah because he spent His "missing years" studying it in the Temple. Taught by word-of-mouth rather then being read from a book.
Jesus is God - a part of the Holy Trinity. He is co-eternal. He was there in "the beginning". He is co-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit and as such Jesus would have been co-author of The Ten Commandments or Ten Words or Decalogue. So He knew the spirit behind what these words where about. So from His Spirit He could talk confidently to rabbis and teachers of the law about what they really meant having divine insight. When He lost His parents (or His parents lost Him!) He was found teaching the teachers - at a very young age, and they where amazed! I have never appreciated that Jesus had any involvement in the writting of history in the Old Testament - He as strictly New Testament!! DER!!
If I owned a big software company and found an 8 year old boy that could write very good Perl scripts and was teaching me things I didn't know after spending my life studying the language, I would but him on the payroll!! Adam Bradford suggests the same - Jesus would have been "encouraged" into spending more time in the temple teaching the teachers new things - things they previously didn't understand. And they would have wanted Him there as much as possible. "not today guys - I've got to help my dad make tables and chairs" - I dont think so!! "We'll pay for that - and keep your family happy. You just keep teaching us what you know!" is a more lightly scenario.
After watching the Revelation TV interview of Adam, I discover how poor the English translation of our Bible really is. A lot has been lost over the years in terms of "context". Just looking at modes of transport in those days is very interesting, and how people communicated over long distances. Mark chapter 8 gives an account (I hate the term "tells the story"!) of Jesus feeding 4000. A familiar story but look again - "some of them have come a long distance". "Long distance" in our time is different to "long distance" in Jesus' time. Consider how those people who travelled "a long distance" would have even heard that Jesus would be at a "remote place" at a certain time. And what was their mode of transport. Was Jesus just a carpenter doing some spare time preaching?!! Or was He a very interesting "Teacher of the Law" that was recognised by His attire?
Jesus spent a lot of time in various synagogues teaching. Can any Joe Bloggs go into a synagogue and teach? He appears to be respected by rabbis and pharisees to the extent that they followed Him and listened to His every word. Something has been lost in translation!!
I would urge you to buy the book ;) and have a read for yourself. If you conclude that Adam is wrong in his school of thought then please let me and him know!!
Ephphatha!
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Things to do before you die ...
A big well done to James for his sermon and presentation on Sunday. I may be going mad but does he speed up after the half way point?! Well I've missed the past three weeks due to other commitments but still had no joy finding the sermons on the NCC website so I could catch up - maybe they don't do sermons when I'm not there!! And where did all those new songs come from?!! More golden oldies please!) "And can it be", "How great thou art", "Will your anchor hold" to the sound of a pipe organ without drums!!
And what a blessing it was to see 5 babies being dedicated with all their possibly un-churched relatives - did I see people having to stand around the edge due to lack of chairs? An appropriate sermon and an easy way to get a house full. Maybe we should have a service dedicated to blessing the craft fair or praying for the football team!
Back to James, a break in the middle of a mini series which I have missed so far. A fantastic video presentation that gave a clear message for parenthood. I've been banging on about this for I don't know how long - The Sun newspaper recently ran a story on Baroness Greenfield who just happens to be a leading neuroscientist, saying that "Computer games 'are giving kids dementia'" - and according to James, children today spend on average 52 hours a week in front of a screen (personally I clock up over 100 hours and that hasn't effected me!!).
The essence of the talk was to not sit back and let society bring your kids up. Don't give in to the pressures of advertising etc or give in to the temptation of pursuing a career that takes you away from the joys of life. James quotes from John 10:10b "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (KJ). An "abundant life" - sounds good to me!!
Lets just look at our life for a minute, do we have the work/life balance nearly right? Do we pursue money or do we pursue our family? Are we more worried about work or the state of the planet, then we are about our kids having sex education when they are in primary school - Tower Hamlets schools teach it to 8 year olds - are you bothered? Information or innocents? Lets deprive our kids of their childhood because of teenage pregnancy! WAKE UP!! We can make a difference if we can be bothered. oppps - did I just rant?!
Back to the sermon. Does that mean we are given license to pursue our dreams? I don't think so. When you become a Christian a new part of you comes alive - your spirit. And when you become a Christian God will send His Helper - the Holy Spirit, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Gal:22-23 This is an abundant life - this is all we need for life. We came into this life with nothing and we are taking nothing with us when we leave - except that which is within our heart.
Thank you James for using MY rope analogy!! my version has a long washing line with a length at each end to represent co-eternity with our life somewhere in the middle of this time line. In my example I use a clothes pegs to represent different events in our life ie being born, going to school, getting married, retiring etc. But in terms of the sheer length of the clothes line, our life is a blip! And this is the meaning of life - what we do during this blip will determine what happens after we die. There is no backdoor into heaven.
James sums it up with a useful equation :
Jesus + nothing = Abundant life
Abundant life - Jesus = nothing
Not a difficult equation! You get a very simple choice in life - there are no other loops you need to jump through. As I summed up last week - Prayer, Study the Bible, Fellowship with Jesus followers and you wont go wrong. That is your responsibility.
There is no other reason for life on this planet - eternity is the only reason. What you choose now will effect you for eternity.
And James, did I hear you swear?!!!!!!!
And what a blessing it was to see 5 babies being dedicated with all their possibly un-churched relatives - did I see people having to stand around the edge due to lack of chairs? An appropriate sermon and an easy way to get a house full. Maybe we should have a service dedicated to blessing the craft fair or praying for the football team!
Back to James, a break in the middle of a mini series which I have missed so far. A fantastic video presentation that gave a clear message for parenthood. I've been banging on about this for I don't know how long - The Sun newspaper recently ran a story on Baroness Greenfield who just happens to be a leading neuroscientist, saying that "Computer games 'are giving kids dementia'" - and according to James, children today spend on average 52 hours a week in front of a screen (personally I clock up over 100 hours and that hasn't effected me!!).
The essence of the talk was to not sit back and let society bring your kids up. Don't give in to the pressures of advertising etc or give in to the temptation of pursuing a career that takes you away from the joys of life. James quotes from John 10:10b "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (KJ). An "abundant life" - sounds good to me!!
Lets just look at our life for a minute, do we have the work/life balance nearly right? Do we pursue money or do we pursue our family? Are we more worried about work or the state of the planet, then we are about our kids having sex education when they are in primary school - Tower Hamlets schools teach it to 8 year olds - are you bothered? Information or innocents? Lets deprive our kids of their childhood because of teenage pregnancy! WAKE UP!! We can make a difference if we can be bothered. oppps - did I just rant?!
Back to the sermon. Does that mean we are given license to pursue our dreams? I don't think so. When you become a Christian a new part of you comes alive - your spirit. And when you become a Christian God will send His Helper - the Holy Spirit, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Gal:22-23 This is an abundant life - this is all we need for life. We came into this life with nothing and we are taking nothing with us when we leave - except that which is within our heart.
Thank you James for using MY rope analogy!! my version has a long washing line with a length at each end to represent co-eternity with our life somewhere in the middle of this time line. In my example I use a clothes pegs to represent different events in our life ie being born, going to school, getting married, retiring etc. But in terms of the sheer length of the clothes line, our life is a blip! And this is the meaning of life - what we do during this blip will determine what happens after we die. There is no backdoor into heaven.
James sums it up with a useful equation :
Jesus + nothing = Abundant life
Abundant life - Jesus = nothing
Not a difficult equation! You get a very simple choice in life - there are no other loops you need to jump through. As I summed up last week - Prayer, Study the Bible, Fellowship with Jesus followers and you wont go wrong. That is your responsibility.
There is no other reason for life on this planet - eternity is the only reason. What you choose now will effect you for eternity.
And James, did I hear you swear?!!!!!!!
Friday, 4 November 2011
Enjoy yourself ...
Yes, after several months of painful waiting and waiting and waiting - marking the days off in the diary - the 3rd November 2011 is the day! Ally-pally - The Specials - this is it!! You cant focus on your work coz you've got tunes going round in your head - Rude boy, Rude boy, Rude boy! Well I knew it would be a surreal night out coz of who I was going with but it was far beyond what I expected. Mandy's brothers and a load of Chelsea fans - and setting off at 4 so we could get a few jars down our neck prior to kick off!!
It's a sad day when you have to borrow your sons Fred Perry to go to a concert, and your father-in-laws cardie so you blend in! ha-ho. Well I tarted up and set off on the unpredictable 51 bus - it could take 30 minutes or it could take over an hour to get from sunny Plumstead to monsoon St. Marys cray station.
And the heavens opened just as I got off the bus outside PC World Sevenoaks Way. There's no way I was going to walk in that! I was soaked just walking 2 meters from the bus door to the shelter. Things couldn't get worse so I waited and waited and then gave up waiting and legged it! Got to the station and was quite dry compared with Chris! Who cares - its the Specials!! 8 of us in all - and all bar-one had short cropped hair - or balding!!
From there cider, lager in bags ready for the off. all normal so far - lets see what effect booze has!! Onto the train and a rather empty carriage - chit-chat but then it became apparent that small talk was not on the agenda - Neil was with us!! I cant begin to describe Neils volume - it was how you would try and talk to someone who was standing a meter away from you in a night club!! Volume setting was set to "full on"!! Quite bizarre - A son he called Zippy, anecdotes about locking his wife in the boot of the car, showing his mates topless photos of her when she was pregnant, telling his outlaws to go-forth coz they supported united! He got up to use the toilet and the Irish lady behind us describe him as a "picture of domestic bliss!".
And then the question "are Tottenham playing at home?" emmmm!! do we have time to do a detour? Fortunately they weren't as we may have missed the gig. off at Victoria to the Weatherspoons - do I drink or don't I? So I splashed out on two bags of tissues anticipating my nose exploding as it normally does after the sniff of alcohol. A cheap round at £28!! And more stories from Neil "I've got no sympathy for fat people!", "when my boy is old enough for the BB I'm going to go back as a helper" (ex Bromley "pacemakers" Boys Brigade trumpet player), more anecdotes about mates that had done time for holding up off-licenses and post offices with a banana!!
More beer, more beer - is that the time? And we're off again - don't bother checking the tube map, lets just get on the first train that is roughly going in any direction - or follow anyone that looks like they like de specials!! More stories from Neil as he entertains the whole packed train weather they like it or not! not sure to laugh or cry or both - I did both!! "WE ARE THE MODS, WE ARE THE MODS" - speak for yourself - I'm a psychobilly ;) and Pauls a rocka!
"Now here's a couple that looks like they're going where we're goin' - we'll follow them!" - sounds like a plan. Yes Wood Green - and a pub. Off for a few more jars, Daren for a Kebab and then the excitement of a packed "The Specials" (needs!) bus to the palace. Still feel quite sober - and my nose is behaving!! Ally Pally and straight to the bar - more booze and into the arena. Not sure about the support act so back out again to the bar!! 5 minutes later and back in - this time to the bar at the back of the arena. Not my idea of a good place to watch your favourite group after spending so much on a ticket so I'm off to the front! A long fight to the front but my timing was perfect.
100 meters of crowd to get through so I set off as they started to play their intro video - "BOOOO BOOOOO HOOOORAY BOOOOOO BOOOOO" to loads of political photos - prime ministers, Dunblane, riots, bomb blasts - all controversial with a photo of Steven Lawrence which for me was out of place. Well whilst the crowd was focused on BOOOOOZE and HOOOORAYS I shot through right to the middle of the front of the crowd with that crowd protection bar the only thing between me and the stage. Not a soul in front of me except "de boucers"!!
RUDE BOY RUDE BOY RUDE BOY!!!
and if you want to get an idea of what it was like go to YouTube and type in "the specials Alexandra palace" nite klub, Stupid marriage, rudy, enjoy yourself ..... you'll either like it or you'll hate it!! How loud? and on that note I'm glad "we're havin' all the fun" was a Fun Boy Three number as the mention of "I like manchester united" may have tipped the Chelsea boys over the edge and we would have had a riot on our hands!!
God moves in mysterious ways and has a bizarre sense of humour - there I was with a lady on either side of me, being crushed by 12000 fans, full of beer, jumping up 'n' down like I was 20 years younger - bliss!! I had to cross my arms across my chest to stop the pain of the crowd pushing my chest against the metal barrier. I'd been standing like that for some time - jumping up 'n' down, singing along exchanging small talk occasionally with the girl on my left when I noticed that my hand was on someone Else's hand! Who knows how long for - 1 minute? half an hour? Well she didn't look dead from the neck up!! My brain was disfunctioning and I wasn't sure if it would be wise to pull my hand away quick! I glanced behind to see if she had a fella and there was a guy pinned quite close against her back so I put two and two together and got zero!! A few songs later my esophagus started sending signal to my brain and at this point I noticed she was holding her phone camera with both hands!!!!!!!! Whose hand was that's?!! I changed position and to my horror the mystery hand left the barrier and rose - and in the light I observed a hairy arm!! "oh woops-a-daisy, this is area seven" as the song goes!! So I decided it was time to make an exit and beckoned "de bouncers" to pull me out and hast my way to the gents - enough said!! Judging by the bruises I've now got up my arms and across my chest I think it was a wise move. Still breathing at least!! Well I think I got my moneys worth - legendary!!
Watched the rest of the gig from the back and decided to dance till I dropped - and drop I nearly did!! My legs we're both dead - lack of blood circulating or just full of BEER!! But I survived and there was no riot as expected during "do the dog". Old age creeping in! Weirdly all their lyrics were still relevant except the intro to "do the dog" which may have sounded a bit strange if it was updated. "mods, rockers, hippies and skin 'eads" no!! "nemos, goths, yardies and people that like the X factor" doesn't really go!!
We'll - job done! A gallon of sweat down the boys Fred! A stretched cardie, wet trousers, shoes full of rain from St. Marys! who cares what the time is or how we're getting home - the night is young and we've just witnessed a legendary act! But back to reality - where is the free bus back to Wood Green. Neils going off on one "OI BALDY - LET US ON THE F-ING BUS!" (a tad ironic!) well we got on in the end and sang our way back to Wood Green - one chorus of "enjoy yourself"!!!
The evening mellowed out as us ole-timers started to show our age - but not before Neil told a couple of Turkish football supports to go forth back to their own country - but in not so many words. We were descending on the escalators and these two singing Turks returning from who knows where, very kindly singing some strange song we didn't understand as they went up the opposite escalators. Neil didn't take to kindly to a scarf that didn't read "CHELSEA" so on that note "F- OFF YOU FOREIGN ..............." - I thought he would run after them but I think the train beckoned and he saw sense! More songs back to Victoria with a burst of "OH WE ALL HATE LEEDS" from Chris and a rush of various other famous weird Chelsea anthems!! And the occasional spurt of "making your mind up" by bucks fizz!! I simply don't get it!
Things just aren't quite what they seem!!!!
It's a sad day when you have to borrow your sons Fred Perry to go to a concert, and your father-in-laws cardie so you blend in! ha-ho. Well I tarted up and set off on the unpredictable 51 bus - it could take 30 minutes or it could take over an hour to get from sunny Plumstead to monsoon St. Marys cray station.
And the heavens opened just as I got off the bus outside PC World Sevenoaks Way. There's no way I was going to walk in that! I was soaked just walking 2 meters from the bus door to the shelter. Things couldn't get worse so I waited and waited and then gave up waiting and legged it! Got to the station and was quite dry compared with Chris! Who cares - its the Specials!! 8 of us in all - and all bar-one had short cropped hair - or balding!!
From there cider, lager in bags ready for the off. all normal so far - lets see what effect booze has!! Onto the train and a rather empty carriage - chit-chat but then it became apparent that small talk was not on the agenda - Neil was with us!! I cant begin to describe Neils volume - it was how you would try and talk to someone who was standing a meter away from you in a night club!! Volume setting was set to "full on"!! Quite bizarre - A son he called Zippy, anecdotes about locking his wife in the boot of the car, showing his mates topless photos of her when she was pregnant, telling his outlaws to go-forth coz they supported united! He got up to use the toilet and the Irish lady behind us describe him as a "picture of domestic bliss!".
And then the question "are Tottenham playing at home?" emmmm!! do we have time to do a detour? Fortunately they weren't as we may have missed the gig. off at Victoria to the Weatherspoons - do I drink or don't I? So I splashed out on two bags of tissues anticipating my nose exploding as it normally does after the sniff of alcohol. A cheap round at £28!! And more stories from Neil "I've got no sympathy for fat people!", "when my boy is old enough for the BB I'm going to go back as a helper" (ex Bromley "pacemakers" Boys Brigade trumpet player), more anecdotes about mates that had done time for holding up off-licenses and post offices with a banana!!
More beer, more beer - is that the time? And we're off again - don't bother checking the tube map, lets just get on the first train that is roughly going in any direction - or follow anyone that looks like they like de specials!! More stories from Neil as he entertains the whole packed train weather they like it or not! not sure to laugh or cry or both - I did both!! "WE ARE THE MODS, WE ARE THE MODS" - speak for yourself - I'm a psychobilly ;) and Pauls a rocka!
"Now here's a couple that looks like they're going where we're goin' - we'll follow them!" - sounds like a plan. Yes Wood Green - and a pub. Off for a few more jars, Daren for a Kebab and then the excitement of a packed "The Specials" (needs!) bus to the palace. Still feel quite sober - and my nose is behaving!! Ally Pally and straight to the bar - more booze and into the arena. Not sure about the support act so back out again to the bar!! 5 minutes later and back in - this time to the bar at the back of the arena. Not my idea of a good place to watch your favourite group after spending so much on a ticket so I'm off to the front! A long fight to the front but my timing was perfect.
100 meters of crowd to get through so I set off as they started to play their intro video - "BOOOO BOOOOO HOOOORAY BOOOOOO BOOOOO" to loads of political photos - prime ministers, Dunblane, riots, bomb blasts - all controversial with a photo of Steven Lawrence which for me was out of place. Well whilst the crowd was focused on BOOOOOZE and HOOOORAYS I shot through right to the middle of the front of the crowd with that crowd protection bar the only thing between me and the stage. Not a soul in front of me except "de boucers"!!
RUDE BOY RUDE BOY RUDE BOY!!!
and if you want to get an idea of what it was like go to YouTube and type in "the specials Alexandra palace" nite klub, Stupid marriage, rudy, enjoy yourself ..... you'll either like it or you'll hate it!! How loud? and on that note I'm glad "we're havin' all the fun" was a Fun Boy Three number as the mention of "I like manchester united" may have tipped the Chelsea boys over the edge and we would have had a riot on our hands!!
God moves in mysterious ways and has a bizarre sense of humour - there I was with a lady on either side of me, being crushed by 12000 fans, full of beer, jumping up 'n' down like I was 20 years younger - bliss!! I had to cross my arms across my chest to stop the pain of the crowd pushing my chest against the metal barrier. I'd been standing like that for some time - jumping up 'n' down, singing along exchanging small talk occasionally with the girl on my left when I noticed that my hand was on someone Else's hand! Who knows how long for - 1 minute? half an hour? Well she didn't look dead from the neck up!! My brain was disfunctioning and I wasn't sure if it would be wise to pull my hand away quick! I glanced behind to see if she had a fella and there was a guy pinned quite close against her back so I put two and two together and got zero!! A few songs later my esophagus started sending signal to my brain and at this point I noticed she was holding her phone camera with both hands!!!!!!!! Whose hand was that's?!! I changed position and to my horror the mystery hand left the barrier and rose - and in the light I observed a hairy arm!! "oh woops-a-daisy, this is area seven" as the song goes!! So I decided it was time to make an exit and beckoned "de bouncers" to pull me out and hast my way to the gents - enough said!! Judging by the bruises I've now got up my arms and across my chest I think it was a wise move. Still breathing at least!! Well I think I got my moneys worth - legendary!!
Watched the rest of the gig from the back and decided to dance till I dropped - and drop I nearly did!! My legs we're both dead - lack of blood circulating or just full of BEER!! But I survived and there was no riot as expected during "do the dog". Old age creeping in! Weirdly all their lyrics were still relevant except the intro to "do the dog" which may have sounded a bit strange if it was updated. "mods, rockers, hippies and skin 'eads" no!! "nemos, goths, yardies and people that like the X factor" doesn't really go!!
We'll - job done! A gallon of sweat down the boys Fred! A stretched cardie, wet trousers, shoes full of rain from St. Marys! who cares what the time is or how we're getting home - the night is young and we've just witnessed a legendary act! But back to reality - where is the free bus back to Wood Green. Neils going off on one "OI BALDY - LET US ON THE F-ING BUS!" (a tad ironic!) well we got on in the end and sang our way back to Wood Green - one chorus of "enjoy yourself"!!!
The evening mellowed out as us ole-timers started to show our age - but not before Neil told a couple of Turkish football supports to go forth back to their own country - but in not so many words. We were descending on the escalators and these two singing Turks returning from who knows where, very kindly singing some strange song we didn't understand as they went up the opposite escalators. Neil didn't take to kindly to a scarf that didn't read "CHELSEA" so on that note "F- OFF YOU FOREIGN ..............." - I thought he would run after them but I think the train beckoned and he saw sense! More songs back to Victoria with a burst of "OH WE ALL HATE LEEDS" from Chris and a rush of various other famous weird Chelsea anthems!! And the occasional spurt of "making your mind up" by bucks fizz!! I simply don't get it!
Things just aren't quite what they seem!!!!
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Birthing pool baptism and the fire that followed ...
Sunday was another opportunity to visit our old POW (Place of Worship) CBCF where the son of my ole school mate from Bluecoat days was getting baptised. Yes I am beginning to feel old! A bit disappointed the tables weren't out as they normally are on a Sunday morning for us to sit around - but then again the hall was packed without tables. Great to hear that personal prophecy and words of knowledge aren't dead! Quite refreshing to hear so may from such a range of people- quite envious!!
The birthing pool was a novelty - no reasonably sized human could ever lie down in it so you have to stand at one side and as you descend into a kneeling position the guys doing the bap will lower you backwards til you go totally under - but how much needs to remain dry before it is announced null and void!! And why don't babies drown when they are born in one of these?!!!!! DER! I hope they washed it!
And afterwards for some serious nosh from around the planet - arrived at 10:20 - left at after 3:00 and it felt normal - apart from the small fire that I put out with my coffee! I think a child may have plugged the water heater back in - without it being in water which isn't good! and it just caught fire. Baptism and fire in the same service cant all be bad!!
It was good to hear the Healing On The Streets (HOTS) had a guy waiting half hour for the team to arrive because his mate had been healed the previous week! WOW!! And they had a constant stream of people this week that wanted prayer - again envious - living the dream!!
And the sermon - with PowerPoint - Read the Bible, Pray, Fellowship - if you keep to these then you wont go far wrong! Nice one Mike - Good to hear the good ole beach missions getting another mention! And lets not forget Joseph leading the worship and Peter on the drums - that was refreshing to see "da youff" being utilised. A good time was had by all - well done!
The birthing pool was a novelty - no reasonably sized human could ever lie down in it so you have to stand at one side and as you descend into a kneeling position the guys doing the bap will lower you backwards til you go totally under - but how much needs to remain dry before it is announced null and void!! And why don't babies drown when they are born in one of these?!!!!! DER! I hope they washed it!
And afterwards for some serious nosh from around the planet - arrived at 10:20 - left at after 3:00 and it felt normal - apart from the small fire that I put out with my coffee! I think a child may have plugged the water heater back in - without it being in water which isn't good! and it just caught fire. Baptism and fire in the same service cant all be bad!!
It was good to hear the Healing On The Streets (HOTS) had a guy waiting half hour for the team to arrive because his mate had been healed the previous week! WOW!! And they had a constant stream of people this week that wanted prayer - again envious - living the dream!!
And the sermon - with PowerPoint - Read the Bible, Pray, Fellowship - if you keep to these then you wont go far wrong! Nice one Mike - Good to hear the good ole beach missions getting another mention! And lets not forget Joseph leading the worship and Peter on the drums - that was refreshing to see "da youff" being utilised. A good time was had by all - well done!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)