Post No.5 - It's Pimm's O'Clock

Lenda in iconic London

Hi everyone! It's been a quiet week for us. Iv'e spent most of my time reading and watching the Olympics on tv. The coverage is very biased towards the Brits and it has been hard to follow the New Zealanders progress. But the British have really got in behind their team and it is good to see them doing well. We have explored a bit more of Birmingham by bus; the over day we went to Wolverhampton. Wow!  When I spoke with Nigel di Castiglione when we first arrived about St John's Harborne, he suggest I read Bill Johnson's book, "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind" as the best way to understand where he would like to take the congregation. It so happened that I had brought this book with me from NZ because I wanted to read it again, having done so last year, so I have been working my way through it carefully and prayerfully. It's implications are mind-blowing; it's what my sabbatical is all about, so can I encourage you to get a copy and read it with an open mind; there's a copy in St Andrew's library.

Lenda & Sonya; London at it's best!

On the weekend Lenda went to London to spend a few days with her niece, Sonya. She caught the slow train on Saturday morning (it cost about a fifth of the fast one) and arrived home early Monday afternoon. She loved the experience and especially the way London was in Olympic mode. She walked all over central London taking in the famous Monopoly realestate; she loved Harrods, and brought some mementos, but nothing sustantial, but she did see a dress valued at over 10,000 pounds! I wonder why she didn't buy a couple!! I stayed in Birmingham to read and connect with St John's, and in doing so discovered that I could ride a bike on these narrow and congested English roads without being killed (I've got the use of a mountain bike). Birmingham has a network of canals longer than Venice which are amazing placed to ride. Along many of them the old donkey paths (the canal boats used to be towed by donkeys in the days before the combustion engine) have been converted to cycle ways; it's a bit nerve-wracking when pedestrians or cyclists are coming the other way and need to pass; you just about need a life-jacket in some places! I wonder how many people have fallen in? When Lenda returned from London I took her for a short ride to St John's church during peak afternoon traffic. She wasn't as impressed as I was, but we are stilled married! This morning (Tuesday) we are catching the train to Manchester to spend 2 days with Stephen. We haven't seen him since we arrived so are really looking forward to giving him a hug and seeing a bit of his territory; it should be fun! Until next time, Ian & Lenda