When I'm 54........

Celebrated my 54th birthday today. Wrote a sermon, had a mole removed from my head, ate Chinese. Nothing particularly spectacular, but at 54 you really don't expect anything spectacular. Bill Clinton spoke at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester today. He is something of a god over here. He is still amazingly articulate and persuasive.

A few more cows

Bath from Solsbury Hill

Swainswick Valley (also the last hill on the walk)

I've added a few more photographs from my Circuit of Bath Walk. I recovered quite nicely thank you.

The River Avon

Churchyard in Bathampton

The village of Swainswick

Cows greeting me as the walk ended

CIRCUIT OF BATH WALK

I walked 20 miles yesterday for Julian House -a homeless charity here in Bath. The walk was sandwiched between 2 worship services. One in the morning at Weston Methodist Church as part of a ecumenical pulpit exchange. And after I had completed the walk I raced to Central United Reformed Church for an evening communion service. I raised nearly £400 ($780) for the charity and completed the walk in around six hours. Which wasn't bad considering the undulating terrain. Most of the walk was through open country and small villages. But a couple of times you were able to get some panoramic views of Bath itself. More photographs at a later time.

CIRCUIT OF BATH WALK

I participated in the Circuit of Bath Walk today. It was twenty hilly miles around Bath for the local homeless charity. I did it and still conducted two worship services. Details and photographs to follow. I need to go to bed!

Mark of the beast

The British have always been astonished at how Prime Minister Tony Blair was so willing to follow President George W. Bush into Iraq. They have also been amazed at how he has staunchly supported the President when most of the British people have become vehemently opposed to the Anglo/American Middle Eastern policy. Blair is a Labour Prime Minister who modeled his early leadership after the 'third way' of Bill Clinton. But he has been more supportive of Bush than even the opposition Tories. Why this unbridled support of Bush?

The answer may finally have become apparent. Look at the portion of PM Blair's forehead that I circled from The Sunday Times of 17 September. Could the unmistakable 'W' connote a sinister demonic hold that the President has over the Prime Minister? Could this be the 'mark of the beast' of biblical prophecy? Please, Tony, say it ain't so!

View from back of upper gallery

Minister's view from Pulpit

Pew level view of Central URC

CENTRAL UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

The photographs are some interior shots of Central United Reformed Church -one of the three URC churches that Maurene and I serve. This is the largest and the most historic of the three. It was built in 1789 and was first served by William Jay who was its minister for 63 years! This past weekend the church was opened as part of Heritage Open Days, one of six locations in Bath and several hundred throughout the United Kingdom. We had 157 visitors and distributed leaflets in Spanish and French as well as English. Maurene and I have yet to use the high pulpit and prefer to remain grounded behind the table. As some point one of us will summon up the courage to climb to the top, hopefully without suffering oxygen deprivation or a nosebleed.

My day off. . .

Friday is my 'normal' day off -although I seldom take the full day. Usually, I do get out to The Park a golf resort which is about 4 miles from our house. This is the hotel that overlooks the practice green.

What makes the course so special is that it has two 18 hole courses that are entirely different in character. I usually play The Cromwell course, named after Oliver Cromwell. The park was the site of a famous Royalist vs. Parliamentarian battle.

The Cromwell Course is mostly open with large undulating greens and holes 6 through 14 are played on the side of a rather large hill (in Indiana we'd probably call it a mountain). On sunny days you can see the south of Wales from the highest point on the course and the beautiful countryside that runs to Bristol and the Bristol Channel. On rainy days, you can barely see to the end of your golf club. Fortunately, this summer has been quite dry and sunny. But, over the past few days the autumnal winds, rain, fog and coolness have returned.

The Crown Course is a tree lined relatively flat course that is easier to walk but requires great accuracy.

You can discover more about The Park by going to www.theparkresort.com. Maybe it will tempt some of the family to come over.

Front view

Side view

Front view

Without what?

The top photograph is of St. Michael's Without. St. Michael's Without is a historic church near Bath's city centre. It is so named because it lay outside of the city walls, as opposed to the other St. Michael's that was within the city walls.

Clever, huh?

The bottom two photographs are not of the city wall, but of the late 19th century walls that surround our house. Someone, whilst Maurene and I were teaching a class, decided to hit the wall with their automobile or lorry (the neighbours are betting it was a lorry.) You might know a lorry by its more familiar American name -semi. Whatever caused the damage, the culprit got away with only a small amount of paint and some plastic left behind as evidence. The Bath police will be glad to file a report as soon as I come 'down to the station'. Socialist police forces can't afford the petrol to come out and file a proper report. Hence my crime scene photographs.

Anyway, the appropriate church authorities have been informed and I am assured that a 'wall man' will be on the task straightaway.

I hope you get the connection between St. Michael's and our predicament. If not, I am very sorry (for you.)

DRIVING LESSON

Whilst I have learned to negotiate 'round-a-bouts' and driving on the left side of the road, parallel parking on the opposite side of the street on Britain's narrow roads continues to be a problem.

But, I got a friendly lesson from a helpful passerby this afternoon. Maurene and I had to head into the city and a woman observed me squeezing into a not-to-narrow space. When I got out of the car, she said, "Can I give you a tip?" I said sure, thinking she was going to give me some money for my excellent job of parking -I actually thought I'd done quite well. She proceeded to explain in some detail how to park a car. She qualified it by saying that 'someone had given her the same tip a year ago'. She admitted that before that time she was abysmal at parking.

I quickly gave a meek 'thank you'.

After she turned and headed down the pavement, I gave her a friendly gesture of recognition to let her know I had heard every word she said.

LAND OF HOPE AND GLORY
All photos are captures from our television.

One of the things we will miss since we have moved to Bath from London is Proms in the Park. The concert takes place in Hyde Park early in the month of September is held at the end of a significant music festival that takes place in the Royal Albert Hall (across the street from Hyde Park.) The festival's primary sponsor is the BBC. We had attended Proms in the Park five of the last six years. This year, 40,000 people attended but Maurene and I were forced to watch from the comfort of our living room. No rain, no early autumn chill, but a feeling of separation from the great party and raucous atmosphere.