potty
esther and kezia potting bulbs in the garden with their granny.
more domino challenges
today it was jane’s dad’s turn to do the domino challenge. interestingly he chose a different construction method which proved quite stable (though not as high as other attempts due to the limited supply of dominos).
church camouflage
faith and religion are two slightly different things. faith is what people believe whilst religion is too often about ceremony and self-effort.
the cool thing about christianity is that there’s nothing we can do ourselves to earn our way in to God’s favour. this can be annoying as it means all those nice things you do to help people don’t count for anything in terms of getting in to Heaven. But it’s actually fantastic news as none of us would have been good enough anyway.
what am i on about ? dunno. but i was thinking about how people get in the way of religion. i’m always concerned when i play music in church that i can easily distract people from whatever God is trying to tell people by being too loud or playing my comedy bass riffs. so how can people leading the church service become ‘invisible’ so only God and his word becomes visible to people ?
well, may be here is the answer. It’s Mark and he was doing the reading today. i noticed he was camouflaged against the church. his shoes, trousers and jacket all matched the surrounding step, wall and hymn boards. he was getting as close to being physically invisible as he could have been (without physically being somewhere else)
jolly bollards
there’s currently a children’s road safety feature in the Transport Museum in london. here are some kids sized smiley bollards for our enjoyment.
travelling home
this is really boring, so sorry !
on the way home from our fantastic fun filled day in london we travelled on one of those fancy new Aldante high speed trains. they are usually used for long distance journeys so i was quite impressed we got one for our slow stopper service.
could this be a glimpse of what’s to come ? will my commuting life become much more luxurious thanks to recent changes in the train franchise ?
somehow i doubt it, but it was fun anyway.
here are kezia and esther listening to jane reading stories to the carriage about fairies.
robyn hitchcock
we popped in to the Royal Festival Hall this afternoon for a cup of tea and a nice sit down. it’s a great place to sit and do nothing without feeling you are getting in the way of anyway.
anyway, who should walk by but (solo artist and ex-Softboy) Robyn Hitchcock . he was moving a speed but kezia (in her buggy) and i managed to catch up with him and after waiting a few minutes whilst he talked to the ticket desk i asked if i could take his photo.
“no” he said “i’m in a rush” and ran off. luckily i’d got a photo of him walking by. but it would have been nice to have got a closer one.
i think he was having trouble getting in to the venue next door so was quite flustered. i’m sure he’s a nice jolly chap usually.
the transport museum
you really should go to the london transport museum in covent garden london. it’s great. loads for adults and kids to do.
things like colouring and climbing on pretend buses whilst watching thomas the tank engine appeal to very small kids whilst being able to pretend to drive a tube train appealed to the older generation.
anyway, you should go there. we spent a good few hours in what is essentially a funny little warehouse in the centre of london.
portraits on the tube map
i thought it a nice idea to take pictures of myself and the girls on the tube map. the first one is my first ‘looking away self portrait’. i hoping to develop this theme.
road safety dog
here is kezia dressed as a dog in the transport museum. i think the idea is that if you are dressed as a dog all the cars in the area will slow down to look and say “aaaw, isn’t she cute”.
as a result they won’t crash in to you (although the distraction may cause them to veer up the opposite pavement in to a lamp post or something).
random friends
we went to london today and completly randomly bumped in to some old friends in covent garden. here are all the girls watching an opera singer (whilst the olds sat drinking coffee).
no paking fire engines
update: as requested, close-up of the fire-engine sign:
steve is famous too
remember on wednesday night i ended up on national tv for split second thanks to walking past live TV cameras in paddington ? (see here or here if not).
well, at one point a chap squeezed between the two main cast members who were singing in to each other’s faces. this man was our good friend (and esther and kezia’s godfather) Steve.
we spotted him on wednesday evening when we watched it but it was repeated this evening and i got a photo for you. so here he is (on the left by the pillar)
kezia’s art
i was working from home today and took half an hour out at lunchtime to go and have my sandwiches with esther at her school. i was SO completely nervous going along but it was fine.
all the kids were in fancy dress because it’s national book week (!) so it was even more surreal than i thought it was.
anyway, here’s a picture of kezia’s picture:
And here’s a picture of kezia doing a funny face. please do your own funny face whilst looking at kezia’s funny face to add to the total web fun-factor:
we are what we do
this looks fantastic. go there and do something now.
comment spam
comment spam is getting a bit out of hand and i think it’s artificially bumping up the visitor stats.
so i’ve changed the system a bit. so drop me an email if you have trouble commenting.
i’ve implemented some of the stuff described here:
london bridge
the man said please inform staff of any unattended items. no one was looking after this apple core. i wasn’t sure what to do. so i did nothing.
the balloon girl is back
remember this graffiti girl ? well, she got removed from the wall much to many people’s sadness.
but she’s reappeared down the path a little further next to a motorcycle parking place (opposite vinopolis for those searching it out). the bike is real.
