A New Record

I set a new record getting to work today. Thanks to following some other cyclists and a little bit of experimentation, I made the 5.5 mile trip in 20 minutes 15 seconds (keep in mind this is going through London at morning rush hour). This is the first time I have followed this magic new route, and I think I can even improve on that time a little. My previous record was 27 minutes to bike to work, so you can see what an improvement this is. For your entertainment, (or in case you ever need to get from Forest Hill to London Bridge) here is a map of the route…

JE

Note: there is a bit of a loop at the beginning of the route. This slight detour is necessary to avoid a giant hill!

Foggy Ideas...

I find that wandering around in the great outdoors often causes my thoughts to wander in a spiritual direction. When I am confronted with the beauty of the real world as God created it, I find my faith growing stronger and I feel closer to Him. The flipside is that that when I am lost in the urban jungle of London, God sometimes seems a bit removed and remote.

With this in mind I learned a little spiritual lesson when I was hiking in Wales last weekend. The goal of the hike was to climb two different peaks in the Black Mountains. Usually when one climbs peaks, it is with the intention of getting a better view of the world below. This is what I was looking forward to, having heard that there were spectacular views of the countryside and the valley, once I reached the top. The trouble was that I was surrounded by fog for almost the entirety of the hike. Most of the time I could only see a few yards ahead of me. This limited vision really caused me to focus on the beauty that was at hand rather than the far reaching beauty that was spread out around. And on the rare occasion when the clouds did part, I found the view absolutely breathtaking.

My little trip in the Welsh hills is much like our spiritual journey through this world. How we long to see the big picture, to know exactly what God’s plan is for our lives. Wouldn’t it be great to be removed from time like Him, to see where we are going and where we have been all at the same time, to really see how it all fits together instead of being surrounded by the fog of this world. Of course we know it does not work this way. We have a direction, a hill that we have to climb, but we can’t always see where the path leads. It can be frustrating, especially for those of us that long for control over our lives.

God has his reasons for not completely revealing his plans to us. How would we as humans react if we instantly knew the fullness of His plans? We would not be able to focus, learn, and grow each day. Instead we would be distracted and overawed, unable to live the life given to us. Still I struggle with this concept, at times frustrated because I don’t know all the details.

Our Heavenly Father is well aware of the struggles of His children, and from time to time, He does allow the clouds to part. It is on these occasions that we are able to see more clearly and the beauty, complexity, and grace of God’s plans flashes before our eyes leaving us encouraged and exhilarated.

JE

Camper Van Trip #001: Hay on Wye

We are back from our trip to Hay on Wye in Wales and I am happy to report that the van performed flawlessly!

All of the exciting pictures are here!

We left early on Friday morning. Sadly it still was not early enough to avoid the traffic getting out of London. We live in south-east London and Wales is to the north-west of London. This means that we have to cross the entire city to get there. It took about an hour and a half just to get to the other side. Once we were out of London, things went pretty smoothly (aside from some construction in Oxford that held us up for a while.



We got to the camp site around 12PM. When I checked in, I got made fun of for saying, “I have a reservation for a campsite”. They thought that was hilarious, “you want to rent a whole campsite do you, or just one pitch?” Oh well, I have gotten used to making an ass of myself, being a foreigner in a strange land…



We then headed into the town of Hay on Wye to grab some lunch and for Heather to get a preview of all of the book shops that she would be exploring on Saturday. After wandering around the shops and getting ice cream at Shepherds Ice Cream, we took the dogs for a walk and headed back to the campsite. We went to bed quite early, tired out from the driving and early start.

On Saturday, the real adventure began. I dropped Heather in town to hunt for books, and I headed off to the Black Mountains. Amazingly, it was not raining at all. The downside is that it was quite foggy and cloudy. As I headed up into the mountains, the visibility was very poor. I knew that there were some peaks that I was going to hike up, but I could not see them from the parking spot. I did have a map and a compass, so I headed off in what I thought was the right direction.



I had a little trouble finding the beginning of the trail, so I ended up climbing straight up the side of the first peak before I ran into the real trail. Since I could not see the views due to the clouds I was forced to focus on the landscape in front of me and it was really beautiful. The grass was so vividly green and very spongy, growing in little clumps were purple and yellow heather like plants, and there were small outcroppings of rock dotted about. The first peak I climbed was Hay Bluff which is supposed to look over the town of Hay on Wye. I’m sure the town was down there somewhere, but I could not see it.



The next peak that I climbed was Lord Hereford’s Knob (yes, I do find the name amusing). The clouds cleared for a couple of seconds to reveal an amazing view as I climbed. There were little herds of sheep and horses scattered around the hill side. Again I lost the main trail as I climbed and ended going up the steep hard way. On the way back down from the knob, the clouds cleared again and got to see some more views of the countryside. I believe it really is one of the most beautiful places I have been. The richness of the green grass, the gently rolling hills, and the bushy clumps of trees, the whole area seems untouched by time.



Once back in town, I got together with Heather again and found out the damage to the bank account (the downside of leaving Heather alone to go shopping while I go hiking is that I cannot monitor her purchases). That evening we enjoyed a pasta dinner cooked in the van. We had it with a wonderful bottle of red Spanish wine that was given to us by a friend of ours as a gift for some work that I had done on her house. Apparently you cannot buy this wine in England, but she likes it so much that she imports it. After finishing the bottle between us, I can see why she goes to the trouble, it really was nice. Hopefully next time she orders, we can buy a couple of bottles too.

We left for home late on Sunday morning and pulled over on the way to cook a quick lunch. The drive back through London was a bit smoother than when we left, but not much better. Though the bed in the van is quite comfortable, there is nothing like the comfort of my own bed. It was very sad to wake up to my alarm this morning and head back to work…

JE

Football vs Football

Being an American in England, I often get asked the question, “Which do you like more, Football [soccer for you Americans reading this], or American Football”. When I weigh all the pros and cons, real football [soccer] will always come out on top for me. That is not to say that I don’t love American football too. So here are a few thoughts on the merits of the two different games.

Real Football
First of all, at least the name makes sense for this sport. With limited subs, the 11 players on each team have 90 minutes in which they fight it out. The clock is continuous, so the game can really flow. Once the coach has prepared the team with a game plan and a formation, he has little impact on the activity on the pitch. Every player has to be intelligent, fulfilling multiple roles; everyone attacks when in possession and every one defends when the opponents have the ball. The game is truly international, with great players coming from all over the world. In addition to all of the great local rivalries that exist in various countries, there are great rivalries between club teams from different countries. Every year the very best teams in the world battle it out in continental competitions. On a personal level, it is a great sport to play. Though it is not really “safe” (no sport is really safe for me), it is a great way to get exercise and you get a game going with only a small number of people.

American Football
Something happens when the air begins to cool in the fall and there are new smells outside. There is a longing deep down inside me that wants to sit on the sofa and spend the whole afternoon watching the pageantry of American Football. The games are like battles with the coaches as generals and the players like soldiers. Each side tries to carefully execute intricate plays as called by the coach. There are 50 soldiers on each sideline all covered in specialized armour to allow them to best fulfil their role. Though the plays are mostly dictated by the coaches, there is scope for individual brilliance each time the ball is snapped. The best plays are filled with feats of amazing athleticism. The battles become epic as the last two minutes on the clock are drawn out into 20 minutes. Every second a precious commodity and carefully protected through exploitation of the millions of rules of the game.

I have always been a fan of the Chicago Bears. When I first arrived to live in America (1985), Chicago was the first American city I spent time in. That season, the Bears won the Superbowl with larger than life players like “The Fridge”, Walter Payton, and Jim McMahon. Ever since then I have endured endless poor seasons, but from what I gather they are currently one of the best teams in the NFL again. Sadly, I can’t even watch them right now.

Go Bears,

JE

Barcelona, Boarders, Bus Repairs, Busy Days...

A week ago this past Wednesday, I went to Spain for my first "team trip". Every year, the company that I work for takes all of the employees away for a couple of days of team building. This year the trip was to Sitges which is a resort town just outside of Barcelona. I usually hate the whole team spirit-go team go-malarkey that is involved with this kind of thing. It must have been the sun, the beach, or all of the free food and drink, but I did have a good time. It was also interesting to see what my coworkers are like when they have had a bit too much to drink (there are a couple of pictures of my boss that I would really like to put up here, but its probably best not to). The downside is that I came home with yet another cold.

When I got back to sunny England we had three boarders. My good old friend of original Wednesday Morning Coffee fame, Andy Wiebe, and his parents were visiting for two short days. We had a nice dinner out and went for a ride in the London Eye at night (which was brilliant). There was enough time for a quick cup of coffee Saturday morning and then they were off to the south to be with his wife, Suzy, and her family. It was much too quick, but great to see an old friend.

This weekend I was putting the final touches on our VW Bus in preparation for our trip to Wales next weekend. I got the fridge, sink, and heater all working properly and I got the stereo set up to play back tunes from my ipod (despite my disdain for MP3s, I think listening in the car is one of the best applications for them). We are going to Hay on Wye, a small town on the Welsh/English border. It is well known for being filled with used book shops (thus Heather's interest in the trip). It is on the border of "The Black Mountains" (which are neither black nor mountains). While Heather is hunting books, the dogs and I will be braving the wilds of the black mountains. Going at this time of year, we are practically guaranteed bad weather. It should still be a fun trip and I will fully document it here as it is the first real trip in our camper van.

JE