1. Lose weight, minimum 2 stone, preferably 3.
2. Read the Bible from beginning to end, not skipping the tricky bits.
3. Recover mind and body.
4. Write some songs, good ones n’ all.
5. Write.
6. Find an author I didn’t know anything about before, but will really enjoy.
7. Rediscover some dreams.
I will be restarting writing in the near future. Can’t promise it will be very exciting, but I will be returning to it.
And that’s a promise.
Now I’m sure I recognise this place. Feels kind of familiar. There’s some chat about guitar, a few words about Hibernan FC, a lot of stuff on banking and an abruptly halted travelogue on the amazing continent of Australia. Dear readers, I apologise for not writing, I am a bad man and have been told by a friend in the last couple of days that my blog is disappointing. Duly humbled am I.
I can’t promise much, but I will start writing again soon. The wit will possibly be scintilating and the intention modest; of few words, I am not. A selection of topics that will feature in the weeks to come:
I am about to have 16 Christmas Eve’s in a row, each day notching up my levels of hyper excitement one step further. On 31st October, scheduled at 7.15pm, I will be on board a BA flight to London Heathrow. My long-dreamed of Australian expedition will have begun. Following an overnight at one of the hotels near Heathrow, I will board Singapore Airlines flight 317, bound for Melbourne after a brief stop in Singapore.
Since I started university in 1993, I have enjoyed approximately 3 weeks in total of what could properly be described as holiday. For all but three calendar years since my first trip in 1997 (1998, 2000, 2004), I have made a trip to East Africa, following my heart (and my Lord’s desire) to get know the people, the culture, the land and the faith of that region. Yes, the odd short safari has snuck into my schedule, but holiday in the classic sense, it is not.
When I returned from my last trip, in September 2007, I strongly felt that 2008 was to be a fallow year in my African adventures. A chance to recoup and recharge, with a view to potentially taking my parents out to Uganda in 2009, though that is now unlikely. Of course, I wasn’t to know that this year was to be so professionally challenging and, in retrospect, I realise that (1) there is no way I could have devoted enough energy to planning an Africa trip, and (2) that a month in the Australian sunshine would be exactly what I needed when November comes around.
After booking my flights at Easter, I did neglect my preparations somewhat, only beginning to get properly organised recently. A plethora of internal travel has been sorted, as well as a nice hotel for the first stop of my trip in Melbourne – despite the trouble with not realising that the Melbourne Cup would be on at the same time.
From my arrival in Melbourne on the evening of 2nd November, where Ian will be joining me, I will go onto see my old friends David & Jennifer Read and their five children in Wagga Wagga for a couple of nights. I haven’t seen them since 1990, when they left Edinburgh holding tightly to newborn, first son James. Then its onto Sydney and, I think, Ian’s house-sitting place on the beach.
Sydney will possibly lead to Newcastle, where Stuart (a friend I went to school with) and his partner Brad are now located. But that’s all a bit confusing at the moment, because I’ve actually got a flight booked from Sydney to Brisbane on the 15th. And Brisbane = a short but loud bundle of Aussie fun. Otherwise known as Natasha. Then it’s up the coast to Townsville to see Anne & Bernie, and finally onto to Cairns where Jaq and her brood now reside. This last stop is a very pleasant surprise, facilitated by their move from Perth earlier this year!
So, that’s what a year of anticipation will lead to. I may take a few photos, so prepare to be bored rigid by them at some stage. My hope is to write as I go around, but that depends on whether I can actually figure out availability of the Aussie wi-fi system.
So many things to say, so little time. I’ve been working quite hard lately, hence lack of anything approaching blog activity, nor socialising or anything like that. The deal is now done and I have vowed to return to normality for a while. In the meantime, here are some random, some not so random, things that have been occupying me.
The financial system
Not in meltdown, just a little jumpy. The [insert expletives here] who messed with my employers’ share price last week – and put the jobs, dreams and pension plans of 1000s at risk – are, in a spirit of Christian forgiveness, erm, forgiven. But don’t do it again, you naughty boys/girls.
Things are curious in my line of business at the moment. I didn’t have to go through the early-90s recession that my Dad did, but this is all a bit different. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the UK economy, its just slowing down a little bit.
I went to Spain
Played golf. Went to Gibraltar. Saw Africa. Drank wine. Drank beer. Ate the most amazing lamb dish. Took lots of photos.
Realised I will never be good at golf.
The Mixu revolution
So, Hibs are suddenly good again. This is a very pleasant turnout of events.
To be fair, we haven’t played particularly sensationally in the last 2 and bit months. We are just looking a lot more solid than we were under the now-much-maligned John Collins. Some key players – Hogg, Jones, Maka, Fletcher – have found a bit of form and confidence, and we don’t look like we’re going to lose unluckily time and again. Top 6 is a certainty and 3rd place is more than a pipedream, but a real possibility.
Keeping this team together, of course, is easier said than done. However, one is allowed a little bit of optimism in the words of imminent Scotland debutant Steven Fletcher so you never know.
Toys
I bought a new guitar. It’s very pretty.
And worthy of a post all of its own in the coming days.
Stupidity
Further to my previous posting, I have made up for not doing the charity run thing in May by volunteering for the Cairngorm Mountain Bike Challenge. This is a corporate-led thing, with the need to cycle up to 100km in one day. Its in September, so theoretically I have the time to train and get fit/lose weight.
The really stupid thing is that I managed to talk myself into this while in the pub last week. In front of my Head of Dept. Who’d just bought me three G&Ts, which I’d drunk on an empty stomach.
Yes, I am stupid.
Hodilays
I’m going to fly on one of these:
I’ve finally booked my flights to Australia for November. Leaving London on the morning of the 1st, arriving in Melbourne on the evening of the 2nd. Back from Brisbane late on the 27th, landing in London in the afternoon of the 28th. Inbetween, a lot of Australia to see.
Having booked on Singapore Airlines, the thought suddenly occurred to me earlier that I might end up on the new A380 double-decker super jumbo plane thing. A quick potter around their website confirmed that yes, I’ll be on this. That’s quite exciting.
Generally, I’m quite excited anyway, but that’s the creme-de-la-creme.
In a restored world
Things I’ve been pondering God-Jesus-Church-wise:
Am I engaged with Church/community?
What is this emerging church stuff about?
When I worship, am I just playing music I enjoy?
How do I get a deeper relationship with God when almost everything I’ve tried – bible notes, prayer guides, all the “cool” books – has left me feeling unsatisfied?
I am delighted that my impending (well, still in the same calendar year as now) trip to Australia will also feature a visit to Ian in Sydney. In his words, this is “exciting news”, and I now feel assured that there is an advance party to find good places for breakfast.
Taking the lead from Ian, who also seems to be too busy to blog at the moment, I will be writing at the following things in the near future:
I’ll write soon, I promise.
So, it’s now 2008. An appropriate moment, I’m sure you’ll agree, to reflect on 2007.
From the first few hours boogying at Ardeonaig to the last minutes at, erm, Ardeonaig again, it flew past. Did someone speed up time when I wasn’t watching?
A year of great success (and not a little stress) at work but also when I realised I am now on the downhill slope towards oldfartdom. For example, I no longer have any idea what is in the “popular” music charts. OK, maybe I’ve heard that Umbrella song, but that’s about it. I know what I like and I like what I know, or some such other boring cliche.
In no particular order, highlights of the year included:
However, there were some things I really wished hadn’t happened:
Given that last of these is still rampant, I don’t have time to think about what 2008 may hold. That will follow.
Write more blog posts (and make them interesting, i.e. less about Rush).
The observant amongst you will have noticed that the address in the top line is now restored.org.uk. I have officially now started to use the domain I bought nearly two years ago. If I actually get around to putting anything else on here, it might even become an interesting place.
In the meantime, more ramblings to follow…..
