"A wee blog post"

I've decided that one week in Ireland is not enough! And I'm not sure how to put that amazing week into a single blog post but...I'll give some highlights.

We had a long train-to-ferry journey from London to Dublin which left us all thoroughly exhausted; by the time Danny picked us up in Dublin at 6am on the 22nd we could hardly stay awake enough to be polite! But the Ramamoorthys, having anticipated this, had laid out mattresses and blankets and we all slept as soon as we arrived back at their house! I lost my voice and so spent the first few days croaking and whispering but thankfully it came back by the end of our stay :) 

The next four days were spent wandering the city-centre of Dublin, eating all sorts of Indian (and other) food and renewing old and precious friendships. The Ramamoorthys had a friend from India staying with them while we were there, Jubin Jacob, and we all had fun scampering about Dublin.

You can see the pictures of our time in Dublin posted below but here's some more highlights:

Seeing Dublin's nightlife when we visited a pub and (of course) tasted Guinness beer and saw ladies in heels that I don't think I'd be able to stay upright on. 

Making mulled wine, mince pies and brownies to eat while we watched a movie...actually we were so indecisive I think we spent most of the time simply watching trailers online!

Having Biryani, yogurt, chipatis and other spicy Indian dishes for Christmas lunch. 

Walking along the pier after supper and sitting at the end of it by the lighthouse, singing carols and national anthems...we were joined at one point by a local Irish man and woman who joined in with the Irish national anthem.

Leaving Dublin on the 26th we went to Lisburn and spent an amazing 3 days with the Bittle and Fraser families. After a huge meal  on our first evening, the favourites of which were Beks' near-perfect loaf of Irish wheaten bread and Emma's cheesecake, we played a game of Cranium (boys against girls...or men against women) and I think I got a pretty good view of the North Irish sense of humour...teasing, mocking, and laughter all round!

The next day we did a bus tour of Belfast (complete with the Irish humour). I don't know how they manage to cram so much information into one hour! We saw the harbour where Titanic was built and launched, saw the murals in Shankill and the Falls, learnt how Belfast survived the potato blight, heard about "the Troubles"...and so much more! In fact, my interest was so piqued that I bought a book on the history of Northern Ireland to learn more.

That night we also watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie...

The next day was spent on the coast - touring harbours, squeezing into a tiny church and walking along Giant's Causeway with Sammy and Elaine, Harold, Tim and the Bell kids. What made the day special though, was that it was spent battling 70-80 mi/hr winds!! We tried to walk along the beach and had to turn back because it was too strong, Josh and Jed tried leaning into the wind, bodies straight, seeing how much the wind could keep them up and whenever the car was parked we could feel it shaking in the gale! Elaine spent the day "minding the car" for us ;) It was a terrific day and by the time we got back to the Frasers for supper (Irish Stew and soft bread...mmm!) with Mr and Mrs Mitchell we were all exhausted! But happily so :)

Having wanted to visit Ireland since I was a little girl, this past week was truly a dream come true for me - the beautiful Irish accent, in which everything is "wee" regardless of it's size ("the wee church", "a wee high cliff", "a wee meal"), the green, green fields and small roads which everyone charges through at high speed, the hugely hospitable people...it was wonderful. But instead of satisfying me it has only made me want more! I'm not done - I'll be back, Lisburn, just you wait!

The ferry-to-bus ride from Belfast to Edinburgh was much more pleasant than the one going into Ireland - shorter, calmer and better seats. We are now happily installed at the house of Becky Lamb's Aunt and Uncle, ready to greet the new year Edinburgh style! 

Dublin highlights: 22-26 Dec

We have been non-stop so I'm afraid this will be a touching on the highlights of our green Irish Christmas but with a few photos which, as you know, are worth more than many words.

Thursday 22 December - Friday 23 December

We arrived at 5:55am after an overnight ferry ride that was tiring and full of loud children. Danny picked us up and we headed to the Ramamoorthys house where we were kindly greeted and shown a bed for a few hours! The next few days we spent in the city, seeing Dublin and doing last minute shopping. Maybe someone will write later about more in depth impressions of Ireland (Rach?) but here are just a few photographic highlights of our time.

Getting a tour of Trinity College, where Danny did his MBA.

Mailboxes in the Republic of Ireland are green (just so that you know that you are NOT in the United Kingdom where they are red).

We Bells love bookstores... no matter where they are!

Walking down G--- Street (sorry, forgot the name...).

Followed by lively discusion around the dinner table about technology and children, among other things.

24 December
Christmas Eve we spent outside the city visiting the small town of Bray and climbing its "head" for an incredible view of the area.

Making friends...

They liked Mr Ramamoorthy much better.

Where there are posts, Bells will climb...

That's Bray Head, the mountain we climbed up.

Half way up...

On the top!

Jed and Josh found a new favourite pastime... wind leaning started here and continued on the Northern Ireland coast!

Impressing (or scaring!) the locals. Jed entertained a whole family for about 10 minutes! Unfortunately we didn't have a hat to pass around! :)

Mulled wine and electronic devices... mm....

25 December

Can't seem to find the photos but church, lots of good Indian food and movies, games and good conversations! Pretty much all day.

26 December

After an excellent time of good food and lots of sights and memories, time to say goodbye.

London photos

We are finally at a fast enough internet connection to upload some photos - so here they are! Enjoy...

Our first day in London, Jed is trying to upload a final essay due in 4 hours. We are standing outside a closed Burger King trying to use their weak internet signal to send it off... you'd think we'd be able to find a stronger connection.

Buckingham palace

Ice-creams and milkshakes at Harrods with Aunty Jenny. Oh yes, so tasty.

Jed and I shared this.

Josh and Jed posing at a fancy house in Guildford with the Richards.

Natural History Museum - we went to a Wildlife Photo Exhibition with Becky, Josh's friend from Oxford (we're holding postcards of our favourite pictures).

a lost blog.... and Spirit FM

Merry Christmas eve!

Sadly, internet was not working smoothly and Jed's 2 hour long blog entry has been lost! So I thought I'd add a brief one; just imagine that this is longer and better written and then you will have an idea of what Jed's post was like. We'll try play around with the blog and see if it was saved somewhere.

Its said that everyone has 15 minutes of fame in their life. On Thursday Jed and I were three times lucky and had about 45 mins of fame. for just those minutes, the two Bell sons were the authourity on Zimbabwe for the small Christian audience of Spirit FM. How did we end up on the Irish airwaves? I'll tell you. Danny - with his usual gift for getting involved and excelling at things - has just been recently trained to volunteer as a RAdio Jockey on Tuesday evenings from 10-12pm for the conversation segment of the evening. He hosts interesting people (!) and plays music inbetween 5-10minutes chats with his guests. This Thursday another RJ called in with a lost voice - actually I think she probably texted in! - and Danny very kindly agreed to step in for an hour, saving his Irish listeners from 2 straight hours of continuous music during 'conversation time'. At about 8pm, Danny came into the lounge where Jed and I were reading as asked if we wanted to be his guests on the radio. yikes!

After not a little backwards and forwarding, we decided to say yes! Not sure what to expect, we arrived at a darkened building with a few lonely cars in the parking lot, and followed Danny up empty floors with deserted desks. Sound emanated from a single room on the third room. For the last hour the 'autoplay' of Spirit FM which passed through the empty building beamed across the Irish republic, but to me it was just a computer left playing music in an empty building. Danny got behind the controls, moved the mouse to wake up the computer and we were off!

Danny has quite a gift for radio. It was surreal to speak to him 'normally' one moment and the next hear him through the studio earphones in perfect Radio voice. The talk itself was quite fun! it took a while for Jed and I to get used to the feel of talking on the radio, and for the life of me I couldn't think what to say to great the listeners. Eventually, I ended up greeting Danny "hi danny" - pretty lame... This was by far the hardest part of the program for me! Unfortunately, its very hard to have a deep or indepth conversation about Zim, which is really what the topic deserves but at least we were able to raise awareness of the country with a few Zim jokes thrown in.

As I am writing this, all four Bell siblings are sitting in the lounge together. Jed and Beks talking about Mugabe and homosexuality in Zim. Rach is trying to fix a sale she made on Amazon. I am trying to finish off the post and write an email or two before breakfast. Waffles today! mmmm. Rach's voice is returning. It nice to hear her talk, rather than rasp a reply.

Last night and this morning, I managed to go for a walk in the neighborhood and was reminded gain of how beautiful this part of the world is. I love the strong winds on overcast days with long green grass areas and gnarled old trees.

Merry Christmas to all as we remember our Saviour's birth.

Asian Persuasion...in Food

I realize that this is quite a lot post, it being Friday (wow, its actually Friday!) and here I am only now getting started on Monday's post....

Monday was a three quarter day, the other quarter gallivanting off in Guernsey. To be honest, I seem to have gone blank on what exactly we did in the morning! aha! that reminds me, I'm actually writing about Tuesday not Monday. Wow, this post will be interesting!

Tuesday....incidentally also a 3/4 day. We lazily meandered into London late morning. Jumped off the tube around Leicester Square and walked around China town. Wandered around a radius of about 200metres and kept getting frustrated that we seemed to frequently cross the invisible boundary from bright red banners and Chinese characters to the dull grey of modern London. It was only when we left that we realized that we had only explored the fringes of Chinatown! Probably due to the inadequate and uninformative details from Google maps on the iPad which precisely pinpoints our own position on the map but can't precisely label the entire sprawl which is Chinatown! Really, the manufacturers failed on this one...

After much searching through the dozens of Chinese restaurants (the criteria being: 1.cheap 2. good vegetable dishes 3. bubble tea (quickly removed from the list) 4. Filled with Asians (they've got to know if their own food is bad right??) ). Unfortunately, the place we finally waltzed into had 2/1000000000 of the Chinese population in it. ie. 2. Regardless, the food was amazing and we shared three dishes of consisting of Dim Sun - 4 ball things filled with yummy other things steaming in a basket - and two other dishes which I cannot recall exactly what they were. One had pretty decent tofu in it with eggplant and the other had great noodles with large chunks of lamb. oooo, the sounds of pleasure which leave my mouth even as I recall this in writing is testimony to the food's quality!

From here we rushed (!) off to the Natural History Museum where we met up with Becky who took us through to the picture gallery presentation. These were the top natural photos in the world taken in 2011 and they were honestly spectacular. I'm not one for walking around for appreciating things like this, but the photos were....captivating. Unfortunately, on leaving, I fell into the blatantly obvious tourist trap and the strategically placed shop (exiting the exhibition required one to go through the shop) and bought some beautiful postcards....yes, i'm a sucker.

Anyway, we found a coffee shop and dipped in to play a few rounds of banagrams-much like squabble but without the point system. From here, Beks and I decided to go meandering along the river (which was beautifully lit with lights, especially the bridge) whilst Josh and Becky went back to her house to prepare supper. After much excitement and adventure (including running out of money on my oyster card which disallowed me into the bus) Beks and I eventually arrived having walked the whole way-great walk actually. then followed a pleasant evening with some scrumptous lasagna and fascinating conversation. Also entertaining to watch the banter between Becky and her landlord Richard, another fascinating gentleman. Again, we followed supper with a game of bananananagrams. Becky, in a very unhostlike manner, repeatedly won. As a result we the Bells, unaccustomed to such a devastating series of losses soon packed up and left in a huff, though not before shaking the dust off our sandals (or tackies) at the door...Na, not at all. The game was lots of fun and it was a satisfying end to a great day.

Carol Service without Supporting Bells and Christmas Tree

Your show sounds wonderful, in fact, both of them.  Ours was great as well.  Tuesday evening was our Carol Service, and I decided "If it works, don't fix it" and so, other than the occasional tweeking of slides, and putting in the readings for the congregation (do you remember last year, Beks and Jed?  Forgot to put the words up for the congregation and I had to rush up and do the three!) we kept the programme the same as it was last year.  We also had a challenge of musicians, Marleen being away. But I leaned heavily on Rosemary Van Der Merwe, who was fantastic.  We had her on piano, Manna on Sax, very effective with some of the more plaintive carols, our music team, who are so willing and are more and more adept and then Daniel Mboweni on the violin.  He really was brilliant, played for most of the songs and did a fine job.

And our readers just somehow managed to get everything perfect!  Tapiwa Marufu started us off, and her voice is so clear and expressive, which really set the standard and the tone.  Then Mr Katsande, Shamiso Nziramasanga (great job), Dave Hardwell (fine, clear, expressive) Mariette (typical excellent Mariette), Itai (well practiced, meaningful), Daniella (super reading) and finally Jasper, (same excellent standard carried through).  Everyone did a great job.  Raymond on powerpoint (a glitch or two, but they happen even when there is a Bell driving), Ian on lights and mics (similar comment, but very minor glitches).  Had one or two places where everyone was waiting for someone else to start and I was sitting willing the right person to do so, but nothing that detracted I think from the message.  So it was good.

Wednesday was tree day.  I headed off to work and mom and A and M went tree shopping (I had picked them up from their dad before Carol Service).  I got home to discover a well balanced, not too tall or wide tree, standing upright in the corner, with lights already in place, but arranged so very well, blinking ones interspersed with non-blinkers.  M and A had done a fantastic job!  We spent an hour that evening putting decorations on the tree and on the pelmits (?) etc of the lounge and we have a very cosy, Christmasy lounge.  I really think the tree they did is one of the best we have had, maybe I think that every year, I don't know.

They are back with dad, will join us Sunday and then stay until Wednesday.

Well, I am in the office, and need to get sermon done for Sunday, so let me sign off and send this.

God bless you all, look forward to some news about Trinity College.

To Musicals and Adopted Aunts

It has been a flurry of activity since the others arrived and little time to report! But there are two big events that deserve telling.

A couple days before they arrived I met up with Aunty Jenny again and she pre-birthday treated me to a show. Unfortunately the show she had planned was sold out until February, or something crazy like that! But, she said we could go to the theatre and see if we could get returned tickets. So we arrived and the very kind ticket lady said she would wait for us to come back from getting cash from down the road (make sure you go the right direction, google maps saved us again) before putting out the returns sign for us to stand behind, so incidentally we were the first in line! A first for a Bell (and a Smith?)! We did get very nice returned tickets to "War Horse" and managed to run across the road for a very quick panini supper making it to our seats in perfect time, 3 minutes before show start. My kind of timing. War Horse was an incredible show based on a book and following the story of a horse and the boy who owned him, set in the second world war. The horses and other animals were puppets but were so realistic that very soon you forgot they were! Amazing.

On my birthday we met up with Jenny again for milkshakes at Harrods - in remembrance of our last meeting all together over Harrods milkshakes six years ago. The ice-cream place has since moved from the first floor and we spent the first 30 mintues going on shaky memories of the place - high stools, bright colours, lots of sweets in the vicinity - searching for it. We did find it, complete with high stools and bright colours, though the candy shop it used to be next to is now a pizza place with a Italian singing chef, or a chef singing Italian, at least. Jed and I split a Baccio, translation: a huge, decadent chocolate, hazelnut, vanilla ice cream dish. Wow. After that a walk to burn off some of our decadence to meet up with Mary and Martin for a quick dinner at Wasabis - a Japanese fast food type place where we eagerly piled sushi and rice dishes on our plates - before heading off to see "Wicked". We were a little worried when it first began having splashed out on these tickets (I was especially worried because the boys had been most uncertain about it and I had chosen the show) not really sure what to expect but the music was fantastic and the story was very clever, and remarkably thought-provoking. The lead actress was amazing and we've been talking about her and her singing and acting ever since. So, no disappointment whatsoever. In fact, if anyone would like to buy us the music... :)

All in all, two wonderful highlights of these last few days: musicals and adopted aunts.

Guensey...first impressions

Before coming to Guernsey I read (or rather listened to on audiobook) the novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book I would definitely recommend. Despite those who sneer at the title, it is informative and gives serious insight into island life during and after WWII. Guernsey and its neighbouring island, Jersey, (and one more island in the English Channel I think) were the only English territories occupied by the Germans during the war.
And yes, Guernsey and Jersey cows are from these islands. They produce all their own milk, cream and cheese.

The island is beautiful - blue-green sea and large cliffs with tossing waves, healthy looking lawns, lots of victorian-style houses, winding roads and stone brick streets. I had a cream tea today (tea accompanied by a large scone, butter, jam and cream) at the Cobo Tea Room, a small little restaurant on the coast with a window facing the sea.

My impressions of the island? Tiny roads!!They seem far too small for two lanes but the Guernsey divers are trained from infancy (or somewhere close I'm sure) to navigate and squeeze past oncoming traffic. And the drivers are very considerate of one another, constantly letting other cars filter into the traffic ahead of them and patiently waiting while someone expertly reverses into their driveway or parking space from the middle of the road. I think the population size (about 65 000 people in total) must contribute to this general feeling of consideration and trust...There is this thing called "the hedge trust" where people will place their home-grown veges (or eggs or chopped wood) in boxes on the hedges around their houses with the price painted on the side of the box, and anyone walking by who wants some of the said produce will (and is expected to) take and leave the right payment. Or maybe the small population size contributes to works as a policing system itself; if you misbehave in public someone you know, or someone who knows your parents or teacher or vicar, is likely to report you.

Dad's Contribution on Sunday Evening

Jokingly I asked mom if maybe this blog was possibly hers and mine!  Even Beks seems to have dried up.  Oh well.  To those outside the Bell family who read this, sorry it is lots of Zim news.

Just off the phone from Josh who with Jed and Beks have apparently had a very pleasant day with the Richards family.  A morning at a National Trust house, lunch, an afternoon of board games and then train from Guildford at about 7:30pm

Our Zim day (sorry non Bell people) has been very pleasant, combined service this morning, Cantata presentation and then Hebrews 2 again.  A quiet lunch, just mom and I and then tea with family at Susie followed by the Northside Carol Service.  Mike and Ange were there with their dad and glad to see us.  They will come back for us probably Tuesday night until after Christmas.

No news from Rach, it would be great if she could connect with Mrs Cowan in Guernsey, an elderly CBC member who was delighted to meet Josh last Christmas.  I know she would love to meet Rach.

Well, the Club World Championship is on, Barcelona vs Santos of Brazil, Barcelona are my European team so back to watch that.

And hope that, maybe, someone, sometime ......

Mum's contribution on Sat morning

+Its a cool overcast day in the great land of Zimbabwe, I am sitting in the lounge on our huwai internet which is working wonderfully. I have just come home from shopping and have just committed my first act of rebellion in a long time and bought a .....turkey!! The Mbweni's are giving us one, but I have a longing for a store bought one!

I am sitting surrounded by a granny with her nose in a book having spent hours on a puzzle and packing her things to move to Sue today. Whoo hoo, we sleep again, ( see previous blog concerning JR2 and midnight wanderings by Granny). Oh I am also surrounded by 2 sleeping kittens, one on the computer table, one on the sofa by granny, JR 2 at granny's feet and Saku as well. Poor Bingley is locked out as he is rather muddy and I resent the references to his femininity, he looks wonderful and flea, not flee free!

The mood for Christmas is coming on a bit slower than usual, however having bought dried fruit, ie raisins, mixed cake fruit this morning and I am about to attempt a proper fruit cake, just need to get brandy from Granny when we drop jr2 at Jenny Kirk., I am getting in the mood. The
Christmas decorations are not up yet, but I will put up just a few to get in the mood and wait for the rest when Mike and Ang are here.

What else, I am new at this, so be patient with me. The pool is looking wonderful blue and clear due to the new pump installed by Uncle Graham, Dad and George. Swimming is great, yesterday dad and I had a date to swim in the lovely water, fortun. I went at lunch time and almost collapsed in a heap after just , wait for it,... 10 laps!!!!!!!!!So sad, but we had a thunder storm so our swim in the evening was canceled.

Thus ends the first blog by the oldest member of the Bell family!

Gender tempering at 23 Sherwood - Bingley is a GIRL!

Well, nothing so exciting as West End "Wicked", Harrod's shakes, pizza man singing or Rachie's finger freezing but let me tell you what has happened in the Bell home at home.  MOM HAS TURNED BINGLEY INTO A GIRL!  She took him to the vet to get his flees removed, and said she would ask for a hair cut and wash as well.  And she brought him back as a girl.
 Grief, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH OUR DOG?  He is the prettiest, sweetest, cutest, most cuddly little .......... (I am not longer sure) now.  Of course, there are some among us, who might say that becoming a girl is a vast improvement for any male.

Rachie off to Guernsey tonight for a few days.  Travel well.

I wish I could be there to sing!

The subject says it all!  Beks, may you have a wonderful day, which is a taste of an increasingly wonderful life.  As I said in my email to you (among other things too gushy to put on a blog) how can you not enjoy the day today, with all that is planned and with the marvelous people with whom it is planned.

I joined in the Green Christmas by drinking my morning tea (at 5am!  Who ever wanted animals!) in our Ireland mug.

Hardwick Green full of Bells once more

Reunion at Heathrow - Jed, the final of the four, arrives

It seems that we Bells tend to travel in packs and descend on our hosts in a flurry of noise and general good humour! It was a long haul for Josh and I, neither of us having slept much these past two weeks and having slept little or not at all on the plane. Beks was there at 7am, smiling to meet us and we shared rusks and coffee at the airport while we waited for Jed's plane to come in. When it did and the necessary hugs and grins were shared, we sat down for more coffee to wait for uncle D who was finishing up a tennis match... After 3 hour naps we all feel much less like zombies and had a lovely evening with Becky Lamb - highlights of the night include rum-raisin ice-cream that actually tastes like rum! (you should try the american version), a highly intellectual game of Pondscum...uncle D won, and now of course the greatest highlight for us all; bed. Goodnight!

Arrived!!!

Yes, after a long immigration line (the Lord's gracious way of answering Rebekah's prayer!) they are through at about 9:15 Zim time, 7:15 UK.  Going to decide what to do, whether to wait there for Jed or back to UD.  I vote for the second!  The Lord arranged that mom walked in to the church on her way to Sunday School gift drop in Mbare as they arrived, so we had a brief, 4 min chat with Josh and heard Beks and Rach laughing in the background.

Stage 2, completed!

Heathrow advice, twins soon to appear and dad should be working

Well, after a long absence greatly mourned by my fans and admirers, I am back!  Blog followers will cheer and rejoice, I am sure.

I have Beks on gtalk, she is at Heathrow airport and I intend to give a blow by blow commentary of the arrival of the twins.  Beks had to wake early this morning, at 5am and too the bus to Northfield from which station she took the train to Heathrow.  She was worried, as the plane was arriving early and prayed for circling planes and grumpy immigration officials.  Please keep this information secret as there are roughly 2000 passengers currently filing complaints against excessive delay with circling and the poor conduct of immigration officials this morning at Heathrow airport!

I am sitting in my office, thinking that Jed is approaching Iceland, or maybe Greenland, sleeping as only Jed can do, head back, slightly tilted, mouth open just enough to look funny, but not enough to look gross.  He is dead tired, and decided not to watch any videos (all my imagination, will be interesting to see if it is true!)

Beks is standing next to BBC pick up people, people who are there to pick up BBC people, I guess.  And she is waiting, which gives me time to bring you all up to date with what has happened to mom and I while Beks was eating out in London, before going to a West End who called War Horse with Aunty Jenny (what a wonderful aunty that one is, not many like her!).  Went to Mbowenis last night for a birthday dinner for Mr., very nice, just us and one other couple, two Chinese folk, a woman and a man, working for the CHinese company that works with Econet.  Very enjoyable, really nice food, a pleasant evening and hone by 9:45ish.  Not a bad start to the evening, power had returned at 8, borehole on for a moment and in bed shortly after 10.  All set for a peaceful night.

But Granny and ZESA had other plans!  Mom jumped out of bed shortly after midnight to the alarm blaring.  Dear granny in the kitchen (reminiscent of U D and his similar faux pas, getting herself some milk and calcium and asking if she had set the alarm off.  Mom sorted out alarm people while I sorted out JR2, took him out for a wee.  And no power!  Which was a bit worrying as it had only been on for 4 hours.  So no fan, hot evening, back to bed, both unable to sleep, I prayed for all the citizens of Australia (at least the ones that I could think of at 1am) and as many  Irish folk as I could in my weary state.  And fitfully, both of us, made it through the night.

Granny bright and chipper this morning, JR2 for the second time in history did not wee on the floor in the scullery and as I was leaving for work, ZESA came back, so life is good!!  It often strikes me how the newness of a morning dispels so easily the miseries of a night.  Things look so much better when the sun has risen (hmmm, there is a sermon in the making there!)

Anyway, Beks advises that there is no sign of foreign birds yet, hope no problems.  I need to start finalising the carol service and so will for now sign off.  This is largely filler I am afraid, but I hope that today will be a day of lots of love and joy in reunion and reconnection.

Beks, your blog entries are so good, thank you.

Council housing and one legged pigeons

Is anyone reading this? Dad? There is a comment button at the bottom of the page primarily placed there to encourage the writer and ensure that he or she does not give up in despair at her lack of readership.

Okay, comments thus hopefully ensured let me tell you about the last two days.

Sunday 11 December
I went to the church next door from the house I'm staying at. Next door is Pembroke House, attached to Pembroke College and consisting of an Anglican church and a community centre. Those staying in the house volunteer there in exchange for cheaper rent. So I went to the service with the friend im staying with. The neighborhood is Nigerian mostly so that was the make up of the service. Pretty cool to be in what seemed to be a traditional English service (lots of incense!) with a Nigerian twist.

After church we went for a walk towards the Thames - I'm staying in south London - with a house mate of paul's and a friend if hers. It was great ti see this side if London and to be walking with people who knew the area and it's real issues. Saw the longest council building in England that is soon to demolished for newer ones, an abandoned flat building complex that the govt it trying to empty but a few people refusing to sell for the ridiculous price govt is offering, some urban gardens, pretty cool. We walked along the river, south bank. When I've visited before it hasn't been to the south side, so I've been grateful to learn of this place, some interesting places. Stopped in a couple small exhibitions that I would have missed or not been bold enough to go in if I'd been alone.

We split with the housemate and friend in the evening and Paul and I had supper (vegetarian mozzarella burger with pesto) in a pub - my second in 4 days- and then went to a service at a new monastic group. Very very coo, service. Still quite a lot of liturgy, I think the English would be lost without their liturgy! But such a meaningful, sincere service, not that others aren't, this one just felt really...good. Hard to describe. After that, got wet in the rain on the way to the bus and home.

Monday 12 December
Today I decided to head towards Covent Gardens via a meander along the south bank of the river again. Somehow I ended up much further along the river than I intended and ended up on the westminster bridge so no meander. Then overshot Covent Gardens and ended up in Soho whih would have been cool except I was tired and hungry and had a sore back from walking, so not good feelings towards Soho at the time which is a pity because I'm sure it is an interesting place when it's not upsetting tired pedestrians. Eventually made it to Covent Garden, listened to some talented string playing buskers and had some soup and coffee, trying to warm up. Shared my table with two little kids eating messy waffles (should have had those rather than the soup!) and a one legged pigeon - secretly dropped bread no the floor under the table for it's friends. Decided to find somewhere warmer to finish recovering and discovered Candy Cakes shop - are you imagining beautifully iced cupcakes, lollipops, flowers, pink plush stool and little frog tables? You've been there! It made me feel happy as soon as I got in so I ordered a chai latte and spent the next two hours sitting and reading The Hunger Games (great read).

At about 5 I felt recovered enough to walk again. I headed towards the river again (okay, first I headed away from the river but then I turned around). I stopped by Somerset House to watch the ice skaters for a little while and then met Paul at St Magnus of the Martrys church for a carol service. It was a lovely service with some really wonderful singing by us and the small choir, and they had viols. Really beautiful. And the priest lost his book at the beginning with the reading and had to do impromptu announcements until they found it which actually gave the service a nice atmosphere.

We got rained on again going to the bus.... But less than last night, honestly, rain in winter! How do people live here?

I leave south london tomorrow and head north west to Uncle D in Ealing where I await the arrival of the dearly loved better writers!

Sorry for typos, writing on strange keyboard.

Silently alone

Okay, I'm cheating - I just posted this in my other blog but since it directly relates to this blog, I'm copying and pasting... at least I told you! :)

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I hate being alone, a lot. Even though I knew they would be good for me and my spiritual well being, I avoided Calvin's Silent Retreats like the plague!

In the last two days I've had two experiences that really made me think about this quality (flaw?) more. Yesterday I explored a couple cities in Cambridgeshire that we visited as a family about six years ago and had made a strong positive impression on me. Ely is a small town known for its beautiful cathedral and Cambridge is this bigger town with a whole lot of people who like studying in it, you may have heard of it. I loved Cambridge right off and Ely's charm is prominent in my memory. And yet, as I wandered around these two places yesterday, while I appreciated many of the things I must have appreciated six years ago - the river on the edge of Ely with the hopeful ducks and fishermen, the markets full of fresh things, the atmosphere of life and movement in Cambridge, the old college buildings that are grand and would be intimidating but manage to sit alongside cafes and bicycle racks with casual ease - it was not the same. Okay, this time I was chilled to the bone and trying not to get frostbite or hypothermia, but I think it was something more. I think the fact that I did these towns alone made all the difference. I'm glad I wandered them, don't get me wrong, and I had a great time, but there was something missing: people to share it with.

I've noticed this about myself before and yesterday confirmed it, I don't enjoy doing things alone - travelling and seeing new places being among the biggest. This isn't to say I won't go travelling or see places alone, or that I'll be miserable when I do, just that I don't love it. So I've always thought I hate solitude and silence (hence the no-looking-back run from Silent Retreats).

Tonight I went to a really wonderful church service. The church was called Moot and it is part of the New Monastic movement of churches. I actually went to 3 services today - an Anglican morning one with a Nigerian twist, an Anglican choral evensong, and this one. This was by far my favourite and was one of the most beautiful services I have been to. There were several aspects of it that really connected with me but something that stuck out in particular as I think of my day yesterday was their use of silence. Quite near the beginning of the service there was a five minute period of "Disciplined silence"; and it was lovely. Really. It had been an exhausting day of walking non-stop around South London and the chance to just sit and catch my breath was well-needed. But it was also a chance to catch my breath after a busy week, a crazy final two weeks of the school year, a hectic term and a non-stop year. And a chance to talk to God. Really talk. I don't often just sit quietly and deliberately and it was good. And what made it even more so was that I was in the company of others doing the same thing. I have to admit here that I'm sometimes a cynical church participant as I watch people around me entering in or not entering in to worship. And yet, with these folk I had a sense that we were all there, together, catching up on rest, sitting in silence, talking. There were other creative uses of silence in the service but those five minutes were the pinnacle.

I think what made those five minutes so powerful for me was that although I was silent, I was not alone at all. And I've realised tonight that silence is not something I hate; maybe being alone is (and maybe I have to deal with that) but silence is good and healthy. Good and healthy and wonderful.

Beks begins

Well, I'm here, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the rest of the partakers in this adventure.

I'm currently sitting at a station in Ely, a small town known for it's beautiful cathedral, waiting to catch a train to Cambridge and freezing my fingers off trying to write this.

Took the train down from London yesterday to meet the Richards in Guildford. Had a lovely afternoon with Fiona Richards being shown around the area. Lunch in a pub full of Christmas lunchers, tour of Shere, cute tiny town with old houses and cobbled streets, dinner with Fiona, Claire and Jenny Smith at Wagamama's-tofu, yum!-where we caught up and learnt secrets about Jenny that we are not supposed to tell John Richards!

So basically a good start to our December. Tonight back to London. Will try and get to the city and see some different things before siblings arrive. Suggestions welcome.

Sorry so sparse and uncreative with this second entry - fingers and brain a little numb. Quality will improve, especially when more creative, better writers arrive.

It has been done - what is that about old dogs and new tricks?

Well, here it is.  The unraveling account of the Bell children's Green Christmas in the Emerald Isle!  This will be short, but contain all relevant information.

Rebekah flew on Wednesday Dec. 7th., via Nairobi, arriving in London about an hour late, around 6:30am in London.  She took a tube and bus (initially the wrong bus!) and eventually, around midday, arrived at Paul's house 80 Tatum Street (next to the church, with the big blue door)!  He had left the key at the church and instructions about various important things, like how to go on the internet and chat on gtalk to dad, who could then inform mom that her darling was safe!  So Beks arrived, any further details may be added by her.

Other members of the family rejoiced suitably via emails, though one seemed to rejoice quietly.  I suppose we can forgive a Bonhoffer scholar, nose in books, caffeine levels approaching danger point, clock ticking .... He will write, I am sure.

So we are up to date, the holiday has begun, Beks and Dad are already enjoying it, Beks experientially, Dad vicariously, Mom thinks her husband is wierd, but she married for better or for worse and so has to make the most of it, Rachie is going to starting singing Irish songs today because she has finished her school work, Jed wishes he had studied before now but will manage, as usual, even though some of the lecturers are men, and Josh will resurface, once Mr Bonhoffer has been put to rest and add his cultured voice to this conversation.

Until then, "I'm dreaming of a Green Christmas"