Mar
24
2008
4

Easter Sunday

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I have had a fantastic few days, although it is amazing how tiring relaxing can be.

Easter Sunday was lovely, but very different from usual. I woke up early so I could watch the Grand Prix and when I looked out of my bedroom window I found the garden covered in a blanket of snow. It was so beautiful and all I could hear were the church bells from the Minster. DSCN3978 So rather than watch all of the motor racing my cousin Stefi and I took their lovely dog Chango out onto the field behind the house. It was virgin snow, unwalked on and absolutely beautiful. Even by the time we got back the snow had started to melt but it was wonderful to start Easter Sunday with a walk.

Church was rather unusual as my aunt and uncle are involved with Minster Way Network and once a month they run a cafe rather than a church service. They have a little talk for the children, a large video screen with various film clips, some food, tea and coffee, a craft table for the children and newspapers for the adults. They are trying to reach out to the community around the centre and it seems to be that it is being rather successful.

After the most enormous lunch we went out with some of their friends we went out for a walk with the dogs and in the evening we went to an event at Hull Town Hall. Probably the less said about that the better!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
23
2008
2

Happy Easter

Christ is Risen!!!

I opened my curtains at some silly hour this morning as I had got up early to watch the Grand Prix. I was greeted with the sight of a snowy garden. It looks wonderful!! So, now I am looking at the snow and listening to the bells from The Minster.

Fabulous!!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
21
2008
0

RC Part 18 – From Here to Maternity by Sinead Moriarty

From Here to Maternity by Sinead Moriaty is about Emma and James, a couple who have been trying for a child and end up adopting a little Russian boy called Yuri. Just as the adoption goes through Emma finds out she is pregnant. This book is ok but unbelievably and painfully predictable.

The author clearly wants to be Marian Keyes. She's not.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
21
2008
4

Good Friday

This morning I went to Beverley Minster for their service which was Matins with Litany Procession and Sermon. It was lovely. We were all seated in the choir stalls and the choir were in the middle and they sounded just divine. It was kind of fascinating for me to see how this more formal service was carried out… growing up in an evangelical church it is way out of my comfort realm and yet it was truly lovely. The Minster has the most fantastic acoustics and the most gorgeous honey coloured stone which almost seems to glow in the sunlight. It was a truly uplifting service.

After the service we went outside to watch the start of The Beverley Passion, a tableaux of the major events of the Easter story. It was very moving to see the drama unfolding in the middle of this little market town, ending with the crucifixion in the market square. There were hundreds of people there which was fantastic.

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(If you want to see more pics there are loads on Flickr. Click on the above picture to see more!)

A lovely day remembering the reason for Easter.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
21
2008
0

Finding a Second Innocence

I had a long drive yesterday up to Beverley, via Hull to do a rehab visit. In order to stave off the boredom I was listening to some of the CD talks I had from Greenbelt 2007. One of the talks was by Dave Tomlinson and it is entitled Finding a Second Innocence. I have listened to this talk several times, and my reaction to it has changed over a period of time. The first time I listened to it was still out of church and really, really struggling with my faith. The second time I was starting make moves back into church, still sceptical but starting to be more hopeful. This time, I am happy attending a church and feeling as though this might be my spiritual home for a while. Each time I have listened to this talk I have been moved, the first time I cried my way through it and this time I heard echoes of a voice of hope. Something I haven’t hear for a while. Here is one of my favourite quotes from it. It seems to sum up my experience over the last few years.

“The assumption is often made that those who struggle with doubts and questions, those who drift away from the church or even from mainstream Christianity are in someway spiritually substandard, that they lack the grit or the piety to pursue the Christian faith. And yet the reality is often quite the reverse, frequently these are the people who are on a genuine spiritual journey, people who have outgrown religious certainties in their quest for a deeper reality of faith. And those who stay and look like they believe everything from A to B are often actually doing so merely out of conformity.” – Dave Tomlinson

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
19
2008
6

Jonathan Woss eat your heart ou!

I can safely say that I have watched the worst film I have ever seen. It has even beaten Hot Fuzz for the worst-film-I-have ever-seen, and this one was funnier!

At the nice little church I have been going to they screened it as part of the lead up to Easter and the film is called The Final Inquiry. It was dire; horrendous dialogue, appalling acting and whilst it told the Easter story there were unnecessary twists and turns which didn’t make much sense. Having said all that it was also absolutely hilarious. There were badly acted fight scenes and unnecessary blood and gore and some of the most (unintentially) homoerotic scenes I have seen since Brokeback Mountain. Fortunately the people who were there were also as easily pleased and irreverent as I am and there was much giggling throughout. In fact is all got a bit Monty Python-esque at one point when they showed the stoning of the adulterous woman. I also wonder whether it was made by The Seventh Day Adventists as they had a very Mormon-looking Jesus… you know the one, blue eyes and wavy blonde hair and looking a bit wet.

Anyway, tomorrow I am travelling up to Yorkshire to spend Easter weekend with my aunt and uncle in Beverley. I am really looking forward to it as whilst I have had quite a bit of time off it will be really nice to spend some proper time off when I don’t have to go to either weddings or funerals.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
19
2008
4

RC Part 17 – The Intimate Adventures of a London Call-Girl by Belle de Jour

Onto some proper filth. The next book on my high-brow reading list is The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl. This book was recently made into a TV series starring Billie Piper as Belle de Jour, a high class call girl. I believe she originally wrote a blog and this book is an extension of those stories.

The book itself is pretty explicit, talking about all sorts of kinky sexual practices and anonymous sex. However, it also talks about her day-to-day life and her hunt for a boyfriend. Belle isn’t a poor woman who is working as a prostitute to fund a drug habit, she is an intelligent university educated woman who sees it as a profession. I can imagine this would raise a few eyebrows for people who believe that all prostitutes are coerced into engaging in these sorts of behaviours and that it is degrading to women, regardless of how high class they are or not and whether they have chosen to do this sort of work.

It was a fascinating read, parts of it were laugh-out-loud funny but be careful who you recommend it to. I am not sure that Granny will be too thrilled with the explicit descriptions of rimming!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
19
2008
5

Give me strength!!!!

Today I found a Guernsey £10 note in my house so I decided to take it to the bank to exchange it for an English one. This process was far from simple and the conversation went something like this.

Me: I’d like to exchange this Guernsey £10 note for an English one please.

Dozy Cashier: er… OK

Then follows a lot of intense gazing at the very pretty blue £10 note which admittedly looks slightly like Monopoly money. Then he disappears to talk to one of his colleagues…

DC: Is is real?

Me: Of course it is real?

DC: It’s not English though is it?

Me: No. Well spotted. That’s why it says States of Guernsey across the top of it.

DC: Where’s Guernsey?

At this point I should have taken my cash back and left.

Me: Guernsey is in the Channel Islands.

More intense gazing at the note before he disappears off again. About 5 minutes later he reappears.

DC: I am really sorry but we can’t change it as it isn’t legal tender.

At this point I am about to seriously lose the plot, but it has become a matter of principle.

Me: Actually it is legal tender. Guernsey is a Crown Dependency and whilst we have our own currency it is officially classed as legal tender in the UK, even if people over here don’t know where Guernsey is, what we do, what language we speak, whether we have electricity, and what our bank notes look like.

DC: Oh.

He disappears again.

DC: Sorry, we can’t verify this. You will have to come back tomorrow.

Me: I don’t this I’ll bother somehow.

Now, I know Guernsey is a little island, but this was ridiculous.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
18
2008
6

I think…

… I might be dying. I did an additional Pilates class tonight. It happened to be an advanced class and it seems to me that I have muscles I didn’t know existed. I need someone to rub Tiger Balm in.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Mar
17
2008
0

RC Part 16 – Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes

Onto a book I enjoyed much more… Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes. This book is about three different women, Lisa who gets the shock of her working life when she is moved from London to Dublin to work on a new magazine, Ashling who is a Miss Fix-It and spends her life trying to sort other people out and Clodyn, a bored housewife who sets out to spice up her life.

All her novels are similar… themes about thirty-something women whose lives aren’t exactly going as expected but I like her characters and think she develops story-lines cleverly with her distinctive style. A ‘cuddly’ book. One to read with a nice cup of coffee or a glass of wine when you are tired as it isn’t too taxing!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |

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