The Blurb: January 2009

Mr President

Tuesday 20 January 2009  6.16 pm

And he's finally made it.  Barack Hussein Obama had a few nerves as he took the oath (that made him feel much more human!) but he did it, and I was watching.  I have a feeling I wasn't the only one.

Of course he wore a red tie.  Naturally, the accomplished orator delivered a fantastic speech.  Granted, there were bits that were a little too American for my taste, but hey - he's their President, not ours.

My favourite parts of the speech were when Barack said, "America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace", when he pledged to the Muslim world to "seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect", and when he said this of America's new attitude:

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect."

As for a one-liner, it's hard to beat this one as an Obama inaugural quotation: "A nation cannot prosper long, when it favours only the prosperous."

I look forward to seeing what the next four years have in store.
 
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A moment of silence

Friday 16 January 2009  12.40 pm

Where would you expect to find peace and quiet?  A desert island?  A remote field in the countryside?  A cathedral?  A monastery?  Or the Tube at rush hour?

I was on a jam-packed Northern Line train.  The sort where a hundred people cram into each carriage and the closing doors threaten to alter several people's hairstyles at each station.  The train stopped at Kennington for a minute, and some people got off and on (somehow).  And then ... silence.  Not one of the hundred people in my carriage was saying a word, looking at anyone else, or even moving very much.  Some had earphones in, some were reading books, and some were absorbed in the intricacies of their nearest Tube map.  As I looked around, I felt like someone had pressed "pause" on the world, and I was the only one still alive.  You could have heard a pin drop, if there had been space to drop one.  But I didn't have a pin with me.

I still love the Tube, and I'm still travelling round picking up interesting photos.  As well as this blog, I'm regularly updating my Not The Tube Olympics section with new entries, pictures and prose.

(Confession: the picture on this particular blog post isn't the Northern Line.  In fact, it isn't even my picture - it comes from here.)
 
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Jesus does evangelism

Monday 5 January 2009  10.09 pm

Here at Ascension Balham Hill, the church in south London where I'm now working, we ran an Alpha course last Autumn which I was part of, and now I am the official Administrator for the next one.  It begins on Monday 19 January with an Alpha Supper, and we have a lot still to do to prepare for it, so please do pray for us.

Associated inextricably with the Alpha movement which radiates from HTB, one of London's great megachurches, is a small booklet entitled "Why Jesus?" A question I'm sure he asked himself from time to time.  (Another booklet, "Who is Jesus?" gives away its secret by revealing the answer to the question on the cover - "Nicky Gumbel".)

In other news, just over 300 people in December - 22% of that month's visitors - came to this site searching from Google, because I am the top result when you enter "Bible dingbats".  It's not that my bible dingbats are any good.  It's just that no one else on the Internet appears to be producing any...
 
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New Year at the Eye

Thursday 1 January 2009  4.54 pm

People told me it would be crowded.  It was.  I was advised to arrive early.  At 8pm, there were many people there already but still plenty of space to get a good view of both Big Ben and the London Eye.

People said it would be cold.  It was - but not with five layers and a dense crowd.

People said it would be rowdy and full of drunks.  OK, so there were one or two around, but they were outnumbered at least 100 to 1 by friendly folk drinking moderately, little or nothing and enjoying the atmosphere.  I passed the time chatting to Chris and Dave, middle-aged men who had come from afar to see the spectacle.  Most of the rest of the crowd seemed to be young couples.  Obviously a popular place for a date. :o)

People said it would be dangerous.  Maybe, but I left my valuables at home and didn't feel at risk on my own at any point.

People said it'd take hours just to find a way out.  I tried a few wrong turns (funnelling everyone up to Trafalgar Square - what's that about?) but made it home by 2am.  People said the Tubes would be crammed.  I got on the Northern Line at Oval (the first open station I could find) and people were standing but everyone could move, unlike some trains I've been on.

People said the fireworks would disappoint/astonish (depending on who you asked).  They were pretty darned impressive, I'll admit.  I won't say astonish, but I'll come in on that end of the scale.

So 2009 has arrived, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to welcome it in London style while I'm here.  Not sure whether I'll brave it again, but it was well worth doing once!

Happy New Year.
 
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