Can anyone point me to any existing work?

This seemed to me a very spurious reason for seeking friendship, thus I was going to reject it on the same basis that people who have the same size feet as me ... or equally also do not play the banjo would not be accepted unconditionally as FB buddies.

A thought occurred though that prevented the deletion. Supposing it's me from the future (some sort of storm in the space time continuum that I inadvertently wandered/wander into) and I have an important message for myself in order to stop me doing that again, or to enable me to write the greatest selling Worship song of all time (or something).
I'd be foolish to reject an important friendship request from my duplicate future self.

Admittedly the picture accompanying the request doesn't look like me BUT I'd have to do that in order not to freak my past(present) self out.

I may also need to stop drinking quite as much coffee (something my future self may also be wanting to point out!)

Our BIG family adventure of taking 'Charlie van Bus' to mainland Europe was a blast and we had the (cue *Jeremy Clarkson voice* ) besten Urlaub ...... auf der Welt.
Admittedly things didn't get off to a flying start when we were parked up at the entrance to Dover docks at 5am with water and steam (in Biblical proportions) spewing forth from the radiator. But then again being broken down is not as bad when you can sit in the back and brew up, which we did. Two cans of Radweld* and vast amounts of water later though Charlie was patched up enough to board the Ferry.

We made it to Paris** (smells a bit, very expensive but the tower thing was impressive) and on to Germany where I managed to negotiate a replacement radiator (a Kuhler).

Our travels and visitations in Germany were wonderful, with much family fun, adventure and humour. My German served us pretty well until we were down in the mountains where we encountered a man who spoke a deep Bayerish dialect and it was akin to being barked at by a Teutonic bloodhound-esque Geoffrey Palmer, I was reduced to nodding.

We called in to Oberamagau as a sort of faith pilgrimage, but not having tickets to the actual play we encountered only a lovely German town largely spoilt by nature of being a myriad of tacky tourist fly traps selling quasi religious plastic and hastily carved artefacts.

Everywhere else though was great and we caught up with friends, visited really cool places and generally had the best time. Highlights included:
> Being atop the Zugspitze (highest mountain in Germany) and taking in a little sledging.
> Enjoying a day at one of the lakes (the German equivalent of the beach) and being able to hire my exact same model of Kayak, yay
> Spending time at the Wellarium, a massive outdoor swimming pool complex, even having it virtually to ourselves once (I think the rain and thunderstorm had dissuaded others).

On the way back we decided to avoid France as much as possible and headed up through North West Germany staying in the last possible German city, Aachen, before 'doing' Belguim and emerging into France at the last possible moment to find Dunkirque ... in order to be evacuated by Norfolk Lines Ferries.

All told about 2500 miles of adventure and encounter.
A thousand wonderful shared family memories and prolonged resulting humour.
Die besten Urlaub ...... auf der Welt!

*other emergency radiator sealants are available

** Ah yes, the question of how did all my French learning pay off? Well .... better than it was but SO far to go, but at least not the stereo-typical 'shout in English' Brit abroad.

Tomorrow sees the start of the 2010 festival, "the art of looking sideways"

The forecast for Cheltenham is fantastic for the four days of the festival! However the rain we've absorbed this week is due to continue right up to the wee hours of tomorrow morning ... after which dawn should break to reveal sunshine and happy days for the festival. This though will not allow sufficient time for the ground to dry and vehicles may not be allowed onto the camp-site in order to prevent quagmirification (made up word).

If you are going, I'd REALLY recommend finding a trolley or a wheelbarrow and lots of bungees and straps just in case as multiple walks to the car to fetch equipment is not a great prospect, given the distances involved. (I used to use a cycle trailer).

So in summary: Possible early chaos peaking mid afternoon giving way to harmony and happiness by early evening. Tempers light to moderate, rising before expected lows at BST 21:30.

Anyway see you at the Chai Chapel, The Tiny Tea Tent or 'The Jesus Arms' .... oh or at Charlie bus in the disabled camping area if we can get on site.

Happy days!

ht and thanks to the Chris

Ladies and gentlemen I present .... *drum roll* bandz!

The BBC cover it here but I thought I'd give you the heads up so you can *cough* rush out an be ahead of the trend.
(For those on a budget, follow the Postman (sorry, Postperson) and collect the dropped bands, wear them and claim they are a limited edition rubber band shaped 'Silly Bandz')

Youthblog trend prediction:

September to December 2010:
Trend curve accelerates in UK and peaks with Christmas sales

January 2011: Brief spike as kids show off their Christmas acquisitions before waning into irrelevance.

February 2011: Forgotten completely

April 2011: Major Christian events promoting them in the shape of the cross, the Bible and various worship leaders

We'll be setting off in Charlie (the V-dub van) for some of the time which'll be so cool, but I'll also be at work catching up with reading, writing and planning. I'll also be MUCH less active on Scrabble so my beloved nemesi, please be patient.

Shalom

PS Spammers, here's an idea! Why don't you take a little time off too!!!!! (Thank you)

Owning an old V dub van's no vacation
It's a battle ... with oxidisation
and tackling the rust
is an absolute must
That's the dawning realisation!

Owning a VeeDub you see
Is no excuse for poetry
so don't go on and on
about the problem its become
and enjoy how free you can be!

My brief rumination in verse
was not a moan nor anything worse
a mere mental note
to re-undercoat.
(The van is fantastic, of course)

Now when you are needing a rhyme
Be careful and do take your time
What rhymes with worse
Is of course 'curse'
Which is not good at the end of a line

A liberal approach to Rhyme's best
as Lear at el will attest
two linking lines
is blinkingly fine
But the last can have more random-ness

DEPTH 4, the retreat for employed Youth and Children's workers. 29,30th (31st) March

The big equipping, encouraging and enabling day for youth and children's work June 18th

Yellow Braces: July 8th-10th

Diocesan Taize trip: July 23rd - Aug 1st

Emotion was eventually joined on the decision making board by reason and I started to look for something I could actually afford, and that better fitted the five of us in terms of on board space. Finding a pop top standard size van that had five proper seat belts though proved quite difficult as most small vans are designed for four and hence no good for my tribe.

Anyway on Tuesday we stumbled upon Charlie, a nineteen year old VW bus that had been converted by Bilbo's into the fine example of Dub Camper coolness that you can see below.

Charlie is powered by a 1900 diesel and lacks nearly everything in terms of modern automotive gadgetry. However who needs central locking when you have a sink, a cooker and a van, that in a blink, turns from a bus into a bijou mobile hotel room eh? Five of us will be quite cosy but Charlie also has a tow bar so our wonderful (even older) trailer tent will still accompany us if we are away for more than one or two nights.

Mid life crisis? possibly.
Family adventure? definitely!

Anyway, see you at Greenbelt or Vanfest :-)

Captain's log Supplemental: Charlie succesfully made it to the New Forest and back with the tribe therein. Thought I'd post a snap of the mid way picnic:

The biggest change that will be relevant to Christian youth work I've spotted is box 66 which wants to know:

"does the position involve working with young people in the applicant's home?"

This will trigger a check on other members of the household as well as the applicant themselves. Although this has been common for childminders I believe, this is new for Youth and Children's work.

My understanding is also that we will now be CRB-ing 16 and 17 year olds who are leading beacuse of the regulated activity definition.