In God We Trust

This month has not been a good one for those who, like me, believe in God.  Religious violence is something that the world has faced for a long time,  But it seems worse now.

But while I thought that I could not be shocked in today’s world, after the barbarity of Unislamic State, I was.  The rape and genocide towards Muslims by Buddhists in Burma (or Myanmar) did.  Then came the livestream murders in Christchurch.  And then, apparently, in ‘revenge’ the mass murder of hundreds of innocent Christians in Sri Lanka by scum who have ignored the violence towards Muslims of the island by other groups.  And yet more Jews have been murdered just for the faith that they follow in the USA, again.  I wish it could end, but there will always be people who wish to kill based on a twisted interpretation of a religion.

There was the Crusades (specifically the massacre after the 'liberation' of Jerusalem), the Armenian Genocide, and of course The Holocaust.  All I can do is to offer thoughts and prayers for those who have died, and will continue to do so.  And pray that the horrors that occur now will reduce the chance of the levels of religious violence in the past.  

I am Thor

This week, my wife has been away for part of it.  She was away on a course in sunny Brighton and her mother kindly came up to look after the children.  Ideally it would have been great if I could have taken time off work to look after them myself, but I was not able to due to holiday being taken already at work by someone else.  Which as a shame as I do love the time I get to spend with them, no matter how tired I get! 

Today was a day of enjoyment.  I went for a walk into town with my son to look at getting a new iPhone. I had agreed to buy him a milkshake from Shakeaway in town but on the way back, I found out that he had not eaten his breakfast! His excuse was that there was no food to eat, even though his grandmother was at home who would have made him anything that he had wanted.  And he got cold drinking his milkshake which did go well with the cold weather this morning. He was frozen and we had to abandon drinking his milkshake on the way home, but to walk home as quickly as possible.  This warmed him up a bit but his mother had made some porridge for him when he got home and that helped him.  Sadly he did not get to drink the milkshake despite putting it in the fridge for later. 

Later we went to watch The Avengers, but I had got the time wrong and we missed the beginning of the film.  Overall it was a great film, but I am left wondering if the gaping holes that any sci-fi nerd like me are to be addressed in another film, or are to be left. (This link contains spoilers.)  But the best bit of the film was Thor.  I can now say I have the body of an Asgardian god!

The only downside to the day is that my wife has crashed.  We were meant to have gone to the birthday of a good friend of ours.  It was to involve drink and dancing, but sadly she has been too tired to go.  She was worried about me as well, as I did not sleep well when she was gone, but I power napped and was ready to go.  Sadly she was not ready to do the same.
  

Chasing an ice cream van

The end of the bank holiday has come, and despite doing nothing I am knackered.

Yesterday we went to see Isobel and Tony for lunch.  They make a great roast dinner, and my wife brings dessert, this time, as usual, bread and butter pudding and a lemon tart.  It was great to catch up, and with Tony, that involved a discussion about Arsenal as well as a chat about politics.  Sadly, he has changed party, and is now helping a rival party who he shares many views with.  However there is no taint of antisemitism within it (I tried to reassure him that there it is not acceptable in Labour) and the party he has joined, and the membership of his new party is a welcoming one.  He appears to still be more left wing than me but his new party aligns itself on some important views with him, such as Brexit.

Anyway we shared our disappointment over the Arsenal result. While it was a home game, due to it being a London derby, I knew it was a tough ask to expect three points. But after ManUre lost after a four goal thrashing we were hoping for much needed points in the fight to finish in the top four.  I may have to get used to Arsenal playing in the Europa league again, or even not playing in Europe at all.  But I was looking forwards to St Totteringham’s Day this year.

Today we went back to Brightlingsea to spend time looking over water, using a pedal boat with my daughter and playing throw and catch with my son. He was great and the practice has shown since last week.  We did have an incident yesterday where he had refused to try, but he did show what he was capable of later.  And when on our way home, we passed an ice cream van.  The kids wanted ice cream, so we turned round to follow it.  The only downside was that it appeared that we had lost it.  but I took an educated guess as to where it might be, and we found it!  The kids were very pleased at that.  Obviously, the ice cream I ate was just to make sure that they did not feel that we were not sharing in the experience!

Anyway, I am tired.  My wife and I have watched The Widow and am now laughing to Sara Pascoe.  Good night all!

Good Friday 2019

It has been great spending the last two days with the family. Yesterday we went to Brightlingsea and relaxed.  My wife and I also went out later on, but a dispute between the children resulted in the evening not going to plan.  But while that was a black mark on the day, overall, it was a great time.  The highlight was playing throw and catch with my daughter.  I had hoped to do the same with my son, this was not possible.

Today we went shopping. A trip to Lakeside where we bought some books as well as a trip to Costco for supplies.  And now we are all together watching a film as a family.

When is a moral protest immoral?

London has been brought to a standstill by protesters who are campaigning that more needs to be done to address climate change.

Some of the actions they have taken are interesting, such as encouraging the use of vehicles when they disrupted public transport.  And while I agree that the actions that are taking place to combat global warming and also the way we are polluting our planet are woefully inadequate, I disagree with the methods.

Others have different values and disruptive protests for different values which I disagree with have taken place, and will no doubt take place again.  And if the current protests are to be tolerated, then the same must apply to protests by organisations like the far right.

So while I agree with the aims of these protesters, I have to disagree with the methods.

Flying a Colonial Viper

It has been a while since my last post.  I really need to get into the habit of making a quick post every week.  Needless to say, lots has happened.  But today, my son, his friend Matthew and I went to Thorpe Park.  Being the Easter Holidays, I took the day off to take both children here.  They have wanted to come for a while, and I even looked at buying a season pass.  But it would have come too late, so I bought some tickets and booked a day off work.

But my daughter decided not to come.  So we took a friend of my son.  It probably was for the better as it meant that I did not have to deal with the two kids bickering.  I actually like roller coasters, though I tell the children that I do not.  But I was dreading this trip.  When younger, I had been on some amazing rides, that were terrifying and loved them all.  Now I am older, certain aspects of them turn me to jelly, notably drops, and as I found out today, going upside down.

We arrived early to find a large queue already and when the park opened, the kids went to a ride called Colossus. Yes, I found it scary, notably the corkscrew where you go upside down.  But I loved it.  Then we went on a ride called Saw.  That was even more scary and my son almost lost his glasses.  We went on a ride called Zodiac, then Nemesis Inferno, and then Stealth.  I was not sure if I would survive it.  I did.  But I got to feel like a viper pilot being launched from a Battlestar.

It was an amazing day. The two boys loved it, and while in some ways it was better without my daughter, it was not in others as she would have loved the rides.