More tales from the recent past

Am on a bit of a roll today - in the office waiting for my latest video project to process - so will share a little of my experiences recently...

On April 15th, I spent the night up in the streets of London, at my first ever protest / vigil - the 'Wake Up to Trade Justice" event (a part of the Make Poverty History campaign). I went with my Mum (it was her birthday - some party, with thousands invited!) and my sister Ruth. It was ace - lots of shouting and cheering (see, I'm a changed man!) and whistle-blowing in Whitehall, outside Tony's house. My Mum had loaned me her old Guide whistle and it was possibly the campest whistle ever heard - at first I was just sounding it to annoy Ruth but by the time we got to the dawn procession, I was loving it! (I think it was the lack of sleep that did it...)

It started with a candlelight vigil in Whitehall and the most awesome minute's silence I've heard. Now I go to football matches and when they do silences, it always sends a shiver down my spine, but this time it was truly awesome. The road went from complete bedlam and noise to almost total silence. So much so that a couple of drunk blokes starting shouting at the far end of the road, followed shortly after by a couple of protesting "Shut the f*** up"s, in a vain attempt to restore the silence - that brought a smile to my face.

It was a truly bizarre experience - there were Christian groups, old ladies, students, and radical protest sorts all together, all seeking the same end - justice. Bring it on - it IS possible. I believe that all things are possible for God's power but we have to be willing to make and accept change. Making poverty history will probably "hurt" as in the long run but only a fraction of the extent it currently "hurts" most of our planet... sermon over.

There were events, cafes, workshops, films and even a prayer room open all night but it was so busy, that we couldn't get in anywhere. So we roamed the streets for a while before sitting on some steps opposite Westminster Central Hall, playing "I-Spy" with increasing levels of weirdness. A lady came and started ranting about how terrible it was that there were no venues big enough for all of us. It made me think about a slight lack of perspective, perhaps

Then we gathered in Whitehall again at 4:30am (apparently the time most people in the world would be awake) for another vigil, followed by a dawn procession around Westminster and Whitehall. It was awesome to be a part of and it made me want to travel up to Edinburgh (see why here) on July 2nd for the G8 protest. Some of my DNA buddies are up there so it should make for an interesting field trip...

Was so tired when we finally got back and I even ran a red light on my way home from the station - apparently, it "wasn't working" (according to Mum) but it still freaked me out a bit...

My DVD has now finished burning, so on that note I will finish...

Tiny man

Oh yeah, apologies for the profile photo - it's the only one I know of me that's currently online (don't know whether I am happy or sad about that!). If you know any different, post a comment. Until I get a more "obvious" photo, you're stuck with "tiny man" I'm afraid

Big thanks to Jon Webb for being the first person to "offer me a coffee" - never reveal a weakness...

It's written all over me

I'm currently wearing a t-shirt with my name on it. Now some might say that this was a touch vain or even a little "pratt-worthy" (not sure if that is a real word, but hey, it's my blog...) - however, it is simply that I had to get a t-shirt with my name on it for my debut doing kids work... honest! Why I'm wearing it now, you ask? Well, it is wash day and it allows my to cleverly link to one of my highlights of the year so far...

I was signed up to work with the 8-11 year old monsters at Spring Harvest this Easter, working with a kidswork genius, Doug Horley. I was reluctant to say the least, especially as I'm quite a dignified, laid-back kinda guy and not one for shouting, screaming, doing action songs and generally making a fool of myself. However, by day 2 I was a total convert - I have to say that I'm not screaming and doing action songs every moment of the day, but I can totally see the importance and place for all that stuff - it rocks - and I totally got to re-live my childhood again. In fact, I'm not sure I was even re-living *my* childhood, cos I was really shy and probably would have been uncomfortable with all those things even then...

The other thing that was really amazing was to have a small group to work with and to have kids of 8 and 9 praying with and even for me. Now I know not everyone reading this would believe in the power of prayer but I'll tell you those that do, there's something quite awesome and humbling to have a child praying for you. It's the same God, there's no magic technique that they have, but something inside me just clicked and it was a total high spot for me.

The final delight for me was that my blue team won the week (oh, how we shouted...). I realise now that we never had a team photo (sigh!) but instead here's a pic of a few fellow blue team leaders (Vin, Amy, Jono & JB) - it's Amy's photo (hope she doesn't mind!):-



For those of you out there who roll your eyes at the very mention of Duggie Dug Dug, I say "Grow up!" - he is a total genius and him, Belinda, Mark, Pete and all the rest have changed my life for the better - now, before this begins to resemble an Oscar acceptance speech I will leave you with the Doug-meister Horley's website:

www.duggiedugdug.co.uk

This is the air I breathe...

Just been roaming around Luton town centre - with £100 in my back pocket (Don't ask - it's probably the longest, most boring story you'll ever hear...). Came across the latest edition of Empire magazine and it has a "breathing Vader" cover. Either the greatest thing ever or the tackiest piece of marketeering in history (delete as applicable)

Am pretty excited about Ep3 - that's the new Star Wars movie to the unintiated - had to turn down tickets to go with my mate Andy. Work is always getting in the way! I bought him one of those Vader Mr Potato Heads:



Only problem was, then I wanted one! Have resisted so far - but then the Dark Side of the Force is a very powerful thing...

Progress bars.....aaargh!

Am right in the middle of making a vid about one of the aspects of Crusaders - the organisation I work for and am begining to be driven crazy by progress bars. Fot those of you who only use Word or Powerpoint, they are the despicable things that appear when your computer is chugging through some sort of complex operation - typically saying something like "Time remaining: 3.5 hours"...

I love video - but I hate waiting for it to chug through

What do ya know? Two posts in a day (albeit somewhat pointless posts!) - I could get hooked on this you know

The perils of the new blog

Couple of days ago, spent ages adding to my profile - haven't mastered photos yet but it will come... - just as went to publish my family's old Mac dumped me out onto the pavement (figuratively speaking at least) and I had to re-type it all again.

Also having that curious phenomenon of wanting to post and once the 'new post' has been created having absolutely nothing to say... I'm sure it will get better

Just seen my mate Linda - who is about to have *her* head shaved for charity for the second time in 3 years. Now, I shave my head every few weeks but I don't have near shoulder length hair when I do it - good on ya, chuck...

Decided to break the silence...

...cos I can resist it no longer!

It's very hard to know what to start with so I'll just jump straight in with a little glimpse of my last night's TV viewing.

Was catching one of those top 50 type programmes - like them I think cos I secretly aspire to being one of the semi-famous people who comments on the entries - and it was about kid's tv. I love kid's TV and it got me kinda misty-eyed - until I started to hear some very unsavoury "behind-the-scenes" stories from the some of the shows! (The worst was probably a story involving Fingermouse... if you saw it you'll know what I mean). I felt violated - my childhood innocence shattered - well, something like that...

Simpsons was the no. 1 - fantastic show but almost a bit of an anti-climax...

I'll start when I'm ready...

Don't have much to say at the moment, but watch this space for some thoughts of random nature. If you know me at all, you'll know what I mean...