Mistaken Identity

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and make up.

As she was still in "mid-rant", delayed by the stop light, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Follow me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christan Fish emblem on the trunk.

.....Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

La Camargue

After spending a week in La Côte d'Azur, we moved to La Camargue, in Saintes Maries de la Mer. It's an ideal place to observe all kinds of birds, wild horses, steers, insects, beavers, turtles...One day we went to Arles to visit the arenas. As Steven decided to walk round the arenas and take more photographies, Imogen and I thought a pause in a cafe would be beneficial! 
First she mentioned having a pancake but soon it turned out that the milkshake was more enticing!

Some places in La Camargue were ill-famed for the amount of mosquitoes. Recently dragon-flies were introduced and the result is excellent!

Late afternoon, we visited Tourrettes-sur-Loup, a picturesque village not far from Bar-sur-Loup where my cousin Catherine and my auntie Rolande (my mum's sister) live. If you are not used to mountain roads then take it easy when you drive there. 
The 'native' French driver being fiery, you may just want to keep tightly on your side of the lane, i mean of the road! 

We were just exploring those medieval streets when we heard the thunder and had to rush for shelter. 
As it was not just a shower, we gave up and returned to Bar-sur-Loup.

There are two ways of access to St Raphael, the motorway and the coastal road which is much more scenic but as windy as the one to go to Tourrettes only wider! 
It took us an hour to get there from Cannes, including traffic and avoiding cars badly parked along both sides of the road!

Here we are with my auntie Rolande in the hospital in Nice. A few days before we were due to leave England, she rang me to let me know she had a mini-stroke and was undergoing an EEG, blood tests and various scans..
She is better now and back home still monitored for her sleep apnea. Please pray for her as she is slowly recovering.

On the way to la Côte d'Azur we stopped in a campsite near Beaune, in Savigny, a deligthful place that happened to be surrounded with well-maintained vineyards and caves. 
In the campsite, we talked to other tourists like us on their way south or others who were on their way north, only staying one or two nights. We also stopped there on the way back.

Spanish encounter!

Meet our Spanish club. We try to meet every month over tapas.

In the second photo, in the front, Enrique and his fiancée Laura, second row, from the left, Jenny, Maria, Helga, Clarissa.

Last row, Joanna and Francisca.

This is not the whole group as that evening, quite a few could not make it.

Hopefully, we will all be there for the September meeting. We do have very interesting conversations. For example, our friend native speakers end up discussing accents and diversity of cultures across Spain. As themselves come from different areas, it is so refreshing to hear all their individual stories. However,as they live here in England they are united by this strong feeling of belonging here and there, enjoying it surely but at times missing the good things at home. I do feel the same.

Shout to the Lord

My Jesus, My Savior,Lord, there is none like You;
All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter,Tower of refuge and strength;
let every breath, all that I am never cease to worship You.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing power and majesty, praise to the King;
mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands,forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand,
nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Another joke.

Smart Parrot

A guy goes to a pet shop to buy a parrot. There he sees a parrot with a red string tied to its left leg and a green string tied to it's right leg. He asks the owner the significance of the strings.

"Well, this is a highly trained parrot. If you pull the red string he speaks French; if you pull the green string he speaks German," replies the shop keeper.

"And what happens if I pull both the strings?" our curious shopper inquires.

"I fall off my perch you fool!!" screeches the parrot.

By train or by car ? euh, euh, i say train!

Last Wednesday, I drove Camille to Manchester airport for 4 pm as she was off to Cyprus with her best friends, Cheryl and Grace. Not too much traffic and I was in the middle lane at a speed of 70 miles an hour of course. Suddenly, Camille said: What's this noise? - what noise? oh, it's just the road surface. It does happen. Then I heard this hissing noise coming from under the bonnet! Oh oh, not quite right. Now some cling clang were firing under there. There was a sign for services so I went to the inside lane and slowing right down entered the services looking for the petrol station. Stopped the car. What do we do now? There was no water in the cooling tank. We were in Sandbach services. The guy from Egerton car rescue team was pretty pessimistic and suggested I'd leave the car with them or I'd contact the AA. However, my priority was that Camille should get to the airport so we called a first taxi.He said it would take him half an hour to get to us. So we called another one who arrived within 10 min. Relief! Camille left.
I couldn't get hold of Steven and i guessed he was somewhere round Millwich as there is never any signal there! Eventually Steven told me that Trevor, the mecanic who looks after his car, would toll my car! Brill news! My prayers were answered. Camille rang me to tell she arrived safely at the airport! I can't remembered much of the evening apart that I was shattered. The following morning I had to get up at 6 a.m. and I still think that i had not quite recovered.
Now, it always puzzles me to see how a situation can quickly deteriorate. Here we are chatting away in the car when suddenly...The good thing is that I managed to park the car in the services. I thank the Lord for helping us to cope under stress and giving us guidance. Praise the Lord!

My soul finds rest in God alone..

Last week, we learnt with great pleasure that Verity gained a first class degree in Physiotherapy so we were over the moon! Steven will go to her graduation on Wednesday.

Then on Friday, Camille found out that she passed her first year course in English Language and Italian so we celebrated today with a superb bbq, crispy Chinese duck champagne, and chocolate tart. Camille and Imogen managed to sun bathe for a while in the garden.

By 5ish Camille and I watched a french film: Mon meilleur ami, my best friend, with Daniel Auteuil. Very enjoyable. An art dealer goes to a funeral not to mourn but to make sure he gets an item the guy promised him, there were only about 6 people there...soon he realises that he hasn't a best friend. His partner in business makes a deal with him, if by the end of the month, he can show 'evidence' of one best friend, he can keep an antic Greek vase he's just acquired..Steven went for a long walk as he is not keen on French films as he finds them too slow!

I would like to conclude with some lines of Psalm 62.

1 My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

...8 Trust in him (God) at all times, O people;

pour out your hearts to him.

for God is our refuge.

Last night, I could not sleep well and I thought about David, writing those amazing psalms, bringing confidence and encouragement to generations of Christians, children of the Holy One. As I read today's Encounter with God reading, Allen Goddard tells us that : the psalms provide us with every kind of answer we could ever express in response to God, the world around us, and the vicissitudes of our own hearts! I agree totally with this.

Breakfast with a difference!

This morning, we had breakfast at 9:00 then family worship. Our music group was there too, Helga on the keyboard, John with his mandoline and Steven on the guitar.

It was lovely to meet new people and chat over with our brothers and sisters drinking (strong) fresh coffee and toasts or croissants. There was a taste of summer as strawberries and yoghurt and cereals were on the 'menu' too.

A big thank to all those who contributed to that event!

One joke.

Reprinted with special permission of The Flying McCoys © 2007 Glenn and Gary McCoy


Somehow, I know a few parrot jokes but as time passes, you need to find new jokes. I have just found that one and I think that it's a good one. What do you think about it?





Four brothers left home for college, and they became successful doctors and lawyers and prospered. Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother who lived far away in another city.
The first said,"I had a big house built for Mama."The second said, "I had a hundred thousand dollar theater built in the house."The third said, "I had my Mercedes dealer deliver her an SL600."
The fourth said, "Listen to this. You know how Mama loved reading the Bible and you know she can't read it any more because she can't see very well. I met this priest who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty priests 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for twenty years to the church, but it was worth it. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it."
The other brothers were impressed.


After the holidays Mom sent out her Thank You notes. She wrote:
"Milton, the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway."


"Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home, I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was good. Thanks."
"Michael, you give me an expensive theater with Dolby sound, it could hold 50 people, but all my friends are dead, I've lost my hearing and I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. Thank you for the gesture just the same."
"Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to give a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you."

More photos of Hixon church fête.

Games of all sorts

Behind the excelling music group, you can see the ever popular slide!

Hixon church fête

So, last Friday, it was the church fête, well attended and enjoyed by all. Here are a few photos!

Jesus is my rock

We are back from Snettisham (Norfolk) where we have been since last Saturday. That night, Alan a friend from dad invited us to a chinese restaurant nearby and we had a great time. Alan and dad are catching up with old time stories. Alan sings in a choir and in the evening we listened to one of the choir cd. Great stuff.

On the Sunday, we met up with June and her husband Frank; June is dad's niece and Steven's cousin.
They came all the way from Leyland and installed their caravan next to ours and we had a bbq that evening. Our sister Pauline arrived a bit later, all the way from Wales. She was caught in a huge traffic due to an accident and went the wrong way. Finally Steven gave her directions on the phone and she found us! It was a little bit blustery.
Monday morning more people were to come, auntie Wendy and her husband Peter, Colin and Peter, Colin is a very good friend of dad. Steven and Franck put up the gazebo and at about 1ish, the birthday party started. 
Late in the evening Steven started to play the guitar and this was brill!
We had such a good time. Praise the Lord!
More to come!

More photos!

Meet Dad in Norfolk.

These otters are waiting to be fed. We saw them in the sea life Center in Hunstanton. We had a great day even though it was pretty cold!

This is Cromer in Norfolk.The first time we went there, we actually had to buy the 'famous' Cromer crabs! Freshly prepared.

As we are preparing to go to Heacham next week to celebrate Dad's 90th birthday, we may go to Cromer again. I praise the Lord for those past holidays. May our next holiday be blessed too so that we can all meet in peace and appreciate our time with relatives and friends. In Jesus-Christ.

One of my favourite songs!

At last, it's the week-end! I have had a bit of a busy week as on top of the normal load of marking and planning, i had the honor to do the assembly. Though I am used to talk in public and in front of a assembly of students and their parents, I never did an assembly. First I asked my form if they liked singing and they all panicked. You should have seen their face! No way, we can't sing. Questions were coming fast ! Miss, do you mean, we have to stand up and sing. Well you'll sing along with everybody else.

Finally the IT technician said I could not have a cable as his last two were not returned to him ..so this was not good news! Then I thought i'd better talk to one music teacher at least. He said: our students are very competent at singing. However it depends on their mood.. I wouldn't say it's a safe option for a first assembly.

So in the end, I jotted a few notes, got some inspiration. You would have guessed that I prayed a lot for inspiration. Two of my tutees accepted to meet me at break to read their parts. One did not turn up! Never mind Emily was still happy to do it all. Finally she found Rachelle, another tutee who first had said, no way, I am not talking in front of everybody. Both read their parts beautifully.

I have posted the song I wanted us to sing. It was in You tube and I hope this is legal. If anybody knows it is not, please let me know!

Praise the Lord!

More photos!

So last night, we had a PCC meeting and as it was only my second meeting, I was quite excited but trying not to show it! We all met at Joan, who kindly provided us with wine, coffee, cake and biscuits. We are so looking forward to the day when the portocabin will appear so that Christian outreach can fully develop in our village!



On the left, here are Stuart and Steven looking both very happy at the end of the meeting.

















And here is Geraldine and she won't mind me saying that she is a famous local painter.Now, somehow, as I am blogging now, Joan's and Jenny's photos are blurred ! I can't understand why! You have already met Jenny in my posts on the kerygma's bus so I have added this photo of Joan and Geraldine. They came by at home after we all went to deliver invitations for Good Friday talk : why good Friday is good!
It is such a gorgous evening and I am going for a walk or a bike ride, not sure which yet.