In memory of Fluffy

Unfortunately Fluffy, Catherine's beloved and rather sweet Russian hamster, died on Friday. She was 2.5 years old, which is good going for a hamster. She had not been well for a while, so whilst we are all sad, especially Catherine and Rebekah, we are relieved that Fluffy is no longer struggling to move around her cage and breathing heavily (as she had been doing). She was obviously in some distress. We had a little service for her on Sunday afternoon and put a little wooden cross in the border of the garden. She will be remembered and missed by the Tribe.

The contrasting sides of a Peckham weekend

After lots of good things happening at All Saints this weekend, it was a bad weekend for Peckham, with three murders close to the Church (see the BBC story here). We all need to pray as a matter of urgency.

MCN Bike Show

Matthew had fun (so why isn't he smiling?) pulling a 'stoppy' (back wheel in the air) at the MCN Bike Show at ExCel on Saturday. Goodness knows what his mother will say!!

He also bought a rather cool blue biking jacket, with lots of advertising labels.

Oh to be 9 again!

Matthew was 9 on Tuesday - a great achievement. Happy Birthday Matthew. And thanks for letting me play Lego Star Wars and Gran Tourismo on the Play Station!! Birthdays get more fun for the adults as the kids get older.

I've added an All Saints Peckham page on Wikipedia.

Makes you think!

Catherine has just found out that her Great Great Great Grandfather, Thomas Rawson Birks, on her maternal grandmother's side, was Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, the most senior professorship in philosophy at Cambridge University, from 1872 to 1883.

Here is a list of dons who have held the chair since 1683.

Here is a list of books that he wrote.

Here is a link to the current holder of the chair.

Christmas pics

A picture of the kids taken on Christmas Day.

I'm struggling with this one......?

BBC News are reporting here that a UK Government study, launched by Sir David King, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, says that in the next 20 to 50 years robots could demand the same citizen's rights as humans!

It could occur if robots develop to the point where they can reproduce, improve themselves or develop artificial intelligence. If this happened, the report says, the robots would have certain responsibilities such as voting, the obligation to pay taxes, and perhaps serving compulsory military service. Conversely, society would also have a duty of care to the new digital citizens.

I'm afraid my little grey matter is struggling somewhat with these concepts! Can anyone help please!

The meaning of life

What is your approach to life?

lIfe - Some people only think of themselves all the time - me, me, me

lIFe - Some are always asking questions, but can't decide what is true - if only, why, how

LIfE - Others put their trust in false doctrines and materiality

Life - Some think it's all a dress rehersal, a time to practice before the test - but it's real. This is it now!

I'm afraid I'm not good at spelling and my approach to life is JESUS.


(With thanks to James Nichols).

M&S coming to ED ?

Rumour has it that Marks & Spencer are planning to open a Food Hall in the former Walsh Glazing shop on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich. See this link.

Personally I would prefer them to open a clothes shop - I am forever getting holes in my socks! Any tips?

Tribe achievements this week......

It's only Monday and so much has happened this week!

1. Catherine and Matthew were rather excellent Kings in All Saints kids carol service on Sunday.
2. Following his public performance debut last week, Matthew is now a recording star - he plays his trombone on a newly released School CD called 'Voices'
3. Rebekah won a book today in a 'Pass the Parcel' game at school!

I am sure that these are all milestones on the way to further triumphs!

Tree up..... peace restored

The deed is done. As predicted the arguments between the six of us about the height of the Christmas Tree raged long and hard in Dulwich Garden Centre - 5 foot or 6 foot, 6 foot or 5? We also had the added complication of "too much mud on the tree" this year. Eventually we all reached agreement. But to cap it all, the woman on the till then charged me too much - fortunately the manager realised and gave me a refund!

We got the tree home and I then spent the next hour (as usual) sawing and chopping the bottom of the tree in order to get it into its stand to ensure that it does not topple over. Decorations followed. Phew - time for a cuppa!

Up to Cambridge.....and back

Just arrived back from Cambridge. I went there for a workshop with my new work colleagues - I'm moving posts in January within the Department for Transport from Rail Group to an economics team that provides advice on forms of transport. It was good to get to know them better and think a bit more about what I'll be doing over the next year.

I rode up yesterday on my Kawasaki - it was cold and very windy (both going there and back), so it took a little longer than I planned. But the experience of a longer distance ride (compared to usual commute) was really beneficial, especially given the weather.

We stayed in a 4 star hotel in Cambourne, which was fine, but Cambourne was a weird, soulless place - a new town which is not quite finished being built. But the bizarre thing thing was that the speed limit in the town was (wait for it) 19 mph! Why 19 ??

Carolling on!

We've all been to 3 carol services in the last 4 days - Rebekah's Nativity play at nursery (she was a snowflake!), All Saints main carol service (my first year off from playing the piano at a carol service for about 10 years) and the kids school carol service where Catherine performed a scream (on purpose - it was part of the play) and Matthew played his trombone.

This was Matthew's debut on the public stage as a musician and he says he's really keen to make the All Saints Chamber Orchestra next year, so I can see the need for lots of hard practicing over the next year!

All three carol services were packed, very different and jolly good fun. It is good to see different 'churches' full and many people, some of whom may not be christians, singing and celebrating about Christ's birth. It always strikes me as amazing how the truth of Jesus lives on today and is a source of great encouragement.

The Christmas 'Price News' encyclical has been posted to family and friends not at All Saints. I'm afraid we send to over 60 addresses, so those at AS get the News as a PDF file. Also nearly all presents have been bought.

Saturday sees the annual pilgrimage to East Dulwich Garden Centre to choose 'the tree'. This is always a diplomatic headache and makes the attainment of global agreement on the Kyoto Treaty look like a piece of cake. The main sticking point is usually the height - 5 or 6 feet. I suspect the opposing views will be more entrenched this year, so my UN-like skills will be tested to the full.

Better riding

I've bought two items this week - both cheap - that should really help my biking during these cold winter months.

First I've added a Fog City visor insert to my helmet. This stops the visor from misting up in cold weather. I took the bike out for a spin today and the insert was brilliant. There was no misting up of the visor whatsoever. It also adds a slight tint to the visor, so it makes the helmet look better.

Secondly I've got a balaclava - which makes me look like an agent from the Israeli Special Forces! However it should help keep my head a bit warmer on longer journeys.

I'm going on a long ride this week, so that will be a good test for them both.

Christmas letters

Phew! I've just finished writing my part (which seems to get smaller each year) of our annual Christmas letter - Price News 2006 (inspirational title I know!). This annual tradition, which Helen and I have maintained for 12 years (and Helen for some years before that), is always a fairly tortuous affair. However this year we've had far fewer arguments within the Tribe than usual about the content, length of sentences, format, grammar (or is that gramma?). I guess we will now have to grapple with all the printing, stuffing and sticking, as we battle to get it out before the last posting date.

Some people hate receiving other people's 'Christmas letters', let alone the thought of writing one themselves. Not sure why? We are terrible at writing letters and it seems to provide an ideal opportunity to clear out consciences. We also try and include some kind of small evangelistic message, mindful of the opportunities that our annual posting brings.

Of course this year I've been trying to maintain this blog with mixed degrees of success (if only the hamster would do more!). As a result our family, friends and 6 billion other poor souls can now read all about our triumphs and failures on a daily (well almost) basis. It's amazing how technology can change our social condition.

Now back to my list for Santa.....

The real emerging church

Last night I watched a fascinating TV programme (remember those!) on BBC1 by Alan Yentob about recent developments in the use of the Web. The main message I took away from the programme was the dilution in the power of the mass media (broadcasters, newspapers, advertisers, records companies etc), as you and I begin to create and express ourselves online - surely the perfect antidote to the pressures of a 21st century world. Whilst no-one is saying that giant corporations in these industries will die over night, on this Blog, as you can see, I have become a writer, a photographer, a film maker, a leader writer etc etc without having to get anyone's approval or funding. Whilst my talents have some way to go to match those of Tolkien, Bailey, Lucas, Marr etc, I can just do these things now and many, many people will see it. Even more, in Second Life (an online virutal world) I can become whoever I like - a slimmer, wealthier, better looking me! But what about God in all this.......?

Over the last week I have joined 'Facebook' (see my Facebook badge at top right of the blog) and 'About Life' - two social networking sites. These sites represent new concepts of social networking. At present they are largely inhabited by college and recently graduated students. However I can see real potential as new tools for churches, where the concept of a community is so important. Although they are online, these sites have the opportunity to create, maintain and develop 'real world' communities. They offer us the ability to share our joys and sorrows and can more easily encourage others to praise God for his goodness (for that is what man - and woman - is called to do). In many ways, they can empower the church to be more 'real' and more effective. All Saints has established a group on both sites. The extent to which the All Saints Facebook and About Life groups grow remains to be seen, but my hunch is that these sites have the potential to become a much more widespread phenomenon in society.

Busy weekend

On Friday Catherine completed her Southwark Council cycling training at school - so well done to her. She was given a snazzy new cycling helmet.

On Saturday morning Matthew went to Saturday Club at All Saints Church. He really enjoys that - its a bible based club, with lots of craft activities, including cooking!

On Saturday afternoon we had some friends round from St Albans, so there were 11 of us (8 kids and 3 adults) in the house all afternoon! However everyone seemed to have a good time - the kids causing mayhem and chaos, the mummy's chatting downstairs and Andrew far far away from all the noise with the door firmly shut!


This morning we went to All Saints Church - Hannah Steele spoke on Luke 9 about our calling to follow Christ. It was good to see the church so full.

This afternoon we all went to a 50th birthday party for Helen's sister in law, Jane, at a pub in Beacon Hill, Hindhead, Surrey. We had a lovely meal and spent much of the afternoon playing skittles, which was a laugh. All the kids had a great time, especially Bethany, who kept running down the skittle lane with the ball. Here are some pictures.

Nursery photos and other stuff

The 'official' Nursery photos for Rebekah and Bethany arrived today. They both look really lovely. Not sure how I'm going to get them on to this blog, as they are too big for my scanner - maybe a digital photo is best?

I've found a really useful web site called called the East Dulwich Forum. It's a forum site, where people post messages. It's got lots of really local news about the area (i.e. reviews of new restaurants, discussions about the new park fence etc), the occassional bit of interesting local history and lots of other gossip about East Dulwich. I'm sure All Saints people living in East Dulwich will find it very interesting!

I've added an RSS feed to the Blog (see the orange icon near the top right of the page). People can now subscribe to the feed and can see when updates have been made to our Blog from their web browser, without having to actually visit the site.

Found out today that the next Worship Central day at HTB on 13th January 2007 includes a keyboard masterclass.

Bethany dancing

Here's a cute video of Bethany dancing today.

Casino Royale

Helen and I went to see 'Casino Royale' at the Peckham Plex on Friday evening (with £3.99 tickets at all times, this must surely be the best value cinema in London).

Overall we both enjoyed the film - many of the action scenes were amazing and by the end we were fully signed up to Daniel Craig as the new 007. He's harder, but conversely brings a more vulnerable feel to the spook. I think his performance will certainly ensure the future of the Bond franchise and will now enable future 007 films to develop in new directions.

Minor quibbles were the slightly overlong Poker game, the overdone and less than subtle product placement by Sony, Ford, Omega, Virgin etc and the fact that many of the best scenes had already been heavily trailed before hand. And, although not MI6's fault, Chanel's £18 million pound 'No 5' advert/mini-film before hand was terrible - it went on for a full 3 minutes (and then we were subjected to full credits for what seemed a similar length!!). Despite the high quality celluloid, it was rather tacky and oozed a sense of deperation from a tired perfume brand.

But, combined with a quick bite to eat at East Dulwich's best restaurant - The Green - the main film was a good evening's entertainment and I will almost certainly buy the DVD when it is released.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Matthew was delighted to find out yesterday that he was one of the 'Runners Up' in Blue Peter and 10 Downing Street's "My UK" film competition. He beat over 4,500 other entries. Here's the official Government press release that was issued when the competition was launched in September. The winner (still to be announced) gets to make their film, which will then be put on No 10's web site and meet Tony Blair.

Matthew's ambition is to be a film director, so he was really keen to enter this competition. He had to come up with a film idea that illustrated how he sees life in the UK in the 21st century. He then drew his film idea as a story board, in the same way that is used for making blockbuster Hollywood films.

His film idea was of the things that he loved about the UK and he included scenes of Big Ben, Scottish mountains, an orchestra, a train, football and a seaside Pier.

Matthew won an orange Blue Peter competition winners badge (which gives him free admission to lots of famous places), a Blue Peter 2007 Annual signed by all the presenters and a pen.

Here he is with his prizes - we loved his reaction when he found out!

We are all very proud of him, Helen and Andrew are slightly envious as they never won a Blue Peter badge!!

Worship Central

On Saturday I attended a really useful and enjoyable worship workshop at Holy Trinity Brompton in South Kensington called Worship Central. I've been to Alpha Worship conferences before, but they are now branded as 'Worship Central', which is a new bi-monthly worship school to train and equip worship leaders, musicians and worshippers.

Tim Hughes and Al Gordon hosted the day. Tim's band led the morning worship session - they very tight and played some great new songs. Al spoke afterwards about worshipping in Spirit and Truth. He also gave some great tips on leading worship:

Prepare for Worship;
Rely on God;
be flexible and willing to Adjust within worship;
let the Holy Spirit Inspire;
Sing out God's glory; and
Edify God's name.

I was very impressed with Graham Tomlin who led an afternoon seminar on the Cross. His main point was that in our humanity we can never hope to understand the deep mystery of Jesus death on the cross and therefore our only response must be to worship God.

Graham heads up St Pauls Theological Centre at HTB which uniquely trains people for Church of England ordination whilst they continue to work in their local church. Our Vicar at All Saints Peckham, Frog, is one of the part time lecturers at St Pauls. I subsequently discovered that Graham supports Bristol City Football Club - which puts him near Sainthood in my book!

Overall the day was a great inspiration and it was good to go along to the workshop with other worship team members from All Saints.

Don't get left behind!

Last weekend saw us all spending two enjoyable afternoons in Dulwich Park. Catherine, Matthew and Andrew had great fun cycling around the perimeter. Matthew is still getting up to speed with biking (literally), but he improved in leaps and bounds, while the time also provided useful practice for Catherine who is doing the modern equivalent of the old Cycling Proficiency Test at school. Meanwhile Rebekah scootered around and Bethany and Helen spent time in the playground. Eventually everyone ended up playing by the bushes in the American Garden. All well then..... well not quite!

As the twilight faded on the Sunday, a lack of judgement overcame us and we made our departure just a little too late, had some trouble getting all the bikes hurridly in the back of the Galaxy and - you guessed it - we got locked in!!

This is the first time this has ever happened to us and we still feel the shame and disgrace. Fortunately we were not the only deviants on that day (presumably this happens quite often?) and the Park Ranger eventually returned to let us out. But some advice if you ever venture into Dulwich Park - remember 4.30pm means 4.30pm! So cycle fast!

Rebekah's first day at school

The first day at school is always a special day (I can just about remember it all those decades ago!) Today Rebekah started at primary school, joining her elder sister Catherine and her brother Matthew.

In my eyes she looks so grown up and is starting to look more and more like Catherine. Although she looks a bit hesitant in this picture, she was all full of it by the end of the afternoon. She will initially attend for two afternoons a week and then full time from January. We're all really glad it went well.

What will Helen do now there is only one child at home!!

Half Term Holiday Pics

Some pictures from our recent half term visit to Stourhead in Wiltshire with Andrew's Mum and Dad.

Yuppys & Ipods

When I was a teenager I remember when the stock market excesses of the 1980s created the 'Yuppy' (Young Upwardly Mobile Professional). Over time the 'Yuppy' evolved into 'Dinkys' (Double Income No Kids) and a myriad of other acronyms that I've completely forgotten (I am sure there was one about grandparents and property?) and none of which I ever seemed to fit! It was then that I first came across other generic and completely meaningless terms that the media like to invent, such as Generation X and Generation Y.

Now, rather depressingly, according to the right wing think-tank Reform and reported on the BBC, we have the generation of IPODS (young people who are Insecure, Pressured, Overtaxed and Debt-ridden). Given that, on average, Brits have never been richer, I suppose the only explanation can be that of dashed expectations, resulting from the ever increasing desire for more as people get richer.

Part of the explanation is that kids these days are exposed to so much media - their poor brains must be completely overloaded with information - adverts, TV, email, Playstation, web, mobiles etc. I am sure there must be some good teaching out there somewhere on how parents can support their kids?

Lions & Vines

Yesterday we all went down to Longleat House in Wiltshire for our annual family gathering. Various branches of the family (around 30 people in total) converge on the Elizabethan stately home, as it is roughly half way between Devon and London. We have been going there for at least the last 10 years and numbers are definitely going up and up! The weather was rather overcast, but it did not put a stop to all the fun and gossip. It was good to meet up with everyone, some of whom I had not met before! Matthew especially enjoyed the footie and Bethany made some really good progress with her walking.

Today, after Church, was the latest All Saints Motorcycle Club ride. The KLE 500 usually only gets ridden 4 miles to work each day, so it was good to take it down the A3 and A24 to the Rykers Cafe (a bikers cafe) at Box Hill for a delicious, hot chilli burger, chips and a strawberry shake (with a straw!!). We had a good look at all the Harleys in the bike park. Personally I find it hard to get excited by Harleys, but like 'em or loathe them, its hard not to at least give them a glance. I hadn't been to Box Hill before and the view from the top was great. Afterwards we went over to Denbies vineyard and I got Hele some ginger marmalade. I shall have to take Hele and the kids sometime for a day out.

Then home to help with trombone practice (Matthew), piano practice and spellings (Catherine).

Start of term

The kids are back at school this week and life is returning to normalcy. However the beginning of a new term always brings its problems. And how true that is in the political arena, where the analogy of squabbling classmates is so apt.

I don't think TB's statement today about his departure within 12 months will have any effect on the political climate. The infighting will continue, while public support for Labour will continue to ebb away - this is likely to turn into another case of a Government losing an election, whenever that is called, rather than an opposition winning it.

On a positive note I am really encouraged that a friend's son, who has just started at a secondary school in South London that we may send Cath and Math to, is enjoying it. Food for thought.

T4 - The Tribe's Top Ten

I’ve never devised a ‘Top 10’ list of web sites before. So here, in no particular order, is my list, selected on the basis of their usefulness and/or interest to me. I’ve ignored the usual suspects (Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, Yahoo, BBC) because they’re so good they should be on everyone’s list of favourites and those that tend to annoy me (e.g. YouTube, myspace). The list may seem an odd bunch to you, but so be it.

1. Mystery Worshipper The deliberately irreverent Ship of Fools site provides an essential air of light relief to 21st century Christianity. But it also includes a ‘Mystery Worshipper’ section that contains hundreds of anonymous, but fair, reviews of churches around the UK and the World – it helps that their review of my church in Peckham is very positive. The site seems to satisfy the deep seated regret I harbour that I never ‘church hopped’ when I first came to London. It also makes fascinating reading!

2. Regency Cafe This page from the ‘Egg, Bacon Chips and Beans’ web site is all about the greasy spoon café in SW1 that I visit every Friday with colleagues from work. The pictures of the grub are a joy to look at and remind me why Fridays at ‘Chez Reg’ are so good! Bon apetite.

3. Charlie and Lola Anyone without children will probably never have heard of these two characters. But my middle daughter Rebekah loves C&L, so that is reason enough to include it in the list. Matthew and Catherine’s favourite sites are Club Penguin and Sylvanian Families.

4. Motorcycle Parking in London There are loads of excellent and exciting web sites about motorcycling. However as a new rider I think this rather dull, but incredibly useful, searchable site (with maps) of free motorcycle parking bays is a must. Those without a bike won’t appreciate this site.

5. All Saints Church, Peckham The amazing church we attend in SE15. Look out for a major refresh of the site soon!

6. LondonNet This lists all cinemas in London and what films are showing, or conversely you can choose a film and see where its showing in the capital. I use it regularly to see what’s on in Peckham (usually for the kids!) which surely must have the best value Plex in the whole of London.

7. Sheetmusicdirect A great site that allows you to legally download sheet music (for a small fee). I’ve used this one the most, but there are others equally good such as Freehandmusic and Kingsway songs. Long gone are the days of aimlessly thumbing through racks of sheet music in the basement of dingy music shops in the forlorn hope of finding that elusive transcription in E major!

8. London Bus spider maps These ingenious maps are a worthy 21st Century successor to Harry Becks original Tube map, but this time they’re designed to make the sprawling London bus network much easier to comprehend and help you find out which bus you need. And they work!

9. Southwark Council This site, and particularly its ‘News’ page keeps me abreast of what is going on in my ‘hood. Boring, but useful.

10. Streetmap I use this site, occasionally supplemented by Multimap and Google Earth, all the time to find out where I need to go (that is when I don’t know where to go!).

I won't apologise if your site was not on the list - you simply have to make it more useful/interesting to me!

Time for an update!

It's been ages since I last posted and James D and Dave C have both given me a reprimand. So here's an update.















- The kids continue to grow, make more noise and consume increasing amounts of my hard earned cash (our fault I know)
- We've survived the Summer hols, but only just!
- I passed my motorbike test (see pic of Becky above who loves it) and am riding my Kawasaki KLE 500 to work each day. It's brill.
- We've bought a 4 man tent and have used it 3 times (in the back garden!)
- I've been promoted at work (hooray)
- Our holiday in Scotland was great, but hard work
- Several friends have moved out of London this Summer (boo)
- All Saints continues to grow (good news)

I'll try and post more regularly in future.