I'm Back!

Wow has it been that long?

I haven't written a blog for quite some time eh? Well I'm back!

Today, at work, I had my Christian Union Carol Service held at a near by Church of England church. I felt it went quite well. We had over forty come along. I'm not sure about my singing though. Many times I found my self stumbling over the words and how they fitted the tune.

I was a bit self conscious. We had invited the Mayor of the borough to come and he sat with me. It was a bit difficult for him as he is a Muslim. Still, he stood at the rights times. We had a series of carols and readings from the Bible.

The curate of the church gave the talk. It was down to him as the vicar had got caught up with the Bangkok demonstrations. He had gone to Thailand for a break and got stuck there.

We had mince pies and tea afterwards. One of the managers in the town hall had paid for them. It was a lovely surprise not having to get them out of our own pocket.

Yesterday I went to see the Diabetic nurse at the doctors surgery. It had been a while since seeing her and I was a bit nervous she would tell me off. I felt I had let myself go a little lately and indeed it had shown in the blood test I had done a couple of weeks ago. She looked at the the results on her computer and tutted a little. "Are you getting complacent lately?" she asked.

I'm afraid I got a bit defensive about it. I was annoyed that I still had diabetes and still had the restrictions of what I eat. It was only a few days ago I stared at the Crunchy Nut Cornflakes thinking how much I miss them. Though I don't know what I'm worried about, I do eat healthily, normally, and generally I am fine about my diet; but I have been a bit silly lately eating things like chocolate and crisps.

The figures were not serious and had only gone up in minor decimal points. "Just keep an eye on things.", she said. I agreed I would, though I was a bit grumpy about it. Having got home I realize I am relatively in a good place at the moment and really don't have to be fearful or angry. Christmas is going to be a little challenging though.

I am grateful to God for my life and during this time that that I have the blessing of a job. I still work for a local council in the Council Tax department but I have felt a bit tired at work recently. We have been short staffed with sickness and that has left us pressurised to take up the slack. Things have eased after they took on couple of new staff.

I am still feel I am living in the good what I had written in July, and with further recent prayer things are even better. As an outworking of that I now take a group in church teaching and encouraging them to grow in their gifting. Sometimes I am amazed how God is using me.

As an example of that, I was asked to meet the new youth worker at the local Church of England church in Spitalfields. We met in a "Sausage and mash" cafe, it was delicious! There were four of us and we got talking. I felt very passionate about working with Bangladeshi people and told him some of my experiences. He had a lot of ideas how he wanted to do things. First was a mini football tournament. On the Saturday we gathered and I volunteered To referee. I was surprised how well it went. People have always said I have gifting with the young people but I have never felt confident in it. They seemed to do what I asked with very little dissension. We played three separate games of varying lengths, but the longest was 15 minutes a side. The quality of football was amazing. I think some good things will come out of this. Andrew wants to do something regular with the boys.

As I write this I am in the back seat of a car driving between Calais and Lille. Andrea's brother is driving and we are off to visit a Christmas market. We will be staying in a cheap hotel overnight and probably visiting Belgium tomorrow. It is very cold here with the display of the car showing 0° Celsius. Andrea's brother has a left hand drive car and feels a bit different to travel in. I didn't see much of the journey as I fell asleep. The next thing I knew was we had arrived at the hotel. We booked in.

The Christmas market we were visiting was not closing until 10pm so after dinner we traveled a further 20 minutes to the centre of Lille. Everyone seemed to have the same idea as we found it very difficult to find a space to park. As I got out of the car I was worried about losing my way in a strange town but need not have worried.

As we crossed various streets and squares to where we hoped the market was we came across a solitary merry-go-round. No one seemed to be on it but it was still going round.

Eventually we found the market, but by now it was raining. Not heavy, but enough to get in the way; we tried to ignore it. The trouble was the rain was getting on the lens of Andrea's camera.

There were quite a few stalls selling different things. Things to eat, things to drink, cheap gifts, expensive gifts; everything.

Through a gap in the buildings we saw a Big Wheel ride so we went to investigate. There in just the next square along was a wonderland of this ride. It was quite spectacular.

It was getting cold and the rain was getting heavier, so we left to find the car again.

After sleeping at the hotel the next day we took an excursion into Belgium. Where we were was close to the border so it was easy to step across. Andrea's brother Brian took us to various locations.

The first place visited was a town where all the shops were on the on main street. We visited a pet store were dogs for sale! They were so cute! all puppies of different sorts. I wanted to take one home, then I looked at the price tag- 450 Euros! ouch!

One was a seaside town where there were a few shops. On the beach were lots of seagulls. They tended to congregate on top of the street lights. I wanted to a closer look and I was glad to have Andrea's binoculars in my pocket. "Hold on, what's this?", I said. I thought I had seen a rare "Ring Billed gull". I got quite excited. But I had to check later and found it was not so rare but still a good spot of a common gull.

On to our next location, a little shop out in countryside. While Brian went in to talk to the shop keeper, Andrea and I went to see the river close by. White farmyard Geese came swimming and honking up to us. They were obviously hungry. Or maybe they were protecting their territory. They need not have worried. I was not about to jump in!

As we returned another person had arrived and got stuck in some mud. I offered to help and tried to push. I tried to avoid getting caked in the mud from the spinning wheel and felt I had done quite well. Unfortunately, though, Andrea had been standing by the side watching, and got covered head to toe in the thick dirt. As he had turned the wheel it got her where she thought she was safe! We all rallied to clean it off one another but poor Andrea, the more we tried the more she looked like an SAS commando on manoeuvres!

And so back home to catch the ferry. I fell asleep in the back of the car again. It had been a busy weekend but enjoyable.

Happy Christmas!

A New Phase

Things have been a bit tough of late and I have been wrestling with who I am and what God wants from me. I have still felt weak and ineffectual.

Last night I went to a joint small group where the men prayed for the men and the women prayed for the women. During prayer two prophetic words were given to me, which at first glance seemed a little innocuous but on reconsidering were just right.

My friend Frazer said I was like a steam train on a track going the right way and not veering-as is the nature of tracks, but I was stopped at a place to take on water and fuel.

Johnny said he had a picture of a fluffy pillow. What that meant he did not know. "just enjoy it", he said. I was encouraged a little.

As I was the first to be prayed for, I was glad to be used of God after that in bringing words to others. The images were clear and words were sharp.

One particular one I had for Gerry was really good. He was like an archaeologist on a dig. He was looking for something, but he did not know what. He had been digging and sometimes it was hard graft but he was motivated by knowing there was something to find. God expressed how pleased he was that he was looking and persisting in a task that can at times seem slow and laborious. Sometimes it needs shovel work, sometimes a little trowel or brush. all the same he was persisting. The parable of treasure in a field was mentioned too. Jesus is worth everything to find.

With trepidation and with the warning words of "not to think of yourself more highly than you ought" I will tell you the next bit.

This morning I got up to pray. This has been a rare event recently, but I was today able to get out of bed. I was still wrestling with God. He reminded me of the two words from last night. Suddenly I saw I did not have to be anyone or do anything but to - in the case of the pillow just enjoy God's rest and comfort. Yes I was going in the right direction but stopped to take on water and fuel ready to steam ahead.

Having that encouraging me, another message for myself came for me. To illustrate that please click the link below.

http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_terrestrial_and_freshwater/Anax_imperator/Anax_imperator_09b.html

You will see this is a dragonfly nymph emerging to adulthood. This is the image God gave me this morning.

He said I was like a dragonfly emerging from nymph stage. During this time it is stationary and not doing anything (apart from trying to emerge). It can seem an arduous and painful task but that is part of the process. Also at this time it is very vulnerable and has no defence. The nymph looks ugly in comparison to the fully formed insect.

By nature the dragon fly has large eyes to see with and if you click the last of the four pictures on the site you will see it going to and fro looking. This I felt God saying I would do for the church. Although I have been doing it to some measure, I feel I will flourish in the gift.

I had to be rid of the outer shell of self reliance and pride and thinking of what I could do for Him and to flourish into the beauty of what He had made me and rest in that.

Please pray for me. I feel I am still in the emerging stage and I am still vulnerable.

Lessons to learn

Quite a lot has been happening. We have been watching the revival in Florida on TV. In response to that I decided to have a special healing meeting at my work's Christian Union. I felt I was obeying what God wanted me to do but I did not feel I could do it. I felt a bit of a burden of responsibility on me. I got the others in the group to pray. We were desperate for God to meet with us. I felt so hungry for His presence. I was so aware of my weakness and failings. I have a fine group who rallied round and sought Jesus to turn up.

The meeting was fantastic. All I could do was to rely on God and obey what he was saying. We had a time of worship then I felt God give me a couple of words for healing people. People responded and we had lots of testimonies of people being touched and healed by Jesus.

In the past I would try to hard and rely on a formula. But I realise now that it's all about Jesus and how He wants to do it.

In lots of ways I believe God can use you to touch your fellow prisoners. You can ask God to bring healing to peoples lives and bring glory to Jesus in that prison. I fact they mentioned that on TV a couple of weeks ago saying God was starting to move mightily in prisons. I don't know what your Chaplin, Ken, thinks of all this but watching it and hearing from God I really want to do and be where He wants me to be.

Things can never be the same and it seems that this is a start of worldwide move of God to bring nations around the world to Christ and see His name glorified. I was even going to there myself this week but in the end I felt God say hold off for a while.

Andrea and I have been married for over 29 years now. So, as part of the celebrations we went on a marriage course. This was hosted by a big church in London called Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). It was a real eye opener. They give you a meal and there is a talk and then you are expected to discuss together a particular subject each week. Subjects such as: Knowing me-Knowing you, Resolving conflict, Parents and parents in law, and the five languages of love. We felt we had a good marriage and do truly love each other but this showed us God wanted our marriage to be so much better and our love for one another to be deeper.

We took our holiday in France again this year. It was Sarah-Jane that found us a place to go- The Jura Mountains near Geneva. The Jura region is really the foot hills of the Alps.

We have up to now flew and hired a car when we arrived, but this year we decided we would drive down and have a stop off part way. The stop off was just outside Paris. We booked with a company called Canvas Holidays. They seemed to be the cheapest for the place we had chosen. We hired a mobile home. It was the biggest one we had ever had and was quite luxurious. Unfortunately though, it rained all the time. To top it all I felt a little under attack spiritually, and so my mood was not helped by it constantly raining. We were able to do things though. I felt particularly proud of the number of walks across the region Andrea and I were able to take. We seem so much fitter now that we both cycle to work. The scenery was lovely and was not spoiled by a bit of rain! During our time there we visited some spectacular water falls. We were even able to go behind one of them. We got very wet, but thankfully we both had good waterproof coats.

I normally am not good at finishing books once I start them, but recently I have just completed a book that has really been quite good. It is called "The Shack" It tells the story of a dad whose little girl gets taken by a sex offender and murdered. He returns to the scene of the murder and tries to deal with God why He should allow such things. I don't know if Ken has explained The Trinity to you, but this book's main theme is God in trinity. It is never easy to talk about a subject like that but I believe it has some good points to make. I will try and get a copy to you.

Whilst watching the revival on TV I felt I had been healed of Diabetes. I won't know for certain until I visit the doctor on July 7. Interestingly enough, though because I have been cycling to work most days I seem to have lost quite a bit of weight. I am now down to 14½ stone. This and continuing to eat healthily means I have recently felt so well.

We heard some sad news lately and it has given opportunity for us and the church to pray for the community. One family in Kid's Club had a brand new baby boy. The mum wanted to return to Bangladesh t show him off. Unfortunately she only had a Bangladeshi passport. On trying to return to this country she was stopped by immigration. We as a church prayed for her and praise Jesus, she was allowed back in.

Another member of Kid's Club said her father had had a serious stroke. He was taken to intensive care. We wanted to love and support the family and so we prayed. I felt from God I should go to the bedside to pray for healing and deliverance. I asked permission from the relatives. They said yes, fine, in fact they seemed quite enthusiastic. I went along with Andrea and a friend called Dez (short for Derek) and asked at the nurse’s station where he was. They directed us. He was no longer in intensive care but had been moved to a brain observation ward. The man's mother was there and she seemed quite moved we had prayed. We left them and went home. Later that week I felt we should pray by his bedside again. I took Andrea again and, because we had been there before I went straight in to the ward and to the bed we had been to before. He had no one with him this time and was being fed by the nurse. I was a bit concerned he had signs of surgery on his head, but I thought it is what was needed so didn't worry too much. I got down to praying for him again. I asked God for healing and deliverance once more and God to bless him. After we had prayed a nurse came up to us and asked if we had been here before.

"Of coarse", I said, "I was here Sunday"
"Oh, I think you mean that man over there." She said.
I had been praying for the wrong man! I was so embarrassed!

There, across the ward, was the mother again by her son’s bedside. We approached once again and offered to pray again. I felt so silly because where she was right by the security station and the security guards had been watching all this unfolding. They looked very disapproving with their arms folded watching me intently as I prayed for the right man this time.

We really love the Bangladeshi community and are really desperate to see God break in there.

Easter Outreach

During the month of March my Christian fellowship, at work, had an outreach program. I lead this group and was desperate to do something to lift the Name of Jesus up within my work place. I suggested it to the other 2 leaders. Straight away they was enthused about it. One of them, Gloria, made a suggestion about its theme. She wasn't even serious about the suggestion either. "Who are you?" she suggested. Immediately I felt God speak to me that this was right. I'm one of those people that if I see an idea I want to run with it. This suggestion really captured my imagination. So often, people at work tend to just have their head down and do their work drudgingly. We who are followers of Jesus, know of another dimension to life and how it need not be a drudge.

It was suggested we have a literature table in the foyer during the two weeks either side of the Easter break. I emailed everyone in the group for volunteers. Gloria also emailed them for finances. The response was phenomenal! People handed her lots of money; I felt they gave quite sacrificially. In the end we raised over £300! We even got donations from those who don't normally come to any of the meetings. People were also enthusiastic about being at the table to greet people as they either came to work, or were going home.

Andrea is a bit of a photographer and I was keen to use a couple of her photos for the posters which I wanted to put up in the foyer of the Town Hall.

Only about two weeks before we went out to visit Green Park, in London, near Buckingham Palace, to enjoy the sunshine. The weather was warm and the Daffodils were out in force; they looked quite lovely. Andrea used her recently bought new camera and got snapping away. I used one of these to for the posters. The other photo was of a butterfly that Andrea had taken during our holiday in France.

The price of such posters are quite expensive and, although people were generous I felt I did not want to waste their money. I was, however, able to find a very reasonably priced place on the Internet. It was in Germany and you had to send it via the Internet. I was concerned the posters would not get back to us in time but they worked very hard and the posters looked stunning! It was so thrilling when I put the posters on the table in the foyer.

We had a prayer meeting prior to the outreach weeks and one of the members suggested a prayer point list. This, I have to say, was very useful and insightful about what we should concentrate on.

I did all I could to get enough literature and tracts to make the table look nice and full. Others too scoured their own churches for literature. We were not prepared for the success we were to experience on that first day. By the end of the day the table looked quite empty with very few leaflets left. Some people stepped into the breach and one person went on his motorbike during his lunch break to get some more from a local Christian book shop. He insisted on paying for them himself. Others also gave bags of new testaments Bibles and expensive books for people to take. They too insisting not to be reimbursed. Each day was similar with us having the problem of keeping the table stocked up.

On the table we had little mini eggs in a basket. People were very willing to take them. We wanted to show people the Grace of God and definitely not worry if they all went. We did our best to keep the basket stock up. Again, many of the group bought some themselves, they even bought quite expensive, luxury eggs and chocolates.

A Bible was opened and each day a Bible passage was chosen for people to read. A prayer request book was also available for people to write in for us to pray for what was asked.

By the end of the two weeks we had given away lots of booklets and eggs. We had lots of people asking us question and we had many prayer requests. A very successful time!

Afterwards we had a thanksgiving meeting where all we did was praise God for what He had done.

Heavy Breathing

Having returned from being away from Christmas I hadn't been at work for very long when I was taken ill. I was experiencing a bit of a tight chest and felt I was coming down with a cold. Then it really started going wrong. I felt terrible the next day; really achy.
Then the coughing started.

I decided to take time off work. Little did I know I would not be able to return to work until nearly two weeks later.

I'm sure Andrea was getting fed up of my coughing and complaining, but she was an angel and very patient. Men aren't good at having colds and seem to complain too readily; this seemed to be different though.

After three days there seemed no improvement so I went to the doctors. The doctor said I had a chest infection and was concerned I was developing asthma. He gave me Inhalers and antibiotics.
I was still coughing very badly. The evening of the day after I had seen the doctor I had a particularly bad coughing fit and felt I could not breathe. Sarah-Jane rang NHS Direct for advice. They immediately got an ambulance to come round. I was a bit embarrassed, I didn’t want any fuss. They were very good though. They sat me in the ambulance and gave me a mask for oxygen. That was a new experience and made me feel so much better. Whilst I was enjoying the oxygen (if enjoying is the right word), the ambulance paramedic checked my heart. Sticky pads were placed on my chest. I felt a bit silly; I knew what they were worried about. I was a first aider at work and we had, many times, gone through signs of a possible heart attack. I was sure that wasn't happening but they had to do their job.

Andrea was with me. She had traveled with me in the ambulance. She was very good. She doesn’t like anything medical but she coped admirably. I, although I was short of breath, was making light of it. I wanted Andrea to take a photo of me all wired up. Of course she declined.

We arrived at St Thomas hospital and I was fairly quickly seen at first. They took blood and again checked my heart; then came the long wait. The doctors wanted to check the results and decide.
There were many characters waiting in casualty as well. Some drunk and noisy; saying hello to everyone passing by. Others had there head bowed with a bowl under them. They were obviously suffering from this winter vomiting virus going around.

My friend, Alvin, rang me up to see how I was doing. He was a qualified doctor and after a little discussion of my situation, he was keen to come and sit with me. I have known him a while and he is a very good friend. He had to come all the way from Hackney, East London so it took about an hour for him to arrive.

Now that he had arrived it gave Andrea a chance to go home. It was gone midnight at this point and she was wilting a bit. Sarah-Jane had hired a car so she could help her get home.
Once Alvin had come he was keen to tell me all the doctors may be considering. He, many times, in his training, had been an emergency doctor so this kind of thing was not a problem to him.
We used the long wait as an opportunity to catch up with news and what was happening in each other’s life. It was a real encouragement. Although he is a good friend, I don’t really get a chance, very often, to chat to him.

I was breathing better by now and so talking was not as unpleasant as it might have seemed. The clean hospital air seemed to help significantly; not to mention the oxygen I had had in the ambulance!

Eventually I was seen after 4½ hours. I wasn’t tired and, surprisingly, I hadn’t been too bored either.
The diagnosis was I had Pneumonia. Not serious pneumonia but enough for them to worry a little. They sent me home after giving me antibiotics.

Alvin dropped me off home at 5 in the morning. I was glad it was all over. It took another week before I felt well enough to return to work. I was still coughing badly and I think it was not helping by having hairy cats every where. Andrea and I made the decision to get the fold up bed out in the other room and not let the cats any where near us. I think it helped. The cats looked all forlorn and quizzical in the morning, wondering why they could not sleep on our bed.

Christmas blessings

Sarah-Jane has rejoined us back at our flat once again. She was finding it very expensive to live where she did. Since coming back she has been a real blessing. We were getting a bit stuck in our ways and the flat and furniture were looking tired. She got us going to IKEA and spend some money.

We made one of the bedrooms a second lounge with another TV, etc. We added a sofa bed. Those that have slept on it so far have said how comfortable it is. We are glad, there is nothing worse than giving guests an uncomfortable night.

Christmas has been a brilliant time for me this year. I am leader of the Christian group at work and together we arranged for us to have a carol service in the church near to where I work. The Rector was most welcoming to us as a group. The others in the group asked me to do the talk.

I was surprised to find out 37 people had attended. That was a good number for a Friday evening event. This a transcript of my talk:

What is Christmas all about? Look over on the back of your sheet. Is it about a jolly fat man that comes once a year? Who has difficulty getting into a house, either by chimney, or whatever means, because he has had too many mince pies.

It’s all very well but the trouble with this man is he doesn’t stick around. We see him, (or maybe we don’t), once a year when he has left something under the tree. But after that special morning he disappears, not to be seen again for a whole eleven months until some impostors show up in department stores to encourage you to spend your hard earned money on things, you secretly admit, you don’t really need.

Not so the one we are celebrating today. He was promised from a long time ago. Mayor Ann Jackson read one of those promises; a promise of something big, something significant.

He chose not a major city, nor a big media event, but a backwater town, where it’s only claim to fame was it had the promise of God on it, or had a young shepherd boy called David live there.

This child, this Son, was going to stick around. He was going to be Immanuel, God with us. That is a promise too, from Isaiah 7, which the gospel writer Matthew quoted.

“The increase of His government and peace will know no end” we heard in the first reading. This speaks of continuation and permanence. Jesus was going to bring something about that was going to grow and stay.

How would this happen? Could a baby really do this?

Well, we know the rest of the story, don’t we? This baby grew up! And, after He was baptized, went around doing good and preaching the Good News of the kingdom; the Bible says.

He said seemingly audacious things like “God is my Father”, and “I and the Father are one”. Or things like “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Jesus wanted us to know He was going to stick around and had the authority and ability to do so; even death did not stop Him from keeping His promise because He was raised from the dead.

Some accepted; some did not. Those that did accept Him and his message where changed; changed from being fishermen, to being fishers of men. From being a penny pinching, thieving, tax collector, in the pocket of the Roman authority; to a writer of a book in the Bible. There are some here who can say that they have been changed too. They changed when Jesus met them at their darkest hour. And that’s the key: change.

Change comes from believing; from accepting who He is and what He had to say. That His Father could be your Father.

Christ kingdom grows by changing me, by changing you. Changing us on the inside, as Jesus said, like yeast in a lump of dough.

So as the last verse of that carol says:

"O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!"

Ask Jesus for change and know His presence with you.

About that time I was approached by several councilors for the group to get involved with carols around the tree in the Town Hall reception area. The public and staff where there listening. We thank God His name is being lifted up in the heart of council affairs.

Sarah-Jane has settled in and continues to be a blessing. Even over Christmas she took the reigns and got us all organised. She even found a cottage for us to stay in during Christmas week. Our family is growing and we had found it increasingly difficult to accommodate everyone satisfactorily. Our flat is certainly not big enough for everyone to stay with us. Last year was OK because Sarah-Jane had the vicarage, but now she wasn't there anymore it was no longer an option.

The cottage was in Cambridgeshire near Wisbech. It slept eight and was quite reasonably priced. With everyone contributing to it it would only cost each person £20.00 per night they stayed.

As we were all away we had to put the cats in a cattery. The most suitable one was one quite close to the cottage. It was a bit of ordeal for the cats to travel in the car all that way but they seem none the worse for it now they are home.

We had to go shopping when we arrived after a long 3-hour journey. We were a bit worried as Turkeys were in short supply. We got one eventually.

All of us (Richard, Fiona, Sarah Jane, Andrea and I) wanted to go to church in a nearby village on the Sunday. Looking at the map it seemed near enough to walk to. The Sunday morning was crisp and frosty so it was nice to walk in, though had a few problems finding the footpath across the fields.

We met some friendly horses on the way. They were very much interested in who we were and what we were doing. Andrea got a bit spooked. We laughed because she was thinking they were chasing her.

After about 45 minutes we got to the church. It had taken a bit longer than thought so we arrived slightly late. As with old Church of England Churches you can't really enter quietly. The door clanged as we opened it and on entering everyone looked round. We felt a bit embarrassed.

Still, we got into the swing of the service and sung the carols with gusto. Some of the congregation kept looking round. I wondered what I had done wrong, but afterwards one of them came up to us and said how much they enjoyed our singing and "you should be in a choir with voice like that", we were quite flattered.

On the Sunday afternoon Kieren and Jenny eventually arrived. Like us it had taken quite a while for them to get from London to here. They did get a bit lost as well so Richard and I got in the car and went out to hunt for them. We were not sure if we would succeed in finding them, however we did and they followed us to the cottage.

The fact he had got lost got me thinking what to buy him for Christmas. He was very surprised to open a Sat Nav on Christmas morning. He should not get so lost in the future.

For chores and meals everyone chipped in and helped; Sarah-Jane got different couples to produce a meal for everyone on different days. Andrea's brother, Brian, used to be a chef, so he and Sarah-Jane cooked Christmas meal proper. Delicious!

The TV was only a small thing in the lounge. It was OK because one thing we like to do as a family is play board games. Some get very competitive.

Andrea's parents were there also.

Because the car was so crammed it was down to me to travel home by train afterwards. This Andrea driving and Sarah-Jane to help her. Just like when we were going it took an awfully long time for them to get home but thankfully they returned home safely.

My journey on the train was relatively uneventful except for the love countryside whizzing past and a group of football supporters were in fine voice as they got on and when they got off.