Just sat down to check my emails. Only 7 today (so far), yet each day there is a higher and higher percentage of gmail (do I need to explain?). I've also had lots of phone calls checking thing.
Ho hum.
I feel we are on the home straight.
Hope I get to see some seminars this year.
As so often before in my life, Greenbelt has got me into places I've never
previously been. Good places, I should add. Being a Blogger, I've found to
be a good thing. Nice to have a reason to sit down for half-an-hour each day
and reflect on what's been going on.
So that led me to remember that my email service provider also offers me
'freespace' with which to set up a website. And THAT led me to spend a lot
of time over recent days (especially today) putting my own website together.
It's modest but it'll serve the purpose, because after Greenbelt I hope to
keep the Blogging going and one of the main uses of the website will be to
store my daily thoyughts for future reference. By me, mainly, I guess,
though it'll be there for anyone else interested too.
Swinging between concern that it's all a bit self-indulgent and excitement
at having a new way to reach people and keep in touch, it's been an odd
exercise. The site's not 'live' yet but will be soon; maybe you'll have a
look and help me decide its value...
............just put the cd on my iMac/iTunes so it is there forever. That fantastic song I have on CD and on Video. It is so inspiringly beautiful.
One thing I will do at Greenbelt is to book and pay for the 'Wing and a Prayer week-end'.Got the date in my diary(which is distant from me at the mo so cannot tell you the date) and am keeping it clear. It has been great the past two years and great to get together mid festival with all of you.
Tonight I will be leading the little Chapel gathering.......8pm at the YMCA. Since I did it last,one person has died and another has been stabbed. Inevitably other people ,me too,have moved and shaked through life. I have things I cannot tell you in this public domain.All of us have stepped and/or shuffled down this life changing road.
Tonight the theme is 'know yourself' or as the Librarian would say "know thy shelf".
I will be using some 'self revelation' exercises.Blob tree.God's football pitch.Also the one where you write the things known by other on the outside of an envelope and on the inside only what you know and God knows.....then is is sealed down and each push through the shredder as an act of.........God thank you for loving me even knowing me so well and also .....please forgive me.
Knowing where we are at is always the number one.`the first act of a leader is to help define REALITY'. Then we, I believe, are more ready to consider options and maybe chose one......rather than stay 'status quo'.
Well.........I will let you know how it went ,this time tomorow.
yesh tesh spon yowee....................which is Polish for........you are a....
bhp
With less than a week left until I head to site (via London), it was time to do some Greenbelt shopping this morning:
Purchases include:
- 1 ream of blue A4 printer paper, plus 1 ream of various luminous colours; for signs badges etc
- Two more 4-way extension leads for scooter recharging facility
- A4 ring binder and dividers for venue info
- Some extra large rubber bands
- Box of Traidcraft cereal bars
- Pack of dried fruit and nuts
- Rainy weather drinks: hot chocolate sachets (splashed out and got the ones with marshmallow sprinkles!)
- Hot weather drinks: multipack of diet coke cans (would normally choose caffeine free, but something tells me…)
- Some headache tablets
In the glow of a task completed, I went to put said purchases with other Greenbelt packing in spare room, only to discover that in a fit of trying to find last years licence the other day, I had turned out the cupboard in the spare room and previous items are now buried.
Virtuous feelings not forthcoming…
The pretty girl searching the cds behind Woolworths counter looked up at me,
blushed, and asked, "I'm sorry, could you tell me the name of the artist on
this, please?" Moments later I felt embarrassed at having brought this nice
person into contact with a cd called EVIL HEAT, its cover a mess of scenes
of war and civil disturbance. But life is complex and while the new Primal
Scream release is a times as brutal as 2000's XTMNTR it also features a Kate
Moss vocal, and rocks and bubbles throughout.
I need music which engages the state of the world, which is why the Primals
remain a must-buy, because of the way they use noise to critique the status
quo. But I have to say, the light touch is the right touch sometimes. And at
the end of a day when I've struggled with "whoever comes to me will never be
hungry" in the face of Africa's famine and this country's impasse over
sustainable development, when I've spent time with someone who last month
lost her husband to cancer, at 35, who I miss too, it's a kiss of life to
settle down with the Primals rockin' out in wonderfully banality to lyrics
like 'Oooh baby, do it again...'
" My first love would be spiritual music " - Elvis Presley
Elvis, The Beatles, Sex Pistols. Maybe not the three greatest artists in the brief history of popular music - although perhaps two out of the three are represented here - but arguably the three most influential so far. This was a subject that was touched on, even more briefly, on the Greenbelt Forum, a couple of months ago or so.
1977 was an epoch-making year. This summer, we celebrate IT'S silver jubilee anniversary, just as the Queen finishes celebrating her own Golden Jubilee, and twenty-five years ago, amidst her first jubilee events, the Pistols were victims of chart-rigging, to prevent their, ' God Save The Queen ' single from being at Number One. This was Punk's high-water mark ; a peak that was to last through the release of their first studio album in late October, to their inevitiable break-up in January the following year. Arguably, their influence, or rather the ripples they set in motion, has affected all rock 'n' pop ever since.
But the same summer sadly saw the tragic death of the man behind the original rock 'n' roll explosion, Elvis Presley. It's no coincidence that he suffered a fatal heart-attack whilst reading a book entitled, ' The Scientific Search For The Face Of Jesus ' ; an attack brought on, of course, by excess. The 16th August will be another, less-wanted anniversary, and one that will no doubt prompt media-coverage of his drug-taking, binges and other vices, rather more than his black-gospel music and church connections, of which there were many : indeed he seem to be constantly caught in the classic conflict between flesh and spirit, between God and, " the Devil's music ", and a lot else besides, sadly for him. U2's Bono, a long-term Elvis fan has gone on record as saying that the music that interests him most, is that which is either running away from, or running to, God. Patti Smith, Marvin Gaye, Jerry Lee Lewis.
Greenbelt was into it's fourth Festival in August 1977 and, was no doubt doing what many of it's contributors will be doing this year, in looking at what it means to be in-the-world-but-not-of-it ; at how to strike a right balance, rather than a compromise, between the flesh and the spirit. I guess that it's an age old struggle, but one that we can't hide from, or pretend it doesn't exist - we're called to struggle, to wrestle with angels (to quote the Greenbelt theme of ' 91), so do you fancy joining us on a journey of the heart, to quote another?
As many of you may know, we have an addition to the campsite this year in the form of an earth mound resulting from the racecourse building works.
Fortunately, the space lost isn’t too great and you can find details here
Aware of the current plight and demonising of asylum seekers and wishing to explore the Judeo Christian theme of displacement and diaspora, this year we have created a campsite installation based on the medium of earth sculpture.
With deliberate reference to the work of Andy Goldsworthy but using Cheltenham based 'artists', in use of natural material found on the site, we offer Greenbelters a taste of exile.
The 'artists' are in fact builders - a post modern acknowledgement that all art is industry; in creating art we are 'building' a new paradigm of the world, literally earth moving. The heavy plant that is the flowering of new thought. If we are truly in tune with God's voice we see not builders but co-creators.
As you experience the slight discomfort of a marginally longer walk back to your tent, imagine the plight of those trekking onwards. As you pass the earth sculpture just say to yourself what a selfish, idle person I am...
Campsite. Had the impact have been greater, we might have considered using the spin suggested by a good friend of mine:
I feel her talents may be wasted as a priest – Millbank surely calls…
........involved in a few things at Greenbelt,not only th resposibilities as Trustee with the other BHP's.We meet daily as a Board and have several gatherings of key groups of locals and nationals and church humans,And the press who I guess will be pumping out all sorts of bits about the ABC as they follow Rowan and Rumours around the festival. Also 'Snogs-of-Praise' will be there filming for future broadcast.Hope that give it some sort of welly. The beeb-at-gee-bee team are coming to our place this week to film me in context with hundreds of little humans and youthful humans. I will do the voiceover at the fest and some at the YMCA. If they ask for my favorite hymn I will say Cliff Richard !!They will no doubt be pushing the camera up your nose at the festival so take a clean hankie. We want it to look all good and luurvely. I hope they get the international feel from the four local nations and of course the fantastic visitors from all over the world.
Will also be doing three seminars with beautiful humans,a small part in the communion,chairing people 'kissing life' and angels bits(I guess) and the'fish tank'. Will someone tell me what that is ??Also have other bits but forget without my file. What I want to do is catch some seminars:-
the hip hop geezer Michael Eric Dyson
Robert Beckforth
Jim Wallace
Joy Carol
Rowan
64 bands on stage two
.........and yes I remember I will be doing an 'Epi-snog' at the end of show ,each -night/stage one.
Getting adolecent now....meaning all excited.
uyani personn ebuooku.............that is Albanian for.........
bhp
I'm busy today, sorting out some Bruce Cockburn CD's for a guy at work who's keen to hear the Toronto Blessing for himself. So I'm handing over to a guest Blogger, Fiona Patterson.....
" Driving into work today, along the A130 psuedo-motorway from South Essex to Chelmsford, I was behind a car with the last three letters of the registration spelling, J-A-R. On a boring, cold, misty day, I found myself wondering if there's a number plate in existence, with the reg, B311 JAR on it, and if so, where it might be - on an old car on the scrapheap, or on an Essex boy-racer's Ford Escort perhaps, instead? It's interesting, how some things suddenly take on new meanings!....bit like Paul's trip to Prospect Farm (see below) I came back to reality when I opened my car door in the car-park and the warning buzzer told me my lights were still on.
Then I read the Blogs. Sites being prepared, logistics being planned, excitement about a festival. Last week at work, I chaperoned a meeting of Chelmsford Youth Council. We used the big, wood pannelled meeting room at my work-place (the Civic Centre), just after a planning meeting between the Council and V2002. When I leave work today I must travel home to Southend via Hylands Park, on the edge of town to see how their festival site is looking. V2002 is only 10 days away.... "
And, as Neil Young still keeps on singing...ROCK AND ROLL CAN NEVER DIE.
I've just been looking through the list of new bands that will be playing STAGE 2 this year. I say "new bands", there are a few bigger names dropped in there for a more intimate gig, but mostly it's struggling young acts. Each year, bands mostly reflect trends from the last few years. Indie! Guitars! You get the picture. There are always exceptions of course, and one band has just caught my eye.
Usually, after reviewing the 150th band, names all look like Joe Bloggs, but then I spotted the name Charlie Wilson, guitarist for Get Real.
If your Greenbelt memory stretches in excess of 15 years then the name of Charlie Wilson might be familiar, especially if you were prone to wearing AC/DC T-shirts. Think back to the days when thousands of people camped out in front of mainstage all day to get the best views and bands were revered with much more passion than today. The days of After The Fire, power popsters who can even claim to have once been supported by U2. Think, Norman Barratt, who once had to play at the side of the stage when sessioning for an American singer, because the enthusiastic Greenbelt crowd were continually shouting NORMAN, NORMAN, NORMAN. And then there were the kings of the Christian Heavy Metal scene, 100% Proof, who as far as I can remember are the only Greenbelt band ever to have some of the band rise up above the stage on an rising platform. Elevation 20 years before U2.
A few quick emails and my suspicions are founded. It may be 20 years later, and it may not be heavy metal, but Sunday at this years Greenbelt sees the welcome return of Charlie Wilson, guitarist and singer from 100% Proof with "new band" Get Real.
And he's still playing his Gibson SG.
So actually Neil was wrong when he sang...And once you're gone, you can't come back....
I can’t remember the last time I had a proper lunch break. Lunchtime for the past month or so has come to mean a hastily grabbed sarnie whilst I trawl through GB emails and try to get a head start on the day’s list of GB actions so that I stand a chance of getting to bed before 1am that night.
On the positive side, working each evening has meant that my watching of trash TV has greatly reduced. Programmes I simply can’t do without are now ‘listened’ to whilst I tap away at the computer. Accordingly Eastenders has become more like the Archers (but I’m guessing that Cat is still orange and that Anthony hasn’t made any convincing facial expressions yet…). Forgoing the visual nuances of Six Feet Under is a sacrifice I’m only just about prepared to make and I’m afraid even GB doesn’t take precedence over 24!
From the amount of stuff pouring into my in-box each lunchtime, it’s clear that mine is not an unusual situation. Lunch-hours up and down the land have become Greenbelt zones. It’s kind of heartening to think of this army of volunteers battling away to pull everything together. How many other organisations could call on this level of commitment I wonder?
Today’s lunchtime email tally is 6 queries on accessibility (check out the new pages at Greenbelt Accessibility), 12 queries from Venue Managers, 2 queries re Early Birds, 1 rather urgent one re GB H&S and Insurance, 1 request for more stats on sanitary provisions (!), 2 re Ned Flanders Night, 1 re BBC and 6 that I’ll just have to label ‘other’.
Oh, and 1 notifying the Ops Team of the arrival of a new daughter for one of our Stewarding Managers. Wonderful news - presumably they’ll be used to sleepless nights even before they get to site this year!
Welcome to the world Miriam…
Re-reading The Best of Paul Cookson I discovered this classic which Paul would probably agree, fits the GB02 theme superbly:
Mum used Prittstick
Instead of lipstick
Then went and kissed my dad.
Two days passed
Both stuck fast.
The longest snog they ever had.
The joy of summer! A free Wednesday evening - and so, to Liverpool
University with an old friend to see the Indigo Girls in concert.
I don't know their music well - haven't really listened to them in the
decade since I saw them supporting 10,000 Maniacs at the Royal Albert Hall -
but I knew that it was full-on country with a radical lyrical edge, and that
was enough to attract me back to them.
The Indigo Girls are big advocates for the gay lobby and the audience
reflected that; in one song they critique the church for its 'unloving'
attitude to that community, but after it they spoke more positively about
changing attitudes. I guessed they'd been impressed by the the 'open and
affirming' North American churches, but doubted they'd say the same if they
were doing their lobbying in the UK. Not yet anyway.
I've seen some memorable gigs in that theatre - Stiff Little Fingers,
Throwing Muses, the phenomenal Fall. This didn't compare. But it was a good
night nevertheless. Notices outside told us that at 11.00 there'd be a band
on called 'CURFEW'. But they never showed; instead, the lights went up, so
we came home, ears buzzing.
....what a day what a day including 3.45 hours at the Probus club with 70 men......beautiful humans who made me feel at home and chatted intelligently.I did a day in the life of a Charity CEO on their doorstep
.I did 'Tuesday' which you got a glimpse of in the last but one post-to-blog.The stand out bit was at the end. A man I admire greatly gave the vote of thanx and in it said ,sincerely,that I am 'excentric' .It has stayed with me all day because it is a first timer for me. What the hell does that mean? Do you think I am excentric? It will not give me sleepless night,got a bigger list than this,but it gives me a 'Marge Simpson' grunt.....like she does when she thinks deep................I am certain Rowan Williams did the same groan/grunt last time he was at Greenbelt !!
Was a bit low this morning before the gig.Not easy to kick.The human contact did it however and someone asking me non-judgemental questions of support. Thank you Marge !!!
Now I have a problem because my broadband radio is tuned to a station in Hungary and they are rabbiting too much.
Then my young collegue(back to post speak engagement now)Adofus from India,gave me a quick help hand in understanding my cc sized digital camera. It is fantasic and small and instant and has good pixels unlike me so I go to bed and leave Gilles Peterson to tape why I toss and turn to sleep this sticky evening.
stay forever beautiful...................................................................bhp
....and we ended up stuffing several hundred envelopes. And there were lorra, lorra lot more, still waiting to get stuffed!Having spent a day at the Offices, I realised more than ever, just how much has to be done to put on an event such as Greenbelt....Dave then reminded me of how much also has to be done, On-Site, before, during and after the Festival, and how much is also done elsewhere - in people's homes, in their e-mails, at Angels' Weekends....the people who make Gb happen every year really do have to work very hard and yet, have a lot to contend with. They all do a great job.
Two highlights from yesterday : looking at old Greenbelt photos from the archives, as Gill Hewiitt responded to a request from the Church Times to help them illustrate an article that Martin Wroe has written for the paper about the Fest - some of the photos looked familiar, having been reproduced in black 'n' white, in various Christian publications over the years. It was fascinating, now being able to hold the colour originals in my hand! The other was hearing that Delirious? had appeared on breakfast TV yesterday, in a feature that reported that they are now, one of the biggest selling British groups in America, even though they're still relatively unheard of in this country. Thinking back to their Mainstage performance in 1998, I found myself thinking, roll on summer, or rather, roll on Greenbelt. Which for many of us, is THE high-point of the season...
The 3 Foot YMCA
I love seeing the lines of kids coming in and out of the YMCA- topped and
tailed by a leader - you
I love catching a snapshot as I walk into an activity room
* kids around a leader - you
* leaders on knees, getting down to their level - you
* the ones on the fringe of the group noticed by - you
I love that wave or smile - or both which you give me 100 feet away (when
really you could pretend you had not seen me!) by - you
I love names being used by everyone especially by - you
I love the organised activities and the free play led by - you
I love how your eyes reach out to little lives, as if to press your unique
finger print on every soul - yes - you
I love the magical YMCA three feet, where the YMCA is best, where the YMCA
achieves, that three feet when stardust is sprinkled on two people - that
three feet, the space between two people communicating, the most valuable
space on earth.
Thank__________________________________________you
Pip Wilson - to Holiday Programme Team
B&Q is not exactly my most favourite place and they say that men just can't help acting on Impulse. Well, if I'd done so when I saw a girl who looked the spitting-image of Greenbelt's Beki Bateson in B&Q in Lakeside on Saturday, and gone up and said hello, then I would've looked a bigger pillock than I already am. Memories of a mate of mine, walking up from behind to a girl he mistook for someone he knew, and pinching her bum in the middle of a crowded Southend High Street, came flooding back, once Beki II had moved on. Before I was SURE it was *her*. So, still getting my breath back after this narrow escape ( I hasten to add, that I personally, don't go around pinching bums anyway ) it was nice to meet the real thing in the flesh yesterday, when I caught a train to Liverpool Street and a couple of minutes later was walking into Greenbelt's HQ, just around the corner in London Wall. They share their premises, at All-Hallows-On-The-Wall Church, with the Drop The Debt Campaign, Christian Aid (London and South East Team) and Amos Trust. I'd volunteered to help out for a day, and as well as Beki, it was also nice to see Oliver and Rachael again, along with biker Dave, also from Southend and a former member of my church ; Alison, who has a great smile ; Abie, Garth and Gill Hewiit, who are always friendly ; Chris, Alison's brother and Neil, the smashing bloke behind these Blogs!
After nearly talking Alison and Dave to death ( as is my wont ) it was time to get on with... some work...
This is my first "Blog" - so go easy on me ....
Work is an escape from a house covered in material, sewing machines, etc as my dearly beloved gets on with making banners and flags of many colours for the forthcoming Greenbelt. She's helping out with what's described as "Site Vibing" and is going to inflict her obsession with the colours orange and pink on an unsuspecting Greenbelt this year.
But seriously its all looking great as its draped over our banisters, dining room table and cluttering up our spare room. I'm just feeling a bit guilty as I can't help out and keep distracting her with offers of watching the West Wing, Six Feet Under, Friends and anything else I've managed to video in the last few weeks.
However I know she'll make me pay as I'm dragged in (very willingly of course) to help with all the setting up of her colourful creations around the site on the Wednesday evening, Thursday day and Friday morning just before the festival kicks off.
This evening I'm going to escape from the workshop - perhaps get a little vinyl therapy in one of London's newest and supposedly cheapest record shops ("Fopp") and then join a friend in watching Austin Powers at Clapham Picture House.
I'm now getting very excited about the forthcoming festival - did anyone notice that the BBC News website picked up on "Ned Flanders Night" - a definite highlight of last year and I can't wait to see what they've got in store for us this year. Other festival highlights are likely to be Jazz Jamaica, Dennis Rollins and Future World Funk on the music side and of course the new ABC and Jim Wallis on the speaking front.
The weekend b4 GB02 I'm off to the Big Chill (just on the other side of the Malvern Hills in Herefordshire) to catch some of Pip Wilson's favourite bands and DJs - the Cinematic Orchestra, Mr Scruff, Gilles Peterson and many more.
Just hope that it doesn't wipe me out as I'm definitely up for another great Greenbelt experience.
In STAGE 2 we premier (mostly) new bands. I’ve just been checking over the line-up for this year and counted that we have 46 bands and 2 worship sessions and as much sleep as we can muster in a 75 hours stretch. As venue manager, should I start to panic? Probably not, but with such a few days to go before the festival it always seems like a good idea. Panic is sometimes a safe option, don’t you think. You know where you are with some uncontrolled flustering, and people tend to keep out of your way. Of course, I am not panicking…just thinking about it. I desperately want every band to go away satisfied and with a new audience. I want to discover the next Belljar or if we are lucky, U2!
Douglas Adams was right with his advice for any problem in the universe. Don’t Panic!
.....with June who is beautiful.She is 2 days old in London having moved from Belfast ymca to Kingston ymca. Planned to go out as a welcome to London and a good 'level five' (catch the concept on www.pipwilson.com if you are not up-to-date with pipspeak!!)
So sad that the ymca in Belfast, for many years serving central Belfast during the bomb/bomb and bigger bomb period have now been hit by the commercial gyms who have comein droves,now there is Peace.They have to sell their building as the pain catches up to surgery.They will continue fantastic Greenbelt type work in the rest of Belfast and .........................bless.
It was a posh eatery in Soho but next to the pole dance/strip club of course.........the place hums in the city heat and going down into the tube system felels just like my favorite 'Lancashire Hotpot' feels.
The funeral is on Tuesday.
Got a 'speak gig' Wednesday Lunch to 70 Probus men.I will tell them beautiful and ugly things about loving the unlovely.
Now that I am on broadband I am listening to a yankee radio sation as I type ....thanx to my webmaster angel called tomac/iMac.
Must go to prepare my talk.
Love that will not let me go....................................................bhp
I spent the weekend in Cheltenham (a spa town in Glocs – you may know it ;-) with a group of Greenbelt Operations people and other familiar faces.
It was a pretty intensive couple of days with hard work supplemented by much late night/early morning socialising. As always sleep losing out in the battle for the precious few hours together.
It’s always strange to see the racecourse bare, but it won’t be that way for long now. The first porta-cabins will arrive this week. By the time I get to site in 13 days time, the first few marquees will be rising from the ground in a manner reminiscent of the barn raising scene in Witness (happily minus the head scarves, pinafores and straw hats but sadly also without Harrison Ford…).
Sorry where was I? Ah yes Greenbelt…
Part of me feels excited at the proximity of the festival, but for the main part all I can see right now is the pile of actions that need attending to in the next 2 weeks. For every task I get completed a new one seems to appear. It builds steadily through the year and I’m now at the ‘every lunch hour, every evening, every weekend stage’.
So goodbye social life – see you in September.
Following on yesterday¹s musings (if you haven¹t already, dear reader, you
ought to see them first). ŒThe real world¹ is a phrase used often by those
determined to enforce their own point of view or way of life on others.
We¹re hearing it a lot right now, as the British military line up to support
America in their latest bombing campaign against the people of Iraq.
Opponents of this action offering nonviolent alternatives are told, Œyou
don¹t live in the real world¹. These words are very like that other
fatalistic litany, Œthere is no alternative¹.
The challenge and the joy of the Christian faith is that there is always an
alternative to such activities, and that when we search for it with the help
of God, Œthe real world¹ looks very different from the violent, doomed place
it first appears.
Jesus said ³I am the way, the truth and the life²: following him is like
taking directions from at a different kind of map, real nevertheless, where
the landscape en-route consists of grace, peace and reconciliation.
(Ahem - that's my article written for next month's Parish Magazine!!!)
Graeme who is the Pastor of the local "Dagenham Baptist Church". He is an ex junkie and prisoner who has been a dropping in lover of the ymca,the people that is. A great man.
He leaves us to go to Idle in Bradford to run a church with a Community Centre like they all will be one day.
Rachel and his two kids are taking a big step of faith and......if you know anyone in that area give us a quick e ? pip@pipwilson.com
Albums on order by me at the moment:-
Mr Scruff
Nils petter molvaer
Homelife
Underworld........."you bring light in".....the title just in case you have a title deficiency
stay beautiful............bhp
That is the title of the new UNDERWORLD single(title:two months off) due out in September and I know Karl,one of the duo, as he lives in Romford and he likes me.......the lyrics are SO positive....I would love them to do a freebie at Greenbelt,maybe next year as they are currently on the world tour.....you can order the album on a good website(I always do a search for the cheapest eShop on:- www.easyvalue.com )
The album is called:- "A hundred Days Off"
I always rabbit about music don't I ?
Well the death was a disturbing event in the y life.He was a young 41 year old who had struggled with relationships and hadgone down hill but during his time at the ymca he had started to come out of his struggle and came to the Chapel Service when I did it about a topical news item.My choice 'suicide bombers'......we touched on the recent and the historical and I posed the questions:-
who would you die for?
who would you live for?...... and did the 'living sacrifice' thought ....that is what Jesus came to make possible and there is no other way.He got himself right with God over the last few weeks and became not just a ymca taker but a ymca maker.A tragic loss of life
pip@pipwilson.com
Today I'm fascinated by a map. It's a waterways map, which I bought at Ellesmere Port Boat Museum this afternoon. It covers the canals of Cheshire and North Wales and what's fascinating about it is that it reinterprets that whole country for the person reading it.
Most maps highlight roads - this doesn't show any, just bridges, which are important on the canals so that each one is numbered and many bear names: 'Crows Nest Bridge', 'Round Thorn Bridge'. Most maps highlight urban settlements - this simply follows the waterways, emphasising settlements along their way whatever their size (eg, Bell o'th' Hill, Welsh Frankton) and sidelining major towns in the area (eg, Crewe, Flint). Most maps don't offer homely advice such as early closing days, names of all the pubs en route, and tips about navigation ('Be prepared for fast currents here'). This does. (Imagine a motorway atlas with similar tips: 'If there are roadworks on this stretch of the M6, take a good book to read', or 'A14 - watch out for lunatic drivers in Huntingdon area'. etc).
I like this map because it shows our little world in a new light. I once went on a narrowboat holiday and enjoyed the different perspective on the British countryside which it provided. It challenged my perception of landscape, of how I see and prioritise things. It challenged also, the temptation to criticise such 'other' perspectives, on the grounds that they're not 'the real world'. For some people, this world of boats and locks and 4mph limits, IS the real world. I had a good conversation with just such a couple today, who live very comfortably and contentedly on a 70ft narrowboat. And, returning home on the rush-hour M53 with an impatient Mercedes speeding behind me, I appreciated and applauded them.
Just in the last couple of days, I've returned again to the first Belljar album, ' Secret Volcanoes ', something that's given me a lot of pleasure in the past eleven months or so.
Belljar are a band that I've been meaning to get into, since I saw them supporting the Vigilantes of Love at London's Borderline, in 2000. Catching them twice at Greenbelt last year, and meeting a couple of band members, Charlotte Ayrton and Paul Northup, such nice people, was a further spur to start listening to their stuff, as was receiving both their long-players as birthday presents, a week after the Festival.
Paul fronts Belljar, and as well as providing vocals and electric guitar, writes much of their material, including such excellent titles as, ' Simple Soul ', and, ' Cage The Bird Up ', from the follow up CD, ' On The Outside Looking In '. It's not his first band and not his only Greenbelt connection...I've also been listening to the Greenbelt.25 album, that features old Festival headliners like The Alarm, Runrig, and the unforgettable Fat 'n' Frantic as well as All Star United, Ben Okafor and Ricky Ross, all of whom will be there this time along with Paul, whose old group Eden Burning also feature on the album.
I remember catching the end of their Mainstage set on Sunday evening in ' 93, and the last two songs that they performed on the Sunday afternoon in The River in ' 91. The crowd, in what passed for the mosh-pit, were loving it and were chanting, " Ole, Ole, Ole Ole Ole, MAINSTAGE, MAINSTAGE ". Well, they got there in the end.