Deeper thoughts

I had a fabulous discussion with a young person on MSN on Saturday evening. I should have been on my way home but as ever I logged in just to have a quick look and got caught in a discussion about youthwork and the role of Christianity in our relationships with young people. It was just incredible to be getting into this kind of debate with someone whose parents (oh I feel old) I remember getting married a few years before was born. This young chap is now coming up to 15 and is going to be a young leader as of the next time our big youth club meets. We even got as far as discussing the possibility of him becoming a full time youthworker one day. It is an amazing feeling to think that you might have encouraged someone by your example to follow you into ministry (I KNOW it's not just my example as he is also involved with our town centre wide work but there must be some element of my influence and my only response is a stunned wooooah!). As with all young people who discuss career prospects with me I went straight online and found him some relevant links to follow up (with somewhat more ease than other professions I might add!) The strangest thing is that I argued against the prospect far more than I would with any other option for him as I thought he might be trying to please me by asking. Perhaps I am actually quite wary of the whole issue of creating young people in my own image (he really isn't like me at all in fact!) or "cloning" as some trendy youthwork texts have described it. Yet surely we spend a lot of time ensuring that we give a good example of a Christian life. How can we also want young people NOT to be like us! hmmmm. Tough one!

Blog to blog

I had the great news yesterday that my blog is featured on yet another blog roll. Now I'm afraid this is something I can't achieve on mine. (Yes I'm sure it CAN be done... I just haven't managed to make it work that or the picture hosting!) So thanks to Richard and Beth for the feature on your blog :oD I shall be recommending the single Canadian site to my host in Toronto! What a fabulous idea: to save Americans from Bush by getting them to marry Canadians. Kerry might well be up for that! My friend that is not JOHN Kerry!

I'm having supper with two Americans tomorrow night, Mike and his friend Wayne. I know that Mike is not a Bush fan (don't know about Wayne) so I'll have to recommend the site to them as well. I'll keep you informed!

Jet Lag

Well I'd love to be able to blame the jet lag for my utter failure to blog in nearly a week BUT that would not be entirely true.

In fact it is partly to blame. It took me so much effort to do stuff I absolutely had to do for work that I didn't have the brain power for blogging. Yet it wasn't only this.

Marvellously for me I spent some of the time I could have been blogging typing up half a chapter of my new Great British novel. I am really rather excited about this one. I think it has an exciting and engaging structure, a fascinating premise and a feww little chuckles along the way. So I'm afraid the blogosphere's loss is literature's gain - tee hee!

I will endeavour to blog a bit more tomorrow unless inspiration strikes again.

Up, up in the air

Ok so now we're on the plane and it's time for that, oh so calming and yet Hispanically vibrant music again. This time accompanied by pictures, not of picturesque Canada but of luxurious London oh and Rome... and Amsterdam, ... and some mediterranean resort and... of course... the Colosseum! The first make me long for hme and then up come the pictures that make me want to put on my wings again! The Eiffel tower - half the height of the CN tower. These Europeans don't know how to build!

The good news is that, this time, we took off only four minutes late - not sixty four minutes. YAY! It's a bit dark and turbulent out there though. There's a guy just nearby ALSO writing - wonder if his is a blog or the next great Canadian (I think?) novel? Oh yes, my new novel... hmmm. I'll just have a quick read back of it so far shall I? - won't take long. Well, with a little tweaking those ninety words should be fine! (Only another 59,100 and we're getting somewhere! Oh and a plot and at least one other character surely. As large as a character Theois and he's already taken on a life of his own I think he will need some interaction. Perhaps not a romantic attachment - not sure that would do, that kind of thing.) Oh well as Theo seems to be taking over the blog, I'd better leave this andallow him toescape onto the more appropriate page!. Just to let you know that writer IS Canadian - he took an immigration card... and left-handed... interesting or perhaps I should say sinister?

One day I'll fly away

In the UK we seem to be blessed with exciting airports that have things to do, places to sit and shops to look around. Unfortunately, this means that returning home from practically ANYWHERE involves a substantial amount of disappointment. I remember as a child the amazement that the airport at Mahon in Menorca was practically a runway with a loosely converted hanger a long corridor and a greenhouse for a restaurant. (I'm sure it was a little more complex than that but... I was young!)

Toronto, a heaving metropolis which lays claim to the world's tallest free standing structure - I know, I was up it! - and yet Pearson International airport is, I am sorry to say, a little rubbish in terms of facilities. You get pretty much stright to the gate with a brief waft past a Starbucks and some shops selling lots of Canadian red maple leaf badges, maple syrup in odd shaped bottles and, of course, moose.

I sent Kerry and Joanne away because it seems I am terrible at goodbyes, as Joanne observed!. I wasn't really aware of that but on reflcetion I think Joanne's right. I swung between clingy and embarrassed, British and aloof. Oh dear, I'm living out the steroetype!

Skywalker am I

Skywalking this is 

Today I took a walk along the Skywalk to the CN tower and as I got closer the sky got bluer. By one o'clock we actually had hot sun beaming down on Toronto - all of it - trust me I could see the whole lot. I went all the way to the sky pod which is the furthest up you can go. So after all the cloudy days and waiting I saw a splendidly sunny Toronto on my last day here. It really was like walking on sky, especially on the glass floor. I felt I should get some cheesy gifts from the shop but my only mementoes of the CN tower were a stack of digital photos and a slight nausea!


CN Tower 

I'm really going to miss this place. I think it really has been something so totally OTHER. There are things I won't miss:

Not being understood easily
Working out how much the tax will be on top of the price quoted
Being tempted with far too much wonderful food ALL the time

So my final reflections on the trip as a whole...?

Wonderful.

Canada is a VAST, beautiful country.

Liberation

I can't believe that I didn't say more about Frederick Varley's Liberation which I saw at the AGO. I know I described it but the picture has followed me all this week and I've despreately been trying to find a poster of it or a book with it in. Finally I tracked it down in a book in Abelard second hand bookstore on Queen Street but it was $45 which was a little too much. I resorted to looking on the internet and what do I find? Jonny Baker has blogged about it already! He first saw it at an Ascension Day service which rather surprised me at first as I totally had it in my mind as Easter Sunday and Jesus, risen from the dead, entering the upper room and dazzling the disciples and bringing colour into their dark world of despair. I ca see how maybe you could argue it as representing the Transfiguration and I suppose by that argument of it being Christ transformed you could use it for the Ascension. Johnny thoguht of it for Trinity Sunday - I just can't see that but will take a closer look when I get a copy of the picture. What was amazing for me was the sheer SIZE of it. The figure really is six foot tall and Varley himself described as strange, mystical experience in the creation of the picture in pastels, charcoal and acrylics - an unusual mix of media in some ways. I may of course find myself tempted to buy the expensive book in the end as the colour reproduction online will be pretty inferior but perhaps I simply need to keep searching.

CN is believing

Well today I am going to go up the CN tower no matter what! Each time I've planned to go so far the day has ended up foggy, rainy or cloudy. Ironically it was 20 C on Friday but we had already made plans to see Casa Loma which is a neo-gothic house built by one of Canada's leading industrialists at the end of the nineteenth century. A fascinationg building that looked weirdly out of place and yet perfectly natural. The shame is that the man who built it overstretched his finances and was forced to sell up in the 1920s. There was a massive auction of the contents of the house as well as his amazing art collection including works by van Dyck and Joshua Reynolds which unfortunately has left the house rather an empty shell but fascinating nonetheless.

There was a group of children visiting from the local primary school and a man telling them all about knights in armour. I had to grit my teeth and not correct him in places and then drag Kerry away before she intervened with a discourse on armour-piercing arrows (she's a military historian, you know!)

Yesterday morning Kerry also took me down to the boardwalk around Lake Ontario which is SO massive that it feels like the sea. It feels like you're miles away from the city but there it is in the background. This really is an amazing place and I'm certainly going to miss it when I leave... today :o(
On the bright side I have all my friends to come home to.... MSN again (hurrah!)... lots of stories to tell... oh and the fabulous news that Shrek 2 is being delivered to my house as I type - yay!

Bump in the Night

Well I took part in the Halloween traditions here last night (when in Rome...) and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. Kerry and I went to the house of her friends Mandy and Geoff to do the staying in waiting for trick or treaters thing. Mandy and Geoff kindly welcomed Kerry and I and their friend Brad into their home. We all worked together to carve the pumpkins and decorate the outside of the house and then we opened that hospitality out to the children of the local community. Here in Canada the whole trick or treat thing is something which is primarily for chidren. Most of those that visited us were under 9 and all under 14. It was really good for Mandy and Geoff who've only been in their house a few months to meet some of the parents who were with the children who took it as an opportunity to introduce themselves. So despite reservations about the whole motivation of Halloween, and some bad experiences in the UK of people taking it as an opportunity to throw eggs at houses and demand money at the doors of strangers, I was presented with new evidence and changed my mind. Ultimately my prespective was that Trick or Treating is something which brings communities together; a truly Christian act really. Is this not Christ in Culture?

Blogoference

A very quick one to say apologies but I've typed in the same blog entry and lost it three times now so you'll have to wait for some more, sorry.

I want to actually see some daylight! More anon.

Brick by Brick Faith

Unending thanks to my friend Ben for introducing me to The Lego Bible. I hope you love it as much as I do. I haven't explored it all yet but the Tower of Babel is pretty cool and I like the Gadarene demoniacs.

Perhaps this is the Flannelgraph for the 21st cenury?

I like pie...

Well today the cathedral redeemed itself slightly in my opinion because when I walked in there was an organist practising for the evensong for All Saints' day including Bainton's And I saw a New Heaven. There was also no cleaning in progress. The gift shop was open this time so I did get a cheery (though somewhat behind-the-counter-intimidating) hello on my way in and an invitation to look at the Christmas cards on the way out but there was still nothing that set it apart from a nice building in the way the welcoming ladies behaved. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting my head to be bashed in with a bible or any kind of blessing [Toronto or otherwise ;oP ]

I've also had another wander round the St Lawrence market - this time with a purpose. It was wonderful fun and I found myself relishing a little extravagance as part of my "thank you" to Kerry for her kind hospitality. Rather Babette's Feast like (Alan if you're readn this - yes I did appreciate the message of the film, despite myself really!) I'm now wrapped around a Pumpkin Spiced Latte at Starbucks and yes amazingly it IS scrummy! I doubt we'll be getting that one in the UK! I think it tastes good because I treated myself to a mini pumpkin pie at the market and still had the taste left in my mouth when it came to ordering coffee.

So tonight I shall be preparing melon with twelve month old Parma Prosciuotto (that's GOOD by the way!) follwed by Beef Strogaoff with some Torontonian Mill Street organic lager for added flavour (a trick I discovered when cooking in Germany) accompanied by a light salad (Kerry doesn't realy DO cooked veg so I passed by the incredible looking asparagus and yellow courgettes which I would have served!!) all rounded off with custard tart, chocolate tart (half of each) and a chocolate dipped strawberry. Not actually much work for a three course dinner but I don't want to mess up Kerry's kitchen in my usual culinary manner.

Distilled knowledge

I forgot to mention our visit to the distillery district which was just fabulous. It reminded me of some of the rennovated parts of the London docklands. Rich dark chocolatey heritage with a fresh raspberry zing of modern art workshops and juice bars. It's a place that has been used in all kinds of films including some in which Kerry was an extra so she had all kinds of stories about two forthcoming films Samantha and the Ice Princess which features Michelle Trachtenburg aka Dawn from Buffy who was apparently useless at skating!

Housed in the old distillery lunch room [No smoking until 1215 as the sign told us!] was an amazing glass studio. Most of the pieces were upwards of $2000 and at least one was $500,000 - OUCH! but most of them were absolutely stunning especially a set using tiny squares and rectangles of multicoloured glass together with clear glass suares that reminded me of that work by Bridget Reilly. The individual squares were less than 1cm squared and some of the works were nearly a metre high - that's a lot of glass!

Time Travel in the blogosphere

Ok here's the weirdness...

I wrote some stuff down on that old fashioned paper substance last week so I could type it in here.

Do I put it in and backdate it? Or add it in here where the chronology is wrong?

Hmmm. Tough one.

I think I opt for the time travel method!!!

So if you're reading this you may want to look back at some previous posts which have snuck in!

a walk on the wild side

Today, Kerry and I roamed around some more wild parts of the city which would probably be eqivalent to Tottenham Court Road, Camden town and Carnaby street. China town was also fascinating and there was a REALLY cool secondhand bookshop on Queen Street. I was tempted but remembered my luggage weight allowance!

In the evening, we went to see HERO which was stunningly visually and in fact the story was fascinating as well. Much like An Instance of the Fingerpost (which I have just finisehd - superb!) it retold the story in different ways each time.

Yet more interesting than the film was Kerry's final realisation about the cinema we went to see it at. The Royal on College Street is part of the group of Festival cinemas which is a group set up to salvage old style movie theatres in the city. Kerry used to live just around the corner and didn't remember there being a cinema there when she was at the University of Toronto and yet, when we got there, the cinema was clearly a 60s building. Finally she remembered. The Royal used to be the ADULT cinema. My visit to Toronto really HAS been a series of new experiences!!!

Motherhood and... blueberry pie?

Apologies but I've not posted for a few days because I've been upstate in Ontario at Kerry's parents' house in Barrie indulging in Blueberry pie, cooked breakfasts and home baked chocolate cookies!

I saw beaver crossing the road and a buffalo in a field and even BETTER....

I've been to NIAGARA FALLS - WOOOOHOOO!

So blog on that forthcoming but for now I have to go as we're off to see Hero tonight.

Blog tomorrow I promise!

"English"

Over the weekend we went into Menonite country (they're like the Amish in Witness) which was really cool.

Oooh and on the drive there we saw a BEAVER crossing the road! Oh Oh, AND a chipmunk :oD

St Jacob's was a marvellous bit of rural Canada. I bought some maple syrup and we saw the Menonites in their horse-drawn buggy. All very touristy really.

Also we had a look at Barrie where Kerry's parents live. It is an intriguing place with no real town centre. There are what we would think of as big out of town shopping areas but these ARE the town. There are no offices to speak of, only retail parks. It was just weird but apparently this is normal for a "bedroom town" what we'd call a "dormitory town" I suppose.

Kerry and I also went to see Team America. It was truly crude, sick and offensive but also hilariously funny, I'm afraid! I don't think it'll go down well in the US somehow!

Falling for somewhere

Niagara falls....

all I can say is WOW!

I mean totally WOW WOW WOW!

Words and even pictures just cannot describe how absolutely COOL Niagara Falls is.


The Horseshoe Falls at Niagara 

I have some pics - including one of Kerry and Joanne in yellow plastic mac things which they hand out. Somehow we didn't get one of me in one of those things.... strange!

We also went to Fort George and were taken on a tour by the rather dashing Sergeant Mackenzie Cameron.

Oh yes an I saw America from a distance... it's over-rated!!!

After all that we met Joanne's friend Aaron and Kerry's parents at a diner. Mr and Mrs Catehrs had supper but we'd already hit the service statio on the way so decided just to have dessert (I confused them all by calling it pudding which is not a generic term apparently something specific which sounds like blancmange!) Joanne had a deep-fried cheesecake and Kerry and I opted for the mile high mud pie.

What appeared was about the size of a house brick. OH MY WORD! it was ENORMOUS. It was also four layers - two of frozen solid icecream, one of extremely cold peanut butter and the last of Permafrost Oreo biscuits. It was so hard that they provided us with steak knives - I kid you not! To make it all the more difficult, I had to make inroads into mine whilst being watched closely by Aaron who finally admitted to being fascinated by the "really dainty meticulous way you use the back of your fork. It's so ENGLISH!" well I managed about a third of it which I would guess was a normal human portion! THEN Aaron made me try corn-bread because I HAD to. Yeah it was nice but I was SO full!

Me at Niagara in October 2004

End of the line

Today Kerry and I reached the end of the line... of the subway that is. Kipling, to be precise, (oh best beloved!) There Kerry's friend Joanne picked us up and drove us through the vineyards and wineries and across lake Ontario to Niagara Falls. I'm seeing far more of the typical Canadain scenery; beautiful fall colours and quaint country churches.

It reminds me that I've notcied how much there is a real dichotomy between some of the really slick shopping malls and the somewhat rundown parts of the city. I suppose London is the same really but Toronto is rundown in a Canadian way. In many ways Canada isn't as modernised as the UK. For example the bank counters look as they did in the UK in the 1980s. Apparently some of this is due to the recession resulting from the additional costs of dual language government and signposting. Perhaps that explains why Wales is more old fashioned than England???