This is perhaps the best tourist attraction here. Babur was the first Mughal emperor who invaded India from here. Kabul was his favorite place and he was buried here.in 1530. The gardens were destroyed in the early 90s in the Mujahadeddin civil war was fought in Kabul after the Russians left.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Kabul House
Houses for the well to do are guarded by large gates, walls and a gatekeeper. VIPs have armed guards.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Ladies of Kabul
These two ladies came to the house to sell us souveneirs They had made. I asked if I could take their photo and they agreed providing they could be veiled. Usually they are veiled whenever they venture out. Katy says the veil is impractical as it acts like a horse's blinkers so women are forever bumping into you in the market. This might be defeating its purpose :-)
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Final Kabul diary
Thank you too for your prayers. We are now safely home in Perivale.
Tuesday morning we said farewell to the family in Kabul and after lunch Mark sent a driver to take us to the airport. This man had a permit to park close to the terminal and enter it but before we could get into the terminal we were told the flight was cancelled,. We were to return at 6 the next morning for a 8 am flight. So it was back to, the family for another night. In the evening we had a very good house-group and dinner with Marty and Elliot's colleagues and it was so good we did not feel our delay had been in vain.
Wednesday morning Elliott took us to the airport after we rose at 4.30. By 6 the road close to the airport was jammed. Katy and I took the cases and walked to the first security check where cases were being opened and examined. This was before the terminal building. I do believe there was some unofficial ethnic profiling. We, the only Europeans in the line were waived through bags unopened.
The rest of the story in the terminal was not good. several men wanted to help then demanded "baksheesh". This included porters and soldiers, one of whom expedited payment of departure tax . Then we had to pay to have cases sealed with plastic straps. I do nor know how much I doled out in total but it disposed of all my local currency plus some dollars and EAU dhirams. We were due to leave at 8 but took off at 9.30. No delay was announced and before we boarded a policeman said we had no departure stamp so a soldier took us back to get it. At least this proved departure was delayed so we may be able to make an insurance claim.
It was a 2 and a half hour flight to Dubai, all over differing kinds of brown deserts, plus the Gulf.. Ariana Airlines served the worse apology for breakfast we have ever been served. Dubai immigration was slow. Taxi to our hotel then we confirmed our desert safari trip. 4 to 9 we enjoyed a hair raising landcruiser trip in the desert. local driver did his best to scare us with a roller coaster ride in the dunes. A Nigerian couple were our other passengers but there were many 4WD vehicles on the route. We saw a camel farm, desert sunset then has a barbecue in the desert too. This included hubble bubble pipes but the belly dancing was cancelled due to Ramadan. It was hot and I was not comfortable.
Back at the hotel i did enjoy seeing the closing over of the W Indes defeating the Aussies in India.
Thursday morning we took a bus tour of Dubai on converted London open double deckers. You can hop on and of these as they do two routes with buses half an hour apart. Included in the ticket was entry to Dubai museum and an hour's cruise on the creek where we saw many tradition dhows which trade with Iran.
We broke our bus riding to check out of our room. have lunch and put cases in storage at the hotel. Then more bus riding to see the Burj El Arab, the world's only 7 star hotel. The beach was beautiful and the scale of nearby building work absolutely breathtaking. We had not believed it when told earlier that one fifth of the worl'd construction cranes were in Dubai. Bur seeing the scale of construction which makes the new Wembley stadium here us look like a drop in the bucket, we do believe the crane story. next we shopped for souvenirs and sadly misplace the bag with my camera. So all my images of Dubai are lost but we hope that our friends who copied our Kabul shots will be able to help us out .
In the evening we had booked a dhow dinner cruise . it was excellent around Dubai creek but it left us pushed for time, especially when the hotel look about half an hour to produce a driver for their courtesy car to the airport. Instead of checking in 3 hours before 1.10 am departure we got out the airport with only an hour to go to take off. We were last in a short queue with a notice saying the gate should be shut on us. But it was not as we found out later that the flight had had head winds from Brunei so was half an hour late landing. However the rush meant no shopping before boarding. We had a good light to London. landing 6.30 am with gratitude to God for his protection over our Afghan adventure.
Thank you too for your prayers.
Now we find Perivale at Diwali makes nights in Kabul seem quiet.
Tuesday morning we said farewell to the family in Kabul and after lunch Mark sent a driver to take us to the airport. This man had a permit to park close to the terminal and enter it but before we could get into the terminal we were told the flight was cancelled,. We were to return at 6 the next morning for a 8 am flight. So it was back to, the family for another night. In the evening we had a very good house-group and dinner with Marty and Elliot's colleagues and it was so good we did not feel our delay had been in vain.
Wednesday morning Elliott took us to the airport after we rose at 4.30. By 6 the road close to the airport was jammed. Katy and I took the cases and walked to the first security check where cases were being opened and examined. This was before the terminal building. I do believe there was some unofficial ethnic profiling. We, the only Europeans in the line were waived through bags unopened.
The rest of the story in the terminal was not good. several men wanted to help then demanded "baksheesh". This included porters and soldiers, one of whom expedited payment of departure tax . Then we had to pay to have cases sealed with plastic straps. I do nor know how much I doled out in total but it disposed of all my local currency plus some dollars and EAU dhirams. We were due to leave at 8 but took off at 9.30. No delay was announced and before we boarded a policeman said we had no departure stamp so a soldier took us back to get it. At least this proved departure was delayed so we may be able to make an insurance claim.
It was a 2 and a half hour flight to Dubai, all over differing kinds of brown deserts, plus the Gulf.. Ariana Airlines served the worse apology for breakfast we have ever been served. Dubai immigration was slow. Taxi to our hotel then we confirmed our desert safari trip. 4 to 9 we enjoyed a hair raising landcruiser trip in the desert. local driver did his best to scare us with a roller coaster ride in the dunes. A Nigerian couple were our other passengers but there were many 4WD vehicles on the route. We saw a camel farm, desert sunset then has a barbecue in the desert too. This included hubble bubble pipes but the belly dancing was cancelled due to Ramadan. It was hot and I was not comfortable.
Back at the hotel i did enjoy seeing the closing over of the W Indes defeating the Aussies in India.
Thursday morning we took a bus tour of Dubai on converted London open double deckers. You can hop on and of these as they do two routes with buses half an hour apart. Included in the ticket was entry to Dubai museum and an hour's cruise on the creek where we saw many tradition dhows which trade with Iran.
We broke our bus riding to check out of our room. have lunch and put cases in storage at the hotel. Then more bus riding to see the Burj El Arab, the world's only 7 star hotel. The beach was beautiful and the scale of nearby building work absolutely breathtaking. We had not believed it when told earlier that one fifth of the worl'd construction cranes were in Dubai. Bur seeing the scale of construction which makes the new Wembley stadium here us look like a drop in the bucket, we do believe the crane story. next we shopped for souvenirs and sadly misplace the bag with my camera. So all my images of Dubai are lost but we hope that our friends who copied our Kabul shots will be able to help us out .
In the evening we had booked a dhow dinner cruise . it was excellent around Dubai creek but it left us pushed for time, especially when the hotel look about half an hour to produce a driver for their courtesy car to the airport. Instead of checking in 3 hours before 1.10 am departure we got out the airport with only an hour to go to take off. We were last in a short queue with a notice saying the gate should be shut on us. But it was not as we found out later that the flight had had head winds from Brunei so was half an hour late landing. However the rush meant no shopping before boarding. We had a good light to London. landing 6.30 am with gratitude to God for his protection over our Afghan adventure.
Thank you too for your prayers.
Now we find Perivale at Diwali makes nights in Kabul seem quiet.
Fireworks
Just back from Kabul I find it was quieter there than in Ealing. The reason is Diwali fireworks. Thankfully I have avoided the run up to this festival but now have to endure at least two more weeks of noise up to and past Nov 5. The Gazette informs me the police lifted the 11pm ban on the noise for yesterday allowing it until 1am. Certainly at 11pm it sounded more like the Somme than Perivale. Quite frankly I find this is the worst time of the year to live here. I am not against fireworks but against loud noises late at night that frighten small children and animals and disturb the sleep of adults. New Year should IMO be the only night the curfew is extended to 1 am. Diwali and Nov 5 do not merit it.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Babur's Garden from the Pavillion
According to researchers, the Bagh-e-Babur gardens were laid out between 1504 and 1528. They were damaged by an earthquake in 1842 which ruined many parts of Kabul. The gardens were restored by the Afghan ruler Amir Abdur Rahman in the late 18th century and again by King Nadir Shah in the 1930s.
But both men were influenced by European gardens and the Islamic tradition of the garden was ignored. Later the gardens became a public playground with the construction, during Communist rule, of a swimming pool.
A multi-year renovation project will restore the shrine and mosque according to their original design, and if feasible the pavilion, which was severely damaged, then partially restored. Neighbourhood residential dwellings will be rehabilitated, and the gardens replanted with trees, flowers and other ornamentation appropriate to Moghul tradition.
portal0.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=6655&URL_DO=DO_TO...
Hubble Bubble
Enjoying a local pipe, post-prandial in an Afghan restaurant. I chose a mint flavour. I believe it is herbal, not the cancerous weed.
Squeejie girl
She walked along rubbing the windows as we negotiated dense traffic She looked under 10.
Kabul diary 4
Thu 12 Oct 2.30pm
Today is the start of the weekend here as Friday in an Islamic country takes the place of our Sunday.
Mark,Sue and the girls took us to the National Gallery this morning. We were the only visitors so were shown round by two guides. What surprised me was it was just about all paintings, no Islamic calligraphy. The pictures were by local and expat artists. Some showed signs of damage as they had been taken from their frames and hidden to escape the iconoclasm of the Taliban who destroyed all representations of living creatures. There was a case full of torn up pictures which the staff had failed to burn as instructed. My favorite picture, later to appear on my blog was of the sole British survivor riding injured into Jelalabad after the first Afghan war 130 years ago.. 16,000 left Kabul. He alone survived from the British army that had taken Kabul
We enjoyed a pizza lunch at a cafe open for non-Muslims only during the day in Ramadan. We had planned a picnic in the country but our hosts decided it was not a good idea in the fast time.
Today is the start of the weekend here as Friday in an Islamic country takes the place of our Sunday.
Mark,Sue and the girls took us to the National Gallery this morning. We were the only visitors so were shown round by two guides. What surprised me was it was just about all paintings, no Islamic calligraphy. The pictures were by local and expat artists. Some showed signs of damage as they had been taken from their frames and hidden to escape the iconoclasm of the Taliban who destroyed all representations of living creatures. There was a case full of torn up pictures which the staff had failed to burn as instructed. My favorite picture, later to appear on my blog was of the sole British survivor riding injured into Jelalabad after the first Afghan war 130 years ago.. 16,000 left Kabul. He alone survived from the British army that had taken Kabul
We enjoyed a pizza lunch at a cafe open for non-Muslims only during the day in Ramadan. We had planned a picnic in the country but our hosts decided it was not a good idea in the fast time.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Kabul diary 3
Tues 10 Oct 8.15pm
Yesterday I completed the working day (till 3pm) at Elliott's hospital which is a co-operative venture between an American Adventist University, US-AID and the Afghan government. A saw the pharmacy stocked with medicines donated by the USA. There are many NGO's here and much western aid. All Elliott's students are post graduate doctors. It is an orthopaedic hospital but he teaches internal medicine. I met one of his students who had just come in from the presidential palace having been asked to be physician to the president. I do not know if that is a request he can refuse but he said he wanted to as it would take him away from hospital work.
Katy spent the afternoon with Marty teaching Elliot's students to improve their English. In the evening we took the Larson's out to eat at an Afghan restaurant. It was good. The menu was priced in dollars and it worked out at about 10ukp each including my use of a hubble bubble pipe for the first time. I smoked sweet mint herbal tobacco (no nicotine)
This morning we went to the Babur's Gardens. He was the first Mughul emperor in the early 16th century. Kabul was his favorite city and from here he invaded India and here he made his pleasure garden where he is buried. The gardens were almost destroyed in the civil was of the early 90s but are now being largely with money from the Agha Khan. Photos will appear on the blog later.
Yesterday I completed the working day (till 3pm) at Elliott's hospital which is a co-operative venture between an American Adventist University, US-AID and the Afghan government. A saw the pharmacy stocked with medicines donated by the USA. There are many NGO's here and much western aid. All Elliott's students are post graduate doctors. It is an orthopaedic hospital but he teaches internal medicine. I met one of his students who had just come in from the presidential palace having been asked to be physician to the president. I do not know if that is a request he can refuse but he said he wanted to as it would take him away from hospital work.
Katy spent the afternoon with Marty teaching Elliot's students to improve their English. In the evening we took the Larson's out to eat at an Afghan restaurant. It was good. The menu was priced in dollars and it worked out at about 10ukp each including my use of a hubble bubble pipe for the first time. I smoked sweet mint herbal tobacco (no nicotine)
This morning we went to the Babur's Gardens. He was the first Mughul emperor in the early 16th century. Kabul was his favorite city and from here he invaded India and here he made his pleasure garden where he is buried. The gardens were almost destroyed in the civil was of the early 90s but are now being largely with money from the Agha Khan. Photos will appear on the blog later.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Is the Church of England waking up to reality?
I hope this might mark the start of a return to reality and away from dhimmitude. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth promised in her Coronation oaths, to defend the Reformed and Protestant Religion of the Church of England. Both England and Scotland are constiutionally, de jure, Christian countries. Wales and N Ireland do not have established churches, though in terms of church attendance and membership, N Ireland is the most Christian of our four countries. But this de jure status of the Christian faith is never mentioned by the politicians or media and the churches themselves rarely speak of it except critically. It is a Christian heritage that gave us liberty and allowed the pluralism that has developed. Christians should welcome those of other faiths, but not to a one way street of according them status and priveleges which they will never reciprocate to Christians when Christians are the minority.I write this from a place that illustrates this. Kabul has one church building and that is not on Afghan soil but in an embassy compound.
Kabul Diary 2
It is 9.15 in the morning and I am observing Elliott's working day at the hospital.
I think my day started at 4.15 with the call to prayer from a nearby mosque. I could also hear to congregation praying. Being Ramadan there would be many there. So I said my prayers in bed not mosque and tried to get back to sleep.
7am a car arrived to take Elliott to work. Kabul looks very like Kano but we did one thing we could not have done in Nigeria. I changed money for local currency at a street vendor who had piles of notes on his little stall. One thing more in evidence in Kabul is the military, their own and UN soldiers. The later merely drive through on patrol and do not stop. They are all NATO soldiers. Our boys are in the south. We flew over the conflict provinces on our way here yesterday.
Jack Straw take note, so far I have spotted only three fully veiled Afghan women. I think the debate should shift onto who we would prefer to have veiled, and not only women. Red Ken and Prescott for example? But I digress.
At the hospital I have been meeting Elliott's Afghan and expat colleagues. I went on a ward round with his students but they only had one new admission, a possible case of poisoning by pesticide.
I think my day started at 4.15 with the call to prayer from a nearby mosque. I could also hear to congregation praying. Being Ramadan there would be many there. So I said my prayers in bed not mosque and tried to get back to sleep.
7am a car arrived to take Elliott to work. Kabul looks very like Kano but we did one thing we could not have done in Nigeria. I changed money for local currency at a street vendor who had piles of notes on his little stall. One thing more in evidence in Kabul is the military, their own and UN soldiers. The later merely drive through on patrol and do not stop. They are all NATO soldiers. Our boys are in the south. We flew over the conflict provinces on our way here yesterday.
Jack Straw take note, so far I have spotted only three fully veiled Afghan women. I think the debate should shift onto who we would prefer to have veiled, and not only women. Red Ken and Prescott for example? But I digress.
At the hospital I have been meeting Elliott's Afghan and expat colleagues. I went on a ward round with his students but they only had one new admission, a possible case of poisoning by pesticide.
Kabul Diary 1
It is 8.15pm Sunday evening in this household. We arrived at 9 am local time so are feeling a bit jet lagged having lost 3 and a half hours from BST and a night's sleep.
We left Heathrow on Royal Dubai, a plane full of people very few of whom left the flight at Dubai. Most were going to the far east or the antipodes. It was a 7 hour flight. Proceeding to Dubai baggage claim I heard a welcome sound, Hausa, and greeted two men from Kano. A pleasant Arab lady immigration officer gave us visas for UAR, we got our cases and asked how to find terminal 2. The answer was pay 7 ukp to have a taxi take us round to the other side of the airport. Fortunately we had bought the local currency in Finchley. This was 3 to 4 in the morning and we had to check in for the Ariana Afghan Airlines flight leaving 6.30 am. Most passengers were Afghan men, few females, plenty of European males but Katy the only white female on a half-full airbus that took 2 and a half hours to dusty, brown Kabul under its circle of hills. We were pleasantly surprised to get drinks and breakfast in daylight during Ramadan while in the air.
Elliott was a little late picking us up and it was getting hot. They live on the other side of the city so we saw something of Kabul and the delights of local traffic. It is reminiscent of Kano in many ways, when the dust blows down from the Sahara. Sunday is a working day. Elliott had already finished some night work at the hospital. His son's Mark and Carl were at the SERVE office. Mark's girls were at school. His mother Marty and wife Sue were at home to welcome us. We strolled out to buy bread from an Afghan run French bakery.After lunch we slept then had drinks at a newly developed facility where locals and expats can meet, eat, drink and access the Internet. After dinner Sue and I are on laptops emailing, the brothers plying computer games, the children in bed and the rest of the adults watching Mansfield Park on DVD. Electricity is from their own solar cells charging 12 volt accumulators which is then transformed to mains.
Photos later I trust.
We left Heathrow on Royal Dubai, a plane full of people very few of whom left the flight at Dubai. Most were going to the far east or the antipodes. It was a 7 hour flight. Proceeding to Dubai baggage claim I heard a welcome sound, Hausa, and greeted two men from Kano. A pleasant Arab lady immigration officer gave us visas for UAR, we got our cases and asked how to find terminal 2. The answer was pay 7 ukp to have a taxi take us round to the other side of the airport. Fortunately we had bought the local currency in Finchley. This was 3 to 4 in the morning and we had to check in for the Ariana Afghan Airlines flight leaving 6.30 am. Most passengers were Afghan men, few females, plenty of European males but Katy the only white female on a half-full airbus that took 2 and a half hours to dusty, brown Kabul under its circle of hills. We were pleasantly surprised to get drinks and breakfast in daylight during Ramadan while in the air.
Elliott was a little late picking us up and it was getting hot. They live on the other side of the city so we saw something of Kabul and the delights of local traffic. It is reminiscent of Kano in many ways, when the dust blows down from the Sahara. Sunday is a working day. Elliott had already finished some night work at the hospital. His son's Mark and Carl were at the SERVE office. Mark's girls were at school. His mother Marty and wife Sue were at home to welcome us. We strolled out to buy bread from an Afghan run French bakery.After lunch we slept then had drinks at a newly developed facility where locals and expats can meet, eat, drink and access the Internet. After dinner Sue and I are on laptops emailing, the brothers plying computer games, the children in bed and the rest of the adults watching Mansfield Park on DVD. Electricity is from their own solar cells charging 12 volt accumulators which is then transformed to mains.
Photos later I trust.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Voting Intentions
I am a political animal increasingly disillusioned with party politics. I joined the Conservatives in 1986 to combat the looney Labour party locally promoting homosexual rights. I served them from 1990 to 98 as a local councillor. I resigned from the Consevatives when they gave London members a choice between a serial adulterer and a homosexual for London mayoral candidate. I joined the Christian Peoples Alliance because i believe that there should be a Christian political witness in Christ's name. I found the CPA to be dominated by charismatics and RCs and with most people in it centre-left. It does not oppose the EU which I regard as a fundamental policy in the national interest. However I am sticking with it except when tactical voting may require otherwise. So this may I voted for the one CPA candidate locally and two Conservatives as I wanted Labour and Red Ken stopped from thier insane plan of a tram down the Uxbridge Road. We now have a Conservative local council opposing the wretched tram. In European elections I never voted Conservative as I hate the EU so UKIP tends to get my vote. Nationally I have voted Conservative but no more as of now. Cameron supports homosexual civil partnerships, he says. So no more national election votes for his party from me unless the local party selects a candidate opposed to such a view. Abraham Kuyper said something to the effect that the only difference between liberals and conservatives is 10 years. He never spoke a truer word.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
October Beard
Katy wants me to have a drastic cut, but "No way until after Christmas", say I. So what has she done here but chop the hair from the top of my head! When I pointed this out, her reply was to the effect that I had asked for a photo of the beard. Oh the joys of marital communication!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Books read in September 2006 (15)
1. Crusade, Commerce and Culture by A. Atiya
Atiya reviews the relationship between Christendom and the world of Islam over the centuries. He seems to be a fair commentator though he seems to gloss over the sufferings of those who have to live as dhimmis. No place here for Armenian genocide.There have been good and bad Christian and Islamic governments and warriors. What is evident is that the great weakness of both sides is disunity. The shameful sacking of Constantinople by western "Christians" was one of the most disgusting acts in history.
2. Church After Christendom by Stuart Murray
Murray is an Anabaptist and it shows in his dislike of Christendom and what he calls its residual toxins in the church. He is looking for a prescription for church in the post-modern era. Some of his prescriptions are good. Church must be effective in mission and community and have discipline. Other parts are more questionable. He gives no primacy to preaching and seems totally pragmatic in terms of church government. If you are of a Reformed tradition and believe in Scripture regulating all of life you will not be happy with a book which is short on "Thus saith the Lord".
3. Bleachers by John Grisham
If it was not Grisham I would not have read a novel about American Football but I do not believe he deserves the negative reviews he has received. I put them down to dislike of the subject and the change of style. British reviewers are the more critical. One may not understand the football and yet still appreciate this book. It is about commitment, making choices, leadership, the transitory nature of fame, self-control and the difficulty males have in expressing love for one another. A short but interesting read. But I still think American Football is a cross between grevious bodily harm and chess.
4. The Firm by John Grisham
Recruited by the Mob and the FBI, such is the nature of Grisham's hero. Being a bright lad he trusts neither and outwits both. One again Grisham has written well. He keeps the reader gripped. I found the build up concerning the nature of the Firm to be really menacing. They are almost as diabolical as in Devil's Advocate.
5. The Testament by John Grisham
I first was recommended to Grisham as a Christian author of legal thrillers. This is the fifth book of his i have enjoyed and the first where I recognise his Christian faith as really explicitly expressed for it is the first I have read where, by the grace of God, someone's life is turned around. The man in question is a twice divorced alcoholic lawyer about to be disbarred. His life is changed when in the middle of the South American swamps he meets a missionary who does not care that she is about to become the richest woman in the world. Her grasping relatives, cut out of their father's will are the perfect illustration that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, as is the life of their billionaire father. There are some things money cannot buy. Grisham shows they include personal fulfillment, happiness and good relationships. Once agin Grisham grips you right to the end.
12. A Painted House by John Grisham
Grisham has left the courtroom for 1952 rural Arkansas. A poor farming family with a teenage son in Korea hire hill folk and Mexicans to pick their cotton. The seven year old son of the farm tells his story with more ability than is possible for a boy of his age but that is I think the only flaw here. This is more novel than thriller but the young lad does witness two murders. Once again Grisham is describing a very Christian community. They are all Baptists or Methodists. I think the author's Christian standards are shown in his restraint in describing any sexual encounters. A delight to read.
15. The Broker by John Grisham
I believe this is the author's first venture into a European setting and into espionage. The central character is taken from prison by the C.I.A. replete with presidential pardon, to lve in Bologna, Italy where he is eventually to serve as live bait with the C.I.A. waiting to see which countriy's assassins will search him out for the secrets he has. There is a thrilling chase when he realises he is being persued. Up until that point the story is not so gripping. Once agian Grisham keeps his hero surprisingly chaste . He does though love Italian food.
Atiya reviews the relationship between Christendom and the world of Islam over the centuries. He seems to be a fair commentator though he seems to gloss over the sufferings of those who have to live as dhimmis. No place here for Armenian genocide.There have been good and bad Christian and Islamic governments and warriors. What is evident is that the great weakness of both sides is disunity. The shameful sacking of Constantinople by western "Christians" was one of the most disgusting acts in history.
2. Church After Christendom by Stuart Murray
Murray is an Anabaptist and it shows in his dislike of Christendom and what he calls its residual toxins in the church. He is looking for a prescription for church in the post-modern era. Some of his prescriptions are good. Church must be effective in mission and community and have discipline. Other parts are more questionable. He gives no primacy to preaching and seems totally pragmatic in terms of church government. If you are of a Reformed tradition and believe in Scripture regulating all of life you will not be happy with a book which is short on "Thus saith the Lord".
3. Bleachers by John Grisham
If it was not Grisham I would not have read a novel about American Football but I do not believe he deserves the negative reviews he has received. I put them down to dislike of the subject and the change of style. British reviewers are the more critical. One may not understand the football and yet still appreciate this book. It is about commitment, making choices, leadership, the transitory nature of fame, self-control and the difficulty males have in expressing love for one another. A short but interesting read. But I still think American Football is a cross between grevious bodily harm and chess.
4. The Firm by John Grisham
Recruited by the Mob and the FBI, such is the nature of Grisham's hero. Being a bright lad he trusts neither and outwits both. One again Grisham has written well. He keeps the reader gripped. I found the build up concerning the nature of the Firm to be really menacing. They are almost as diabolical as in Devil's Advocate.
5. The Testament by John Grisham
I first was recommended to Grisham as a Christian author of legal thrillers. This is the fifth book of his i have enjoyed and the first where I recognise his Christian faith as really explicitly expressed for it is the first I have read where, by the grace of God, someone's life is turned around. The man in question is a twice divorced alcoholic lawyer about to be disbarred. His life is changed when in the middle of the South American swamps he meets a missionary who does not care that she is about to become the richest woman in the world. Her grasping relatives, cut out of their father's will are the perfect illustration that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, as is the life of their billionaire father. There are some things money cannot buy. Grisham shows they include personal fulfillment, happiness and good relationships. Once agin Grisham grips you right to the end.
6. Cromwell and the Interregnum: The Essential Readings (Blackwell Essential Readings in History S.) by David L. Smith
Recent studies of Cromwell have vindicated him from the charges of being a self-seeking, hypocritical regicide and military dictator. The papers in this book confirm the Lord Protector as a deeply and sincerely religious man who in line with the Puritan theology of his time, sought to discern God's will by the unfolding of providences. His providentialism may account for some of the apparent lack of firm, clear political strategy in these years. Motivated by the desire for godly reformation, Cromwell was impatient with Parliamentarians who were in the way. A man of no denominational party, Cromwell was not averse to Presbyterianism being established for a while but he wanted liberty of conscience for the godly, he valued spirituality over formal church structures. He was no dictator, ruling with his council of state and not always insistent on his own way.
7. The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916: Documents Presented to Viscount Grey of Falloden by Viscount Bryce: Uncensored Edition by Arnold J. Toynbee
Turkey wants to be part of the E.U. but remains in denial about the holocaust that is part of its history. Here are the contemporary accounts of the witnesses to genocide. They include most damningly of all, the testimonies of Germans who witnessed these horrors. Turkey was Germany's ally at the time. Many witnesses were American missionaries or Armenians who escaped. Toynbee who helped compile this report for the British Foreign Office wrote that his study of the genocide brought home to him the reality of Original Sin. That is another thing Muslims deny.
8. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Grisham's first novel did not sell very well when first published but caught up with the success of his second. I did find it a bit slow when the accused sacked the hero lawyer but apart from this and pehaps a rather simple and improbable ending, it is gripping stuff as usual. Basically the book is about race. Can a poor black get away with killing two whites who raped his daughter in Mississippi where whites would get away with killing a black rapist?
9. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
This thriller is a very well written piece against the evils of cigarettes and their manufacturers who will go to any lengths to avoid responsibility for the harm their products cause. It is classic Grisham courtroom drama. Right to the end you do not know why the jury is being manipulated nor can you be sure in which direction. One thing is certain. You cannot get yourself to try the trial you want in the U.K..
10 The Partner by John Grisham
The eighth Grisham I have enjoyed and I thnk the best so far. Plenty of ingenious twists as the hero tries to get off charges of murder and theft. Surprises abound but the best is kept to the end. The biter is bit. I think the Christian morality of Grisham shows through when the hero confesses to being always fearful of his persuers and when in the end the betrayer is betrayed.
11. The Brethren by John Grisham
I have now read nine Grishams in a month and this is the least satisfactory for it is not up to his usual standard. Normally the author can make you side with his criminal heroes even when they are murderers, but his three convicts, all ex-judges, are singularly unappealing when their scam is blackmailing homosexuals still in the closet. The involvement of the C.I.A. seems highly unlikely in the pushing of a presidential candidate, murder and injustice. I was expecting a twist at the end but there was none. In this book I think the author has left his own Christian moral framework. Has he concluded that we live in an amoral world?
12. A Painted House by John Grisham
Grisham has left the courtroom for 1952 rural Arkansas. A poor farming family with a teenage son in Korea hire hill folk and Mexicans to pick their cotton. The seven year old son of the farm tells his story with more ability than is possible for a boy of his age but that is I think the only flaw here. This is more novel than thriller but the young lad does witness two murders. Once again Grisham is describing a very Christian community. They are all Baptists or Methodists. I think the author's Christian standards are shown in his restraint in describing any sexual encounters. A delight to read.
13. The Summons by John Grisham
Grisham interests me for I like to see how his novels bear the stamp of his Christian faith. This one is a good exposition of Paul's observation to Timothy on the nature of loving money. In this case it leads to deception, fear, arson, burglary and family strife. It also gives us a tense thriller. Grisham, a lawyer, certainly portrays both the best and the worst of his old profession.
14. The King of Torts by John Grisham
I have decided that Grisham is at his best in the country, not the town, in the South not the North. So a novel based in Washington DC centred on the most venial of legal practices, mass tort law, is not his most attractive book. It is an improbable story of poor lawyer becoming very rich quickly after he meets a man who later turns out to also cause the nemesis of the riches. As in The Brethren we have a tale where most of the characters are really unattractive. Greed, the love of money and the fleeting nature of riches are the main themes.
15. The Broker by John Grisham
I believe this is the author's first venture into a European setting and into espionage. The central character is taken from prison by the C.I.A. replete with presidential pardon, to lve in Bologna, Italy where he is eventually to serve as live bait with the C.I.A. waiting to see which countriy's assassins will search him out for the secrets he has. There is a thrilling chase when he realises he is being persued. Up until that point the story is not so gripping. Once agian Grisham keeps his hero surprisingly chaste . He does though love Italian food.
Is Islam Dying? Europe Certainly Is
Christianity in Western Europe has virtually ceased to exist. The spirit of secular relativism that originated from the French Enlightenment has persuaded Europe (including Europe’s churches) to commit a protracted, two centuries long suicide, the symptoms of which were visible in Communism, National-Socialism and moral relativism in general.
Man is a religious being and needs religious faith. If European Christianity had still been healthy today it would have proselytized, it would have reached out with missionary zeal to the millions of Muslims who migrated to Western Europe since the 1970s, it would have offered them Christ. Instead, it’s churches became bastions of religious relativism. Europe offered the newcomers only cultural decadence, from which decent people want to shield their children, and spiritual emptiness, which one can only despise.
The Europeans, who lost the missionary zeal to reach out to the immigrants, also lacked the zeal to pass on their own civilization to their offspring. Worse still, they lacked the zeal to have offspring. Since demographics is the mother of all politics, it is, barring a miracle, certain that Islam will become the old continent’s dominant religion.
Unless Europe rediscovers its will to survive – and it may already be too late (though as a Christian I do not exclude miracles) – soon furious Islamists may be holding sway over Europe in much the same way as the Taliban did over Afghanistan, removing all visible remnants of pre-Islamic culture. - Is Islam Dying? Europe Certainly Is
From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2006-09-20 23:11 http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1360
Man is a religious being and needs religious faith. If European Christianity had still been healthy today it would have proselytized, it would have reached out with missionary zeal to the millions of Muslims who migrated to Western Europe since the 1970s, it would have offered them Christ. Instead, it’s churches became bastions of religious relativism. Europe offered the newcomers only cultural decadence, from which decent people want to shield their children, and spiritual emptiness, which one can only despise.
The Europeans, who lost the missionary zeal to reach out to the immigrants, also lacked the zeal to pass on their own civilization to their offspring. Worse still, they lacked the zeal to have offspring. Since demographics is the mother of all politics, it is, barring a miracle, certain that Islam will become the old continent’s dominant religion.
Unless Europe rediscovers its will to survive – and it may already be too late (though as a Christian I do not exclude miracles) – soon furious Islamists may be holding sway over Europe in much the same way as the Taliban did over Afghanistan, removing all visible remnants of pre-Islamic culture. - Is Islam Dying? Europe Certainly Is
From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2006-09-20 23:11 http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1360
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Zac and Auntie Miriam
Baptism day with cake .
It was a good day though I cannot say I am a fan of the new, nor the 1662, Anglican infant baptism liturgy. Neither are covenantal.
Well held by Auntie Debbie
The family gathered to celebrate Zac's baptism. A fine day with lunch in the garden.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Accident spot
The plaque at Harrow on the Hill, tells why this is not the spot to have an accident. See the next posting below.
Take Heed!
This is the site of the first fatal car accident in England, 25 February 1899, by Harrow School.
Memorial to Lord Shaftesbury
Near this spot Lord Shaftesbury while yet a boy in Harrow School, saw with shame and indignation the pauper's funeral, which helped to awaken his life-long devotion to the service of the poor and oppressed. So reads the inscription.
Byron Memorial
One of three memorials we have found at Harrow on the Hill. This one, in the churchyard, marks the spot where Lord Byron admired the view and was inspired to versify.
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal runs near our house linking the Grand Union (Brentford to Birmingham) with the Thames in the Pool of London. It is over 200 years old. Soldiers were ferried south on it for the Napoleonic wars. Produce and coal were taken to London and reuse removed thence by canal. The narrow boat belongs to an aunt and uncle of my son in law. They live on it in summer.
White Africans?
Our friends the Meiners were missionaries in Kenya. We were at a church fancy dress party.
Milton's Cottage
Milton's Cottage is the only extant home of John Milton, the great est English poet , in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire. It was in this cottage, described by Thomas Ellwood as "that pretty box in St. Giles, Chalfont", that Milton completed Paradise Lost, and the idea of Paradise Regained was put to him. www.miltonscottage.org/about_miltons_cottage.htm
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Leaving Hergiswil
Last boat in the evening leaving with Stanserhorn in the distance. Our last evening there too.
Verdict on Switzerland, beautiful,clean, efficient, expensive and unfriendly. In two weeks only one person spoke to us beyond the line of duty, and she was French-Canadian married to a Swiss. We went to a reformed church. No-one greeted us before, during or after the sermon. I said I would try the Roman Catholics the next time :-(
How did such an unwelcoming nation make a tourist industry? Only from beautiful scenery.
Verdict on Switzerland, beautiful,clean, efficient, expensive and unfriendly. In two weeks only one person spoke to us beyond the line of duty, and she was French-Canadian married to a Swiss. We went to a reformed church. No-one greeted us before, during or after the sermon. I said I would try the Roman Catholics the next time :-(
How did such an unwelcoming nation make a tourist industry? Only from beautiful scenery.
Alpine horn on Stanserhorn
On our second peak of the perfect day, after ascent by funicular and cable car, we were treated to traditional music making. The highest peak behind is Titlis.
Katy and Lake Lucerne from Pilatus
It was not until our last full day in Switzerland that we had the perfect cloudless day for being on the mountain tops. So it was back up Pilatus.
Pilatus Railway across the cliff
Having enjoyed the ascent once and having a free pass and perfect weather, we did it again the next day. See the train on the cliff and not the ascent angle.
Pilatus Railway
This railway, over 100 years old, originally steam powered, is the world's steepest with a 48% incline. Here are three carriages at the start.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Wiggis from Rigi cable car
One goes half way up Mt. Rigi this way, then to the summit by rack and pinion. The last photo of the funicular was on the hill on the left. Pilatus, with cap of snow is in the distance.
Funicular
One of the delights of Switzerland is the railway system. It runs on time no matter what the incline. This funicular climbs 10o0 feet above Lake Lucerne. Here up and down are passing. This is a rack and pinion system pulled by cables.
Pilatus Hotel
What a difference the sunshine makes. The hotel is named after the mountain. Unfortunately our room was on the side, by the trees, so lacked a view of the lake. Later it snowed on the mountain so when we went up by the railway we went into the snow. The train goes up from the left at the back of the peak. The cable car comes down from the right.
Englelberg
Taken rom the Titlis cable car, the first of three up the mountain. The last was the first one in the world to rotate as it ascends.
On top of Titlis
Sunshine in the snow above the clouds on our third full day in Switzerland. I was hoping you could click on the image and go to more from the day but the imaging service wants me to pay for the facility. But if you click you will se more from the day on the site. This photo is at above 7000 above sea level. Cloud kept coming and going obscuring the view but I will post one more from one of the three cable cars on the ascent.
First Tuesday
A traditional village streeet in the town near Interlaken, which is the home of Swiss wood carving. We went on to Interlaken where we enjoyed a fondue for luch. From there we went to Grindelwald by train. Unfortunately the Eiger was hidden in clouud. Click on the photo for more views from the day.
Lucerne's ancient bridge
Katy on the bridge on our first full day in Switzerland. Click on the photo to see more from that day.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
September beard
On top of Mount Pilatus, Switzerland, nearly 7,000 feet above sea level and a perfect day. In the distance, Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau
September profile
On top of Mount Pilatus, Switzerland, nearly 7,000 feet above sea level and a perfect day
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