My favourite things (at the moment)

I have a tendancy to 'collect' favourite things, mostly it's a list in my head but if something is on my list then I notice it everywhere. So for example green and white. I'm really loving green and white together, crisp clean lines and if used in graphics I like it kind of road sign like - straight edges. It has to be a deep green, not lime or washed out, strong! So I see it everywhere: a small tub of aloe vera vaseline (good 'lay out' on the tin), a new dress I got, 'A' Road' road signs, this pair of cool K.SWISS trainers with a tongue that twists round - white on one side, green on the other. So thats number 1.Green and White 2.Berol pens: my particular favourite is this one. I love drawing with it, particulaly love the type face of BROAD and for some reason seem to keep buying them. 3.Pylons: these have been on my favourites list for ever, I just like the lines and sometimes they look really fragile. 4.Northern Exposure (will explain another time) 5.Black birds: listen to them, their songs are beautiful. The best times are about 6am and 7pm.

Elie

I would like to introduce you to Elie, my niece. She is 2, very soon to be 3. Her favourite things are 1. kissing her baby James (her 2 day old brother James) 2.pink and purple 3.raspberries 4.playing hide and seek and 5.being chased. Her most recent dislike is the 'scary foot steps' on Cinderella, translated - scary step sister.

The Bridge

The Bridge is a hostel for people who need help getting back into life. It maybe drug or alcohol related problems, mental health, bereavement, financial difficulties, abuse or a mixture of lots of different things. The Bridge is a safe place, a home, somewhere to rest up and start to rebuild life. We have space for 15 residents and there are 13 members of staff. Each resident has someone who helps them with specific goals to get to the next step. The Bridge is run by the church that I am part of, Oasis Church New Frontiers.
I have worked at The Bridge for nearly a year and I love it. I have met so many different people with facinating life stories and experiences and have had the privaledge of being a part of that. It's funny though because the lives I have seen change the most are mine and my team mates. Any problem that I have pails into insignificance when seen against others and it amazes me that when hearts are broken and securities torn away that people still survive.

My little english village

Oakley, a medium sized village near Bedford in East Anglia. It has one pub - The Bedford Arms - 2 church's, 2 schools - Oakley Lower and Lincroft Middle, which by the way is having a new sports hall built. When I was there they had a stuffed tigers head on the wall and the head master had two trays made from the bottom of elephants feet! yuk!!! pretty certain they would have gone by now. A Doctors, Hazel Kays beauty salon - used to be a Spa (grocers), then Spa/beauty salon and now just a beauty salon which is why there is a post office/grocers, garage and my favourite 2nd hand cars/textiles and quilting shop. As villages go it's pretty normal, the last bus from town is at 7pm, everybody knows everybody and at christmas there is the usual "outside fairy light display war". I grew up going to the one and only play group and then walking a little further down Station Road to the schools. When it snowed we would go drift jumping in the surrounding fields, of which there are many and there was the obligatory haunted house that every good village needs. My family still live there now. My niece is going to my old play group!, the new village bypass is named after a local celeb and Hazel Kays won best beauty salon in 1998, I think.

love of the purest kind

Every now and then I get a funny feeling, it's like the bottom has fallen out of my day, a tiredness inside, an aching for something to shift. It can happen at any time, sometimes after a difficult day at work, sometimes when I'm in the happiest of moods it grabs me and pulls me down, sometimes when I'm with my closest friends it knocks on my shoulder and I feel sucked out of a conversation made to look at things from a different perspective, time standing still. The worst is when I'm at a party or with people who are dear to me - for some reason it aches all the more then. It's loneliness! pure and simple loneliness! a horrible feeling that if allowed can contaminate any feeling of love or acceptance for days. Unfortunately I've been feeling it a lot recently. It starts with feeling misunderstood or trampled on, being made fun of or being confined. A single word or look can cause it, too much time to think or a disappointment can set it off. Now at this point I have a choice. Do I allow myself to feel lonely and rejected, running over in my mind worthless thoughts or feel angry at my friends because they haven't recognized my pain. Or do I reach out and take hold of the cure that is offered me. You see, I believe that the only cure for loneliness is love! Not just anyone's love, Gods love! love of the purest kind. His love is un-conditional, it's un-ending, it keeps no record of wrongs, it is patient, it is kind, it is faithful and brimming with grace. How can anyone feel lonely when they have felt the freshness of that love? Like a warm blanket that wraps around you or a cool breeze that blows the hair away from your face, Gods love heals any broken heart and fills any lonely thought. For me it reminds me that to God I am precious, gentle, fragile, beautiful, lovely - I have value and am accepted completely. Only this fills to over flowing the deep well of loneliness and once again I feel safe in His shadow. It's not an easy decision but like a beautiful meadow hidden by a craggy hill, you can't see it's beauty until you choose to climb.

My trainers

I have a pair of Nike's. I don't know what they are called as I threw the box away. But this nameless pair of Nike's are mine. They are not running shoes with a pointed toe and corrugated sole, or those funny flat ones that look like a pair of slippers with laces. They have a white sole with a base of bright orange. A rounded white front, with 49 tiny holes to be exact, grey toe guard and grey around white lasses, a big orange swoosh on each side and a white fabric patch on the back saying NIKE in grey stitching outlined with orange. They are brill! So comfortable easy to wear and fit my feet perfectly. The only thing that I would change is that sometimes I wish that I could watch myself walking, from behind, so that I could see the orange sole.

Last Chance Cafe

In Stirchley, Birmingham there is the Last Chance Cafe. It quite possibly could be depending on where you are going next, but for me it is one of the best greasy spoons ever. I went there today for breakfast with my friend. He had a Special Breakfast - 2 sausages, 2 bacon, egg, beans, tomatoes and a hash brown. I had 2 fried eggs on toast. We each had a cup of tea in a blue polker dot mug. It is situated between a Tile shop and an Aquarium and always has loads of work trucks, vans and beaten up cars outside. On a weekend it is full of saturday morning families or couples out for a hearty breakfast to start the day. But in the week it is filled with 'high visibility jacket' wearing workmen. The walls are covered with black and white pictures or postcards that at some time were on the front of a greeting card or sold in Athena. The music is a medley of 50's - 80's good sing along, heart warming songs. The ceiling is painted like the sky with clouds. On the back wall there are novelty clocks made from bicycle tires and a menu that is so full of options that it is hard to read. If your lucky you can sit in one of 6 booths, with old plastic covers sometimes held together with gaffa tape. If you miss out you are better off waiting for a booth rather than risk being stuck for ever in a school dining room style table and chair set. I really enjoy going there and in a funny sort of way would love to work there for a day. My favourite thing about it is the mugs. You are never sure weither you will get a Wicks store promotional mug, or a pound stretcher classic that has 'Tea' written boldly on the side. The joy of the Last Chance is that you never plan to go, it is simply a matter of needing to enjoy the music and higgledy-piggledy decor with an honest ready-as-you-come waitress and a hearty plate of food. It should only ever be enjoyed with company of the best kind.