Thursday, September 02, 2004

greenbelt 3rd comment

and i will try to stop going on about it soon ...

being able to be with so many friends, equal parts exciting and frustrating ... never enough time and sooner or later one or other of you have to go somewhere ... but fantastic to be able to hang out in Perf Cafe and see Dave & Emily anytime, probably not so much fun for them but easy to find them ... and what an amazing job they did

being able to have some conversations with maggi and agreeing to be her pseduo agent to help her get a new album together ... i didn't go there looking for any new projects but this one will be such a blast to do ... it seemed a no brainer really

then wandering into the youth cafe at about 2am and sitting down with the mighty DFG who asked me to do the same for them ... couldn't say no really they are such a brilliant trio and i love and admire them so much that i could only say yes ... wonder what i have let myself in for ... comment from a friend next day was that i should never consider putting them on the same bill as maggi ...good point

found myself in a three way conversation one morning with steve chalke and john smith which left me feeling inadequate and nervous of venturing an opinion for fear of betraying my lack of knowledge ... on anything really ... strange moment of surreal greenbeltness ... left them feeling compelled to keep them in my prayers and with the distinct feeling that i had been listening to a pair of godly men

the aforementioned young man who i had the honour of kicking into the kingdom and snatching a couple of further conversations with him ... rarely get to see someone converted and stay friends which is such a good feeling ... usually because i move on or i am far from home and it usually happens and i leave ...not as it read that once converted they hate me :)

(at least four friends asked what i had converted him to ...funny very funny)

being able to chat in person with Kathryn who i am in awe of ... that she can be that patient with people and is so caring and prayerful ... basically everything i am not

helen and the kids who are a joy to have around and i am so looking forward to them being with us at christmas ... love that helen is the best person to people bitch with and i see her get stronger every time our paths cross

liz who makes me laugh everytime i am in her zone ... she gets my humour and my persona and i always feel so honoured to be able to call her a friend

working with Jo again which was cool ... drunken conversation with rachel and feeling that i can't help at such a distance but wanting to ... thats what prayer is for i guess

groups of friends just hanging out for late night/finished work social stuff that had a smoother softer feeling than when we meet in real life

being asked by andy thornton if my head was ok ... to point out that i had not been drinking the night before ... the look on his face and then he concluded that ollie must have been so drunk that he made all of us look bad

greenbelt at night time ... greenbelt in the rain and yet still working ... all those people i wanted to stop and chat with but was always on the way to another job or meeting ... life lived so fast that it passes in a flash ... having a poem published ... the first time ever in my life i have been printed wow ... driving to site each morning with such an expectation of what God could do that day ... wondering how to keep that for everyday life

knowing that it will all be there next year right where we left it ...


4 comments:

Kathryn said...

When my kids were younger we made the mistake one year of leaving the Festival before it had begun to wind down...so that they were firmly of the opinion that Greenbelt continued all year long, it's just that their wretched parents were too mean to let them live there.
On second thoughts, of course they were quite right; only it's not confined to Cheltenham racecourse :-)

maggi said...

you ARE greenbelt, Steve. lots of love, xxx

1 i z said...

To quote another Stephen: "the pleasure, the privilege is mine".

So good to see you at GB - and you make me laugh too.

Mostly "at you" to be fair, but hey whatever we can do to brighten the world of others eh? You do I trust realise that your purpose on this earth is to amuse me, don't you?

Don't you?

So for the last time this year:

"Dance, Monkey Boy, Dance!"

Intranet Team said...

Hey I'd pay good money for a Maggi Dawn / DFG double act :-)