maybe monthly

now there's an idea ... just blog monthly with an update
but then i guess it becomes like recent history

i currently lunge between stopping it altogether and fighting guilt pangs because i haven't bothered to write anthing at all ... then again it is my blog and i can do what i like with it ... maybe i should get everyone to sign up to an email list and i will notify them if i bother to write anything

the return of Ollie
after five months my friend Ollie returned and we had the slightly surreal experience of sitting in the airport drinking coffee where we had done the same thing five months before ... he didn't look particularly grubby or well travelled ... he then stayed for a few days and spent the nights in bars catching up with friendsgetting pie eyed ... you can pick up some bad habits in foreign parts ... he used to be so saintly and well behaved ... ironically as he arrived another third of dfg left to visit canada ... we are destined never to have them all in the same country together again

garden
well the strawberries have done very well and i shall grow more of them ... children particularly seem to like picking and eating them ... even managed to grow some plants from the runners my plants sent out ... i kept them in the greenhouse to avoid birds and other pests getting to them ... i think making our main crop strawberries and tomatoes is ok

i have the hugest sunflowers growing ... one of them is about 7 foot tall ... what is weird is that there are six and they were all grown in the same soil ... started in the same greenhouse and planted in the same bed with the same food and water ... one is a monster ... five are all the same height ... and one is a runt ... i'm sure there is some really deep analogy i could draw with life but i can't think of one so i won't bother ... oh and i made a water feature which works and everything ... made with leftover slates it has gurgling dribbly water ... my friend ranted how they were middle class suburban rubbish that made you want to go to the loo ... i think it looks quite nice surrounded by lily's and jasmine

greenbelt
not long and the late summer madness will be upon us ... am currently working on a little project which if it comes off will be amazing but can't really talk about it until it is all confirmed (so why did i mention it at all well because i want to tell all but i don't want to jinx it)... but i am very excited ... also going to be doing late night debates with holy joes which is weird to be returning to greenbelt with after all this time ... haven't done them for about five years but to be honest in a crowded field of alt worship groups (about 21 groups represented at greenbelt this year) it seemed a good idea for us to return to our primary thing ... when we used to do them before they were huge scary audiences hopefully we shall just get a couple of hundred ... we are proposing to call it The Temple Yard ... that kinda gossipy/scrappy/frank exchange of views from biblical times ... actually i prefer to think of it as a market place meets large cafe

holy joes
as things stand i imagine i shall have to explain that holy joes is a state of mind and not actually a place at the moment ... frustrated by availability of people and trying to find a new place and not with much success ... we shall keep on ... maybe we will end up with the summer off the way we are going ... wonder if we could just have virtual holy joes ... don't think we are quite there as humans yet we still all like the contact and the face to face

friends
two different friends have offered a ticket for coldplay on tuesday night and REM next month ... so excited ... love both bands especially REM ... never seemed to be in the right place or remember to get tickets for REM ... am listening to all the albums by both bands to get in the mood and be sure i recognise obscure album tracks ... may not be very happy by the end of the playlist

sleeping
i don't need much sleep but the recent heat has left even me suffering sleep deprevation ... not only is the house stuffy and airless but because our room is the front of the house we get so much noise pollution ... cars going by with thumping bass shaking the house (can't be good for their ears) ... and an endless stream of people walking by jabbering at the top of their voices ... my dreams when i do finally nod off are punctuated by odd snatches of other people's lives that make no sense once scrambled in my head ... i have considered shouting at the window in a victor meldrew fashion but i don't think it looks very cool ... i say an air conditioning unti in the bedroom but the wife says the noise would keep her awake ... whereas the street noise is sooothing? lady logic methinks