Shock and Awe

We went to Warwick Castle for Isla's birthday. This is a great place - not your usual castle experience by a long shot. In fact it's a whole day of street theatre with jesters, knights, jousting and more. (At this point I will refrain from mentioning the Princess Tower...)

The highlight of the visit was the incredible Warwick Castle Trebuchet - the world's largest siege weapon. It's truly enormous and uses a six tonne weight to hurl a large rock one hundred and fifty meters through the air. In the closing ceremony they use burning oil to create an impressive fire ball which soars through the sky like a comet!

Of course, the purpose of these impressive weapons was to terrify and impress your enemy. The medieval trebuchet was there to provide "shock and awe" to inhabitants of walled cities, much as the modern airforce attempts to impress city dwellers today.

The key to the tactic in both cases is the psychology of fear. The trebuchet could be used to hurl rocks from the sky - dropping silently like a V2 into the streets of London - or it could fire the heads of prisoners over the walls for a bit of grusome propaganda. A dead cow might provide some biological warfare - or fire could be shot into dry and claustrophobic streets.

I am struck that the concept of "shock and awe" is not new - they were doing it in medieval times with the industrial might and technological skill of their time. Today it's done with aircraft, computers and high-explosives but the effect is the same...

or not - since the human spirit is a remarkable thing. The people of London managed to survive Hitler's "vengeance weapons" and the people of Vietnam sheltered underground as the might of America bore down upon them. We still have to wait for history's judgement in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Shock and Awe" is impressive to watch and good for morale back home - but not always effective. After two thousand years of technological warfare we still have something to learn when it comes to winning the peace...

Ski Camp

Iona finished a week of Ski Camp yesterday. She's done this whole five days of ski lessons and activities based at the Sno!Zone in CMK. This, of course, is one of the real treasures on MK - a huge real snow indoor ski slope...

We're really proud of Iona. She's managed to finish her level 5 now and can do parallel turns. She is in control all the way down the slope - and has even begun to tackle jumps!

The afternoons included indoor sky-diving with Airkix, a climbing wall, bowling and some wave riding at Willen Lake. Iona pointed out to me that she doesn't like school sport, but she's quite good at extreme sport... Oh dear... I begin to see the future mapped out here - my adrenelin loving ten year old with a passion for scouting and out-door activities is going to grow up into someone with fairly dangerous ideas about a good time...

If only we had the money she would be doing this kind of thing all the time! She'll just have to get a job... Good job scouting won't break the bank.

Happy 89th Birthday Greatgramdma!

We hosted a family party this afternoon for my nan. Here she is with some of her birthday presents...

Also today - 9:45am service at Wavendon and wedding prep at All Saints - 12 couples!

The Chef in Waiting

Isla took us to the college restaurant and we had five courses of fine dining.... Yum!

Wednesday

This morning I led the funeral for Audrey Dwan from William Sutton House - who I've been visiting for the past nine years. A sad occasion, but I was glad to be able to do it for her.

In the afternoon I led Worship on Wednesday at Kilkenny with a small group. I brought communion but the lady who most wanted it was ill in hospital...

I then visited my own nan in her nursing home and joined her for "Tea at the Ritz"... She wore a feather in her hat and we tried to talk while the staff paraded around in 20's outfits...

Christ the Sower Governors in the evening - more jobs added to the list...

Conkers

Visited Conkers on the way home. Conkers is a huge environmental park built on the remains of two coal mines. Worth a visit - but avoid the adventure trail if you have small children!

Got home in time for Primeval. It's going to be different without Nick Cutter but it's probably good for the long term development of the show that it doesn't revolve around him. Shame Nigel Marvin got eaten though.

Castleton

Visited Castleton and climbed Mam Tor - the girls first serious hill!

The BBC advertised bright sunshine and 15 degree weather - which arrived at some point in the afternoon - after our climb. Good day though...

Tobogganing

We did a session of Tobogganing at Xscape before spending an afternoon with Rozi...

Up a tree

Isla and Iona did Arial Extreme today - the lower version. They can't wait to try the higher one!

Izzy didn't feel like it, so we went for a ride on the train.

We then had a picnic lunch and a walk before going home to watch Narnia Part One - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe...

The Running Norwoods

Iona and Izzy decided that they wanted to go for a run with me today. We ran 1.5 miles in 16 minutes and then ran home again. They seemed rather keen - I think they may both be up for the Race for Life this year! - Next year they'll probably be to fast for me...

Baby Group - Tenth Anniversary

We had a great gathering this afternoon as a few members of the Slough baby group descended on us in Milton Keynes. Becky and Gareth came at 2:30 with Ben and Jo, and we had time for a walk to the play park before Elaine and Daren arrived with Charlie, Hattie and Bertie at 5:00.

It was good to see everyone again and we had a splendid time catching up. Must do it again sometime...

Home again

Back from Nottingham.
Prepare for Saturday and Sunday...

Going North

- will blog this when I've downloaded the photos...

Another Snow Day...

Another "snow day". Can't take the car to the garage. Went for a walk in Shenley Wood...

The Snowman

The snow came down today and chaos is beginning in Milton Keynes. Fortunately I didn't have to go too far and spent the day working in the warm.

The girls went to school but came home early because the after school clubs were cancelled.

Isla went to college but it was closed at lunch time so she came home early too.

The girls went straight out into the garden and made a snowman before the sun went down. It's head fell off when they came in...

A day of three services...

This was the second day of the Watling Valley's 'vision weekend' with the annual covenant service at Christ the Sower School. Nick and Sheila led the service which had a fairly reformed feel. The seats were arranged in a cross formation with 'stations' in each aisle for the distribution of communion. This meant that people could look at each other... It was good to gather and re-affirm our commitment even though the attendance was fairly low - only ninety people out of a possible three hundred turned up...
We cycled there and back which gave me very brief slot for a bowl of soup before I headed back out for the baptism service at All Saints'. There were four children lined up for baptism in some lovely warm water. They all smiled when we brought them to the font and enjoyed the attention of the crowds...

While I was out the girls had got going on a game of Catan. I changed places with Isla who seemed to be doing quite nicely. The girls proceeded to attack me mercilessly with development cards and steel my sheep. I managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by building four roads in my final round, thereby claiming the 'longest road' and the asociated two points. A close thing... When did my children get good enough to beat me at games? How long will it be before they need to let me win for a change?

We had a quick early dinner before I had to head out again, this time for evensong at Willen church where I had the privilage of inducting Paul Smith as Team Rector. Quorum were singing and a good number of people turned up - inspite of the snow. I struggled to preach a satisfactory sermon in the five minute slot I had left at the end but I did my best. Five minuters are quite hard when you don't know the people... or am I too self-critical... All in all a good evening - but a long day...

Back home before the snow started again. All three girls in bed - but not asleep. Back to the computer to tackle a few jobs that needed to get done this weekend. These included the All Saints' contribution to the Loughton Residents Magazine - which needed to be done yesterday and some work for SU that was due on Friday... still, I can always work tomorrow night too...

Conscious of various little jobs that I could do with takling but I'll get there when I get there...

The Chopping Board

And here's the chopping board... casualty of last nights party...

It was a wedding present - made (Isla tells me) from unbreakable wood. I wonder if we can take it back?

I won't say who dropped it but we now have two medium sized chopping boards - but pizzas may need to be handled differently...

The Party

We celebrated Iona's birthday this evening with a craft party courtesy of Annette. Jane came and helped too. It was a fun event in the end... the kids were fairly well behaved. Nothing got damaged, although when I came home from the ecumenical council I did find that the chopping board was in two pieces - what have they been up to?

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Friday

Bacon ciabata at Ikea with Isla.

Trip into town to buy tickets to Saturday cinema.

More paperwork - finally cleared the desk! I now know what I'm supposed to have done!

Girls out...

Isla cooked the meal we were supposed to have on Saturday - some rather splendid Moroccan lamb.

(Jane ill, so our date with Gordon Ramsey is delayed...)

Vocalis

Vocalis is a wonderful little choir in Milton Keynes run by Alan Dryer. Past members have included Amy Hewitt from All Saints - amongst others... Iona has been a member for two years (with Emily S, Hannah C, and others...) It's one of the city's little known treasures!

Tonight's concert was fab - with lots of traditional (and even ancient) Christmas carols mixed up with the occasional "Santa Baby" - all good stuff!

Well done all! and thanks Alan!

See the Vocalis web site for more...