Goodhand in Banbury

 It was a blast from the past to go a recording of 'Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Concert'.  It was showing out here in the provinces at our very posh new cinema next to the Oxford Canal. We booked ahead thinking it would be packed with lots of 50/60 year olds. In fact we nearly had the place to ourselves as we sat in the armchair recliners and were wowed by the music, the amazing digital backcloth, and with dance and acrobats for the main piece.  It had been recorded at the Royal Festival Hall and it felt like you were there in the audience watching on.  The opening part of the evening had 'Moonlight Shadow', 'Summit' and 'The Gem'. All were brilliant but then we had the main piece Mike Oldfields 'Tubular Bells'. It was a fabulous evening taking us back to our teenage years and an album we would sit and listen to with friends or on our own. I think I can used to this life in retirement, with the 'Banbury Canal Festiva'l returning this w

A planned day out to meet up with our youngest started out with a hiccup. Our train which should have been four carriages was only two and we couldn't get on. So we jumped on the next train which should have been six carriages but was only four and very full. Jill and I resorted to sitting on the luggage racks which thankfully were hardly being used. So while a few minutes late we arrived in London and made our way to Little Venice in readiness for our canal trip to Camden Town Market.  Of course after all the glorious weather it chose to rain but at least we would be inside the canal boat. Well we can cope with a little rain and what a delightful place to start a day out. So with a coffee in hand we were treated to a gentle cruise with some information given with humour on route by our guide, not sure everyone on board got the jokes. Fascinating to go by the houses of the rich and famous and of course all  the boats moored serving as homes. So all was going well except the engine

 Well it’s the evening of September1st  a day which marks the beginning of a new Methodist year and for me the formal moment when I stop being ‘an active Methodist Minister’. I've spent the day looking after a grandson playing football in the park, being made to giggle by his zest for life, and cutting up wood as I make new benches for my greenhouse. It's been lovely and relaxing. Meanwhile ministers all over the country will have started new appointments,  probationer ministers beginning their ministry, and all of them facing the madness of church, circuit and district meetings ahead. So I won't be missing the bureaucratic lifecycle that is the Methodist church. Too much tick boxing, schedules completed and filed away. No doubt there will be new initiatives being sent down that will save the local church from its ongoing decline. I have much sympathy for my now active colleagues who will exert themselves in a new Methodist year. I hope that they won't be too constraine