A little bit of business

Welcome-to-Ashtonstables.jpgTo support myself in this little charity worker lark I’m involved in, I
set aside a day (in hours, at least) to work on websites for small to
mid-sized businesses, under the company name ‘Ashtonstables’.

I finally manged to set aside some time to work on my own website over
the last couple of weeks.  I’d had an idea floating around my brain for
some time, to base the site around a laid paper background.  I wanted
to reflect the fact that I deliver high quality websites, using a
graphical metaphor to enhance the website text.  The starting point of
the paper lead to some photography of a very nice ink pen my father
gave me, and some menu headings written with the same pen.  Hopefully
the result conveys what I was trying to acheive!

You can see the new website here – and of course please do get in touch if you need any work doing.

Kids, don’t try this at home

partial_eclipse.jpgSo, there I am, sitting on the sofa catching up on a few emails, when Shirls calls and says “can you see the sun?”

It turns out this isn’t a trick question, and minutes later I’m dashing around the house trying to find something I can look through to look at our latest partial eclipse.  It turns out that my viewing glasses from the last total eclipse have disappeared into piles of stuff so deep that it’ll take me until the next millennium to find them, so I end up improvising with several layers of film negatives (kids, don’t try this at home!).

I even managed to get a (very amateur) shot with the camera…

…perhaps I should be better prepared next time  😉

Favourite lyrics

alas.jpgI’m sat in the 24-7 office in London listening to one of my favourite bands, Idaho.  How’s this for great lyrics:
“When you get in your car, you always seem to drive some place.”
From there I got thinking about The Cure:
“Let me take your hands I’m shaking like milk”.
Hooray for wonderful music.  Brightens up my life on an otherwise dreary day  🙂

Loving the long evenings already

milllm_bridge_sunset.jpgI’m trying to get into a bit of a better rhythm of prayer at the moment, and I’ve not been too successful thus far.  Tonight was a beautiful step forward though, as I prayed looking out over the churning waters of the Thames, just south of St Paul’s in London.

I ended up working a little too late in the City Boiler Room, and the wonderful Claire Brocklehurst invited me to eat with the group that she and George lead at the CBR on Monday evenings. As I was packing down, I really felt a pull to go down to the Millennium Bridge and watch the sun go down, and as I checked the time of the sunset I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had just enough time to walk down to the river.  The view didn’t disappoint, and I had a great time talking with the creator of the universe too.

Not a bad start to the week…

She made it!

Thanks so much to those of you who have supported Shirley through you prayers, and your finances, as she ran the London Marathon today.

The great news it that she completed it!  4hrs 47mins is not her best marathon time, but its not bad at all given she was fighting off a cold!  Cramp at 18 miles was thankfully dispatched by some very helpful St Johns Ambulance volunteers, and hailstones at 22 miles didn’t stop her striding out towards the finishing line.

Well done Shirls!  Watch this space for some piccies soon.

And just in case you haven’t sponsored her yet  😉  www.curve.org.uk/shirley

Maundy Thursday Meditation

candle_home.JPGOur church had a really inspiring time recently, with the Maundy Thursday service I helped to prepare.  Several of us from the Greyfriars and New Hope congregations helped to put together our communion service, including the creative prayer time that was at its centre.  As we considered the events of the Last Supper and Gethsemane, we focussed on what it means to serve and to be served, and on the ways in which Jesus fulfilled the signs that are remembered during the passover meal.

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