RBoS

Just been reading the latest upset around the ex-boss of RBoS and his pension packet.

Once again.. lets all jump on the bandwagon and blame the bankers! It seems to me that what is happening here is twofold..

1. The general public are calling for all bankers to be taken out and shot as they caused the issues - lest we forget that we ourselves greedily snapped up all the money thrown at us from credit cards and loans to oversized mortgages - so we really should be a little less hypocritical.


2. The Government are jumping on the spin bandwagon and claiming that by keeping his pension the ex-RBoS man is being 'rewarded for failure' and that he should hand it back. Thus making the government seem to be inline with us ordinary folk, like. And thus we vote for them again.

Now, maybe I am being to simplistic about this but from the news reports I see that this chap has already waived his rights to other perks.. such as a years notice, and other share options, which he was allowed to have under the terms of his contract and just kept the pension.

What people seem to forget, is that his pension fund is made up of a lifetimes paying into it from both himself and the companies he has worked for. So surely he is entitled to it regardless of the existing state of RBoS..

When reading various news sites it saddens me to see some of the ignorant comments written by the general public. We really should know better.

On a totally different note, I'm off to Brussels for the weekend tomorrow, with EmJ, Dominic, Sarah and Graeme... should be lots of fun! Been almost a year since I last went and am very much looking forward to it. Early flight though! And i'm still waiting for EmJ to arrive as her train was delayed. Taxi picks us up at 6am!

Eye Op Number 4....

...Happened yesterday morning. Only laser this time, which wasn't so bad. Except they got the dosage of the anesthetic slightly off to start with so it hurt at first.. and believe me, having a Frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser shone in your eye does hurt! But one more injection and all was fine. 25 minutes later I was out of surgery. Then back home for lunch! lovely!

Got a busy weekend ahead, off to the SUGCR Annual Dinner on Saturday night, then off to Crondall on Sunday for this month's 'Sunday@4'. This time, as well as doing the kidswork i'm playing guitar as well.. Just me and one singer. Got my songs sorted, 'In Christ Alone' 'Blessed be the Name of the Lord' 'How Great is our God' and 'How great Thou Art' or maybe i might substitute the last one with 'Awesome God' not sure yet.

It is kind of good for me really, been praying for a while for an opportunity to get involved in something like this.

Snow...

So, here I am, sitting in Chilton Foliat with 'Black Velvet' on the radio, awaiting the return of Dominic, Sarah, Peter and Graeme who have decided to walk to Hungerford and back. It's a glorious day outside, the sun is shining, the birds are singing.. and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground!

Getting here was interesting yesterday. As we approached the village the snow got deeper and Dominic was changed in his parking of Rex.. we got out of the car onto sheet ice then had to slide our way to Graeme's house. After a well needed beer we set off to he local pub for dinner. In order to get there we had to cross the recreation ground which was covered in snow. It's been AGES since i've had the chance to run through so much snow! Was great!

After dinner we wandered back - i decided the time was right for a snow angel (but no yellow halo!) then decided it was so fun i stayed there for a few minutes, laying in the snow and looking at the clear night sky - such a good thing to be able to see the starts as you don't get much of a chance in Southampton,

Once we were all back in the warm it was time to jump in the hottub for a bit.. lovely! I raised a few eyebrows with my choice of attire.. Purple Shorts and leopard print towel! After a nice dip it was time to cool off by dashing straight from the tub outside and across the field! that was very cold but also quite fun! So if i go down with Pneumonia in the next couple of weeks i know why!

A nice quiet and relaxing weekend out of Soton, brill!

The Pope's Gone Techie!

I was looking at YouTube earlier and came across The Vatican channel. Now, it seems that The Pope has decided to embrace the internet as a way of reaching out to the younger generation.

The Pope is sat on a throne, and reads from a prepared parchment. He speaks these words:

So that the Church and it's message continue to be present in the great aeropagus of social communications as defined by John Paul II and so that it is not a stranger to those spaces where numerous young people search for answers and meaning in their lives, you must find new ways to spread voices and images of hope through the ever-evolving communications system that surrounds our planet

Now, if the title of the video wasn't 'Benedict XVI: internet a new way to speak of God' I would not have had a clue what he was talking about.

To me, this seems typical of the Catholic Denomination. everything is very regal, very flowery with pomp and ceremony. Lots of rituals, rites and rules along with confessions and intercession. It seems to be to be more preoccupied with itself than with Jesus.

But How did the Catholic Church get this way? I fear the answer is human nature.

According to Catholics, they can trace the Papal line back to St Peter. Peter being one of the Disciples, would have seen first hand the ministry of Jesus and what it meant to do the work of God. So.. somewhere along the way as the Papal line moved from peter and into the modern age things changed and the Catholic Church became the Church we know today.

In the beginning it would have been solely about Jesus, but as the centuries passed i fear that the leaders would have added bits of ceremony here and there, partly to the Glory of God, but I expect partly to the glory of themselves as well. After all, the Church became rich and powerful and it's only human nature to want to show off about how powerful and prosperous you are. So extend this over time and you get the Church that you see today.

Now, Taking a look at the Anglican Church - It was born out of a King who wanted to divorce - something the Catholic Church would not allow. So.. this powerful King of England creates a whole new denomination just to please himself. Certainly not very good beginnings!

So here we have probably the two largest Christian denominations.. both shaped by human nature as time as gone on, both shaped by the way man has interpreted The Bible over the years.

So.. which one of those is right? Which one of those denominations has it nailed?

The answer i suspect is neither. Both will have some parts right, and some parts wrong... but what i don't know.

Take a look at any other Christian denomination or movement from Qauker to Methodist, Baptist to Pentecostal, Lutheran to Brethren.. you'll all find they have slightly different interpretations of The Bible, some more subtle than others, but nevertheless, different. Does this make any of them more right than others? In my opinion, no. I think they all have a valuable part to play in what it means to be a Christian. They will all have bits that are right, and all bits that are not so right.

So far in this post i've named 8 different Denominations or movements but I bet if you asked each of them to write down one statement of faith, you'd probably find them all remarkably similar. It's all about HIM.

I have a colleague at work who is a Christian but has totally different views to me.. It's a standing joke in our office that if anyone wants a few minutes of entertainment, get me and my colleague together and ask the question 'Was creation REALLY only 7 days?' or 'Should women be allowed to speak in Church?' then sit back and watch as we throw bits of stationary at each other for 5 minutes in frustration at why the other can't see our point of view!

But seriously, we both accept that what either of us thinks isn't as important as Jesus and we should set aside our differences of opinion on matters such as these. We all have differing views, whether it's to do with things secular or spiritual, so why can't we just accept that none of us has it nailed and get on with doing the work of Jesus?

A Blanket of White....

I did the WFH thing today due to the 6ft snow drifts. Well... I say 6ft... more like 6 inches, but hey! I only ventured out once to the bakery at the end of the road to buy some lunch - can't stay in ALL day!

Contemplated making a SnowDalek but couldn't find my whisk or sink plunger (must have left them, at Leaside Way!)

I think that tomorrow might be a WFH day too.... Maybe I'll make a snow angel... might even give it a yellow Halo.

No More Drips...

Well, the dripping has stopped! Graham came over earlier and sorted the problem out so i should have no more water coming through my ceiling! Now we are even.. I've fixed his computer and set up his wireless network - he's stopped me getting dripped on. Nice.

Only a small amount of artex has been affected, but luckily it's in the opposite corner to where the pattern starts, which means that when i get the nod from the management company to get it done on the insurance, they will need to do the whole ceiling as it won't look right otherwise.. so.. quicker to make it smooth!

Looks like it might snow later.. so i've decided to WFH tomorrow. Still got a grim cough so don't want to freeze myself!