2nd Thursday Out
Decided to go to the Somerwest World (Butlin's) at Minehead, reasoning that Butlin's always has a good fun pool if nothing else and there's always the beach and town if I got bored.

My first mistake was to take the scenic route along the A396, nothing but winding country roads and one very strange junction that confusing enough that I took the wrong road twice before getting back on course. Then got stuck behind a white van, who in turn was stuck behind a learner on a moped and hence limited to 30mph. The only wildlife I saw were a load of pheasants all over the road in both senses of the phrase "all over the road", thankfully I managed not to kill any of the stupid birds but it was a close thing.

On arriving at Minehead I got a little confused about where to get the day pass and where to park eventually I got a very good parking space and went in. Somerwest World had changed an awful lot, the funfair was as cheesy as I remembered but the real shock came when I got into the main indoor area, just a food court with a row of shops. Beyond that it was a mixture of good and bad news, the good news was that the fun pool had greatly increased in size, the bad news was that none of the amusement arcades had anything other than slot machine, shooting games and driving games none of which appealed to me. I was hoping for a good shoot-'an-up or at least a skill-based game like Puzzle Bobble.

The pool at least made the whole trip seem worthwhile, wave machines flumes, jacuzzi and so on. I went for a short swim to warm up before I went on three of the four flume, the one I decided to pass on was the "Black Hole", I don't mind going fast, but I do mind when I can't see! The best flume was like the log flume at Alton Towers, except with rubber boats instead of logs, with flaps on the underside of the boat so water jets could push the boat uphill. The other one I liked was a pretty standard flume except at the end there was a large shallow bowl with a hole at the bottom. So if you have seen the "black hole"-simulating charity boxes you'll have an idea about the result. I got dumped down the hole face-first, being more than a little top-heavy, great fun. Unfortunately there wasn't much else to do so I went out of the place had had lunch on the beach using the blanket I'd brought. I went for a walk along the sea front and was starting to get tired so I returned home by a less scenic but much faster route, stopping off at St Loye's College, since I'd not been back since I started working for David, the room was massive now with the original three rooms merged into one large room, but now with 20-something students with only 2 instructors, yipe. How on earth do they manage to teach that many people in clock repair?

I got home and soon discovered that the reason for feeling tired was that I'd caught a cold. I went into work today but by half past two David decided that I'd best go home and recover. I just hope I haven't caught that nasty cold he brought back from his holiday. I'm hoping to go the Eden Project tomorrow, but I've warned Mark that I might not be up to the trip. I don't think it likely that I'll miss the trip but better to warn him than for him to find out on the day.

Friday

Sunday Trip
Only Mark and Monica came on this trip to Dartmouth Castle, in hindsight Ben and Zosia got the better end of the deal. We took a wrong turn and I had to turn around using a dirt track entrance. We later discovered had driven to the wrong side of the Dartmouth's bay and had to wait for the small car ferry to get across, Monica had never been on a car ferry before.

Dartmouth is an old town with small winding roads, something that I could have done without after a long confusing journey, at least we got there. Mark and Monica seemed to enjoy the castle, redeveloped several times for the changing circumstances including WW2. I took more interest in the building stones and wildlife.

On returning to Exeter we had Sunday lunch at the Malt House, my treat as I felt that after the journey we deserved a treat.

1st Saturday with Mark, Monica and their friends, Ben and Zosia.
A bit of a late start and signs to Paighton Zoo dying out, then meandering through Paignton's city centre, still we got there in the end.

It then got a bit rushed as we attempted to find the baboon's enclosure in time to see them being fed. Needless to say, we didn't make it in time, in fact we only got to the baboons in the last third of our stay. We did get to see the pelicans being fed with the seagulls attempting to steal a meal.

There was a bit of excitement a bit shortly after we passed through the area with the free-ranging goats in the "animal encounters" area. A peccary (a small pig-like animal) had escaped so everyone was asked to go to the restaurant\bar while they caught it. Not the most enjoyable part of the day I must admit, but how often do you get to be around when something like that happens?

I started to get a little tired about half-three, thankfully we'd seen just about everything and even though I suggested they continue if they wanted to, I headed back to the car, since I could just read for a bit while I waited. However after Mark's friends, Ben and Zosia, had bought some animal masks, they turned up after a relatively short time, followed by Mark and Monica, who took a little longer to find the car.

The return journey had only one delay caused by me misreading the signs and going back into Paignton again, (sigh). After dropping off Mark and co, I went home for a bit of a break, then went shopping at the big Sainsbury's. Mostly to get the things that I can't get at the one in town, but also just because with a car I can do a big shop and not have to carry it all the way back.

From the translators' preface to the NLT Bible, which I was perusing this morning - probably not too far off verbatim:

In order to ensure a translation free from personal and theological bias, a wide range of Evangelical scholars were consulted using the best exegetical tools.

I mean honestly. A thought-for-thought translation of this might read "Oh crap - we've reached the bit of the preface where we're meant to prove how unbiased we are and we've only consulted ourselves. Let's just borrow the accepted format for stating this and hope no-one notices the flagrant inadequacy of what is actually stated."

Personally, I think people with a bit of education should probably lean towards formal equivalence translations more; get as close as is reasonably possible to the original texts.

1st day of holiday, not very nice weather today, decided to go to Plymouth.

I arrived a bit before the National Marine Aquarium opened, so I watched the sea for a bit. Saw a pair of seahorses courting, found out that the Mediterranean Sea was formed when the continental plates of Africa and Europe met and was originally closed at the Straits of Gibraltar.
Went swimming at the Plymouth Pavilions, spent a lot of time sitting in the shallow end, just relaxing.

Today was very encouraging, a gentleman came into the shop and asked for "the lad who's always reading outside before the shop opens". Turns out that he teaches adult literacy and had found my love of reading quite encouraging in his work, he's also a 60-words/sec speed reader like me. Both embarrassing and flattering, but isn't encouraging others part of Christianity? It's nice to rediscover even when you're enjoying yourself, God can still work through you.

I'd almost forgotten how encouraging David is as an employer, thanking me when I reminded him about his breakfast. David: "What would I do without you?" Me (smiling):"Miss breakfast." He really seems to appreciate me taking extra care of him when he doesn't have Trevor or Norman to help in the shop.

Matt has kindly offered to work this Saturday so that I can visit Nan and the Fornis on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday make the long trip back to Exeter, possibly with enough energy to make a trip out on Sunday after church.

Call me cynical but... why is the fact of something happening usually accepted as evidence of providence?

Yesterday there was news, though it concerns someone whom I know but slightly. He got a job working for an organization that "does" Christianity in schools - don't know a great deal about it beyond that. Anyway, he did, and it made everyone happy. I'll take it as read that he prayed that the result of the interview would be God's will, as did the interviewing panel - I should hope that it's the done thing.

And there was much rejoicing; "Isn't it funny that God didn't give him any other jobs 'til now", or words to that effect - "It's odd, because it doesn't seem like his kind of job, but God clearly thinks otherwise."

Seems to me that being a Christian, and prayer, is regarded as an insurance policy against anything happening which is antithetical to God's will in one's life. Seems pretty unlikely to me.

pan·the·ism
n.
A doctrine identifying the Deity with the universe and its phenomena.[...]

Seems a bit like pantheism.

It was really nice to return home and meet up with everyone again, we just seem to slot back together as if we had only been apart a few days. I finally got the leftover rent refund cheque from my time at Exeter Foyer, £94 back is nice.

I'm beginning to get worried about the backlog of ready-to-collect clocks at work. We don't have that much storage space anyway, and I'm running out of bench space to put my completed clocks. It's hard to feel motivated to complete jobs when I've got nowhere to put them. I've tried reminding Norman to call the customers, but with David on holiday in South America he's too busy with his beloved watch straps. I'm not sure what I can do about this.

Today is going really badly.

I've got a job I need to do ASAP which has been delayed (I don't know how). PCFE kept ringing me with long queries involving prolonged paper-hunting. I finally got in touch with my landlord to find that my cheque's got lost in the post, along with my tenancy agreement (the tenancy agreement for the second time) - the £400 that I then owe him slightly outstrips my bank balance of £57.61. And I've got to move Irene's car, which I can do, but I wish I didn't have to - certainly not on such a manifestly crappy day.

Went to church last Sunday for probably the first time since moving to Exeter, tried Belmont Church as it was recommended by a friend of Dad. Pleasantly surprised by how much it reminded me of St Thomas in Sheffield. Although a computerised OHP and an e-mail address on the Welcome card were a bit of a surprise. The church attracts a healthy range of people from all over Exeter and seems quite lively. Although there were a lot of people, I didn't feel tired afterwards, it seems to be a good church to belong to.

However not all is good, my right thumb seems to be the target for a chain of mishaps, two blisters, one under another and yesterday the click spring on an American clock fell out while I was winding it and have my thumb a glancing clout. Well at least with going to Camberley I should be able to avoid further injury.

News:

I have a girlfriend, Monica. She's Italian, and as things stand at the moment, she'll have to go back to Italy mid September. However, she wants to stay in England, and she's trying to sort it out, so here's hoping she won't have to. We met through the chaplaincy, but that was about a year ago. She comes from a village which has a castle, and the nearest big place is Ancona apparently. She's a bi' (she likes my glottal stops) older than I am, but I shan't say how much - it doesn't seem like it anyway.

So there you go.

Not the most pleasant of weeks, picked up a nasty stomach bug, a few stomach pains on Saturday, and over an hour spent in the toilet. I feel better, and work the rest of the day. Sunday, fever and headache, going to the loo 2/3 times per hour between waking and ten, repeat until Wednesday, despite Imodium and, very annoying. I hope no one else gets this.

Went to work today, feeling better, had my first cooked meal since Friday (first filling meal since Saturday), almost did the Happy Dance. Had to pay Customs charge, must check out the limits on imported DVDs.
Still feeling fine.