Win the Christmas top 10

See if you can beat me to the prize of the top 10 singles in the Times Christmas competition. So far there are only 51 entries including mine - closing date is the 31st Dec. All you have to do is click on the blog title to go to the Times site and use their e-mail form to enter a short piece of prose on the Christmas single!

A Christmas thunderbolt for the arch-enemy of religion - a riposte to The God delusion

Richard Dawkins has a christmas best seller entitled the God Delusion. I read his earlier book The Selfish Gene as a non-christian student and even then his breath-takingly arrogant atheistic bigotry annoyed me. I highly recommend the above article as an amusing intellectual riposte written from the point of view of an amused Deity! Just click on the title link and be aware of Professor Dawkins intellectual fascism!
God was once dead, but no more will a mere man be able to bury the Alpha and Omega of all creation!

Ten lords a-leaping!

Hallelujah, for the first time in a few years, with the exception of the Arizona Christmas, we are facing Christmas day with all the Bells being sound and jolly!! Debbie perked up yesterday and ate a single bread bun!
Yesterday we celebrated with Anne`s father, John, and Iris - Ruth taught everyone how to gamble using a new card game Kings that requires a bucket of pennies (Mallons watch out - she`s a bad influence on children!). We ate Duck confit that we had brought from France. John brought his new paparazzi camera and took thousands of photos, including some for my portfolio as he has volunteered me as a speaker for a Methodist church mission in Kirkby Stephen in 2007. We'll see if the photos put the Minister off!
Today I am meeting up with my Uncle Mike in Barnard Castle to exchange presents and Dugald, my brother is visiting and we are having roast turkey in the evening.
Christmas day will be buffet of leftovers and Boxing day will be fillet of beef with some Angus the Bull cabernet.
Will be busy at work this week as have to prepare for a meeting in January where I have been summoned to the House of Lords to meet with Lord Carlisle to comment on the draft Mental Health bill, all this is in addition to preparing for an exam on Toyota Management theory ....ho hum! Still this does mean that I`m on for the trip to Seattle in March (could be close to the holiday in Arizona!!).

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone. I wonder what crazy things are happening in your neck of the woods. Here in Guisborough as I sip a cup of coffee ground in our faithful Siemens coffee grinder given as a wedding present I am chuckling madly to myself. Why? Well how come people seem to eat so much more than at other times of the year - I mean the number of people remains the same yet the supermarkets are absolutely mad this year. They are only closed for 2 days at the most this year and yet yesterday the queue of cars to get into the Sainsbury car park backed out into the main road and as far as the exit road from our estate, blocking people getting to work!! Our neighbour Cliff who is the shop manager had to call in all the staff to cope with the frenzy. Meanwhile our intrepid shopper Anne reports that inside the shop it is like Soviet Russia - the shelves are bare. There were no frozen chips at all, fresh parsnips all gone etc thank goodness there is still some vintage champagne left!
So not only are we facing a chipless christmas but as usual at Christmas time in the Bell household "All is not still, apart from the mouse, as the sound of Debbie vomiting fills the house!" Yes the Christmas lurgy strikes again - Jonathan has just recovered, as has James, but Debbie has a horrible virus and hasn`t eaten for a couple of days. So I was woken up by the gastric noises last night as well as Ruth coming in at 3.30 am from her Clubbing festivities in the Boro'!! Still the coffe is good and I`m off to Lewis and Cooper's in Northallerton to shop for stocking goodies.
As we prepare our feasts I am giving thanks for the christmas truth that "the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with Us).(Is.7:14)"
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
lots of love x

21 on the 21st and love is still in the air

Well we reached the milestone of 21 years of breakfasts together on the 21st of December and I planned a romantic secret break. Anne knew nothing, other than we would be going away on thursday afternoon - the destination was Middlethorpe Hall just south of York. We arrived in freezing fog to be greeted with the news that we`d been upgraded at no extra charge to the Deluxe Suite in the main house! It seems that when I ordered the 12 red roses to be in the bedroom that the staff took notice and felt that as it was a special occasion ............. So we had a huge bedroom (see pic) and adjoining lounge with open fire and christmas tree! I took some champagne and glasses to have after the session in the Spa (oh yes!) - chilled au naturel on the window sill. Dinner was sumptuous - Cepes risotto, venison on a bed of red cabbage, Queen scallops with cauliflower puree, and roast lamb cutlets with a mini lamb shepherds pie, we had the New Zealand Champion Pinot Noir to wash it all down - pudding for Anne was a chocolate delice with guinness ice cream, caramel tuile and malt sauce. Then today Anne had a surprise Luxury pedicure treatment.
So now, I can relax for a few years!! Normal service will soon be resumed! Happy Christmas to all!
p.s. After massive english breakfast followed by four pancakes with maple syrup this morning we are now ready for an evening curry.

Good Times

Better late than never!
Ruth's 19th Birthday pictures:

Here is flatmates Katie and Clare putting up paper chains they made for the cunning surprise party they threw me at midnight.

Here I am sporting the "very surprised to be suddenly dragged out of bed look". In case you miss it, I'm pointing out the cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Later on, my friends and I before we head out to celebrate.

Me, Clare and Libby.

Libby, Zoe, Katie and I at The Basement.

Libby, James, Jess, Katie, Jack and I at Attic.

Zoe, Clare, me and Louis with a drink that I later spilt on Clare!

xx

Ruth

Music is the food of love

Last Saturday I was at the best heavy rock gig for many years - Thunder touring their new album.
and this week I`m down in Scarborough to see old favourites Budgie who also have a fabulous new CD which I have bought autographed by the band, next week we are going to see Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra with Lulu as special guest.

Guisborough - Capital of Europe shock!

Well you will not be surprised to learn that the first drive-thru Subway opened in the UK in Manchester.
So where did Subway decide to pioneer their second drive thru sandwich experience?
London, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna perhaps???
No - hahahahaha it is in Guisborough!!!!!!!!!

Secret NHS heroin injections for criminal addicts

So there are two secret NHS sites for giving addicts heroin by injection - for the first time since the 1960`s - and one of them is Darlington (part of my Trust!). The argument is that treatment with Methadone doesn`t work - ooh big news that, I`m sure we could say that treatment to get people off drugs largely doesn`t work full stop!! Then that 2/3 of all crime is drug fuelled and that to support an average £15,000 annual habit you need to steal £45,000 worth of stuff.
The solution is to stop the crime by turning NHS staff into dealers of free heroin!! Oh the stuff of genius!!! Debate that one over a church BBQ.
Meanwhile back at the ranch I was phoned today by a chappie asking me to be available to meet some american bigwig next week for a two day power conference (including a saturday!) with a couple of other "really important people" to discuss innovative ways to introduce change management processes into health care systems. This involves working with Toyota and will involve a 2 week trip to Japan next year! Is it just me or is this really odd???????
I think I have died and gone to crazyland as some sort of penance!
I am consoling myself with a lovely bottle of Louis Latour Chardonnay which is my personal drug of choice!

Bernard`s visit and news from Rhema School Kampala

Our friend Bernard Bakunda stayed with us this weekend and we held a fund raising day at our house with a bouncy castle and a Body Shop christmas sale for Rhema Junior schoool in Kampala.
Bernard started this to provide education for children orphaned by HIV/ AIDS in Nakulabye slum which located 2 km from the Kampala center on Hoima Road. In his words: "The VISION STATEMENT of the school is to provide Bible- basic education from Nursery to Primary 7 and to equip children with skills that will help them earn a living there after.

The MISSION STATEMENT is to lay a Biblical Foundation in the lives of these little children in order to transform the Nakulabye community.

THE FOUR MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT ARE:
1. To help at least 500 children by the year 2010 from Nursery to Primary Seven.
2. Raise one foster parent per child to provide school fees, uniforms, Books and pencils for a child.
3. Construct good class rooms for the children and a place of meeting.
4. Set up a skills training program of the children so that they can be trained after the 7 years of primary education.

KEY ACTIVITIES AT SCHOOL (now there are 200 children)
1. Beginning with prayers and Bible stories every day.
2. Providing basic education as recommended by the ministry of education.
3. Raise foster parents for each child.
4. Build good classrooms and place of meeting for children."

Newcastle to develop Human-Cow Hybrid

The Times reported today that Newcastle University were applying for a License to implant a human skin cell into a bovine ovum. Newcastle United fans were left wondering whether, with their team languishing equal bottom of the Premiership, that their chairman was behind the whole scheme. The suspicion remains that Eleven Human-Cow hybrids have been turning out for Newcastle United recently, judging by their speed and mobility on the pitch dressed in black and white.
However it is in fact a serious attempt to clone an embryo that would not legally be judged as human under current law, would be harvested at 6 days and "killed" at 14 days with a view to seeing whether stem cells could be used from the results.
We had a debate at the Bell Dinner table as to whether this was a very clever attempt to get round embryo research laws or indeed a valid way to harvest stem cells for future research targetting numerous serious diseases. Ethically this is a mine field (with a herd of Friesians grazing all over it) that needs some thought. Is an embryo grown from a human skin cell in a bovine egg human? Is it wrong to use stem cells from this source to alleviate suffering?
It is an issue which requires prayerful consideration.

Addictive "Lines" game top score

Well after two years of playing I`ve finally beaten my top score by a big margin so the challenge is on to beat 789. Yes Ruth that was 789 hahahahahahahahaha Dad is the best!!!
To play: click on the title of this blog.
Oh, and Nigel don`t let Sue even try this game as you won`t see her for weeks! (She won`t beat me anyway!!)

Halloween Horror Hellfire

Well in America there is Trick or Treat, a kind of very wimpy excuse for blackmail. Here in the North East we have true Halloween Horror in Tim Burton style! (courtesy of the forestry commission)
James has just returned from a Halloween walk in the Woods (in the dark by moonlight!) where hidden around the Branch Walkway were various people in costume ready to leap out at unsuspecting children. He encountered skeletons sitting on the fence, various witches, people swinging devils by the tail blocking the path, he was chased by zombies and a "man with no face" and the worst (best) was a doctor who was disembowelling someone and throwing the guts at the children "it was only bits of pumpkin Dad!"
NOW THATS HALLOWEEN!

Kiwis in Normandy

So we are back in the land of autumnal cold. The Orne was having an indian summer whilst we were there, and walking in the woods in shirtsleeves spotting mushrooms was the order of the day.
We found a fabulous cider farm where James played on the old stone press and I was shown round the barn - I ended up buying 12 bottles of the demi-sec after a two hour tasting in the sun with the owners.














We went to the local market as usual and Anne chatted up the various french men including "Fred Pizza" (yes he makes the pizza!).
Highlights of the trip this time included the morning when I leant out of my dining room window to look out along the street and I was hailed by two older french women down below. I went down below to see what they were on about and it turned out that they thought I was the local Gynaecologist who`d made an appointment for them to be seen down below! It was an easy mistake to make as he has big blue double doors as well as us. Anyway I was delighted to direct them along the street to his offices and I felt as if I`d just become a local.
Scott and I cleaned out the drains fronting the house onto the street which led to another conversation with the neighbours, the other neighbour Jean Claude gave us some of his apples and Anne made a great Tarte Tatin.
We closed the week with a great meal out at the Auberge Clouet round the corner where Anne had the largest Oysters you`ve ever seen and Angus had an apple sorbet in a lake of calvados.
There is loads to do in the house still and we will need to go over as often as possible to keep up with stuff but so far it has been great fun.

Family gathering in Normandy

We met up (without Ruth) with the Kiwi cousins and David and Sarah at the french house. Islay and Faye were doing a european tour with their parents Scott the Aussie vet and Fiona (Anne`s big sis). For now here are some pics of James flanked by Faye on the left and Islay on the right, and also the three Rhodes siblings Anne, David and Fiona enjoying fizz.

Count Dracula

So here is Count Dracula going to a "Spooky party", also there was a Skeleton, several Witches and assorted vampires.

Mid-life crises

Job 14:1 "Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.
A depressing text which can come to dominate the mind as I reflect on what is going on around us.
So many of our friends are currently struggling with major stresses ranging from bereavements of parents or friends, divorce, family illness and severe work pressure.
We all know we should sleep more, exercise more than once in a blue moon and eat more healthily (well I do one of the three thanks to Anne and Debbie and their salad obsession).
The solution is not the above, however hard we try!
"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8.
The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming for me and I have been forcibly reminded that if I want to cope in my own strength I am going to suffer stress related conditions. Even worse I have realised that my personal aims have been seduced away from the basic fact that ALL THINGS are but loss compared to the excellency of KNOWING the one person who is my all in all.
'nuff said!

Bethany Childrens Choir

We were visited by a children`s choir from Tanzania who sang and danced, transforming our church with joyous rhythms and beaming smiles. They have a fantastic website with songs and video to download - just click on the title of this blog!

Old dog!

Freshers Week

An update from newcastle university! After a week of non-stop partying and no sleep, myself and my flatmates (Clare, Laura, Jess, Charlotte and Katie) took our duvets into the sitting room and had a girlie night in with pizzas and cheesy films.

Highlights of the week include the fairground rides at the beach party, judge jules, a trip to asda and the freshers finale pub crawl.

On saturday we walked into town and tried on silly hats in Accessorize. In the middle is Katie from Liverpool and on the right is Clare from Northern Ireland.


And finally, by special request, Gregg from flat a throwing up into a bucket after too much vodka, as flatmate Laura tries to look the other way.

Lectures start tomorrow!
xx Ruth