Tornadoes, floods and death

With headlines like these we reflected on the worst weather ever experienced in June in the UK yesterday.
There were two tornadoes in Yorkshire and the nation repeatedly heard about the harrowing story of a failed rescue of a 28 year old man who was trapped whilst clearing a drain in Hull. The services spent several hours trying to free him as the flood waters rose and eventually he was drowned. Helicopters were rescuing stranded people from tops of buildings in Meadow Hall in Sheffield as floodwaters rose by 4 feet in a matter of minutes. Cars across South yorkshire were floating away, the picture is of a road in Hull.
As usual roads were in chaos and most mainline trains were cancelled...........and there is more rain to come!
However summer has apparently arrived, as we were invited to our first Strawberry and cream tea of the season on Sunday and Wimbledon started yesterday.
We were transfixed by rain delays which perfectly set up Tim Henman`s match against Carlos Moya for the mid evening - as despite only winning two matches all year, Tim then pulled out the best tennis we`ve seen him play, to give us a 5 set thriller poised at a delicious 5-5 in the final set until the Umpire stopped play because of bad light.
As to the Bellies of Guisborough we have a major roof leak, Debbie has broken a finger in a door hinge, Jonny and Ruth simultaneously want to be taught to drive, the broken elbow has recovered and I resumed my guitar lessons with Kenny the rockstar.
Work is as you`d expect with me having to learn to take some, shall we say, very challenging and robust management decisions which means naffing people off bigtime!

Floods and prayer request in the North

Today tried to drive into West Yorkshire to visit John and Iris, as Scott my brother in law was over from New Zealand. Two diversions due to flooded roads later, we arrived! Yes it has been raining so hard over the last few days that yet again the rivers are bursting and the roads are closed all over North Yorks.

Our roof has become religious and is now holy thus leaking all over Debbies bed!

Still on the foggy, misty and wet side at least we are all at low risk of getting skin cancer.

Regarding the rest of our lives - the business of Mental Health is becoming rather pressured at present as we have entered into the sharp environment of preparing for our Foundation Trust application. This has been described as akin to launching a FTSE100 company. As Angus is not renowned for the detailed knowledge applied to his finances - quite literally your prayer ought to be "Heaven help the Health service"!! If anyone wanted theological proof of God`s sense of humour then just ask "Who let Dr Bell loose in a Directorate with an annual budget of £60 million and a requirement to save £1.5 million in costs annually?"!!!!!

Seriously this is a busy time and has some major implications for healthcare for 1.5 million people - so we`d better get it right - so any spare prayers would be appreciated for the next few months.

Guns...... lots of guns!!

Well what do you do to celebrate an 8 year old boy`s birthday?

You take him and a friend to London to see Dinosaurs and Tanks!!! Yes we hived on down to the railway station at Northallerton where you can park all day for mere pennies and we were in the Natural History Museum by 10.40 a.m. James was 8 and so enjoying himself that he got all the names mixed up - so we visited the Imperial History Museum to see the animatronic T-Rex, fooled about on the Tube and in a London phone box and went to the "Natural War" Museum where we saw Monty`s tank, examined the shell damage in a Jagdpanzer, discussed the relative merits of the Spitfire versus the Focke-Wulfe and sat in a Halifax bomber cockpit.

We went past "Huge"Park Corner and had lunch in "Convent" Garden at "Fire and Stone" Pizza restaurant (TOP RECOMMENDATION!). I think James had as much fun as Dad!!!

The day closed off with a visit to Camden market and a dash to Hamleys toyshop.

On the big day itself, there was a tanktastic birthday cake in the form of a Tiger (PanzerV) in desert livery and a new red bike with front suspension

The Streets of London and Lord of the Rings stage show

It has become a tradition that upon attaining the ripe old age of 18 that Dad takes the newly minted adult to London for a BIG WEEKEND away!

So last weekend it was Jonny`s turn - we took in all the usual sights but in addition saw the Lord of the Rings stage musical at the Drury Lane theatre - being the most expensive musical ever we had high hopes and indeed the stage design and props were magnificent but sometimes the dialogue acting and music were frankly boring. The standout moments were amazing tho - the opening with all the hobbits wandering around the stalls catching fireflies (we were in the middle of the second row!) and the invasion of the auditorium by a band of marauding orcs in the intermission were unforgettable - Lothlorien and Galadriel and the Ents were fabulously realised and there were standout performances from Merry and Pippin who were brilliant. So despite the curate`s egg - it was still well worth seeing and I would recommend it even if you`ve seen the films to death. It is 3 hours long though!

Which one is Jonny the 18 year old?

Jonny and I went to London to celebrate his coming of age - we kept on bumping into lookalikes all over the place!

See if you can tell the difference?

Mega monsters are even more mega

For those of you eagerly awaiting the triops update we have the latest..... they are even bigger, well, admittedly one has a much smaller tail, one of the others got a bit peckish one evening, you know how it is-9 o`clock and you need a little something..... However, they are all still shedding their skin every 2 days and are now about 3 cm long. James is very pleased with his first pet and especially likes them when they swim on their backs, so the second photo shows off all their little legs.

Meanwhile, the rain is gently trickling down the window pane, the central heating is on and I might light the fire. We are losing our suntans and are back to wearing woolly jumpers. Joy!!

Processing negative events - the bike crash!

2 hours into our big ride across the Lake District, just as we were anticipating the joys of ascending Kirkstone Pass - a kairos event ocurred.

This is greek for "a great big crash" - I would like to say we were tearing up Ullswater like a couple of hooligans kneedown round the bends singing "Bat out of hell" but unfortunately we were doing a sedate 35 mph in touristy traffic when going over a hump in the road with a left to right bend on a wet road proved too much for my suspension. The rear tyre, which decided to act like Torvill and Dean, skated alongside me putting me side on to the road - the bike then highsided and threw me onto the tarmac.

Somewhat painfully I staggered to the side of the road and did a bodycheck - memory present, limbs x 4 and all moving then uoaarrghh very sore elbow!

Phone calls sorted out bike recovery and people recovery and we headed on to visit Dominic and Ellie in their new house (See the pic of us all) where we celebrated life and fine gardens with champagne and ibuprofen cocktails. By now unable to move my left arm I protested "its only a bruise" and one handed narrowly beat mein host at Table Tennis - hohoho - a sweet moment as ..................

when I returned to work on tuesday with a nonfunctioning limb, x-rays confirmed a fractured elbow (head of radius)!! The films were taken in Guisborough at 9-30 am and reviewed by the radiologist 10 miles away in Middlesbrough at 9-35 am digitally on the computer. This was demonstrated to me at subsequent review by the Consultant at East Cleveland Hospital on thursday where on his desktop computer he enlarged the digital images of my bones to show me the fracture line stopping short of the articular surface (very good news). X-ray films don`t exist anymore! When I was a new Consultant if I wanted to enlarge the image, I had to lean close to the film, now a stroke of the mouse zooms in on the digital image with fabulous clarity!!

So I had x-rays done at 15 mins notice, 5 mins walk from my office, with a Consultant review 2 days later - this was not special treatment as the local service is an on demand one and I witnessed fellow crippled patients lurching into the local A and E in East Cleveland Hospital and getting immediate access to a Consultant review if needed (mind you only available on thursdays).

Who says the NHS is in a state? I was proud to be part of this "free at the point of need" health care system!! Long may it continue

Since then strapped into a velcro strait jacket I have been taxied about the place and this may continue for a couple of weeks as I`ve been told not to drive.

And the bike? - it is probably written off! Well if it was a horse I would shoot it!!!! My friend Rollo who was with me feels that it has been a sign to get a modern bike that can go round corners, my brother believes it is a sign to get four wheels and a Caterham sports car, at work they think I need stabilisers - others think it was spiritual attack after preaching twice!

The British pint has been saved

The EU has done an about turn and allowed Britain to keep all Imperial measures for eternity (before we had to lose them by 2009).

The Crown on the Pint of beer is retained and after buying your vegetables in pounds and ounces and your carpets in yards feet and inches, you can walk a couple of miles to the pub and drink a couple of pints for evermore!

Concert season is upon us - from pomp to ballads

I have followed Magnum for 29 years ever since I bought their 1978 debut album Kingdom of Madness. I first saw them live at Reading Festival in 1980 along with Slade and Whitesnake (and Budgie and Marillion etc!). I have since then, seen them at the now defunct Mayfair in Newcastle and also the City Hall in the mid 80`s.
So how delighted am I, that they are reformed and back firing on all cylinders with a rifftastic bombastic new album called "Princess Alice and the broken arrow". It has to be the most pretentious title this year and it comes with an album cover by Rodney Matthews! The answer is "very delighted" as I have in my possession tickets for the new tour this month.

AND could it get any better - well it can! Dugald and I have managed to get tickets to see Rush in October on their tour for their new CD "Snakes and Arrows!

And finally we have tickets to see Iain Archer (ex of Snow Patrol) supported by Jacob Golden in the bandroom at Farndale in North Yorkshire. I`m going to see Jacob Golden who I think sounds better than Damien Rice and Jeff Buckley combined, with a bit of Nick Drake in there as well - listen to Out Come the Wolves and just shiver with schizoid fear - go to his website and his MySpace site to listen and be transported to sad sensitive balladeer heaven where weeping CAN go on for a season!! http://www.myspace.com/themusicofjacobgolden

mega monsters

What do you think of these amazing creatures? In our house we are divided; some people are afraid they are going to jump out and attack us, others prefer to see them as fantastic performers who can do flick flacks in the water while eating!!James has grown them from tiny eggs smaller than a pin head into these 2 cm long beauties. Called triops they are really little dinosaurs dating back to prehistoric times. We look forward to the fight to the death, which is inevitable according to the instructions. As yet they have no names but we are open to suggestions. I do have to confess this our 3 rd attempt at growing triops the first time i killed them by using the wrong water. Second time they just didnt hatch. To be recommended for those of you who aren`t great fans of pets, they are not smelly, dont wee/poo all over the place and don`t eat too much.

Evil Genius

Well there has been an earthquake in Kent yesterday at 4.5 on the Richter scale, the rest of the country has been bathing in the hottest April since records began (mid to high twenties) APART from the North East coast above the Humber WHICH HAS BEEN FREEZING IN COMPARISON!!! Aaaaaarrgghh!! Guess where we live!

Well we won`t get skin cancer that`s for sure.

So what`s happening - the highlight for me in the last few days was Anne and I getting prophesied over by Lois Gott after I preached at Ken and Lois` church in Newcastle last weekend - Anne and I will now be bringing Chicken Tikka Masala to the the souls of the nation! You can ring for more details!

I was accused of being a "henchman" at work as I tried to reign in a member of staff with an xs payment in their job plan - I was annoyed at the time as I felt I was much more the Evil Genius, masterminding the revolution from the NHS into the business environment of a Foundation Trust!

The Versace Pizza oven and the barbecue King

Well it arrived - inspired by the Arizona bbq`s we replaced our decrepit old chiminea with a "Mexican" Pizza oven Chiminea (we noted sadly that it was made in china). It is a great outdoor fire BUT also a fabulous barbecue when you remove the chimney which has an oven in it for baking! The chicken cooked in about 5 minutes!

last week of sunshine

After feasting on Nigel`s BBQ and helping the kids with their chocolate overload we went walking around the wash in the evening light sorting out the world and its problems. We find its much easier to do this when the sun is shining, and then a desert sunset.

Next day we all decorated pottery which will be glazed and fired for us, and brought back to the UK by lovely friends: it was lots of fun but who knows how the finished product will look. You could get some great sermon material out of that, if Angus was writing!

One of the final highlights was that we eventually got to go the Black Angus steak house, despite pleading that Angus really was his name there were no freebies with the logo on to bring back as a souvenir, but good steak anyhow!!

Next day we ( as in all of us Bells except Angus and Jonny) had to get up before dawn in order to meet the sun as it rose from the east. We then ascended into the skies by the power of hot air, no not Debbie and Anne discussing recipes again. Quite an amazing experience, felt much safer than going up in an aeroplane anyway. Gave us fantastic views and a real sense of awe. Also took this flukey photo with the moon.

Our final few hours were spent organising Jonny and his year out in Phoenix, starting this August, and eating out again, this time Nigel trying his best to make me like Chinese food. Then a final swim in the balmy evening air before becoming sardines for BA and coming home!

Barbecues and the Easter bunny

Nigel continued his master class on the barbie with salmon cooked on cedar planks,

serenaded by local musicians who played both forms of music .... Country AND Western!

On Good friday we went to Rawhide and had steak and then a Bull riding rodeo with the Easter Bunny - yeehaaw! Ride `em bunny!

Phoenix continued into second week

So we cycled round the estate working off the vast amounts of food that Nigel and Sue forced us to eat, along with the most fabulous Californinan wines. The Passover meal was one of the most memorable as Nigel and I found a butcher in Cave Creek where we got a 15 pound leg of lamb which Nigel spit-roasted on his humungous gas barbecue by the pool (how they have suffered for the Gospel!!). Did you know that there are 4 toasts throughout the Passover meal which have to be done with different wines? Suffice to say we were biblically accurate and went an extra mile!!

Anyway whilst we were exercising Nigel and Sue practiced for their retirement sitting out on their porch, don`t they look lovely for such old people?
Later in the week Nigel and I did a 4.8 mile hike in the hills by Cave Creek in the blazing heat and developed a raging thirst that could only be quenched at a genuine cowboy Saloon where they were doing a special price on chilled ice cold beers $1 pint which washed down a big dish of guacomole and melted cheese with chips. We sat at the table under the Welcome Bikers sign in the shade! Did I mention how hot it was??

Flight from Mexico back to Phoenix

On the way back across the border we stopped to shop for wormy Tequila and Mexican crack which we all enjoyed in the car (Toffee and peanut crack!). Given how chilly the weather seemed to be (sometimes less than 30 degrees C) we thought the Blanket selling garage would do a good trade!!!

The driving across the desert was difficult, requiring concentration what with all the sudden sharp bends and people with boats!

Once back in Arizona we started to warm up - here is Anne on our cycle ride round the housing estate

Flight to Phoenix - the second report

The evening beach walk to see the sunsets were amazing but blink and you missed them!

We all needed lots of rest as Nigel had just returned from Ecuador and Sue, the children and all the Bells had just come from the UK.

The abiding memory will be the "Barbecue of death" that Nigel did

on our balcony one morning complete with liquid fire of flaming fat pouring onto the barbecue frame near the gas canister (unfortunately not caught on camera as we were all running away at the time)!