MRTU: Season's Greetings?

What is the appopriate seasonal greeting from 26th to 31st December?

This may sound pedantic, but I'm one of those people who looks at his watch before he says good morning, to make sure I don't accidentally say it in the afternoon...

The way I see it, you can wish someone a "Happy Christmas" from around 7th December, although ideally on your last meeting with the person before Christmas day. And when you do, it means, "I hope you have a happy Christmas."

You can also say Happy Christmas on Christmas Day itself, which means something like, "Christmas is Happy, and I hope you agree."

But on Boxing Day? My relatives said it to me on Boxing Day, and it sounded weird. My brother's housemate said it the day after, and it was just wrong.

As far as I'm concerned, ""Happy New Year" doesn't come into play until it is actually New Year's Day, and you can say it for as long as you like, depending how you define 'New.'

So what do you say in the meantime? Is there an appropriate greeting, or should it just be "did you have a good Christmas" (which usually means listening to their reply).

Or maybe "hello"?

MRTU: It's a Tragedy

There's definitely more to come on reaching non-readers with the gospel - I've found lots of resources which I'll be working my way through. But I thought I'd take a break to have a More Random Than Usual post...

I'm currently finishing my job. Technically I finished working for Ferndale Baptist Church yesterday, and am unemployed until I start my new job with UCCF on 18th August. Oddly my first day of freedom seems quite similar to yesterday - I'm still sitting at my desk doing odds and ends. I think I may be like Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, institutionalised and unable to function in the real world...

But it's been having a weird nostalgia-inducing effect on me (I was actually looking at my old school's website today quite randomly). And then I found this on youtube:



Why does no-one do it like this anymore? This was probably my favourite steps cover (even including Better The Devil You Know)! I miss cheesy pop with hideously complicated dance routines. And I miss Steps, (even though they ruined Christmas 2001 by splitting on Boxing Day). So, for your viewing and listening pleasure, here are some more classics...

(Specially selected so you can see the dance moves!)

5,6,7,8


Last Thing On My Mind


And, of course, Tragedy

MRTU: John Betjeman on Matlock Bath

I called into Oxfam yesterday, and stumbled on a book of poems by John Betjeman. And bear in mind this is Oxfam in Southend, so a find like that is quite rare!
I've enjoyed stuff by him that I've read, and I've seen before that he's written about some of the places I've lived - Bristol and Clifton and Essex to name but two. But I was delighted to find this poem about Matlock Bath, which is just round the corner from my hometown of Matlock.

I found it really interesting that JB uses so much Biblical imagery when he describes Matlock Bath - if you've ever been there, it's hard not to. I don't mean the pseudo-sea-side bit, but the Heights of Abraham are pretty immense.
But he doesn't marvel and feel inspired by the natural beauty of the rocks and the trees. Instead he feels a sense of doom as he imagines the towering cliffs crashing down and sweeping everything away like a tidal wave. And I think this says something about John Betjeman's outlook on faith, and particularly on non-conformity. He hears the gospel they preach as one of doom and woe. The reference to "Pilgrims of the night" is probably a reference to a hymn, a hymn about death. This life is full of anquish and guilt, which is only lifted by death. And I think that sort of idea colours how he sees Matlock Bath, which as soon as he steps off the train is linked with non-conformity. And so instead of being comforted by the Rock of Ages, cleft for me, instead of feeling loved and cared for by God, he feels only dread.


Matlock Bath

From Matlock Bath's half-timbered station
I see the black dissenting spire
Thin witness of a congregation,
Stone emblem of a Handel choir;
In blest Bethesda's limpid pool
Comes treacling out of Sunday School.

By cool Siloam's shady rill
The sounds are sweet as strawberry jam
I raise mine eyes unto the hill,
The beetling Heights of Abraham;
The branchy trees are white with rime
In Matlock Bath this winter-time,

And from the whiteness, grey uprearing,
Huge cliffs hang sunless ere they fall,
A tossed and stony ocean nearing
The moment to o'erwhelm us all
Eternal Father, strong to save,
How long wilt thou suspend the wave?

How long before the pleasant acres
Of intersecting Lovers' Walks
Are rolled across by limestone breakers,
Whole woodlands snapp'd like cabbage stalks?
O God, our help in ages past,
How long will Speedwell Cavern last?

In this dark dale I hear the thunder
Of houses folding with the shocks,
The Grand Pavilion buckling under
The weight of the Romantic Rocks,
The hardest Blue John ash-trays seem
To melt away in thermal steam.

Deep in their Nonconformist setting
The shivering children wait their doom
The father's whip, the mother's petting
In many a coffee-coloured room;
And attic bedrooms shriek with fright,
For dread of Pilgrims of the Night.

Perhaps it's this that makes me shiver
As I ascend the slippery path
High, high above the sliding river
And terraces of Matlock Bath
A sense of doom, a dread to see
The Rock of Ages cleft for me.

MRTU: Taylor the Latte Boy

This post is More Random Than Usual, but it's fun, so I thought I'd add it. I anticipate there will often be posts which are even more random than usual.

I love this song. It's Kristin Chenowith singing Taylor the Latte Boy. Who'd've thought love could be so caffeinated?!