Monday 31 January 2011

31st January 2011!!

It is 2 years ago that I broke my Anterior Crutiate ligament (ACL) in a football match.
It is 6 weeks since my operation to replace the ACL.
It is my Dad's 65th birthday.
It is the day my son went away for a week to a mountaineering centre in Mid Wales with School.
It is the day when we finally completed Rebekah's tax return.

Other than that it has been a lovely day off on a beautiful January day. We celebrated my Dad's 65th by taking him to Ikea, which is almost as big a treat for him as taking him to Wickes or Screwfix would have been but they don't provide Breakfast! The Allens know how to celebrate in style!

Rebekah and I then had a noodle meal to mark the completion of the tax return.

But an added treat to the day has been listening to Andy Kyte (son of Malcolm who works in the same office as I do) who has his debut single out next Monday called 'Your time has come'. Andy did a gig on a Sunday night at King's Church last year and I loved it! Let's get him back! Have a look at his website to find out more.

So it has been a very satisfying 31st January and I am going out later to meet a friend of mine from Bedford who is working in London today.

Sunday 23 January 2011

The Bridge Project

Last Thursday I visited the new premises for the Bridge Project, a crisis pregnancy centre managed by a friend of mine Julie. The centre is very impressive and the team have decorated it very well and these new premises will allow the Bridge to continue to help many people who are in despair and unsure where to turn for advice and help. Please click here to see their excellent website.

I would like to see a centre like this in the Borough of Lewisham that offers impartial advice to many people who are faced with very difficult decisions. It is therefore great that we currently have 5 people from King's Church who are on the latest training course.

Friday 21 January 2011

2011 - 10 years of the Jericho Road Project

In 2011 the Jericho Road Project will be celebrating it's 10th year. And with recovery from my knee op slowing me down, I have valued some time recently to reflect on the many people that the project has been involved with over the last 10 years. The plan is for a Sunday celebration on the 2nd October and a lunchtime event probably on the 29th September that will promote all that we are involved in to the many professionals and volunteers that we work with. We will get to tell lots of the stories of people's lives.

This week I have spent time with 2 of our ex residents. One has recently celebrated being drug free for 2 years after well over 30 years in addiction. Another recently moved into his own flat after being a rough sleeper for 18 months, then staying in the winter shelter at 999 club who then referred him to the Jericho Road Project and then finally he secured a flat! Both stories are great to hear again and again, so we will tell these stories and many other later in the year at the celebrations. Don't miss the 2nd October, it will be a great Sunday!

Friday 14 January 2011

Life in Catford - On the buses

My knee operation took place on the 20th December and therefore I have been living a very different pace of life since then. I have been using the buses to get to work and hospital appointments so here is a blog on life in Catford - on the buses.

There are 5 different bus routes (the 124, 284, 181, 202 and the 160) that I have used this week to make the journey to or from work. At times the buses travel through Catford at walking pace and definitely slower than the bicycle but for someone like me who is now walking very slowly and not able to drive or cycle the buses are great!

It is a great place for meeting people, some I know, others that I just get talking to. People are very friendly, yes even in Catford. I like the social side of buses but I found this morning that it is a challenge to write on a notepad whilst on the buses. I had some thoughts that I wanted to write down but such is the constant movement and start/stop nature of buses it is almost impossible to read what I had written. And also for my recovering knee the buses are a challenge due to being thrown all over the place when standing up. At those moments I need my crutches mostly to show to others that I have a need to sit down.

Buses are usually busy which leaves me with one big mystery of the buses in Catford. There are very few adverts inside the buses and most of the spaces are taken with 'how to behave well on the buses'. However on the outside there are loads of adverts, on the back and sides of buses and at the bus stops. It is obvious advertisers don't like to advertise inside the buses. Perhaps this because advertisers don't travel inside the buses or maybe it's because the people inside are not regarded as important enough! Admittedly there are lot of students and people with freedom passes but when there so many people inside with nothing to do but look at the sights of Catford they may well take notice of adverts. Churches often advertise on the back of buses but I've never seen churches advertised inside a bus. Perhaps those who make these sorts of decisions should get inside a bus themselves. Travelling by bus is not cheap so why the discrepancy?

In a matter of weeks I will be back on my bike and my days of bus travel will be over. There is much I will miss but I will be financially much better off with the bike.

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