Thought for the week ...

Sacred Space meal

To celebrate our last 'official' Sacred Space, several of us went out for a wonderful Indian buffet at Chefs of India, in Hempstead. 

Pauline, Adenike, me, Mercy & Emeka

Aiste & Basel introduced me to this restaurant and something I really like, other than the fact that the Sunday buffet is so reasonably priced, is that the service is so great and rather than just being given a plate, the meal begins with poppadoms and dips, then a small plate of starters.

 

We all also had a mango lassi to go along with our meal 😀

During our meal, each one of us shared a favourite scripture verse, plus why/how this verse has spoken to us 💖

Then is was back to my place for a little rest time followed by games 😀

On a personal note ...

Today I used one of my Christmas presents  ...  a Call the Midwife tour.  

For those who are not familiar, Call the Midwife is a TV series that started in 2012 and follows a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London from the 1950s. It is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. 

Personally, I have been an avid fan from the very first episode. So, today, to visit the Chatham Historic Dockyard, where virtually all outdoor scenes are filmed was a real treat.

Our guide for the tour was
Heather, she was amazing!!

In 26 degree heat we walked all around the Dockyard, being shown a variety of locations that are used for many of the scenes that fans, like me, are familiar with.

These grey doorways are actually false,
they're made of wood and can be moved
wherever the film crew want them.

The tour ended with a selection of familiar locations and costumes which we got to explore at our leisure.

One of the things I've loved about the programme, is how faithfully is has been to various historical events.  In the early 1960s babies were born with malformities of their limbs, this was eventually linked to a drug called thalidomide, which was used as a sedative for pregnant women. Baby Susan, above, represented the many thousands affected by this drug.  This animatronic baby was so unbelievable life-like.

THANK YOU, Tony & Sarah 😀

TABLEtalk - The Art of Story-Telling

Thoroughly enjoyed our Story-tellin evening at TABLEtalk last night.  Special thanks to Jude, who kick-started our evening with a traditional Nigerian story about the tortoise, the elephant and the princess 😀

In pairs, we then had the challenge of creating a story based on two images. Here are the results ...

Mercy & Lynne:

It was mid-morning. on a Thursday, and Linus was on route to buy his weekly groceries. Sadly, someone had stolen the front wheel and half the frame of his brand new bike. BUT, shop he must, so he did his best to balance on one wheel and the saddle.

As a Health & Safety Trainer, Linus was concerned for the safety of other road users, when his riding might be erratic. Unfortunately, his bicycle bell was also missing. The only warning system he could think of were his bagpipes; and, for added safety, he'd wear his Darth Vader helmet.

So, off Linus went, cycling down the hill, playing his bagpipes. His favourite place to shop was called, 'Donald's Melons and much, much more', which was located around the corner from 'Bicycles R Us'.

Donald, the owner of 'Donald's Melons and much, much more' was a great admirer of Linus. For more than ten years he had been his favourite customer.

But, just as Linus was wobbling his way around the corner, he was hit by a number 63 bus!  Ending up breaking three ribs and, sadly, his favourite Darth Vader helmet 😕

When Donald went to visit Linus in hospital, knowing that laughter is the best medicine and that watermelon was Linus' favourite fruit, he modelled Linus a brand new edible Darth Vader helmet.

THE END

Emeka, Daniel & Somi:

In the year 2055, SpaceX launched a brave campaign. In the year 2055, the world was in shambles. Famine and war were the order of the day as everyone battled for resources. Pushed to the edge, SpaceX launched a crazy campaign ... a deep space exploration to find earth's salvation. Elon Muks, captain at the helm, led a team of earth's bravest in the mater spacecraft Bubblegum Escape I.

Everything seemd to be fine and they approached the outer edge of the solar system, when alarms suddenly started blaring.  The entire team panicked and people ran everywhere to find the source of the commotion. From the bridge, Muks looked out and stood in awe as he saw a giant black hole, previously undetected and now too close to avoid.

In the midst of the chaos, a green glow surrounded the ship. The Justice Bureau arrived with the Green Torcher, and the Bat family. Just as hope was restored, a large explosion was set in the engine room, knocking the Green Torcher and his protective shield away. The wreck of the spaceship, which now had the Bat family on it, fell into the black hole.

It is now the year 2000, the world embraces a new millenium, they never thought they'd see. Captain Elon Muks, now roams the streets of New Yordk, a deranged beggar, hopeing to find someone to help repair his ship.

The Bat family, affected by the time travel, have regressed to their bodies of seven year old, waiting for someone to save them.

Robin sighs, "I shouldn't have blown that engine!"

THE END

Jude & Pauline:

One fateful morning, Abdul, who had been having toothache problems, woke up with unbearable pain that he couldn't afford to over-look any more.

He decided to visit the dentist but he couldn't afford a proper hospital, so he visited an apprentice nearby, working in the NHS for a home service.

The apprentice didn't have much equipment, but the pain Abdul was facing made him careless. Even when the apprentice decided to use an unorthodox or mechanical approach, Abdul was still not bothered. All he cared about was to get the tooth out and let the misery end.

Across the room was a mother and her 9 month old son, who had come for a check up. They were surprised and shocked that the man was not complaining; and he was just too calm for the approach the apprentice was using!  But the apprentice appeared like he knew what he was doing. The mother and child, though amazed, knew they definitely couldn't carry on with their appointment. The baby was thinking, in his mind, 'Thank goodness I've got no teeth yet!'

The mother and her baby hurriedly left the room as they couldn't continue to watch this horror movie, in the name of teeth pulling treatment.

THE END

Laiba & Elakkiya:

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack, he was terribly scared of birds. When Jack was five years old, he went on a picnic with his family. They were having some leisure time and it seemed that Jack was enjoying a nice summer evening with his family at the Strand. He was playing frisbee with his two elder brothers, John & Fred. 

However, Kelly decided to take her pet bird for a fly in the same park. Kelly's bird, Cameron, was mischievious and liked to scre people by making scary sounds. He liked to pull people's hair. Kelly was really concerned about Cameron's behaviour.  Cameron saw Jack and decided to go his way, not knowing that he was scared of birds.

Jack had just had a trendy hair cut that morning and everyone was happy about it. As Jack was playing Cameron decided to land on his head. At firdt Jack thought it was a leaf, until he saw the horror on his broether's face and realised it was a bird. He started running around trying to scare the bird, but Cameron thought that was fun and just tightened his claws against Jack's head.

Jack ran around the whole park, then he ran into the stadium where there was a wrestler, who saw him struggling and crying. He grabbed Cameron and pulled him out of Jack's hair. That was the moment when Jack began to idolise wrestlers and wanted to become one himself. 

Twenty years later, Jack was a very popular wrestler in the town. He had won many tournaments and had two gold trophies with the title 'Wrestler of Gillingham 2025'.  Jack thought he had overcome his fear but, during his final match, a bird suddenly landed on his head and his childhood trauma re-surfaced agin. He was still afraid of birds.

THE END

Lolly Competition

A total of 41 students entered our Lolly Competition  ...  trying to guess how many lollies were in the jar.  Estimations ranged all the way from 38 to 385 😲😲😲  That's a VERY broad range!

The answer, however, was 177

This morning I presented the winnings to Aradhana whose guess of 175 was the closest.

Farewells are often difficult

I know that, in a few months, it will be me who is leaving and moving on to new horizons.  However, saying goodbye to students has always been the most challenging part of my role as Campus Chaplain.

The lovely Sushmitha has been a regular and active part of our weekly TABLEtalk, as well as other Chaplaincy activities. 

She will be sorely missed by both volunteers and other students alike 😢  It was, therefore, an absolute privelege to be invited for a meal with her, and fellow student, Sukant.  What a lovely few hours we spent together.

Our menu consisted of chapati, soya curry, aloo (potato) curry, jeera rice and pakoda (onion bajji).   Then for dessert we had sweet pongal  ...  and chocolate cake!!! 

...  yes, I ate too much 😕 

We're going to miss you, Sush. Please keep in touch and don't forget us.

Thought for the week ...

On a personal note ...

Had a thoroughly wonderful day yesterday, with Pauline at Bedgebury Pinetum & Forest.  It was my first visit there and was a lovely break, with a chance to get some steps in.

Enjoy the photos ...