Flippng Freezing Fun

Back in August I mentioned that having done a 5 mile walk with my eldest boy, that he wanted to do a longer one. Well yesterday was the chosen day for the 8 1/2 mile trek. He is now 11 by the way. We followed a way marked circular walk from Crickley Hill which involved crossing the main roads by the Air Balloon, how to add 10 minutes to the journey time. It then proceeded via Cobberley, Seven Springs, Hartley Hill, and Leckhampton Hill back to Crickley Hill. In places the way marking was non existent, adding an extra 1 1/2 miles to the trip in going the wrong way. There was still some snow on the ground in places. On the exposed hill tops, the wind made it feel freezing. It took us four hours to do, which on the face of it is a long time, but given how slippy, wet, and cold it was, we felt to be ok. The scenery was awesome. He loved the fact that he completed it, I loved the fact that he is old enough now to share these walks with me. It was flipping freezing, but it was fun.

Musical Catch Up (VIII)

This one is a much more melodic tune by the name of Just be, which is from the One with everything album. This video was recorded at Artpark, Lewiston, NY in 2006.

Musical Catch Up (VII)

This time it's a track from the Paradise Theatre album, Nothing ever goes as planned. There is no video as such to this track, but found this on youtube. Inkybloc has added stills from the Rockin' the Paradise video to the track.

Weird Sort of Fun

Yesterday was one of those days which was fun, but in a very weird sort of way. Getting up at 6 in the morning, to be on the road by 7 is not my ideal way to start a Saturday morning. Pick up 3 other team members, to start the 150 odd mile trip up to Liverpool for a National Churches Trophy game. At this stage we believe we are only going to have 10 players, including a defender in goal. Meet up with the other 2 cars at Sandbach Services on M6, and find that somehow we have scraped together 11 players, but still a defender in goal. Onward to Liverpool, taking longer to find the ground that necessary, as the lead car's satnav, sent us to the wrong side of the park. The opposition are mainly young fit looking kids, well their all kids compared to me.

The game is played in a hard but reasonably fair competitive spirit, but in rain. We have nearly everyone playing out of their usual position. We eventually lose 8-2 but we were not outplayed by any stretch of the imagination. They really only took control in the last 15-20 minutes, when tiredness set in. Everyone played out of their skins and gave maximum effort all game.

Onto the pub for lunch. This was over the road from Anfield, giving plenty of opportunity for those misguided enough to follow Liverpool to go over and pay homage. Pub was a typical city centre boozer of the old school type, serving lager and commercial beer, no real ale, but was a welcoming place. We were provided with an awesome spread, which was much appreciated.

Back to the M6 for the return journey. 300 odd miles, 8-2 defeat, wet and tired, 9 1/2 hours out.

As I said, it was a fun day, but in a weird sort of way. Thanks to all those who made it such an enjoyable experience.

Grand Ilusion

This one works both ways. As I understand it, this song was written about the greed culture in America in the late 70's, nothings changed then! Various aspects of the spin machine are spending lots of time and money trying to persuade us to buy this or that to make our lives more complete. Our lives will never match up to the images on tv or in the magazines, because they are not real, they are an artist's impression. We can then easily get down on ourselves as we do not appear to match up to a perception of reality.

The other way of looking at it, in my opinion, is that we ourselves are living out a grand illusion. How often do we say "I'm fine" when asked "how are you?". How often do we actually mean either the answer, or the question? Also all too often we hear of someone who at face value has it made, who then admits loads of mistakes which had been well masked. If my life in action and words in public, do not match up with those in private, who am i fooling? The only person who will suffer in the long run is me, though others may be disappointed and feel let down.


Underneath we are all the same, whatever our skin colour, social status, or other man made dividing line. We are all made in God's image, and he sees through all our spin and pain. One day soon we'll stop and ponder, who the hell we are, and when we do hopefully God will reveal that we are his works of beauty, created to do his will.

Grand Illusion

Welcome to the Grand Illusion
Come on in and see what's happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star.

But don't be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they're just someone else's fantasy
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same...

America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
Get yourself a brand new motor car
Someday soon we'll stop to ponder what on Earth's this spell we're under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are


The following clip is again taken from the Return to Paradise tour of 1996.

Musical Catch Up (VI)

This is another tribute song to Jon Ponozzo. The song is called Dear John, and appears as a bonus track at the end of the Return to Paradise album. As I mentioned in the post based on this track, the words can resonate with most people who have lost loved ones. I will ruin my couldn't care less persona by saying this one always brings a lump to my throat.

Musical Catch Up (V)

Again taken from the Return to Paradise tour of 1996, this time it's Show me the way. This is a poignant moment in the show, as dedicated to the late Jon Ponozzo. As a matter of interest the song was originally going to be called Roll me away, and was changed to Show me the way at the suggestion of Chuck Ponozzo, Jon's twin brother.

Scorpions Live

Went to see the Scorpions Sunday night up in Wolverhampton. Amazing gig. The loudness of the sound had the walls and floor vibrating, which if you were leaning on the wall, like I was, led to a really strange feeling! Great to see both Michael Schenker and Uli John Roth both appear with the band, and all of them looking like they were enjoying it too. Was the last night of a short UK tour, support was provided by Uli's band on the night. Uli is a truly amazing guitarist in my opinion. His set was nearly an hour, and the Scorpions played for two hours. Only downer was drum solo was much too long, but gave the others a chance for a break.

They did not play this song, which is much mellower than most of their stuff! As mentioned on a previous post, this is now "our song", even though I only discovered it years after meeting my lovely wife. This video was recorded in Beirut at the end of the civil war there. Enjoy When you came into my life:

Musical Catch Up (IV)

Now to start on the Styx tracks, this is Best of times, and is taken from the 1996 Return to Paradise tour. Despite liking the more recent lineup better, I think this live album is the best overview of Styx for those who do not know them. The CD remains in my car at all times! The original line up minus the then very ill Jon Ponozzo.

Musical Catch Up (III)

Stryper were/are a very under rated band in my opinion. This is a promo video for Soldiers under command:

Musical Catch Up (II)

A live version of Welcome to wherever you are by Bon Jovi, recorded in Washington in December 2005:

Musical Catch Up (I)

Having worked out how to pull music clips into this blog, I thought I would include a few which related to earlier posts. All good music in my opinion. This will be a recurring theme over the next few weeks.

Starting off with One rule for you by After The Fire. Although a late 70's to early 80's band, I found this clip of them performing in 2007 at Farncombe.

Too Much Time On My Hands

Why is it that when you have loads of supposedly spare time, you get nothing done? As a full time dad, with both boys at school, there should be about five hours a day for me to get things done. It doesn't quite work like that! The day to day crappy jobs like the housework bore me to tears, and I really have to force myself to do any of it. I do conservation work in the Cotswold once a fortnight, and try to go for a country walk fortnightly as well. The rest of the time, I check the vital sites on the computer, read the paper, and wonder where the time has gone.

I think that sitting around with too much time on your hands, does tick away at your sanity. It allows time for things that have gone wrong to fester in your head. It allows negative thoughts to multiply and become major issues, instead of minor irritants. It gives time for wrong patterns of lifestyle, such as over eating or lack of exercise, to develop. All these, and more, can seriously damage our health if we let it.

It is much harder, but much more beneficial, to be proactive in time management, for want of a better word. Factor in time to do some of the crappy jobs every other day say, then they will not all gang up on you at once. Reward yourself occasionally for getting these jobs done. Exercise, even when you do not feel like it, as this does help to improve both your health and state of mind. I find all of this hard to do, but I must try harder as my head hurts otherwise.

It is also vital to allow time to listen to God in all of this. He wants us to use our time wisely, and not to fritter it away. Taking time to study God's word, or read an inspiring book, is not a waste of time, but a vital mental exercise. God alone knows how much time each of us has, it is up too us to be good stewards of it.

The song is taken from the Paradise Theatre album.


Too Much Time On My Hands

Sitting on this bar stool talking like a damn fool
Got the twelve o'clock news blues
And I've given up hope on the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I'm not crazy? Is it any wonder I'm sane at all
Well I'm so tired of losing- I got nothing to do and all day to do it
I go out cruising but I've no place to go and all night to get there
Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal
Is it any wonder I'm not in jail
Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

Well, I'm a jet fuel genius - I solve all the world's problems
Without even trying
I have dozens of friends and the fun never ends
That is, as long as I'm buying
Is it any wonder I'm not the president
(He's not the president)
Is it any wonder I'm null and void Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away at my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

This recording is taken from the Return to Paradise tour in 1996, and has Dennis de Young on keyboards.

Double Life

Following on from the one rule for you thread, this is another one on hypocrisy. The title of this one is a track on the Kilroy was here album. Whereas the lyrics seem to me to refer to a possible sexual dalliance, they could also refer to wider scenarios. How many times do we use little white lies to cover up for something either we have done, or to avoid doing? God sees all we do both in public and in the privacy of our thoughts. The song mentions that the other side of the Berlin Wall is not far enough to hide, well God sees as far as the east is from the west, so there is no hiding place. Most of us, though we will not admit to it, live two different lives. There is the public face, of doing or saying what we think is the right thing in a given situation, then there is what we really wanted to say or do. There is the being seen to do the right things in church on a Sunday, and then having totally different character traits the rest of the week. As Christians we should not have a double life, though as we are only human to a certain extent it may be inevitable. We need to pray that God will give us the strength to stand up and be counted for Him, regardless of the personal cost to us. Easier said than done!


Double Life

In the dark so all alone
Slowly reach for the telephone
A message waits just for you
A secret place, another rendezvous

It's not always honesty
That is the best policy
But little lies can give you away
Though you'll deny it if they say maybe you're just

CHORUS
Leading a double life
Friends in the daytime, strangers at night
Leading a double life
Can it be wrong when you know that it's right?

The other side of the Berlin Wall is
Not far enough to avoid the call
Somebody knows, somebody's seen
Somebody knows right where you've been
And that you're just

CHORUS

Nowhere to hide, though we both might try
I'm schizophrenic, and so am I
Double life, a double life, a masquerade
You know we all live a masquerade
I know you're out there!

CHORUS

Renegade

Most people think of Styx as soft American rock, as their most known song over here is Babe. They are though a decent rock band. Renegade is probably my favourite song by them, and is often used towards the end of their concerts. This recording is from the Wembley date of their 2007 tour in support of Deep Purple, I saw them at Cardiff on the same tour. There are "better" versions around, but I prefer the current line up to that which included Dennis de Young

One Rule For You, One Rule For Me

We all run the risk of saying one thing, and doing another. This does not set a good example to those we are trying to influence. This could be as a parent to a child, as leader to those we are trying to lead, or just to those who come across us in our daily lives. One of the most often used comments against Christianity is that of hypocrisy. We need to be seen to say and do the same thing.

It is not only in public that this matters. God knows what is going on in our hearts. It should matter to us that what we say and do in private match up, with what we say and do in public as well.

In this day and age as well, it is not "cool" to talk about our faith. We should be prepared to say what we think is right, and give reasons to back this if it goes against current thinking. If our faith is real to us, we should be prepared to say so and why. It is "cool" to knock Christianity, we need more people to stand up and be counted for it. I know I for one, run the very real risk of not doing this, as I want a quiet life. The quiet life is not meant to be an option.

The modern world says believe in what makes you feel good, provided you keep it to yourself. The Bible tells us that we are meant to share the Good News that we believe to be right. It is often the case of one rule for you. one rule for me.

The title of this thread is from a song by After The Fire, a band who were vastly under rated in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It is my opinion that if they had not clearly stood up and professed to be Christians, that they would have had more "success" commercially. I think the words can equally apply to the risk of hypocrisy mentioned earlier, as to the do not speak about your faith stance.

One rule for you, one rule for me

What kind of line is that when you say you don't understand a single word
I tell you all these things you turn around and make as if you never heard
What kind of line is that you're giving me
One Rule for you, one rule for me

Too many people try to tell me that I shouldn't say the things I do
I know that you would only do the same if it meant as much too you
What kind of line is that you're giving me
One Rule for you, one rule for me

They say believe in what you like as long as you can keep it to yourself
I say if what I know is right, it's wrong if I don't tell somebody else
What kind of line is that you're giving me
One Rule for you, one rule for me