Friday already

Well, time flies sometimes doesn't it. This final week in Oxford has flown by and I can hardly believe my time here is so short. Larry arrived on Tuesday late afternoon and we walked a bit around the city to meet up with Dorothy and Paul who were at the Natural History Museum. We stopped for a pint at the Turf again (the oldest pub in Oxford) and then went on to the Eagle and Child, one of the most famous pubs in Oxford because J.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to meet there every Tuesday for years and years. Raised a toast to them and relaxed to have someone to toast with. I had been in several times before but never had anything to drink as there were no single seats available so I grabbed the opportunity when it was at hand.

Wednesday we all went to London to see the Queen but... she was away so we stayed outside her house to see the changing of the guards - why do they guard the place if she isn't there? Are there guards changing at Balmoral or do they stay the same? Anyway we took our places amongst the mass of humanity and waited. We were standing next to a family from Portsmouth with two boys I would guess to be 7 and 10 years old. After a while the wait got to them so, of course I had to step in - "So how many pictures do think will be taken when we can actually see the guards and how many of those pictures will end up on the Internet?" This of course began a delightful conversation and opportunity to enjoy being with all these people, some who were bound and determined to step on toes and push and stand right in front of short people but... hey we are all human. Olie's answer was that 500, no 525 pictures would end up on the Internet and we were off. Once we had exhausted all the photo conversation we could muster I gave him a riddle to solve - "What is greater than God, worse than the Devil, the poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you die." There is a one word answer and he really puzzled with it for a while - I loved his answers - love, forgiveness, the world.... and so on. I did explain that he had to proof his answer against all the questions and only one answer would work for all the questions. He sat and worked on it for quite a while, much to his parent's delight and eventually stood up and asked is it ______? He was correct! Now he knows that he is truly clever and can work things out when he puts his mind to it.


From the Changing of the Guard we walked through Green Park to our Mayfair where Larry had secured a room so he and I could stay in the city for the evening. Dorothy really wanted to go to St. Paul's Cathedral so she and Paul went that way and Larry and I went to the British Museum. It is amazing how much stuff has been accumulated by one museum. They currently have a program running about 100 objects that take you through history. They are doing a show for telly and then of course the museum has each item on display throughout the museum. A few items are revealed each week so there are 70 different objects identified so far. I have heard people talking about it and was glad to see such interest in the museum. We walked and walked, looked and looked and took lots of pictures. Near the end of our time we went into a room on the Enlightenment and I loved all the books and the feel of the room which was different than any other in the museum. I took a picture to capture the feeling and low and behold I "caught" a little girl as she dashed by. For some reason I looked at the picture right away and noticed her fleeting image. I saw her sitting on the bench, after having been reprimanded for running. I showed her the cool picture and asked to take another picture of her so I could see a more complete version of such a pretty little girl. From the museum we met up with Dorothy and Paul at the Gunmakers Pub that their friend Steve told them about. It was down a small side street and was a neighborhood pub instead of a tourist place so it was nice. We then walked to Chinatown for our anniversary dinner. The criteria for picking the restaurant was the one with the best looking crispy duck in the window. We did well and had a delightful dinner and then wandered to Covent Garden to see what was what. A little music later Dorothy and Paul went on their way back to Oxford and Larry and I went down to the River Thames. We got to see Parliament all lit up and we called it a day.

During this week I have also met with Carla to plan worship together for the last time. It will be a very full service as there is communion, ordination of elders and leave taking for several people, myself included. The challenge for me will be to keep my portion of the sermon nice and short and clear so that the service is done in a timely fashion. Carla and I are doing a "dialog" sermon with her asking me three questions and I have 100 words or less to answer them in and still work the scriptures. Yes a full sermon in 300 words or less - it will be interesting to say the least and I hope helpful to the congregation. So.... while Larry still sleeps...... back to work I go.

If you want to know the answer to the riddle you have to ask me in a comment.