NOTT News: January 2008

Thursday, 24 January 2008

England Merry England!

We are home, warm and safe. We are totally moved by so may offers of beds, meals and hospitality. It is good to be here with our friends and family but it feels so strange returning to a English culture. As I sat on Oxford Railway station this week in between the roar of the trains and the tannoy was total silence. In a Arabic culture people would be shouting and loudly gesticulating. A television or blaring exotic tunes would be filling the air. There would be sweet cakes and strong coffee available in every spare corner. It is good to be back but I kind of hope it is not too long before we leave again.The blog will continue, the pictures will be of English scenescapes. The story goes on so please continues to track and pray for our movements. J

Saturday, 19 January 2008

Back in the UK

Our visas expired on 26 October and because of lack of communication with the Ministry of Interior and our legal representative it couldn't be renewed. We were expecting to be questioned by border control about the reasons why we had over stayed and what we had been doing for the last four months. The least we expected was a fine, but we walked through border control without a single question about our visa - it was if we they couldn't see the stamp in our passports even though they were checked on four occasions. Other friends and colleagues have experienced lengthy questioning and searches because of the length of their stay - not for us. Thank you for your prayers - I've only heard things like this happening to other people. P

Thursday, 10 January 2008

Flying the flag so soon

We have bought forward our return to the UK so that visas can be arranged for us. We fly home on Thursday 17 and return whenever things are sorted. Quite a strange feeling after you set up your home and then have to return to being homeless, cold, wet, hungry and without jobs, does anybody have a spare guitar we can borrow so that we can busk? We have invented a new game of visiting friends and family and squatting, 5 points for a night, 10 points for weekend and 50 points if you get a spare set of keys and a rent book. The wonders of skype and email are that you can never avoid us, we will track you down wherever you are, it also means that you can still call us. P

Reading & Watching

'Surprised by Hope' by Tom Wright - this book will surprise and excite all who are interested in the meaning of life, not only after death but before it.
Take this bread by Sara Miles - 'Raised an atheist... one morning she wandered into a church. As she ate a piece of bread and drank a sip of wine, she found herself radically transformed.'
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (one of my favorite authors) 'As is often the case with faith, I thought I was being asked a fovor. Actually, I was being given one...'
The Enemy - A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child. A stomach-churning, palm-sweating thriller in which Reacher imposes army discipline, even if it''s in his own pragmatic way.
The Two of Us: My life with John Thaw by Sheila Hancock (a double biography and a study of Britain from 1930 - 2004)
The English - Jeremy Paxman. 'Why do the English seem to enjoy feeling so persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to food?'
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain OR 2,000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge - John O'Farrell. 'Why did the Normans fight the Saxons at a place called Battle? Did they see the road signs and just think that's where they were supposed to go?'
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, quote: 'We need to forget what we think we are, so that we can really become what we are.'
The Economic Naturalist - Why Economics Explains Almost Everything. 'Why is there a light in your refrigerator but not in your freezer? Why are child safety seats required in cars but not in airplanes?'
'For One More Day' by Mitch Albom. “Life goes quickly, doesn't it?”