Do you HoDo?

(pronounced 'hoe', as in 'hoe' and 'doe' as in a deer. A female deer.)

Now, I don't know whether 28th February is an important date to you. But I can tell you that 28th February, 2007, was the day that HoDo was born.

'What is HoDo?' I hear you ask.

After another door was slammed in my face while walking around the university today, I thought 'now, wouldn't the world be a better place if everyone held the door open for other people'. You know that it would. And thus came HoDo into the world. (HoDo = Hold Doors Open). The more people who HoDo, the better. Currently there is only one HoDo (a person who HoDoes is also a HoDo) - i.e. me. But hopefully this trend will spread.

Rules of HoDo:

a) A HoDo always opens/holds open the door for anyone (including non-HoDos), EVEN if that person may not be particularly close to the door.*

b) A HoDo always says thank you whenever someone holds open the door for him. And not just a grunt, but a proper 'Thanks!'

c) A HoDo always thanks a car that stops at a zebra crossing. (Not strictly anything to do with doors, but it's just politeness).

*Of course, if the other person is a REALLY long way away from the door, then it's ok for the HoDo to leave the door. Otherwise they'll just look weird.

Now, I know what you're thinking - I do that anyway. Well, that's great - keep it up! But wouldn't the world be a (slightly) better place if everyone was a HoDo?

I HoDo.

Do you?

(HoDo Count = 1)

A Slightly Different Approach...

This suave chap is Sigurður Ingimarsson. Or rather Captain Sigurður Ingimarsson of The Salvation Army. If we a had competition to find the coolest Salvation Army officer (and I think we should), I think this guy would have a fair chance of winning. This guy doesn't even need a polo shirt to be cool. Not only does he lead a Salvation Army corps in a small town in Iceland, with his wife, which has a monthly rock/gospel event attended by around 120 kids each month, he is also - as far as I know - the only Salvation Army officer ever to have entered X-Factor!Not only did he enter X-Factor, he got into the last twelve! More than that, he got into the last nine! His reasons for wanting to do it? According to the Icelandic Salvation Army website (in Icelandic I'm afraid - although I guess that's understandable). he's always looking for new ways to spread the gospel - and full credit to him! What a great idea.

Unfortunately, he was voted off this week:

I'm wondering whether I can persuade my officer to go in for the next series...

On My Travels...

This week I have been mostly doing work, setting work, marking work and travelling to Latvia.

Yes, I went to Riga, the capital of Latvia, with my friend Katie and we had a great time. I've always wanted to go to Latvia (I have a thing about the Baltic countries - 2 down, 1 to go!) Riga is stunning and well worth a visit. And there was about four inches of snow there - it was nice to see a country where it could snow and the entire country isn't crippled for two days. (Seriously, every time it snows in the UK we act like we're Portugal or something and are dumbfounded that it could snow here, here in Northern Europe of all places...)

After a large McDonalds meal we set off to explore the town (large I'm afraid because I'd forgotten the Latvian word for 'small'). And it was beautiful (Latvia that is, not the McDonalds meal). And because the pound is worth about the same as the Latvian Lat, there was no converting to be done. Which was nice. And yes, we did try Latvian food too - we only went to McDonalds because it was the first place we saw and we were hungry people!

And thanks to Katie for waiting while I spent so long in the bookshops - I should never be allowed to go to a country where the books are that cheap!

Katie took this next photo, which is why the top of the church was cut off (Honestly, how hard is it with a digital camera?!)

A real highlight for me was going to see The Salvation Army in the town. We got a guided tour of the Army's work in the middle of Riga and it was amazing to see the amount they do there for the local community. A huge thanks to Evie for showing us around!

If you look very carefully, you can see Katie sitting on the window ledge! I loved the story behind the Salvation Army's building in the middle of Riga. The Salvation Army built it in the 1930s, but the Germans and then the Soviets blocked the work of The Salvation Army and took the building. An old Latvian Salvation Army officer waited for nearly 50 years until, as Latvia got its independence, she was able to stand in line to prove the building belonged to The Salvation Army and get it back. And now it's finally being used for what it was intended for seventy years ago. That's pretty cool.

It was really cold!

Err... What Is It?

When people hear I’m in The Salvation Army, I’m often told that they have great respect for it – but they’re not exactly sure what it is! And then I thought, well, maybe some of my friends don’t actually know what it’s all about… So I decided to write this post.

The Salvation Army is best known for its social work, but it’s primarily a Christian church. And just like any church all sorts of people attend on a Sunday. We’re known for our brass bands and our uniforms, but lots of Salvationists don’t wear uniforms, and of course you don’t need one to visit on a Sunday!

This is me looking mighty fine in my uniform (obviously the main purpose of the uniform isn’t to make me look mighty fine, but it’s a nice perk ;-) ) Personally, I like wearing it because it says ‘Hey! This is me! I’m a Salvationist/Christian. How can I help?’ (And that’s quite a lot for an outfit to say!)

The Salvation Army was started back in 1865 by William Booth in the East End of London and it now works in 111 countries – from Australia to Argentina, Iceland to Tonga, Papua New Guinea to the Congo. I think that’s pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm not here to tell you how great it is, I'm just telling you what it is and how proud I am to be a part of it. It's pretty difficult to sum everything up in one tiny little post, but if you are interested in knowing a liitle more, you can look at www.salvationarmy.org.uk So if you're ever feeling bored one Sunday morning, why don't you go and have a look?

Overheard...

Overheard on the train to London this morning...


Dad: You see that there, that's 'The Gherkin'.

Kid: OK, cool.

Dad: It's called 'The Gherkin' because it looks like a cucumber.