Back to East London... (Part Two)

Our next port of call was Hackney Downs station, and our destination was the old Clapton Congress Hall. I’ve heard so much about this place, which was a Salvation Army church which could seat over 4,000 I’m told. It was also the Training Centre for Salvation Army officers before the complex at Denmark Hill was opened. It used to look like this: But last I read, it looked like this: So there’s us, just moseying on down Lower Clapton Road and there it is down a little cul-de-sac – looking much better than I was expecting. It was quite strange to see it suddenly for the first time: After they had built the new Training College in Denmark Hill, there wasn’t such a need for the Clapton Congress Hall anymore, so The Salvation Army eventually sold it (but it’s not all bad because there’s still a Salvation Army church about fifty metres away): We then travelled to Cambridge Heath because I wanted to see the building where Booth lived and where the name ‘Salvation Army’ was chosen, and where, and where..., etc. But when we got there it turns out the building doesn’t exist anymore, so we had to sit at the beautiful Cambridge Heath station for fifteen minutes. It looks like this: And Patrick and I looked like this (because it is Quite Boring): But who cares about the past? Why would two young guys spend their time walking around London looking for old buildings and graves on a Saturday afternoon? I know some people who would ask that. I know definitely of some people who read this blog who would ask that.

And my answer is that I find it totally inspiring. Totally. These were people and places that, in many ways, changed the world. These people were determined to show God’s love to those people who had little chance of seeing it elsewhere. They fought for what they believed in. They saw real need and wanted to improve lives. And today The Salvation Army is bigger than it’s ever been and doing so much good in the world, that I’m thrilled to be a part of it. It makes me want to look at what I do and inspires me to do more.

And walking across Tower Bridge at the end of the day I took these two beautiful shots of a city that still needs people like William Booth as much as ever: And just to go the whole hog, I’ll post the famous speech Booth gave just before his death in 1912:

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight;
While children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight;
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight;
While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight.I'll fight till the very end!

Back to East London... (Part One)

Back in September, five of us travelled to East London to have a look at some of the places where The Salvation Army began. As we were also trying to visit all the places on the Monopoly Board on the same day, we ran out of time slightly, and there were a couple of Army places we didn’t quite get round to seeing. Today I was in London with Patrick and we decided to go and see the last few places (At our Salvation Army church there’s a chance I might be leading a little tour around London to see some of these places, so I thought I should at least know where they are).

Our first stop was Stoke Newington (which isn’t really East London after all - or is it? Matt?). We were going to find Abney Park Cemetery, a place both of us have heard about and seen pictures of, but never visited. This was the final resting place of William Booth, his wife Catherine, and a number of other Salvation Army greats. We’d seen fantastic pictures of Booth’s funeral procession to the cemetery, such as this:
(Click here to see the full photo – and do, because it’s good.)

But we had heard that the cemetery had since fallen into disrepair. Wikipedia puts it nicely: ‘Nature has been allowed to take its course’. We saw the entrance to the cemetery and I recognised it immediately, although it looks a little different now: We took our chances and went in.

It’s an absolute maze. Every few steps the paths fork and we really had no idea where to find the Salvationist graves. We did a lot of walking around (and asking ourselves why we had come to a cemetery on a Saturday afternoon).Bike man clearly wanted to be in the photo.

But then we (I say ‘we’, but it was actually Patrick) found them (and very nicely kept they were too!):
As it turns out, if we’d gone left at the entrance and not right, we would have found them a lot sooner!

As we left, we saw the map of the cemetery with the Booths’ graves clearly marked. D’oh.

The... Genius of Ace of Base

Maybe it's because I recently heard they were making a new album this year. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and getting sentimental about the music I used to listen to. Maybe it's because I heard one of their songs the other day. Anyway, for some reason I decided to dig out my old Ace of Base songs.

Now, when I was younger, Ace of Base were THE band. It was all they played at the fifth-year/sixth-year disco. Everyone had the Happy Nation album. We all knew the actions to The Sign. Ace of Base were, quite simply, cool.

Ace of Base were always able to write a good catchy tune and they had some good ideas. However, listening to their songs again, the lyrics struck me. They range from surreal to weird to plain wrong. What was going through their minds? Here are some genuine Ace of Base pearls:

‘Every time it rains, I get wet.’

‘I’m like a clown. I have fun for everyone.’

‘I believe in there’s a world down under.’

‘The sunshine fills my hair.’

‘I want to kiss you, not just ordinary miss you.’

‘How will I do to protect our little world?’

‘I know it’s hard to be seen as a person when you play Alice in Wonderland.’

‘They cannot rise their voice yet.’

‘We don’t need no education telling us the right to choose if we have no choice.’

‘One day I’ll give you myself in a ring.’

‘The bridge over time is what you need to see the light.’

‘Lucky love belongs in teenage heaven, I know.’

‘Believe me, crows will always fly – they’re only birds.’

‘Life will never be bad under my spell, kiss and tell.’

‘I can give you something no-one else can ever give you. Me.’

‘I’m longing to see the offspring of me.’

And then I'll leave you with one of the weirdest videos I've ever seen. The year was 1996 (I think) and I reckon someone had just worked out how to do some new video effects... It starts to get really weird about two thirds of the way in. Enjoy!

Upd8*

1. As those of you who look at Project 365 will know, this week marked the beginning of the Wind Band at my corps (Salvation Army church). I'm always trying to think of new things to get people involved (my gospel choir is still very much an intention!).

And it went very well! A trumpet, two flutes (possibly another one coming), an oboe, two clarinets, a euphonium and a bass (it is a Salvation Army Wind Band after all). But I knew a few of the kids played woodwind instruments and all of a sudden we have other closet woodwind players coming out of the... well, woodwindwork. I'd chosen fairly easy music to break us all in and thinking of the kids, only to find out that the worst player is, well, me. Did you know an oboe could squeak? I discovered that in front of everyone else... But practice makes perfect!

2. Once again, I feel the need to mention my much-documented battle with the bulge ('much-documented' in that I talk about it all the time). Determined to lose that stone I put back on (although still a stone and a half lighter than I was this time last year), I've started another health-kick. I'm currently losing weight and the rapid speed of... one pound a week, BUT I'm going in the right direction. So check me out in March!

3. Thanks to all those who asked about my presentation at uni, which I was very happy with. I think we did ok (my and my Academic Jumper). I wasn't quite prepared for how nerve-wracking it would be to hear the line 'Now, are there any questions from the floor?'

4. To my knowledge, January doesn't have an award for the most stupid question ever asked, but if it did, the award would certainly go to the person who asked me 'John, did you know that Scandinavia isn't a country?'

Now that in itself isn't the most stupid question ever - maybe some people don't know that Scandinavia isn't a country - but when it comes from someone who is fully aware that I am in my sixth year of Scandinavian Studies at university, it's a little. well, d'oh-inducing. I won't reveal who the person was, but if she wants to reveal herself, she can.

*Apologies for the textish title here. I vowed I would never call a post 'update', but then I couldn't think of anything else. This looks a little like a name for a Salvation Army youth event though, doesn't it? Don't get me started. :)

Who Dunnit?

(Look, before we start, if you're intending to play the Murder on the Dancefloor game, you might want to skip this post, as I will be giving rather a lot away...)

So, was it the costume designers?

Was it the dancers?

Was it the choreographer or the cricket player?

Was it the newsreader or the judge?

Or was it the bumbling oaf of a TV presenter?

A brief recap...

It was, in fact, the bumbling oaf of a TV presenter. Which was kinda exciting for me, although about half-way through I realised I should at least make it look like I was trying to determine the identity of the murderer. As it turned out I did rather well - not one person guessed it was me, although the clues were there!

And here:

The Clues

1. First I said I was hiding in the cupboard because I liked the feel of silk - later I said it was to go and get my rockclimbing gear.

2. I said I would never enter Crane's dressing room again - but then later I read out a clue I had found in his dressing room bin.

3. I was just generally shifty.

THINK PEOPLE!

After we'd finished the murder mystery, someone asked what we should do next. I, being me, shouted out my automatic answer to this question without thinking:

HUMAN PYRAMIDS!

(If you don't want to make human pyramids, don't ask me what I think we should do: Just for future reference).

And make human pyramids we did:

The stupid ceiling wasn't high enough for the one we originally wanted to make.

Good-o!

Post-Christmas Thoughts... And Happy New Year!

So, doesn’t Christmas seem a long time ago? Here are just a few post-Christmas thoughts to round off the Christmas period. I hope you all had a fantastic and blessed time.

1. Christmas Cake
It’s no secret that Christmas Cake is one of my absolute favourite things about Christmastime. I just can’t get enough. We spent Christmas Day with my uncle and my aunt was entrusted with the job of bringing a Christmas Cake for 11 people. She had been asked to buy one that was not too big. I think she managed it:

I was like... My cube of Christmas Cake didn’t quite satisfy me...

2. Christmas Texts
As we ate Christmas dinner, my aunt (same aunt as above) received an anonymous text which had presumably been sent to the wrong person. It ran along these lines:That kept me entertained for a good long while... (I just don’t believe that the sort of person who would send a text like that would use the word ‘boobs’)

3. Christmas Presents
Now, I’m not one for going on about Christmas presents, but I have to mention one fantastic present I got this Christmas – a Salvation Army shirt from Congo/Angola. How cool is this?! Check the detail:
4. mitchenstein 365
I’ve completed my first month of My Project 365! Although my mum pointed out that there will actually be 366 days next year. Great. I have to find inspiration for a whole extra picture.

5. Carol Singing
Carol singing with the youth is always cool on Christmas Eve – here’s a photo of the gang (not the same one as one 365, as I’m on this photo – the rule with the 365 photos is that I have to take the picture myself).
6. And To Finish...
Have a fantastic New Year. Here’s to a great 2008!

So, as is the way, I ought to write a few New Year’s resolutions (my main ambitions, etc. are always featured in the mitchenstein birthday week. Well, that only happened once, but it’s going to become a tradition).

Anyway, they are these:
1. Lose the stone I’ve managed to put back on.
2. Practise the oboe a little every day... (I’m getting very good now. Well, I can do ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, but the ‘Pink Panther’ is proving difficult. Those low C-sharps...)
3. Learn Greenlandic (for research purposes). This is going to be hard – here’s an example of a Greenlandic sentence: Kalaallisut oqalussinnaannginnera ajuusaarutigiuarsimavara.
4. Get ‘my’ gospel choir sorted out (it’s on its way, it really is! Watch this space.)

Anyway, take care and I'll speak to you soon. My mind is a little preoccupied with a departmental presentation I'm giving next week (my first), I'm looking forward to it, but I'm finding it hard to think about anything beyond that date!

Merry Christmas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Fröhliche Weihnachten! God Jul! Hyvää Joulua! Gleðileg Jól! Gleðilig Jól! Glædelig Jul! Wesołych Świąt! Veselé Vánoce!

Here's wishing everyone a fantastic and blessed Christmas!

Photo taken from the Trafalgar Square Christmas crib, London

Christmas Comments 2

And here are a few more thoughts before Christmas…

1. mitchenstein 365
My Project 365 is going really well! It’s a little hard finding inspiration sometimes, but it’s really making me look at everything I do and everywhere I go to see if there’s a photo opportunity anywhere. And I’ve done nearly a month now! Check it out!

Photo 9: One of the photos from the mitchenstein 365 project.
2. Der Kriegsruf
The Salvation Army in Germany has decided to rename their magazine, Der Kriegsruf (Eng. ‘The War Cry’). After an online poll, many months of thought and, no doubt copious amounts of prayer, they released the periodical’s new name, to be used from the new year. And that name is: (drum roll) The Salvation Army Magazine. Genius.

3. My Hat
Those of you who have seen me recently will know I have a Salvation Army beanie I picked up in Australia. The weather’s been getting pretty cold recently, so I’ve been wearing it more and more. And suddenly I’m very aware that I’m really like an advert for The Salvation Army. As soon as I put it on, I start smiling at people and being a generally nicer guy (not always easy on the commute to/from London). What would it look like if I didn’t let people through, or let someone have my seat?

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not… I guess I should always be like that, and it shouldn’t make a difference whether I’m wearing my hat or not. I’m working on it! I also think it’s important to show people that there are cool, young, funky people in the Army (yes, I’m cool, young and funky).

This is me wearing the hat in Slovakia (and they don’t have The Salvation Army there, so that was like a double witness).
4. An Impulse Buy
This week I made a bit of an impulse purchase… It’s part Christmas present (but mostly not). I won’t say what it is, but let’s just say that hopefully after a little practice, I might be able to play Gabriel’s Oboe! (right-hand column)

5. Breath of Heaven
Because it’s Christmastime, I’m giving you a few videos to watch. (Generous, no?) I came across this video by accident, but I really liked it, so I thought I’d pass it on. It’s such a beautiful song, and the woman singing does American Sign Language as she sings. I hope you enjoy it (the sync is a little out).

6. Yodellay-hee
A little while ago, Anna posted the German introduction to the Heidi cartoon on her blog. This was really a big mistake on her part, because I can’t stop watching it! That tune is addictive… I’ve put it in the right-hand column. It’s a little slow starting, but at 0.51 it rocks.

I wish I could yodel.

As Long As They're Still Reading (Christmas Comments 1)

Undeterred by the recent dearth of comments, I blog on. I’m just kidding you – while people are still reading, I’ll still keep blogging. And probably after they stop. But this post is the first of at least two with various Christmas thoughts, although most of them have not a lot to do with Christmas, so they’re just thoughts. And they are these:

1. Carolling
As all Salvationists know, December is the month for carolling. And I love it. It’s when I feel we’re really out there sharing with the people. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been out collecting or something and people have asked me where the Salvation Army band is. People love hearing it (despite what some people in the Army will tell you!) and it’s all good. We have nothing to be embarrassed about. Anyway, here’s a couple of photos from when the band went out carolling the other day.
My brother (the photo is a little shaky because I was only wearing one glove and it was freezing!)
Josh likes carolling.
Me, on the baritone this year (because off-beats are important too).

But carolling isn’t all about bands. Every year the Songsters (the choir) sings at a home for people with mental illness. To be honest, it isn’t the easiest gig in the world, but for every person that tells us exactly what they think of us (we were told to shove something up somewhere… I didn’t quite get it), there are others that just sit there listening to us sing/play (we take a small band with us), and you can see that some of them are really moved by what they hear. Some even sing along, remembering the words they perhaps used to sing as children.

Moreover, it’s important that the staff there know they’re not forgotten either. They do a fantastic job and it’s a privilege to share with them all.

2. Publication!
I had an exciting discovery when I saw that a phrasebook of which I wrote a chapter is available to pre-order on Amazon, so if you know anyone who’s going on a city break to Northern Europe…

3. O Holy Night
In my last post I mentioned the song ‘O Holy Night’ which is my all-time favourite Christmas song… And probably my favourite song of all time, in fact. Anyway, for me, no-one does this song better than Mariah Carey. I know it really won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the video is in the right-hand column. It takes a little while to get going, but it’s stunning. In my opinion.

4. The Blogosphere at Christmas
And finally, just to mention what else is going on in the blogosphere at the moment. Rather impressively, Glyn is posting a different Advent poem every day in the lead-up to Christmas (with some very good ones!), meaning that in December he’s blogged more than in June, July, August, September, October and November combined. But I’m well impressed. Katie has also posted two fantastic videos on her blog (Video 1 and Video 2). Check them out!

Ég er kominn í jólaskap!

('I'm in the Christmas mood!')

So it's nearly here. 12 days. How exciting!

A few months ago, it was announced that a (so-called) thinktank had decided that Christmas should be downgraded. It was receiving too much attention compared to the festivals of other faiths.

I was furious. I sat down and began writing a letter to complain about this shoddy treatment and how incensed I was about the whole thing.

That's not actually true.

My actual reaction was more like this...

The sooner these people realise that Christmas and the meaning behind it and its significance for millions and millions of people the world over is bigger than they are, the better.

"Winter Wishes!"

What's that about?!

But it did make me determined to celebrate the Christian aspects of Christmas more than ever this year. I can't help but think that Christmas is actually a bit of an ugly occasion without the beautiful story of Jesus coming to earth at the centre of it.

Anyway.

I resolved to come up with ways to put the 'Christ' back in 'Christmas' this year (how overused is that phrase?) (Obviously, I'm a lifelong Salvationist/Christian, so it's always been the centre of Christmas for me, but you know what I mean. It's easy to be taken over by all the other stuff).

So this year:

1. 'O Holy Night' is my mum's and my favourite Christmas carol of all time. I love it. So this year I made an 'O Holy Night' advent CD - a CD with 24 versions of that beautiful song by a range of big and less well known names. Only good ones of course (there are more than enough bad ones to choose from. Don't get me started on Christina Aguilera...). Every day a different version has been played and it's really added something to the advent time.

Obviously that's not a CD you want to leave on continuously, or you'd want to kill yourself.

2. This year I'm only sending religious Christmas cards (that's actually something I've been doing for a few years, but never really consciously). Admittedly, you have to look hard for ones that don't suck, but I found some good'uns at SP&S this year... No dogs in tiaras or 'December greetings' for me!

And, I've left it kind of late now, but does anyone have any other ideas?

Moreover, this year I have been looking to see how much the real meaning of Christmas is mentioned. And it really isn't as little as you'd think.

1. I don't know how many religious Christmas carols I've heard walking round Oxford St. doing the Christmas shopping (which I've finished by the way!)

2. I went to Trafalgar Square to see the Christmas tree and right in the middle was a giant nativity scene (maybe they have that every year, I don't know). And although it was a weird one (is that Joseph chilling out at the side?!), you couldn't help but notice it.

(Unfortunately a strange, but admittedly friendly, lady saw I was looking at it and come over to tell me that we were selling ourselves to the European Union. I'm afraid I'm not really the right person to talk to about that, love. Hopefully she didn't say that to everyone who was looking at it...)

3. And apparently Clintons has got its biggest ever selection of 'religious' Christmas cards... Admittedly that's like 4, and they're all pants, but still! Up the ante, Clintons!

Anyway, here goes - the countdown continues, and I'm definitely having my best advent yet.

Enjoy.