Change and Decay

Back in February, the Southlands Hotel in Sheringham was ablaze. Unspectacular news in so many ways - the demise of a disused hotel in an English seaside resort is hardly going to make the headlines of the News at Ten. But this was the hotel where DrLanky and I had our wedding reception (17 years ago this August), so I have a sentimental attachment to the place.

Today, we visited Sheringham with the children. We're there quite often as we have lots of family there and now live quite close by. We parked in South Street, and this was the view of Southlands. Quite different from the countless scenes of wedding day happiness and family celebrations which have graced its doors over many years.

Whilst I concede a degree of sentimentalism over the demolition of Southlands, I can't help

wondering what it signifies for Sheringham, and for seaside towns like it. When we were married, there was a choice in the town of two hotels which could cater for a reception like ours. Now there are none. I find myself asking if the market for these hotels has disappeared, and that must surely be the case. The bread and butter business for places like these was in residential customers coming on their holidays. The wedding receptions were handy additional business, but it was the holidaymakers who paid the bills. I suppose that business has simply gone now, and that in 2001 we experienced the tail-end of this part of the seaside business landscape.

Of course, this isn't news. The rise in mobility, the growth in affordable air travel and the globalisation of culture have all had a massive impact on our economy; though I don't suppose many communities have felt these changes as keenly as the traditional seaside resorts.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Sheringham remains a desirable place to live and a great place to visit. The hotels and large guest houses may have gone, but the town still seems to be thriving. So, yes there is change, and I suppose there is a sort of decay. But surely it's all part of a cycle of life and death, which seems to exist in business just as it does in the rest of life. 

A Friday roundup

I don't think there's a law about the number of roundup posts one should post per week, but I felt the urge to do another one today.

Unbelievable Church - I've been thinking and reading a lot about the way our church culture and architecture affect our missional ability, and Bishop Nick Baines' post about the Expowal has got me thinking even more. He's discovered a remarkable community which meets in an odd building on a retail park: 

The church’s strapline is: “Eine unglaubliche Kirche” (“An unbelievable church”). Given that 5-600 people drive out there each Sunday (two services) or on a Wednesday evening, it seems to be scratching where these people are itching. They simply want to enable people to find, in a  community with others, that God can be encountered and life enjoyed. The realities of life are faced and people of all sorts welcomed. And nothing happens without food, drink and hospitality.

I want to believe - not in God (I'm reasonably sorted on that one) but in the latest attempt at a peace process for the Middle East. I'm by no means an expert on the politics of this part of the world, but what I do know is that the current situation is unsatisfactory to all parties. You'd think this would be a good reason to be optimistic about some improvement coming from the process, but I really can't see it. I hope and pray that I'm wrong.

An apple by any other name - I saw Rory Cellan-Jones' package on the 10 o'clock news last night, and I was underwhelmed by the so-called iPad killers. I've used an iPad at work and I've been impressed. It's quick, well designed and very tactile. As usual, Apple have thought long and hard about their materials and the ways in which the product will be used. In fact, it seems to me that Apple are one of few companies who do justice to their designers. They start with the users' needs and they build a product to fit these needs. From what I saw of the competition, the same is not true in their R&D departments. Either that, or the good design features get value-engineered out to ensure the price is lower than the iPad. Either way, the iPad is still on my wish list.

Last week at work - After today, I have 5 working days left at the university. Yay and Arrgh at the same time.

Thursday roundup

I know my custom of late has been to post a Monday roundup, but on Monday I didn't have anything of interest to warrant it. Today, however, I'm bursting with interesting thoughts.

A night at the opera - Until Monday I had never been to an opera, so when the opportunity presented itself I was keen to explore. Heritage Opera were touring with a performance of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, and a number of folk from the postgrad group went along for a bit of 'culture'. Like many, I have been put off opera for a number of reasons: language, musical style, class association... Despite my prejudices, I really enjoyed it (the subtitles helped). The production was hardly lavish, with much evidence of Gaffer tape and improvised props, but I was impressed by the way in which the cast coped with the very limited performance area. The venue was Lancaster Castle, in an actual Court room - Shire Hall. The 'stage' was assembled over the desks where the clerks would sit in a court case (I think), and due to the imposing nature of the Gillow furniture, the space they had was sparse. In the end, the success of the performance hinged on the skill and talent of the performers, and I was blown away by the quality of the singing! I know Madame Butterfly is not hardcore opera, but I do feel like my prejudices have been successfully challenged by my night at the opera.

The ban is ended - Not that a hosepipe ban has made a lot of difference to folk during a very wet August in Lancashire. When the rain comes down like it has recently, there is certainly no need to water the garden. Anyway, it's good that the stocks are back up to normal levels.

The end of a winning run? - Matt Prior and Stuart Broad came to the rescue yesterday to avoid an embarassing collapse at the Oval. England have now gone a long time without suffering a Test defeat, and I did think we were going to see an end to this run until Prior came to the crease. What we need now are favourable seam bowling conditions and a repeat of the recent successes of the fast bowling attack. Either that or Swann will have to work some magic towards the end of the match. This is the kind of situation England need to come through if they are to have any hope of retaining the Ashes in Australia.

Changing times, changing Church? - Bosco Peters posts about a wedding he went to where the rite included promises between one of the spouses and the child of the other spouse. This made me think that we really need to look at our rites and liturgies in light of the situations we actually encounter in the Church, rather than naively clinging to an ill-remembered image of how it used to be. It makes perfect sense to me to add something like this to a marriage ceremony where one or other party already has children; it reinforces the value and importance of 'the family' in the Church and wider society, and it reassures people that the Church is not blind to the changes in society.

Monday roundup

Cathedral goes green - I saw this story on the BBC news site. Congratulations to the congreration of Bradford Cathedral for acheiving this accreditation from the Eco-congregations organisation. This is the first I have heard about this ecumenical organisation. I think I will read some more.


Temper temper - One of the things I like about cricket is that, compared with some other sports, it is a civislised affair. There are many reasons for this, and I think one of them is that players get fined for incidents that, in other sports, would be seen as very minor. I think this 'sets the bar' for the players in terms of acceptable behaviour at a high level. Of course, the other thing that makes cricket the most civilised sport is that they stop for tea.

Good old Catholic tat - I missed this one last week from the Church Mouse. It seems that Mouse is somewhat underwhelmed by the range of 'tat' on offer to commemorate the visit of the Pope to the UK. Since visiting Malta a couple of years ago, my eyes have been opened to a whole realm of 'Catholic Tat' (it's a recognised proper noun phrase in the Lanky household), and I'm actually quite excited by the tat potential of a Papal visit. My favourite bits of Catholic Tat are the snow globes (depicting scenes where it never snows) and glow in the dark statues of Mary, just in case you feel you need a ghostly, luminous apparition when you wake up in the night. Unlike Mouse, I will be actively seeking a bit of Papal tat for the Lanky household.

Well done Pakistan - It was beginning to look like the current test series between England and Pakistan would be something of a whitewash. Whilst it is satisfying to see your own team in a dominant position, it's disappointing to see the opposition buckling so easily. It was good, then, to see a defiant lower order batting performance from Pakistan yesterday. England will face stern tests in unfavourable conditions when they go to Australia later in the year, and it's good that they are made to work a little harder than they have done of late.

The death of British film-making? - In an unlikely show of support for the UK film industry, Clint Eastwood has written to George Osborne about the proposed 'axing' of the UK Film Council. I know times are hard - we're even reassessing the merits of 'milk-snatching' - but I think it is a bit shortsighted to start hacking so brutally at some of our major cultural organisations. Without the UKFC, a large number of recent UK films would not have been shot, and our cultural life would be weaker for it.

Monday roundup

Rev. is 'rather good' - According to the Guardian, the AB of C thinks the programme is 'rather good'. This is one of several issues on which the Archbishop agrees with me. I do hope that the people at the Beeb who hold the purse-strings will find a bit of funding to continue the show for another season - hopefully more.

An Englishman in Wisconsin - Some of you Lancaster types will know the identity of this serial blogger. He's started blogging again, and his British perspective on American culture is already evident. One for the blog list.

James Anderson does it again - After a robust performance against the Australians, Pakistan looked set to provide stern competition for a buoyant England side. In reality, a low scoring game and favourable swing conditions allowed Jimmy Anderson to produce stunning bowling figures of 11 for 71. Quite rightly, and modestly, he praised the slip fielders for their reliable hands. Anderson's stock has soared in the ICC rankings, and he now sits at his highest ever place in the test bowlers' rankings.

TV licence under fire - Rev. may not get a second season if the licence fee gets scrapped, as suggested by the Adam Smith Institute. I'm a fan of the Beeb, and I think the licence fee has given us the best broadcasting network in the world. I know the independents feel hard done to, but I look at the output from the various channels, and it's the BBC that gets my vote every time; I hardly ever watch ITV and Five (though C4 is quite good sometimes). It's the same with radio - no commercial operator would run Radio 3 or Radio 4, but where would we be without them?

Flying Bishops? - Thinking Anglicans and the Church Mouse report this story about a letter from 15 Anglo-Catholic Bishops. I'm not sure it says anything new or moves the argument along any. An interestng aside is that I recognise a number of signatories as current or former Blackburn Diocese clergy (there may be more who I don't recognise):  

Rt Revd Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn
Rt Revd Martyn Jarrett, Bishop of Beverley (formerly Bishop of Burnley)
Rt Revd John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley
Rt Revd Mark Sowerby, Bishop of Horsham (formerly at a parish in Accrington and Chaplain to my High School when I was a student)
Rt Revd Robert Ladds (formerly at a parish in Preston before consecration as the Bishop of Whitby - now retired)

Hmmm, not sure what this says about my home diocese! 5 out of 15 is a significant proportion.

Moving on - I'm not the only one going to theological college in a few weeks. Jante has received her bundle of information from Cuddesdon, and is counting down the days. I have returned my batch of forms to Westcott, and am waiting for the final removal quote to arrive.

44 days - must start packing!

Remembering 7/7

MrsLanky and I watched a programme the other night about 'miracles' that occurred during the 7/7 bombings. It was produced by the BBC religion unit, and persistently asked questions about fate, guardian angels and the like.  It was a thought provoking programme.

The thing that really caught my attention, though, was towards the end of the programme. The family of one of the people who died, Miriam, had used compensation payouts and other funds to set up a centre for blind children in India in Miriam's memory. Her sister expressed the view that Miriam's death was a positive opportunity to make a bigger difference to the world than she could have made in her lifetime. The centre has worked with 15,000 children since it opened!

I'm amazed and humbled by the fact that people who were so close to this unimaginable trauma and grief have been able to see anything positive in it. It's almost unreal, and it makes me feel very humble.

It was a reminder to us that, whilst grief of this magnitude will never leave the bereaved, it quickly falls away from the public consciousness. Of course, we will remember 7/7 when it comes round to July each year. There will be programmes like this one and newspaper stories. But we won't be thinking about it in a few days time. Everyday things will take priority again. Not for those who are still grieving their loss. They will continue to think about it daily for many years, maybe for the rest of their lives. That's what makes Miriam's family so inspirational to me. When they recall the dreadful events of 7/7, they also have the positive thoughts of the centre in India to go with them. This can't take away the grief, but it clearly helps them to deal with it.

Rev. episode 2

We watched the second episode of Rev. last night. I said last week that it was off to a slow start, but I definitely think it's getting into its stride now.

Maybe because of my own prejudices, I particularly enjoyed the parody of the 'raving evo' pastor with his smoothie bar and white sofas. My only concern about the jokes so far is that many people outside the church (or just on the edges) would not pick up on them. Some of the humour is very subtle, and some of the references are very churchy and very C of E. This suits me fine, and I find it very funny, but I wonder what someone without a church background would make of it.

The other thing I enjoyed about last night's episode was the development of the relationship between the vicar and his wife. Though it is comedy, and subject to exaggeration/hyperbole, I feel like this series is getting closer to showing what vicars really get up to than any other TV series has ever managed before. Fundamentally, he is shown as a fairly ordinary bloke who is trying to find a healthy balance between his work and family. In amongst all of this are the random characters that you actually do find in churches.

I'll be watching again next week. Apparently the first episode was viewed by more people than viewed Big Brother!
Maggi Dawn has posted today with her thoughts on the series so far.She links to Simon Marsh's post on the same subject.

It's not Dibley! (warning, this post contains a naughty word!)

Thanks to the wonderful Sky+ box in the Lanky household, we watched 'Rev.' last night due to postgrad group commitments on Monday. Having read a lot about the series already, I had a good feel for what it would be like before I watched it.

It's not Dibley, there's no laugh track (hurrah), and the humour is far from slapstick. Despite a couple of outbursts, the language is not nearly as fruity as 'the thick of it', but it's definitely not Dibley! I especially liked the bit where the vicar removed his collar as he told a bunch of abusive builders to 'fuck off!'.
I heard an interview with a cast member from 'The Wire' the other day, and she said that until well into the first season of the show, many of the actors thought it was fairly poor. It was only when the characters had developed and the rhythm of the dialogue had settled that they started to get into it and see its potential.
I'm not saying that I think Rev. is poor, but I am saying that this was a gentle start for what I expect will be a very good series. It has caricatures, but they aren't like the ones in Dibley. They are keenly observed, and therefore very amusing; especially for those of us who are part of similar church communities.
All in all, a solid start. I've already set the Sky box to record the entire series.
Other bloggers have watched too:

Church Times blog
Mark Vernon's blog
Bishop David Chillingworth's blog
David Keen's post has lots of other links too.

Gareth Malone and my telly face, part 2

Regular readers will remember my glowing praise for the Gareth Malone series about the South Oxhey Choir. Well he's back on the telly again, and this time he's trying to bring together a young people's chorus for a new opera at Glyndebourne.

As a rule, MrsLanky and I are not opera fans; I'm certainly not sure what I think about modern opera. I can say, however, that we have been very impressed by this latest BBC series. The best moments of the show are when Malone works one to one with someone who is struggling, or who thinks they can't sing. He shows how, in many cases, the issue is not ability but confidence. And Malone has the disarming ability to give people confidence in their ability to sing.

The particularly interesting aspect of this series is the fact that Malone has been asked to work with a piece that is still a work in progress. It hasn't been completed by the time he needs to start teaching it! 

I don't know if it makes me a bad person, but it's affirming to see such a capable person working at the edge of his ability. It gives me confidence from watching him; especially seeing him receive coaching on conducting! His balance of humility and confidence is an inspiration. The telly face was definitely in evidence last night.

Anyway, iPlayer has the first 2 episodes, and you can catch it on BBC2 at 9pm on Thursdays.

82 days

Cricket's coming home?

If the recommendations in David Davies' review are implemented, the Ashes will become one of the so-called 'crown jewels' of British sport, meaning that they will have to be on terrestrial television. The BBC's report is quite upbeat on the chances of this happening, but I can't help feeling a bit tentative about the whole thing. The income from Sky TV is massive for the ECB, and I can't see them being too happy with slashing that amount to bring the Ashes back to terrestrial TV. The ECB will argue that the income from TV rights has helped to fund a resurgence in grass-roots cricket, which has to be good. I just hope a workable compromise can be found so that the needs of the viewing public can be satisfied along with those of grass-roots cricket.

The wonderful NHS

I know there's a lot of opinion on the web about the NHS and how good/bad it is, and I thought now would be the time to post about my view of the antenatal care we have received. Today marks week 38 for LittleLanky, and we've just had our final antenatal session, which covered the wonderful world of breastfeeding (including fake boobs).

I know there's a lot of variability in antenatal care across the UK. We have friends and family whose experiences have been scattered along a very broad quality spectrum, and my first observation is that care seems to be better in smaller towns/cities. Lancaster (so far) has been a great place to be pregnant. We've had abundant access to our wonderful community midwife, who we have seen for the vast majority of our appointments; all of the other midwives we have seen have been professional and personable.

In recent weeks, we have had the pleasure of attending the local NHS-run antenatal classes. At first, MrsLanky and I weren't keen, but we were soon convinced of their value. The midwife who runs the classes is great! Her enthusiasm and positivity is infectious; whilst her knowledge and experience are reassuring. I feel like we're much better prepared than we cold possibly have been through books and websites.

MrsLanky has also taken advantage of the NHS physiotherapy service due to a number of pregnancy related ailments. The physiotherapist has been excellent, and we didn't have to wait months for a referral.

The quality of care we have received has been superb throughout; if you're thinking about having a baby, come to Lancaster!

Gareth Malone, and my telly face

I really enjoyed the final episode of 'The Choir' on BBC2 last night. It was one of those occasions where MrsLanky and I break out what we call our 'telly faces'. This is where there's something on TV which is really captivating and inspiring, and it causes an inane open-mouthed smile to appear on each of our faces. We know we're doing it, but we just can't help ourselves.

Last effect night this was exaggerated further by the compelling nature of the programme. MrsLanky and I both sing, and we both believe in the value of singing in churches and communities. So you might say this was a match made in heaven even before the opening titles finished.

On last night's show, Gareth Malone showed again how a little bit of vision, and a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm, can bring together even the most hopeless (and I don't mean that in a pejorative sense) groups of people. He also showed the value of caring and compassionate leadership, and I think that's what the people of South Oxhey were really craving; the music was an excellent vehicle which was, in a sense, incidental.

In an age where the church has faded into the background for many people, it's not surprising that there are places and people in need of this type of leadership. We just need to clone Gareth Malone, or maybe get him to lead a module at theological colleges, on the subject of leadership in communities.

UPDATE - It looks like someone else agrees with me

Guitar Hero

This is a story that the sadly missed BigBulkyAnglican would definitely have recorded on his blog. And even though I posses the guitar skills of an otter (despite owning two guitars), I thought I should mark the passing of Les Paul on this blog.

I played in a band for a while when I was at school, and although I was a keyboard 'player', I was inevitably exposed to electric guitar culture - all bands have guitars! It appears to me that Les Paul was much more than just a person who played and made guitars. He was an icon in the world of rock music.

He was an innovator in musical technology and developed one of the first solid bodied electric guitars. The move away from a resonant sound box opened up massive stylistic possibilities that hadn't existed before! He and his contemporaries changed the course of rock and roll music with this innovation. Les Paul's 'log' (yes that's what he called this guitar) was the forerunner of the Gibson Les Paul; a guitar that nearly all your favourite rock musicians will have played on stage at some point in their career. This is what many people mean by a 'Les Paul'; in my teenage years, I remember the dawning realisation that a 'Les Paul' wasn't just a guitar!

Lester William Polsfuss (to give him his full name) wasn't just a guitar maker though. He continued to innovate with musical effects and recording techniques which have gone on to shape modern music even more than his guitar design! He experimented with multitracking well before there was a convenient, all-in-one machine that would do the hard work for you! Les Paul will go down in musical history for his contribution to music. I just hope that future generations of musical geeks have the same realisation I did. There was a man behind the guitar, and he was great!

The final thing to say is that in reading about his life today, I discovered that I've spent some time in his neck of the woods. He was born and raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Just down the road from New Berlin, where some good friends of ours live.

Unconvinced!

I watched the documentary on FIVE last night about the Turin (or Da Vinci) Shroud. It was a very strange experience, mostly in a televisual sense. Somehow, the one hour programme contained only 20-40 minutes of footage, and there was a strange editing fault which resulted in large parts of the programme being repeated several times over!

In terms of content, most of it was the same as I had already seen or read elsewhere, though it seemed to be dumbed-down for the FIVE audience. The new content related to the hypothesis that the image on the shroud was created using a camera obscura and photo-sensitive silver substances on a sheet of fabric. I found this to be quite persuasive and I would have liked to have seen more of the demonstration experiment they set up. Instead, they seemed to concentrate on trying to link the whole thing to Leonardo Da Vinci. I found these arguments to be much less than convincing.

Ultimately, it makes no difference to me. I'm convinced that the shround is not the genuine burial shroud of Christ already. I was just interested to see how the image had been formed, as it's claimed that the evidence is not consistent with a painted image or print.

The big news in this story, though, is that this may well be the oldest surviving photographic image! Now that's interesting.

New Turin Shroud conspiracy theory

I spotted this on the Amateur Photographer blog. There's a documentary on FIVE this evening which claims the image on the Turin Shroud was created by an early photographic process involving silver sulphate. The programme claims that none other than Leonardo Da Vinci made the image using a sculpture of his own face.

I'll have to watch it to check out the validity of their arguments, but the notion of the image as a photographic one fits with some of the other evidence I've seen. For example, the fact that the image is best seen in negative form, as in this picture. We don't really see many naturally formed negative images which haven't been 'created' by a human.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the progamme - I'm a bit of a sucker for Dan Brown style conspiracy!

Back to the blog!

I've been 'enjoying' a break from blogging over the last few weeks. No doubt the avid readers of this blog will have been heartbroken at the break in inspirational and witty banter. The reason for the break has been something of a change in pace at work, which has been tiring, along with the ongoing pressures of Mrs Lanky's growing bump. Incidentally, all is well with the bump. According to the ultrasound scans everything is the size it should be for the stage we are at, and LittleLanky appears to be as near to average as s/he can be.

I felt as though today was the right day for a post for 2 reasons. The first is the timely return to batting form of Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff. Thanks to our Ashes-inspired resumption of a Sky Sports subscription, I watched Lancashire's victory over Derbyshire in the T20 championship last night. It's the first time since the famous 2005 Ashes series that I've seen him dominate a bowling attack in such an intimidating way. Hopefully the Aussies were watching and beginning to get a little bit nervous.

The second reason for my post is to mark the passing of the troubled superstar, Michael Jackson. I don't have much to say about him apart from that I feel sadness for him and his family. I know lots of people have opinions about his lifestyle and his alleged misdemeanours, but I can't help feeling sorry for him. There must have been reasons for the way he was, and they are likely to have been linked to his unconventional upbringing. Can we all just leave it there? Can we let him rest in peace and leave his family to grieve?

Exciting developments in Lancaster

If you're a Lancaster resident, or if you're remotely bothered about the city, you may find this interesting.

Known as Lancaster Square Routes, the project aims to create a centre which both builds on the city’s history and heritage while still maintaining a modern outlook.Areas covered by the designs include:

• Market Square
• Signage improvements to the Castle Precinct
• Market Street Illumination / Lighting
• Sun Street Square / Sun Street
• Horseshoe Corner
• Castle and Quay green space
• Castle and Priory Precinct
• Key linking routes (Upper and Lower Church Street, Ffrances Passage and Gage Street)

If they get it right, this could be a very important regeneration project for the city's public spaces.

A few interesting links about the BNP

http://www.uaf.org.uk/ 

http://www.stopthebnp.org.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8644741474 

http://caseagainstbnp.wordpress.com/

Why do people vote for the BNP?

Today we had the 'pleasure' of receiving some delightful correspondence from the BNP. As you'll have guessed from my previous post, I don't have much time for the party and their ideas, and today's little present hasn't changed my mind. Lots of photographs of white people staring from the page; some of them well qualified professionals. Much mention of 'immigrants', and several references to armed conflicts in which the UK military has been successful.

Does this actually convince anyone? I suppose it must! The tabloid press does such a thorough job of whipping up fear out of nowhere that I suspect there are many people out there who have been conditioned by this kind of propaganda. Hopefully they haven't been brainwashed enough to actually vote for the BNP! 

The risk of a bacon sandwich

This piece on the BBC website interested me. I have a long-running bee-in-my-bonnet about the common government practice of telling me what not to eat, and how many carrots I should consume. I concur with the author's points about 'nudging' society towards epidemiologically 'better' ways of behaving, but I still find the tone of things like the 5-a-day campaign to be completely patronising. I also feel that this trend in British society has imposed a moral framework onto lifestyle choices which were previously left to the individual. Just think how most people react when they see a pregnant woman enjoying an alcoholic drink! The government advice is that abstinence is best, but the latest scientific studies conclude that the occasional drink will have no negative effects on the unborn child. Most pregnant women (including Mrs Lanky) do not drink at all, and it's in no small part due to the moral judgement that the behaviour now attracts.