matsuya.co.uk

For some reason, on Tuesday, I did a crazy bus route into town, to the office, home, to the office, and then home again. Out of that I ended up buying only two return tickets, one off a Stagecoach bus and one  off an Oxford Bus Company bus. Bizarrely, both ended up ripping as I pulled them out of the ticket dispenser.

When I got on the return leg of the OBC bus, I sheepishly showed the ticket to the driver and said, “sorry, it ripped when I pulled it out.” He grinned, said “no problem” and waved me through.

By contrast, when I got onto the Stagecoach bush, the bus driver firmly refused to let me on the bus. So I got off and was pleased that an Oxford Bus Company bus arrived almost immediately.

Is there a second half to that? It sounds like it should be a proverb.

Well, it would be a spectacular day if people used matsuya.co.uk for their shoe-related queries, but I learned a valuable lesson today. Don’t buy cheap shoes.

For the last 18 months or so I’ve been enticed by £10-20 shoes that look pretty good on the shelves, but which more or less disintegrate. The sole of the shoe comes off at the sides (usually these shoes are glued), and the sole also cracks. My most recent pair of shoes were some rugged-looking walking-boot-type shoes, which I’ve regretted in the last couple of weeks as they’ve developed a hole in the sole of the shoe where the sole has simply cracked. And the sole is made of rubber, which you’d probably expect to be flexible. I also had a pair of big boots, but the sole simply came off them.

So today I spent a whopping £70 on a pair of shoes (which was actually reduced from £120). They’re so comfortable, and they’re Gore-Tex, so they’re both waterproof and breathable. I’m even assured that if there are problems with the sole, I can take them in to be exchanged, but that they are specially attached and should last at least two years. I got them from Ecco on the advice of a friend, and that was good advice.

The thing is, having bought about 6 or so pairs of shoes in the last year and a half, I must have easily spent over £70 (probably more like £100), and none of them have lasted even four months. So the economy works as well!

A lesson learned is a penny saved, or something like that.

Well, I’ve come back to the blogging world despite the abuse I get for having a blog. And this post is especially for all those people who ask me what happened in my driving test.

Well, it was pretty insane. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not contesting the fact that it was fair, and that I failed it because of my lack of driving skills. But I suggest that it wasn’t exactly an ordinary driving test.

Essentially, I failed with two major faults in the first five or so minutes of driving. Sadly I knew about these (or at least the second one), and it got me frustrated in the rest of my test.

First of all, we were driving down a national speed limit single carriageway road. Of course, that’s up to 60mph; fine. But then, rounding a corner, there’s a traffic calming measure in the middle of it; a one-lane give way sign (priority to cars coming the other way). So I slowed and changed from 5th gear to 3rd gear, and then saw a silver car coming the other way; it was a bit of a way off, so I sped off again to get through. I failed this because I was in 3rd gear and not 2nd, and so I didn’t quite have enough acceleration to get through without the other car having to slow slightly for me. The rules are if you cause a car to slow stop or swerve, you fail.

Just minutes later I found myself on an incredibly steep road (okay, I admit that it’s not near being the steepest road in the country, but I’m told it’s the steepest road on the oxford test routes). The instructor tells me to turn left; it turns out to be a sharp left turn (going back on itself slightly), still steeply uphill, with a sharp corner and into a single-track road. The fact is, you have to go down to 1st gear to go round the corner. I should have, and I didn’t; and that caused me to shudder to a halt and as I was fiddling around a Mercedes which was right on my tail nearly hit me. Seriously, the examiner was really scared, and he panickedly looked around as the car skimmed past. So I failed there (and I knew it).

The rest of the test was better in terms of driving; I got only 11 minors in all, out of 15 allowed.  I had a reverse around a corner down a steep hill (the kind where as soon as you let go of the brake the car starts rolling at quite a pace), and a couple of completely hashed-up stops by the side of the road.

Then to crown it all off: near the end of my test, I’m driving back towards the test centre. There’s a bit of a hill, and it’s a narrow residential road. At the crest of the hill I come across a huge truck (it was really big; it actually was nearly as wide as the whole road). There are men walking around it because it has some lifting or digging devices on it. Not only that, but there are cars driving down the pavement on my left. What does the examiner say?

“Just do what you think is best in this situation.”

That really panicked me. Part of me thought, “I just want to reverse and get out of here!” Part of me thought, “It’s a trick; if you break the law you fail instantly.” And as I waited with rising anxiety, the examiner said, “Just do what they’re doing.” So that’s what I did. With virtually no room (there was a lamp-post on the pavement, and people constantly walking back and forth, seemingly uncaring that I was going to drive right through them), I mounted the curb and drove down the pavement. At least I didn’t get any negative marks for that!

So: a thoroughly scary time, and probably the worst test route I could ever devise for myself. Absolutely awful. So I’m retaking my test (annoyingly, at the end of February), even though my thought was “I want to retake it again this afternoon!”

Next time.

Facebook uses a ‘CAPTCHA‘ to verify users’ authenticity (i.e. whether they exist). In this case it’s the usual image recognition that everyone knows. But Facebook likes making a joke out of everything; the two I can remember are

• Street Integrity (a play on words of “street cred”?)
• bankers’ cents (word-play on “sense”…or am I reading too much into it?)

More will be updated when I see more…

I’ve lived in Britain for most of my life, but not all of it; I moved here about eighteen years ago. And there are a few things that frustrate me about Britain. One is the fact that mixer taps aren’t universal, even for kitchen or bathroom sinks. There’s a connection between separate taps: in a kitchen, having non-mixer taps means that you probably do your washing up by filling the sink and then eventually washing your plates up with previous plates’ dirty water. And if you’ve got non-mixer taps in a bathroom it probably means you wash your face with previously-used water.

But the really frustrating thing I find, which I think is a feature of Britain, is how badly kettles are used.

• Problem 1: you overfill your kettles when boiling the water, which means you’re wasting energy. Typically people will make a cup of tea, but boil four or five times the amount of water they need (say, 3/4 of a kettle full). So you’re wasting energy by boiling water you don’t need, every time you boil water. And boiling water takes up a LOT of energy (though I’m not saying it’s the significant part of your bill). How many times a day do you put the kettle on? Why not put enough for a cup of tea and a little bit extra to be safe?
• Problem 2: you leave boiled water in your kettle to cool down, and then use it again the next time you make a cup of tea! Pre-boiled water tastes worse than fresh water (because of the oxygen content). And not only are you wasting energy by boiling too much, but if you live in a hard water area, you’re ruining your kettle by letting hot water cool down. When you do, that’s when limescale most forms on the inside of your kettle.

End rant.

I was trying to catch up on a little bit of personal admin today, specifically to do with post. I came across two headaches.

First was the Post Office Mail Redirection Service. They have a neat little form to allow you to redirect your post from an old address to a new address. They require just two forms of identification. I looked down the list and since I didn’t have the paper part of my driver’s licence with me, I’d show them the nearest thing I had to a utility bill: a letter from tiscali about my internet service. The reason it had to be the nearest thing was that actually I’ve gone paper-free with all my bills; electronic phone bill, internet bill, mobile bill and bank statements. But they wouldn’t accept it because (despite having my address and name, which is what they wanted to prove), it wasn’t charging me anything.

This irritated me a lot but I cycled back and got the paper part of my driver’s licence instead. Returning to the post office I handed my form in, with my proof of address. But: they don’t recognise a provisional driver’s licence! More annoying was the way that the clerk behind the counter pointed at the form, saying “you can’t use a provisional licence”. Later on, I looked for the wording, and discovered that nowhere on the form does it say you can’t use a provisional licence. That made me fume.

But between my two trips to the Post Office, I also phoned up Vodafone to see if I could change my postal address so I could receive the occasional mailings I get from that at my new address. Well, after an expected five minute hold, I got through to someone who told me that her computer had given her an error, so she couldn’t access the systems and was only handling general inquiries. But she said she’d put me through to someone who had the correct access. The phone computer then asked me for my number, and I put it in, and it put me on hold for another five minutes. I then got someone who sounded suspiciously like the first person I’d spoken to; when I asked to change my address she said exactly the same thing, and told me that she’d put me through to someone who had the correct access. The phone computer then asked me again for my number, which I gave it, and waited for a bit longer this time; maybe seven minutes. I got through to a bloke this time, but again, the same problem: no computer access. He told me that I was “unlucky” that I couldn’t get through to an Accounts Administrator the first two times (unlucky? what kind of computer system do they have that randomly assigns the success of your call?). But he said that this time I “definitely should probably get through”. Of course, I didn’t; I gave the computer my number, and while I was waiting on hold, I was wondering whether just to register a complaint with the next person I got. Well, my luck must have been up, because I got through to someone who, instead of just introducing themself as Darren, actually asked me to confirm my name etc. straight away.

The second part to this was that though I went through the process of changing my address last year when I moved from Cambridge to oxford, the post still kept on going to Cambridge. But the address they had on the computer system was my correct oxford one, which puzzled me. After changing my address, I raised this with the operator, who told me that the person last year hadn’t done it properly. What kind of system is this? I’ve got no problem with the fact that occasionally computers have faults; I completely understand that and even sympathise with the people there. But to say that you’ll get through to someone when the phone system just puts you in a loop is extremely annoying, and to say your address is changed when it doesn’t actually affect anything is extremely incompetent!

No problems after FOTR. Started ten minutes late, but that’s not particularly worrying. After disc 1 I rested my eyes a little by looking outside, and then for lunch I had a very pleasant time sitting on the patio in the sunshine, eating Parsnip and Bramley Apple soup (recommended; slightly odd at first but they’ve balanced it perfectly!). I was listening to some Emu at the same time: very relaxing. Now I’m ready for the second episode.

What I had noticed when I last watched the films was that having watched the Extra Features bits recently, you can have your experience spoiled. It slightly takes away from the awesomeness of the film when you realise that the other character in the Gandalf shot is actually a child, and that the feet the hobbits have are like rubber shoes. But this time, it’s not so bad, thankfully. I’m actually noticing the musical themes a lot more; Howard Shore, the composer, created different “themes” for each people-group, and now that I know that, it’s a lot more obvious…and effective at telling the story. My favourite theme is probably the Rohan theme, which is coming up a lot in TT.

Researching for a ’seminar’ on guilt for camp, I ran across one of the biggest misunderstandings of the Genesis account of the Fall that I’ve ever seen. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Feeling guilty has deep archetypal roots, that’s why it is universal and why people in our lives sometimes try hard to make us feel guilty because we are susceptible; in fact, guilt ruined it for all of us in the Garden of Eden. When God told Adam and Eve that they could eat anything in the garden except for one forbidden fruit, of course, it was a set up. Tell any child you can eat anything you want in the pantry except that box of crackers in the corner, you know the outcome! So what did Adam and Eve have to feel guilty about? Absolutely nothing! What had changed the moment they felt guilty? Their perception of who they were and most importantly, fear and doubt entered their hearts to ruin Eden for them: the Genesis of guilt! Yes, I remember that they were evicted, but they were already unhappy – eviction was just a physical consequence of their state of mind.

I know she’s using it as an illustration rather than actually believing it, but it’s utter tripe. She makes God out to have “set up” Adam and Eve, and suggests that guilt “ruined Eden”. Anyone could read Genesis for themselves and realise that the ones to blame for the eviction were Adam and Eve themselves. They chose to disobey God and put their own desires first. They were deceived by the devil into twisting God’s rules, making them out to be unfair, and then supposing that God wouldn’t punish them for rejecting them.

The word ‘guilt’ can carry two meanings. First, it can mean the status that we are in. We’re either guilty of stealing cookies from the tin or not. And secondly, it can mean a feeling that we have. Bella, the author of the paragraph quoted, is talking about the feeling of guilt. But the feeling comes from the status: you feel guilty about eating because in truth, you eat too much and you know it! Even if that particular time you feel your brain was being unfair in making you feel guilty, the root is in you. There’s no point blaming the food!

In the same way, guilty spiritual feelings arise from a guilty status. That’s a good thing! If we didn’t sometimes feel guilty about neglecting God, we’d probably never even start to think about turning and following him. The Bible will often help us to realise our status before God: that we’re hopelessly condemned without him. “There is no-one righteous, not even one; no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. All have turned away…” is the searing indictment that the Bible pins on us. That’s the status of the one who doesn’t follow God.

Now for those who do follow God, the following Bible verse gives great assurance: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That’s the status of the one who trusts in Jesus death on their behalf. The status of that person is not guilty.

People aren’t perfect with their feelings, though. Sometimes those who don’t believe squash their guilty feelings until they don’t feel guilty. Perhaps they persist in rejecting God until the feeling goes away. Well, that doesn’t change their status. These people are heading for punishment, unless they turn to Jesus and trust in him.

And those who are not guilty, those who trust in Jesus’ death in their place, well, they can sometimes feel guilty. Our disbelieving minds sometimes just doesn’t grasp the magnitude of what Jesus did when he died on the cross, and we foolishly think that we are characterised still by our rebellion against God. The devil remains up to his old devious tricks to con us into thinking not only that God will not punish, but that he will not save even those who want to follow him; that we’ve overstepped the mark, gone beyond saving. Well, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. That’s the status, whatever the feelings may be.

God didn’t “set up” Adam and Eve by telling them to stay away from the fruit. No, God wanted a perfect relationship between Creator and Creature, one in which the Creator had the authority he was due. Disobedience against God ultimately means death; the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil wasn’t like a parent forbidding a child to have a nice box of crackers carelessly left in a tempting place; it was like a parent forbidding a child to play football out on a busy road. God wanted Adam and Eve to have life, not death. And even after the deed, after they were evicted from the garden, God paid the ultimate price to give them life again, sending Jesus to die on the cross for those who would trust in him.

Later on, Bella suggests that to get rid of guilty feelings,

Every day treat yourself to something special and savor it. For me it’s dark chocolate.

The Hobbits are legendary for their many meals, but here’s what I bought/have in preparation for the LOTR marathon:

• A loaf of olive bread
• Pork liver and sweet onion paté
• A bottle of Tesco summer smoothie (including 96 blackcurrants, and 2 1/2 bananas)
• New Covent Garden Parsnip and Bramley apple soup
• Crumbed ham
• Hickory-smoked ribs
• McCain Crispy fries
• Some popcorn (real popping corn)

I was going to add up the calories, but I’ve decided it would scare me too much. Bear in mind that I’m planning to go for a thirty-minute run in the afternoon.

Well, it being the summer holidays and stuff, I think it’s time to have another go at the Lord of the Rings watched-in-one-day challenge. You can find the previous effort’s write-up in the LOTR category on this blog. Last time I tried it, it failed, because the DVDs I was watching (belonging to my housemate) had a bogus sixth disc. But I’ve since bought my own set of Extended Edition discs, and I know that they’re complete because I watched them a little while ago.

In terms of timetable, I’m going to use a modified version of the previous one. To stave off the feeling of square eyes, I’m going to go for a run mid-afternoon. I think I’m also going to try to eat more healthily. It’s tempting to think that you need popcorn for each film, but it’s just not true.

Timetable:

• 10.00 start LOTR1
• 13.30 end LOTR1 (approx). Make lunch.
• 14.30 start LOTR2.
• 16.30 break to go for a run and have a shower.
• 17.30 back into the LOTR2
• 19.00 (approx) end LOTR2. Find/get some dinner
• 20.00 start LOTR3.
• 21.30 popcorn-making break
• 00.30 (approx) end LOTR3.

The thing I’m not sure about is breaking up the Two Towers by going for a run in the middle, but I think it should be fine. It’s probably a good idea, actually. Now if only the LOTR soundtrack CD had arrived, I’d be able to listen to that while running…