act 6 scene 1

I have never ever seen tennis that good.  Not being one that is ever that great with words I find it particularly difficult to pull out words that go anyway to describing the gruelling afternoon in front of the television.  A five hour tennis match broken up by a jog, dinner, e-mails and other chores and everytime I come back there is even more nail biting action.  I admit to doing stuff at the beginning of each of the last three sets, but both the tie breaks and the final games of the final set were just insanely beautiful tennis.  If ever there was a game in which both competitors should have won - it was this.

Well done Rafael Nadal.

I’m back at work - day 2 of the week.  I’m still dreaming at my desk, desk-dreaming if you like.

Two years ago I went on holiday with a group of people to Greece, sailing through the Ionian islands.  You can see the photos I took here.  Having had one of the best holidays ever I was sad to miss the groups voyage to the Croatian coast last year and it made me all the more enthusiastic about going to Turkey.

There is something about sailing that makes it an ultimately relaxing holiday.  I can’t put my finger on whether it was the scenery, the cooling wind blowing across my sun scorched skin or maybe the frequent dips in the bath temperature sea.  The ports, bays, beaches and caves could play a part along with the turtles and dolphins playing in the bow waves of the boats.  Or maybe, just maybe, it was the amazing people, the real life conversations, working together effortlessly to make the holiday hassle free, playing mafia until 2 in the morning and then lying on deck together chatting and watching shooting stars until 3.

I’m very sad to be back.  Not because I don’t enjoy work but because I really really love the people that I’ve just been immersed in the for the past seven days.

Photos soon.

I like the Big British Castle and I like Radio 4.  This evening I caught this weeks The Moral Maze (you can listen again from there) which was a debate roughly centred around religion vs. science.  As with everything it had extreme viewpoints but I felt that Lord Wilson had a fairly sensible balanced opinion.

Towards the end the point was made that the science and religion divide is in fact a false dichotomy.  In my opinion this is generated by an over-exposure in the press to extreme fundamentalists from both ends of the spectrum with a lack of coverage given to the very viable middle ground.

If you are at all interested in this debate then have a listen - it’s a great introduction and plenty of food for thought.  

Here’s a question for debate: Where is the moral maze podcast?

Once in a while Have I got news for you is hilariously funny.  Tonight I saw a repeat from last week with Jeremy Clarkson chairing - quite simply it was one of the best I’ve seen for ages.  He also did an amazing take on Ground Force earlier in the year for Sports Relief - if you get the chance to see that on repeat then do so!

It’s been a week of clarity.  Most literally the sky across London was stunningly clear today.  From my work place near the top of the Gherkin it was possible to see for miles and miles and not think that London was choking in a cloud of mutation creating poison.

On other fronts I’ve been doing ‘productivity’ in work most days, visiting potential flats, following up leads and even going to (a new) church for the first time in ages.

A quick book review must be inserted here - since I keep meaning to do a round-up and it will not happen for a while.  So… A Short History of Christianity by Stephen Tomkins.  Given how long, convoluted and damn-right silly the church and Christianity has been, this book is remarkably short and concise.  Following in the footsteps of the Bryson book from which the title has been adapted it is similarly careful in the events that are picked out and also sarcastic, witty and very observant.  This was a book on Christianity that makes no assumptions and is, by all accounts, objective in it’s telling of the story.  It covers approximately eight years on each page which takes us through the early church, the repeated adoptions by Rome, the Renaissance and Reformation, various revivals and the decline of the western church.  I’ve learnt much about history in general and both the good and bad parts of the faith that I naturally profess.

Very interesting and my last fortnights commute would have been the worse without it.