rhyminsimon

For those who have noticed, I haven’t been blogging much recently. The reasons for that are manifold, I had slowed my blogging down in the latter part of 2011 anyway. But then as the new year dawned, two new work contracts swung into place, (it’s never one thing at a time is it?) and my work life rhythms changed. While the new work is welcome, and is to a great degree just what we needed, it has also seen me end up with a degree of existential angst, as it changes the whole structure of... Read Full Story

We were never going to be able to do this event justice with a hand held, but arts student Jason Lee has taken a crack at it, and managed to get some of the key elements in – the footage is of the first song when most people were hanging back in their seats, and then a song a bit further into the set. We also had video ‘lessons’ and a short plug from George, the heavy metal curate who also features in the video. About 300 people came to the event overall, with bikers coming from far and wide... Read Full Story

it has been fun, the new place is great, much greater than the old one – annoying to have been without internet access for a fortnight, but quite therapeutic too. Blogging may recommence soon, once we get back into the swing of things – but then again, Christmas is only just around the corner… Read Full Story

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Oh by golly, its a jolly heavy Christmas, this year! Read Full Story

Just a few thoughts about issues of masculine identity in the context of spirituality and religion… please dont let is be a soliloquy, let me know your thoughts in the comments box. There have been a few articles written recently about the disengagement and disappearance of men from places such as church sanctuaries and missionary agencies. Two notable recent articles on this are: Steve Davies, writing about men and the mission field , and Vicky Beeching (current Christian uber blogger... Read Full Story

You may have noticed a slight slow down in posts here recently, part of that is my usual hap hazard binge and purge blogging style, I will write loads for a few weeks and then disappear for another few. Another reason is that I’ve been caught up in a few projects which have taken up the time I would usually spend doing this… One of those things is the Very Heavy Christmas project, which I and some friends have been working on. It’s essentially a Heavy Metal Carol Service, and I’ve got to... Read Full Story

If there’s one thing I’m fond of in life it’s cake. Which is why I am hopelessly excited by this mail order cake website , which is run by friends of mine. My mouth actually started watering just looking at the Northumbrian farmhouse cakes , maybe because I have sampled cakes made by this very  baker on a number of occasions, and they are superb, delicious, scrumptious, close to divine. And now you can get them on the interweb – so good! I think this idea works well in so many ways... Read Full Story

I love gardening in Autumn. For me its the absolutely best time. Weeds are slow growing, grass can be cut back and stays cut back, ground is there to be prepared and you’re not having to deal with seedlings being munched by pests of various sorts. I like having fires too, and on my allotment they are only allowed in late autumn through to the early spring. I have a problem with couch grass and bind weed on my allotment, and short of massive barrels of rainwater to sak them in until they... Read Full Story

Probably next week Read Full Story