JP's Corner of The Blogosphere

Luke 2 (NIV) The Birth of Jesus 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. The Shepherds and the Angels 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 ...

On Sunday we drove to Worthing to go to a church there and en route we passed a vintage lorry at the side of one of the very beautiful roads here in West Sussex. Boring, I here you say. But don't stop reading, because hanging from the side of said lorry was a poster, proclaiming in big colourful letters, "The Facist Clown". Given that we didn't stop I was unable to let my curiousity get the better of me and investigate, but I found it amusing nonetheless and worthy of posting here.

Recently a group of us were talking about recent Tory party leaders, and one of the girls who was present voiced her support for John Major - because "he is quite sexy", apparently. This revelation took me by surprise somewhat because, well, it's John Major. 'Mr Grey'. I know that some girls evidently go for older men, but I can't see that our last Tory PM has any defining qualities whatsoever. My friend tried to defend herself by reminding me that Edwina Currie fell for him, but that didn't really wash. It's, well, Edwina Currie. But then I reminded myself that women are rarely understandable. There's the whole shoe thing, for a start. I'll save voicing my opinions on that for another time, but really, what's with that? Back to the issue in hand, it could be possible that most women find John Major attractive and Edwina Currie is the only one who has publicly admitted it. Does anyone wish to share their opinion on the matter? I awa...

I am pleased to announce that at about quarter-past four this afternoon the frozen-solid can of Carlsberg Special Brew was removed from the fridge. It is now defrosting happily on the side in the kitchen.

Perhaps I should be ashamed to admit this, but back in the summer I have to confess that I did see a little bit of Channel 4's Big Brother. At one point one of the guys - Maxwell? - was complaining because someone else had frozen his beer, and it was thus "broken". This sparked a discussion amongst the group I was with (see, I wasn't the only one) as to what would happen if you did freeze some beer and then defrost it, and whether it really would ruin it. So I decided to experiment. I popped along to Sainsbury's and duly purchased a can of Carlsberg Special Brew from the 'Reduced to Clear' section ("it was cheap"). Upon returning home I placed it in the freezer and, for some reason, forgot about it completely...until two days ago when a frozen-solid can of Carlsberg Special Brew was found, wrapped in a carrier bag, in the freezer as we moved house. It was kept frozen for the move and now resides in the freezer here temporarily. I plan to def...

Well, "New House, Updated Blog", anyway - but that wouldn't have fitted as well. Greetings from Billingshurst, where my family has now taken up residence. The new house is lovely, and despite the plethora of still to be unpacked boxes and an inability to find anything quickly I'm settling in well. The house has been redecorated and it's lovely; I think in the past I've been known to describe the upstairs as 'a bit poky' but I would like to take that back. Billingshurst itself is quite small, but has grown rapidly over the last couple of years. It seems pleasant enough and everything is within easy walking distance. It has its share of take-aways, charity shops, Barbers competing for bad names (Leonardo's and Blades, "the cutting edge"...), and its very own Budgens. It also seems to have a good selection of pubs, and I'm amused by the fact that the Kings Head is at the opposite end of the street from the Kings Arms. (Oh hilarious,...

This last few days I had hoped to welcome new visitors, to share my opinion of David Cameron, to wax lyrical about G&Ds (the ice cream place in Oxford - truly an institution), to tell you that I found such thing as a free lunch and to iramble about the usual wierd and wonderful goings on in my life. But alas time has been short - amidst revising for exams, applying for Masters courses and helping out in college with the prospective students here on interview my family is moving house. They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, and having been home at the weekend I can see why. So, please accept my apologies and do check back regularly - I hope to resume normal service as soon as I can. Thank you to all who commented on my last post - it was truly interesting and it was nice to have viewpoints from opposite ends of the spectrum. I am sorry however if it came across as somewhat heavy-handed and hope that whatever your viewpoint or political leaning ...

Recently, it has become “cool” to be liberal. The ideal of course, is to be tolerant of other people and their views and to care for the needs of others. To support world equality and to look after the planet and the environment. It has come to my attention, however that the world is full of people who like to be unpleasantly self-righteouss and put on a fluffy liberal front, without really fulfilling the ideals at all. People who are only liberal and tolerant where it suits them, and where it doesn’t cause any inconvenience. People who are liberal in the way that Henry Ford might have been (“you can have any view you like, so long as it’s mine”) and who view the need to be tolerant in a manner worthy of Animal Farm (“all people must be tolerant, but some must be more tolerant than others”). You might not think that any of this applies to you, of course, or you might not quite see what I am getting at. So let’s consider a few specific examples, some of which I have m...

This is a "does exactly what it says on the tin" sort of post. I am going to write about a couple of strange things I have seen in Oxford's streets in the last couple of days. Firstly I was walking down towards Oriel Square yesterday, as you do, and a guy came out of one of the buildings on the little side street. Nothing unusual with that. Neither was there anything unusual about most of what he was wearing (combats and some sort of sweater, typical of a student) or carrying (a bag, as if he was off to the library or a lecture). What set him apart however was the fact that he was also sporting multi-coloured fairy wings. I kid you not. And if that wasn't strange enough, no-one else in the street seemed the least bit taken aback and didn't so much as bat an eyelid. Then, this morning, I was en route to college and I saw a supermarket trolley in the street. Again, nothing unusual with that. Or was there? As I passed it, I noticed that it was not any old su...