Today we are on a mission! Well, Julia is on a mission, and I just follow on behind faithfully as usual. Today we are on a mission! Well, several missions to be exact. Julia has a plan! Well, several plans actually. We are going to explore the historic old town of Nice, buy a new […]

We are woken early by Julia’s mobile pinging to let her know she has a text message. It is from Swellin to remind us that today is a national holiday in France – it is 8 May of course, Victory in Europe Day, the day WWII officially ended, well here in Europe at any rate, […]

Julia and I are off to France again – to Nice on the Cotes d’Azur to be exact. We are going for 10 days to celebrate Julia’s 55th birthday on the 15 May. We are flying this time, not driving all the way to the south of France. We have rented a studio apartment and […]

When I was young, a favourite character in one of the children’s comics I used to read was Limp Along Leslie – a character who originally emerged in The Wizard from 1951-1955. His real name was Leslie Tomson, and he was a lame sheep farming footballer – who spent his time running Low Dyke Farm, […]

John Foster tells how an enquirer from Hinduism approached an Indian Bishop. Unaided he had read the New Testament, and the story had fascinated him. In particular he was gripped by the person of Jesus Christ. He felt he had entered a new world. In the Gospels it was all about Jesus … his works, […]

Two of my grandsons were discussing the meaning of Easter. Their conversation went something like this. George (age 5): ‘Luke, do you know that Easter time is when Jesus died on the cross?’ Luke (age 3)  ‘Yeah … then he fell down a big hole!’ Now in some ways that is not a bad answer. […]

The Boys’ Choir in a fashionable city church were going to sing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ for the Processional in the Sunday Morning Service. After the Saturday rehearsal several of the boys had an idea. They would make some crosses to carry down the aisle as they sang. Out came the hammer and nails, and soon […]

When tears started trickling down the face of a statue of Jesus Christ at a Catholic church in Mumbai last year, locals were quick to declare it a miracle. The Church of Our Lady of Velankanni became a site of pilgrimage and visitors began collecting the tears in bottles believing it to be holy water. […]

The recently elected Pope Francis I, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, chose the name ‘Francis’ in honour of one of his heroes (if Popes are allowed to have heroes), Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). Saint Francis is said, at one time in his life, to have had a deep fear of […]

Once upon a time, in the heart of a great Kingdom, lay a beautiful garden. And there in the cool of the day the Master of the Garden went to walk. Of all the occupants of the garden, the most beautiful and beloved was a gracious and noble Bamboo. Year after year the Bamboo grew […]