Hip Update
Well there’s definite improvement with my hip. I’ve seen a physio & a podiatrist and they’ve been really helpful. Already the exercises & stretches I’ve been set have made a big difference. I’ve been back to the gym 7 times in the last fortnight – using the stationary bike for 20 mins and doing my usual core/light weights/stretches routine for 40 mins. So that has restored my sanity and I don’t feel like I’m completely losing my fitness. I’ll not cycle to work for another week or so and I resisted the urge to go kayaking today – I just want to give my hip as much of a chance as possible to heal up. One of the exercises I’ve been given uses a foam roller – a fairly innocuous piece of kit, but believe me rolling up and down the illiotibial band (vocabulary expansion comes for free with injury) hurts like heck! I can just about manage 2 mins on each leg. I don’t know how the young blade in the picture above is managing to keep a smile on her face! Anyway, hopefully the improvement will continue. I’m not desperate to get back to running but it would be nice to be able to go for the odd run (emphasis on the word ‘odd’ big sis!) just for variety. Ultimately the important thing for me is to be able to go kayaking and hillwalking.

(Photo courtesy of The Loft Pilates Studio)

Well it seems that my recent running exploits have come back to bite me as I’ve hurt my hip. I’d felt some pain and stiffness after my first few runs which I just thought was muscular. But then last week I did the run I’d mentioned here (which turned out to be 4.5 miles) and the last ¾-mile I was really feeling the pain in my hip and realised that I’d done something. A good friend of mine who’s a physio has taken a look and diagnosed bursitis (inflammation of a fluid-filled sac near the joint) which can be treated but the bad news is she thinks I’ll have to rest it completely for 6 weeks i.e. no kayaking, cycling, walking, gym etc – ARGH! I’m a bit gutted to be honest as I don’t want to lose my fitness but hopefully it will work out for the long run as it is rather sore at the moment and I want it to get fully healed. And at the end of the day it could be a heck of a lot worse so I just have to suck it up, possibly God is reminding me that being fit isn’t the be-all and end-all, though it does make me feel good! Bummer!

Lone Star State
I mentioned several posts ago that I had been in Texas on a work-trip in May but until now I’ve never properly sat down to write about it. It was a flying visit (I left Thursday 11.20am and arrived back the following Tuesday 9am!) resulting in major jetlag but it was well worth the effort. The reason for the visit was that in October last year I was approached by the pastor of a church in Amarillo asking for help to set up a social action project for his high school youth group in Belfast this summer. The church then invited me to do some preparatory work with the team in May.

So I can now show you the way to Amarillo but it’s a bit of a long trip! I flew via Newark and Dallas but when I got to Dallas the Amarillo flight was cancelled. Thankfully the airline put me up in a Hilton. I got there about 8 or 9pm and was bushed so headed straight to bed so that I’d be able to get up at 5.30 to make the first flight to Amarillo. It would have been nice to make the most of the hotel and the pool – the bed in my room was gi-normous and there was a comfy recliner which I think would look well in my living room in Belfast!

However getting to Amarillo was great. Jeff, the pastor, had told me there may be a possibility for a couple of guys from his church to take me mountain-biking in a local canyon and I had been well up for that. The funny thing was that when I arrived in Amarillo at 9am, Jeff picked me up and asked if I was still keen to ride for biking as the guys were meeting at the church at 10am! Of course I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, especially to see Palo Duro Canyon (apparently the only other canyon bigger than Palo Duro in the USA is the Grand Canyon) so after tea and toast I met up with Chad and Levi and we drove out to the Canyon. It’s beautiful! I was surprised by the greenery on the floor of the canyon – I expected it to be completely devoid of plantlife. I’ve never actually been mountain-biking before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We did a trail called the Lighthouse Trail which leads to a huge hoodoo shaped like a lighthouse. Unfortunately I left my camera back in the truck so the photo below comes courtesy of Wikipedia. The views from there were stunning, it would be so amazing to see a sunset or sunrise there. Chad also spotted a couple of horned toad lizards (see left, photo from Wikipedia) and managed to pick one up to show me, I’m not really fond of reptiles and even though he looked pretty fiercesome with his spikes, he was quite cute! I was also told there were rattlesnakes which was slightly unnerving when I needed to relieve myself! Anyway I absolutely LOVED the biking! In fact if I get the chance, it has the potential to become another addiction alongside kayaking! My own bike however could just not compete, after 50 yards on that trail it would have been in 50 different pieces and I have a fresh appreciation of why a decent mountain bike costs so much.


So on the Friday night I got to meet the team of young people preparing to come to Belfast. I did a devotion with them, answered their questions about NI and almost succeeded in convincing some that we had a law in Belfast that forbade people to wear flip flops. On the Saturday I did some planning with Jeff and Ryan, the youth pastor. Then Ryan and his wife took me to his son’s baseball game along with their other 2 sons. The baseball players were all about 6 years old and it was kind of funny to see these little kids running around with their baseball gear on, the helmets were way too big for some, and you could see that those fielding had difficulty concentrating on the game. It was kind of cute but kind of weird too when they’re so young – I think they’d probably be better off just playing ball in their back yards for a couple more years yet, but that’s just my opinion. Sport is such a big deal in the States, I’ve often noticed how they take it more seriously at school & university level than we do here. I remember someone last year telling me about guys with basketball scholarships at some US universities having golf carts take them round the campus and they get treated like complete heroes. NI is a complete contrast - we could do with a major injection of enthusiasm in school sport…there’s bound to be a happy medium somewhere.

Anyway Ryan and Elise were kind enough to take me to a couple of shops so that I could get a new pair of trail shoes and take advantage of the pound-dollar rate. Then they took me to Cadillac Ranch. According to Wikipedia it's a 'public art installation and sculpture' with a bunch of Cadillacs half buried nose-first in the ground. The cars have been graffittied over the years and to be honest it’s just random. Interesting but random. One of the people behind this is a local millionnaire who also paid Amarillo residents to plant fake traffic signs in their front gardens. I saw a black one with a red rabbit on it and some other weird ones. Whatever floats your boat…

One of the things that struck me about Texas was obviously the flatness of the landscape. I’d always heard people talk about the big skies of American plains and kind of thought that the sky is the same size anywhere, but now I get it. You get such a greater sense of the vastness of the landscape when you’re somewhere like Texas.

Sunday was Mother’s Day in the States so the church had a breakfast for everyone, then a group of children from the Sundayschool performed a play on the 10 Commandments which doesn’t sound promising but was actually quite entertaining with some great acting by the kids. For the service itself I was sitting at the front because I had to do a wee 5-minute spiel about the summer project in Belfast, so I was completely unaware of anything behind me and I got a bit of a surprise when the church’s handbell choir launched into a wee introit at the start of the service. When it came to my turn to speak, I tried to speak more slowly than usual but I knew rightly that people were probably mesmerised by my accent (and my dulcet tones…not!) and it was unlikely that anyone would have a clue what I was saying! But folks were really friendly and appreciative of the opportunity their young people were getting to work in NI.

I stayed with Jeff and his family and got to meet some of their friends and their kids on the Sunday evening when they fired up the barbecue. After eating we all sat down together to play a card game and I was amazed – in this country it would be rare for a bunch of parents and their teenage kids to sit down and play silly games together. It was really cool to see and experience that, it was just pure simple fun. Many teenagers here would be too ‘cool’ to do that with their parents and many parents here wouldn’t want to sit down with their kids to do silly stuff like that. I think we could learn something from that.

So that was it… I pretty much spent most of Monday sitting in airports and on planes. Not exactly fun but I met one or two interesting people including a retired man on the plane from Dallas who was heading off on a trip to the Holy Land with his church. He had been in the Navy and had been an engineer working on various projects all over the USA so he had some fascinating stories to tell.

I guess what has brought completion and a sense of satisfaction to my trip back in May is the fact that the 30-strong team of Texans has now been and gone and they truly did a fantastic job. We modelled the project on Streetreach so that they spent 4 days in Tullycarnet, East Belfast, partnering with 2 local churches to bless the local community in whatever way they could – tidying pensioners’ gardens, playing games with local children, clearing up rubbish from residential areas, playing football and baseball with teenagers, putting on a community barbecue complete with face-painting, bouncy castle and ‘Tullycarnet’s got Talent’! They also spent a couple of days doing some maintenance work at the 174 Trust and hanging out with some of the youth groups there. The American young people were very quick to grasp what it was we were doing – simply being Jesus on the street, sharing the time of day with people, bringing to life the good news of Jesus, making the community livable again. They were brilliant and mixed really well with the local young people. Tullycarnet is a fantastic place for Streetreach, some might perceive the churches there to be struggling because they’re in a deprived area. But they have such a huge heart for the community of which they are a part and truly strive to walk in step with Jesus as they reach out to folks around them.

Not only did the American contingent bring with them willing hearts to serve, but they also brought their very own version of Peter Kay's video tribute to Tony Christie's 'Show me the way to Amarillo song'. Kind of hard for these guys to enjoy this video to its fullest when the majority of the personalities are only known in the British Isles, but I have to say Ryan made a great Peter Kay and their performance made me laugh out loud! There's a rumour it's on Youtube, I'll have to check that out.

By the end of the 10-day project I was completely shattered but what made my day the most was the fact that without having to ‘engineer’ anything, I heard some of the American young people talking about how they could do Streetreach in their city, that there were poorer areas of their city where they could go and be a blessing. And what’s more it seems that a bunch of people from Tullycarnet are keen to get involved and maybe make their way Stateside next year! How cool would that be?!

Well the blog has been rather silent of late and the reason has simply been sheer busyness - my mind has been occupied by other things. Work is busy and the pressure is on with the dissertation. When I look at my diary I groan inwardly. However I am trying to go at a steady pace and take time for rest too (read: flake out on sofa).

In terms of kayaking I’ve been on the lake a fair bit with the club but I haven’t been on a river since the beginning of August as there simply isn’t enough water in the rivers. The lack of water is getting a bit depressing, I think I’m getting the kayaker equivalent of cabin fever! However the chance to work on some skills has been really good and I can now go round and round in circles just using power strokes and edging both on the inside… might not sound like much but it means something to me!

To cheer myself up with the lack of H2O falling from the sky (and to upgrade the effectiveness of my gear!) I’ve bought a new cag, the Palm Naiya, a women’s specific dry top. I am well chuffed! My previous cag was a semi-dry top, i.e. it had latex seals to keep water out only in the wrists and the neck was just a neoprene seal so as soon as I did a roll, water would be trickling down into my inside layers. By the end of the day a lot of water would have gathered in the ankles of my dry trousers. But no more as the Naiya has a latex seal in the neck. Unfortunately this is going to be rather uncomfortable for a few weeks until there’s a bit more ‘give’ in it – I think my face was turning nearly as purple as the cag when I first tried it out! But it is so effective, I stay really dry on the inside and I’m really impressed with how the water beads off the surface of the material. It’s the simple things in life…

With regards to the studying, well it’s progressing if at what seems like a snail’s pace. I seem to suffer from verbal constipation quite frequently! My field research started a month ago and it’s been going pretty well though there was a slight panic when the university lost track of my ethical approval forms, but I think it’s all sorted now. I’ve another month or so of field research and it’s unbelievable how much time it takes to write up stuff. I nearly had a hernia when I discovered my analysis and discussion chapter needs to be 4,500 words! I’m not 100% sure yet that I’ll have that much to say, but we’ll see.

Two weeks ago I started cycling to work on the days I don’t need the car. My life has flashed before me just once so far when a car pulled out into the bus lane in front of me. Cyclists can share the buslanes on my route but it’s rather intimidating when a double-decker is coming up behind you. Shared a moment of solidarity with a fellow cyclist one morning last week – we were both complaining about cold hands at a set of traffic lights. She took off and streaked ahead of me and it was then I noticed her filled panniers and the wee cart she was pulling behind her bike. To say that I felt inadequate as I puffed up the hill behind her was an understatement! I should have known she was a pro when I saw the wee mirror she’s attached to her helmet!

What's been happenin'...
Well it would seem I haven’t been very ‘purpose-driven’ recently considering my lack of blogging over the past week or so. Actually I’ve been somewhat absorbed by other things…namely planning a month-long trip to China in 8 weeks’ time! Woo-hoo! I’m going with a friend and we’re hoping to spend some time in Yunnan, Sichuan and then Thailand or Vietnam, doing a spot of trekking etc. If you saw any of Michael Palin’s ‘Himalaya’ programme last year, some of the places on our itinerary were featured on it e.g. Tiger Leaping Gorge. I cannot wait! Unfortunately I can’t get unpaid leave so when I come back mid-September I’ll be jobless. But to be honest I’m not too worried – it will work out and God will keep me right.

So I’m trying to get fit and have been trying to bike to work most days and do some extra biking round the local country roads in the afternoons/evenings, wish the weather would settle though, I hate biking in wind and rain! Actually I fell off last week, felt like a right prat so hopped right back on to try and salvage some credibility. When I got home I had to turf my trainers into the washing machine as they were rather spattered with blood, and had to go to my next-door neighbour to ask for some antiseptic. It’s sad but I feel quite proud of my ‘war-wound’ – makes me feel like a ‘proper cyclist’ (though believe me if you saw the cut of me you’d know I’m far from that, I barely know how to use the gears!).

Eason’s is going good, still enjoying it and it is still so blissful to be working part-time and have time for other things during the day, such as watching a spot of tennis now that there’s actually some on terrestrial TV (bring on Wimbles, yay!). At work I’ve had the dubious pleasure of sorting out the Mills & Boon books and the titles really take the biscuit! It seems that if you’re a male doctor, cowboy, sheikh, Greek tycoon or even banker, you have instant sex appeal. I think my ‘favourite’ titles are: ‘Lover Undercover’, ‘The Last Man in Texas’, ‘Expecting the Cop’s Baby’ and ‘Crime and Passion’…NOT!

Was at the Third Day concert last week, along with what seemed like the rest of Northern Ireland’s Christian community – it’s rather weird the way you constantly bump into folk you know, bit like a mini Summer Madness. Personally I find it a bit claustrophobic. Anyway it was a really great show. And I was at my first ever cosmetics party the week before that courtesy of Virgin Vie and an old school pal. Quite an experience, thought I’d be a bit intimidated considering I’m really not into the whole make-up scene and can barely put mascara on without poking my eye out. But actually it was a good laugh, the group was like a pack of wee kiddies let loose in a sweetie shop (that's ‘candy store’ for all you N American people!). Yesterday’s latest adventure was that I came home to find a bird in my house, yes that’s right, a flippin’ bird! It must have come down the chimney as there was soot all round the fireplace. The funny thing is that the fireguard is still in place so it must have managed to squeeze out without knocking over the fireguard or any of my candles! When I walked into the house it was flapping about in my bedroom desperately trying to get out, poor thing. So had to get a couple of plastic bags over my hands, try to cup it and force it (gently!) out a window. Unfortunately there’s bird poop round quite a few of my windows, it’s been fun cleaning that up!

So there you go that’s the latest score on the doors with me – I’m enjoying life!

I want to ride my bii-see-cal!
I rode a bike for the first time in about 8 years on Monday night! I’ve nabbed an old mountain bike of my brother’s and brought it down to Dungannon on Sunday night with the intention of biking to work every day to cut down on mileage and help me keep fit. So on Monday and Tuesday nights I took it out for a spin to try to figure out the gears (I’m not very proficient in that department as yet!) and today I managed make it to work and back on pedal-power. The way there involved a lot more hills than on the way back but I got a bit of a drenching coming home.

It brings back fond memories of my time in Germany eight years ago when I spent 4 months studying at the University of Regensburg as part of my undergraduate degree programme (though I can’t honestly say a huge amount of studying went on, Regensburg is a beautiful spot and we did as much travelling as possible!). The essential mode of transport for everyone there was a bike. So I managed to buy one for 50DM (about £18 at the time) which had all of 3 gears and definitely didn’t have a lot of street cred in terms of its looks. But it did the job and I got unbelievably fit – we cycled everywhere, it was great! My hall of residence was at the top of a steep hill – it took me a full week to be able to pedal up it without stopping to get off. And my room was on the fifth floor but there were no lifts, so I had to clamber up 75 steps to get to my room! I think it’s actually the fittest I’ve ever been in my life – my body didn’t know what had hit it! The set-up in Germany is so good for that kind of thing – bike lanes throughout the city, pedestrian crossings aren’t just for pedestrians but also for cyclists (there’s a wee green bike that lights up beside the wee green man!), cycle paths in the countryside, along rivers etc. When it came to the time for me to leave in August ’97 I couldn’t find a buyer for my bike, so I ended up just walking into a bike shop and leaving it there – that bike owed me nothing!

…which reminds me of a rather interesting incident. There were a couple of times that I had a few repairs to get done to the bike, and I went back to the man I’d bought it from. One day I knocked on his door to be greeted by his Norwegian wife dressed only in jeans and bra…yes you read that correctly! I just didn’t know where to look or what to say! She explained that she’d been ironing and because it was so hot she’d taken her blouse off… Okay, whatever!