les Davey de France

Christian anniversaries in 2013 Here are some encouragements and challenges from the past. The monk  Columba  sailed from Ireland, with 12 companions, and after a perilous journey landed on the island of Iona in 563. He founded a monastery there to train young men for the evangelisation of the North Picts. The Thirty-Nine Articles , defining the position of the Church of England, were sanctioned by Convocation in 1563. Historically, all clergy in the Church of England have been required to subscribe to them. Daniel Rowland  was born in 1713, and became one of the foremost leaders in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist movement in the 18th century. For much of his life he served as curate first to his brother and then to his own son at Llangeitho, Cardiganshire, and was such a compelling preacher that thousands flocked to hear him on Communion Sundays. The  Spanish Gospel Mission  was founded in 1913. An Englishman, Percy Buffard, had been a teacher of English in Spain, and, appall

For the Chinese this evening. For the French tomorrow morning. For the anglophones tomorrow evening. Woohoo - here we go !

The Bible Eater: A Plan for Feasting on Christ in 2013 Download here . Here's how the Bible Eater works: Old Testament: Read 2 to 3 chapters per day and take 4 days off per month. Read 1 to 3 designated one-sitting Old Testament books each quarter. New Testament: Read 1 chapter per day and take 4 days off per month. One gospel is assigned to each quarter and Romans and Hebrews are assigned twice across the year. Follow this rhythm and you will get through the entire Bible in one year. So far, this doesn't sound a whole lot different than most other plans. So now I'll unpack some of its unique features. Redemptive Historical Focus Every chapter in the Bible is important since every word in the book is from God. But some chapters are more crucial for helping us understand the overall narrative of the Bible's salvation story. For example, the story of Joseph is an important demonstration of God's faithfulness to keep his promises, but God's covenant with Abra

Administration ! Administration ! It's a nightmare ! I have a UK driving licence with a photocard. It's not necessary now to exchange this for a French licence. This is good for us because we are not permanent workers in France, we work for a UK organisation that could recall us to the UK. However every five years you have to renew the photo on your driving licence. No problem. The photo is already on my passport. All I have to do is : A) Log on to my UK Government User-id B) Enter my passport number C) Pay £20 D) Wait for my new licence to be delivered to UFM. Easy-peasy ! However A) I can't remember my password - or at least the password I SHOULD have used is invalid B) The address on my driving licence is also invalid, even though the system printed it on my driving licence.. It might just be easier to swap it for a French licence...

So the lad is going to work for four weeks in the Evangelical Movement of Wales bookshops, principally in Bryntirion, Bridgend. Some friends have offered accommodation a couple of miles away, though it is possible that WEST may have a room available. Next thing is to buy his airline and bus ticket Bordeaux - Gatwick - Bridgend.

So we pondered. A party ? So near Christmas ? What then ? One of Gwilym's BIG ambitions in Borderaux has been to go somewhere for fish and chips. As this is NOT a cheap meal out in Bordeaux we have hummed and haed for years. So when I suggested that this could be the perfect occasion he jumped at the chance. So that's what we'll do. Probably on Friday. Meanwhile on Christmas Eve, his eighteenth birthday, our ex-neighbour invited us for a Christmas meal, this time a fondue bourguignonne - chunks of beef that you cook at the table in a sizzling pot of oil. You eat them with bread and various sauces and I don't need to tell you how delicious it was, especially when mixed with the excitement of having extremely hot oil over a spirit stove in the middle of the table ! We were responsible for dessert, which was a raspberry meringue thing from the freezer centre. It said it would feed four to five people, but we were still eating it three days later.

Christmas activities began on 16 December with the first service at Blaye - a Christmas service - which went very well. We were encouraged by new folk attending and by support from folk from Cenon. A good start. That evening was the English Service Christmas Meal and Message . We'd planned to hold this at the church but Mrs Davey's broken toe and back problem coupled with my bronchitis meant we moved it to our home. Again all went well and we squeezed in OK around the dining table lined up with the big white garden table. Sadly the message part of meal and message was not possible. Bronchitis oblige. The following Friday was the French church Fête de Noël , which this time took the form of a follow-up evening for the Kids clubs that have been running in the church. The kids prepared various activities and it was good to see a number of parents and siblings at the church. The following Sunday morning was the French church's last service before Christmas. I talked ab

OK, I have fought this long enough. I want to go to America and work in a church with a BIG BAND !

Oh yes, the bus and tram company emailed me today to say that my season ticket runs out on 31/10/2011 and please could I renew it before that date. OK. It's like that, is it. Fine. If the world's against Alan, then Alan's against the world ! Look out !

I had to go to Cadillac for a church business meeting at 12:15 so I booked a car for 11:30. Then this morning heard it had been brought forward an hour. Almost changed the car booking (but forgot to click confirm) Missed the bus to pick up the car Wondered why the car wouldn't unlock, then realised I hadn"t confirmed the changed booking Got the car Got lost Got flashed by a speed trap (I thought the limit WAS 70 ?) Got left behind because I needed fuel Got the car back late. But the lunch was nice.

Well there we are : two Sundays and a mid-week expedition by Autocool so far, and so far so good. The Bipper Teepee has covered 23k kilometres, it's almost new and it runs fine. We wouldn't buy one but it's fine for what we need. This Sunday it took us, the piano, sundry baggage and all to Blaye without any fuss whatsoever. The Twingo was super for picking Catrin up from the theatre. Meanwhile our Berlingo sits waiting for us to decide in January what we'll do : whether we'll just sell it and run on Autopartage or whether we'll attempt to exchange it for a little Yaris or something. Whatever happens it means saying farewell to the Berlingo. It's been a great car. For years we had no problems whatsoever. Even now the engine starts fine and the car runs beautifully. It's easy to live with, has an enormous boot, is economical and comfortable. We'll miss it. I have done a bit more research and there are various stories of people who have had re

He's a very nice chap, but he does remind me of Louis de Funès - I am sure they must be related. Anyway he listened to my breathing, listened to my cough, looked down my throat and then recommended : 1) inhalations of olbas oil or similar 2) a codeine based anti-tussive for when I have to talk and need to avoid coughing 3) that I consider seeing someone about sleep apnoea, because I have a very large tongue 4) that I have a colonoscopy perhaps every two or three years. We discussed sleep apnoea first. Briefly. We discussed the prospect of a colonoscopy in more ... depth. I said, "the thing is, Doctor, the human body has been designed with entrances and exits, and it is inadvisable to confuse them." "yes, but with your family history". I thought of my two sisters, both considerably my senior but neither having had a colonoscopy... "Yes, seeing that your father died at 49." "No ! 69, 69 !" "Oh that's different t

Poor crocks, because of Pat's broken toe and my bronchitis we moved the English Service Meal and Message to our house. We put two tables in a long line and managed to seat everyone comfortably. In the end we had to forgo the talk - I was never going to project my voice enough. But we sang carols and so on.

Well the first service seemed to go very well. We set it up with the apéro in the back room and the service in the big room. There is a strong echo, very forgiving for the musicians and a bit troublesome for readers and preacher. Twenty-two people were there. A couple of folk I hoped would be there didn't come. All went very well. Thanks for your prayers !

Twitter. For me it sums up the whole Internet discussion. What pros and cons ! Pros : quick communication of news. Headlines sent out swiftly. Photos. Link it with Facebook and you're sharing something quickly and easily. Cons : strange tweets in your name  advertising products you've never heard of. Ty to change your password - Byzantine complexity. And then there's all the tweets ! It's by far the biggest time-waster on the Internet ! So if you see strange updates from me advertising bizarre herbal products - it's not me, and I am working on sorting it out...

I've been brewing up a nice little bronchitis and not wanting to face up to it. Two reasons - one is that I do seem to get quite a few colds and stuff, the second is that this weekend is a big weekend. We have the first service at Blaye tomorrow morning. This time yesterday I thought we'd no chance of being ready, but now the music is printed out, the hymn sheets are virtually done - just need printing and stapling - and I know what I'm saying for the message. Then in the evening we have the Great English Service Christmas Meal and Message. We've just moved this to our house partly because of the bronchitis and partly because of Pat's broken toe ! Anyway, on Monday I'll go and see the medecine man and see what he says. Then I'll look after myself, I promise, well, at least until next Sunday !

 A theatre trip ? STARTING at 9pm ? On a Thursday ? They know what time you have to get up for school on Friday ? And how will you get home ? So it was that we reserved the fuchsia Twingo overnight to fetch Catrin from Bègles. To get the car I had to go to Mérignac Centre, hence the photos of Mérignac's rather exuberant Christmas lights. The fuchsia Twingo was just fine for scuttling off to the theatre to get Catrin, but I was glad it was dark when I picked it up and dropped it off !

So there I was, happily hurtling into town on the tram for my 14h30 meet-up. Then suddenly : honk, honk, honk ... honk, honk THUD... Someone turning left in their black Peugeot 206 had neither seen nor heard the tram and had pulled into its path. Nobody was hurt, but we all had to evacuate the tram through one emergency door and continue our journey by other means. So I walked the rest of the way and got to my rendez-vous somewhat late, but invigorated by my brisk walk !

Last night we held a Sherlock Holmes and quiches evening  for the students and others. It was a nice evening with nice quiches, though I struggled to sparkle and crawled off to my bed fairly early.

So 8:30 found me at the bus stop waiting for the 4 to Pessac. I'd booked the car from 9 and got to the parking place a few minutes before. I think you pay per 15 mins, and I needed the toilet, so I asked some friendly neighbourhood JWs where the nearest loo was and went off to find it while one of them scraped the ice off the windscreen of the car. (I told you they were friendly !) Then pick up the family, deposit the kids at Cenon and bustle off to Blaye. You sit high in a Peugeot Beepee Tipper, and the ride is kind of bouncy; it bounced happily up the motorway to Blaye and we arrived bang on time. Most folk were late. The congregation is not numerous but it's courageous and in good heart, and all geared up for the start of services in the town centre next week. Aftewards we bounced back to Cenon. I was keeping my eye on the fuel guage because the goal is to always leave the car at least 1/4 full of fuel. Meanwhile Pat scoured the interior of the car for the card with whic

I have just realised that yesterday in the church council meeting we moved from planning our preaching rota monthly for the month to come, to planning it quarterly, for the quarter to come. I didn't suggest it. Nobody objected. We just went ahead and did it together without remark. Woohoo !

The other day I left the house to hop into town for an AGM, the AGM of the student outreach. While on the bus I checked my messages and found it had been postponed by an hour. What to do ? I know ! The Desigual shop ! Near the 1970s Meriadeck Shopping Mall there's a new Desigual shop - I don't know if Desigual are popular in the UK, but in this area there's a few "local" designer brands that people like : "64", Adishatz and Desigual. "64" is, I think, a Basque label. Adishatz is Gascon and Desigual is Catalan, centred on Barcelona. And you can tell ! Their clothes remind me of Kaffe Fassett's knitwear, but after a very strong coffee. Ladies's coats that are a RIOT of colour, pattern and typography. Men's tweed jackets made from every tweed you can imagine. Their bags are like a herbaceous border in full bloom. Gorgeous ! I can't imagine anyone ever wearing them - well perhaps the mens' shirts, which are really nice

and my saxophonist friend's ears were ringing. "Oh yes, and you have D. the lead trombone right behind you" "Ouais. Comme un âne. Comme un âne." (Yes. Like a donkey. Like a donkey.) Every time I think of "comme un âne, comme un âne" it just starts me giggling...

That made three consecutive Wednesdays that my JW friend had not called. I know that last time I had been a little straight about all this "That figure is figurative, that number is literal" mularky, and I had said that to imagine that Jesus had the committee in Brooklyn in mind when he spoke of the faithful servant in Matthew 24 was trumpery moonshine but it wasn't the first time we'd been straight like that. He had taken a booklet. Maybe that's why he didn't come back. Pat and I talked about it. "Well he's certainly had a chance to hear!" That was true. Anyway I was SO relieved when they came round on Thursday afternoon. I wasn't in, but it was good they came.

There's a first time for everything ! I was tempted to say yes, but I confessed to being Gallois . That means I've had Swiss, Belgian and Quebecois now. Still waiting for the jackpot : Vous êtes Congolais ?

So some time in the wee hours the decision was taken: we would join the Autocool Car Pool Club without further hesitation or delay. Thus it was that this morning found me traipsing down from Mériadeck to the Autocool office near the quays (the tram had broken down) where I found a very nice lady who explained everything to me. Because I already have a tram season ticket then 1) I don't have to pay 150€ to join, the joining fee is waived 2) the monthly fee is reduced from 10€ to 8€, but there's also 20% reduction on the tram ticket, so it costs between 1€ and 2€ a month to belong 3) we can add Pat as another driver 4) a UK driving licence is fine, though those from certain states of the USA are not 5) fuel is included in the charge for using the car - you get fuel using a special card kept in the cars 6) you can even put learner drivers on to do their conduite accompagnée 7) you can also use the similar schemes in Paris, Strasbourg, Marseille, etc. etc. I

So this morning we had a meeting with the official from the town hall to arrange the use of the rooms in the centre of town for our monthly service there. Here's some photos of the building, the entrance hall and the smaller of the two rooms we can use. The building is the former law courts. This would be a bit off-putting in the UK, I think, but in France life is very conflictual anyway so the law-courts are seen as a place where you settle conflicts. Fairly positive, really. It's a super situation. There are two rooms we can use; one seats 30 and the other 60. You can park opposite. There's disabled access via the rear. There's no kitchen, but apart from that it's great. Nobody else uses the building on Sunday mornings and we can have it free of charge. Pretty good, eh ? Aftewards on the way back to Bordeaux I had an episode with the car. I had managed every roundabout from Blaye to the Bordeaux ring road in 4th gear and I thought things were looking goo

has hit 9.9%, with 24% of under-25s unemployed.

Au temps d'Athanase ( 296 - 373 ) il y avait de féroces disputes sur l'identité de Jésus. Le chrétien aujourd'hui comprend que la Bible enseigne que Jésus est le Fils de Dieu, à la fois complètement divine mais une personne distincte du Père. Mais Athanase a vu l'église divisée entre quatre partis : Les "arianistes", comme les témoins de Jéhovah d'aujourd'hui, disaient que le Fils a été créé le premier, semi-divine mais pas Dieu lui-même. Les 'origenistes" disaient que Jésus n'était pas créé, mais il n'était pas exactement comme Dieu, ayant une nature similaire mais différente. Les "nicenistes" croyaient que Jésus est le Fils de Dieu, de la même nature (le mot grec est homoousios - la même substance) que Dieu le Père. Jésus est complètement Dieu, mais il n'est pas le Père. Les "sabellianistes" ont dit que le Père et le Fils sont la même personne dans de différents rôles, de la même façon qu'aujourd&#

Notes finished - ready to go In the course of my sermon from 2 Timothy at Anglade I mentioned that the best translation of the word for " preach the word" is to announce like a herald. Un héraut. Now the congregation at Anglade is pretty canny, so you can imagine my shock when they didn't know the word héraut . Well, one man dredged it up from the depths of his memory but for most of them it was a new word. Or at least they said it was. I thought, 'after scouring the dictionary to ensure it is le héraut and not l'héraut , I needn't have bothered ! Then I thought, well it's pretty logical. If you don't have a king why have a herald. There may be other consequences of the word's disappearance, too.

This is my office. The lady serving was a bit surprised when I was back in the afternoon meeting up with someone else. But it's a nice place to meet, comfortable with enough privacy to talk. It was cold at lunchtime but lunch in a café is expensive so I got a sandwich from a supermarket in one of the shopping malls then sat on some steps to eat it, along with about 5 or 6 other people !

So at the synode we discussed what we had for breakfast. I'd had a nice standard French breakfast of really nice fresh bread with super fig jam and black coffee. A colleague had had instant coffee (shudder... ) and those dry toast things... So what do you normally have ? Qu'est-ce que tu prends d'habitude ? Always porage. (Flocons d'avoine) Des flocons d'avoine tous les jours. Oh, that's really nice, oatflakes. You can use them to thicken soup, too. Kwakawat. Mais c'est bon, les flocons d'avoine. On peut les ajouter aux soupes, aussi. Kwakawat. Sorry ? Comment ? Kwakawat. It's a brand. Kwakawat. C'est une marque.

Pat's at church helping with a fortnightly Wednesday afternoon Kids' Club. When Gwilym gets home I have to trim his hair, then we'll go off to get a replacement wood-burning stove. I'm quite excited about this stove - it will take longer logs then our old one and the cost of the stove is less than the cost of the spare parts we needed to repair our old one (the grate burned through...) It's been a bit of a saga waiting for it to come in to our local DIY store - but it's there now and we should be able to get it (and fit it ?) this afternoon. If I have trouble fitting it our old stove fitter said to call him and he'll come and sort it out for us. Then we have the FAC AGM at the FacFlat in the middle of town this evening.

So it's time for my annual blood test to check cholesterol, PSA, diabetes, etc. etc. I have also had a letter to suggest I do a test for occult blood, but I have to get the doctor's signature to do that. I phoned for an appointment but she said to go straight away and I forgot to take the letter with me. Bof. Still, she was a happy doctor. The blood test results will come this afternoon. If there's anything that needs poking around then she'll phone.

I've always thought that Synod was an interesting word. If you try to understand it by breaking it down into its component parts you don't go far wrong, do you. Syn. Od. Synod. Anyway the Synode Régional was in the charming and remote town of Rieubach, near the Mas d'Azil way down in the Ariège. Here's a few photos. Synodes are not good places for the tummy or the wasteline as people try to present the best of their regional cuisine and also to make people feel at home. I don't know quite how this one worked out, but the first meal we had was a wonderful choucroute . The second was andouillette , but by that time I was feeling the need for lightness, so I stuck to the "salade de magret de canard" starter and let the "pigs guts sausage in a savoury onion casserole" pass me by. I did crack for a marvellously aromatic cheese that looked so innocent but had a strong element of ammonia. It was delicious spread with the local fig j

What have you found helpful, folks?

It really has been wonderful weather here. Especially good as we wait for a wood-stove to be delivered to Leroy-Merlin ! They said it would be there last week but it wasn't. The afternoons are warm and sunny. The mornings have a certain nip in the air and the evening is a little chilly. We put the heating on in the evenings but really we're very comfortable. After the excitement of a very full weekend I was pretty jiggered yesterday with a dry throat and an irritating cough. Today I have more energy so I'm back on the case with emails flying to the right, to the left and a long skype call this morning. I've also been doing a bit of planning and reflecting, not too much, just what is necessary. We'll be writing a prayer letter soon, and for that I asked for a bit of clarification from the mission about finances and so on. I've also been ordering some books that I should have ordered a while ago. Catching up generally. This evening prayer meeting. A good Tue

A video filmed by Mrs Davey on my phone - sorry for the dodgy sound !

Saturday morning - Church membership class Saturday afternoon - Conference on immigration Saturday evening - Concert with PJB Sunday morning - Preaching at Anglade Sunday evening - English fellowship chez nous. Some good news from the weekend : 1) We begin services in the centre of Blaye on 2 December 2) We also have the prospect of a monthly Bible Study in the heart of Blaye. 3) Attendance almost doubled for the English fellowship with some new folk coming along. Some will come back. Some almost certainly won't, but we need to work out how to move back to the church. Now I am having a quiet Monday and hoping the dryness in my throat sorts itself out !

As a student in the 1980s I cut my teeth on Francis Schaeffer, reading the big classic, watching the series of films and being aware and shaped in a way by his analysis of the direction in which Western culture was going. "True Spirituality" was always my favourite Schaeffer book, and later contact with his family ensured that his influence on the scene I lived in continued. So it's been fascinating to read Mostyn Roberts' little biography . I know Mostyn and this has added to my enjoyment - now and again his dry sense of humour comes through. It was good to place Schaeffer's formative years in context - the context of the huge battles for orthodoxy - and now as a missionary pastor in France the later battle with neo-orthodoxy is just as live an issue today as it was then. Maybe more so. Schaeffer the man is portrayed sensitively as well as his real dependence on and need for Edith's complementary gifts and character. And just in case you were won

A new covered market under the flyer-over just about 50 metres from the church ! Whoopppeeeeee !

The more time goes on the more convinced I am that the French language does not yield. You can never master it. French will be nobody's mistress. No sir. Just yesterday in the few little chores I had to do first thing in the morning : 1) I managed to massacre the conjugation of a fairly simple verb. An irregular verb, it's true, but no great shakes. However I messed it up good and proper. 2) I invented a past participle that does not exist. Again a straightforward verb. We are not talking about the subjunctive of paître here. An ordinary, everyday verb. 3) I fouled up a gender, making something masculine instead of feminine. La physique is Physics. Le physique is your physique. Folks often say I have good French. That's very kind and of course I like it when people say that. It's encouraging. But of course, the goal is to have an unremarkable French. One where it just doesn't enter people's heads whether your French is good or bad, it is just tran

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Yesterday being calmer it meant I could catch up on some things that had been waiting for me, like paying some cheques into the bank and paying for Catrin's singing lessons at the music school and so on. Yes. So I sorted things out and then this morning walked over through the park to the post office and bank. It is hard to describe how lovely this November has been so far. Last night the temperature dropped to just about 10°, in the house it stayed at about 19° all day so we didn't bother putting the heating on overnight. The grass in the park is a super green and the trees are all turning colour. Today there's a lovely blue sky and when I got in from my errands I took off my coat and jumper because it's so pleasant. The bank was easy, the music school was understanding. "I knew I hadn't done everything connected with Catrin's singing lessons !" 'Yes - after seeing the teacher you are supposed to come and pay.' Doh ! So instead of te

Today seems so calm and normal. So far. Anyway it's time to get on with preparation for the weekend ! It's a full one. Friday evening - Home Group for Bordeaux Centre / South. Saturday afternoon - Conference at the church on outreach to Muslims Saturday evening - Concert with the Pessac Jazz Band at the Salle Galet in Pessac Sunday morning - Preaching at Anglade Sunday evening - English Service at our house Better get down to it !

Plumbers have been. Fixed the leak. Restored the water. Covered by insurance. Phew.

We got this guy coming to the church at the weekend to do an afternoon on outreach to Muslims and to preach on the Sunday. And whaddayaknow ! He's a trombonist and his wife's a flautist !

During my deputation trip in October I hired a car from Hertz via the Ryanair website. It cost £308, which I thought was not bad considering I had almost 11000 miles to do. However that £308 is not the cost of hiring the car from Hertz. What you actually buy is a "Voucher Credit" of £308 which you can put against the cost of hiring a car. The actual cost of hiring the car ended up being £449. That's almost half as much again. So be careful. Apart from that the flight was fine, the cabin crew were friendly, everything else was great.

The prayer meeting was an interesting time, with lots of discussion about the upcoming legalisation of homosexual marriage, etc. etc. We finished early enough for everyone to get home through the November chill and left the building. Yesterday was a glorious day. In the afternoon the lizards were basking in the sun, it was like a nice English summer's day. Not hot but pleasant, and the sun was hot. By the evening it was chilly and I regretted dressing for afternoon and not for night. Still. I'd be home by 10 past 10; The tram came and we set off, only to break down one stop along. Technical problems as far as Hotel de Ville. So we set off like the flock of little lambs we were to catch the bus. First the 45 to the station. It came and took us along the right bank water front, past the white vans with their little red lights to the Pont Saint Jean with its view of the gorgeous buildings and Napoloen's Pont de Pierre. Such misery and such elegance side by side. That&#

So I had a meeting at 3 with a student at the town hall. We found each other - I was wearing my red jacket but he was in black, grey and jeans like everyone else. Saw a few other folk I know, too. He needed to get a Bible so we staggered off to the Maison de la Bible. We chatted about the possibilities of making a few changes here and there, as Bethany Books has done in Shotton. Then we zoomed to the Café Cheverus where I used to do the Advanced English Classes so long ago ! (like in June...) We read together, talked and prayed. Then off to the church to meet a roofer (Eurotoit) who might fix our leaks. ( New ceiling but the roof is leaky ! ) His proposal sounds alarmingly expensive to me, but then what do I know, and he's going to give us a quote anyway. After he went I spent some time reading Mostyn Roberts' charming biography of Francis Shaeffer ( IV ) then got some grub to eat before the prayer meeting.

Well after a few calls to various people the man from Lyonnaise des Eaux came in his van, a young guy in his twenties, very polite and efficient. He got out a metal detector and searched for the meter. And in fact it had not been taken , it had been buried . We dug away and got at it, cleaned it out and turned off the water. What a relief ! Interesting, though. That means our water meter has not been read for a very long time and, in my humble opinion, neither has our neighbour's - it was full of gravel and muck and I had to clean it out before turning off her water. I suggested to her last night that the meter readers had been submitting rélevés fictifs ... So now we await a visit from our plumber to sort out the leaky pipe. I hope that it is a pipe that feeds a hose buried under the lawn that rises to a tap in next door's garden. If so then we can just seal it off and have done with it, and the neighbours will be glad. I've been trying to get that sorted for years

and what we think is our stop-cock cuts off her water... She and her husband reckon that when the firm installed the pool they didn't touch either water meter, but she can see that one meter is missing and she understands me when I say it disappeared when the pool was installed. They think that the builder moved it when they built the two new houses in front... So do we have a water meter ? And if so where ? And how do we cut off our water ? Confused ? Join the club ! Anyway tomorrow morning we'll call the water company and get them to tell us where they read our meter.

OK, so this morning Pat said, "Can you come here a minute, Alan..." - words I always dread. There was water flowing from a pipe covered by a kind of concrete cover just outside out back door. I called the plumber and we tried to cut the water off. We didn't manage to cut the water off - no tap or stop cock made any difference at all. And what is more, our water meter is not turning. Never mind, the plumber's coming. He came, he saw, he said "It's got me beat." Basically until next door has their swimming pool installed there were two water meters and stop cocks at the beginning of our drive. When the pool got installed they moved one of them. Theirs, I assumed. (Fool not to check !) Now it appears possible that they moved the wrong meter and stop cock and have, in effect, got two meters and stop-cocks on their water inlet and there's neither water meter not stop cock on our supply. Since we pay by direct debit the same payment every m

There's some kind of leak under the kitchen window outside the house. OK. The plumber will call later this afternoon.

This weekend I have been the speaker on a GBU houseparty. The GBU or Groupes Bibliques Universitaires are the equivalent of the CUs in Britain. This was a regional weekend for the GBU of Bordeaux, Toulouse and Pau, an area bigger than Wales and having more than a quarter of a million students. The region is served by one staff-worker, Julie. I was amazed at how hard she works and her enthusiasm for the student work ! At the same time she  is as tired and over-stretched as you would imagine. In addition to this, because her financial support is insufficient she's told that she ought to work part-time. Please pray. I suggested that she consider linking to a mission and widening her support-base in the UK. Meanwhile on the weekend there were some 40 folk, happy students, being encouraged to share the gospel with their friends by reading Luke and Acts with them, being challenged to pray for their friends and to see the gospel flourish in Universities. Some super lads from Camero

ring, ring ! "Hallo, is that Mr Alan Davey ? This is Microsoft Windows Support Department." "Oh yeah, OK, no thank you." "Uh what happened ? what happened ? what happened ? what happened ? what happened..?" (Alan thinks - "Crazy man..! still, if that's the game") "are you really Microsoft ? are you really Microsoft ? are you really Microsoft ? are you really Microsoft ?" Guy hangs up. I must think these phone calls through. Surely it can't be that hard to get from "Your computer is broken and we need to sell you some rubbish over the phone" to "your life is broken and you need something more radical than dodgy software to put things right..." OK he might still put the phone down, but you never know...

I hope it continues ! 1) the walls have dried out after our waste water outlet catastrophe. This means we can proceed with putting up some toile de verre and painting the hall and kitchen. Yellow in the hall. Pale blue in the kitchen. Perhaps with yellow stencilling. I wasn't at all sure that the walls were drying out but on Monday I had a really good feel and I am now sure. 2) the wood-stove needs some spare parts that amount to more than the cost of a new stove. I called our stove fitter and he said "Oh yes, at that price buy a new stove." so I just phoned the stovemonger. The website says they can get one in three weeks. OK. Not wonderful but we could cope with that. The stovemonger's man, however, said they have one coming in on Friday or Monday. Crackerjack ! The stove fitter said "You can fit the new stove yourself, you don't need me, but if you get stuck just call me and I'll sort it out for you and it won't cost much." Then we n

I spoke to the mission on Monday and got some good news. Earlier this year our support was in serious deficit. We peaked (troughed ?) at several thousand pounds in debt to the mission. Things were serious. We needed a large increase in support to repay the debt to the mission and to enable us to continue here. So we scheduled the June and October church visits to help meet this need - normally I do one visit of two weeks, three weekends a year. This year it was two visits like that. I began to wonder how we could continue. Well we are now actually in the black. We are no longer in debt to the mission. It doesn't yet mean any changes to our situation here in France - we still can't change our minds about running a car, for example, but maybe that will change in the future.

The other day a pastor colleague was talking about how often he felt his day was unproductive, or at least that there was seldom a finished product, a concrete achievement to point to. In the shower this morning I was thinking over his remarks and how I NEVER feel like that. On the contrary, one of the things I LOVE about being a missionary pastor is how frequently there is a result ! Maybe my previous work experience has something to do with it. I was telling someone else the other day that I have been positively vetted and signed the Official Secrets Act. It was way back in the 1980s when I had a brief but glorious time as an Assembly Language programmer doing extensions to system software for a military application. I had three months to write a subroutine that told you if a computer user had pressed a key. Three months. To get one little piece of code working and integrated into the operating system. And it took all of those three months, I can tell you. Most days I went home

This weekend I am speaking at a CU houseparty for the Bordeaux and Toulouse CUs. The thème is "to the ends of the earth, beginning with my mates", with the subtitle "and if it were possible to share my faith...." I have two sessions and one sermon, from Acts 1 - 12. Wouhou ! Help me to handle this brilliant opportunity, please !

See here how folks have recently been cleaning up a famous crashed Jaguar in Bordeaux.

Some time ago, at the end of the wood-burning season, some parts of our wood-stove broke : the glass in the door and the grill on which you place the logs to burn. So some time ago, as the beginning of the wood-burning season waved from the distant pages of the calendar, I went to the store where we bought the stove, armed with a photograph of the serial number from the back of the stove and asked about spare parts. I'll ring the company and get back to you tomorrow. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow crept. No phone call came. I phoned the guy who installed the stove. "They'll get back to you, they will." I left on deputation. I returned. Still no call. I phoned. "Oh yes, sorry, I have been ill. I'll phone them and get back to you." Yeah yeah. So I phoned two days later. "Yes, I rang the company and the parts are available." "Great ! How much ?" "You want to know how much ? I'll have to phone."

(Whatever THAT is !)

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I've never been in a church where people spend long months preaching on all the forgotten details of the tabernacle and what they really mean - the number and fabrication of the hooks, etc... So when there was the possibility of reading and reviewing this book I was a little apprehensive. Would I get submerged in all sorts of abstruse details and give up half-way through or something ? Well I didn't. I should have had more confidence in Doctor Fesko and in Evangelical Press ! Instead what I got was a book that took the shortest route possible from the tabernacle to the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of the big issues in a very helpful way. Dr Fesko has such a simple way of writing that the book is quite surprising. You think that it's at a very elementary level and suddenly you realise that actually you have covered a lot of ground and he's said some very helpful and profound things. I spent a happy while on the TGV from Paris thinking about the relationship between

We took a Batobus - a circular tour boat that you can hop on and off - to see the main sights, and we were also able to meet up with Carol and Christina Foucachon - the cherry on the cake !.

After the conference we moved from a northern suburb to a western suburb, to Louveciennes. Thanks to the generosity and hospitality of some friends we spent a cuple of days seeing Paris.

The Paris suburbs are not at all as I imagined them. Here's the place where our conference was.

So we had to go to a meeting of the MPEF ( UFM in France ) in Paris. Or at least in a suburb of Paris called Ecouen. To get there we took the train from Pessac Alouette to Bordeaux, the TGV from Bordeaux to Montparnasse, then two buses from Montparnasse to the Gare du Nord, then a very psychedelically decorated train to Ecouen. We passed through Saint-Denis which exceeded its reputation, but I didn't take any photos. Here's some photos of the journey, though. We saw a Starbucks, a chain of coffee shops that has excited a profound devotion in Gwilym, so we blew over 10 euros on just three drinks . Let's hope they never get to Bordeaux !

We have to go to Paris soon, and I bought the railway tickets online at great cost some weeks ago. Today I thought I had better get them so I hauled myself off to the station. The routine is simple - you stick the card with which you paid for the tickets in a slot in a big yellow machine and it prints off your tickets. Easy ! NOT. It said "We can't accept that card." I looked at the card, wiped it and tried again. No. No and thrice no. That's when I took fright. You see, I have two bank accounts. One is the family account that we use for paying for food and clothing and housing and all the stuff one needs to live. The other is for paying work expenses, like tickets to Paris etc... And for one of my bank accounts recently I received a new card. But which one ? And which card did I cut up ? And do I still have the card with which I bought the tickets ? I went to see the lady at the counter. "Big problem. We can't do nothing. You'll just have t

It's been so good to get back to the family. Good, too, to get back to seeing folk, talking things through, listening to where folk are coming from. Hard to get down to preparation, though ! But I'll get there !

I met someone for a chat today at the Parc Bordelais. (Sometimes being a pastor in France is a bit like being a spy. We meet people in deserted parks by closed down cafés.) Anyway, I was enchanted by one particular duck who had a very raucous belly laugh. Haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh ! When my companion scuttled off into the bushes to attend to a call of nature I amused the duck with some hilarious jokes, which he greatly appreciated. Haugh haugh haugh haugh haugh ! Wonderful !

I staggered over to the local Carrefour for coffee, bread and stuff. (The breadmaker has yielded up the spirit. That's less than a year but we can't find the receipt. Marvellous...) Anyway, on the way back I stumbled into the newsagents to scan the rags and the chappie saw me and said "You're Welsh aren't you?" "Yup", quoth I. "My son's just been to Cardiff." "Well that's my city !" "He was in the suburb of - darling, what suburb was junior in...?" He phoned junior... "Deenas Pooees. They visited the Millenium Stadium, Beeg Peet, they had a whale of a time" (ils se sont régalés) "Dinas Powys ! It's not where I lived but I know it." It's one of the great advantages of shopping locally. I felt so full of goodwill afterwards that I thought I really ought to buy a magazine or something, but hey, two euros is two euros... Takes a considerable heap of goodwill to squander two e

Hitherto known as the Pont BaBa (Bacalan-Bastide). Placing the centre part of the bridge - an elevator bridge which winches up the central part to allow ships to pass underneath. Watch the video here .

I was looking for the contact details of our Mission Finance folk this morning and noticed for the first time that it is now possible to give to our work in France online. Cool, eh ? Here's the link. .

One drawback of autumn is that often when you arrive at a church it's already dark and you can't really take a photo of the church building. I am more and more hesitant, too, to put photos of people on the site. However one of the interesting things is the range of churches that I saw - from multi-hundred congregations to prayer meetings of fewer than ten people, from large modern buildings to groups that meet in schools, from multi-worker teams to one guy working away diligently. All very fascinating and heartening. Heartening, too, the initiative being taken by two churches who want to begin a real relationship with us, to serve God in fellowship together, to maybe send folks out to help as they can, to keep in touch regularly, to have a real sense of partnership. 

The lower photo shows the Gironde estuary as it flows into the Bay of Biscay.

I called at Ripon to cast a glance over things.

Usually my quick lunch place of choice is Subway, but I had been put off by a huge difference in price between exactly the same sandwich at the White Rose Centre and at Exscape. Not only that but I had wanted to take some hosts out to lunch and we found a Wetherspoons very useful and good value. So I scuttled off to find the Durham Wetherspoons, hidden under a Nando's in a modern precinct by the library near a statue of Cuthbert's pall-bearers.