reluctant ramblings

Stayed in a haunted 15th Century mansion. Rooms were ok - neat, clean, 4 cup-cakes on the sign. But the location, oh that was stunning. Just another amazing UK location.

The little village of Ironbridge, on the Severn River was a perfect slow-down and respite. Its the birthplace of the industrial revolution - Coal and Iron. It would have been a dark, filth place at one stage. Now its a gorgeous little food and historical destination. Ate awesome pork at the Malthouse withMark Berry, who began my Whiskey education with a glass of Lagavulin. Stunning, smooth, long… mmm

Mark was an awesome host, and we shared three really significant conversations, one contextual, where we looked at what makes his community of Telford tick. Dinner at his house with some of his SafeSpace community was brilliant. Many ideas, too many to mention.

More to come… 2500 photos to sort through!

I’ll have more to say about Ikon when I’ve unraveled it a bit more. For now, here are some out of context photos…

Billy Bragg may have been doing this for 25 years or more, but he’s still the bard, still a great protest singer-songwriter. It was so cool to see him live.

This a really pretty place to be at 6 in the morning!

Cold. No other word for 3 below. I know that’s not real cold for some, but its cold enough to need the electric blanket on. I so do not want to get out of bed in the mornings, though when I do, the view is worth it.

I comment on the cold because its part of the culture here in winter. People are preoccupied with finding firewood, cutting an d storing it, and the best ways to burn it cleanly. Conversation turns from the weather to firewood-gathering very easily!

Oh, I did?

Sorry - its just that I’m a bit excited…

Everyone wants to know where I’m going, and what I’ll be doing in the UK. I’m getting to be able to recite the itinerary pretty well.

What’s interesting in these conversations is how inadequate my language is - how to talk structurally about artistic, alternative worshipping communities. I had this very problem tonight at a regular chamber of commerce meeting.

I thin it’ll come in conversations about context, and in looking at what works in its context. I think that I’ll pick up the language like a native pretty quickly! (I’m also good with accents!) I think that by the time I get back, I’ll be fully buzzword compliant!

I was just staring at the pictures I took on the weekend at a baptism. It was a great baptism, and affirmed for parents in the congregation (and the congregation in general) the promise to raise this child in a loving Christian community. There’s no doubt that this is a community of that kind. Which is why the photographs are all the more odd. There’s just no way you can commune in rows of pews. Its you and the person up front, obscured by the backs of other people’s heads. I suppose we’re all symbolically facing God, but I think I see more of God in the faces of my community than in the flouro-tubes at the front…

The graffiti asks the question, and the building seems to answer, “I’ve been better…”