Categories: uncategorized
Date: 13 November 2007 23:32:01
I'd barely got back from Dallas when I was sent to Nottingham for a couple of weeks, followed by a 6 week stint in Peterborough, so for several months I'd not seen the inside of my flat very much. I had a lodger who fed the cat for me while I was away and at least on the UK trips I got home at weekends. Finally, I returned to the office and got back to normal life.
One Sunday evening in November, I was idly surfing the net when I accidentally stumbled across the online Christian Magazine Ship of Fools. I'd never come across anything quite like this before. Most Christian sites I'd come across before tended to be full of mad fundamentalist stuff, but here was a very funny and intelligent site. The articles were interesting and features, such as the "Fruitcake Zone", "Signs and Blunders" and the caption competition were hilarious. I also had a read of the bulletin boards. That evening I spent about 2 hours reading the site not realising that this was going to change my life in many ways.
About a week later, I signed up to join the bulletin boards. Back then you had to pay to be a member, around £15 per year I seem to remember. There were about 300 registered members but probably less than 100 regular posters. Even with so few members compared with now, there was a huge variety of people of different traditions and opinions. Entering into discussions has certainly broadened my own outlook. To a great extent, the Ship has reinforced my own beliefs, but also taught me a greater understanding and tolerance of other Christian traditions.
Of course, these faceless names on the screen were real people, and real people sometimes like to meet in person. I attended my first Shipmeet in January 2001 and my second a month later. Through shipmeets, I've met all sorts of people I never would have done otherwise and have formed some very good, long lasting (so far) "real life" friendships.
One sunny Sunday afternoon, I attended a shipmeet in Cambridge. I didn't realise it at the time, but this was the start of what was to be the biggest change in my life.
[Due to me being totally useless and deleting the post that follows this, I've now pasted the originasl popst into this one]
Spring 2001 The story of TIna
Spring came early I think. I can't be certain, but I reckon it was sometime in April that Simon Jenkins, the Editor of Ship of Fools was preaching at Evensong in Peterhouse Chapel, Cambridge. It was early in the year, but a very warm day too.
The Cambridge Shipmates saw this as an opportunity for a shipmeet.
This was the plan: We would hire a punt for the afternoon, go up and down the river and then decamp to a pub (in true Ship of Fools style) to sink a few pints before heading off to Evensong to hear the words of wisdom from our esteemed Captain.
Well, that's pretty much what happened.
I boarded the punt. Having been on a few shipmeets already, there were a few faces I already recognised, but in true shipmeet style, there were some people I'd never met before which gave me the opportunity to to get talking to some new faces.
One of these new faces was a young lady called Tina. I remember speaking to her, but it didn't go much further than exchanging the normal sort of pleasantries that are exchanged by a couple of strangers. ("Hi, My names' ***, what's yours?" "Oh, My name's ****, whats' yours?)
We exchanged those sort of details. I think we ascertained what each of us did for a living, but it didn't go much further than that.
Sometime in June (a very hot night as I seen to remember) we had a Shipmeet at the Museum Tavern. Tina was there. I thought I'd try to impress her by remembering her name, so I said something like "Hello Tina". I think she was a bit impressed at this.
A few days after the meet, Tina sent me an email. I can't remember what the email said. I can't remember what my reply was either, but I replied anyway.
We exchanged emails for a while.
One evening, there was a shipmeet in Croydon. All the usual suspects were there. I'm not going to name names here, but the usual contingent of reprobates from South London, West Kent and North Surrey had turned up with the usual Ship of Fools intention of drinking too much beer!
A little while into the traditional Ship drinking session, Tina showed up. She was dressed very smartly and wearing makeup. She walked right past our table, looking as though she was looking for someone. As she passed, I think I called out something like "OI! TINA! WE'RE OVER 'ERE!!"
It was a good Shipmeet. In fact, it was the first of many Croydon meets.
Tina and I left the pub at the same time and boarded the same train. Any romantics reading this may be expecting me to say that we fell into each others arms and kissed passionately. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that didn't happen.
As a bloke, I was thinking of the best way to make a pass at her. She was sitting on the opposite seat from me, so making a pass wasn't going to be easy. (She has since told me that she was sitting on the train hoping that would make a pass at her)
On the train, we spoke at great length about all sorts of subjects. I think it was at this poimt I reckoned I quite fancied her, but I still didn't make a pass at her. The train stopped at Streatham and I got off (I think I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before alighting) and walked home. Tina, I assume, stayed on the train to London Bridge to continue her journey back to Cambridge
The year progressed. We both attended various shipmeets around the country and exchanged email addresses and mobile phone numbers. We texted or emailed each other quite frequently.
At this time, I had put myself forward as a potential volunteer Lay Chaplain at Brixton Prison. As a single man, I could give up as much of my my free time as I wished, and this was something I quite fancied doing. Having a 9 to 5 job in an office meant that I could only be availaible at weekends though.
I was in a bit of a quandary though. I'd met this woman who I fancied, but she lived outside London. That meant that if anything were to come of it, most of my free time would be spent outside my normal "comfort zone" that I called home.
It's amazing how one can pray, and even more amazing how God speaks to us. One morning, while stuck in a traffic jam on the North Circular Road in an attempt to get to work on time, I tried having a quiet word with God. Call it praying if you like. I was weighing up the whole thing about the whole "Tina" thing versus the whole "Prison Chaplaincy" thing. I can vividly remember the traffic queue. I remember my prayer along the lines of "if I start going out with Tina..." and I vividly remember that annoying voice in the the back of the head saying "What do you mean 'if'? you mean 'when'. You WILL go out with Tina and you'll probably end up getting married!"
So, that's what happened on the North Circular Road. If you want to know what happened next, you'll just have to wait for the next installment.