Pizza and Mom

Two of the most comforting things around. My mom has been here for the past week, shopping, going to school plays, and generally fitting into the craziness of our schedule. On Sunday the girls and I took her to our favorite pizza place while Somer got the house ready for her knitting group Christmas party.
If you can see the sign in the background, you'll know why it's our favorite pizza place: £3.50 pizzas!! It's an amazing price for probably the best pizza we've found in London. It reminds us of K&J pizza in Glenside, PA. Greasy, cheesy, and cheap.

Lucha Libre

My friend who works at the Roundhouse called the other day to ask if we wanted tickets to see Lucha Libre - Mexican wrestling. So John, Oli, and I went down that night to check it out.
What a show!! The picture does it no justice, but it's the best I could do. I should have taken an audio recording of the guy behind me. He kept shouting things like:
'Kick him in the knee'
'Not the Chest Slap'
'Throw him over the rope'

The Stages of Dan

We have really been enjoying watching filming for Balcony TV over at Yumchaa. Last night Somer and I went with her mom to watch, and we realized that the girls would enjoy it as well. They did an extra filming session tonight, so we took them over to watch. They did great. Jodie got on really well with the presenter, who chatted to her in between takes. The highlight for me was one of the bands that played last night. Their name? The Stages of Dan.

Bond Street Lights

On Thursday night, we met up with a few other World Harvest folks down on Bond Street. They were turning on the Christmas lights, and had shut down the whole street for pedestrians only. Snow machines blew soapy 'snow' all up and down the street - it was beautiful. The kids are here between two guys juggling.

Slack Top

Went to Slack Top Christian Retreat Centre a few weeks ago. It's up in the wild Yorkshire moors. We had a really nice time walking in the woods, listening to the wind howl at night, and worshiping God. Here the girls are leading all of us in worship through a dance the kids put together with Fraggle, one of the leaders at the weekend.

World Record Attempt

Last week while walking to our prayer meeting in the market I ran across this attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records. The record? Longest lineup of pizzas, edge to edge.

Snowing

Just a quick post to say it's snowing in London!! Yep, it's October 28 and it's snowing. Won't last long, I know, but let me revel in it anyway! There's gotta be some upside to the sun going down at 4 PM.

[Update] Just got back from heading down to 55. It was snowing pretty hard, and we now have a layer of slush on the streets and sidewalk, with parked cars covered in white. It was Tom's birthday down at the bar. He was working, so a few of his family and friends came in to celebrate with him. I brought him the first snowball of the winter w/ a birthday candle on top. It didn't last too long...snowballs and candles don't really mix.

Frieze Art Fair

We've had another glorious fall weekend in London. Yesterday the family took a walk through Regents Park and checked out the sculptures from the Frieze Art Fair. This one is my favorite (or maybe it's just the only one I managed to pull my camera out for). Anyway, it was fun seeing the park we love transformed into an open art gallery. We walked through the free section - we weren't about to pay £25 each to get into the main exhibit.

Art Show Update

The Shelter Art Show has been open since Wednesday evening. We had about 40 at our opening night, and it felt quite full in the side chapel at St. Michaels, which we had filled with artwork during the previous two days. The Mayor of Camden even showed up to help us officially open the show.
Tomorrow the exhibition will be open in the evening, and I'll be doing a few private viewings in the afternoon. Not to potential big-spenders, though. A couple of the classes from St. Michael's school will be coming down for a look around the gallery. I have to come up with something interesting for the kids to do - I may have them draw based on the theme of the show.
I'll try to get a few good pictures up tomorrow. Not too good, though, since many of the artists rely on selling their originals and prints. Having high-quality jpegs on the web would kind of defeat that purpose.

Balcony TV

Just got back from watching fliming for Balcony TV London. Balcony TV is musicians playing on a balcony. Started in Dublin, now happening also in London. As it happens, the London balcony is just across the canal from us. Our friends at Yumchaa tea shop invited us to come over and check it out - the balcony in question happens to be theirs. We've had a leak in our flat, so I had to wait until the plumber sorted it all out (turned out to be the toilet above us...supply, not waste, thankfully for the cleanliness minded among us). So of course I was a bit late, but did manage to catch the end, hear some really good music, and chug a quick Red Chai. Now it's off to bed to rest up for the opening of our art show tomorrow.

Canal Concert

We've been having some great weather over the past few weekends. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. During the afternoon we heard some live music drifting over from the canal/market area, and we went to investigate. A band had set up shop on top of a canal boat that was moored in the lock. The girls danced around in any open space they could find, which was hard to come by given the number of people who packed the bars, bridges, and walkways around the lock.

Football

Prior to a tragic loss to Hull over the weekend, Arsenal dismantled Sheffield Utd. 6-0 in Carling Cup action last week. As it was Carling Cup, tickets were only £10, so I went with a couple of buddies. Tom (center) got the tickets, and we managed to sit 11 rows from the pitch! We saw Arsenal's first three goals up close, but then were far from most of the second half action, as they switched halves and Arsenal continued to dominate.
You may notice that I'm getting more pictures up these days - thank Virgin Mobile for that. They just sent me an upgraded phone with a better camera. Sorry about cutting you out, John, my self-portrait skills aren't that great.

Religion is Stupid

We went for a walk along the canal this weekend and stumbled into an area of Camden we'd never been to before. It's hard to get to and feels quite isolated. We realized we had looked at a place to rent in the area when we first moved here, and are glad we didn't like the flat. I saw this stuck up on one of the signs by the canal.

Long Walk & Camden on USA TV

Yesterday we went for an afternoon walk outside the city. We hopped on the train for 40 minutes and half-way through the ride, Andi says 'This looks like America!' Translation: 'I can see green grass and trees!' The plan was to walk a little bit, stop at a pub, and then finish the walk back at the station. However, shortly after leaving the pub, we missed a turn somewhere and ended up wandering around these fields for an extra hour, so by the time we got back to the train station we were exhausted.

Then last night, I watched the Ravens game. Here's the crazy part: There's a new advertisement for Windows called "I'm a PC". On the one that aired last night, there are lots of people who say 'I'm a PC, and I wear a suit' who are wearing all types of specialist suits. Then one guy says 'I'm a PC, and I don't wear a suit'. Behind him is clearly visible the pub that's around the corner from our flat! He's standing on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the canal and leads into the West Yard of Camden Lock market. I was so excited I stopped the game and rewound it to make sure.

Shelter Art Show

Our annual art show to raise money for the homeless shelter we work with is in advanced planning. We have a venue (St. Michael's again), artists (currently six, we'd like a couple more), and plenty of enthusiasm. What we don't have is great marketing/advertising skill. How do we actually get the word out so that we get people actually coming; and not just people, the RIGHT people? Those aren't rhetorical questions...anybody have any suggestions?

Market Prayer

This morning we met for prayer at Yumchaa in the Market. It was only two of us, so quite tiny. Spent half-an-hour praying for our friends and naming the things that we see in the market and in our own lives that call us to turn our attention and our hope away from God. Our hope is that as we name these things, the resurrection of Jesus will cause these things to lose their power over us and our city.
For those of you who follow our lives closely, you may notice that we switched the morning of prayer from Tuesday to Thursday. While Tuesday was good for the tea-shop because it was so quiet, we found that it's been TOO quiet in the rest of the market, and so we've opted for Thursday when more people are around.

Bowling

We took the girls bowling this afternoon. We were intending it to be a family thing, but they each really wanted to bring a friend. So in the end we took four kids bowling. It was a blast. The lane has these ramps that let you put the ball on top, take aim, and then push the ball to send it flying down the lane. It was fun taking the girls and sharing the experience with their friends from school.

Harrison's Rocks

I went to Harrison's Rocks in Sussex yesterday afternoon with my friend Dave. It's a popular climbing destination, and our first trip out of London for some 'real' outdoor climbing. The rocks are Sandstone, which makes for messy holds and slippery shoes, so not the best experience from a pure climbing standpoint. BUT, the weather was absolutely perfect, and it was great to get out of the city. We said "The Climber's Prayer" that I had written (i.e. stolen from the psalms) and then hiked about a half-mile into the woods to get to the rocks. I could have stopped without even climbing, the scenery was so beautiful. But the climbing was fun too. Some pictures:

Dave setting up our top rope on our first climb

Me and Dave (squinting into the sun - yes, it is sunny sometimes here in England)

Me jumping a small chasm to get down after a bit of bouldering

Dave flying above me

Dev Meeting

"The Dev" is our local goth/alternative pub, serving Hobgoblin beer. Hobgoblin's tag line on their poster is "Afraid of the dark, lager boy?" with a picture of a mischievious goblin holding a pint of the redish drink. I had my first 'meeting' in the Dev a few days ago. One of the artists who is doing work for our art show in October agreed to meet there to discuss the details. Here's a pic of the sign above the bar. It reads:
No Smoking
No Drugs
No Younguns savvy?
The Staff are the law
Do not startle the trained monkeys

First Day of School

The new school year started today, and the girls were very excited about it. Andi couldn't sleep last night - at one point she came out and asked if she should start getting ready (this was at 11 o'clock at night, mind you). This morning they woke up early and got their new uniforms on. They especially love their new shoes that we got at Target while we were back in the States.
They packed their lunches while I made breakfast, and we even had time for a few pictures before we all made the 10-minute walk to school. Jodie had made a card for her new teacher, and Andi made a few for some of her friends. When we got to school, Jodie wanted someone to walk her to her new classroom, but Andi said she would go up by herself. The halls were crowded with kids and parents trying to get settled into the first day. Here are a couple of shots from the morning:

The Eye

I'd say my new profile picture is appropriate - seems my eyes are always wide open these days. It's 1:45 AM and I'm still awake. We arrived back in London on Monday, but I can't get seem to shake the time difference. Feeling very tired during the day and wide awake at night. The girls have been staying up really late too. Hope they adjust before school starts.

In the USA

We've been traveling around the States for the last few weeks, telling stories from Camden and spending time with family and friends. I've spoken at six different churches so far, and have one more to go this coming Sunday. I'm totally exhausted.
But, it's been really good for us to be here and reconnect. It's also a good reminder of how far we've come since moving to Camden two years ago. It's hard for us to see it sometimes, because of how close we are to things, but to get the perspective of people who care about what we're doing and are observing from a bit of distance has been very encouraging.
I'm hoping to start blogging a bit more this autumn. I'll try focusing on pictures more, as lots of people have said they appreciate even little snippets from our life in London. We'll see how it goes - I can't promise anything grand.

Gardening in the middle of the road

Just back from a great gardening session. A planter in the middle of an intersection has been transformed from weedy mess to beautiful garden, all in the space of an hour. I got to meet Richard, the guru of London guerrilla gardening, and a couple of other folks who came out to help. The patch was mangled by bindweed, but once we got that out we found some really beautiful plants underneath. Add a couple of Euonymus and Fuschia, and job's done.

Beautiful Day

The weather is amazing today. 27 degrees (that's about 80 F) and bright sun. We met in the market for prayer this morning, finishing with a reading from Mark 1 to give us fuel for the day. Then this afternoon, wanting to make the most of the weather, I met with two other guys in Regents park for a bit of Lectio Divina - which is basically reading a text of Scripture several times through as a means of praying. Again we used Mark 1, this time reading a bit more. For one of the guys, it was the first time he'd used the Bible to pray like that, and for me, it was the first time I'd prayed with others in Regents park. We all really enjoyed it, and definitely met with God. It looks like we might make the afternoon thing a regular occurrence, maybe twice weekly or something like that. It's good. Camden needs it. I need it.

Foreskin's Lament

This past Saturday I went to see Foreskin's Lament. Not being a regular consumer of plays, you might wonder what I was doing there. A friend of mine that I met at our regular Tuesday book table was playing one of the rugby players - a bit of a flippant, no-cares kind of guy who's easy-going approach to the game is confronted by the death of one of his teammates. The play mixes a bit of light-hearted comedy with powerful social commentary to great effect. The first and second acts were extreme contrasts, the first taking place in a locker room and involving jokes and banter between the guys; the second taking place at an after-match party and involving more intense dialogue and an incredibly powerful Maori dance (traditionally done by the New Zealand rugby team before matches). It wasn't a 'feel-good' story, so it's hard to say 'I enjoyed it' - because actually it was more about feeling the intensity of the social issues as felt through the conflict of the main character. But it was good.

Visitors

In addition to everything else going on this week, we have several groups of people from the good 'ol USA visiting us. My team leader has a group of people from his old church back in Virginia coming to Camden for a few days, and then some high-schoolers from our church in Philly are coming on Friday (I think...gotta confirm that, come to think of it). We'll be putting them to good use praying for Camden and hopefully they'll help us see our city in new ways.
I was reading a book called Urban Christian a few weeks ago. It's by a man who was a pastor in Chicago in the 1960s and 70s. All kinds of horrible stuff going on then - race riots, gang warfare, the failure of basic governmental services. He says that people who live in urban settings tend to build up psychological filters to keep themselves from being overwhelmed by all the audio/visual/relational stimulation that comes from city life. But this means that we can fail to see things about our city that are right in front of us. Groups like the ones visiting us bring fresh eyes and ears, unchecked by the filters we've built up. They have their own filters, no doubt, but those filters were designed for somewhere else, so they see things about Camden that we tend to miss.

Euro 2008

We've been keeping up on the Euro 2008 football tournament, but to be honest, there isn't much local interest. The English were put out at the qualifying stage back in the winter, which left us only with the Austrians to root for (one of our close friends is from Vienna). Sadly, the Austrians were unable to overcome Germany in their final group match, which has us clutching at straws to find connections to a team. Turkey has provided some very exciting matches - two unthinkable come from behind victories.
Anyway, tonight we had some friends over, but the Spain/Italy match didn't really hold our attention, and we decided to play Settlers of Catan instead of watching the whole match. Though I did manage to situate myself so that I could still see the screen. I was banker, so in the midst of watching I'd hand out cards and try to remember what move I wanted to make next. Oh yeah, and I still managed to win. Look out Erik, I'm coming for you.

Update on the garden

So last week we discovered that our garden had been trashed by some people. Plants pulled up and trampled on, flower stalks broken off. It was a bit discouraging, but we got back to work again and it's starting to look really good. One more week or so and we'll have all the weeds cleared out and we should have plants growing nicely.

Primate Planting

Can you guess from the title what I did last night? Here's a hint: The title uses a really bad pun on the audible similarity between the words Gorilla and Guerrilla. Still no?
I went Guerrilla Gardening. To be honest, this wasn't my first attempt at sprucing up some of Camden's neglected public spaces, but it was the most successful. I met up with four others that I connected with through a local website, and brought along one of the other guys on the team. We hit a raised planter along the canal near our house. It was overgrown and filled with weeds, with a few nice plants mixed in. We weeded it, turned up the soil, pruned some of the existing bushes, and added a nice mix of flowering plants and herbs.
The police came by at one point, and warned us to be careful of needles because the area was a hang-out for junkies. This was confirmed when we found a needle, which we removed to our improvised 'sharps box'. Other than the warning, though, the officers were encouraging and glad to see us there - I think we pushed the junkies off, at least for the few hours we were there.
At the end of the evening, we celebrated with a drink at the local pub; but not before stopping to water a few herbs and tomato plants that one of our fellow guerrillas had planted last week.

How many Texans...

How many Texans does it take to fix a mobile phone?

In our case, maybe four. We have four guys from Texas with us for the next week. Their first hour here was spent trying to make their phone work so they could call home. They are part of a church that we connected with a couple of years ago. Since then, they have shown incredible love and care for us. As evidenced by the year's supply of Kraft Mac n Cheese that arrived with them, along with all kinds of other goodies.

We'll be taking them to Speaker's Corner this afternoon, followed by church with metal heads in Camden. Then they'll join us for game night at our house. Next week, they'll be helping with our book table, meeting new people in the market, spending lots of time praying for Camden, and helping run our Green Fair stall. Should be great. We always find we draw lots of energy when these guys visit. If any of their wives read this - Thanks for sending your men for the week!

Gardening

A few weeks ago, I did a short talk at Inspiral Lounge as part of a learning day we helped put on called Deep Ecology. The idea behind the day was that humanity is deeply connected to the world around us. There is the obvious physical dependence, but there's also a spiritual element to that connection. Our role as humans in the world is connected to our relationship to God. We answer to God for our treatment of his world, and he reveals himself to us in creation.
I specifically spoke about why gardens might be good places to meet God - the silence, the reminder of who God made us to be, the markers that point us to God's beauty - among other things. It went pretty well, and the staff at Inspiral were particularly brilliant.
One of the results of the talk is that a few of us have decided to do a bit of gardening, trying to make our part of the world a bit greener. We've been looking for unused and rather ugly patches of ground where we can add a few bits of beauty. We're doing our first dig this afternoon. Will update with how it goes soon.
{update} So, it went fairly well. The first location we had chosen was no good, as it was full of roots and the ground was incredibly hard. We almost gave up, but then someone spotted a tiny little patch, perfect for a few of the plants we had with us. We dropped them in, topped up with some organic compost, and walked away. We'll be watering and dropping by to make sure everything stays alive over the next week.

Last Gasp?

It's been a month since I last posted. I'm giving this blog one more shot at life. I'm going to try doing one post a week for the next month. If I can stick with it, I'll keep the blog going. Otherwise...

I picked up an old book on urban churches recently. I had read it before, and found a note saying 'blog this' next to a bit of Chinese wisdom. I never did. Here it is:

Go to the people,
Live among them.
Learn from them.
Start with what they know.
Build on what they have.
But of the best of leaders,
When their task is accomplished,
Their work is done,
The people all remark
"We have done it ourselves."

A day in the life of a market trader

Well, not so much a day, as an hour. But it felt like a day.
One of the guys I've gotten to know in the market runs a Japanese animation stall in the Stables Market. He needed to go pick up keys to a flat, and texted to ask if I could cover for him.
So I spent the hour standing around, trying to find a way that I could watch the shop without breathing down the neck of each and every person who walked it. Someone asked about Dragonball-Z, and I had to mumble that it wasn't my shop, so I had no idea. Half-an-hour later I spotted some D-Z keychains, but she was long gone.
After about twenty minutes, the most exciting thing happened: Someone bought something! At the side of his little stall he also sells zipper bags. These aren't just bags with a zipper. They are bags made out of one long zipper; unzip the bag, and you've got a useless zipper, zip it up again, and you have a bag. Anyway, someone wanted to buy one. I was so excited!
They had been looking at the bags for about five minutes. I had to work hard not to stare at them while they browsed - didn't want to make them feel too awkward. But then the questions came. 'Do you have one of the black-and-white ones that shows more white?' I make a show of looking...'No we don't, sorry.' 'Do you take Euros?' What are you nuts? This is England. Well, ok, actually, I'd be happy to take Euros, but I don't know what the exchange rate is...'No, sorry, just Pounds.' So they pick out a blue and brown bag for six Pounds. The girl hands over a ten Pound note, and then her mom gives me a one pound coin. I open the change purse my friend gave me and see that it only has one pound coins in it. So I give the one pound back and start to take out four more for change. 'Don't you have any five pound notes?' Sheesh, I'm looking like a really unhelpful trader. 'No, sorry, just coins. But thanks, and have a great afternoon!' Gotta play up the happy American role...it counteracts the string of negative answers I've given.
The rest of my stint goes pretty well - I ended up selling five more bags, and had someone ask a question about an animé product that I actually knew about! Ok, so the question was 'What's in this box?' And my answer was 'Uh, it's a wallet.' But hey, I got to be helpful.
I learned a few things, though.
First was the absolute terror most of the traders must feel when they come to work every day, knowing that their livelihood depends on the willingness of the mass of shoppers to part with their cash. So many of the people who passed by would idly reach out and brush the merchandise, maybe make a comment to their disinterested partner, and move on. Clearly most people were in the market for the experience, snapping pictures when they could, drinking in the vibrant atmosphere. But that doesn't translate into spending money.
Second is the boredom/exhaustion. It's tiring standing up for long periods of time, and more so when there isn't much to do.
Third, and I think this is most important, is that the market traders are invisible to the average tourist. Except for the crazy-haired, multicolor-clad sales clerks at Cyberdog, nobody was interested in the people who were selling stuff. They just wanted to see the STUFF. Which is part of what has driven us to try to get to know the market traders and care for them. They are the forgotten element in Camden market.

Seder Meal

Last night is the date that Christians remember the 'Last Supper' - the celebration of the Passover by Jesus and his disciples. For some reason I haven't been able to figure out, the western Church Calendar does not coincide with the Jewish date for Passover.
In any case, last night we celebrated a very simple Seder meal. I found an English version here, and my friend read parts of a Hebrew version.
Seven of us sat around the table, and we started the meal by reading God's explanation of the Passover to Moses in Exodus, and then the account of Jesus' celebration from Matthew. Then we sat down to eat the Lamb, because everyone was so hungry, and afterwards walked through the different items on the table and their meaning. We both thought it went really well, though next year we'll probably take a little more time to prepare, as it can get quite elaborate.

Climber's Prayer

David and I decided we need a prayer for when we climb. So he set me the task to find/write one. I admit, I stole the first half from a 2,500 year old poem (aka Psalm 121).

I lift up my eyes to the mountains -
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;

Father, thank you for this mountain,
and for the ability we have to climb it.
It is so much bigger than we are,
and reminds us how great you are.
Please keep our rope together, our knots tight,
our harness secure, and our belayer alert.
Through Jesus our Lord.

I got the fear

My friend Dave and I have been rock climbing each week for about 3 months now. We are planning to go up to Wales this spring for a climbing weekend. Outdoor climbing takes a lot of equipment, so we're slowly building up our collection, and our comfort with using it. We bought a rope and some quick-draws (those things you use to clip the rope into the anchors in the wall), and started lead climbing last week.
Lead climbing is different from top-roping, in that if you fall while climbing on a top rope, you don't really fall, you just kind of slip off the wall, because you're tied into the rope at the top of the wall. But in lead climbing, you start with the rope on the ground and clip into anchors as you go up. If you fall off, you fall twice the distance you've climbed above your last anchor. With anchors every five feet or so, you never fall very far, but it feels like a lot when you're clinging onto the wall.
On Tuesday, I didn't realize that I could reach a clip point. Dave thought I was getting ready to clip in, so he gave me some slack in the rope. I slipped off. Result? I fell about 10 feet, and in the process, got my leg caught on one of the quick-draws. I have a nasty bruise and rope burn on the back of my knee. But more importantly, it ruined my night, because after that I was under the control of fear, and I couldn't climb anything.

Off to Brazil

Fr. Nicholas, the priest in charge of the parish that runs the girls' school, left yesterday to be a missionary in Brazil. He is moving into the City of God in Rio de Janeiro. We will miss him very much, as God has used him to care for many people here in Camden Town. The photo is of him serving communion one last time yesterday. It was very moving to receive the bread from him. The girls had found a friend from Andi's class at the service, and she came up with us. Nicholas took it in turn to bless all three of them, and as he did, I got tears in my eyes.

Photos

A few photos I promised to put up earlier. First, two pics from the More Than Dust gig, showing my friend Alex and the bassist. Then a couple of shots taken by a friend with a better camera than mine during the fire.

Shabbat Dinner

Our friends are still with us, and as he is Israeli, he has offered to make us a special Shabbat dinner tonight. I'm looking forward to it, but don't really know what to expect. Will post more later, maybe some pics.

Guests

We've got some friends staying with us for a few days. They were given 3 days eviction notice by their previous landlord, and couldn't find something before she made them leave. So we told them they could sleep at ours until they find a new flat. They may only be here for a few days, but we're hoping to make the most of it.

Open Door Policy

So, we try to keep an open door policy around here. Whenever someone wants to come over, they can. Our friends frequently drop by, or simply wave up at us from across the street. But this past weekend, I was pushed a little too far.
As I came in the house, I heard a small click in the lock. Didn't think anything of it until I went out again later that evening, and noticed that the door hadn't latched. In fact, the bolt was stuck inside the door and wasn't coming out again. We were about to have people over for a worship meal, so I couldn't do anything about it right then. By the time the evening wound down it was too late to fix the lock.
Now, some people would call me a bit paranoid, but I refuse to sleep with the door unlocked. I tend to jump awake at sounds as it is, and knowing that our door could swing wide open at any moment was just too much. So I did what any self-respecting man would do in that situation. I piled up chairs in front of the door. And I kept piling them, until they were wedged in between the door, the wall, and the step in such a way that nobody would be able to get the door open, no matter how hard they pushed.
Next morning I fixed the lock.

More than dust

On Tuesday I went to a More Than Dust show at Camden's Purple Turtle. The guitarist is part of our little band of Jesus followers, and he often leads singing at our Thursday evening worship meal. It's bemusing to see the Alex I know as acoustic worship leader on stage with his head bowed, long hair obscuring his face. They put on a great show, though. Thumping good metal.

Camden Cowboys

One of the market traders has written a song about the market and all its crazy inhabitants. You can listen to Camden Cowboys on his MySpace page. Check it out - we'd love to see as many people as possible listening to this and supporting Kareem and the other traders.

Market Prayer Vigil

On Wednesday the High Street reopened and people were allowed to walk past the site of last week's fire. We spent about an hour walking around the affected area and through the markets that weren't burned, talking with traders and praying. Kathy met one of the shop-owners who's clothing store was destroyed. She had been praying that God would bring hope, and they ended up talking for a while about his love of Camden and his desire to rebuild.
It's clear that the fire has deeply impacted the traders who lost their shops. We've decided to spend a few minutes each day praying at the site of the fire, and I've e-mailed a few friends to come and hold a short prayer vigil at the site this coming Saturday. If anyone in Camden is interested in joining us, leave a comment and I'll get in touch with the details.

Camden Fire

A large fire broke out earlier this evening, about two blocks from our house. From what we could tell, it looked like one of the six markets in Camden was burned, along with a number of high street shops and the Hawley Arms pub. They've got the whole area blocked off, so we should be able to tell more tomorrow. Here's a shot looking back up the canal towards the fire.

[update] Tim is correct, everything we've heard is that nobody was seriously injured. It's past midnight, and there's still a good bit of smoke, but no more flames visible, and several trucks have started to leave the scene. MSN has the story here, plus a nice little description of the Camden we know and love.

Cyber Wallet

I've made a few improvements with my second wallet, including adding a change section in the middle and using plastic that is a bit more flexible. I've also managed to incorporate the company logo from the bag I used.

Recycled Plastic Wallet

My old wallet bit the dust several months ago, but I've continued to use it out of laziness and cheapness. Well, I'll admit the 'cheapness' hasn't changed, but I have done something about getting a new wallet. I saw on Amazon this cool Duct Tape Wallet. Which gave me the idea to make a wallet out of stuff in my house. I realized that if I ironed old plastic grocery bags at the right temperature, I could get flat, flexible, and strong plastic sheets, that I could then melt together to make a wallet. Here's the first prototype. If anybody wants to help test and refine them, drop me a comment and I'll make you one.