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… and so long to the ‘noughties’. You weren’t the frontrunner for what we were going to call this decade, but fair play to you for sticking in there and making your case.
It’s time for an end of year list, as is now traitional in blog land:
Biggest regret: Buying that Swedish Phrase book!
Biggest disappointment: Don’t want to got too deep here, so I’ll settle with a work thing. Passing all my exams with a distinction, then being missed out and forgotten when it came round to the office exams drinks thing. Just a small thing, but it would have been nice to have my hard work recognised – all safely tucked away in the back of the mind, informing what kind of manager I want to be in the future.
Discovered new talent: The ability to grow a convincing tache in 7 days.
Biggest spiritual high: There’s a few up for the award here – but I’m going to go for the glod fillings incident. Just bonkers grace and power in the atmosphere. Still causes a lingering worship moment whenever I brush my teeth. For a full theological explanation, please see here.
Biggest “ground swallow me up now” moment: Probably when I met a fairl senior figure in the SRI world and then proceeded to use this word in conversation . . .
Wedding of the year: Hmm, limited choice this year. As I recall there were only a couple, but the standout for me would be the Dennisons. Awesome speeches, venues and some awesome jamming with the Leroys. PLus, the view over the hills all the way to Wales – come on.
Most interesting person discovered: I was invited to the Churches together conference looking into the financial crisis, and heard this guy speak. Incredible wisdom, on the highest plane of economic thought.
Best unexpected moment of bliss: The last night of the Southampton Conference, the band all playing percussion, led by this guy. It just exploded. Joy, joy, joy. Then on the way home, eveyone stopped out of the Thompson Mobile to get drinks while I stayed in the van and got a little blasted by the HS. It then spread in the van on the way home and we had a full on HS party the rest of the way home. Wakey wakey!
Best song: Oh No, Andrew Bird OR Daniel by Bat for Lashes.
Best Film: I rather enjoyed Bright Star . . .
Best Live music Moment: P J Harvey at the Anson Rooms was ethereal, angry, delicate and curiously ugly.Incredible. Or Rolf Harris at Glasto . . .
Best new instrument learned: I didn’t really get on that this year, although I’ve been having great fun with the Boss RC-20XL looper, which has even found its way into the worship set.
Best coffee bliss: Copenhagen, -2, incredible pastry in one hand, clear blue skies, 100,000 protesters.
Remember kids, we make our own future. Or at least download as much of it as we jealously desire.
Matt
I take 2 minutes from a freezing march to say Hi. Awesome day, Awesome atmosphere, although I see on the news that there ’s some trouble brewing from the Anarchists (!)
Looking forward to the 17 hour trip back . . .
Matt
Don’t kid yourself. Copenhagen is easily the most important political summit of our generation. Poverty, development, population, inter-generational equity and overlapping in giant game of political chess. In Denmark. If you’re a Christian, you should care about this. If you’re an American Christian, you should question what you’ve been taught about religious freedom being linked to gas prices (I love you all really).
And for once, I’ve decided to break ranks from my usual grouping of detached observers and and actually get involved. And true to my one flight a year rule (which has more often than not been a no-flight a year rule), a colleague and I will be getting to Copenhagen by rail.
This epic journey begins in Bristol Thursday night, and rolls into Copenhagen in the early hours of Saturday via Brussels. The same 19-hour joy ride gets us back in at 11.30 just in time for my birthyday drinks and the office christmas party.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=602&ArticleID=6378&l=en
I’ll be blogging from the road – hope to see you there. If not, I’ll see you in the Highbury Monday Night.
Read I went to two full day conferences last week. On balance, I don’t think I could have experienced two more radically different views of the world – the word ‘juxtaposed’ was invented for these situations. . .
Every now and then you write something that will alienate you from your friends. I sincerely hope this is one such instance. I have no pretence, and no charade, but plenty of axes to grind. And in true “Matt this the pot, you’re black” territory I recognises my own hypocrisy in perpetrating many of the crimes I am shortly to list.
Friends – let me introduce to my top five most annoying facebook status updates.
In the build up to Copenhagen and global efforst to consolidate existing hegemonies and avoid sacrifice work towards a fair deal on avoiding climate change, how best to negotiate a fair solution on the issue is all over the news.
One elements of this has caught my eye, and it’s been articulated by Monbiot in the Guardian today. That is, lobbyists and others seem to be either reccomending population control or constraining the development of emerging economies as the solution.
Well, we certainly can’t have a global climate deal without China, India and the rest. But we do a great diservice to ourselves when we demonise the poor as the probllem, precisely because they may, one day, replicate our levels of consumption and really cause carbon emissions to skyrocket.
I was at a Fairtrade talk last year where a coffee farmer from Kenya was asked to justify the carbon footpring of flying his coffee beans in from kenya to the UK for roasting and sale.
He took a minute to calm down.
He then explained that on his farm, he shared one Landrover with three other farmers. His house consisted of two rooms, one with a light and one plug socket. He doesn’t really holiday. He doesn’t have a DVD player, Laptop, Hi Fi, Fridge, PC, Toaster, or Kettle. In short his carbon footprint is about 18 times less than that of the person asking the question; and you’re worrying about the FOOD MILES?
As George says, population growth among those who consume the least is not the problem for carbon emissions; how much electricity does a street kid use, exactly? Population growth and poverty are massive and important problems, but you won’t get a way from the fact that us in the West will certainly have to make lifestyle changes before we can ‘preach’ to the developing world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/sep/28/population-growth-super-rich
You really should read the reviews of this amzon.com product.
PS Sorry for not blogging. I have much to say but it’s taking its time coming out right!
Honest, I am. Just very busy. There are three very big draft posts getting chipped away at, ready any day now. Maybe.
Come say Hi if you’re going to Momentum.
Matt
