I hate pigeons

On the way home from the Banksy Exhibition (see previous post) I was innocently walking along the pavement when, suddenly, the wrath of a pigeon descended on me from a great height. Typical.

Banksy Vs. Bristol Museum

This afternoon, we went to see the Banksy takeover of Bristol Museum. We know the museum well, and it was fascinating to see how it looked after being Banksy'd.

The museum is littered with 'new' exhibits by a 'local artist', and these range from the ridiculous to the sublime, all done with an edge of social comment and dry wit.

If you haven't been, but are thinking of doing so - Go. It's brilliant.

Here's his 'Flight to Egypt':

And the incredibly moving 'I hate Mondays':


A quick google image search will give you a flavour of the exhibits, so I won't reproduce more here, but to do justice to the exhibition it simply has to be seen in situ.

Postcards from the Wall #3

Here's the third in my series of postcards from my study wall:

New Pew

This weekend I took delivery of my very own pew...

It comes from the Vine Baptist Church in Sevenoaks, where I grew up and was Baptised in 1986. They are currently renovating the church and the old pews, which date from 1888, have to go. So I've got one. Here it is in my study:


This afternoon, John Weaver (our College Principal) decided that my study was lacking something, and a few moments later he appeared at the door with a lectern and Welsh Bible, from which Martyn started to read:

And here's me, the ever-attentive congregation:

MotoGP is THE BEST motorsport (well, F1 comes close)

Many will know that as far as sport is concerned (and as I've said before), if it doesn't have at least two tyres and an engine, I'm not that bothered.

F1 has been a passion for many years, but in recent years, particularly since getting my own sports-bike, I've been loving MotoGP.

The GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) is Valentino Rossi.
He has 8 Grand Prix World Championships to his name.


The young pretender to his crown, and his team-mate for 2009, is Jorge Lorenzo, a 22 year old Spanish rider.

If you have never watched a MotoGP race, and are wondering what all the fuss is about, the final three laps of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix are possibly the most exhilerating three laps you will ever see. So, if you have five minutes and want an adrenaline rush, take a look at this (there are no crashes, I promise):

Chris Moyles

If you've never listened to the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio 1 - where have you been?!

Well, anyway, whether you love him or hate him, you have to watch this...
In terms of cultural impact, it is unintentionally one of the best pieces of religious broadcasting I have ever heard.



Thanks to Steve Holmes for spotting it. Read his thoughtful analysis here.

Bristol Zoo Car Park Attendant

For those who don't know, I live in Bristol. I'm even a paid-up member of Bristol Zoo Gardens, and visit there pretty much weekly. I don't pay to park, because there's always plenty of free parking in the streets around the Zoo if you don't mind walking for a couple of minutes.

But there's a large Zoo car park out the front where you can pay to park if you're so inclined...

Well, this morning in the car on the way to work I was listening to the podcast of Friday's Radio 4 News Quiz, and Phill Jupitus told the following story which he claimed was from last week's Bristol Evening Post:

Outside Bristol Zoo there is a car-park where hundreds of cars and dozens of coaches park on a daily basis. Until recently there was a very genial fellow with an official looking hat, yellow waistcoat and a ticket machine charging cars £1 and coaches £5 for the privilege.
This parking attendant worked there for about 25 years, through wind, rain and scorching Bristol summers, eight hours a day, six days a week (and Bank Holidays). He was an industrious worker with an exemplary sickness record.
One day he didn't turn up for work. “Oh dear” say Bristol Zoo management as chaos descends on the car park, “we’d better phone up Bristol City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant.”
“Err...no” say the Council, “that car park is your responsibility.”
“But” say the Zoo, “he was employed by you, wasn’t he?”
“Not us”, say the council.

Brilliant story!

But then I tried to check out the Evening Post article in question...

And...

Guess what...???

It's a urban myth!

What a shame!

ThisIsBristol tell the story of its circulation over the last couple of years here.

Postcards from the Wall #2

Here's the second in my new series of postcards from my study wall:

Read my book for free...

...well, part of it!
Amazon have now scanned an excerpt of my book for their 'look inside' feature.
Check it out here.

Jesus loves you

I'm sure some of you have seen this before, but it's new to me, so I thought I'd share...