les Davey de France

Everything is gone kaput. My external hard drive has had over a week of working impeccably and now ... nothing. The sd card in my phone has thrown a wobbly. So while I try and nudge them gently back into life here's some cheerful music :

We've been in Bordeaux for almost eight years now, avoiding expatriates all that time so as to integrate to the maximum into French ministry. But for a couple of weeks we've been thinking that perhaps it's time to make ourselves known to the expats, so we went to the Bordeaux-USA association meeting. It meets every week on Thursday evening. It has a sizeable lending library of English books. It does a variety of activities : last night was a quiz and next week is a "Pot-Luck Supper". There were perhaps 25 folk there, about 1/3 French, 1/3 Americans and 1/3 Brits. I vowed to keep my trap shut so nobody would know I am Welsh. Not easy Here's some photos. The first is taken from the lending library windows, the others are of the hge ship, "The World" which is in Bordeaux at the moment.

Our April Prayer Letter has been sent out by email and will be sent by post shortly. If you'd like a copy by email then please contact us.

A review of "Bitesize Biographies - John Newton", by John Crotts. This is a really good book and I am a scoundrel. That's why the book gets "only" four stars. Let me explain. The subject of the book is John Newton. Seaman, slave trader, preacher, man of letters and hymn-writer, he's a wonderful subject to write about and John Crotts fulfils his task very well. He gives us the mechanical aids we need - a time line, and a chronological account of Newton's life (and what a life !) He gives us a taste of the man, of his loves, of his heart. And John Newton had a big heart that loved above all the grace of God in the gospel. We have a lot to learn from him and John Crotts helps us greatly in a small book. He gives us an insight into John Newton's output of hymns and letters with analyses of some of the great classics, like 'Glorious things of theee are spoken' and 'How sweet the name of Jesus sounds' (as well as 'Amazing Gr...

When I meet up to talk with chaps I generally do it in cafés in Bordeaux - yesterday was in the McCafé - and afterwards we walk the streets a bit while we talk. Yesterday we ended up in a part of town I don't know very well and I took some photos.

Bordeaux has been rehabilitating the river over the past few years. Until just after 2000 the riverside was dirty and unsavoury - not a place you wanted to go. But now the riverbank is a place of gardens, pleasant walks, sport, cafés, shops and the BATCUB ! A river-bus that links the right bank at Stalingrad with the left bank at Quinconces, the Hangars and Lormont. Very kindly the city decided to offer two weeks of free trips on the boat. You had to book online. Since Mrs Davey has LONG wanted a trip on the river, since John Edmonds was coming to visit and since the trip was free I signed us up for Monday afternoon. Here's some photos John took. A video will follow.