les Davey de France

Thus far: May 28 Sandbach (am) May 28 Rhuddlan (pm) May 30 Cwmbran May 31 Swansea Jun 1 Mynydd Isa Jun 4 Leftwich (am) Jun 4 Mold (pm) Jun 5 Carmel Jun 6 Newtown Jun 7 Wrexham

Ed Steltzer writes here .

Devotional books are great, aren't they. Nobody would suggest that we need anything to supplement reading the straight Bible text, but sometimes some brief comments, some questions, some observations made by someone who doesn't think exactly like we do just help the Bible's text and message to hit exactly the right spot in order to help us. 90 days in John 14 - 17, Romans, James, is an excellent example of a helpful devotional book. Written by two leading figures in the evangelical scene, covering a good range of Bible books and giving you undated devotions for three months, what more could you possibly want? You get the John passages and James dealt with by Sam Allberry and Romans by Tim Keller. These four chapters of John are very rich and sometimes you really need to stop, think and digest what you've read. So it's great that Allberry has dealt with the passages slowly - sometimes just a handful of verses per day - using helpful questions to bring out the mea

Devotional books are great, aren't they. Nobody would suggest that we need anything to supplement reading the straight Bible text, but sometimes some brief comments, some questions, some observations made by someone who doesn't think exactly like we do just help the Bible's text and message to hit exactly the right spot in order to help us. "Bible Studies on Mark" is a good example. Too brief to be a commentary, this book aims to open up the text of Mark in 21 brief chapters, around 8 pages a "lesson", commenting, explaining and applying. It's a book where you read the Bible text and then read Boekestein's comments. At the end of each chapter there are questions for reflection and application, then the end-notes. Boekestein's approach is very practical and helpful, but you'll be doing quite a lot of reading. The book is conservative, straightforward and reverent. The "long ending" of Mark is regarded as authenticated by cent

We called at our friends, Jérôme and Harmonie's new place, "Madame Pang's", very near Dan where we used to meet. It's their new venture, with interior design by a talented young architect, divided into small, intimate seating areas and with a menu of dim sum - Cantonese tapas - and a long and varied list of different drinks. We ordered three things : crispy chicken, crispy beef and vegetable tempura. The chicken came first, super little crispy-coated pieces of chicken piled artfully into a column. We guzzled them with gusto. Then arrived the beef, in little strips, more crunchy than the chicken, but equally good. Last to arrive, after a little pause, was the vegetable tempura. Green beans, mushrooms, sliced courgettes, I think, and maybe courgette leaves coated in a light mousse of crispy batter. This was our favourite. The prices start at 4€ per portion and go up to about 12€. Three portions between two of us was plenty for us, and we chose from the che

A beautiful morning. Figaro going through my mind again. Running faster in the presto. Oh well. Birds singing. Out before dawn, though. On my way back I passed Mrs Davey heading out. We have this plan to all three of us go running together to see if we spread panic and confusion amongst the good folk of our neighbourhood. (Mrs Davey said, "You run fast, don't you!" Honestly, she did!)

Le Gorafi is a French spoof news agency. The name gives it away, loosely modelled on a kind of verlan version of Le Figaro. But that didn't stop some Algerian newspapers taking this story seriously and publishing it on their front pages. It says, "Marine Le Pen will build a wall around France and make Algeria pay for it." Oops! I suppose we are living in rather crazy times.

During the week someone asked about the cost of using the Citiz cars and I started nosing around on their website. You can download an excel file of all the times you used a car during a particular period and once I worked out what to press and where it was easy to work out what we spent on Citiz cars in 2016.  It came to 848 Euros. That's more than I thought it would be, but still a good deal when you take into account the cost of insurance, of servicing, of fuel, of depreciation and so on.

but not that quiet! From Saturday to Wednesday some friends from England came to visit, and Roger preached for us at Bordeaux Church, giving me a Sunday off, plus the preparation time, plus a real feeling of being demob happy. So much so that it's taken me a while to get my head back in gear again! I plum forgot a little list of things I normally do on Tuesday or on Wednesday. Oh well! Now spring has come to Bordeaux. We have temperatures in the mid teens, some wonderfully sunny days and soon we'll be eating on that terrace. Already the washing is out there, though it has been there for two days now - perhaps it's dry... Here's a couple photos from a boat trip we took on the river bus down to the cité du vin.

asked a friend some years ago. Actually it probably wasn't worded exactly like that, but that was the essence of the question. And a very good question it is. My cousin who lives near London and is perhaps 20 years older than I recently read my piece on corporal punishment in schools in the 1970s and sent me a delightful email about a teacher who had an immensely positive effect on his life. I knew the man. When I went through junior school I was taught by this man's wife and they both made a huge impression on me, too.

I have stubbornly stuck with the first doctor we went to in Villenave d'Ornon, a 30 minute drive away, rather than going to one of the myriad excellent practitioners that have their surgeries within a five minute walk of our flat, so I booked the super little Toyota Yaris Hybrid from 10 till 13:30. My appointment was at 10:45, but I was unlikely to be seen on time. You can park right in front of the surgery, it's great, and there were few people in the waiting room. Unfortunately they were all waiting for my doctor, so I was an hour late going in. She apologised, but I said I didn't mind. If you know in advance it's OK. You take something to read or some work to do and that way it's OK. She checked me over, listening to my heart for slightly longer than I felt comfortable with. 'It's still beating?" "Oh yes, no problem." She decided she's happy with me and sent me on my way.

Our Mission, the unique and unrivalled UFM Worldwide, posts tweets of short prayer requests from its missionaries more or less every day. I try to retweet these, but sometimes I miss them, so from time to time I search in twitter for "UFM Worldwide" to get them all on the screen together. Twitter slips in an advertisement of its choice. This morning it was for the new "Fifty shades of grey" film.

I was supposed to go and see the doctor at the end of January. "Come and see me at the end of January", she said. But January came and January went with its joys and sorrows, its nostalgia and anticipation, and I hadn't been to see her. Now we're getting wafted towards the middle of February. I decided that I had better go soon, but I can't go with the 'flu. Still, I'd have to ring and make an appointment for when I'm better, otherwise we'll be in late February, and that would never do. "Hi, I'd like an appointment please." "Is it urgent? What about tomorrow?" Thinks: Oh help. Will I be up to going tomorrow or will I still be shaky. "Is Thursday possible?" "Thursday would be with the locum. What's the matter with tomorrow?" "Well it's just that I have the 'flu." "Oh well in that case we can fit you in this afternoon." "Oh no! I'm not coming to the d

do me and everyone else a favour. Hire a hit man - one in the head and two in the chest is what I'll need.

Well I just read a newspaper article written by a CofE clergyperson talking about the marks and scars he bears from the physical punishments doled out in his school - meted out, of course, "in the name of evangelical decency". Obviously! What other reason could there possibly be? Well in the case of my school you'd have to look for one. I grew up in the Rhondda valley and attended normal state schools in the 1960s and 1970s. We had morning assembly, but the act of worship would probably best be described as common or garden liberal moralism. No muscularity here, thank you! Yet despite this apparently laudable open-minded and flabby approach to christianity, education was still red in cane and slipper. Well, let's not go too far. One of my earliest memories of primary school was a teacher who rolled up the trouser legs of one small lad and slapped his legs thoroughly for some misdemeanour or other. The cane was used, kids were shaken and slapped, physical pu

but at least I am no longer living in denial. I managed to get through the service, lock up etc. run for the bus home and get home before the shivers started! So it's paracetamol, lots of fluid and staying in the warm for me for a while. Poor Pat says that so far each day has been worse than the one before. Nice!

We're in the middle of a big storm here, mainly with very high winds and occasional heavy rain. No trams are running, some areas have no electricity and train services between Bordeaux and Poitiers are interrupted. All night something has been banging somewhere across the street. Our flat is on the leeward end of the building, so we don't feel anything much - last night I upturned the patio tables and piled everything into the most sheltered corner of the terrace and this morning nothing seems to have moved. Meanwhile Pat is ill with what looks like 'flu - aches, fever, coughing - you know the drill. I hope I didn't give it to her. Just on Wednesday I thought to myself how all this winter I have been pretty free of colds - then on Thursday started brewing something up. I'm currently in denial with a voice about a fourth below it's usual pitch and mild aches, shivers and coughs. Perhaps I have the same as Pat but with its fangs drawn by the 'flu jab. Who kn

OK. To save about a fiver I got my glasses delivered to a "relay point". Yes. I know. There are various networks of relay points in France and the online opticians use a particular one that has addresses in Mérignac, in various places dotted about Bordeaux and at the main railway station, Gare Saint-Jean. None in Pessac. I chose Gare Saint-Jean. Now to get from Pessac to Gare Saint-Jean can take anything between 5 minutes and an hour. Trains from Pessac go there directly without passing go, the journey is not included in our monthly bus and tram card but it costs about 2€. At 15:00 I got the message that the specs were ready for collection. There wasn't a train for a couple hours. So at about 4 I took the bus. Bus 4 to Barrière de Pessac, then bus 11 to Gare Saint-Jean. It was pouring with rain, so the buses were crowded and steamy, but we got there OK. And it took about an hour including perhaps 15 minutes hanging around at bus stops. Collecting the glasses took a li

When I popped into Pessac centre to get the cinema tickets I also went to get an address at the town hall. I had a serious letter to write. The junction just outside our block of flats is an accident blackspot. I know of four accidents in the year that we have been here, but people whose flats overlook the road say there have been many more, perhaps 20. The problem is that just before the flats the road curves to the left and the road markings get very slippery in the rain. So if drivers are not very precise in their steering and allow a wheel to sidle onto the line then the car will be liable to skid. The last accident was on Christmas Eve when a Peugeot 308 skidded across the pedestrian crossing, mounted the kerb and smashed into the fibre-optic internet installation, smashing the fence behind it (and the front of the car). What concerns me is the very real possibility that someone could have been stood by the crossing waiting for the road to clear. That someone would have be

We heard this week of a couple of books and of a film that have been produced by Anne-Dauphine Julliand. The first book is called "Two little footsteps in the wet sand" and is the story of her daughter. During a pregnancy, the author noticed that her two-year-old daughter was walking oddly. Tests revealed a degenerative disease and the little one was given just months to live. Further tests showed that both she and her husband were carriers of the disease and when the baby she was carrying was born she was also affected. The author was impressed by a remark a doctor made, "When you cannot add days to your life, you can add life to your days". She wrote a biography of her daughter, a biography because until the moment she died she was living, and living her restricted life to the full. I brought the book home on Tuesday and Pat read it yesterday. Another book followed, and then a film, entitled "Et les mistrals gagnants". The title is taken from a pop

The presidential election is three months away, in May. The Republican candidate ("right-wing"), François Fillon, is up to his neck in scandal. It is alleged that he paid his Monmouthshire wife over 800,000€ for a non-existent job. The National Front candidate (extreme-right), Marine LePen, is accused by the European Parliament of having used 300,000€ of EU money to pay two people who worked for her NF party. The Socialist Party is quite divided, but there is a presidential candidate, Benoît Hamon, who for the moment is not embroiled in any scandal. Then there is Emmanuel Macron, an independent, who might just end up being president! Unless we get Madame LePen.