Grumpy Whiskers And Ink

And so, after I'd left work to rest, what did I do? Or, rather, where did I go? Well, a bit earlier, a couple of new cafes had opened up; Boston Tea Party, which loads of people had been going on about, and Grumpy Whiskers, which a couple of friends had recommended to me.

I'd gone to the first the day before, so it was the turn of Grumpy Whiskers, which to be honest was the one I was really looking forward to. Put it this way: I haven't been back to the other one since, and have no real desire to. Grumpy Whiskers is different in two ways: it is a licensed bar as well as a cafe, and they put a lot of events on.

So I go along there after work and have a drink - a hot chocolate, that is - and just chat to the staff a bit. And discover they are having a poetry slam that evening. I haven't been to anything like that for ages, so I thought about going along. If you don't know what they are, think of rap battles (like in 8 Mile) with less aggression-though not necessarily less swearing.

I get home and contact a couple of friends to see if they're up for it. It seems one of them is, so I wander along with the aim of meeting him there; but things didn't quite work out like that. I get there and it's already started, someone's up on stage. It doesn't take long to figure out the (very loose) format-basically someone gets up and performs a poem, and then someone else does. No order, no MC, but a lot of friendly cheering. Apparently, it's going to be better organised next time, but from the point of view of entertainment, it worked well enough, I thought. I enjoyed it, anyway.

And a couple of other things happened during the evening. The friend who I was going to meet couldn't make it in the end, but he texted another mutual friend, who just happened to be in town then, so he came along. I hadn't seen him for months, so it was good to have a bit of a catch up. And the other thing was that, while we were chatting and listening, I started to write something. I just thought of someone challenging me to get up, and my response; and started rhyming with it. It started off quite well; but then I got stuck. I still haven't got much further.

I go in the next day, the first of my days off (I had to go into town anyway), as I'd been chatting to one of the staff about the tattoo parlour upstairs. I'd asked about getting a celtic cross design, and he'd told me the guy to talk to would be in the next day-so before I could come up with a reason to put it off, I went in and chatted to him. We looked at a few designs, and the upshot of that was that I booked and paid for it to be done the following Tuesday (i.e. the one just gone). Which I could hardly believe I'd just done.

So, the week came and went quicker than weeks sometimes do, and I found myself back in there. He'd prepared a stencil of the design to work from, so he put that on, and then went to work filling in the ink. I was slightly concerned about what the needle would feel like, but not really worried; and there wasn't anything to worry about. It felt slightly ticklish more than anything; which was a little irritating when my arm twitched a couple of times, but it didn't bother him. To be honest, at one point I almost dozed off (well, it was quite warm). So, to anyone wanting to get one done but feeling afraid, I would say there is definitely nothing to worry about.

And then it was all done, and I had my arm wrapped in clingfilm, with instructions to leave it on for a couple of hours and then wash it, and put cream on it a few times a day-fixed with sellotape, so taking that off was actually the most painful part. And to come back in a couple of weeks for him to check it, and reink it if it needed it. The human body is the most awkward canvas in the world, apparently. And that was it. I left there with a fantastic design of a celtic cross, which I will probably put up photos of when the healing process is done; or at some point, anyway.

And about the only other thing I would like to say about the place is that they do fantastic waffles - definitely worth a visit for. And I will be visiting again. And again.

Cafe Church Weekend

Well, after hearing about the cafe church from Rich (in my last post if you want to know a bit more), I decided I wanted to go and visit. And, as well as that, I felt I should go, at least once. There was one coming up on Sunday 19th-and as it's currently only on every other month, I felt I should take the opportunity that was presented to me straight away. I'm not good at making that sort of decision, but I asked Rich that evening if it would be okay for me to come and visit on the Saturday, and then join him on the Sunday for that month's cafe church; as it would be a lot easier for me to come up then than try to find a way of getting up in time on the Sunday. Straight away, he said that would be no problem, and to let him know as soon as I could either way.

So, after a few days sending messages back and forth, and checking train times (it didn't take long to discover that coaches would be no use), we eventually figured out where and when he would pick me up-and, in the meantime, he'd got me invited out for a meal with him. Which was nice. He'd been invited out, and his hosts were generous enough to invite me to join them. So he picked me up at the train station and we went there via Asda and some very winding roads. We were just two of a large party, and conversation flowed well. A good time was had by all.

So we got back to his quite late, and I just about had time to meet his 'lodger' before going to bed. I got up a little later than the others, so I had to make my own way to the 'cafe'-but that was easy enough. I could see the church from the window, but it took a little longer to go round by the road than straight across the fields-still less than 10 mins, though. I got there to discover things were well under way, and a couple of friends of mine were there from my church. So I sat with them and read our paper-every table had one to inspire conversation and thoughts. I grabbed smething to eat, and sat down to chat. After a bit, the programme started, as it were. Rich and his boss, David, got up and opened proceedings by asking what people had been reading in their papers. We had The Church Times, so we read an article about how heresy is good for the church; but I didn't really think that appropriate. Anyway, a few people said stuff about things like the tax avoidance issue with Stabucks and Amazon, and they engaged with that; and then the M.A.D. youth did a sketch about miracles (that's Martley Amateur Dramatics to the uninitiated), and we had a few songs led by the Rev David. And then the main presentatin began-which this time was an interview with a friend of Rich's who had had a major heart attack, and was talking about how he drew closer to God as a result-and also how he is now healthier than ever. This touched lots of people in different ways for different reasons-the thing that touched me about it most was a bit where he said he was praying when things went really bad for him, and he was pleading with God, saying something along the lines of 'have I really been such a bad son'?; and God replied 'Now, you know that's not true'. Which is along the lines of something He's said to me over and over.

And, all too soon, it was over. The only other thing of note before we packed up was from a girl called Lottie, who was telling us about how her fundraising was going for a trip to Africa she's doing next year. She's going out to do some building work of some kind-she doesn't know what yet, as it's not til next year, and they will be doing whatever needs doing at the time. Whatever that is. In the meantime, she has to raise about £4000 in order to go. I will pass on something at some point, and if anyone else feels they wish to contribute, I'm sure that would be gratefully received.

And then, we all helped pack up, and it was off to lunch. Which was also nice and relaxing. it was a cafe in the middle of a sort of wildlife park called The Cob House; and the four of us had a nice chat about life, the universe and everything-or, as much of it as we could in the all too short time we had. The cafe church goes on every month, and my friends say they are going to go to most of them, so I may join them. They're away for the next one, so I may turn up again in July or August. I look forward to it...