Bruce & Lois

Friday 6/09/13

Well, we’re sitting here stuck in a traffic deadlock, so I’ll pass the time by writing about it. We’ve had a good trip from Salisbury after staying for evensong at the Salisbury Cathedral. But just over two miles from our exit off the M25 (the big motorway around London), traffic came to a halt. Of course, this was just after the last exit before the one to Rob Boere’s, so there was no way to escape. We have come about one mile in that last hour. Now I’ll tell you, seeing four lanes of traffic (one way) bumper to bumper and not moving is quite a sight. But I’m wondering how far back it is behind us. I suppose people would have tried to get off once the traffic had backed up to the previous exit. 

It was interesting that probably 20 miles back there were already messages flashed above the motorway warning to avoid Dartford. Of course, we didn’t know where Dartford was, but it turned out it was just north of the exit we wanted to take. Anyway, we are expecting to hear of a huge accident or something serious.

We got here to the stalled traffic about 9:30 p.m., with only a few miles yet to go. But it might be midnight before we get there. It looks like all the traffic that has built up might be getting off on ‘our’ exit. (Late addition: we finally got off at ‘our’ exit at about 11:00 p.m. And then made it to Rob’s by about 11:30 p.m. Here's a news item about the delay: Dartford Crossing Closure.)

Sunday 1/09/13

Lois writing again. We are enjoying the conference; Bruce is enjoying it more now that he has been able to relinquish his chairman’s duties after the first morning when the new chairman took over! Now he only has smaller advisory committee meetings and discussions with delegates from our sister churches.

I have enjoyed singing various psalms and hymns to different tunes in the ICRC meetings and also in the services we attended today. The singing was exceptionally good, of course, with so many delegates plus some of their wives in the services. The morning message in the church we attended was on 1 Peter 2:9-10 by Rev Ray Sikkema from the United Reformed Church (North America), and the evening message was on Psalm 73 (the minister, Rev Iain Campbell from the Free Church of Scotland, had quite a good way of bringing out the ideas of the psalm, particularly the last half). 

Not too much else to write about unless I go into our “day off” yesterday. I joined the trip to the Cardiff Castle and Mansion and to the museum of Welsh life. 

I, Bruce, took a tour through Big Pit coal mine. What was most impressive was the terrible working conditions in the mine for the miners who worked deep underground, often with their wives and their children as young as 6 until early in the 20^th Century. Children 6-8 years of age operated the doors in the mine which were to be shut or opened to regulate the ventilation. Young boys up to about age 12 shoveled the coal into the trolleys which their fathers dug out with picks. Young girls and women pushed the trolleys with 500-1000 lbs of coal to the cage (mechanical elevator) that took it to the surface. The children were often in total darkness for most of the 12 hour working day, six days a week. The miners were paid a pittance, barely enough to survive.