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 20th 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.
If you're still there, say hi to Rob for us!
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