came back from brighton

london
Went there on the £1 single fare by national express.

i was reading the papers at the brighton library this morning, waiting for the national express bus, when i saw this article, saying national express was hard  hit by the govt removing the concession for pensioners on their travel in november. and that they may be forced to reintroduce their £1 fares, to overcome competition from the railways.

hmm, no wonder there had been no £1 fares for a long time, until suddenly this one that i got came recently. 

they said old people relied on that concession, but everyone could have accessed their £5.50 single fare on their funfare website or this £1 fare. so the govt was right to stop the concession. By paying half the fare to national express it enabled national express to keep their prices high for the rest of us, and this contributed to their profits. it seems profits will fall 40% which suggests that was the profit given by the concession. 

anyway, i have seen these old age fares, and they are not that cheap, frankly, even with the discounts from the govt subsidy. if u ask me national express simply took advantage of the subsidy to up the fares and keep it high for us all. 

now perhaps we shall see more £1 fares. haah.


but as i have found out about pensioners, they are very fixed in their ways and are reluctant to change. they are used to buying their journey by national express and never realise that by just going online at the funfare website they can get any journey for the same money or less.

i was using the buses in brighton to get to the centre of town, and noticed the old biddies just sit in the busstop, waiting patiently for the local buses, which stop at everystop, when they could have flagged this bus i was on, the driver even paused at the stop, to see if all those old folks queueing to get onto a local bus will shift over to him,but no one did.they would have got to the centre in a jiffy. 

they would have got free travel which ever bus they took. 

the old folks are friendly though. i got many offers of help when they see me looking at the bus guide. 

one even gave me a good alternative bus that i did not realise was going that way too. and saved me a long wait. 

using the buses, i got to see the naturist beach near the marina, and the other unofficial one near portslade station. 

Fortunately my friend got a article written ages ago (dated 1998) giving detailed instructions on how to get there.

 i was reading it on the bus number 2, thinking the naked beach was shoreham beach, and realise that this naked beach has no name and near portslade station.

so i double back to catch the number 1 bus, which is really very frequent, the only one that i know of that is so frequent, when prior to this all the buses i know ofseem to be running at hourly intervals or so.


What 
is interesting, is that there was a guy who lived locally, who came to the bus stop after me, and on board, he asked me where i was heading, so i said the naturist beach nearby, and he said he had never heard about it. 
there are people living there who have never know of it. 
i was going to add that cartoon of shocked expressions and flying eyebrows and jumping off chairs by the people 
in a bar in reaction to a guy who did not know ...but i did not know what point of reference to use to google it. i forgot the name of the cartoonist. anyone knows? let me know in the comments.
found it, it is h m bateman.


and using the instructions on that article written so long ago i finally got there. 

but i can tell u of a better way than going there by the train to portslade station and walking from there.
take the bus 700 from churchill square, and than get off at the blue lagoon bar, a building that looked like a pub. 

there are steps to the left of this building, as u look at it from across the street, and that leads to their beer garden, with a gate leading to the road beyond. 

if the gate is shut, just use the public steps further to the left .

anyway, that road is south beach road, and it curves to the left, and then right, going past a big white building, and a row of warehouses, and then curves left and u see a car park. 
there is a low ridge, go over that and u see the beach , walk right for some distance and u see a long sea wall and u will find a few naked  guys against the wall with windbreakers . 

there were 3guys there when i went. 

they were all keeping their distance from each other. so it did not look very sociable, which kinds of put me off. one of them put on swim trunks and went for a long swim.

haha, anyway i found a low depression, and settled there and got naked. it was very mild, with not much wind, and warm enough to be naked without being uncomfortable.

and later a guy came walking by, and we chatted, and the sun came out, which persuaded him to get naked too. so i had some company which is what i really like.


unfortunately, he told me he is not gay. i thought he was because he was showing off his cock as he was stroking it to get hard, and wearing a cock ring which he told me is to maintain an erection. he is about 70 or so. 

well, if he is 70 it is quite impressive that he can get a hard on at all. haha.

he asked me if i like to watch. i said i like to watch and do , even better.

rather strange behaviour for a straight man, dont you think? 

my theory is there are lots of straight men who are flashers. and in the absence of females, a male would do. and they only show and dont follow up on it. 

i daresay to any female, if u see a flasher, he is harmless. 

i dont think there are a lot of gay men who are flashers. if we show our cock we are using it as a signal to find other gay guys to play with. 




i would prefer a gay guy for  company, ( or let me correct myself, an openly gay man)so after a bit, i got dressed, giving as my excuse that i have to go to catch the bus, left him and he got dressed.

returning, i clambered over a low gate,set high up the sea wall, jumped on to the road that runs beside the wall, and walked to the starting point where  i saw a guy pushing his bike along the shingle to the naked area. i greeted him but he did not reply. and then i saw a fleece jacket draped on the low wall. 
i carried on walking and saw another guy further on who was standing near his bike. and i made the comment someone left a jacket there. 

he said would u like it? i said well if no one wants it i would. and he said go ahead pick it up as no one is likely to. 

so with this encouragement i went back and got it. a very nice jacket. the first guy who ignored my greeting was standing further on, looking back. i wonder why? maybe they are together. and he was waiting for his friend who was chatting to me.

it looks grey in the pic, but it is brown.  and the label says crivit outdoor.with bright orange pockets.  and it is just my size (small) too. the shoulder pads are black, but here it did not appear different. and it got push buttons in front instead of a zip. it fits me beautifully.

i dont know why the colour changes when i take the picture. how can brown look grey? or maybe it is grey but looked brown to me. 
added. 26.10.12 now that i had washed it and is dry, it is a difficult colour to describe. it looked darkgrey, brownish grey. when i first saw it , it was wet and that made it look brown.

anyway, the guy with the bike told me that he is going to check out another car park further along. 

it was late so i decided to continue to the bus, 700, which came quite often, and i got off at churchill square, asked someone there what time , he said 2.50pm, 
and saw from my timetable i just missed the bus i wanted. 

then later realised that if i had stayed on the 700, it would have taken me to the old steine, the road where the bus also goes, and i could have arrived there faster to catch it as it comes. 

ah well, haha. 

on another day, i went to the official naturist beach, near the marina. 

i thought i shall catch the bus to there rather than walk from the pier, and caught the number 21, but it went all round an estate up and down as it was on a hill, and took ages. 

but i like the naturist beach. it was not what i visualised. 

it was just a wall of shingle raised to hide a depression where the naked people can lie down, and a sloping shelf hid them from people walking along the sea line. 

and the bus plying the route above the esplanade can have a good view of the people behind that shingle . haha. 

there is not much privacy, but to us nudist who are at ease about people seeing us naked, it is no big thing. 
pity there were no one naked there except me. 

what i like is that the bushes are busy with guys. haha. 

and it is really very near to the pier. the walk is really easy. though if u want to bus it, take the no  12, 14,27 . 

it was fun exploring brighton by bus. i have been before many times to brighton but never explored it by bus.

 the buses are just used by old people. i think if not for the old, the buses would operate at a loss. but as it is, they are subsidised by council who pay the old folks bus fare. 



i went to the charity shops along london road, but they are not very well stocked.

 
Added. that road, beach road south, the sign posting gave that name, but in this google map it is called basin road south. it is a old map of the area. the sea wall was absent in the google map. 
here is a map of the area. u can search for it in google map by typing wharf road, portslade. 

this is how john and i spend the days

london
John has free bus pass so that is how we have been spending time , going on buses. 

We went to a naked party in archway, and took the number 4 bus from waterloo. i made a mistake chosing that bus because it went all over the place going as far north as seven sisters before swinging back down to archway. took us ages. like 70-80mins. 

anyway during the party someone there told us we could have taken the 91 that ends at trafalgar square, and it would be quicker too.
Afraid he was wrong. 91 do not go to archway. there is,it seems, no better route but by tube from my place to archway. another reason why that place is not really a good place to stay, as the transport links are so poor. haha. speaking from my perspective of course. 

 Added. 15.10.12 i have since found out the best bus route is 88 to camden and then 134 to archway.

(Added.14.10.12 i was reading what i wrote, and realise it is all very from my point of view.haha. of course the place is highly desireable, as it is in highgate, a posh area and the houses there are big. the one we were in has 3bedrooms, large lounge, kitchen, dining room, and a garden with jacuzzi. and it overlooks wooded areas. the house must be worth a bomb. haha. 
but i like living where i am in central london and would not exchange it. to me a garden and large house is not a recommendation. so much work to upkeep a garden, and so much cleaning to do with a large house. haha. )

it has v good connections by bus to the city of london.

and even though we have been to that house before, we still got lost. ah makes me realise not everyone is that fortunate as me to live so centrally. most have to live far out and miles from the nearest tube station, and no buses running near them.

that was yesterday night(friday) 

today we decided to get the bus to peckham where there is the lidl, asda, and aldi supermarkets to check the prices. 

not really that cheap prices, only the aldi has cheap toilet paper. john bought a umbrella for £5 in asda, and i saw there were umbrellas with trimedges like the one i found which i like very much. they cost £10. 

i really like these trim edged umbrellas, even though they are women umbrellas. 

long ago we had a lamb shish kebab at a cafe near the tesco in peckham. and we went back again to check the prices, thinking it cannot be as cheap or as nice now after so many years. 

the small lamb shish kebab is £3.90, before it was £3.60. and though the lamb pieces were smaller it was still very delicious. the bread was smaller and the salads are not packed into the bread but otherwise it is still very nice and good value. the lamb ws the same price as the chicken kebab, yet lamb is so much more expensive. john and i shared a small kebab. but i am sure we could easily eat the big kebab at £5.50 and have a skewer of lamb for each. 

generally, shopping here would have to be selective. if i want toilet paper (12pack for £1.89)or mushy peas 300mg for 4p. i wold go to the aldi. and if tesco is not giving 50p veg, than aldi is good for veg. i got a huge savoy cabbage for 49p there. and frozen corn 1kg for 99p. 
I got powdered skim milk from asda, 454mg for £1.68. tesco is £1.15. tesco's is a refill bag, whilst the asda is a big tin. so this is not a good buy at all. i got lots of tins to put my milk powder in. 

u have to have a good idea of the quantity and price before u come here, and bring a calculator too. these cheap supermarkets are not serious competition to the big players like tesco, sainsburys etc. 


and i got  horlick 500mg for £2 from asda , saves me 70p if i bought in elsewhere. 

asda do £2.50 a kg pork which is good to know if i ever want to replenish by pork diet. 

without any reductions, when it can be £2 a kg, the usual price of the basic pork in my area is £3.19 a kg. 

other than that there were not really any real bargains in these cut price supermarkets in peckham. 

my road was being resurfaced and for some time the buses c10 and 88 which runs near me has been diverted. but it is now back to normal which is good news for us. 

Life has its petty upsets, like my service charges being wrongly printed out by the computer, missing out some items so that the total did not add up. i got onto the phone to scold them and they send me a new account. 

the bill is about £1000 a year. it was a big jump from last year, about £200-300 extra because of the  computer system being revamped. and after paying so much about £400 my share that computer fxxk it up by giving me a account that do not add up. 

these computer people have been fxxking everyone for a long time. so many times after very expensive work, the system crashes and causes more trouble than before using the old system. 

ah well, i guess that is modern life for you. 

during this period we have been to the naked sex club in soho, and that was very nice even though we have been 3-4times there. some places gets boring if u go there many times, but not this one.

i met a guy and had a great time kissing and playing and then afterwards saw him at the bar and he said we have met before. 

i could not remember , but he then recalled that we met in another naked club in january. and i did remember him. 

so it seems all the naked guys are ending up in this naked club sooner or later.

there are still lots of new guys to meet though. there was a hunky saudi arab who told me he is out to his family who are not religious and so accept him. he is of the opinion that everyone even in the uk do not live open lives. 

i thought of saying gay people can be gay openly and live exclusively gay lives here, and we do, i do, but of course we may still not be out to our family. so he may be right that even the openly gay guy living his gaylife in london may be hiding his sexuality from his friends and family in his hometown. 

 There are not many clubs like this giving such good value for money. we went just before 7pm and got in for £6 with free drink and free cloakroom and still have all the fun as those who came later and who paid £7.

the naked party in archway we went to yesterday was a social one, so no hanky panky. there was a hot tub, and we contributed vegetarian food. 

it did remind me how nice naked parties are when there is some hanky panky and orgy going on. haha. we need something like this to remind us of it and not make us take orgies for granted. 

must find more guys giving naked parties with orgies. 

frying spatula

london
its been so long since i bought anything in a charity shop, that today i bought a frying spatula and it is an occasion for a posting.
its to replace one i bought for 20p long ago. i searched my blog and found it here and it was 25april 2008. funnily i saw a transvestite then, and today i saw another in the age concern charity shop. that spatula is wearing out at the edge. if u compare that pic taken then with now u can see the wear. 4yrs usage. not bad.

(I mean not bad in terms of getting another 4yrs use out of it but not that good that it can wear away so much. a metal one would never wear. makes u think doesn't it? )


i happened to go to clapham south, for a shag with a shag buddy, and was browsing the charity shops in the area afterwards. 

it has quite an acute angle but i have tried it out to stir fry and it is quite effective. funny how we are so used to a certain angle in our frying skillet and dont realise that it puts a strain on the hand. this one is only 50p. 

Added. 8.10.12 i noticed that even the new one began to fray at the edge due to the heat. why they cannot make it heat resistant, i wonder? my metal spatula which i got for my wok last years and years. 
added. i think they cannot find a plastic material that is heat resistant . there is no such thing at present. 

so this new one will also get worn down with usage. glad i bought it for only 50p. i dont think i would like it if i find this out after buying it at the original price. i dont know how much the original price is but i bet u it is a lot. no wonder it is difficult to find these spatulas in charity shops or recycling bins, because they get worn out. i think this one is available because of its acute angle. not a lot of people like that angle. that is why it is hardly used and why it is unsold and have to be relegated to the 50p bin. where i found it. haha. not sure if the bits that come out of the edge is safe to eat. i am sure it will fall into the food when i stir fry. as it is i have to regularly remove it before i cook. 

frankly, i dont think much of these teflon coated appliances. i dont think it makes people use less oil cooking in it. it is supposed to be non stick. a lot of it is rubbish if u ask me. i would never buy them new , not that i buy anything these days haha. and u have to use non metal spatulas on them or u might scratch the teflon. 

and i realised that the non metal spatulas like this one i bought is made of silicon,or plastic, not heat resistant even though they say so, and can wear away. 

it seems there are stainless steel spatulas coated with teflon or maybe i misread the website and there is no such thing. i cannot see how it would work, because the edge will still be  sharp and scratch the teflon on the saucer or frying pan. hang on , i got a thought, maybe this spatula i bought is a steel spatula, the handle is steel. 

long ago, i found a wok with its teflon coating worn away and am using it to stir fry, and no trouble with food sticking...so  i  dont mind using these if i find them useful even though the teflon is not intact. with the teflon wearing away someone said it might be dangerous to eat the teflon...i wonder.  so far there is no scare about them. god knows what the effect on sales will be on teflon coated appliances if there is a scare about them.haha. bet u the shit will hit the fan. with loads throwing away their expensively bought teflon pots and pans. hoho.

i saw age concern  selling hotwater bottles with cover for £4. quite a good price. i shall go there and buy it if i want another . Theoretically u dont need those fitted covers. any old rectangular sleeve , even a cushion case will do. now i said it, i shall keep an eye out for old cushion covers in the recycling bins. 

Added. 7.10.12 actually i re read the above and realise there is really no need for a cover. it is just to make the hot water bottle look pretty . the other function is to prevent you from being scalded by the hot bottle. but that u can prevent by wearing socks or gloves. after all, for years, people have done without the covers. 

There was a hardware store selling breville kettle, that i was given free. it was priced £25. i never buy these things and never realise they are so expensive. 
added 11.10.12. i have been using the kettle to boil water for my hot water bottle, and one thing good about them is their spout. it is narrow and makes pouring the water into the bottle very easy to do.

i was passing the academy by clapham common and a guy in his car coming out of the gate stopped me. i thought he wanted to ask directions but he said he will be flying off today, and was here for a fashion show, and have 3 jackets , 2 of which (they were black leather jackets from emporio, which sounds like emporio armani but not really, he will give me if i buy the third, a suede jacket for £200. 

i said he was asking the wrong guy, as who walks around with £200 cash ? he asked me how much i got , and i said £15, and have to correct it to £14 when i looked inside my wallet. 

he realised his mistake and i walked on. 

i went into the tesco there and saw they were selling lots of veg , brocolli, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower 2 for £1. there must be a glut but maybe only in london, because when david from brighton called me on the phone for a chat, i asked him if he can get these offers in his local, and he said no such thing.

i  hope that the offers are still on when i visit him and i shall buy them to bring to him for us to eat when i am there. 

hotwater bottle

london
I thought i shall go by tube to balham, as i suspect the hardware stores there must sell hot water bottles cheaper than in camden. 

and i was right.haha. 
i got one for £2. instead of £3 in camden. I know there must be some shop selling it for this amount. unlike boots who sell them for £6. and that is not with a cover. 

not all hardware stores sell this cheap. i went to another in clapham south, and he sells his for £6. i dont know how he survives, so much of the stuff he sells i can get cheaper in a charity shop. 

on big disadvantage i notice is that all of the hotwater bottles are small size. Makes me real glad  i bought a large one long ago in a charity shop for £1 (it got a cover too)and that was one of my good buys because i have used it for a lot of winters since. 

anyway this one john will be using haha. when he comes next week. 

the leopard skin cover given to me . fits very well. 

of course, it is all worth it because i have free travel. it wont be economical otherwise because single fare to balham from zone 1 will cost £2.60 off peak. so a return would cost £5.20 which would defeat the whole adventure. in which case i might as well go to the pimlico branch of boots and buy there. 

i am so very happy that i can get free travel in london.  

There is a 99p shop there and they sell johnson baby oil 200mg for £1. which is good value. i shall go there if i want to buy it. 

i read this about a guy massaging his prostate with an aneros dildo because he read somewhere that it prevents prostate cancer. haha. its a funny account with pictures of him. 

i found out from the daily mirror there is a promotion of £1 fares by nationalexpress.com/mirror

but when i tried to book a ticket to brighton on 23oct to visit david , i was given £13 fares. what a cheat!!
they say from £1. seem like they are taking lessons from o'leary of ryanair. haha.

Added. must be a glitch because later when i went in again, it was £3.50 which is their usual fare. 

added5.10.12. \My apologies to nationalexpress . i had another look, and found out that below the £13 fare is a button for the £1 fare. and there is no booking fee.  well i got carried away and booked for two trips to see david in brighton. once this month and another next month. 
my ,my, looks like my soul does want to travel after all. haha. i could not resist the low fares. £2 return to brighton. 

ah well, maybe my soul dont want it, because i really dont fancy travelling outside london. Added5.10.12. not true after all.haha. it turns out i shall be doing more travelling outside london this month and next than i have ever done before.

Added. 5.10.12 i spoke too soon, my soul do want me to go to bournemouth. because i was browsing megabus.com and saw a cheap £1 ticket coming back in november. going there costs £5 so i booked it, plus 50p booking fee and i got a return for £6.50 . bargain. haha.

megabus only have train tickets, so it would be v pleasant going by train, more spacious, only take 2hrs to bournemouth train station; and i get free bus travel there, so getting to john's place will be free. 

I hope my pass will really let me travel free on the buses there. haven't tested it outside london. if it is i shall enjoy going all over the place looking at the charity shops in bournemouth and going to studland. 

Added 5.10.12 now that i found out the nationalexpress offer really works, i could go to bournemouth for £2 return, but i think i shall enjoy going by train. a 3hr bus journey is endurable but only if there is no other choice. though i confess if i dont have free local bus travel, the nationalexpress bus is preferable because it can take me to the university which is a easy walk to john's place. (not to mention blackberries along the way if i am lucky.haha)

oral history

london
We all know of how beliefs are based on oral history... which is what the religious books are based on. 

but oral history can be meddled with.
take for eg this one which i read in the TAles of the 
Arabian nights

Two women belonging to one man conceived on the same day, and were delivered, one of a boy, the other of a girl, at the same time, and in one apartment. The female infant died, when each laid claim to the male child. The magistrates, unable to decide between the mothers, referred the decision to the just vizier; who, on hearing the circumstances, commanded two eggs to be brought, and the contents to be drawn out without breaking the shells; after which he ordered them to be filled with milk from the breast of each woman. This being done, he placed the shells in separate scales, and finding one outweigh the other, declared that she whose milk was heaviest must be the mother of the male child; but the other woman was not satisfied with this decision, and still affirmed she was the mother of the boy.

The vizier, vexed at her obstinacy, now commanded the infant to be cut in two; when she, whom he had said was the mother, fell into agonies, and besought its life; but the other was unmoved, and assented to the death of the child. He then ordered her to be severely punished, and committed the boy to its afflicted mother. On being asked on what proofs he had grounded his decision, he replied, "On two: the first, because the milk of a woman having produced a male child is always heavier than that of the mother of a female infant: the second, because the pretended mother consented to the boy's death; and I supposed it impossible for a woman to agree to the destruction of her offspring, which is a part of herself."
from vol 4, story of the bang-eater and his wife.

Doesn't it sound familiar? i know it as the judgement of solomon. 

Well, it looks like this is a old tale that has been attributed to different people according to the whim of the story teller. 
i daresay there must exist another version attributed to christ, or to mohammed, or to buddha except that those versions were not written down or if they were they are not found. 

there are some tales that are classics. 

i wonder if the fairy tales we read in grimms fairy tales have this origin as well. 

they are stories told round fireplaces in winter to amuse folks and the tales are re written and altered to suit the audience.

it would not surprise me to learn that the stories in the bible or other religous books are well known tales told and embellished down the ages as favourite stories in the repetoire of the story tellers.

john and i went to camden market yesterday and we were very pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. 

we thought it is a tourist trap, but it isn't. no wonder i hear tourists say they like going there.

u can buy hoodies for £5, cheaper if u buy two. that is a v good price.

and the market has expanded beyond all recognition from my time. i havent been there for many years and there are now a vast number of shops.

we did not see them all even though we were there for about 3.5hrs. 

i met a black woman sitting in one of the benches who told me she lives nearby and go there often just to sit there to see the crowds and feel the buzz. 

she said it is much better than going to the museums or art galleries as what she sees is real life being enacted in front of her. 

and i found a hardware shop near the station that sells just the rubber hot water bottles without covers for £3. quite the cheapest price i have seen so far. 

i got a cover , so dont have to buy one with a cover. boots is selling those for about £7.

john and i went to a private naked party in south london in zone 4. we took the train from vauxhall, and john was pleased that it only cost £1.80 single using his oyster card. 

 we know the hosts and have been before. in fact it was quite some time since i was there but quite a number of guys there recognised me and remembered me. hmm, was i so outstanding? i am afraid i dont remember them but then i am not very good at remembering people.

haha, i did not even recognise this guy i was having sex with at the room upstairs when i saw him again downstairs afterwards. he reminded me of it and said to me i guess one face looks like another in the dark.... haha. and he said he forgives me. i laughed it off because it happens so often with me i have long ago stopped being embarrassed about it. haha. and thought thank goodness he is easy about it. 

it was not dark in the room where we had it off , but it is true i dont really look at the face , but at the body and cock when i am sexing someone. anyway it was an orgy with other guys so i did not really pay attention to their faces.

well, it is the fun of these orgies that u dont really have to recognise people. i think it better if you can forget that u know them, so u can pretend u have met them for the first time and everything about them is new and just live for the moment and enjoy their bodies and give and receive pleasure from them. 

at least that is how i view these orgies. no need to be shy or anything, just do what u like and dont care how you appear to others. haha. that is my take on it and if u do likewise u will enjoy yourself enormously. and another thing, try everybody who makes the approach to you. even if they are not your type. you might be pleasantly surprised. 

another day john and i went on the buses to explore london. apart from going to museums, or shopping, and looking at the touristsights ; which we are not that interested; there is surprisngly not a lot to do.

so here we have free bus passes and dont really have anywhere we really want to go.  

we ended up in the british museum and happened to see the Roman chalice depicting the fucking scene by two guys . it was very graphic showing the cock going into the arse. 

that part of the warren cup was not shown in the tv series about roman art that was shown recently. 

i am glad i saw it, all by accident. it was on the 3rd level, around the low gallery number 70 or so,u can see the pictures of it here


oh, just this morning AVG informed me to download the AVG2013 , to allow me to continue using AVG free for next year. rather nice of them to allow me to continue using it free. 

Added 2.10.12 my talktalk allows me to pay my line rental yearly at a discount. it is £9.50 a month instead of the usual rate of about £13 something. i renewed it today. 

Added. 1.10.12
Yesterday, john went to the church near me. we met some chinese boys outside that church 2wks ago when john was here and they told us about the church service on sunday. it is an evangelical church. 

i was not interested but when john told me they give free lunch for newcomers after the service, i decided i shall go and join john at 12.30pm when the service ends (it was 2hrs long!) and get the lunch. haha. 

it was quite a nice lunch , nasi lemak,though the rice was not coconut rice; later i was told that there might be laksa... and it costs £2.50 if u are a regular. 
sounds good, haha. i told the guy who informed us of it that i dont mind coming for the lunch if it is laksa. though for that price i doubt it is truely laksa.

anyway, we were seated with 3others, one of them is malaysian, and he had been before and had brought two girls, one singaporean, the other south korean, who were studying in his class in kings college.

there were lots of s.e.asian people, and some blacks. but not many whites. john was the only white i can see there. 

long ago, i attended a service there, it has a huge central hall with a glass roof which makes it a very nice venue. there were lotsof white people there then, but things have changed. and at one time, i used to see lots of blacks coming out after their service. so it looks like the congregation have changed over the years.

the pastor who sat with us, was malaysian, and in answer to john asking him who funds them, told us that in 1999, they bought the place for about £2million . they got a donation from someone who had a child studying in london and he attended for 4sessions and decided to donate one for one up to £280,000. so they raised £560,000  which they use as a deposit, and got a loan for the rest. and now they own theplace. they must have got rich backers to afford the mortgage.

it was a good move that. 

the people are really friendly and if i were a malaysian away from home, it  would be very appealing to join them and make friends with fellow malaysians and other races . pity there were no local white guys there. 

and of course these places are not gay friendly. i wonder if they will be so welcoming to us if they know we are gay. haha. that is what make me hesitate to get more involved. and it can get a bit tiring to hear these people keep on about how jesus has made them happier. 

i am not really into evangelical lifestyles. i dont like to tell people what is good for them. haha. so i wont make a good evangelical . 

but their lunches might make me visit them now and then. haha. just joking. if anything the sermon might make me come back if what john says is true.

john said the first half of the service was rather loud, because of the music . they were playing guitars and stuff. i prefer organ playing instead of drums. 

but he said the sermon was rather good, unlike catholic sermons. I find it is actually worth it to go to these  services for the sermons. i went to a mormon service in knightsbridge long ago, and the sermon was very good, and people come up and chat with you , unlike in a catholic church, which do not provide food . but as a catholic u are supposed to go every sunday so i guess the church dont  feel obliged to make it a attractive event . the church just say it is a sin not to go every sunday. haha. they have the perfect answer to everything they dont like, by saying it is a sin. this is not only confined to the catholic church. every religious order  do this. the jews , islam, etc etc. maybe the buddhists dont do it so much though they are all very strong on ritual and that is being strict about doing it right. 

i supposed it is a pleasant way to spend a sunday . 

the church has a mandarin service too, after the main one , and has a kids service and a creche. 

i daresay if i had not read conversations with god by neale walsch i too would be looking at these places for answers. but i know what life is all about and so i dont have to rely on a god prop.