Band of the Year
Alex: Snow Patrol
Simon: The Feeling
Best Album
Alex: "Eyes Open", Snow Patrol
Simon: "Whatever you say I am..." Arctic Monkeys
Best Song
Alex: "America", Razorlight
Simon: "A Certain Romance" Arctic Monkeys
Best Solo Artist
Alex: Corrine Bailey-Ray
Simon: Bruce Springsteen
Best New Artist
Alex: The Kooks
Simon: Little Man Tate
Best Christian Album
Alex & Simon: "All From You", St Alban Vineyard
Best New Christian Song
Alex & Simon: "Everything", Tim Hughes
Best Miscellaneous
Alex: "Whipped Cream and other Delights" (the album, finally out on CD), Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass
Simon: 'I am the true vine' Arvo Part (£2 second hand from Plymouth library)
Favourite Happy Song
Alex: "Wearing Purple" Gogol Bordello
Simon: "Fill My Little World / Never Be Lonely / Love it when you call" The Feeling
Best Music Video
Alex & Simon: Ok Go - Here it comes again.
16 December, 2006
12 December, 2006
2006 photo scrapbook
The first rose in our garden
The view from the top of Plymouth's new shopping centre
The turtle at the National Marine aquarium
Simon in 'Great Balls Of Fire' mode
Us on holiday in St Ives
The view my Dad and I had for the Cricket at Headingley, 1st July
Our Christmas Card photo for the church.
11 December, 2006
End of year Christmas-letter report thing.
Hi again. Here is our end-of-year report.
Let's Go To Work
Both Alex and I started new jobs this year and work was really important to us. Alex has grown out of the corporate chrysalis of her last firm to become a high street law firm butterfly. She is a defender of lost causes and teenagers of dubious virtue. She is turning into a formidable advocate.
I, on the other hand, gave up paid work this year to volunteer at the church we belong to. This gap/transition year has lead to me being offered the role of assistant minister in the new year and I start to get paid. I too love my job, it's flexible hours, it's range of challenges from the ivory towers of ancient greek to the not-so-ivory-towers of getting in between two 10 year old best friends who want to remove each other's heads from their necks. Highlights for me this year included 'Great Balls of Fire', our community world cup programme which saw over 100 people watch the England games and me sing in Swedish.
Our Eritrean Friends
One of the biggest priviledges of the year has been getting to know the Eritrean community that comes to our church. Basically, Pentecostal Christianity is banned in Eritrea and if you are caught meeting or worshipping, you risk harassment, imprisonment or worse. Anyhow, the Home Office have decided to re-locate pentecostal Eritrean asylum seekers in Plymouth, so they come to our church. We love them. They are such nice people and their food is great too. I get to be a witness for them in court and we help them have a safe place to live.
DIY Stalled
We had big plans for DIY improvements to our house this year. We got our study sorted in February, put a few plants in the garden and promptly didn't do anything else all year. Partly funding, partly because we didn't get around to it. We've lived a whole year without a functioning bath or shower. Report says 'must do better in 2007'.
On Our Travels
We decided to stay in the country this year for our holidays, and so had lovely weeks in St Ives and Sheffield. St Ives was a real highlight of the year. We love it there. Great beach. Dramatic scenery. Good food and galleries. For a tiny town, it has so much. It was also good to be back in Sheffield. Only the second time we've been back together since we left. Everything felt familiar and lovely this time.
Life in Plymouth
Plymouth is changing a lot. The city centre is being transformed by the new shopping centre, which in the end, was very nice and not an eyesore. There are lots of plans to grow Plymouth and so it will continue to be an interesting place to be. Our big Plymouth discovery of the year was the Plymouth Raiders basketball team. They're fun and are now winning too.
2007 - End of the plan?
Looking to next year, it's exciting for us because we don't really know what's going to happen. We made a plan when we got married about how we were going to get settled and we've hit just about everything on that plan this year. Rather than just come up with a new plan, we reckon it's a chance to live with a bit more freedom, take some of the scaffolding down and take life as it comes. We're still going to work hard and do what we do, but that's because that is what comes naturally to us.
Anyway. Enough of this. Do email us if you really want to know any more. We hope that everyone is well and wish anyone who reads this a lovely christmas and a great 2007.
Let's Go To Work
Both Alex and I started new jobs this year and work was really important to us. Alex has grown out of the corporate chrysalis of her last firm to become a high street law firm butterfly. She is a defender of lost causes and teenagers of dubious virtue. She is turning into a formidable advocate.
I, on the other hand, gave up paid work this year to volunteer at the church we belong to. This gap/transition year has lead to me being offered the role of assistant minister in the new year and I start to get paid. I too love my job, it's flexible hours, it's range of challenges from the ivory towers of ancient greek to the not-so-ivory-towers of getting in between two 10 year old best friends who want to remove each other's heads from their necks. Highlights for me this year included 'Great Balls of Fire', our community world cup programme which saw over 100 people watch the England games and me sing in Swedish.
Our Eritrean Friends
One of the biggest priviledges of the year has been getting to know the Eritrean community that comes to our church. Basically, Pentecostal Christianity is banned in Eritrea and if you are caught meeting or worshipping, you risk harassment, imprisonment or worse. Anyhow, the Home Office have decided to re-locate pentecostal Eritrean asylum seekers in Plymouth, so they come to our church. We love them. They are such nice people and their food is great too. I get to be a witness for them in court and we help them have a safe place to live.
DIY Stalled
We had big plans for DIY improvements to our house this year. We got our study sorted in February, put a few plants in the garden and promptly didn't do anything else all year. Partly funding, partly because we didn't get around to it. We've lived a whole year without a functioning bath or shower. Report says 'must do better in 2007'.
On Our Travels
We decided to stay in the country this year for our holidays, and so had lovely weeks in St Ives and Sheffield. St Ives was a real highlight of the year. We love it there. Great beach. Dramatic scenery. Good food and galleries. For a tiny town, it has so much. It was also good to be back in Sheffield. Only the second time we've been back together since we left. Everything felt familiar and lovely this time.
Life in Plymouth
Plymouth is changing a lot. The city centre is being transformed by the new shopping centre, which in the end, was very nice and not an eyesore. There are lots of plans to grow Plymouth and so it will continue to be an interesting place to be. Our big Plymouth discovery of the year was the Plymouth Raiders basketball team. They're fun and are now winning too.
2007 - End of the plan?
Looking to next year, it's exciting for us because we don't really know what's going to happen. We made a plan when we got married about how we were going to get settled and we've hit just about everything on that plan this year. Rather than just come up with a new plan, we reckon it's a chance to live with a bit more freedom, take some of the scaffolding down and take life as it comes. We're still going to work hard and do what we do, but that's because that is what comes naturally to us.
Anyway. Enough of this. Do email us if you really want to know any more. We hope that everyone is well and wish anyone who reads this a lovely christmas and a great 2007.
10 December, 2006
Alex's job: What's that all about?
Clearly I'm bad at blogging. Simon is keen and makes regular entires. Obvously he has far too much time on his hands! I, on the other hand, am industrious and far too busy for such trivial matters. 
However, it occurred to me that before Simon and I report on the highlights of our year, I ought to make to effort to provide an up-date on the more mundane matter of what I'm doing at the moment.
However, it occurred to me that before Simon and I report on the highlights of our year, I ought to make to effort to provide an up-date on the more mundane matter of what I'm doing at the moment. Well, as usual the most time consuming aspect of my life currenlty is work. Why so busy? The answer is simply that, I chose to be busy and I chose to work hard. Clearly we need the money but more importantly I thouroughly enjoy my work and I'm also passionate about what I do in principle.
Many people I speak to don't really unserstand what I do, both in the sense of not knowing what my job entails and not undertsanding why I do it.
The "What "
My day to day activities revolve around representing people at the police staion and the court when they are accused of a criminal offence. My job is 9-5 + as I am often on out of hours call at the weekends and in the evenings.
The "Why"
The most common question I'm asked when people find out I specialise in criminal defence is "How can you represent someone when you know they are guilty?" In my view this question completely misses the mark. The point is simply this: Everyone who is accused of committing a criminal offence should have access to justice and is entitled to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, regardless or innocence or guilt. Also, everyone should have the security of knowing that regardless of social staus , privilege or financial position due process will be observed and they will get a fair hearing as their cases progreeses at every stage. My job is not to judge the people I represent but to be their advocate, to stand with them and speak on thier behalf when they may be unable to speak for themselves. My client's interests and the justice system are best served only if I do represent my clients robustly. I am obliged to act with integrity and I am bound by a strict profssional code. My goal for myself, however, is that I also always act with kindness and compassion. I count it a privilege to do the job I do and I don't take it lightly.
What's new?
Simon posted a picture from an article in the local paper recently entitled "Lawyers in Revolution" or something similar. You may have wondered what that was all about. Well, the Government have recently changed the criterea for granting legal aid in crimnal cases and plan to introduce more sweeping reforms to the criminal defence system in 2007. Sadly, the reforms are not good. The media have focused on the effect the reforms will have on solictors profit margins (and the reality is many specialist criminal defence practices may go out of business). However, the real issue is access to justice and the effect it will have on ordinary people, who find themselves within the criminal justice system. I fear that this county's once robust crimnal justice system will become empoverished if the reforms are allowed to take hold. I hope that crimnal defence solictors will stand together and be heard on this issue but who can tell what the new year will bring. I'll keep you posted.
Top 10 movies of the year.
I counted last night that Alex and I saw 25 films at the cinema this year. We love the movies. So it's probably no surprise that we had to work hard at finding a consensus Top 10 movies of the year. But here they are.
1. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: This film had a head start with us because we both have a tendency to love any quirky American Indie comedy/road movie things. So, it wasn't that the film did anything that we hadn't seen before, but what set it apart was its spirit, its heart and soul. Our favourite film was warm, tender, human and laugh out loud funny.
2. Again, Bond films have an in built advantage with us, we love him, but CASINO ROYALE was a bond movie which was solid as a six pack. It's hard to pick out moments from this film because it was all so good. Can't wait for the sequel. 2 or 3 more films like this and Craig will trump Connery as the best Bond ever.
3. CAPOTE was Alex's favourite movie of the year for 1 reason: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Probably the best film actor in the world at his absolute peak of form, Phillip Seymour Hoffman carried this film and made it into something special. He deserved every single award he got for the movie.
4. GRIZZLY MAN. A documentary by a mad German about a mad American who lives in the wild to be the friend of bears? That will be Simon's favourite movie of the year, then. Mental and beautiful, this is the first nature documentary I have ever seen that reveals more about what it means to be human than it does to be animal. And of course, the bears are brilliant.
5. THE HISTORY BOYS. A film with a great script, you can hear the voice of Alan Bennett coming through again and again. Basically, if you like Alan Bennett, you'll like this film. We do and we did.
6. THE MATADOR. One of our biggest surprises this year was how much we enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's undermining of his Bond persona. Daft, outrageous and lots of fun.
7. THE PRESTIGE. A great story slightly let down by a controversial ending. This makes the list mostly because of Christian Bale's performance.
8. MIAMI VICE. Ohh, look at the pretty colours. Best cinematography of 2006.
9. SUPERMAN RETURNS. Better because it's straight laced with a lack of irony, this is a great popcorn movie.
10. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. Meryl Streep is always a firm favourite with us and Anne Hathaway was very impressive too. A breezy, enjoyable 21st century parable.
Hurray for movies. We love them. In 2007, we're already excited about seeing the new Rocky movie (we shouldn't be but...) Hot Fuzz and Spiderman 3 (have you seen the trailer!!!)
1. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: This film had a head start with us because we both have a tendency to love any quirky American Indie comedy/road movie things. So, it wasn't that the film did anything that we hadn't seen before, but what set it apart was its spirit, its heart and soul. Our favourite film was warm, tender, human and laugh out loud funny. 2. Again, Bond films have an in built advantage with us, we love him, but CASINO ROYALE was a bond movie which was solid as a six pack. It's hard to pick out moments from this film because it was all so good. Can't wait for the sequel. 2 or 3 more films like this and Craig will trump Connery as the best Bond ever.3. CAPOTE was Alex's favourite movie of the year for 1 reason: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Probably the best film actor in the world at his absolute peak of form, Phillip Seymour Hoffman carried this film and made it into something special. He deserved every single award he got for the movie. 4. GRIZZLY MAN. A documentary by a mad German about a mad American who lives in the wild to be the friend of bears? That will be Simon's favourite movie of the year, then. Mental and beautiful, this is the first nature documentary I have ever seen that reveals more about what it means to be human than it does to be animal. And of course, the bears are brilliant.5. THE HISTORY BOYS. A film with a great script, you can hear the voice of Alan Bennett coming through again and again. Basically, if you like Alan Bennett, you'll like this film. We do and we did.6. THE MATADOR. One of our biggest surprises this year was how much we enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's undermining of his Bond persona. Daft, outrageous and lots of fun.
7. THE PRESTIGE. A great story slightly let down by a controversial ending. This makes the list mostly because of Christian Bale's performance.
8. MIAMI VICE. Ohh, look at the pretty colours. Best cinematography of 2006.
9. SUPERMAN RETURNS. Better because it's straight laced with a lack of irony, this is a great popcorn movie.
10. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. Meryl Streep is always a firm favourite with us and Anne Hathaway was very impressive too. A breezy, enjoyable 21st century parable.
Hurray for movies. We love them. In 2007, we're already excited about seeing the new Rocky movie (we shouldn't be but...) Hot Fuzz and Spiderman 3 (have you seen the trailer!!!)
04 December, 2006
Top tv moments of the year
Ok, would like to share some things with you about our year over the next month. So for a start, here are our top tv moments of the year.
At number 2, this is the Ian McKellen speech on Extras. This has already sunk it's way into our vocabulary.
At number 3, we loved Dr. Who, but the best moment of the series was this bitch fest between the daleks and the cybermen.
At number 4, the whole 7th series of the west wing was awesome. The west wing is one of the few tv programmes that we put life on hold for. And this is a lovely moment, representative of how good a show it was.
And finally at 5, we loved My name is earl because it was silly and funny and so good natured.
At number 1, This is the Jay Leno spot that we were talking about in the previous post. Pound for pound, this is the funniest thing on TV we have seen in 2006.
At number 2, this is the Ian McKellen speech on Extras. This has already sunk it's way into our vocabulary.
At number 3, we loved Dr. Who, but the best moment of the series was this bitch fest between the daleks and the cybermen.
At number 4, the whole 7th series of the west wing was awesome. The west wing is one of the few tv programmes that we put life on hold for. And this is a lovely moment, representative of how good a show it was.
And finally at 5, we loved My name is earl because it was silly and funny and so good natured.
01 December, 2006
regular update
Just writing to keep this thing updated.
Quite a busy couple of weeks just gone. Alex and I have both had trips this week. Alex to Birmingham to attend a meeting of angry solicitors about the government's new legal aid reforms, me to newport to be a witness at an asylum hearing for one of our congregation and to exeter for an Assemblies of God regional meeting.
At the moment, I am getting ready for Sunday in church. I am preaching and starting our Christmas series. Also doing our Christmas song (which I wrote) for the first time on Sunday. It's called a Christmas Journey.
Apart from that, I am enjoying basketball a lot at the moment. If you're interested in that, follow this link.
Which will take you to a fun bit of video. My favourite is the 6 foot 10 Yao Ming being blocked by the 5 foot 6 Nate Robinson.
Ok, will post again soon with exciting pictures of the many varied and lurid christmas lights of Plymouth and with an end of year's report on 2006.
Simon
Quite a busy couple of weeks just gone. Alex and I have both had trips this week. Alex to Birmingham to attend a meeting of angry solicitors about the government's new legal aid reforms, me to newport to be a witness at an asylum hearing for one of our congregation and to exeter for an Assemblies of God regional meeting.
At the moment, I am getting ready for Sunday in church. I am preaching and starting our Christmas series. Also doing our Christmas song (which I wrote) for the first time on Sunday. It's called a Christmas Journey.
Apart from that, I am enjoying basketball a lot at the moment. If you're interested in that, follow this link.
Which will take you to a fun bit of video. My favourite is the 6 foot 10 Yao Ming being blocked by the 5 foot 6 Nate Robinson.
Ok, will post again soon with exciting pictures of the many varied and lurid christmas lights of Plymouth and with an end of year's report on 2006.
Simon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)