30/05/2011 by Aileen.

Yes, still full of the joys of spring. Monday, and a lovely new week ahead of me. Usual Monday stuff, but no studying. Feel a bit empty in that department. Could do with a little snack, but not a big meal. Think I’ll go back to my self-inflicted journey through English Literature. I’ve sort of studied Beowulf and the Dream of the Rood but must revise them quickly and see where to go from there. Then, I need to improve my webmaking skills. Hull Library is fantastic for new technical books, but the downside is going in to Hull. Nothing wrong with Hull except that it’s not the countryside. Having said that, I’ve been in to Leeds twice lately with John, as he’s had tutorials there, and I’ve really enjoyed the buzz. Each city is so different. I like university cities, Canterbury, Oxford, little Stirling. Hull and Sheffield have universities but don’t seem to have the same buzz. Oh and Manchester. Great place. I grew up in London, but it’s so vast and diverse that the university element gets lost.

Well, back to lilfe. Cleaning mostly on a Monday, and I am going to make an effort with the garden. It’s raining today, but luckily I decided to start with the parts nearest the house, so hope to sweep front and patio at the top of the back. Then I suppose I’ll have to face getting down on my hands and knees and doing some serious weeding. Oh well. Maybe that will stop me boinging.

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26/05/2011 by Aileen.

I’m back. Boing. Like Tigger. Boing. Or is it Zebedee? Boing! Think this children’s literature course has got to me. Boing! I’ve spent ages on my last assignment, and now it’s over. Or it will be in half an hour, as it’s too late to submit an amended version after 12 noon. I’ve loved this course so much. Favourite ever and best marks ever. I’ve averaged 90% on the course work, so have tried really hard with the EMA so hopefully I’ll get a distinction. Not holding my breath however, for two reasons. One, I was heading for distinction on my Creative Writing course and just lost out on the EMA. You have to get a distinction in both parts, and two, although my last essay was beautifully written (imo) I might not have actually answered the question. Oh well. I’ll know in August. Then I’ll have BA(Hons) Wow.

Yesterday was ab fab. My birding group went on a boat trip off the Yorkshire coast to see the birds. Wonderful day, with lunch and tea laid on, and rock pooling and nature walk in the afternoon. Well, it wasn’t completely wonderful. I felt really ill on the return journey on the boat as the sea suddenly got choppy. We were so near the coast, but boy, did I feel sick. It lasted for quite a while afterwards too. Feeling nauseous has always been a weak point of mine. Anyway,here are some photos of the day. Puffins, gannets and kittiwakes.

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07/05/2011 by Aileen.

Super day today. I went walking with my OU friends from A215. I arranged the walk and as I hadn’t done a dress rehearsal I didn’t know what to expect. Anyway, it was 5 miles taking in Lund, Lockington and Kilnwick in the Wolds (or nearby) It took us about two and a half hours, and we finished in The Duke of Wellington for a good lunch.

Having said it was a good day I got so pissed off this afternoon. I had bought refills for my Miele Cat and Dog vacuum, but thought they were the wrong type. Got the specification from this file that John has set up - all appliances in alphabetical order. The file is a bit choc-a-bloc and it burst open.  I had already knocked my funny bone and it really hurt. I shouted out something  like  FUCK IT and John came running.(well pushing) He said he had never heard me so angry before. There was a third frustrating thing that got to me, but now, four hours later, I can’t remember what it was. But another annoying thing is that there is more agro in Second Life with the OU crowd. Can’t believe they can’t just get on. It reminds me of teaching kids. ‘Miss, he’s got my wotsit.’ ‘Leave it! It’s mine!’ It’s a shame as I am getting interested in Second Life again as the OU island is a good project and gives me a focus for my  building things.

Anyway, here are some photos from today.

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02/05/2011 by Aileen.

Bin Laden is dead. This throws up all sorts of questions for me. There is hysterical joy among American students, Obama and Cameron spoke with dignity. But as Cameron pointed out, we will need to be particularly vigilant in the next few weeks. There are bound to be reprisals. And as a Christian, his death throws up questions of what happens when Bin Laden meets his Maker. I don’t believe anyone goes to Hell. Yes, philosophically, there has to be a ‘place’ for those who choose to reject God if we have free will (and we do) And God is present in each one of us. As Jesus says, if we give anyone a cup of water in his name we give it to him. And as an aside, the Gospel story says ‘when did we give you water’ so we won’t even be aware we’ve done it. But the reverse of this is that any time we harm anyone it’s counted as harming God. (Words aren’t adequate here). Anyway, forget this harming of God. It is horrific to harm anyone, let alone the thousands of people Bin Laden harmed. So here’s this man who was responsible for such evil, terror and sorrow. And now he has met his Maker.

Bear with me, but John gets awful pain that no painkiller will touch. The next drug up would be morphine. He often says that he doesn’t care what anyone has done, no one deserves to have pain like that for eternity. I believe him.

So how do I square an all-loving all-forgiving God with a God of justice? You can’t split God up. His love is his forgiveness is is justice. It’s all one. And the justice is more for the victims. Not retribution, but some form of redress. Of putting wrongs right.

The way I try to think of it is, that when Bin Laden meets God he is so overwhelmed (no words adequate again) by God’s love and beauty, that his regret and remorse and loathing of himself must be so great that this is Hell for him. And he can’t go back and change anything, so he will have to ‘live’ with this. So this is Hell, but I just can’t think that someone could be held in this hopeless state forever. Somehow, God’s love and beauty shines through, and overcomes the evil. But I’m so aware of the thousands of victims whose need for justice mustn’t be ignored. I think they might have to wait for their own heaven, and in the meantime live in their own temporal hell if they are still alive on earth.

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