Wake Up, Wake up, Dead Man...

Greetings and salutations from the land of the rising...umm...Union Jack?
I am aware that there are murmurings in the ranks of my friends, family, and acquaintances, essentially stating that I am not keeping up in my correspondence, and not updating my blog enough. One email to this effect declared me, and I quote, "a poopface," because of my negligence. For this, I can only offer my sincerest apologies, and a pledge to do better. My new attempt at a routine includes at least a brief update every night before I go to bed. To whit:
When we last left our hero, he was sick in bed, hoping to rally his strength (and his supply of contraband American medications) to attend fencing lessons the following afternoon. We now resume...
***Resuming Sunday the 23rd***
Wow! I sure did have a swell time at fencing lessons today! I learned all about footwork, some basic attacks and defenses, and even got to wear the neat protective gear and fight with a foil! (Sadly, the foil emerged victorious...) Sarah (a girl from the Vines) and I both had a great time, and plan to go back. We searched in vain for a Chinese food restuarant afterwards, but apparently, despite the fact that they are an extremely irreligious people on the whole, the English close most businesses on Sunday.
Went to church at St. Andrew's, an "American Evangelical Anglican" church, for evening service tonight. The message was excellent, using the book of Isaiah to explore the topic of what it is like when God seems to be silent and distant from us. He played a video of a U2 (Andrew Kleyn!) song, "Wake Up Dead Man", in the course of the sermon. The song opens as follows:
***Begin Slightly Edited Lyrics Quotation***
***WARNING: Contains Asterisks some readers may find offensive***
"Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a f***** up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your Father, He made the world in seven
He's in charge of Heaven
Will you put in a word for me ..."
***End Quotation***

I must confess, it was the first church service I have ever been to that contained the phrase "f***** up" as part of the sermon (the pastor did offer a disclaimer that there was a "very rude word" in the lyrics). There is a somewhat different attitude about that sort of thing here, but really, when you are speaking about the despair of the human soul before the face of a seemingly uncaring God, aren't harsh words a bit appropriate?

***Skipping Ahead to Tuesday the 25th***
This morning on the bus, a little English girl smiled at me and waved, her hand clutching her Winnie the Pooh doll. It was a smile that came in stages, like a time lapse film of a blossoming flower.

Tonight Phil and I went to a meeting of the "C.S. Lewis Society" here in Oxford. The rather smallish group (no more than 15 or 20 people, predominantly American) possessed a slightly eccentric, almost "Treckie" sort of air. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I liked them, and both Phil and I joined for the term. The lecture was on the Biblical theology of Austin Farrar, an Anglican theologian and friend of the late Mr. Lewis. Interesting points, including a dating of Revelation *before* any of the gospel, Mark after AD 70, and dispensing with Q entirely (huzzah on the last one, I say).....for...um...those of you who care about that sort of things....anyway....probably good to...

***Skip Ahead some MORE, to Saturday the whatever it was***
***Written in the style of the great __Earnest Hemmingway__***
We went to London. We were all on a bus. The bus was red. London was a big town. We saw the River Thames. The river was murky and wet. Many people took pictures of things, stopping every few yards. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was *hic* big. And it had a dome. The inside was very *hic* ornate. Everyone thought it was beautiful *hic*.
"This is beautiful."
"I think so, too."
"Do you?"
"I do."
"Really?"
"Yes."
*Hic* And then we all climbded *hic* the stairs, and got to go up inside the *hic* dome. And on the outside, too. It was *hic* scary, but we all had fun and *hic* made it to the top and then *hic* came back down again before we left. *Hic* *Hic*
*Click*
*BANG*

***Coming up to Speed***
Which brings me to this week. On Monday I went to Ballroom and Latin dance class with Anna, yet another girl from the Vines. It was an absolutely wonderful time! The dance instructor is like a well written film character, and aging English chap full of quips, sarcasm, and witty remarks. Worth the price of admission by himself, he is.
This past Tuesday, another CSL Society meeting, where we held a seance to bring Lewis back from the dead. He did come, verbally cut us to ribbons, and also informed us we would be killed by Philistines and our kingdom given to another.
I think that about covers it, a random smattering of my life from the past week and a half, no doubt missing all the interesting bits. Daily updates will miss less, I should think, if I can stick to them.
As Anne said, "Tomorrow is always fresh; we've no mistakes in it..."