a sunday in north london

I walked into church this morning to find one of our elderly gentlemen, sitting outside, and sharing his testimony with another gentleman who had stopped by looking for someone to talk to. There’s something about hearing the testimony of somebody who’s been at it for as long as this man has.

Two guys at a bus stop discussing women. It was the age old discussion. And I quote…”They don’t look that way to NOT get noticed! They do it for a reason bruv.”

Fifteen 11-14 year olds debating whether or not you could lose your salvation. No great arguments were made on either side. Sadly it wasn’t any less intelligent than most of the debates I’ve heard on this topic.

An old lady giving a café owner an ear full. It seems that he wanted to open the door because some people were smoking. It seems that she found that extremely rude and wasn’t going to pay for her meal! She had back problems! They had a right to smoke! It was fun to watch. In the end another old lady in the café tolled her that she as “an old grog” and the café owner escorted her out the door, minus the money for her meal.

Two guys each carrying a guitar on their backs and one had an additional mandolin. I turned to our youth pastor and said, “They have to be either Irish or American. We’re the only ones who play mandolins.” She told me I was crazy. I ran after them and asked. They were Irish. Never question me. Never ever question me.

I was asked to “teach a group of 11-14 year olds how to make Mexican food”. I took the easy route and made tacos. You should have seen this group of (mostly) Jamaican/British kids eating their first tacos. Quite a few of them loaded up their plates with meat, salad, cheese, and (separately) taco shells. They then ate each ingredient on it’s own, including the taco shells which they ate like tortilla chips (crisps). One or two of them made the connection with the shape of the taco shell and actually put the ingredients in the shell. They then went on to hold them and eat them like a sandwich. Evidently the head tilt thing is a learned behaviour.

A guy trying to get on the bus with the biggest dog you’ve ever seen. He promised that it wasn’t an aggressive dog. They never are. I wanted to shoot his big dog. WE HATE YOUR BIG DOGS!

Btw, this picture wasn't taken in North London. It's on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.