Some updates are not improvements
Why do companies have to fiddle with perfectly good products?
I'm sure we can all think of examples where the "new" or "improved" version was worse than the previous (from Windows to food products).

Over the last year or so Tizer has re-entered my life as one of my favourite tipples. Made from fruit juice with no artificial stuff, it is high in sugar but tastes great.

That is until today, when the cans I bought had the label "now with added bite".Hmmm. Not good.
A new formula with artificial sweetener, and not such a great "original taste". Nope it's a let down. I'm sure it's market driven, but frankly I'd have been happier if they had left it well alone!

Away (again)
So I'm away again.
Last week having got back from Youthwork the Conference, I had a couple of days away at Hothorpe Hall. This was for a process called the "Residential Selection Conference", basically a couple of intensive days of interviews. Wayne describes the experience well here. This is a route in to "accredited" Baptist ministry in the UK for those who didn't study an accredited course at a Baptist college. I did some stuff at Spurgeons, but currently coming to the end (hopefully!) of an MA at Cliff College. Anyway it was a successful process for me, so in January I will be reocmmneded to be enrolled on the list of accredited Baptist Ministers...

At the moment I'm at High Leigh, for a "regional and national teams" thing. It's the senior management of the Baptist Union plus the Regional Teams (of which I am part of the London Regional Ministry Team). This is an annual gathering and is a good chance to compare notes, pray and look ahead as a Baptist family without the pressured agenda of BU Council and other bodies.

But the best thing about being here is that they still have Five Alive in a can! Something I have seen nowhere else.

An Honourable Tradition
Working from home, and without much amiable meeting space (without incurring room hiring costs) in the LBA offices, I have sometimes felt guilty of spending too much time in cafes and coffee shops.
So I was pleased to see that I'm part of an honourable tradition, as Roger Hayden notes:
"The joint meetings of London and provincial Baptists in the early 1690's soon ceased, as London Baptist ministers preferred to meet in London Coffee Houses...".
I'm sure it wasn't Costa or Starbucks, but I'm pleased to be following such a great heritage!

Inferior Soft Drink Selection
I'm currently in Derbyshire for Baptist Union Council.
While the Hayes Centre, Swanwick and High Leigh are both run by the Christian Conference Trust, it's disappointing to see an inferior soft drink selection here. There are no cans of 5 Alive in the dispensers. Poor!
Apart from that it's fun to be part of the inner workings of Baptist life in England!

Back!
I'm back home. Good time at the Matrix conference (if I'm honest it was better than I had anticipated).
One of the highlights for me was that the vending machine sold "5 Alive Berry Blast" in cans! I know it wouldn't be a highlight for many people, but it gave me enough sugar and vitamin C to keep me going! (and it made a change from "Fruit Shoot").
Apart from that the highlight was probably James Lawrence (as mentioned yesterday), who defined talents as "not what you can do, but what you can't help yourself doing".
Other bloggers who were there included:
Sarah, Ian, Simo, Phil, Alice, Kathryn (who's blog appears a little redundant), and they may comment on more than the soft drinks on offer!

One random thing was that all the main sessions were in a marquee (which had a kind of dodgy wedding feel and a great smell of gas from the heating) as the conference centre's main meeting room is being refurbished (which was especially strange as I was only in there a couple of weeks ago!).