The Wandering Anglican

to Tanzania: London and Doha

Paul Allyn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:54:17 -0600

I arrived in London at 7:20AM local (2:20 EST). It took 50 minutes to clear customs. Then it was pick up my duffle, get over to the North Terminal and check in with Qatar Air. They made me check my walking stick.

London was really sticky – or maybe it was the effects of schlepping around a 30lbs. duffle while waiting in line with a couple of hundred other travel weary people at immigration control. I kept telling myself, “I can’t make the line go faster by looking at my watch.” I was definitely worried about not getting the next flight. Of course, in the end I had plenty of time.

After eight hours of sitting, I felt good just standing – even is it was in a long queue. I tried to stand or walk whenever I could, even to the extent of eschewing the moving walk ways. It seemed to help with the long sits.

Qatar Air flew the same Airbus 330 that USAir did, but with humane seating. The down side was only four toilets for 196 passengers.

I arrived in Doha at 7:10PM local time (about Noon EST). The first out of the ordinary bit was we arrived in darkness. In Pittsburgh it doesn’t get totally dark this time of year until about 9PM. It was that dark when we landed. It was also 100F. I noticed as soon as I got off the plane. The planes are parked on the tarmac a couple of miles from the terminal and we were bussed to the terminal. So, down the steps we all went in to the 100 degree night air and dashed to the waiting air conditioned bus.

The other oddity – from my POV – was that we had to go through a security check point when we entered the terminal from the plane.

Last bit for now – the worst airplane movie I have ever seen – and my expectations are pretty low on an airplane – “Race to Witch Mountain”. Ugh. It made the flight longer. Yeah, well, too bad.

Tomorrow – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

God give you joy
Paul+

Pittsburgh to Tanzania

Paul Allyn — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:13:37 -0600

Where am I going?
I never expected to being going to Africa. Even so, here I am on the road, at my first layover in Charlotte, NC. Here’s the back story…

At Church of the Atonement (ACNA), Carnegie, PA – where I am rector – we are known for, among other things, being open to hosting clergy who are without benefice. Being out of work clergy is one of the worst things going. Anyway, we make them welcome and give them opportunities to carry on doing what they love. A couple of years ago, Bishop Henry sent an email out asking if there were any parishes willing to host African priests who were studying at Trinity School for Ministry. I couldn’t wait to have another priest passing through. And so, Fr. Elias starting coming to Atonement.

On Palm Sunday several months later Fr. Elias came into my office between services and said, “Fr. Paul – I am speaking seriously to you now.” I thought, “Oh **! (I learned a handful of rude words before I went to seminary), what have I done now?” Fr. Elias continued, “We will be dedicating our new cathedral in Tabora next year and I want you to be there!” There just wasn’t money to make such a trip. I take a half salary so this small church in this small town can keep on going. To make a long story shorter – colleagues, parishioners, relatives of parishioners (what a surprise that was!) started chipping in and, well, here I am in Charlotte on my way to Tabora, Tanzania.

Tabora is just about on the 5 degree south (of the equator) line in west-central Tanzania (google maps). It’s high, about 3900 feet, and the climate sounds very nice for equatorial Africa in July – low eighties during the day, mid fifties at night. The Weather Underground says sunny for the next bunch of days.

So how do you get to Tabora? Funny you should ask. For starters, don’t bother entering PIT and TBO into orbitz, ‘cause they won’t show anything. You have to do PIT to DAR (Dar es Salaam) which will come in around 1800 bucks. Then you have to contact Precision Air in Tanzania. Flights to Tabora are about 300 bucks.

I asked Fr. Elias if I could travel by train from Dar es Salaam (I like trains). He laughed at me, then said, “No, no, no. You do not want to travel by train in Tanzania.” I took him at his word.

I eventually found I could save about $400 by booking two separate tickets – PIT to LON and return and LON to DAR and return. I got a real deal on Qatar Air, but I book very early. The down side is once I get to London, I have to clear customs, claim my luggage and check in again. Ah, well.

Here’s the route…

Pittsburgh to Charlotte on USAir (1 hour flight, 6 hour layover)
Charlotte to London (Gatwick) on USAir (8 hour flight, 3 hour layover and I think I’ll need it)
London to Doha, Qatar on Qatar Air (7 hour flight, 12 hour layover)
Doha to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (6 hour flight, overnight in Dar es Salaam)
Dar es Salaam to Tabora

I hope tomorrow afternoon I’ll be able to tell you all how well USAir did on getting me across the Atlantic and how well Qatar Air did on getting me across Europe, the Mediterranean, and Saudi Arabia.

God give you joy
Paul+

The Road Computer I Want

Paul Allyn — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:22:14 -0700

I know the reason I can’t have the road computer I want is because I am too demanding and cheap. But that won’t keep me from demanding it anyway.

First off, even though I love my MacBook Pro, it’s a non-starter. Have you ever tried to open your laptop on an airplane when the moron in front of you has his seat back all the way back – all the time? (I have no scruples about using his seat back to help me get out of the seat to use the rest room – pulling it as far back as physics allow and then letting it snap forward.)

Anyway, I want something that’s about the size of a Kindle (which sux and I don’t care if they only charge a dime to convert a PDF to their format, I don’t want my documents being processed through their computers.) but work like an iPod Touch. I think I’ll call it an iRoad for now.

It has to have some port for flash memory. Come on, if I can put 16Gb of memory in shirt pocket camera, the iRoad should’ought’a be able to do it.

It needs to have two usb ports – they can be miniaturized.

It needs to have an external antenna port. Sometimes you just need a farther reach.

It needs to have an external battery pack. It’s OK if it’s an accessory. When I board an 8 hour flight, I want to have a flight bag full of AA batteries so I can keep the iRoad going.

Oh, yeah! I am going to use one of the USB ports to hook up a FrogPad. If you haven’t seen one, it’s a one handed keyboard. So when the aforementioned moron puts his seat back back, I can set the FrogPad on the seat tray and hold my iRoad anywhere I want and type away.

Other bits that go almost without saying…

wifi
bluetooth
virtual keyboard to use in extremis. And it should NOT be QWERTY! For crying out loud, if I have to type with two thumbs or two fingers, how about a layout with a little more optimization.
a real OS – not a Kindle-esk lock-me-into-what-you-want-to-sell-me system.

grace and peace
Paul+

Sex & the City

Paul Allyn — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:50:58 -0600

Kathy and I waundered across the Allegheny River last night to a “by invitation” showing of Sex & the City. When I told my daighter we had been invited she said, “How come you got invited?” I responded, “Because I’m on the A-list.” She said, “The only reason you’re on the A-list is because you’re married to Kathy!” Harsh, harsh.

If you enjoyed the series, you will probably enjoy the movie. There were two things about the movie that surprised me. First of all: I do not recall such a thing as a “Female Blockbuster.” In the crowd of 150 or so lined up on the sidewalk, waiting to get in, I would say there were 3 guys. Most blockbuster movies are squarely marketed to males with lots of chases and gun fire. I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think so. Was “Roman Holiday” a blockbuster in it’s day?

The stunning surprise is: Sex & the City is a Christian movie! Now that’s not to say that many Christians won’t be offended by the emphasis on sex, display of naked bodies, and clear representations of, well, moments of sexual intimacy. But, hey, it’s called Sex & the City. Here’s the thing that causes me to say Sex & the City is a Christian movie: without giving anything away, the movie is about the effects of sin – at many levels – the necessity of repentance and forgiveness, the difficulty of both, and the redemptive power of forgiveness. All this is played out in the style of the Sex & the City franchise.

Clearly, not everything about Sex & the City is Christian. And it’s not an evangelical movie. Nor is it for children. But if you ever doubted the existence of sin and its affect on peoples’ lives – see the movie.

grace and peace Paul+

Snowbiking

Paul Allyn — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:32:07 -0700

I came across snowbiking for the first time on this website…

http://www.adventuresportsjournal.com/html/Articles/24/24_snowbiking.htm

and sent the link along to a number of my kids who are ~~crazy~~ adventurous enough to have a go at snowbiking. When younger, I would have tripped over my own feet to get my hands on one of these things. But nowadays, you know, the body just doesn’t heal as fast as it used to, and I am not as graceful as I used to be – honest, I broke a rib on a walking trip in Scotland – so I pass the crazy stuff along to the kids and live vicariously through them.

Kate has seen snowbiking live and writes…

Dad,
last spring when I was out in Colorado skiing, actually in the back bowls of Copper having my ass handed to me. I’m halfway down the mountain, outright sobbing, ‘cause I bit off way more advanced terrain than I could chew on this time, and I sat there hating life and preparing to meet my maker in a place that suprisingly oozed just as much breathtaking beauty as it did vindictive hostility (obviously I was going to die right there on the mountain, I was not just having a dramasode). I look over, like, 100-200 yards and see these wackjobs on bikes with skis on the bottom, and theyre jumping off these 20 ft overhangs. It was insane. I watched them for about ten minutes while I had a good cry. So, I figured if they can get down this thing on a freakin’ SNOWBIKE, my stupid ass can make it happen on skiis. Needless to say, I gracefully descended the rest of the mountain. HA, yea right. But those bikers were pretty crazy to watch, can you imagine going over the handle bars on one of those things down a 12,000 ft snow cliff.

God give you joy,
Paul+

Orienteering

Paul Allyn — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:27:00 -0600

Kathy and I started orienteering last year. We love it, but as a pastor and most events around Pittsburgh being on Sunday, we don’t get to go as often as we like. I must admit, on the face of it, orienteering doesn’t sound like much – “Here’s a compass. Here’s a map. Find these places in the woods. Be back as quick as you can.” But if you like being outside, it is fun. I suppose the fun for me is with just a compass and a map I can actually find very specific places I have never been to before in an environment I have never seen. I regret I no longer have the knees to go crashing about in the woods full tilt!

Here’s a blow by blow of the last event Kathy and I went to. I hope it gives you an idea of what orienteering is like. Thanks to the Western Pennsylvania Orienteering Club for permission to use portions of their map! If you have never seen an orienteering map before – in brief, they are highly detailed, right down to the tree stumps. Orange is open area(go fast), green is dense vegetation (go slow), and white is wooded but mostly open. The route we actually followed is in yellow (not necessarily a recommended routing).

From the start (the red triangle in the upper left side of the map – not the circle with the 1) we headed S to Control Point (CP) 2 – aiming for the eastern end of the second copse, it was flat and open, no problems.

From CP 2 we headed downhill and W. I tried to set a quick walking pace, but Kathy’s back was troubling her – having stumbled on the stairs in the house the other day (fashionable shoes will do that) – so we slowed down. Rounding the wooded area we were first trying to pick up a trail heading S and then immediately find one going E. We missed the E trail. On realizing this we decided to continue S. The terrain E was lousy without a good backstop if we overshot CP 4. This error cost at least 10 minutes. We pressed S until we picked up the fence line then turned E until we found the stream, then N to find CP 4. There was a lot of scrambling over dead fall and walking the creek bed.

One of the things we figured out was, if we were on a trail, Kathy could move along pretty well, so we limited our bushwhacking to fairly easy terrain. CP 2 to 4 involved a long down hill section that was off camber, which really bothered Kathy’s back.

From CP 4 it was steep uphill to pick up a trail, followed it briefly S, then NE, SE, NE along trails until we got to the gas line clear cut, which took us right to CP 7. Easy, except for the first uphill bit from CP 4.

From CP 7 we picked up the road, went around the bend and looked for a good way down towards CP 10. This should have been a no brainer, but we wandered up and down the trail by CP 10 looking for it before deciding there was a course error and abandoned the search. As it turned out, CP 10 had been stolen – we identified the “unique feature” where CP 10 should have been (a pile of manure) and were awarded the CP. Even so, we fooled around for more than 10 minutes looking for something that wasn’t there. Had CP 10 been there, we would have come out of the woods SE of the road almost on top of it. Sigh. When you go orienteering, bear in mind there may be course errors. Most events we have been on have had 1 course error. Be sure of your location and then press on.

If we had picked up CP 4 more easily and if CP 10 had been there, we probably would have gone for CPs 11 & 12 before going for CP 9. But we lost a significant amount of time with CPs 4&10 so…

From the phantom CP 10 it was back up the hill to the road, NE along the road a short ways to the opening. At the E end of the opening area there was a CP, but it wasn’t for our course! The course designer tried to trick us! Ha! We didn’t fall for it and went NW till we picked up the trail which took us right to CP 9.

From CP 9 to CP 6 we went straight through the woods. There was a lot of open space between the trees, so we took a compass bearing and stuck to it. When we saw CP 6, it was about 10 feet to the right. Pretty good for staying on a straight bearing in the woods! There are better ways than just looking at your compass.

We took another bearing to take us straight to CP 8, but when we got on the road, we followed it for about 10 yards before turning in. CP 8 was hard to see because it was placed very low, we were no more than 5 feet from it when we saw it, right on the bearing we took from the road.

We decided to stick to the trails on our way from CP 8 to CP 5, figuring we could make better time following the trails than bushwhacking straight for CP 5. This turned out to be a good call as Kathy was able to set a good pace. When we picked up the more or less N trail we headed straight for the park boundary (a good backstop!) and found the W trail immediately. Following the trail, finding CP 5 was easy.

From CP 5 we headed a little W of S, picked up the trail that ran NE-SW and followed it out of the woods. When we exited the woods, we could see the access road N of CP 3 and we headed straight for it. There was no opening so we followed S along the road till there was an opening in the brush easy enough to get through. We turned in and there was CP 3. Continuing W we hopped a creek and thought about going for CP 1. We thought we only had 4 minutes left and the watch we had hasn’t a runners model (having left mine at home – dumb, dumb, dumb) thus we weren’t sure about the exact time. We went straight for the finish, coming in with 120 seconds to spare.

Not a bad 90 minutes of orienteering for a couple of middle aged folks!

God give you joy

Paul+

DUI, EUI, BUI, Moobs, and Sconookies

Paul Allyn — Mon, 15 May 2006 07:29:08 -0600

Kate brings new words this week!
They all belong to her except Sconookies. I ran across sconookies in a small grocery story north of Pittsburgh. In the prepackaged bakery section, one of the things they were selling was scones. I love scones. Nothing goes better with a cup of coffee than this virtually tasteless bakery product. Blue berries make it even better. Why tasteless with blueberries should be so good is beyond me. It just works. If you have never seen one, a scone is about the size and shape of a small fist. If it has some other shape and/or is covered with frosting, it’s just trying to pass for a scone.

But next to the genuine scones were the sconookies. A sconookie looks just like a scone, except small. And possibly shaped with more care. So, you get the picture, it’s a cross between a scone and a cookie! I didn’t buy any because they were outragiously expensive. But I have taken great delight in mindless repeating the word sconookie. You should try it…
Sconookie… sconookie… sconookie

Kate’s friend (names withheld to protect the innocent) who is studying in another city, managed to get away from his 80 hr a week internship in order to have a few beers. Kate says to me, “I expect to be DUI-ed in an hour or so.” DUI (pronounced dew-ee, not Dee-You-Eye. Dee-You-Eye isn’t funny and we don’t joke about it). Dew-ee (used here to distinguish between Dee-You-Eye) is an acronym for Dialing-Under-the-Influence and is mostly not dangerious and frequently funny. EUI (pronounced Oo-ee) is an acronym for Emailing-Under-the-Influence and is also mostly harmless (except for EUI-ing former significant others and employers) and also frequently funny. BUI (pronounced Boo-ee) is also an acronym and stands for Bicycling-Under-the-Influence. BUI is dangerious and mostly ends up with a trip to the ER and is decidedly not funny except for when talking about someone else who took the BUI route to the ER and wasn’t hurt too bad. Otherwise not.

Warning! PG-13
And finally there is Moobs (rhymes with “boobs” and for good reason). Basically, moobs are usually found on the upper torso of large, very heavy, men (Click here for an excellent example). They may also be referred to as “moobies,” but only in rude company.

God give you joy.
Fr. Paul

Manorbier to Bosherton - 1

Paul Allyn — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:38:36 -0600

We left Manorbier after having a good look about in St. James (see previous post). It was still over cast, but pleasant. This is Manorbier Bay from the “other side”, sans surfers (map). The promontory across the bay is known as “Priest’s Nose.” I am not amused – my nose is not as big and no where as green as this priest’s nose. I wonder, though, what the local priest must have looked like back when they were naming things. I imagine someone saying to another, “I’ll meet you out at Fr. Beezer’s snout and we’ll have a snort or two.”

It didn’t take too long for the weather to clear up. We hadn’t walked 2 Kms from Manorbier Bay when the overcast burned off and we had this great vies of Swanlake Bay – the next bay over. From this point on we had no more overcast, nor rain, nor drizzle. The color of the sea was magnificant! and the way the land fell and formed, captivating!

From here the walking was pretty much the same. We would walk along the cliff tops for a mile or so and then down to the beach. Then a walk along the beach. Some of the beach walks could be as long as a mile and sometimes as short as 10 yards. Then it was a climb back up to the top. According to my fancy watch that tells the altitude as well as the time – most climbs up from the beach were between 200 and 250 feet. Which doesn’t sound like much except when it seems like the walk is straight up hill – and when one remembers that a 25 story building is about 250 feet tall. Most folks would prefer the elevator to the stairs, but then, what kind of adventure is that?

By the time we got around to the Freshwater East beach, we were ready for some beach walking and watching the dogs chase each other about on sand and bark at the waves. When we got to where we could see the beach below we decided to take a more adventurous way down. You could, of course follow the path, but then, what kind of adventure would that be?

Now the thing is, Kathy is not big on heights, but was anxious to get to the beach. The beach won out and she opted for the more adventurous way down. Neither of us are rock scramblers. Her success in getting quickly down to the beach is memorialized in this picture. Note lack of well defined path down the rocks to the beach.

grace and peace Paul+

In and Around Manorbier

Paul Allyn — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 08:10:00 -0700

Manorbier is a nice place to stay. It’s a short walk up from the beach, past the base of Manorbier Castle. When we rolled – that is, strolled – into Manorbier it was close to closing time for the castle and up hill the whole way. We didn’t visit. As it was our second full day of walking and hadn’t quite got our land legs used to the idea of continual motion for several hours we were ready for a bit of a sit down and a pint.

If you are new to pubs in Great Britain, here are a couple of things to remember…

The beer is not warm, it is “basement cool.” This is different from the U.S. insistence on serving beer freezing cold (so you can’t taste it, I expect).
U.S. beer drinkers would consider beer in the British Isles “flat.”
If you insist on “bubbly,” ask for lager.
If you want something cold and effervesant, order cider. We like Strongbow, but there are usually a couple of options. Try them.
Cider has the additional advantage of, if your feet and knees are sore from walking all day, a pint of cider will cause the cessation of feeling from the knees down. Wonderful!
Drinks and food are ordered at the bar. Take the drinks with you, the food will be delivered.
Pub Rule of Thumb: if there are one or two pubs in town, both are good. If three or more, you will never find the good one. I don’t know why this rule seems to be true, it’s counterintuituve. Still, every time we have been in a town with three or more pubs, we have always been disappointed, except for when we bump into someone met along the trail and we buy drinks for each other.

As we walked up into Manorbier there was a roundabout. To the right a restaurant or pub. The men going in and out were wearing jackets and ties. Perhaps not the place for us this trip. A little bit further up the road was another pub that looked more inviting to walkers and in we went.

Across from the pub and a bit up the road was the not unfamiliar site of “boot pots.” I don’t know what people really call them, but we see them at least once per trip. If you’ve got a beloved, old pair of boots that no longer serve the purpose of keeping you dry and comfortable – here’s the solution!

When we started out the next morning it was a bit overcast, but no drizzle. Being an Episcopal priest we had to stop by the local church, St. James. Services are…

1st Sunday: Evensong, 6PM
2nd & 4th Sundays: Holy Eucharist, 11:15AM
3rd Sunday: Family Service, 11:15AM

The church itself dates from the 12th century and of Norman architecture. It’s a beauty. It is said, “the foundations are ancient and unknown.” (Click here for more information) The church is located across from the Manorbier Castle – the above picture was taken from the church yard. No one was about when we visited so we dropped a couple of pounds into the donation box and after a good look about we were back on the trail.

One of the delights of St. James for me was this plaque containing the names of all the rectors and vicars from 1251 to 1963, the oldest being Master Richard. I love old churches! Those that built them, built them for the ages, not like the monstrosities that were built in the U.S. in the 1950’s and 60’s. Actually, they still seem to be in fashion. In a few hundred years, I wonder how many of the churches in the U.S. will be considered “wonderful.” Sigh.

On down the trail to Bosherston…
God give you joy
Fr. Paul

Tenby to Manorbier - 2

Paul Allyn — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:32:00 -0700

The walk from Tenby to Manorbier was one of the shorter ones – only about 8 1/2 miles (14 Km). Having crossed The Burrows – the wonderful beach south and west from Tenby and up onto the rifle range by Giltar Point, we got our first real look at the cliffs along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path from the top. Spectacular! I frequently had a hard time tearing my eyes from it.

We kept coming upon steep cuts down to isolated beaches like this one. For whatever reason, I find these fascinating. Perhaps it’s just looking down on a little beach that is dang near impossible to get to. Perhaps materialism – I see something I can not have and immediately want it. Kind of like looking at a Ferrari in a parking lot – I can see it, admire it’s beauty, and never have or touch it.

Coming around Lydstep Point (map) and looking back this is what we found. It wasn’t nearly as overcast as the photo makes it look. The rock forms and the motion of the waves was mesmerizing! I would take a few steps, stop, look back and repeat (lather, rinse, repeat).

A little bit further on we came upon the famous Church Doors. The first site of it almost took my breath away. It’s huge! And the square cut corners add to illusion of this being a man made object. Walking around to the other side, there are a set – a large set – of steps down to the beach so you can have a good close look.

Kathy always feel brave when she tackles something that is steep and rickety (notice how she is hanging on to both hand rails. I love going across suspension bridges built for walkers with her. Without much effort you can get them in motion. I pay for it later though). There were a few places on the way down that looked more rickety than others. The climb down and trudge back up again are worth the effort.

At low tide, you can go through the Church Doors to the beach on the other side. For you dirt bound folks like myself, you had better pay close attention to the tide! If you don’t understand tides and don’t pay attention, you will spend many uncomfortable hours on the rocks before the tide goes out again and passage through the Church Doors is possible again.

After the Church Doors, we had to do some road walking to get past another one of those military danger areas. Not unpleasant, but not inspiring like the walks along the cliffs. We eventually got back to the cliff tops and rounded the Priest’s Nose and were startled to see a bay full of surfers.

Being from the U.S., I come with my own set of prejudices that include, “people surf in California and Hawaii.” HOly SMokes, there they were, about 15 surfers in wet suits. Very cool. Kathy took off her boots for a quick wade in the bay – she reports the water being very cold. From there is was a short walk up into town We spent the night at Honeyhill B&B. Very nice. Designed for a family on beach holiday. Our “room” had two bed rooms, a kitchen and private entrance.

God give you joy
Fr. Paul