Sunday | 17 June - Church, Equipment Failure, Four Seasons Restaurant, Science Museum, Lily White to buy kites..

Went to church with Cat today. It was a very good service (worship was led by Tim Hughes) and the message today was very very apt and fitting, and ministered to me much. The pastor spoke well, and very down to earth - pragmatic with strong basis on the word - which I really enjoyed. If I were living in the UK, I'd probably go worship at that church.

The message today was "How to handle anger". Scripture reference was Matthew 5:21-26.

He made six main points, chiefly:
1. Consider the CAUSE
2. Press the PAUSE
3. Watch the WORDS
4. Master the MIND
5. Couting the COST
6. Pursue the PEACE

Very thought provoking, and I left feeling a sense of peace and desire to work on how I manage my emotions and respond to situations. How apt, considering it's father's day as well.

Have yet to call home, and tell my dad that I bought a 1:43 model of the Vauxhall Victor F Series, and to wish him happy fathers' day.

There were tons of beautiful flowers in full bloom on the road to church today. Changed to my macro lens to take some nice lovely photos of them. Then walking back out - we see a lovely classic Jaguar parked on the street, along with a nice BMW. So I make a lens change from my macro lens to a wider-angled lens.

And then when i switch on the camera - 'Err CF' displayed on the status panel.

Equipment fault - the CF just wouldn't work. And I didn't have another CF because it was lying back home with yesterday's photographs. I'm going to check the card to see if there are any photos which could be recovered.

Otherwise, today went on fine (aleit without photos). Went out for lunch with Cat to this Hong Kong restaurant called 'Four Seasons' and they served pretty good duck rice ("the best duck rice you'll ever eat," according to Cat). Was not bad - I had mixed meat while she had duck rice. Split the tab, and we each paid £8 for lunch - decent by UK standards.

Walked through Kensington Gardens while walking Cat back to her hall. Was a nice long walk, and we saw many kids and dogs running all over the place. Cat mentioned she'd have trouble keeping a pet, cos she has enough struggles feeding herself in UK - things really aren't cheap there!

Except for some things, like clothes during sales. Or Thornton's chocolates which we got from Bath yesterday.

After seeing Cat back, I went to the science museum to finish off where I'd left off. Was so amazed by the collection of model boats. They're so beautiful and intricately made, and I didn't have my camera to take photos ): The war ships and diving vessels really intrigued me - how they're so sophisticated and.. cool! Haha - i mean, everything's built for action. Weapons. Hatches. Gadgets. So exciting!

I saw the exhibit on the Spitfire planes, which Britain made throughout the Great War from 1936 all the way up till 1945. It's amazing how much spending the poured into the craft, as well as how many improvements they constantly made to it [There were 24 marks (revieions) of the craft].

It celebrated the human spirit of faith, perseverance, courage, comradeship, loyalty, unity, ingenuity, and great engineering design. From the great ambitions and clever design of RJ Mitchell (who sadly, died of cancer, living only long enough to see the prototype fly), to how Joe Smith carried on the project .. And how many women were recruited and TRAINED to work in production lines to build these crafts from scratch. It's just amazing how the country united in such dark times. There were many stories of pilots who were drafted from all over the world - New Zealand, Thailand, Jamaica, India, Scotland, Czech Republic, etc. Some of these men had escaped their countries (which had been occupied by enemy forces) to come and continue the fight from Britain as pilots. Some of these men were allies, and come from diverse backgrounds and even distant shores. I found this exhibit very enjoyable.

The museum closed at 6pm, and I went off to Lily Whites at Picadilly Circus to buy a kite and some games to play for picnics. Then I went to WHSmith to browse photography magazines - still deciding which one to buy, cos there are a few issues which deal with the same things - shooting and composing landscapes, portraiture and (most importantly) common photoshop techniques for photographers. That'd be very handy to me, with practically no Photoshop knowhow!