Andrew Foulkes

Apology.

2005-12-14T16:09:00.000Z

Hello! Let me start by apologising for not updating my blog for so long...sorry.

I want to thank Phil http://philgoodacre.blogspot.com for nicking the 'Chav-Nativity' that I sent him. Just cos' I haven't been on my blog for so long...there must be web-laws against this sort of thing?

I also want to thank my bro for sending me the 'Chav-Nativity' in the first place!

Anyway, have you heard about the magic tractor...

It drove down the road and it turned into a field!!!

Do you like my new, fresh-shaven look? The beard went a few weeks ago and I have felt cold ever since! I do miss the beard; I prefer the 'no-beard' look, but I don't enjoy the shaving rash and the spots that attack me soon after a wet-shave.

Predictably onto cars now: Many of you may have come across this site before, as I have, but I was browsing http://www.wreckedexotics.com/ today and thourougly enjoying it in a wierd way...so, have a look and let me know what you think. Another site I want to recommend is http://videos.streetfire.net/, it's got many interesting videos, mostly all car and speed related.

MPH 05...

2005-11-16T15:53:00.000Z

My pa, my bro and my self all went to a car show on Saturday at the NEC. If you've not heard of MPH, here is what you get, not only is there a large area of static displays with a good number of new and current cars on show but there is also a 'Live Action Arena'...oooooh.

This live show was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Tiff Needel with other guests such as The Stig and Russ Swift as well. It was a good show, lasting 75 minutes, and it felt vey much like an episode of Top Gear. The highlight was the Paddock Tour afterwards where we could look more closely at the cars involved in the show and where we also met Russ Swift, Tiff Needel and the legendary Stig!!!

You can't see them in the photo, but The Stig was surrounded by security guards who I guess were there to prevent anyone from revealing his, or her, identity. Maybe they were there for our protection, after all, no one knows who, or what, The Stig is.

More photo's can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82614238@N00/sets/1373905/

Check them out!!!

Anyway, here's me looking chuffed with myself to be sat in the drivers seat of a Ferrari F355, and all three of us enjoying the show with our uber-cool, bespoke, designer sunglasses.

My beard!

2005-11-16T15:21:00.000Z

Here it is, as promised, my beard...

I had a dream last night that I shaved it off and was then disapointed because I hadn't got a picture of it onto my blog.

I don't know now whether to shave it off or not. I'm quite impulsive at times and it's not beyond me to just do it tonight. However, it's hard to say goodbye when I think about:

How long it takes to grow
How warm it keeps me on these cold days
How mature and sexy I look with it (don't pretend it's not true!)

You tell me...shall I keep the beard or shall I shave it off?

Cars...

2005-11-07T15:27:00.000Z

So, I'm thinking of getting a Civic Type R some time in the New Year.

It's the top of my list of cars that hope to fulfill this criteria:

Reliable and well built
Not too expensive to run or maintain
Fast and fun to drive
Practical
In plentifull supply
Better than a Golf round the Nurburgring!

I have considered other cars, the Mini Cooper S, Seat Leon VT, a Golf PD GTI 130 and even an Accord Type R but the Civic appears to tick all the boxes.

Is there a car i've missed? Have you got any ideas? Please let me know. But do not suggest a Peugeot!!!

I've had three Peugeot's now...a 92' 106 XSI, a 96' 306 D Turbo and 98' 106 GTI. Now, the XSI was my pride and joy, I loved it. It went to Prescott Hill for a few runs up the famous hill climb, it went to a track day in Lichfield and it also went to the Nurburgring but it couldn't go round because it had snowed. The XSI never really failed me, but because of its 110,000 miles I sold it...boy do I regret that sometimes.

I bought the D-Turbo, had it tuned and crashed it racing an MR2 Turbo (the crash was actually caused by a defective tyre)! Because i'd only insured it 3rd party I had to find £1500 to repair it and this put me off the car...so I sold it a year later.

I was then able to purchase my dream car...a 106 GTI. I know it's not a Ferrari but in terms of realistic money it was a dream car that we could afford. We kept it a year. It was fast, fun and in great condition...cosmetically. However, from the word go we had problems with the mechanical side of things:

4 x new tyres
2 x driveshafts
headgasket
timing belt
Lamda sensor
air box
the exhaust rattled but no one could find it (the rattle, not the exhaust)
there was a loud knocking under heavy load but no one could find it
there was a knocking on the steering
the engine didn't run right but no one could solve it
it didn't like heat (it would struggle to start or over heat)

The list goes on, this is just what I can remember now. It was so frustrating, so we sold it and got £100 less than what we paid for it a year before!

We are now running a 999cc VW Polo...but we have a trip to the Ring' planned for Spring 06 and we aint taking the Polo! So come on, what should we get?

Films: Star Wars and Sideways

2005-11-02T16:24:00.000Z

So, films. My wife and I watched "Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith" last night...it's good. To be honest, traditionally i'm a Star Trek fan...I know, i'm embarrassed about it too...but the franchise has struggled over the last few years and I realised last night that the sci-fi effects of Star Wars can't really be matched by Star Trek. Although in my mind Capt. Picard is more of a hero than Obi-Wan will ever be and Lt. Comm. Worf could easily kick Chewbacca in!!!

"Revenge of the Sith" was definately the best out of the current SW trilogy as it nicely tied up the loose ends of the connections between this trilogy and the old. The fight scenes were tremendous (although Yoda dissapointed) and I can't wait to watch the original trilogy now.

Another film i've watched recently is called "Sideways"...now this film was recommended to me by my Brother who thought i'd like it, so when I found it on pay-per-view whilst sitting at home with a badly-sprained ankle, I thought i'd give it a go.

The basic recipe looked good: two blokes go away together on an small stag-do, for a week of wine-tasting in California. Now, not only do I like wine, but I also had my very own stag-do this summer (although it didn't include much wine). I really did enjoy this film; fascinating characters held my interest whilst the underlying wine theme entertained me. I do recommend this film, but be warned, after you've seen it you will spend a lot more time smelling your wine before you drink it!

Let me know what good films you've seen lately, and if you have any comments on my thoughts, then please let me know. Untill next time!

What's in a name?

2005-11-01T12:25:00.000Z

At some point I want to explore a little more about how my opinion on being a Jesus follower could impact my work with young people. Am I looking to 'convert' young people or make them go/come to church? Not necessarily, I think I should be looking to sell the person of Jesus rather than selling 'conversion' or church. I'm sure that these aren't radical thoughts for some of you...but i'm enjoying myself!

Maybe there isn't a difference between marketing Jesus, 'conversion' or church, but perhaps you can model your life on Jesus' and not go to church. I would encourage other Christians to meet regularly with other fellow Christians (church)...but I wonder if the emphasis has been put on people to become Christians in terms of their identity rather than their personality, and equally to go to church because it's seen as the thing Christians should do.

We had a great staff meeting this morning at Chad's; it started off with an interesting conversation about evangelism and what it meant for each of us, and how much we were actually doing it. A number of my colleagues expressed a nervousness about telling people about church, and again I was struck by the geniusness (is that a word?) of Jesus. If we try and sell people church or conversion I think we will encounter resistance and ridicule, however, if we sell the person of Jesus (who he is, what he did, what he does etc) I think people will respond. Christians often say that their faith is about relationship, why don't we actually start trying to sell this relationship.

Introduction...

2005-10-31T15:06:00.000Z

This is me! Calm down girls...I know it's tempting, but I am married. I actually now have a beard, maybe a picture of this will appear soon (not a picture just of my beard of course, but a picture of me with my beard).

Back to beards, once you get past the itchy stage, beards get quite interesting. Almost anything you spend time creating or nurturing, whether it be a child, an allotment, a book or a beard...you form a bond with it. I love my beard, it's three weeks old and over this time we have bonded (literally as well as emotionally). It never lets me down, it's always there for me in the low times and the high times. It always enjoys a stroke and it loves a good wash. Long live the beard!!!

2005-10-31T14:47:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog...I like fast cars, coffee, the A-Team, Italian food (and drink!), Sean William Scott ('like' as in funny, not fit) and I consider myself a follower of Jesus.

This is my 'thing' at the moment. I don't really like to be called a 'Christian' or a 'Church-goer'...I want to be called a Jesus follower. (Am I using to many 'of these'?)

It seems that many people, myself included at times, try to convince people to go to Church, or to become Christians. Maybe my imagination, but is this working? Maybe we'd be far more effective in selling the amazing person of Jesus rather than Church, or the criteria often stated to non-Christians as the requirements to become Christians? (Does this make sense?)