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What an oppor-tuna-ty....

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Recording here .   Good morning and welcome to my Thought for the Day entitled what an "oppor-tuna-ty". Well I’ve been doing a bit of research and a tin of tuna will set you back about £1.50 in the Huntingdon supermarkets these days, though you might be able to get a budget tin for more like 80p if you hunt around. So guess how much Kiyoshi Kimura paid for his bluefin tuna in Tokyo last month? Answer, a staggering half a billion yen. That’s £2.4million for a fish! Well that must be the most expensive fish ever sold [1] . Apparently big blue fin tuna (and this one weighs in at 243kilos) sell for big money. But the first tuna of the year at the opening fish market in Tokyo in January are particularly sought after. They are believed to bring good luck. Mr Kimura who is known as the “Tuna King” bought the fish for the record breaking amount (yes £2.4M) for his restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, and one customer said after eating some of the Sushi containing this fish “I feel ...

Happy New Year 2026...

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 Click here for audio... Happy New Year! And welcome to 2026. Well done for being up and about at this time of the day, and whether you had a big night out or a quiet night in, I hope you are in good health and good heart.  Well what does 2026 hold? The answer is no-one knows. Will we have a year of good news or bad, or a bit of a mix? I typed the question "What will happen in 2026?" into the internet and here are some of the answers I got, and I quote... No one can know for sure, but here’s a  realistic, high-level look at what 2026 is likely to be like  based on current trends... AI will be everywhere , not just chatbots: built into school tools, games, phones, search, and creative apps. More schools will  adapt to AI  instead of banning it—teaching how to use it responsibly Some  jobs  will change, not disappear—people will work  with  AI. Music, art, and videos  made  with  AI...

O come all ye traitors...

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 Click here for audio. ( A big thank you to Lee McMunn who takes the credit for this illustration, and for sharing it with those in the AMiE network, you can read his carol service talk on this theme here ).  I wonder if you have seen the TV programme " Traitors " hosted by Claudia Winkelman. It's been hugely popular, with the last season of Celebrity Traitors attracting 15 million viewers. In case you are not familiar with it, the programme features a group of contestants hanging out in a Scottish Castle to take part in a kind of elimination competition. Each day they participate in challenges to raise money for their charity. Some of the competitors are called "Faithful" and others are called "Traitors". The Traitors know who each other are, and they can band together to so called "murder" others, meanwhile the Faithful have to try and work out who they are before it's too late. It's been hugely popular, and another series of Celeb...

Poem for "Carols on the Playground" Hartford School 15DEC25

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"The Message of Christmas for the World to hear" It’s great to be here on the playground tonight Thanks all for coming on a cold murky night. It’s good to hear carols sang so beautifully And all topped & tailed by our own Mrs Lee. If you’re from Hartford please give us a cheer… And those from St Peters are you anywhere near…? You sang Little Donkey - and turning down lights, Away in a Manger for cold winter nights. But there’s just one carol that pricked up my ear “The message of Christmas (for) the world to hear”? What is this great message, what does it all mean? What lies behind Christmas and gives it its sheen? What is the great key that can turn sadness to joy for adults and kids- every girl and each boy? Children like Evan and Devon, and Bevan The kid in year four who keeps shouting “six seven”?! I guess it’s the presents, is that where it’s at? Stockings from Santa and stuff just like that? You could get a phone or a bike or some jumpers Or even a toy from...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?... No it's a comic!

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 Listen to recording here .  Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it’s a comic worth over 9 million dollars!! When three California brothers finally came to clearing out their mum’s attic after she passed away, they came across something quite remarkable amongst a box of old newspaper clippings. A pristine copy of “ Superman 1 ” – the first ever superman solo title comic published way back in 1939. Well, although there had been rumours from their mum of a rare comic collection somewhere,   they didn’t expect to find anything of value up there, they were just clearing stuff out. But exactly two weeks ago today that comic went on auction at Heritage Auctions and fetched a record breaking $9.12 million (that's nearly £7million). (Well maybe I can share that with my wife as a reason for keeping all that stuff up in the loft and in the garage. It might be worth something one day! Not sure that will go down well!) It’s a lovely story, and those 3 California brothers, who ...

Destination helps Motivation!

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 Click here to listen to audio My last "Thought for the Day" happened just before I set off for a long bike ride across Scotland. It was quite an adventure, and if you log onto the Christ Church Huntingdon blog, you’ll see a link to my photos . It was a really wonderful and memorable trip. But it wasn’t all easy. On day 5 we had a 50 mile bike ride and some of it was hard work up a very steep hill with the wind against us. It was exhausting. It was so hard we had to get off our bikes and push them up hill like heavy shopping trolleys. And then going down hill on the other side, it was still hard work as you had to cycle hard to push against the wind even when going downhill. Exhausting. I thought we weren’t going to make it. But there was one thing that kept me going.  Now vegans and vegetarians please forgive me, but a t the end of day we were due to have a meal at the family of Pastor Paul, a local church minister and friend, and he and his wife had prepared a meal of r...

Reacting to the Huntingdon Train incident 01NOV25

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  We are all coming to terms with the shocking news of the events that unfolded near and at Huntingdon station last night. Our hearts go out to all involved, and we continue to pray for healing for those who were injured, particularly the individual who is still in critical care, a member of LNER staff, who according to the BBC website acted with great heroism to protect others. What an extraordinarily sacrificial and Christlike thing to do. You might like to listen to our prayers at church this morning, led by Kendi M'Marate, a member of our congregation.  Click here . She led us through a time of prayer and quiet beautifully. Please pray for the station staff and first responders. On behalf of CCH, I went down to the station this afternoon (photos above) to take some flowers and some "Heroes" chocolates to give to the staff, both police and station staff, with a message to say that we are praying for them. One of the police said that staff on duty last night had of cour...