A glimmer of interest from a housing association made my 'cold calling' seem worthwhile. I decided to revise the UWDC Business Tariffs and provisions before going to town and seeing Khaled of Medina en route. At least those two short 'phoning hours blew any 'phone phobia away. Wrong people answering, mystification or total disinterest are the worst one can hear, and none is at all painful; with the calls costing nothing I have nothing to lose; there is though the possibility of long term gain.

Tony Griffiths sent a welcome circular letter to his 'team'. I enquired about Ron, amongst other points in my reply. There's a blog attached to the team website so I may well send some comments there. With Ron as my invisible, inert and totally negative 'sponsor' it's good to know there is life (and money making) in that direction, if only at a little greater distance. I look forward to any reply Tony might have time to make.

John Crossan's book is terrific. It points out the salient features of Josephus, which I had missed, drowned as I felt in a sea of violence, superstition and power struggle. Crossan attempts to create the history of Jewish anti Roman protest from the point of view of Jesus' peasant contemporaries, using written records, which by their very nature can only come from the ruling, governing and priestly classes. His initial chapter on 'peasant culture' in the 1st century
Mediterrannean could only quote letters from the Egyptian labouring classes. Literacy rate was high in Egypt and dry sand is a great preservative of papyrus.

I'll be too tired to write a paragraph plan for 'Jesus' or do much about Burns Night but will sign off now and play the guitar. Another day's Bilborough work came from Geraldine.