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  • On this day in history...

    Ten years ago today I preached for the first time at the church that would become known on this blog as 'The Gathering Place' - it was the Sunday after Low Sunday, and we were just beginning the careful process of discerning whether there might be a 'match' to be made.

    I still remember the look of incredulity on the face of the door steward when I said I'd come up from Leicestershire ('lester-sheer')... "'lester-shyre' that's an awffy long way" she said

    I also still remember the sense of home-coming, the amusement that having spent several years in HBC (Dibley) I might now be about to spend some in HBC (Weegie).

    I remember standing at the corner of Torness Street (near the now closed Western Infirmary) and smiling at the irony of a street sharing a name with the power station I'd worked for/on (at as distance) for more than a decade before trainign for ministry.

    This autumn it will be 20 years since I went to Northern Baptist College to start training and 10 since I moved to Glasgow. I find that double anniversary thingy quite significant - more so than perhaps I'd realised until now.

  • Easter Monday - Been a Fun Day

    Today has been a 'proper' day off - I had a nice lie-in after I'd fed the cats at 6 a.m., and then mid-morning headed off to Kelvingrove because I wanted to see Dippy the Dinosaur. I love Kelvingrove precisely because it is probably the most chaotic museum I ever go to... you either get it and love it, or you don't. Where else could you listen to an organist playing the tune used for 'Thine be the Glory' closely followed by 'Flower of Scotland' whilst a man dressed in a dinosaur suit poses for selfies with small children?  Where else can you see an exhibition of pencil sketches by Leonardo da Vinci and then eat cake whilst overlooking the park but they refuse to give you a lunch menu because you are five minutes too early!!

    After the perfect meld of sublime and ridiculous, I meandered through the West End to the Botanic Gardens where the lawns resembled Blackpool beach on a sunny Bank Holiday (all the people sitting facing the same way on the grass, the smell of sun screen and small children with dripping ice-creams) whilst in a tucked away room a second hand book fair was taking place. The daffodils were fading away and the blossom is giving way to new green leaves... soon the summer planting will begin.

    Then it was along Great Western Road (well the terraces on the south side of the road where it is more shady) and back home, pausing to by an ice-lolly and something to cook for tea.

    I am very blessed to live in a place where there is so much to see and do in easy walking distance.  And it is a real blessing to have such a glorious day to be 'off' after all the busy Lent and Easter stuff.

    Back to work tomorrow with a real sense of having had a fun day today.