So, I found this nice book bindery in Partick who will bind according to Manchester requirements even though they differ from the requirements of any of the three Glasgow universities they usually serve.  I had to smile when I saw the name of their website so - dadbookbinders - which gave it a homely feel but also suggested something like dad dancing.

Downie Allison Downie - the premises are a small industrial unit in a side street behind Partick library (handy for them no doubt) and you walk in to a room stacked high with theses awaiting collection.  How many person-hours of blood sweat and tears are contained in those black books with gold lettering on the spine (and one soft bound pre-examination Manchester thesis also with gold lettering on the spine)?

Mr Dad the proprietor was very friendly and helpful, whilst Ms Dad the order-taker seemed thrilled to have someone who didn't need their bound work now, this minute, my deadline is in an hour.

So, collect said thesis on Tuesday morning and post it recorded delivery to reach Manchester in good time for the (revised) deadline.

Then, in a few weeks, hopefully back to DAD for the beautiful black hardbound version to join the legion of others in a dusty store at the unversity..

Phew!  After three days of angst and frsutration the university have sorted the necessary for my electronic submission of my thesis and extended the deadline for the hardcopies by two weeks.

It felt SO good to hit the send button and get the thing winging its way south.

An odd week for Gatherers - there are two of us (me in my forties, the other in her very, very late twenties; both technically 'mature') making final post grad submissions this week.  Hopefully our stress levels will be lower once it's done.

Now, just the small matter of finding a thesis binder in Glasgow that can meet the requirements of Manchester University 'soft' binding (i.e. hard binding with a soft cover!).  It is possible the one close to where our church once planted can do this (haven't checked yet) but the one nearest the Gathering Place can't even though it's website said it could...!  Hey nonny noony.

(Of course the nice bit of irony is that the essay that appeared in print this week is one chapter of my thesis, so it was published before it was (finally) submitted!)

This morning I listened to the radio news to be told about...

Hopsitals in England failing to care adequately for older patients

Roads in England being in a dreadful state due to bad weather

Sex offenders in England and Wales including many under 18.

Notice a bit of the theme here?  All the bad stuff is happening in England (and sometimes Wales).  I need to listen more closely to see if the good stuff is too.  I have a suspicion that maybe it's just any stuff that happens in England.  Maybe the BBC should be renamed the EBC?!

It's a distorted picture for sure...

I have seen older people being neglected in hospital in Scotland

The roads in Glasgow are in an appalling state after two hard winters

I haven't a clue about sex offenders in Scotland because no-one tells us.

I guess the flip side of this is evident in the reporting of the General Synod of the C of E and lack of reporting of the General Assembly of the C of S.  So we hear loads about the C of E tying itself in knots over the questions around who may or may not be ordained or appointed as a bishop and almost zilch about the C of S when it debates similar topics.

Courtesy of the e-news sweep from the BUGB (that's the Baptist Union of England and a bit of Wales, plus three in Scotland and one in Spain) I have been pointed to some reporting on the C of S debates about the ordination of openly gay clergy.   The position is quite simple, they've agreed that those already ordained can carry on and they will go away and think for a couple of years about what next.  Whether that's a helpful decision is another thing, but it's not exactly all that far from the C of E fudges at various times.  I felt it was telling in this report when the minister who was contemplating leaving the Kird said he'd be discussing things with his 'evangelical brothers'... are there no evangelical sisters?  Oh, silly me, they should be making tea not serving as ministers of the Kirk!

sassa frassa rassa university!

So, the person who can fix the glitch isn't in today and "might" be in tomorrow.

Hurrah for my supervisor who said 'well, we'll just have to extend your deadline then' - thank goodness for a teeny bit of common sense.  Medal for Dr Scott methinks.

No, not my thesis (mutter, mutter, mutter) but the book containing one of my essays.  It arrived this morning.

Baptists and the World: Renewing the Vision, edited by John H Y Briggs and Anthony R Cross, is a selection of papers from the Baptist Historical Society Congernece held in Prague in 2008.  The delay in publishing is largley due to the demise of the Paternoster series, and it is great that regent's Park College have taken over the outstanding (i.e. remaining) titles.

I am secretly chuffed that my essay is Chapter 2, following on the heels of the keynote paper.

So there you have it, I am now a published theologian, woo hoo! (In addition to the couple of journal articles I've also had published of course)