The daily round, the common task.

The morning rush is over. The residents and guests have breakfasted and the dishwasher is restoring the crockery to operational readiness with its usual Teutonic efficiency. The washing machine restores the Dougalline Keck's to Eco friendly cleanliness as I type. The bed linen is back from the Royal laundry early (Betty Windsor and brood ain't in town) and has been billeted in the linen cupboard, rooms are being cleaned, service sheets sorted and generally speaking, Benedictine order over ordinariness is calmly triumphing. I have a day off and have decided not to spend the day in a train to Ayr for the Prayer Book Society AGM - it's far too nice to sit in a train and Church all day!

I shall go forth and commune with...whatever is worth communing with! Have a nice day!

A Day Off in the sunshine

What to do on a day off was the question facing me last night: the question was resolved by dint of a trip to the barbers, an egg & mushroom bap and a macchiato for brekkie, off to Cowdenbeath to see Ma, shoe shopping (no Jimmy Choo's to be found in the Cowdenbeath Factory Shop!), a meal out @ the new Chinese resturaunt in town, then back to sunny Embra to find my nice Bishop had sent me my commission and a nice letter. All in all a decent day. And tomorrow is Pentecost. I prefer the old terminology of Whitsun. Whitsun, red and glorious with Spring sunshine. And athletic types hurtling about on a marathon. The guy who ran the very 1st marathon allegedly dropped down dead after it. That says it all for me. It's Greek and it's bad for your health. Don't do it!

Leisure unlimited!

After Sunday's Inter-Faith picnic (like Sunday skool, only with turbans and those nice samosas South Asian's eat at home, rather than feed to the public in yer local curry house - yum!), I went off to meet me old mucker Jim at his Manse, eat pizza and discover which of our class mates were dead/fat/divorced and/or unfrocked. Good fun. He is now a grandad but only because he married a wife with 2 kids from a previous marriage (phew! Means we're not that old then!)

The official day off started with a bereavment interview but improved with a swim and a sauna and then off to Central park to watch the Blue Brazil defeat the Hibees 2-0!!! No, this is not a typo and I was both sober and drug-free when spectating - we beat a premier league side! What worried me in all seriousness was they didn't really stress the BB's until the last 20 minutes and even then, not much. There will be no sunshine over Leith this season if they can't worry Cowden!

And today a wee funeral and then a treat for myself - I've booked in at the health centre for a massage!

Some day off!

I transferred the day off to Tuesday. That lasted until 9am when I had to get the plumber to deal with a leak in the Curate's flat. So I passed the time whilst Tommy the plumber plumbed by sorting out some arrangements for our post Lambeth Bishop's visit. The problem was our original (+Indianapolis) had to call off due to ill health. So we have got a replacement. Admittedly one day later (7th not 6th August, so I'll have to move the Feast of the Transfiguration) and at 7pm not 7.30 (ease of catering). But we've swapped the Bishop of Indianapolis for the Archbishop of Burma, so fair dos!

Having walked the dog and discovered mum wasn't coming over I decided to be definitely leisurely or I'd have lost the whole day off thing totally. Off for lunch in a cafe & a swim and a sauna, before deciding to go home for a bit prior to going to the cinema to watch Mamma Mia! Big Mistake. I had to get Willie the electrician to deal with a fused bathroom light in the Curate's flat. By the time I got to the cinema, they were totally sold out for Mamma Mia! Scrub that plan and go for a nice steak. Which sort of made up for it.

Back to work tomorrow then!