a new bishop (elect) in Glasgow
a new provost in Dundee
I’m deligted for both of them. Quite a day in the Piskie church.
Apart from that blessings have been in short supply today. The computer has eaten up most of the day, of course: balking at every single stage of restoration after I wiped it back to factory settings. But I can now send mail, and print documents (sounds easy. should have been. wasn’t.) and people are beginning to email me so that I can re-fill my address book.
Then there was the small matter of my trip to Dundee. I’ve never been into the cathedral, though I used to walk past it on days-out to the ‘big’-city from St Andrews. I was looking forward to it greatly… and running a bit late, what with computers, and new-bishops and all. But it would be OK. I got to the city centre 15 minutes before the service was due to start and began looking for a parking garage. I thought I’d be five minutes late at most.
‘Not that one’ though I, when I saw the first sign for parking. ‘It’s off in the wrong direction and I know there’s one near the big deparment store somewhere. Oh, and there’s that one by the bus station; and the one behind the old shops at the far end of town. ‘
But could I find a way to get into town after passing that first left turn? Round and round I went, and the minutes ticked on. All the way around the city struggling, struggling to find any way into the city instead of past it via the well marked lanes which must have been painted by the tourism boards of Coupar Angus and Aberdeen.
I found a car park – and a space. But it was ‘pay and display’ and I had no money.
55 minutes later, I finally found a car-park that offered user-friendly tickets. It was the one I’d been hoping for all along. But there was a queue of 15 cars at he gate, and a sign saying ‘full’.
I texted the new Provost, and expressed my deep frustration and regret that I’d missed the service, and went back back back through the city streets, very disgruntled indeed.
wonderful exchange 