Spent yesterday at home writing the sermon for Sunday.

Today I was up for 9:30 again. Today was the monthly meeting of some of the older people from around the area for their 'lunch club'. They get together, drink tea or coffee, listen to a speaker, have lunch, drink more tea and coffee, before some drift away, and others stay for communion.

As Ian was elsewhere, I was standing in for him. (If you have an ontological view of priesthood, and believe there are times when priests stand in on behalf of Jesus, what does that ontological view say about the ordinand who's standing in on behalf of the priest?). So I spent the morning chatting to people as they arrived, serving them with drinks, and trying desperately hard to find new topics of conversation.

Unfortunately the speaker failed to turn up, but I would have missed her talk on 'gentle exercise' anyway, as I spent a good hour or so talking to a lady who had been in tears and wanted someone to talk to. As the NSM curate had to nip off for 45 mins on family duties, it fell to me.

If there's one thing I'm learning here, it's that a dog collar let's people talk. Although I wasn't wearing one, the fact that I had one by proxy allowed this lady to tell me all sorts of things that she may have found more difficult to say in any other situation. Listening is not my strong suit, but with the practice I'm getting in, it's improving.

Today's mileage: 64 miles