This has been
my first full week of work after our ‘ordination moon’ in France, and I can
honestly say that I haven’t laughed so much in at least four or five years, it’s
been such fun. I love the team I am working with, they are a great source of
fun and encouragement as I have grappled this week to deal with first week
nerves and trying not to run ahead of myself.
So what have
I learnt this week?
Firstly I
have learnt that it’s not cool, when wearing your dog collar (or any time come
to that) to run your parishioners over. Golders Green parish is massive with
over 20,000 people living in it. It has two long main roads, both leading to
the A406 North Circular Road coming together at a cross roads outside our
church. If you go east to west you travel between Hampstead Heath and Brent
Cross; and north to south between Central London and Barnet. I travel to and
from work on the North to South route taking me through Temple Fortune, an area
that Steve and I used to live in, and that Steve policed for 10 years when he
first came out of Police Training School. I know this area well yet it still
amazes me every time I drive through it how appalling the driving is of those
that use the area for shopping. They park outside the shops, often two abreast
with their ‘parking’ lights on (hazard lights for those of us who don’t know
what ‘parking’ lights are) and then they jump back into their cars, signal to
move out into the traffic and then instead of pulling into the lane they do a
full U turn in front of you, unannounced and often even more to shocking those
coming the other way at the same time!
My tendency
in the past has been to bless them verbally and with a loving hand signal of
some kind, however when wearing your dog collar it seems that this hand signal
is no longer appropriate and my verbal blessing not quite the blessing I
thought it was!
It also
seems that zebra crossings in the Golders Green area are some kind of magic
carpet affair. Pedestrians are not required to stop at the kerb but keep
walking, at no time taking any notice of the oncoming traffic, and then by some
miracle the drivers will read your mind and know not to plough you down, as
they drive along expecting some kind of warning that you intended to cross the
road. Sadly yesterday I had a close call with a young man dressed as a hot dog,
which I admit did help a bit as he was a bigger target to avoid, but afterwards
I did have to question what a man dressed as a hot dog was doing in one of the
most Jewish areas of London!
The second
thing I learnt this week was how amazing it is to at last be working in a
church which has a High Street location. This has always been one of my dreams
to be working somewhere which has a ‘passing trade’ and other shops nearby.
Three times this week I went for a wander along Golders Green Road in my dog
collar chatting to people, having interesting conversations with people in
shops and getting £3.50 off my bill in the key cutting shop! My fellow cohort
at St Mellitus are having a competition to see what the most random thing we
can acquire free of charge as a result of wearing our dog collars, I must
submit my entry today, but I am sure I can do better than a key.
There have
been lots of other things I have learned, like how the vicar likes his tea, how
you must never annoy Sylvia the office manager, how to change the toilet paper
in the ladies and where the charcoal is kept for the smelly handbag. But the
best thing I realised today is that Thursday is the new Friday and Friday is
the new Saturday. So dog collar away, get the dogs collar on for a walk in the
sun, the weekend starts here!
Have a
blessed weekend my lovely friends, don’t forget I’m available for hatches,
matches and dispatches – not done any yet but if you don’t mind being a guinea
pig!!!
May God bless
and keep you always, Revd. Sally
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