High on a hill stood a lonely goatherd

Today is fat Tuesday; Mardi Gras, shrove Tuesday; the last day before lent - When traditionally you give up lovely things; until Good Friday; Says me the knowledgeable atheist.

I like to think of Shrove Tuesday as the day Himself treats me to pancakes which are always so lush and light that they slip over without adding one calorie to your hips


Is also the day when i take time to remember my first sight of an Ash Mark; being not of the catholic persuasion; barely a protestant; i remember to this day walking along Sauchiehall Street and clocking one person after the other with a big black mark on their forehead; i noted also that the more people I passed the lighter the mark got.

My logic told me they had all had a run in with the same branch. A branch which had been burnt. And as each person hit it, the ash was getting less.

See i was on the right tracks!

Then i arrived in the office and two of my colleague also had walked into the branch; and i was able to ask them how this odd accident had happened; and they clarified
me with a bloody good slagging.







Then i goy i