Pre-Synod day

The diocese of Argyll and The Isles is so scattered that this annual get-together is quite a thing in terms of meeting people from elsewhere, and Di and I began at breakfast in our hotel with a chap from Skye whom we first met on a Lay Training Day over 10 years ago. We walked briskly together along the sunlit esplanade to the Corran Halls, got our name badges, and dispersed to tables for the day with other friends, there to listen to and then discuss issues around Assisted Dying.

This proved to be REALLY HARD WORK.

The speaker was interesting and engaging, and every so often he set us brief tasks, whose outcome we had to share by tables. The breaks for lunch and tea were brief - and discussion continued. At one point my #2 son, currently at an educational conference in Bangkok , found the energy to weigh in via texts. I was getting more and more tired… We walked back towards our hotel in the afternoon with our soon-to-be inducted Rector, attending his first Argyll event, and realised we had about 15 minutes before we had to about turn to attend the Synod Eucharist in the Cathedral.

By this time I was so tired my singing voice was reduced to a cheep and some of the hymns were BIG. And HIGH. We had a word with Bishop David - and then jumped ship and high-tailed it to a small Italian restaurant recommended yesterday by him and Sarah.

Dinner was great. Olives, focaccia; prawns in pasta olio e aglio with capers and red pepper. Di had a massive tiramisu; I had a limoncello. We staggered back to the hotel and did our respective Duolingo obsessive exercises. You can work out what bit of the collage refers to whatever.

Now, tea. In bed. And then sleep. To sleep, perchance…