Abbey to Abbey

Tomorrow morning a group of us are going for a walk with our bishop.

We send the bishop our statistics each year, we reserve a special chair for him in our churches, we are polite to him at Synod.

We don't go walking in the hills with him nearly enough.

All that changes tomorrow. We'll be gathering at the Market Cross in Melrose, visiting Melrose Abbey and then heading out over the Eildon Hills "in the footsteps of St Cuthbert" to Dryburgh Abbey. All this has necessitated complex plans to leave cars in two places so that we don't have to walk back the same way we came.

Packed lunches are in order.

Tonight's Game

One of the betting sites is listing the odds of any of the following teams winning the Stanley Cup:

The Boston Bruins 18/1
The Chicago Blackhawks 4/1
The Detroit Redwings 11/2
The Montreal Canadiens 35/1
The Philadelphia Flyers 16/1
The Pittsburgh Penguins 4/1
The San Jose Sharks 5/1
The Vancouver Canucks 6/1
The Washington Capitals 7/2

My team is clearly at the back of the pack but they're still in there and if Halak's goaltending keeps up with the momentum and we win tonight's game against the favoured Capitals, a few of these figures might change. The Canadiens were down in the series 3-1 at one point but have inched their way up and have forced a 7th game. It ain't over until the fat lady sings.

So we wait and see. I'm staying up late and watching it online.

update: We did win. A defensive game which worked well against this set of opponents but may not against Pittsburgh. Still - a good fast game!

Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends

One of our West-Country types here at St James', Penicuik was telling me that the same record company which manages Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse is just after signing a group of Cornish fishermen to a major record deal.

The Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends were singing in a pub when a record executive on holiday stopped in for a pint. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Amazon site has a video which doesn't appear elsewhere in a format easily nicked for a blog page. It'll set your foot to tapping.

We have our requisite number of Cornishmen at both St James and St Mungo's. I grew up in Canada and the only West Country accents we ever heard issued from the lips of pirates in movies. Stereotypes are hard to cast off. The old stories about Cornish villagers luring ships onto the rocks with torches are nothing but dreadful slander.West Country folk are, in fact, lovely people.

I am still hesitant to let ours help with the parking for major events at church, just in case one of them should revert to type and, waving a flashlight, tell one of our visitors to back straight into the wall at high speed, with other Cornishmen swooping over the wall and making off with the spare petrol tin, the jump leads and the dog gate.

Like I said, lovely people, but that sorta stuff is not part of our Mission Statement......