Friday 9 May 2008

Old haunts, old friends (2)

The original purpose of the visit: Sunday.  It turned out that you cannot get to Edinburgh from Newcastle by train on a Sunday before 11am, so Saturday was added on as a way out of this problem.  Cannot even begin to understand the mindset that has no trains going north of the border until lunchtime, but heck - no-one has asked me to run Network Rail yet.  Perhaps if they did ...

Our venue at 11am was our church in Leith.  After many years of worship there, the Methodist Church as decided to combine four churches in the city into one City church and we were invited to the final Sunday morning service in the church.  I thought it would be emotional, teary, sad, but I should have known better. I am priviledged to have worked and worshipped there. I have never been to such a cheerful, enthusiastic, open church in the UK, full of innovative ideas, full of God's praise. 

Full of food too.  The buffet was a banquet and I suspect many church members will be eating ham sandwiches for weeks to come.

Of course, this also gave us the opportunity to meet up with friends whom we haven't seen for too long.  When we left Edinburgh our friends were married and just beginning to contemplate children.  On Sunday we ended up in the Botanical Gardens, eight children running around madly, making new friends as their parents tried to catch up on the missing years.  It did appear that it was only us who had changed jobs/life/country with any degree of regularity.  However, nothing matched up to the glories of Gareth's new A-reg Landrover.  I could see my husband drooling in envy, mentally reciting the 10th Commandment over and over again: Thou shalt not covet thy best friend's landrover.

The journey home was late and uneventful, although such a long walk along the platform at Waverley that we were back out in the open air.  Also a cross-country train despite booking through national express.   One day I'm determined I'll understand the world of big business but for now I'll just rejoice in the simple joys of meeting old friends and time together as a family.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...