Up this morning and walked Mix before breakfasting in the farmhouse (for the first time for more than a week). Rachel and I set off for Cranshaws for the Morning Service, leaving Mum at home as she was expecting a visit from Amy and Nick.
The service was very different from normal incorporating a section on listening for the children, including a short drama on marriage (from Fiddler on the Roof), and a renewal of wedding vows by Alison and Bill, two of the members of the congregation. Anne spoke about First Corinthians chapter thirteen – the glorious chapter about love -- reminding us of the provenance of the words, written to a Church community embroiled in dispute and challenging us to read the chapter over substituting our own name each time the word ‘love’ was mentioned.
After the service – very well-attended not least by many of Bill and Alison’s friends and family – we were served with coffee and cake before we made our way home in good time for Sunday lunch at the farmhouse.
We ate quite late because Olive had been involved in other things and then, after lunch Mix and I retired to the summer house to catch up on all that had been neglected in the week we have been away.
Rachel went off to Evensong. I fed the dogs and in the evening we settled down to watch the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. Glasgow has done well – Scotland has done well. I gather those who have visited have had a good time, that business has reaped a reward and that our athletes have exceeded all expectations. The organisation has gone well too and that must have been no easy matter. Well done to all involved – and now we can turn our attention to the Edinburgh Festival. What a life we have!
Those who were present at the Closing ceremony say that the atmosphere was absolutely superb. I don’t think these kind of things come across so well on television but then it was an event designed for the athletes and they were there. It was good to see Lulu and Deacon Blue and I enjoyed hearing Caledonia and the massed Pipes and Drums (as well as the solo piper at the end). Gold Coast City will obviously throw themselves into providing a good Games – and it is important to remember that before the Glasgow Games the whole future of the Commonwealth Games was in doubt – that they are not now is a huge tribute to Glasgow. I was a bit surprised that Kylie became the headline act (even if it was all set within the framework of a Glasgow night out). I’m sure she was good (and her dancers were superb) but I would have expected someone more Scottish (where were the Proclaimers)? But perhaps it was a mark of the new-found Scottish confidence that we could feel that the final act did not have to be one of our own. The Games have been a huge success and that’s something to celebrate.
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