Waiting

Edinburgh's Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption - St Mary's to you and me - waiting for the arrival of the massed ranks of Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons etc prior to the Consecration of the new Archbishop Leo Cushley. The actual service was a blaze of colour - all the robes were red and gold - but i don't feel quite right using a camera mid-service. I always feel a bit odd in this particular church because it was our parish church before we went to Australia when I was 8 years old. Here's where I was baptised, where Mum tried to give me a fruit pastille but I was too 'holy' to eat a sweet during Mass, where we were taken from the nearby school to see (and kiss!) the relics of St Andrew (did you know there are some of his relics also in the Basilica in Amalfi, Italy?), where a grumpy old priest used to stop if someone coughed during Mass or a baby cried (how initmidated must people have felt??). When you go back to places familiar to your childhood do you do the same thing? Try to think yourself back into your 8 year old head? Its weird.

Hey!! I've got a red balloon! I didn't realise I was close to 300. Wow.