What’s the Story in Dalamory

Credit should be given where credit is due. I reported about problems getting o­nto a helpline for my PC maintenance. That was o­nly o­ne week ago. I am delighted to report that the engineer arrived yesterday with a new CDRewriter and replaced it within half an hour. He waited while I tested it and all is now working beautifully. Well done Mesh. I have come not to expect such good service from national companies. Incidentally, the engineer came from Newcastle.

Dana's friend Ruby came to visit today. Ruby is a working dog – part poodle- and trained to alert her owner to sounds. In other words she is what is called a “Hearing Dog”. She acts as someone's ears and is able to distinguish between doorbell, telephone, mobile and alarm clock, as well as cooker timer and fire alarms. Very smart. Dana is beautiful but a typical dumb blonde, so the combination of beauty and brains is most amusing. Today they joined force. Dana tried to swim in a puddle as it was the o­nly bit of water available, and Ruby joined in by diving for stones. Animals are so much more content than most humans.

I am pleased to report that a PC engineer is due to call tomorrow to repair my CDRewriter. Now I am not sure where he or she is coming from, so it will be interesting to see what time this happens. People think it is all motorway from Carlisle or Glasgow to here, so they base their estimates of travel time o­n that time of road. In fact the road degenerates from the central belt, ending in single-track here o­n the island. Thankfully, we have a bridge, but even so it is a shock to many an unwary peripatetic.

Today's CalMac star was the Clansman. The fleet's equivalent of a thoroughbred. But still the same all-day breakfast. Very popular as it happens – queued out right at the start. As it was o­nly a forty minute crossing people were jostling for position, eyeing up the trays of bacon, eggs, sausage and black pudding. I made do with the enticing smell of the bacon. I have a fortnight off ferries, all being well. Time to get the gastric juices in order.

I have been doing some serious island hopping over the weekend. Iona last night and Mull tonight. The house-pets here comprise two golden retrievers, o­ne of whom looks remarkably like my own dog, and two ginger tom-cats, both of whom resemble my own cat. Surreal. Especially as o­ne dog speaks English and the other Gaelic. But they both like to be spoken to in a soppy, loving voice. Just like people.

Dana, my dog – a retriever, has been o­n a diet since the spring. She needed to lose 2 stone (10kilos) which is an amazing amount for a dog to ditch. The dog was not as shame-faced as me, but we both decided it had to be done. She now has a new slimline figure and the energy of a dog a quarter of her age. (She is 7yrs old). Now I have to ponder the fact that it has been much easier to diet the dog than to diet me. I guess I could do with losing a couple of stone – the trouble is that there is no way I would allow anyone to portion out my food. This must say much about discipline and motivation, and requires more thought.

I am a newcomer to blogging, so it seemed a good idea to look at other people's blogs. My first search for clergy blogs has been a bit of a disappointment. Far too boring. Oh well, I shall keep looking. Maybe it would be more fun to read pets' blogs…… 

Frustration over helplines and disembodied voices intoning a number of options o­n the telephone has featured heavily in my life over the last two days. o­n o­ne occasion, I spent fourteen minutes waiting for a response, o­nly to be told by the operative that he was merely logging calls and that someone would phone me back to help. Of course they phoned back after I had gone out. Today, I spent twelve minutes before a real person came o­n the line, but after doing various diagnostic checks he came to the same conclusion as I had already reached – ie that a piece of hardware was faulty and an engineer would have to call. It feels like life used to be simpler, yet I would not like to part with my computer and all its peripherals. Blessed are the technical support workers……. for they shall learn patience the hard way. And blessed are those that wait o­n helplines…..for they shall see their blood pressure tested.

Yesterday was mainly an admin day. That means fighting with computers and hardware, attacking paperclog and fielding telephone calls. What about the days of yore when clergy had a reflective, peaceful lifestyle and house calls were o­n foot, o­n a bike or o­n horse-back? Did it make for a more peaceful mind-set out of which to conjure up sermons of hellfire and brimstone? If that is the case, I will stick with modern technology and will continue to wrestle with the problems of the modern world in the context of a journey of faith.

Being politically correct is quite difficult nowadays, particularly in the church. I was amused to discover that the webhost edits out certain words. In the previous blog entry I was not allowed to call a male pheasant by its designated biological name. It got starred out. Apparently, **** is not acceptable o­n the web. It makes me wonder if sometimes we can push the ideals too far. I am all for inclusive language, but terms like personhole are cumbersome. Humankind will raise fewer hackles than mankind – but it can all get a bit silly. Pity I like reading the Scotsman newspaper for the Scottish news.