Thursday 8th March

I have been in London for a few days along with my good friend James McDonagh.  It has become a sort of annual event over the past few years and began with an invitation from Fr Eddie McGettrick to “come over sometime” and spend a few days – at the time Eddie was in St Patrick’s in East Molesey.  It’s a Kiltegan house and a lovely place to spend a bit of time.  Since then Eddie has been re-assigned to a mission posting in Peru but the welcome of St Patrick’s continues through the priests still here in the house.  As I say, a good place to be and I’m glad to be here.  James is always mighty company and we have good laughs along the way.

The photo above was taken yesterday when we went for a walk to the local bus stop but never quite made it!  Well we did, insofar as we walked past it.  The walk took us to the edge of the Thames River and onto the grounds of Hampton Court Palace (certainly not our intended destination) but good to see nonetheless. We chatted and laughed a bit along the way and somehow didn’t seem to mind that we never managed to connect with the intended bus at the designated bus stop.

Sometimes, it seems to me, our journey veers off course but quite often there’s no need to panic or regret the fact.  As long as the journey was enjoyable and caused no offence or pain, chances are it was a worthwhile journey.

You may well have plans for today – maybe even a “to do” list and hopefully, come end of day, you’ll have done what needed doing.  If you have, be grateful and take some well deserved pride in your achievement.  On the other hand, if it’s not all done or none of it seemed to work out, just smile and thank God you lived another day and did your best to live it well.

The bus and the bus stop are still there.  Maybe we’ll walk that way again later today, then again maybe not!

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I mentioned that yesterday was Felicity MacDermot’s birthday.  In the interest of openness and transparency, I should quite likely declare that today is mine!  I’ve just one more year to enjoy the forties and that journey starts now!

Thanks to all of you for your support over the past twelve months.  I want to remember my parents today and to thank them for all they did for me through the years.  I will remember them for the rest of mine.

I share this birthday (date – not year) with a number of friends and if any of them happen to see these lines “Happy Birthday to you all”

God Bless,

V