26th February 2010

A Chaplain’s Diary

 

It’s just a thought

 

Allow an hour

 

Be warned!  If you are travelling through Barcelona Airport you need to allow plenty of time to get from one terminal to another.  I couldn’t believe the changes which had taken place since I was last there.  All I could remember was an extremely long, thin terminal all under one roof.  It could be a long walk but it was not a problem. I arrived at what was obviously the brand new terminal, which looked more like a shopping arcade than an airport and, after getting completely lost, discovered I had to take a bus to the other terminal.  No problem there but the signage is not exactly helpful.  So after careering around the delights of Barcelona Airport on the bus, strap hanging for dear life, we were unceremoniously dumped by the bus driver at the alternative terminal to then discover that it was an extremely long trek to the gates for the budget airlines. And it was a case of having to go through security for the second time.  In all, I reckon it took me about an hour.  Now I had been warned about all this, but I’m afraid I treated it with a certain amount of disdain.  I’m just glad that I had allowed enough time between my two flights.  That was more by default than design.  I don’t think I shall do it again unless I have to. 

 

Watching the euros

 

Now let me have a moan.  OK I’m a Yorkshire man and we are almost as financially tight as the Scots, (I’m married to a Mackenzie so that will probably ensure divorce in the not too distant future!) but I don’t expect to have to pay €10.70 for a small caňa and a bocadillo de jamon serano.  Yup! that’s what it cost me in Barcelona Airport.  Admittedly I could have saved €2 if I’d been prepared to stand up to eat it but given the fact that I’d just spent nearly a quarter of an hour walking from one end of the terminal to the other which involved a huge U turn where I had originally started out, the thought of a sit down was very appealing.  What’s a bocadillo and beer normally cost?   €5 say.  I think I’m probably justified in having a grouse, don’t you? 

 

Raising the bar

 

I knew we would do it.  Some of our church members organised a sing a long to South Pacific the other Friday night.  We were determined to raise €1,000 for Haiti.  They did it easily, and fed and watered, or perhaps that should be wined, over 60 people in the course of the evening.  After a raffle we were up to nearly €1,300.  Brazenly, on the Sunday morning I raised the bar to see if we could hit €1,500.  We put out a huge red plastic bucket and at the end of the service we were in a position to send over €1,500 for Haiti care of the International Charity, Save the Children.  I wasn’t really surprised because I know how generous people are when they see a genuine need.  Our congregation of St. Andrew’s, Puerto Pollensa, have likewise decided that as the church collection on Easter Sunday normally goes to our Assistant Chaplain as a way of appreciation and thank you, and as we don’t have a permanent person in post at the moment, that the collection on that day would go to Christian Aid for work in Haiti.  I don’t know if I dare suggest a target.  I think I will leave that to our locum “fill in priest” to broach that one with them.  I’m not sure whether I’m being a coward or it’s no good “having a dog and barking yourself”.  That sounds awful but you know what I mean!

 

What more could you ask for

 

Grandchildren don’t half pull at the heart strings.  Everybody around me at the moment seems to be worrying about not seeing enough of their grandchildren. Having just spent a week in the U.K. three days of which were spent with my one year old grandson in the Children’s’ Hospital in Manchester, its very much on my mind at the moment as well.  He had thrown a fit in the middle of the night following an extremely high temperature.  At 3 o’clock in the morning my daughter woke us up to say she was taking him in to the Emergency and Accident Unit because she was worried about him.  Actually spending three days sitting in a hospital room as part of your holiday is not as bad as it seems.  There’s always something going on and it actually makes you relax because you know you can’t go anywhere.  Add to that a superb restaurant, where we could have fish and chips, and one or two extremely pretty nurses and what more could a grandfather ask for.

 

A guilt trip

 

Grandchildren do unsettle you when you are a grandparent.  The whole guilt thing kicks in and you wonder if you are doing right by them living 2,000 miles away.  It’s a story that I seem to have heard over and over again during the last week.  Grandparents who are torn between being available for babysitting and generally helping out, or relaxing in the spring sunshine on Mallorca.  In my experience when I talk to people in the ex-pat community it’s usually the men who want to be here, whilst the women worry and yearn for their roles back home as a grandma.  Last night my daughter phoned up “in a state” because her husband was working late, she felt ill and kept being sick and felt she just wasn’t coping.  Normally one of us would have simply jumped in the car and gone to help out as I remember my grandmother doing on numerous occasions.  In fact I used to love it.  The spots would appear, or the pot would appear, depending on what was amatter, I would take to my bed, grandma would arrive and then the real fun would begin.  I would be read to, played with and plied with Heinz tomato soup.  It was simply wonderful being ill, but that was in the days of an extended family where grandmother lived at the end of the street.  Those days have gone.  We now live three hours and a flight away and I think that’s what might be called a guilt trip.

 

A lost ticket

 

This is a bit schmaltzy but see what you make of it.

Billy Graham is now 86 years old and suffers with Parkinson's disease. In January 2000, church leaders in America,

invited their favourite son, Billy Graham, to a lunch in

his honour. Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with his Parkinson's disease. But the church

leaders said, "We don't expect a major address.. Just

come and let us honour you." So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham

stepped up to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said,

"I'm reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who

has recently been honoured by a famous magazine as the

Man of the Century. Einstein was once travelling from

Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the

aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he

came to Einstein, Einstein reached into his jacket pocket. He

couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets.

It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it.

Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it.

 

The conductor said, "Dr. Einstein, I know who you are.

We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket.

Don't worry about it." Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next carriage , he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his

seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, "Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one."

Einstein looked at him and said, "Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.'"

 

Having said that Billy Graham continued, "See the suit I'm wearing? It's a brand new suit. My wife, my children, and my grandchildren are telling me I've got a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this lunch and one more occasion. You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which I'll be buried. But when you hear I'm dead, I don't want you to immediately remember the suit I'm wearing. I want you to remember this: I not only know who I am …… I also know where I'm going."

 

Fr Robert Ellis is the Anglican Chaplain of Mallorca

St Philip and St James Church

Calle Nunez de Balboa 6,

Son Armadans, Palma 07014

Tel: 971 737279

e-mail:anglicanpalma@gmail.com

www.anglican-mallorca.org