Simon Says ...

Back from holiday - ten days walking the beautiful Cornish coast. We reckon to have done about 100 miles from the Devon-Cornwall border to Hayle. That's a good chunk of walking. Me at the start Porthcothan at sunset We had some glorious weather, and when it wasn't glorious it was at least kind. We never walked in heavy rain, so that was OK. And the scenery was magnificent. We also discovered that Buffy is wrong - the Hell mouth isn't in Sunnydale, California - it's on the north Cornwall coast. There's even a cafe at which we stopped for a hot chocolate (' Marshmallows with that, Mr Lucifer? Yes, terrible weather for Hell at this time of year '). The first few days were hard work, both because we were less fit and because the terrain was hard (lots of steep up and down). Most of our energies, mental and physical, went into putting one foot in front of the other. That was just what we needed - an enforced shutdown and lots of sleep. Oh, and I did my

This morning we were in York, having had a lovely weekend with friends. It culminated this morning in the baptism of the two children of friends. It was a really special occasion, a lovely service and a fantastic occasion. Jacky and I are godparents (one to each of the newly baptised) and I preached (not too badly). Joy was very much the note of the day. But this evening there were tears. Kathy, a friend and member of the congregation, died very suddenly on Wednesday night. This evening there were prayers and time to remember Kathy in church. There is still no explanation for her death. We last saw Kathy on Monday at Greenbelt. She came bounding over and gave me a huge hug. She was full of stories about her trip to Uganda. Kathy was full of life, that's the phrase on lots of people's lips at the moment. Kathy was in Edinburgh with us for the Make Poverty History march. We have a photo of her with a pair of MPH pants on her head. I'd like to say something profo