Flowers, temple and glorious lanes

So, this past week we bounced in and out of the office.  We left the office early on Monday afternoon (shortly after 3 p.m. in the hope of avoiding the worst of the traffic) to drive up to Aberdeen for Tuesday's North Scotland Zone Conference. On Tuesday we attended the zone conference, which we left a little early (in the hope of avoiding the worst of the traffic) to drive back to Edinburgh.

'Tis the season of daffodils, which grow in wild abundance along the verges.

While near Aberdeen we dawdled through Stonehaven. Truly a seaside village worthy of being added to our memories

Of note are the whimsical steel statues along the board walk.

And yes, if you look closely all these vessels are crewed by fishy denizens

The dolphin is more conventional but beautifully proportioned.

And the sea was so boisterous we saw actual breakers, rather rare in these parts.

Stonehaven also boasts the "Carron Fish Bar", which claims to be the birthplace of the "world famous deep fried Mars bar". They even have a story explaining how some school kids were daring each other to order and eat strange foods--culminating in deep frying a Mars bar (chocolate candy bar for 'merricans). We were entertained by the tale but ordered more prosaic fish and chips for ourselves, and very good they were too, with appetites sharpened by a chilly breeze along the beachfront.

On the way back we thistled along a side road promising early Celtic stone carvings. The museum was shut but was right alongside a lovely old church, St. Vigean's. We were admiring this Celtic cross in the graveyard when a local man came bustling over and offered to show us through the church, an offer we didn't even pretend to refuse.

The church was amazing and our guide enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He told us of all the many renovations and restorations of the church over the centuries, and then brought out a huge bible  that had been found during some of the excavations. It was hundreds of years old and the blank pages were filled with historical notes of the comings and going of the congregation and records of some of the notable services. He was quite casual about it and we were able to handle it and page through it without any fuss. For a couple of bibliophiles it was a great moment.

On the way out he pointed out a carved headstone with the words,

If guilt and sin afford a plea

and may obtain a place

Surley the Lord will welcome me

And I shall see her face

No, this is not an early example of feminist deism, just a lonely widower missing his wife, whose gravestone it is. A heartfelt plea, if you will, for eternal family relationships.

After all that we peacefully and contentedly followed the road home

Wednesday we went in to the office early (about 7 am) and worked until just before 9 pm, not quite finishing everything that had to be done before Edinburgh's South Scotland Zone Conference the next day. Life in the office is quite wonderful. You can take time off if you need to, resting assured in the knowledge that your work will be there for you when you return. It will wait for you, peacefully and more or less calmly until you return. (Have I mentioned this before?)

Thursday (S. Scot zone conference) we went in early again, and again worked late, but it was a different type of late work  It is wonderful to see all the missionaries at Zone Conference, and afterwards they bring their questions, requests and challenges to the office, and we just help them with whatever until the last one leaves, and then we leave too. It was particularly busy this time with several missionaries needing help to get their shiny new smartphones set up and running.

Friday we went in early again. We were planning to leave early to drive down to Preston to visit the temple. This is a rare privilege, as we should not leave our mission without special permission. Everything went smoothly and we were able to leave on time to arrive at the temple in time for 5pm, which is what we had hoped for.

Getting to our hotel was a small adventure. The hotel is in a service area along a motorway. There is a back road from the neighbourhood into the complex but it has been deliberately blocked because they don't want local people using it as a shortcut to the motorway! "Why not?" I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell you, "I don't know". Seems crazy to block off customers, but that's just my capitalist American streak coming through, I guess. Anyway after stopping within 50 feet of the hotel at the blocked road we had to back up and do a 12 mile detour onto the motorway to get to the front door. Other than that peculiarity the hotel wasn't bad.

Before we left the mission president mentioned casually how much he had enjoyed the Grasmere gingerbread last time we visited the temple, so of course the Lake District was a compulsory diversion for us on the way home again. We wandered through the lovely narrow lanes. For me this is some of the magic of Britain, and a view I will always be glad to come back to.

While wending our way to Grasmere our sat-nav took us down a steep hill. When we say steep the grade was 25%. There are lots of warning signs encouraging cyclists to check their brakes (cars are apparently less valuable, for they are not mentioned). As you tip over the edge and start heading down it feels vertical. The descent is enlivened by being very twisty, filled with hikers and cyclists and the road is about one and a half cars wide, but is a two-way road. Good luck finding somewhere to pull off if something comes the other way! We cautiously went down at about 5 miles per hour and were very glad to have done the trip after we got to the bottom. Unfortunately we were so busy enjoying the view, dodging feckless hikers and trying not to skid that we didn't take any photographs. If we take people back to the Lake District we'll go there again, and next time we'll take pictures. In fairness to the sat-nav, it had been directing us along the main road, which was slowed to a crawl with heavy traffic. It was our idea to leave the main road, and the sat-nav cooperated by finding us this route.