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One of the papers asked me for 150 words on ‘Where I was on 9/11’. So I sent them this:

I was with Phyllis, an elderly member of my congregation, in the Sheltered Housing at Edenderry Gardens, Portadown. We sat quietly and watched. Other residents joined us. I think we said a prayer.

Even then, I knew that this was a moment of history. I felt a personal connection. I’d been to the Windows on the World Restaurant. Our family had stood on the top of the North Tower and had a photograph taken inside. I thought about those people.

I was due to take a group from my parish to New York and Albany one week later. We who had lived with terrorism for many years would never allow it to change our plans. But people in New York were so shocked. They couldn’t think clearly. We delayed six months and stood quietly together at Ground Zero. I shall never forget it.

The talk here is of debt forgiveness. The number of people more than three months in arrears with their mortgages is 55000. Dublin house prices are down 49% from their peak in February 2007. Overall property prices fell by 12.5% during last. Even those prices are notional since most houses are simply unsaleable.

A lady write to the Irish Times to say that she has a mortgage of €900000 on a property now worth €400000. A man writes to say that he cannot feed his family. We went to a huge hardware store outside Letterkenny this morning and were the only customers. Not much different in Dunnes Stores and M&S – in the wine section I noted a single line of bottles on the outside edge of the shelf.

This is economic recession on a level which we have not experienced in Scotland. Government can see that these levels of personal debt will never be repaid and that this is another issue which has to be resolved if there is to be recovery. And somewhere in the background is a dogged belief that this is not Greece – the trade balance is healthy – Irish young people are highly-educated, articulate and adaptable. I have a feeling that a more devastating clear-out of the political class even than we have yet seen is needed. But it will come.

Personal debt is a personal responsibility. But banks were pushing money at people. The regulators seemed to be asleep at the wheel. Working out the balance between personal and community responsibility is a matter for fine political and ethical judgement …

The Kindle is of course going to change our lives.  New calling – new ministry.  Have Kindle will travel so no need to hump dozens of heavy boxes of books with you.  But there is another problem.  All of us love a little peep at somebody else’s bookshelves – to see if they have bought any books since ordination.  And the Kindle changes the rules of that game

Anyway, I’m into the classic stuff at present.  Partly because it’s better and partly because it’s free – or almost.

I’m reading Shackleton’s account of his Antarctic journey.  They set off with decks piled high with coal – drifted in the pack ice through a long, dark winter and then saw the Endurance crushed by shifting ice floes.  They are now beginning a long trek across the ice, hauling boats with them on sledges.

In every sense, it is another world.  The First World War began as they set out.  They have no news of its progress.  No news of family and friends.  No ability to communicate their plight.  No Nimrod overhead plotting their position.  No camera crew from Sky filming for the rolling news programmes.  No hope of rescue.  No hope of safe return other than through their own resources.

It’s clear that they were a group of exceptional people – but you can also see that the challenge of leadership in such circumstances is extraordinarily demanding.  We are used to instant certainties – when – how far – how – how long?  They had no answers to any of those questions

I had one of those days yesterday when I tripped over two significant pieces of in-service training without meaning to.

The first came from the Alban Institute. Obvious when you think about it. But not so obvious when you are looking at one of those endless ‘to do’ lists which accompany a ‘God is in details as well as the big picture’ attitude to ministry. They say that one should always prioritise the important but non-urgent over the [seemingly] urgent but not important. I’m not going to risk saying what might belong in either category – but it reminds me that one should sometimes do the routine things last rather than first.

The second was a remarkable interview with Frank Skinner in the Church Times. Frank Skinner on preaching? Yes indeed.

‘During his stand-up routine, he never takes his eyes off the audience, always checking to see if they are still with him. As soon as he feels he is losing them, he changes direction to win them back. Otherwise they have left for the bar.’ In the absence of a bar, he says, churchgoers depart mentally as the priest rises to speak.’

Somewhere along the way, I managed to learn to preach without reading a script – and I know that some of our clergy are trying to do the same. You get points for sincerity even if you don’t deserve them. It’s best if you still write a script and make it tight – otherwise you spread yourself. It’s not about memorising the words – more about holding it as an entity in your mind and letting the words come fresh as you speak it. Sermons are not stand-up – thank goodness. But the culture of low expectations of preaching which he describes makes it a real challenge.

Strange thought – but if the spaces between postings here begin to lengthen it means that I have not been busy enough.

We did a quick trip at the beginning of the week for a wedding in Armagh. Always strange – and good – nowadays to be with people many of whom we have known for more than 40 years. We seem to have reached a sort of senior status in these moments – the good thing about that is a sort of lowering of expectations. You turn up, smile and say how you remember the bride when she was a wee girl. And a good time was had by all.

This evening, we did the Edinburgh Book Festival to hear Alexander McCall Smith talking about his writing. Delightful as always – he seems to get so much innocent fun out of his characters – particularly Bertie. He is also of course the proud owner of a Brown Burmese cat indentical to Poppy. And as I listen to him, I think always of Maeve Binchey writing and talking about Dublin. Have you read her short stories?

As I said, I’m not getting out much these days. So I did a bit of visiting today – a reflex action for clergy from my tradition of ministry – and took myself off to the East Neuk of Fife. Which meant testing whether the Polo will also achieve 65 mpg over – or under – water since most of the road from St Andrews seemed to be submerged. If you haven’t seen these villages which line the southern coast of Fife, give yourself a treat. They’re delightful former fishing villages tightly grouped around small harbours in a jumble of small streets. It also happens to be festival time – so I found this harpsichordist hard at work on John Blow and Scarlatti in St John’s, Pittenweem.

As I crossed over the Dundee-Perth road on the way home, I saw a line of police vans – maybe heading south. As one does, I listened in awe to the dignity of the father describing the death of his son last night. But for the rest, I’m not so sure. I feel that I have spent much of my life listening to politicians talking tough and offering security-based solutions to complex social and political problems. Of course order on the streets must be restored. Of course people must pay the price for destroying, looting and burning. But I don’t think I have ever heard so many people saying that they simply don’t understand where this violence has come from – which must tell us something about the complexity of the causes.

Strange – is there something they aren’t telling me? But I can’t remember having such a quiet diary in a long time. People loom up occasionally to visit me – and I get out a bit to take a look at the world beyond Balhousie Street. But a fair bit of time is spent working through bits of writing which I unwisely agreed to do. And Sharon and the IPhone between them have the E Mail fairly well tamed. It won’t last.

Speaking of getting out a bit, the Polo is at last beginning to produce something like the fuel consumption figures which are claimed – 61 mpg when I last filled it up. The electronics constantly demand ever higher gears – even when travelling up hills. I don’t get it but it seems to work. Tho’ the real fuel economy is achieved with my bus pass … which is taking me to Edinburgh tomorrow on the Megabus for a 50p booking fee

Did you see the piece about the risk to life and limb posed by people who are racing their GPS’s – trying to get there before the ETA provided by the system? Compliant and conformist person that I am, I’ve been doing it the other way round – exploring the possibility of adjusting the system’s predicted average speeds on different kinds of road – making allowances for the deer and so on – so that I arrive at exactly the time predicted. Which is I suppose a bit like Anglican processions which are timed to deliver everybody to their place by the last line of the last verse. I get rather the same feeling with the Kindle which seems to want me to read ever faster .. but more of that anon

It always takes a bit of time to wind myself up again. The IPhone has been replaced – courtesy of the insurance – at £500+ so that’s under control again. If I remember correctly, Bishop Brian said in his speech at the General Synod Dinner that an IPhone is like a religion. You have no idea how it works but you cling to it tenaciously.

Meanwhile I struggle with the backlog – the Inbox is below 100 and I am dealing with the list of ‘difficult things that I put on a list to be done when I came back’. And it’s good to be back in touch again. I went to our church in Kirkcaldy on Sunday for the launch of their Mission Action Plan. It’s the end of a six month period of exploration by the congregation and a sign of their determination to turn outwards towards their community

Sometimes one conjures up a ‘Thought for the Day’ when there is nothing to talk about. Not so this week – everything from Murdoch to the closure of RAF Leuchars which is so keenly felt in this area.