Categories: uncategorized
Date: 23 July 2008 20:03:59
Have spent the last few days up at the uni, with Dave and Maddie, on the Cartoon Church stall in the Lamberth market place. Over the three days I learnt a few things I didn't know.
1. Bishops really have to go for the layered look when they go for the official garb - they start with what looks like a night gown and build up from there. Dressing in full uniform takes alot of time (and isn't particularly cheap either).
2. After a few bishops have been at a stall full of purple shirts it looks just like Saturday afternoon in Topshop. (Information gained through sitting watching the bishops shopping in Wippell's ).
3. The Joanna Trollope type representation of bishops wives is largley outdated. They are lovely people (as were the blokes) and not at all stuck up and very few were wearing floral dresses.
4. If you were to wander into a bunch of bishops at Lamberth and not know what was going on you would be more likely to think the uni had been taken over by Saga holiday makers than by a bunch of bishops. There's alot of the slacks with trainers look going on.
5. "Celebs" can still make you act in ways you know are sooooo not appropriate if they happen to be personal favourites and you meet them when you are off guard and off duty.*
*Ok, bit of an explanation needed. This afternoon I took a few minutes off the stall to wander around the market place (hence the off duty part). I headed off to the Wesley Owen stall for a final check there were no "urgent" buys I needed to get for my research when this middle aged guy with a grey tag, (signifying not bishop, but guest), says hi as I am looking at a bunch of books he's standing casually beside. Suddenly my eye drifts over from the books I'm looking at to the sign next to them referring to a signing session which didn't appear to actually be happening & it clicks who I am talking to. At this point instinct rather than common sense and etiquette kicked in and I did that slight jump in the air as you put your hands to the face thing, saying, in a slightly higher pitch than usual, "Oh my God, it's you isn't it". I then managed to recover myself and have a proper conversation with Brian McLaren (and apologised for my initial reaction). Note to anybody wondering who the heck Brian McLaren is - in the progressive evangelical world he is one of the key players and was the key speaker at the bishops plenary session on Monday & so quite an important bloke in certain "religious" circles. He is also one of my favourite authors.