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Well, thanks. Yes it was a good holiday. Go anywhere interesting? Well if you drive due south from Blogstead for 1012 miles and bang in a tent peg, you’ll be just about there. Specially chosen as a beautiful place with nothing in particular to do and every inducement to do it very well.

So we sat with some of the oldest friends – those with whom we used to holiday when we had small children in tow – and we talked. At least in the rare moments when we were awake. Now that we are all teetering on or over the edge of the seventh decade …..

It was at the second campsite – 174 miles closer to Blogstead – that the difficulties began. If it was my favourite Arthur Ransome, the chapter headings would be something like this: ‘The Great Inundation’; ‘Le Pied Gonfle’; ‘The Collapse of the Reclining Chair’

The first flooded the tent and drowned both phones – an experience from which the IPhone never recovered. The second took me to the A&E in the local hospital for a multilingual diagnostic experience. The third felt like a personal insult

Camping – at our age? Wonderful!

I’m off to sink the tent pegs into a field somewhere in the middle of la France profonde. Time for a break, I think

Sectarianism is firmly on the political agenda in Scotland. During the week, the Scottish Government decided to delay the proposed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill – we responded like this:

“The Scottish Government is to be commended for the intentions which lie behind the proposed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill . Recent expressions of sectarian behaviour – particularly surrounding football matches – have been shocking and are unworthy of the tolerant and open society which Scotland aspires to be. There is a responsibility on any government to act so as to preserve peace and order. However it seems to us that this proposed legislation raises two issues.

“The first is that rushed legislation often turns out not to be good legislation. We are also aware that it may be difficult to secure convictions under this kind of legislation. Under the Incitement to Hatred legislation which was introduced in Northern Ireland, it was very difficult to secure convictions.

“The second is that the proposed legislation addresses symptom rather than cause. However distasteful expressions of sectarian speech and behaviour may be, they are simply the outward signs of a deeper and systemic malaise which afflicts our society. Churches and faith groups should be particularly sensitive to the religious dimension which is a core element of sectarianism. But there are many other historic patterns and traditions which are part of it. We hope that the Scottish Government will establish a broad-based process which will allow our society to come to a deeper understanding of the distasteful phenomenon which sectarianism represents so that together we can begin to address its roots.”

What surprises me is how little of the long and painful learning of Northern Ireland seems to have made its way across to Scotland – the debate seems very immature to me. The proposed legislation addressed symptom and not cause. But in the Assembly, some immediately rushed to the other end of the spectrum and wanted to explore whether denominational/faith schools were at fault. In the middle is a huge area of learning and exploration – about the systemic nature of sectarianism and the efficient way in which it can pervert even our best attempts to build community; about the way in which religion can give ultimate authority to negative expressions of identity and about how it suits religion to be used in this way; about the complex of other issues which are all part of this – everything from housing distribution to parading to social and economic deprivation.

This is the start of a long journey.

Some images of Ireland today – seen during a quick post-General Synod visit to Donegal. Timeless beauty and emptiness of a Donegal beach – this is Tramore which looks towards the Bloody Foreland and Tory Island. Empty. A bit of sheep shearing just behind Killahoey Beach. And by way of contrast – the Annual Meeting of the Bank of Ireland – a bottomless pit into which the savings of much of the Irish population have gone. A shareholder tires of the endless prevarications, equivocations and circumlocutions of the Board and hurls an egg at them.

So I’ve made a determinedly up-to-date entry into the seventh decade – not before some more traditional celebrations here at Blogstead. This was the rather splendid Sachertorte – complete with spangly mitre and chocolate Poppy – made for the occasion by Philip. It was a great ‘do’ – full attendance of the Blogstead neighbours and friends. Another ‘blinking into the sunlight’ morning to follow.

So at various points over the last while, the IPhone and IPad – not to mention the Kindle and the permanent Bluetooth in the car – have made their appearance. And I’m doing reasonably well. The IPhone in particular has revolutionised the way we deal with the e mail. It’s so FAST. The one that I haven’t really got the hang of is the Bluetooth – mainly because it is supposed to be voice-activated. Which means that you bark instructions at it as in ‘Call Home!’ I’m exploring whether I can download a Scottish Episcopal Church Collaborative Ministry App for it. That would allow me to say, ‘Have you ever considered the possibility of/How would you feel about/I wonder if our consensus might be moving in the direction of calling home. …’

Our General Synod last week seemed to me to be significant for all sorts of reasons. But I haven’t altogether got my mind around what they are. I’ll have a think about it during the second part of this week in Blogstead na mara in Donegal.

Meanwhile, here is some material from Synod and before:

Sermon for the Eucharist at the start of the Mothers Union General Meeting in Edinburgh
Primus’ Charge from the Opening Service of the General Synod
Speech on the Anglican Covenant
The Primates Meeting
The Whole Church Mission and Ministry Policy

Well our General Synod was many things – but this of course was the ultimate eco-statement. Three Bromptons – self with Kennedy and David Frazer managed the various aspects of geekery for us. My arrival at Synod – and subsequent folding – never fails to excite comment

Well this is very much not me – but people asked for a photo. I suppose it tells you things about how the world has moved on since I last changed my car – at the Millennium. Environmental issues loomed large then – but perhaps not as much as they do now. So this is a three cylinder diesel which is claimed to do 80 mpg in the wide open spaces of Perthshire – and 70 mpg overall. You can also see movements in the life cycle – gone are the days when a cavernous estate car was useful for the endless moving of students from flat to flat. Ah well.

Well this is America. So apart from facing strawberries the size of potatoes – which evinced the comment, ‘You should see the ones we have in Texas’ – we’ve been doing psychological assessments with an instrument called CDR

I take a fairly detached view [42%] of these things. In fact I’m not at all worried [29%] about them. Slightly more ‘off the wall’ was my score as an eccentric [82%]. But those who know and work with me will be glad to know that, contrary to all appearances, I am not an egotist [14%]

One visits these things as if meeting a stranger – and wonders if one’s efforts to second-guess the questions were successful or unsuccessful. But I do think that this is really useful in one respect – the Risk Assessment section. That sets out the places where you are vulnerable in working with people and groups. Most ministry – but I think particularly episcopacy – is something of a ‘high wire’ act. You work under pressure and against time with very limited resources … often a passionate advocate of programmes and causes. Of course it’s risky and you can get it badly wrong. So this is helpful [75%]

I’m back at Lake Logan, near Asheville, North Carolina, for the final bit of my bishop training with the College for Bishops of TEC. It’s classic American ‘camp in the woods’ stuff. In that American way, I’m part of the Class of 2009 and there’s a mixture of Canadians and Irish along with the Americans. For them, it’s a canonical requirement that they are part of this programme in the first three years in episcopal ministry. For me, it’s the quality of the training – and the opportunity of building a network of relationships.

Today we have been doing ‘Critical Incidents’ – dealing with congregational issues and sharing with one another how we get on. In my experience, it’s not just how you intervene. It’s when … and all that my experience has taught me is that the only times you don’t intervene too late are the times when you intervene too early.

Meanwhile, I’m keeping a weather eye, as it were, on the ash cloud and hoping that it moves away to the south. On the way over here, I got caught by the weather and had to spend the night in Chicago – arriving 24 hours later than I intended.