Bishop spotting

What a day yesterday was; a fantastic Eucharist service, the opportunity to meet and talk to the Bishops of the Diocese and the Archbishop and then a teaching session by ++Rowan.

I am breaking down my many experiences and thoughts into a number of blog posts.  The first was the caption competition that aired yesterday.  The second is this, my experience of the men themselves; and you'll just have to wait with baited breath for the rest.

+Alan
he is real, and so apparently am I.  And he is much larger than life than I expected, in personality that is.  Of course I know there's a good chance that Alan might read this (Hi Alan if you're dropping by) and so I feel a little weird saying too much, but suffice to say he's joined my list of people who I'd invite to my dream dinner party.  And in case you don't believe we are both real, here's proof:


+Andrew
it's fantastic to meet the new Bishop of Reading.  Engaging, interested, positive about me being licensed.  I look forward to meeting him again in the future.

+Colin
it struck me how much more reserved he is than the other Bishops in the Diocese.  Of course this is not a bad thing.  He was slightly to one side of events, but therefore able to spend more time with each person.  I enjoyed seeing him again and thanked him for our meeting.  I'm not entirely sure he knew who I was at first, but he did after a very few seconds.

+John
surprisingly our Diocesan Bishop remembered having met me almost a year ago and was asking when I will be licensed.  He seemed genuinely thrilled that he will be undertaking the licensing in November.  As am I.

And then there's ...

 ++Rowan
I queued in line to meet The Archbishop of Canterbury like everyone else.  Having read his books, watched him on the TV in documentaries and marrying Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as having  heard him on the radio, my expectations were high.  I expected him to be much more aloof than he is; much less human somehow.  But I can happily confirm that he is a man, just a man; a holy man, a wise man, a man of God; but in the end a human just like the rest of us.  More than that, he's an open, interesting, interested and gentle man who I am really happy to have met.  He even allowed me to be cheeky and have my photo taken with him for my blog; here it is.


Oh and the most bizarre part of the day.....
as we were heading to the car to get to the teaching session I saw someone waving from a car; 
guess who .....
My new mate Rowan :)